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Warming Waters: Pool$ide’s Aquarius

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Aquarious is a real emotional rollercoaster, achieving both giddy moments and some real melancholy with no words. Chalk up another winner for Local Visions, though this one is less about a new angle on nostalgia (though also…kinda?) and more about their ability to pinpoint young electronic artists and give them a platform to shine. Kobe’s Pool$ide uses synths, sliced-up vocal samples and digi beats to create songs that can be downright jolly, such as opener “Tiny Flow,” which uses something approximating an ocarina as a main melody to add some hop to it, slowing down to let bird noises and eventually blurts of syllable in. Things go extremely tropical on the pure bliss of “Sun Shine,” while the woodwind vibe returns on “Ugly Bubble,” though this time it works in tandem with pitch-shifted voice snippets. Overall, Aquarius gets pretty optimistic, but that makes moments like “Crawl” all the more memorable. That one uses all the same sounds, but unfolds a bit lighter, and goes for ennui, everything hitting just a bit softer. It reveals depth to this approach, and makes this a deeper listen. Get it here, or listen below.

Feeling Off: DJ Cheap’s Anxious Footworks EP

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Title doesn’t lie! Due to the repetitive and quick-hit nature of the whole style, juke can be quite a nervy listening experience. But DJ Cheap really takes it to the extreme on Anxious Footworks, which uses some vocal samples of people practically yelling at you to really get the hairs on your arm to stand up. “Do You Hear That” is just that phrase yelped back at the listener over a skittery beat and a few other musical mutations, while “What The Fuck Is Wrong With You” — take a guess. So it goes, save for finale “BBIGWR,” which replaces human voices with an unsettling sample that kind of coils and springs around for the whole song. Yet DJ Cheap nails the energy to keep these songs moving along and getting bodies moving, even when they bark at you. Get it here, or listen below.

New Paellas: “Orange”

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It isn’t a total move into the sunlight, but “Orange” finds Paellas moving the curtains back a little bit. It is there first “digital single,” so I suppose they wanted to avoid the backstreet glow of breakout “Shooting Star” this time around. A synth-melody pops along for most of the song, while the drum beat and bass playing lean closer to upbeat than the shadowy funk of previous releases. Hoshino Gen they ain’t when it comes for the happy stuff, but this is certainly perking up for them. Well, almost all of them — the key remains vocalist Matton singing in a way that always sounds just slightly melancholy, even if the sounds around him are a bit more smiley. You can change the background, but you can’t shake the lingering ennui. Listen above.

New Homecomings: “Blue Hour”

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Kyoto’s Homecomings have always sung in English prior to this year’s Whale Living, out next week. On that one, they switch it up to their native Japanese. Yet “Blue Hour” reminds that despite the linguistic change, the quartet remains capable of nailing the melancholy of everyday life. “Blue Hour” unfolds at a familiar Charlie-Brown-type shuffle, a pace allowing every word to hang out as long as needed to really get its feeling across. This has always been Homecomings skill — they make music that captures the feeling of taking a walk and just thinking stuff over, letting small details crash into the bigger nagging concerns. The language is different, but the impact is the same. Listen above.

New Frasco Featuring ASOBOiSM: “Era”

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It felt for a split-second there that Frasco were taking a breather after a year where they’ve put out an impressive amount of synth-centered funk-pop. But they just needed some time to get a friend. “Era” finds the pair leaning in on their electronic side, crafting a fizzy backdrop loaded up with samples that reflect the lyrics. The bulk of those little sonic springs come during ASOBOiSM’s verse, which finds her rapping about smartphones, decades gone by and making dad jokes. It’s playful — something a lot of Japanese rap in 2018 ignores in favor of wanting to sound like Migos (while forgetting that, you know, they are fun) — bit that works wonders in Frasco’s world. Listen above.