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FOGPAK #10 Is Here, Featuring Kai Takahashi, YYIOY, Attic Note And Many More

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Ahhhhh, the sweet sweet arrival of a new FOGPAK. The tenth edition of what has become Japan’s best entryway into independent electronic music is a strong collection, made somewhat better because the tracklist has been trimmed down slightly – before, these things could get close to 50, but here it is a far more reasonable 30, all centered around the theme “Best Summer Ever.” FOGPAK has been branching out beyond Japan for a while, too, and the tenth installment is no different – it opens with a hip-shaking, vocally pleading number courtesy of Ulzzang Pistol (who has been all around Asia), and later on features an absolute stunner courtesy of American artist (and future Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo attendee) Uio Loi’s “Strawberry Stained Mango.”

On the Japanese side – Kai Takahashi delivers breeziness with his drifting “Wendy,” while YYIOY brings the high-energy stepper on his contribution. Attic Note delivers one of the finest surprises here with the piano-aided “Recollection,” one of FOGPAK’s best dance numbers, loaded with manipulated vocals (which at times feel like they are melting in front of you). Half the fun of these biggie-sized collections is diving in and finding your favorites for yourself. Listen below, or get it here.

FOGPAK Teams Up With The Blog SVNSET W^VES For FOGPAK #9

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The folks behind the FOGPAK compilations – albums packed with electronic music from primarily Japan – have always had a bit of a global eye. Non-Japan-based producers like bo en have popped up on previous installments, and for number nine in the series, FOGPAK has teamed up with Texas-based electronic-music blog SVNSET W^VES for a 49-song release leaning heavily on songs from all over the place. Still, Japan has the highest representation here – contributions feature familiar names like In The Blue Shirt (the skippy vocal-slice exercise “Seven Bridge”), DJ YEN (the ivory-accented skipper “Fly Piano”), Akoustik Shadow (the bubbling “You Are Everything”) and OKLobby (the resort-ready “Hey, It’s OK”). And lots of new (to me, at least) names – early favorites include Nagasaki artist Phuey’s Jersey-Clubbin’ “Versary,” Quine Ghost’s whirlwind “Electronic Orochi” and (not actually new to us around here but we never wrote about them for whatever reason my bad) Emerald Four’s sweet “Astral Tones For Mental Therapy.”

And look at all these non-Japanese artists too! Some took up a slight J-pop theme…Adam Snow’s chiming “Vegeta’s Theme,” James Deen’s “Kirby’s Dream Land”…yet it goes beyond novelty. Personal fave – Canadian producer WTCHDCTR’s Eadonmm-esque creeper “Burn Out.”

Anyway, the fun in FOGPAK is diving in and finding out what you like the most…no shortage of new tunes to hear. Get it here, or listen below.

Eight Is Not Enough!: New Fogpak Featuring Foodman, Liquid Sunshine, PNDR PSLY And A Lot More

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Look, it is far from perfect – no compilation with 41 tracks from 41 different producers can go perfect – but the eighth edition in the Fogpak series comes off as particularly strong, esepcially compared to the more hit-or-miss recent entries. This series, which gathers new music from electronic producers all over Japan (and, sometimes, the world), has always been loaded with good stuff, but Fogpak #8 is a consistently good listen that takes all sorts of great stylistic turns over the course of its (very long) running time. Especially striking are the first handful of songs contained here – kuuya opens the comp with plaintative piano before introducing skittering beats and a chopped vocal sample (note those two sonic details, they are the bedrock for a lot of the artists popping up here), and the producer plays around with both…before launching into a juke-inspired bit. In The Blue Shirt delivers a jolly cut-and-slicer of his own with “Slight Intoxication,” before PinokioMachine and YYIOYoffer up hyperactive numbers of their own (the latter turns an Utada song into a Jersey club banger). And soon enough, if all the ratcheted-up energy wore you down, Liquid Sunshine comes in with a lithe mover all his own, full of splaying synths.

Many producers here create songs featuring split-second vocal samples and rapid-fire music, but what’s impressive is that none of it ever sounds derivative, many of the artists here finding ways to put their own stamp on the style (some highlights: Akoustik Shadow’s luxurious approach, Firedrill’s swirly “Id,” PNDR PSLY’s long-distance “Loverproof”). Other notables – Foodman gives us a barely-there track, while Waver Friends indulges in some borderline vapor funk. And maybe the biggest surprise guest of all comes on Ulzzang Pistol’s contribution to Fogpak, wherein he uses the voice of Hatsune Miku to create a dizzy little love song that might as well be set in space. Definitely a must get. Listen below, or get it here.

Fogpak #7 Is Massive, Features Kai Takahashi, PARKGOLF, Mioriyuri And 45 Other Artists

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The Fogpak compilations, albums collecting songs from independent electronic artists all across Japan, have been getting a lot longer with each new installment in the series. The sixth edition featured 33 tracks, and that already felt like a challenge to get through. Now comes the seventh in the series which ups the ante with 48 songs from 48 different artists. Like the sixth edition, this is not anything resembling a traditional album, and to listen through this all in one sitting would be foolish. The sheer size of Fogpak #7 guarantees that their will be songs on it not really worth listening to. Again, treat Fogpak not as an album, but as an introduction to Japan’s underground electronic scene.

So even though there are certainly skippable moments here, Fogpak #7 also has some really strong moments. A lot of them come from names that have been impressing for quite some time now, like Sapporo’s PARKGOLF, whose “Demenigis” is a jittery number that would have fit in nicely on his recently released Cat Walk album. Hip-hop leaning duo Mioriyuri return with their first work in some time, with the luxurious “Katsumi,” while the dude responsible for these compilations, PNDR PSLY, messes around with a bunch of vocal samples on his “Heart Swapp.” Other familiar names doing what they do well include Kai Takahashi, Ryuei Kotoge and Seiho (though Hokkaido artist DJ YEN beats the Osaka producer at his hyperactive game here, with his “Check! Check! Check!”). From there, how about some new names, or at least less prominent ones. Attic Note provides the comp’s dreamiest number with “With Wonder,” built off colorful synths and some obscured vocals. Liquid.Sunshine offers up some Rustie-esque electro, while BigVirgin serves up maybe the most sensual cut here. Dive in and find your favorite now. Get the thing here.

Cop This Now: FOGPAK #6 Featuring OKLobby, Licaxxx, PNDR PSLY, Calum Bowen And 29 Other Artists

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Do not approach FOGPAK #6 as an album. To sit down and listen through this 33-track collection in one go is far from an unpleasant experience – it’s great! – but did you see the part about 33 songs? Expect to devote at least two hours of your day to FOGPAK #6…which is a lot of day. Real talk, I’m now sorta behind on my work because of this. I love it, though.

Anyway, you should be approaching every FOGPAK as a reference guide to Japan’s sprawling electronic music scene. On one level, it’s an opportunity to check in on some familiar names and see what has been tickling them as of late. Tokyo’s Licaxxx sounds like she’s been listening to a lot of trap music based off her contribution “Bizarreness,” which features rap-derived “yeps” and sounds you hear in almost every TNGT banger. Yet she isn’t so easy to predict – she offsets all of that with this feverish synth that makes the whole thing sound deeply uneasy. OKLobby gets cutesy with his synthesizers…and vocal samples…on “Mr. Gone,” and compilation compiler PNDR PSLY provides a more relaxing number in “Singing Studies.” Q/Ghost shines with the fidgety “Breakfast For Metaphor,” which sounds one part Flying-Lotus bass squanker and one part De De Mouse. One of FOGPAK #6’s best comes from…I believe…the first foreign contributor, mus.hiba-pal Calumn Bowen with his “Miss You.” It’s a perky jaunt aided by warped vocals, handclaps and late-song chanting. Picture a street full of cartoon flowers singing, except said fauna might be on Molly.

Yet the real treat of any FOGPAK collection is encountering names you didn’t know before. Edition six has a lot of stellar names Make Believe Melodies didn’t know before downloading the comp, but I plan on keeping tabs on ’em now. Fukuoka’s BigVirgin boasts the worst name here, but that’s forgiven when listening to “Leisure,” which splits the difference between being a woozy meditative piece and bordering on footwork. Tokyo’s Leaping Phaser delivers the iciest number hear, his electronics morphing at a glacial but entrancing clip, while Shoueno layers the vocal manipulation on thick…but with emotional results. I’m also fond of Kobe’s Left One, who gets quite menacing on the slow-burning “Stoner Wing (Stand Alone),” and the mysterious Maritime (no SoundCloud! no Twitter!?) impresses with the upbeat “Odd Eye.” Really though, just listen yourself and plot your own path through the Japanese electronic wild. Get it here.