Producer Laptopboy dabbles in all kinds of -like beats, but the tracks that seem to pop up in the fledgling Japanese online rap community tend to have a very specific sound to them. They are dreamy, guided by keyboard and featuring touches that give them an out-of-body feel while still offering a nice kick to…
Sometimes a brighter outlook works wonder, even if really digging into optimistic feelings leads to a lot of questions about how warranted they are. Cairophenomenons veer between uneasy indie-pop and more outright upbeat numbers, and “In Ten Years” definitely falls into the latter. The musical details that would have been used to unnerve in the…
The past always offers an attractive source of inspiration, but singer/songwriter Rima Kato travels back to an unlikely destination for her forthcoming album Sing-Song. She became fascinated with the works of Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, and her latest finds her offering her take on her work. “A Ring Upon Her Finger” captures a pleasant, charming…
One of the elements that made Le Makeup’s Hyper Earthy such a striking album was the emergence of the Osaka’s own voice on the album. Since then, Le Makeup has been playing around with how their singing can be deployed over beats and acoustic guitar. Aisou finds the artist getting even better at using their…
Half Mile Beach Club have a new album out this week, but it isn’t quite a new album. Be Built, Then Lost serves as an intro to the outfit’s blurred take on beach tunes for a larger audience, and that partially involves a lot of familiar cuts — including many from last year’s lovely indie…