Been a second since writing about the hazy indie rap scene starting to emerge (or at least become more clear) in Japan, but that’s more because the artists in it are branching out to platforms not as friendly towards our brand of blogging. If you have access to a streaming music site, go seek out Sleet Mage’s newest number “Changes,” boasting a beat making me all wet-eyed thinking about American Football, and featuring a typically emotional performance from Sleet Mage himself. For everyone else, spend some time with Kaine Dot Co’s “☁,” a number floating in the same blunted-out zone as “Sleepy Trippie Mage,” but rather than being the perfect personification of “anime girl sighing on loop,” Kaine Dot Co flows through it in a more sturdy manner, laid-back bordering on monotone but exuding enough confidence over the dreaminess around them. And it hits on what I like so much about this corner of Japanese rap — besides being more melodic, it is also in no rush to prove anything, but rather content to do its thing. Listen above.
New Mecanika: Newtone
Here’s a nice case of a circle coming together. The past two years have made it clear that a new generation of artists are coming up in Japan’s electronic underground, and that they appear to have spent at least some time digging into Maltine Record’s catalog (not to mention tofubeat’s work). So Mecanika putting out an EP via the netlabel is a nice development — not the first time an artist inspired by the label in question released via them too, but still a fun development. Newtone gathers three songs from the young artist, showcasing their laid-back approach to dance-pop. Unlike Mom, Native Rapper or Lulu — artists who I’d put in the same general category — Mecanika excels at blending into his music. The title track is an easy-going keyboard number backed by a nuts-and-bolts beat, and it elevates up when Mecanika’s voice comes in. It swoops along with the song, more an instrument mixing well than a wildcard element (Mom’s Baby Like A Paperdriver comes to mind there). “Beton” picks up the energy a touch, while “18” finds Mecanika inching towards something easier to call pop (while still flexing clever production details — I’d be happy to hear an instrumental, to really soak in all the details), and in either mode the vocals line up just right. Get it here, or listen above.
Venture Deep: Hypnotic Inc.’s “Cheap Flutes”
Everything seems normal enough at first — a side-to-side beat backed by a little extra percussion, slowly gaining new elements as it motors on. So far, so normal for project Hypnotic Inc.’s “Cheap Flutes.” But then the synthesizer creeps in, and then the songs shifts to something more unnerving. An ominous cloud of noise hangs over the beat, and the edges warp. Everything becomes off-balance, and it gets all the better as a result. Listen above.
New Boys Age: “Forlorn Beach”
This is both the liveliest sounding Boys Age song and the most downtrodden. The bedroom rock project has gotten jangly at times in the past, but “Forlorn Beach” deploys a jaunty drum beat that practically skips ahead, adding an energy rarely found in the group’s music. And it works well in conjunction with the guitar playing, creating a slightly zoned-out melody that just bounces forward. Yet compounding all of this are the vocals, which sound buried down under the music even for a home-recording project known for unique approaches to singing. But here they add a sadness to “Forlorn Beach,” one offering some tension compared with the relatively skippy music. Get it here, or listen below.
New Mom: “Skirt”
Man, Mom is feeling themselves right now. Following the topsy-turvy, post-net-label funhouse of Baby Like A Paperdriver, the Saitama artist has gotten a little more sweet, first with the chipper “That Girl” and now “Skirt.” It’s a little lighter, powered by a stroll of a beat and some fat keyboard notes — accented by video game sound effects. What’s slightly different about Mom’s output post album has been that these new songs feel a little more like fully formed rap numbers, giving Mom plenty of space to rhyme about…eat-in spaces and coffee, among other topics. Mom flows over it all well, and the music gets knottier as it goes along — those final guitars! Listen above.