It’s almost the start of December and that means…oh, you probably know. I’ve written variations of that sentence a lot recently because a lot of great albums have not gotten a lot of longform attention around these parts, and you can add Greeen Linez luxurious Izu Street King to that pile. Hopefully more on that soon…but for now, half of that City-Pop-leaning project, Matt Lyne’s A Taut Line, has a new single out, highlighted by “Bamboo Holography,” which you can hear above. It’s a sweltering number that thunders ahead but also carries a woozy vibe about it. Listen above, or buy it here.
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Make Believe Melodies’ Best Albums Of The Year: 20-11
Photoshop scares me, so I’m mailing it in with my favorite character of the year holding a guitar.
Back in 2011 when I published this list (remember when I skipped doing this last year? Best album was from MiChi, best song was from…AKB48), a question that writer James Hadfield posed to me was…how many of these would actually make it on a general top ten list? Like, including non-Japanese releases? My answer…two, the albums in the first and second positions. Neither would be the actual #1 overall.
This year, the list of all my favorite music would probably feature mainly Japanese releases. Now, to be fair, I’m way more focused on what comes out in Japan in 2013 than I was in 2011…but I really do believe the past 12 months have been especially strong for Japanese music in general, especially when compared to other nation’s output this year. If nothing else, I do think this is the strongest year of music I’ve heard since starting this blog. So I’ve gone and made a list of my favorite (“our best” if you will) Japanese albums of the year. It was very very very hard narrowing this down, with so many great releases coming from every direction…but here’s what stuck.
Numbers 20-11 will appear on this blog, while 10-1 will actually be published on another website, which I will link to. We will also have an “honorable mentions/interesting stuff” post to round it all out. Enjoy!
20. Various Artists Upwards And Onwards
Shortly after this compilation, netlabel Ano(t)raks spent their time hunting down new names and creating country-spanning indie-pop compilation albums, featuring new names galore. Until releasing Post Modern Team’s (very good!) debut album late in 2013, the imprint felt like they were intent on hunting down every undiscovered twee band and showing them to the world in .zip form. So Upwards And Onwards feels like a special collection, a last gasp for Japan’s indie-pop scene featuring many names who made it seem like a “thing” over the last two years. A lot of the artists featured here released their own albums in 2013, but those often felt a little too long. Many of these outfits sound best as quick blasts. See the catchy simplicity of Boyish’s murky “Obvious,” the darty “Someday” by Post Modern Team and the goofy fun of Foodie’s “Make It, Break It.” Kai Takahashi would shine as a more traditional twee vocalist later in the year, but here he crafted a sunny afternoon electronic jam, positioning him as one of the year’s most promising young producers. Canopies And Drapes was quiet in 2013, so it was nice to hear her voice on a song as well…even if a new name like Jam The Mod stole the show with the stunning eight-minute “2nd Rainbows.” Ano(t)raks would try blazing new paths later in the year…this just sounds like a celebration.
19. Especia Midnight Confusion
There are a total of three original songs on this “album,” the rest of the disc stuffed with instrumentals and remixes. But fuck it…nobody in Japan released a pop song better than “Midnight Confusion” this year, and the fact they could include two super strong songs alongside it make this a lock for the top twenty as far as I’m concerned. I’ll spill more words on the title track later, but all credit to the folks behind this Osaka idol-pop group’s sound, carving out a retro-leaning sound that doesn’t give itself over (entirely) to stereotype. “XO” is a late-night piano bar lament (with sax!) while the other new track is a glistening, chimey bouncer that’s not quite as showy as “Midnight Confusion,” but every bit as catchy (with sax!). But seriously…Especia’s entire identity seems to be “the idol-group with KILLER saxophone solos,” and I’m ok with this. Oh, added bonus! The remixes are great too, highlighted by city-pop lover Greeen Linez nailing it.
18. Sapphire Slows Allegoria
It swelters and pulses, urging you onto a dancefloor lit by only nearby neon signs. It encourages you to let loose, but even at its loosest and most swinging a bad feeling remains in your bones. It’s that voice, mainly…always near your ear but seemingly coming from the far back. Identifiable words sometimes make it through, but for the most part, it just bleeds together with the synths and rinky-dink beats, making the good time you were previously having feel wrong. Your hairs raise up…but you can’t walk away.
17. Mioriyuri Plastic Feather
Not content with the best Tweet of 2013 (and the runner-up Tweet of the year), beat-making duo Mioriyuri also came out of practically nowhere to release one of the strongest debut album from anyone this year. Finding a comparison to Plastic Feather isn’t easy…cuts like “Gulfy” and the sweaty “Miti” bring to mind American producer Clams Casino, but he’s never gotten as foreboding as this pair get on shiver-starter “You Are Still Inside Me” or the sex-dream-gone-menacing “Love Like Ice.” And he…and, like, a lot of producers falling in the “hip-hop beatmaker” sphere…has never sounded jubilant as Mioriyuri do on “Twinkiez,” a tune that practically glows. Still, the biggest surprise to me is that nobody tried rapping over any of these beats, as they are among the finest instrumentals I’ve heard anywhere this year. Nonetheless, hell of a start.
16. Kaela Kimura Sync
Although not technically released in 2013…rather, in the dead zone that is late December, when year-end lists are already starting to cool, Sync managed to stick around the entire year. Sync isn’t Kaela Kimura’s breakthrough, but it should be the album to cement her as one of the more creative pop artists in Japan today after the 2011 stunner 8Eight8. Sync highlights her versatility, Kimura choosing to have almost every song produced and arranged by a different person (only two people get more than one number). And, stylistically, the album is all over the place – not uncommon for Kimura, whose albums always seem like a collage of what’s hip in J-Pop, but more daring this time around. There are weak moments – the sleepy pair of “Sun Shower” and “Coffee,” and the album’s one stinker, a lazy cover of “Hello Goodbye” produced by Jim O’Rourke, who most have needed some extra scratch to cover his electricity bill that month – but Sync proves to be a strong listen, from the fidgety electro-pop of “Mamireru” and “So I” to rockers like “My Way” to easy-breezy “Cherry Blossom.” It also ended up with the year’s best commercial tie-in song, and a reminder why we should show no mercy for “Mirai No Museum” – her “Wonder Volt” was commissioned for the fucking Frankenweenie Japanese end credits, yet Kimura uses the opportunity to create one of the weirdest songs in her catalog.
15. Buddy Girl And Mechanic Buddy Girl And Mechanic
In another year, this probably could have taken the top spot, as it fills the role on this list once occupied by She Talks Silence and Miila And The Geeks…who topped this blog’s previous end-of-year lists. It’s 2013’s most unsettling listen, a lurching shadow-dweller of an album that rarely ever takes a second to sound normal. The seven-minute opener starts skeletal as can be, before evolving into a fidgety sorta-Krautrock burner featuring echo-heavy vocals. It doesn’t sound intentionally creepy…that would be too easy. Most of the time, Buddy Girl And Mechanic’s songs sound like they are being held together with clear tape, the pieces dangling around (“Sexy,” the especially sparse “Buddy My Cloud”). Regardless of where it falls here, it’s a gem of an album.
14. Homecomings Homecoming With Me?
I got a Facebook message from a friend who I had been particularly shitty about keeping in touch with earlier this year, a person who means a lot to me but who left Japan. After apologizing for not getting back sooner (I truly did!), we got to talk about music. “Jah, you really got into anime rave music, didn’t you?” he wrote. He was write…some of my favorite music this year came from artists influenced by anime and the culture around it, and I spend a lot of time hanging out at Vocaloid club events and anime raves (went to one last Saturday!). Everyone on Maltine deserves some attention, even if I couldn’t peg one album they put out as making the top 20. My friend correctly noticed that what I liked in 2013 was a lot different than what I used to before.
But old habits die hard, especially when an album like Homecoming With Me? zips by.
Kyoto’s Homecomings can practically be created by twee algorithm. This quartet offers no new wrinkles or sudden swerves to indie-pop music…they can be linked to The Field Mice or Heavenly or Tiger Trap or whoever you want to pull out of your cardigan pocket. This is pure indie-pop pleasure, and I love it. Homecomings don’t wast anyone’s time, instead creating jogging verses that lead into ear-worm choruses overflowing with ennui (oh, and they are killer harmonizers). See indie-pop gems “You Never Kiss” and “Sunday,” wherein the still-college-enrolled-in-college outfit study the history of indie-pop and replicate it magnificently. Simple, sweet…and Homecomings stick with you. I’ll always have a place in my heart for this stuff.
13. Cuushe Butterfly Case
“I had the craziest dream last night,” a friend tells you over brunch, and you brace yourself for a wacky tale full of bizarre imagery and lols. Cuushe tells you that, and then she stares into your eyes and says “I love you.” Her label, Flau, and her have been perfecting her brand of dream-pop for some time now, yet what’s most striking about the music on Butterfly Case is how direct everything sounds. Every synth here sounds intimate, even when Cuushe puts on her own bedroom firework display on “Butterfly.” Every sounds blurs together, which manages to contain every simple word that comes from Cuushe. She is, wisely, not verbose, given these close quarters…the lyrics that emerge from the haze are simple sentiments that, when repeated many times, hit even harder. Which is especially true on the stunning “I Love You,” where she turns those three words into a mantra.
12. Sotaisei Riron Town Age
It’s a testament to how strong Town Age is sonically that you don’t have to understand a word of what Sotaisei Riron sing about to be drawn into it. Despite the fact that Etsuko Yakushimaru’s lyrics…previously often coming from the perspective of teenage girls, and veering towards the fantastical and sci-fi friendly…have been this group’s calling card since they formed. And look, in five years time, this could be ten spots higher or off the list entirely…but for now, Sotaisei Riron’s latest album stays because of how damn good it sounds. The group sound as dialed-in as ever, guitars and drums gracefully gliding over one another, but Town Age finds the band introducing some disconcerting sonic elements too. Opening track “Shanghai-an” begins with recorder, as if a kindergarten kid wandered in and the band decided to record it, before letting various random knick-knacks sound off. The final song here features some of the best, pulsating synths they’ve ever dabbled in, while highlight “YOU&IDOL” turns the steel drum into a mysterious presence on a song that seems to be coming from the perspective of an idol otaku. More than anything, though, is Yakushimaru’s squiggle of a voice, which might not show much range, but I’ve never heard anyone use a monotone as well as she does.
11. Hotel Mexico Her Decorated Post Love
This should be a coronation, not a band obituary. It shouldn’t feel like I’m bumping up Her Decorated Post Love up to just outside the top ten because it will be the last album (most likely) from one of the best Japanese bands of the last few years. Kyoto’s Hotel Mexico called it quits this past fall, after releasing a stellar debut single in “It’s Twinkle,” and a pretty good first album. And, in winter of 2013, this album. Heck of a final bow, right?
The thing is, as a conclusion for Hotel Mexico, Post Love sucks. Their second full-length was an overall improvement of everything introduced on their debut album – the music itself sounded more polished and less likely to use the word “chillwave” as an excuse for what could at times sound half-baked. Songs like “Boy” added extra force to that mid-day swelter, without abandoning any of the intriguing elements that made them jump out in the first place (sticking with that song, listen to those muffled vocals, how they drift in tandem with the music so well). It sounded smoother, more confident – check the guitar and bass lines on “G For Good,” or how the lead singer adopts a deep, strange delivery for that track and opener “Suicide Of Pops.” More than anything else, the songs just sound better written, with all sorts of twists and turns. I still get chills hearing those deep hoots at the start of “A.I. In Dreams,” and the entirety of the longing “A Space In The Loveless Field.”
Post Love is the sound of a band hitting their stride, and that’s why I hate this as a conclusion for Hotel Mexico. This should be the set-up for something bigger, and group finding their confidence and then soldiering forward to take the next artistic leap.Instead, Post Love will be trapped in time as the sound of a band forever running forward, approaching a mountain that never comes.
Fancy Idols: Especia And Lyrical School
We’ve reached the point where idol music – usually an area reserved for AKB48 and Momoiro Clover z – has become really sonically smart. Not always at the top (though sometimes for sure!) but the lower rungs of idol-dom have resulted in some really interesting music. One reason – a lot of young producers are given a shot on major labels producing fledgling idol groups, presumably in an effort to carve out a unique sound for them. Some very talented producers – Fragment, Okadada, more – have been recruited for new idol groups. This week saw two new-ish groups release songs featuring sonic work from really talented producers, and they are some very intriguing J-Pop projects.
First up, Osaka’s Especia. It isn’t totally clear what their schtick is, though a few buzzwords get thrown around – “disco,” “’80s” and (most eye grabbing) “vaperwave” (referring to an Internet-centric genre indebted to ’80s Japanese culture). It’s very trendy labeling, and sorta accurate…the first two fit, while the last one probably could only be applied to the song “XO,” which features a sax just begging to be vapored. The real highlights, though, are the songs bookending their debut EP Midnight Confusion, which are just boogie-worthy bits of city-pop inspired music. The title track is the highlight, a hi-fi dance number that sounds like a more crystal Tokyo Girls’ Style. It is a fantastic pop song with a retrovibe (written by singer SAWA and produced by the talented Schtein&Longer). They even pulled in some great remixers – Tokyo’s Greeen Linez contributes a rework on the album. Listen to the original songs below.
Fellow Osaka unit Lyrical School have been around longer – they used to be known as tengal6, and have been hit or miss, though consistently boasting great producers. They have a new album on the way called Date Course, and the first track from it is a big leap in quality from them. It was produced by Tofubeats, who has been working with them for a while, but here really ups his idol-pop game. Lyrical School are supposed to be a hip-hop-leaning unit, but a lot of their older music has sounded too crowded and cutesy to allow them to stand out. Well, Tofubeats has now crafted an understated beat that is slinky but gives the group plenty of room for the group to do their thing. Listen below.
Music Alliance Pact August 2012
The Music Alliance Pact (MAP)は、30ヵ国以上のブログが集結し、月に一度、その国の曲を紹介し合うというプロジェクトです。Make Believe Melodiesは、日本の曲を紹介させて頂いてるのですが、今月はシティ・ポップスを蘇らせたGreeen Linezを選びました。”Palm Coast Freeway”は、彼等のデビューアルバムThings That Fadeからのとても落ち着いたスムーズな曲で、こちらから購入可能です。この曲も、世界中からシェアされた素晴らしいトラックも、以下から視聴できます。
Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the whole 34-track compilation through Ge.tt here.
JAPAN: Make Believe Melodies
Greeen Linez – Palm Coast Freeway
Greeen Linez take a lot of inspiration from City Pop, a style of music that was popular in Japan during the late 80s and early 90s. Palm Coast Freeway captures this luxurious sound quite well, the elegant synths and bass suitable for both a dance club and a bank lobby. Palm Coast Freeway is on the album Things That Fade, which features even more modern takes on the City Pop sound.
ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Liza Casullo – Rojo Lojojo
After alt-rock band Doris broke up in 2007, most of its members started their own musical projects (Onda Vaga and Valeu!, among others). Singer and guitarist Liza Casullo decided to go solo, but she took some time off to develop her acting career. A couple of months ago she released her first official album, Velvetbonzo. It’s a great record in which a minimalistic acoustic sound blends with psychedelia, garage and folk. Rojo Lojojo is our favorite song, which we also managed to capture on video during one of her shows.
AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Cogel – Felusine
It’s a guarantee that tidy string sections and pulsating drums will typically heighten melodramatic feelings of bad love and melancholy, but you can’t pass over this glorious track from Sydney’s Cogel. Those violins and cascading treble guitars which duck and weave out of the chorus provide a nice backdrop to the band’s quieter moments and slight Arcade Fire stylings that mesh together so well. If Felusine is a pitch into the musical void, someone needs to sign these guys real soon.
AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Plaided – Freaks And Geeks
“Would you run run run run run run run to my place and watch Freaks and Geeks all night long?” We totally would! Plaided is an acronym that was inspired by a Girls Rock Camp participant’s band and thus matches the feminist background of Veronika Eberhart and Julia Mitterbauer. The duo will go on a US tour with Grass Widow in September and also record a 7″ record there. Freaks And Geeks is taken from their debut album Playdate, recorded by Wolfgang Möstl (of previous MAP act Mile Me Deaf).
BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Iconili – O Rei De Tupanga
The fusion of jazz, experimentalism and African beats is the guideline for Iconili, formed by eight young musicians from Minas Gerais. O Rei De Tupanga is their new single, taken from their forthcoming album.
CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Expwy – Warm And Stricken By Lashes
With Little Hand Fighter, Expwy’s fifth album in two years, one-man band Matt LeGroulx sets his sights on the oft-neglected genre of bossa nova, imagining how it might have sounded if, instead of originating in the 50s and 60s, it was borne out of late century indie-rock sensibilities and lo-fi production values.
CHILE: Super 45
The Paintings – Sunrise
Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus are The Paintings. Besides being a couple in real life, the duo revisit the vigor of 70s garage, Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and the apathetic rage of The Jesus And Mary Chain. The music speak for itself, though, and this song Sunrise is their newest single.
COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Planes (Estudios Universales) – Lonelii
Within the new movement of pop/rock bands in Colombia, Planes (Estudios Universales) feels like a blast of fresh air. The quintet have no borders or limits in their search for folk and electronic sounds. As we wait for their first studio album, enjoy Lonelii.
DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Alcoholic Faith Mission – Running With Insanity
Released in 2011 in Denmark, Alcoholic Faith Mission’s fourth full-length, Ask Me This, is now available worldwide and thus there are no good reasons not to check out the outfit’s alternative pop. Begin here with the excellent Running With Insanity.
ENGLAND: The Guardian Music Blog
Stealing Sheep – Shut Eye
This all-girl Liverpool trio’s debut album Into The Diamond Sun is more Staves/Warpaint than Atomic Kitten. The fact that one of the members hails from an area with a rich folk tradition seems to have seeped into their music, which has a pagan-ish, medieval quality to it. Elsewhere it is possible to detect influences as varied as The Go-Go’s and The Monkees, The Doors and Talking Heads, and there is a blend of good old-fashioned “played” instruments and electronic drones and effects, but always the folk elements shine through.
FINLAND: Glue
Satellite Stories – Anti-Lover
Indie quartet Satellite Stories have delivered several party songs over the last couple of years to become one of Finland’s most promising acts. Anti-Lover is the first single from their debut album Phrases To Break The Ice which will be released this autumn. It is three minutes of energetic guitar-based, dance-oriented indie-pop.
FRANCE: Yet You’re Fired
The Aerial – Clarity
The Aerial are one of France’s top up-and-coming bands. Hailing from Nancy, they released their first EP in April, in which each of their songs show a different influence, all while staying very danceable. In just four songs, they manage to sound like The Rapture, Foals and Foster The People. Clarity is their most electro-pop oriented song and is supported by a killer beat and an impeccable production. Don’t miss unreleased single Running on YouTube.
GERMANY: Blogpartei
Camera – Ausland
Let’s continue our little series of new Kraut with Berlin trio Camera. Although they connect to the old Kraut by playing with Michael Rother and Dieter Moebius, their music sounds refreshing. First single Ausland keeps the typical meandering melodies and synths but brings back rock to Krautrock. Their debut album, due out this month, incorporates many more influences and will, of course, be released on Bureau B.
GREECE: Mouxlaloulouda
The Last Drive – Child Of The Sky
The Last Drive are regarded as one of the most important and influential bands of the Greek underground music scene. They were formed 30 years ago and, through their explosive live performances and unique sound, became rapidly popular. After their dynamic comeback in 2007 (they split up in 1995), they released Heavy Liquid, a crafted mix of intense, raw rock ‘n’ roll songs, blurred melodies, addictive fuzz guitar riffs and almost primitive drums that unites disparate musical elements into blasts of noisy cohesion and howling passion. Right before the recording of their new LP, they have just unleashed News From Nowhere, an imprint of the difficult times we’re living.
ICELAND: Rjóminn
Jónas Sigurðsson – Þyrnigerðið
This is the first single from Jónas Sigurðsson’s upcoming third album, Þar Sem Himinn Ber Við Haf (“Where The Sky Touches The Sea”). Jónas, who is widely considered one of the most inventive musicians in Iceland, reinvents himself yet again by introducing electronic influences to his otherwise soulful, folksy and rhythmic sound. If you like what you hear you should really check out his first two albums.
INDONESIA: Deathrockstar
Awl – Albertine
Awl is Joan Lumanauw (The Wispy Hummers) and Mickey (Tenderpaw) creating noises and melodies for the world to dance to. You might think of The Raveonettes or Best Coast but if you listen carefully you’ll find something of their own.
IRELAND: Nialler9
Orquesta – Kokomo (feat. Jape, Kathi Burke & Katie Kim)
His recent acceptance into the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy is yet another reason to pay attention to Dublin producer Orquesta. Previously, he shot to attention with this gorgeous cover of The Beach Boys holiday anthem Kokomo. Featuring the vocal talents of Irish stalwarts Jape and Katie Kim, the song is a modern tropical uplift.
MALTA: Stagedive Malta
Hey Sus! – The Press
Mike and Andrew write tunes under the name Hey Sus! They try to create surfy indie-pop-folk with hip hop beats, provided by Thom. They recently released a split EP on cassette with Clandestines, titled Summer Camp For Pale Young Boys, from which The Press is taken.
MEXICO: Red Bull Panamérika
Soul Compas – Por Insurgentes
Soul Compas is a rap group formed by Eric El Niño, Konceptos and Milio Boogie, three well-known MCs from the Mexican rap scene. With the influence of Native Tongues, G-funk and post-Dilla movements, they have created Al Compás Del Soul, a humorous and fresh album that can be downloaded for free on their website. Por Insurgentes is one of their most interesting tracks. Aside from those swell samples, they’ve pictured an imaginary trip on one of the most important avenues of Mexico City, Insurgentes, which happens to be the longest road that crosses the city north to south, and shows most of its contradictions and emblematic places.
PERU: SoTB
Herzchenschmerzchen – Tic Tac
Herzchenschmerzchen, a word written in German and difficult to pronounce, is the name of Maria Jose Jordan’s solo project. This young woman reveals her indie-folk interests in her self-titled debut EP. Get ready to open a Pandora’s Box of musical gems such as the sweet Tic Tac.
POLAND: Łukasz Kuśmierz Weblog
Fair Weather Friends – Fortune Player
As MAP’s first ambassador for Poland, I bring you some catchy electro-pop from Fair Weather Friends. Fortune Player was used in an official commercial for this summer’s Heineken Open’er Festival (and Coke Live Festival) and caused some internet buzz thanks to its goofy video. You may have heard dozens of pop songs based on synth hooks on MAP but what you might not realise is that this singer is white, with Michał Maślak originally from guitar band Searching For Calm.
PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
PAPERCUTZ – Where Beasts Die
PAPERCUTZ returns to MAP with an exclusive track. Where Beasts Die is from their new album, The Blur Between Us. Bruno Miguel’s impressive project has paved its way with hard work, gathering a considerable fanbase outside Portugal. They were recently selected for the Red Bull Music Academy, which will take place in New York next year.
PUERTO RICO: Puerto Rico Indie
Pasajero – En La Playa
Daniel Vicente brings a delicate blend of pop, rock and electronic flourishes to his art and music project, Pasajero. His most recent EP boasts three layered tracks that highlight this idiosyncratic mix of influences, ranging from local acts like Superaquello to international names such as The Postal Service. En La Playa is a powerful tune featuring guest vocals by Carolina Martinez. With a dreamy pop quality that reminds us of waves slowly crashing at the beach at dusk, the song also addresses Puerto Rico’s current state of affairs and the alarming apathy that seems to have taken over its inhabitants. A great lead-off track for a “political dream-pop” playlist.
ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
Changing Skins – Perfect Foes
Changing Skins is an eclectic Bucharest-based band who rock the thin line between alternative and electronic music. They plan to release their debut album in October. NME recently posted a live video of their song Baby on their website.
RUSSIA: Big Echo
Cream Child – With The Wind
School Skulls is not just another sweet summer record with soft beats – it’s a great balance of good and evil, happy and melancholy, that results in tunes inspired by Russian folklore, candy, death and marvelous melodies like With The Wind.
SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Quickbeam – Seven Hundred Birds
Quickbeam play at a volume that requires pin-drop silence from the audience and they’ve got the talent to write songs that demand such reverential obedience. Harmonium and strings shepherd Seven Hundred Birds into beautifully fragile and exquisitely precise spaces, marrying the raw intensity of Low with the melodic emotiveness of Sigur Rós. Cinematic stimulation is provided by the song’s staggeringly ethereal promo video.
SINGAPORE: I’m Waking Up To…
MUON – Aqua Assault
The muon is an elementary particle similar to an electron. MUON is also a musical entity that exists in Singapore, whether as one person (Nick Chan) or more (currently, Jordan, Ren and Adam). Despite its varying states of existence, MUON’s music is rather akin to its sub-atomic namesake with its deconstruction of pedantic structures, but also as intelligent, intense and cryptic aural and visual forms. Always exciting and always new, MUON has been forged in its singularity, and their craft emerges through parallel universes.
SOUTH KOREA: Korean Indie
Lang Lee – Hahaha
Lang Lee could be likened to a Korean Daniel Johnston, but with her own crazy and quirky, sometimes delightfully whimsical, storytelling ranging from teaching Yoda enough Japanese to be able to order green tea to love stories inspired by Kurt Vonnegut. Hahaha is an example of the latter and comes fresh off her just-released first album Yon Yonson.
SPAIN: Musikorner
Pajarita – Animals (ASIMO Remix)
Pajarita began in March 2012 as the musical project of Norah Alexandra Vega and her ukelele and, a few months on, she’s already about to release her first album via Discosdelrollo. Pajarita’s style can be described as lo-fi pop, dreamy and awesomely catchy for its simpleness and discretion. Animals (ASIMO Remix), though, might be the exception that confirms the rule about her music.
SWEDEN: Ja Ja Ja
Picture – True
Picture, aka David Kyhlberg from the enigmatic duo Sail A Whale, makes elusive, trance-inducing electronic pop that’s nothing short of amazing. True, the title track and first single from his debut EP, is no exception. This is probably as close to The Tough Alliance as you can get in 2012. The EP is out now on one of our favourite labels, Cascine.
SWITZERLAND: 78s
Biggles – Let A New World Begin
Sven Rüf aka Biggles from Zurich is a singer-songwriter with a special talent for making music that sounds simultaneously humorous and fragile. His songs always come with a decent dose of mischief, which is why we love him so much. His fifth long-player Cloudspeaker is released this month, guaranteeing pop music without boundaries.
TURKEY: WEARTBEAT
Adult Monkey – Supermarket
Adult Monkey is one of the cutest groups in Istanbul. They nestle all kinds of genres, especially chillwave, ambient lo-fi stuff. Besides being a band, Adult Monkey also contains illustrations and animations. In fact, Adult Monkey is a whole life portfolio for the two cartoonists who put together the band. Supermarket, their newest release, is a knockout track for the hot hot HOT summer.
UNITED STATES: We Listen For You
Houndmouth – Penitentiary
Louisville, Kentucky’s Houndmouth writes music that I like to call “recession rock”. Their music echoes the dirt roads of back-country counties during the night, the discarded bar stools in the back lot of an abandoned whisky joint, or the overall beauty that can sometimes be found in despair. Houndmouth, while young, bring the similar sounds of The Band back into contemporary rotation.
VENEZUELA: Música y Más
Los Polaroid – El Blues De Sus Piernas (Chicago Blues)
Los Polaroid formed in Maracaibo in 2010 with the idea of creating a musical proposal inspired by genres like jazz and blues. So far they have released two EPs and are currently on a tour that will take them around the country.
Music Alliance Pact August 2012
The Music Alliance Pact is a project where music blogs from over 30 countries select one song a month to share with the world from their nation. Make Believe Melodies is MAP’s representative from Japan. This month we are highlighting the chilled-out dance music of Greeen Linez. “Palm Coast Freeway” comes off of the duo’s laid-back debut album Things That Fade, which you can buy here. Listen to it, and a whole bunch of other great songs from around the world, below.
Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the whole 34-track compilation through Ge.tt here.
JAPAN: Make Believe Melodies
Greeen Linez – Palm Coast Freeway
Greeen Linez take a lot of inspiration from City Pop, a style of music that was popular in Japan during the late 80s and early 90s. Palm Coast Freeway captures this luxurious sound quite well, the elegant synths and bass suitable for both a dance club and a bank lobby. Palm Coast Freeway is on the album Things That Fade, which features even more modern takes on the City Pop sound.
ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Liza Casullo – Rojo Lojojo
After alt-rock band Doris broke up in 2007, most of its members started their own musical projects (Onda Vaga and Valeu!, among others). Singer and guitarist Liza Casullo decided to go solo, but she took some time off to develop her acting career. A couple of months ago she released her first official album, Velvetbonzo. It’s a great record in which a minimalistic acoustic sound blends with psychedelia, garage and folk. Rojo Lojojo is our favorite song, which we also managed to capture on video during one of her shows.
AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Cogel – Felusine
It’s a guarantee that tidy string sections and pulsating drums will typically heighten melodramatic feelings of bad love and melancholy, but you can’t pass over this glorious track from Sydney’s Cogel. Those violins and cascading treble guitars which duck and weave out of the chorus provide a nice backdrop to the band’s quieter moments and slight Arcade Fire stylings that mesh together so well. If Felusine is a pitch into the musical void, someone needs to sign these guys real soon.
AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
Plaided – Freaks And Geeks
“Would you run run run run run run run to my place and watch Freaks and Geeks all night long?” We totally would! Plaided is an acronym that was inspired by a Girls Rock Camp participant’s band and thus matches the feminist background of Veronika Eberhart and Julia Mitterbauer. The duo will go on a US tour with Grass Widow in September and also record a 7″ record there. Freaks And Geeks is taken from their debut album Playdate, recorded by Wolfgang Möstl (of previous MAP act Mile Me Deaf).
BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Iconili – O Rei De Tupanga
The fusion of jazz, experimentalism and African beats is the guideline for Iconili, formed by eight young musicians from Minas Gerais. O Rei De Tupanga is their new single, taken from their forthcoming album.
CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Expwy – Warm And Stricken By Lashes
With Little Hand Fighter, Expwy’s fifth album in two years, one-man band Matt LeGroulx sets his sights on the oft-neglected genre of bossa nova, imagining how it might have sounded if, instead of originating in the 50s and 60s, it was borne out of late century indie-rock sensibilities and lo-fi production values.
CHILE: Super 45
The Paintings – Sunrise
Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus are The Paintings. Besides being a couple in real life, the duo revisit the vigor of 70s garage, Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and the apathetic rage of The Jesus And Mary Chain. The music speak for itself, though, and this song Sunrise is their newest single.
COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
Planes (Estudios Universales) – Lonelii
Within the new movement of pop/rock bands in Colombia, Planes (Estudios Universales) feels like a blast of fresh air. The quintet have no borders or limits in their search for folk and electronic sounds. As we wait for their first studio album, enjoy Lonelii.
DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Alcoholic Faith Mission – Running With Insanity
Released in 2011 in Denmark, Alcoholic Faith Mission’s fourth full-length, Ask Me This, is now available worldwide and thus there are no good reasons not to check out the outfit’s alternative pop. Begin here with the excellent Running With Insanity.
ENGLAND: The Guardian Music Blog
Stealing Sheep – Shut Eye
This all-girl Liverpool trio’s debut album Into The Diamond Sun is more Staves/Warpaint than Atomic Kitten. The fact that one of the members hails from an area with a rich folk tradition seems to have seeped into their music, which has a pagan-ish, medieval quality to it. Elsewhere it is possible to detect influences as varied as The Go-Go’s and The Monkees, The Doors and Talking Heads, and there is a blend of good old-fashioned “played” instruments and electronic drones and effects, but always the folk elements shine through.
FINLAND: Glue
Satellite Stories – Anti-Lover
Indie quartet Satellite Stories have delivered several party songs over the last couple of years to become one of Finland’s most promising acts. Anti-Lover is the first single from their debut album Phrases To Break The Ice which will be released this autumn. It is three minutes of energetic guitar-based, dance-oriented indie-pop.
FRANCE: Yet You’re Fired
The Aerial – Clarity
The Aerial are one of France’s top up-and-coming bands. Hailing from Nancy, they released their first EP in April, in which each of their songs show a different influence, all while staying very danceable. In just four songs, they manage to sound like The Rapture, Foals and Foster The People. Clarity is their most electro-pop oriented song and is supported by a killer beat and an impeccable production. Don’t miss unreleased single Running on YouTube.
GERMANY: Blogpartei
Camera – Ausland
Let’s continue our little series of new Kraut with Berlin trio Camera. Although they connect to the old Kraut by playing with Michael Rother and Dieter Moebius, their music sounds refreshing. First single Ausland keeps the typical meandering melodies and synths but brings back rock to Krautrock. Their debut album, due out this month, incorporates many more influences and will, of course, be released on Bureau B.
GREECE: Mouxlaloulouda
The Last Drive – Child Of The Sky
The Last Drive are regarded as one of the most important and influential bands of the Greek underground music scene. They were formed 30 years ago and, through their explosive live performances and unique sound, became rapidly popular. After their dynamic comeback in 2007 (they split up in 1995), they released Heavy Liquid, a crafted mix of intense, raw rock ‘n’ roll songs, blurred melodies, addictive fuzz guitar riffs and almost primitive drums that unites disparate musical elements into blasts of noisy cohesion and howling passion. Right before the recording of their new LP, they have just unleashed News From Nowhere, an imprint of the difficult times we’re living.
ICELAND: Rjóminn
Jónas Sigurðsson – Þyrnigerðið
This is the first single from Jónas Sigurðsson’s upcoming third album, Þar Sem Himinn Ber Við Haf (“Where The Sky Touches The Sea”). Jónas, who is widely considered one of the most inventive musicians in Iceland, reinvents himself yet again by introducing electronic influences to his otherwise soulful, folksy and rhythmic sound. If you like what you hear you should really check out his first two albums.
INDONESIA: Deathrockstar
Awl – Albertine
Awl is Joan Lumanauw (The Wispy Hummers) and Mickey (Tenderpaw) creating noises and melodies for the world to dance to. You might think of The Raveonettes or Best Coast but if you listen carefully you’ll find something of their own.
IRELAND: Nialler9
Orquesta – Kokomo (feat. Jape, Kathi Burke & Katie Kim)
His recent acceptance into the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy is yet another reason to pay attention to Dublin producer Orquesta. Previously, he shot to attention with this gorgeous cover of The Beach Boys holiday anthem Kokomo. Featuring the vocal talents of Irish stalwarts Jape and Katie Kim, the song is a modern tropical uplift.
MALTA: Stagedive Malta
Hey Sus! – The Press
Mike and Andrew write tunes under the name Hey Sus! They try to create surfy indie-pop-folk with hip hop beats, provided by Thom. They recently released a split EP on cassette with Clandestines, titled Summer Camp For Pale Young Boys, from which The Press is taken.
MEXICO: Red Bull Panamérika
Soul Compas – Por Insurgentes
Soul Compas is a rap group formed by Eric El Niño, Konceptos and Milio Boogie, three well-known MCs from the Mexican rap scene. With the influence of Native Tongues, G-funk and post-Dilla movements, they have created Al Compás Del Soul, a humorous and fresh album that can be downloaded for free on their website. Por Insurgentes is one of their most interesting tracks. Aside from those swell samples, they’ve pictured an imaginary trip on one of the most important avenues of Mexico City, Insurgentes, which happens to be the longest road that crosses the city north to south, and shows most of its contradictions and emblematic places.
PERU: SoTB
Herzchenschmerzchen – Tic Tac
Herzchenschmerzchen, a word written in German and difficult to pronounce, is the name of Maria Jose Jordan’s solo project. This young woman reveals her indie-folk interests in her self-titled debut EP. Get ready to open a Pandora’s Box of musical gems such as the sweet Tic Tac.
POLAND: Łukasz Kuśmierz Weblog
Fair Weather Friends – Fortune Player
As MAP’s first ambassador for Poland, I bring you some catchy electro-pop from Fair Weather Friends. Fortune Player was used in an official commercial for this summer’s Heineken Open’er Festival (and Coke Live Festival) and caused some internet buzz thanks to its goofy video. You may have heard dozens of pop songs based on synth hooks on MAP but what you might not realise is that this singer is white, with Michał Maślak originally from guitar band Searching For Calm.
PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
PAPERCUTZ – Where Beasts Die
PAPERCUTZ returns to MAP with an exclusive track. Where Beasts Die is from their new album, The Blur Between Us. Bruno Miguel’s impressive project has paved its way with hard work, gathering a considerable fanbase outside Portugal. They were recently selected for the Red Bull Music Academy, which will take place in New York next year.
PUERTO RICO: Puerto Rico Indie
Pasajero – En La Playa
Daniel Vicente brings a delicate blend of pop, rock and electronic flourishes to his art and music project, Pasajero. His most recent EP boasts three layered tracks that highlight this idiosyncratic mix of influences, ranging from local acts like Superaquello to international names such as The Postal Service. En La Playa is a powerful tune featuring guest vocals by Carolina Martinez. With a dreamy pop quality that reminds us of waves slowly crashing at the beach at dusk, the song also addresses Puerto Rico’s current state of affairs and the alarming apathy that seems to have taken over its inhabitants. A great lead-off track for a “political dream-pop” playlist.
ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
Changing Skins – Perfect Foes
Changing Skins is an eclectic Bucharest-based band who rock the thin line between alternative and electronic music. They plan to release their debut album in October. NME recently posted a live video of their song Baby on their website.
RUSSIA: Big Echo
Cream Child – With The Wind
School Skulls is not just another sweet summer record with soft beats – it’s a great balance of good and evil, happy and melancholy, that results in tunes inspired by Russian folklore, candy, death and marvelous melodies like With The Wind.
SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Quickbeam – Seven Hundred Birds
Quickbeam play at a volume that requires pin-drop silence from the audience and they’ve got the talent to write songs that demand such reverential obedience. Harmonium and strings shepherd Seven Hundred Birds into beautifully fragile and exquisitely precise spaces, marrying the raw intensity of Low with the melodic emotiveness of Sigur Rós. Cinematic stimulation is provided by the song’s staggeringly ethereal promo video.
SINGAPORE: I’m Waking Up To…
MUON – Aqua Assault
The muon is an elementary particle similar to an electron. MUON is also a musical entity that exists in Singapore, whether as one person (Nick Chan) or more (currently, Jordan, Ren and Adam). Despite its varying states of existence, MUON’s music is rather akin to its sub-atomic namesake with its deconstruction of pedantic structures, but also as intelligent, intense and cryptic aural and visual forms. Always exciting and always new, MUON has been forged in its singularity, and their craft emerges through parallel universes.
SOUTH KOREA: Korean Indie
Lang Lee – Hahaha
Lang Lee could be likened to a Korean Daniel Johnston, but with her own crazy and quirky, sometimes delightfully whimsical, storytelling ranging from teaching Yoda enough Japanese to be able to order green tea to love stories inspired by Kurt Vonnegut. Hahaha is an example of the latter and comes fresh off her just-released first album Yon Yonson.
SPAIN: Musikorner
Pajarita – Animals (ASIMO Remix)
Pajarita began in March 2012 as the musical project of Norah Alexandra Vega and her ukelele and, a few months on, she’s already about to release her first album via Discosdelrollo. Pajarita’s style can be described as lo-fi pop, dreamy and awesomely catchy for its simpleness and discretion. Animals (ASIMO Remix), though, might be the exception that confirms the rule about her music.
SWEDEN: Ja Ja Ja
Picture – True
Picture, aka David Kyhlberg from the enigmatic duo Sail A Whale, makes elusive, trance-inducing electronic pop that’s nothing short of amazing. True, the title track and first single from his debut EP, is no exception. This is probably as close to The Tough Alliance as you can get in 2012. The EP is out now on one of our favourite labels, Cascine.
SWITZERLAND: 78s
Biggles – Let A New World Begin
Sven Rüf aka Biggles from Zurich is a singer-songwriter with a special talent for making music that sounds simultaneously humorous and fragile. His songs always come with a decent dose of mischief, which is why we love him so much. His fifth long-player Cloudspeaker is released this month, guaranteeing pop music without boundaries.
TURKEY: WEARTBEAT
Adult Monkey – Supermarket
Adult Monkey is one of the cutest groups in Istanbul. They nestle all kinds of genres, especially chillwave, ambient lo-fi stuff. Besides being a band, Adult Monkey also contains illustrations and animations. In fact, Adult Monkey is a whole life portfolio for the two cartoonists who put together the band. Supermarket, their newest release, is a knockout track for the hot hot HOT summer.
UNITED STATES: We Listen For You
Houndmouth – Penitentiary
Louisville, Kentucky’s Houndmouth writes music that I like to call “recession rock”. Their music echoes the dirt roads of back-country counties during the night, the discarded bar stools in the back lot of an abandoned whisky joint, or the overall beauty that can sometimes be found in despair. Houndmouth, while young, bring the similar sounds of The Band back into contemporary rotation.
VENEZUELA: Música y Más
Los Polaroid – El Blues De Sus Piernas (Chicago Blues)
Los Polaroid formed in Maracaibo in 2010 with the idea of creating a musical proposal inspired by genres like jazz and blues. So far they have released two EPs and are currently on a tour that will take them around the country.