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New Le Makeup: “Lush”

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Le Makeup’s letting his voice get louder and louder. “Lush” is the latest track from the Osaka artist that finds them revisiting the skip of their early Bala-Club-esque experiments and adjusting it to their current one-day-at-a-time mindset. But the bigger development, as mentioned, is how clearer Le Makeup’s vocals are getting, here coming through clearer than on anything from last year’s Hyper Earthy and becoming the song’s big moment of release late, when everything picks up in intensity. Get it here, or listen below.

New Pasocom Music Club: Condominium. — Atrium Plants EP

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That collective attention spans have been drastically reduced thanks to social media is probably a net negative for society as a whole, but one small perk of this shift in how information comes and goes seems to be that musicians have to act a lot faster than before in putting music out. Pasocom Music Club already released one of 2018’s best albums this past summer in Dream Walk, a computer romp celebrating both the Jusco beat, the bubble era, and peak netlabel days in a package that split the difference between nostalgia and the future. The Condominium. — Atrium Plants EP offers a slightly different side of the project. The four songs included here actually come off as a snapshot of their live show more than anything else — whereas Dream Walk attempts proper pop in the Club’s circle, Condominium offers up more club-direct stuff, starting with the house rollick of “Exhibition” and then creating a woozy dance track loaded up with bird sounds on “Atrium Plants.” Through the first three songs, this is Pasocom’s live show captured perfectly in EP form. Yet here comes the swerve with “Seed,” featuring Q.i with vocals. She only appears for a bit, but her voice shows the catchiness lurking beneath the pulse of an otherwise deep-set banger. A reminder that this isn’t an exercise in floor-filling dance tracks, but showing how all sides of the group connect to one another. Get it here, or listen below.

Kool Switch Works Shares delicious beats 4 sale! vol​.​3, Gives Me Chance To Talk About Other Two Volumes

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I figured, oh I’ll just write about this series when it reaches its conclusion. Little detail forgotten — I have no idea when that would come. So let’s just jump into Kool Switch Works delicious beats 4 sale! series at the third installment, because I can’t ignore this anymore. The series aims to offer up electro and ghettotech from Japanese producers, though it hits on a variety of styles beyond those too. Gunhead gets this set off to a rumbling start with the trap-accented “Bum Bum Satellites” (also, wow good name), while D.J.G.O. creates an unnerving track using horn blurts and spoken-word samples. Get it here, or listen below.

The previous two installments are also well worth your time. Vol. 1 features the heaviest-hitting line-up, opening with a swaggering track with hints of smudged corners courtesy of AVV, followed up by some throwback electro vibes courtesy of Satanicpornocultshop. Vol. 2 sees Picnicwomen mutate The Offspring into a goofball crowd pleaser, while Trekkie Trax’s Andrew delivers what might be my favorite track across any of these three with the electro hop-scotch of “I Want, I Need.”

New Taquwami: “Ag Hikari”

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If nothing else, this October is going to be good thanks to this project courtesy of Secret Songs. Everyday, the label will share a previously unheard song from Taquwami, one of our favorite artists of this decade. This has prompted some internal debate — does this blog just become a Taquwami landing page for a month? Just do some check-ins throughout the month? It’s probably that one — but really, I’m just excited to hear all of it. So let’s go from the start. “Ag Hikari” is a return to the fizzy times leading up to Moyas, opening with a soft and fidgety passage somewhere between Shigesato Itoi and Aphex Twin. The intensity picks up from there, with Taquwami adding in more sounds and being unafraid to let them crash into one another in order to see where this goes. And after an upbeat run, it ends on one of the more reflective passages to pop up in a Taquwami track. It’s going to be a good month. Listen above.

Smartphone Bling: Seaside-métro’s “Kazehikunayo”

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Music, made on an iPhone…what a novel idea! That’s the hook for Seaside-métro, but the smartphone producer manages way more than novelty with the chipper “Kazehikunayo.” Other songs featured on their SoundCloud page feel way more phone-generated, charming but also not far from default ringtone. But “Kazehikunayo” zooms forward on synthesizer wooshes and a persistent beat, topped off by a kid-like choir vocal really bringing out the Katamari Damacy feels for this. And that’s a good comparison, because “Kazehikunayo” manages the same goofy-fun feelings and consistent skip of anything from that soundtrack…but in pocket size! Listen above.