Collective AR30 always finds a way to put together seasonal compilations that end up being suitable for their respective months — or at least make said period of time a touch more enjoyable. Winter Compilation 2018 gives this cold stretch of the year a nice, woozy soundtrack with enough action to keep bodies warm. Yuichi Nagao’s “Wind Up” sets the pace, with strings giving way to dizzying electronic touches and a vocal sample that gets bent in al sorts of directions, creating a dizzying song not far off from what mus.hiba was doing a few years back. Some songs sound chillier than others — Nok’s “Laural” in particular moving at a slower pace — but the best moments come on songs such as “Through The Glass” by Riemellowjunk, who uses saxophone, vocal samples and her own voice to create a warm, somewhat fragmented number. Dive in and find your fave. Get it here, or listen below.
There was a time when Saitama-based outfit Boys Age released songs on a weekly basis, and dropped albums just as quickly. Over the last year, the project has slowed down and taken its time putting out new material, and it has managed to make the songs that do appear all the more urgent. Which is a weird word to come to the front of my mind for “The Highest Moon,” a wisp of a song that features head-tilted-downward vocal delivery set over splashes of guitar. The whole number feel wrapped in a layer of smoke, unfolding slowly but pulling you in with every guitar line. Get it here, or listen below.
J-pop is a mess right now. The biggest challenge at the moment is sifting through everything to figure out just what’s going on, and if you zeroed in squarely on what charts say is doing well, I wouldn’t blame you for feeling underwhelmed. Yet dive into the vast middle and you’ll find all sorts of wild ideas and interesting sounds creeping closer to the mainstream. And maybe…just maybe…something more concrete is developing. The best top-level J-pop song I’ve heard so far in 2018 has been Nariaki Obukuro’s “Lonely One,” a wonky number with a strong Hikaru Utada guest spot that turned the sort of fans who only communicate in Tyra .gifs into people geeking out for warped-out R&B. “Featuring Hikaru Utada” goes a long way, but if this is what gets attention this year, that’s a good sign.
Obukuro’s sound is starting to gain more traction too. Alongside fellow Tokyo Recordings artist Yaffle and the performer herself, he helped shape “Corner,” the lead single from singer/songwriter Iri’s forthcoming album Juice. She’s been on the rise for a bit, getting attention for a nocturnal sound not far removed from the “city pop revival” that pushed so many bands to the forefront in the last two years. Yet last year she made a huge leap forward with her Life EP, a set showcasing her range and making a strong argument she has a shot to jump up a level on her next release. She’s worked with Kenmochi Hidefumi of Suiyoubi No Campanella before, and now the Tokyo Recordings crew comes into her orbit, helping give her just the right sound to showcase her singing.
“Corner” opens frayed, the big gloopy keyboard notes distracting how the other noises sound like they are peeling off. Then the song settles into something sturdier, pushed on by persistent beat and guitar playing. It leaves just enough space to allow Iri to show off her voice, huskier and more forceful than most J-pop singers at the moment, and an instrument she knows how to control well. What sets “Corner” apart are the stranger details they all bring in — how the vocals layer over themselves to create strange combinations, the way they chorus kind of bursts apart only to reassemble stronger before, the slow dissolve ending the whole thing. It’s a group of artists hitting a stride. Listen to a preview above, or go to your preferred streaming service to listen to the whole song (I mean, not Tidal, c’mon).
Tokyo’s Yahyel have a new album out this spring, titled Human. “Pale” is the latest look at their sophomore album, and it underlines the elements of the band that make them stand out from similarly tipped groups coming out of the capital. Musically, “Pale” features a lot of the unnerving touches that have always crept around in Yahyel’s music, from the slightly fuzzed-out vocals to the clattering percussion that would feel at home in Resident Evil. But their best strength remains the ability to generate tension and release — while “Pale” doesn’t erupt like “Iron,” it builds to a dizzying climax that makes all the moving parts that came before click together. Listen above.
Osaka artist Le Makeup’s recent Life Intonation EP feels like part compliment to last year’s Hyper Earthy, and also a bit of a stab at wider recognition. The six songs gathered here and put out at the very end of January build on the soft meditations he pivoted too last year, using splashes of guitar, soft synthesizer melodies and machine-created beats to capture snapshots of daily life in tumultuous times. It’s a slightly bigger role out, too. Hyper Earthy exists on streaming services, but Life Intonation is there from the get go (though you can also nab it as a free download). However you listen to it, the EP finds Le Makeup continuing to explore this style, from the vocal-grazed “Red Tinged Memories” to the dissonant clattering — making way for a simple but sticky hook — of “Gullwing.” “Security” even flashes back a bit towards his more dance-oriented sound, albeit a little more understated than the Esthe. No radical changes here, just proof there is plenty of space to continue exploring. Listen above.
