“Latin Dream” — and many of Tokyo producer Fire Emjae’s recent output — takes me back in time, to a very specific year. Hitting play on SoundCloud for this one transports me to 2012, when high-energy dance tunes featured pitch-shifted slices of singing ping-ponging between twisty beats and synth blurts. The bongo precessions opening the song is kind of a fake out, because it isn’t long before Fire Emjae just turns this into an electronic fever dream, something that is great to breakdown on headphones or just bob to via speakers. The producer has been on a (sorry) hot streak as of late — check the understated groove of “My Funk” for something a little more controlled but every bit as fun, below.
New Nakamura Sanso: “Yonayona Neburu”
Keep it simple, and make sure nothing gets wasted in the process. This strategy got Nakamura Sanso on our radar last fall, and it makes “Yonayona Neburu” stick around too. This one unfolds a little slower, moving at a stroll rather than a skip while also finding time to fit in some Daoko-indebted whisper rapping. But it’s a lot of the musical details that make this one really get stuck in the ol’ noggin. The amount of filtering on Sanso’s voice is just right, while the the way the beat kicks in without ever being too drop-like works in an effective thump that never breaks the prettiness around it. And when her voice gets warped into a digital wobble late in the number, it’s the right amount of unnerving and enchanting. Listen above.
New Metome: Turn It Up
If you’re looking for the part of the Metome post where I talk about “fading memories” and “lost scenes,” don’t worry that will certainly pop up briefly. The Osaka producer’s music over the last couple of years has inspired me to get gloopy and long about a very specific time in Osaka’s electronic music community, one echoing in the songs put out since. But Turn It Up mostly implores dorks like me to stop Googling “hauntology” and have a little fun.
This is lively Metome, using little more than some drum programming, acid squelches and vocal samples to turn opener “Syndrome” into a kicking number more about the physical than the mental. Sure, that one synth wash over top hints at some deeper melancholy, but then a voice booms out “I like that” and those lingering feelings vanish for at least a little bit. Better still is the title track, which takes almost all the same elements to create a pulsating dance number that really goes big on the acid sound. Metome’s always been good at this type of sound, but those two songs serve as a stark reminder of how loose-limbed he could get when not talking to spirits. And hey, he even covers that one with “Lapse VCR,” a beatless meditation ending everything on a more contemplative note. Or maybe just a comedown after all the fun. Get it here, or listen below.
New Frasco: “Tatemae”
Let’s “Bandersnatch” this one: select (1) to ask the music blogger why the video above is so short, select (2) to ask the music blogger about Frasco’s “Tatemae” by itself.
(1) OK, sit down for a second, have I got some thoughts to unload on you. There’s this whole new class of Japanese artist emerging in the streaming era that one could label “Spotifycore,” though I think that’s a little too negative. These groups would absolutely have existed ten years ago, and a duo like Frasco aren’t doing anything to try to game the system (get to the chorus faster in that case!). This sort of streaming lower-middle class of Japanese music has nothing to do with sound, but more about position. These are acts that are either on small labels or on the fringes of major ones, and streaming has opened up this intriguing opportunity for them to stand out (or at least try while Aimyon’s songs clog up all the top charts). But the trade off here is that hearing the whole number on streaming ends up being the priority, so you get a “concept video” like the one above, which plays about half of “Tatemae,” which is a lovely song right in Frasco’s wheelhouse. But this is a bigger point, about how streaming isn’t setting Japanese music free, but just presenting a new place listeners have to go…not Tower Records, but Apple Music. This isn’t far removed from the “short version” of yesteryear, and a reminder Japanese music is still sorting all of this stuff out. Hey wait, where did you go, I had more to say….
(2) Oh yeah, it’s good, Frasco know how to make this slightly woozy synth-pop work for them and pull on the old heartstrings a little. They are masters of consistency. Now, want to hear me ramble about streaming???
Snakebitten: DJ Anaconda’s (Aka CRZKNY) Anaconda Trax Vol. 1
Last year, CRZKNY released GVVVV, which found the juke maker pivoting hard into straight-up gabber. It was a faithful set with a few flashes of the Chicago-style thrown in, but one that feels like a fun (and pounding) detour. But now, under the guise of DJ Anaconda, CRZKNY has returned to the hard-hitting sound, and made a huge jump forward with Anaconda Trax Vol. 1. The base remains in gabber, but whereas last year’s effort mostly relied on the beat to do most of the work, Anaconda Trax brings in more elements to deliver a more playful punch. The key addition is vocal samples, made clear right away on an opener breaking out a Sir Mix-A-Lot sample (get it?), turning “Baby Got Back” into an element of an aggressive dance track carrying a whiff of fun (plus, turns out those whip sounds were made for something a bit more suffocating). Voices add lightness to otherwise heavy songs, from the flexing of “Don’t Give A Shit” to the understated skitter of “Freak,” the best mid-point between juke and gabber from CRZKNY yet. Get it here, or listen above.