Soleil Soleil is closing out August nicely with two new dance tracks apt for pre-sunset evenings and pleasant temperatures. The Osaka producer has long created great house from pop samples, and “Medicine” excels at delivering energy. It’s simple, but Soleil Soleil knows how to use basic ingredients to create something rollicking, and in the case of this song something that has a slight jitter to in it (see: the way those words crash into one another). Listen to that one above. “One More Reason” is just far more euphoric, using split-second vocal snippets to create a dizzying run of dance music. Details in this one are less important, because the way everything blurs together into ecstasy wins the day. Listen below.
New Puffyshoes (!): “Let’s Fall In Love”
A season of returns continues with rock duo Puffyshoes announcing their return with a new song. The pair released a lot of music at the start of this decade, all of it wrapped in a layer of feedback that concealed the often downbeat lyrics — songs about parties and crushes usually weren’t looking at them from a totally positive angle. “Let’s Fall In Love” tows similar terrain — the object of attraction isn’t there, and the lyrics leave space to reflect on loneliness (Puffyshoes have always made a lot out of economy too –they fit a lot of feelings into a song less than two minutes long). But they also sneak in plenty of excitement at the prospect laid out right in the title, and that thrill is what powers them forward. Get it here, or listen below.
New Parkgolf: Hiyamugi
Parkgolf has been exploring what happens when space gets a little more emphasis in a song. This is quite the shift for a producer whose earliest releases excelled because of breakneck pace and maximalist embrace of noise — dude has a song called “Woo Woo” which just captures the energy flowing through his work. But in the last year he’s slowed down a little bit, whether with vocalists or in new age experiments. Sure, he’s still got the wilder side going…but even that is carving out room for a rapper.
Hiyamugi represents the biggest twist yet from Parkgolf. This is a three-song set featuring some of the more spacious music he has made yet. It isn’t minimalist, but there’s a very clear switch-up in sound here. The title track does it best, packing a punch as it jitters between sections — this is the closest I’ve heard any artist come to hitting on the alter-dimension wonder of Moyas since that one dropped — but also leaving room for bird sounds, delicate synth droplets and warped vocals. Here, the “woos” aren’t revving anything up, but puncturing through silence. “Yamori” again works bird chirps into the song, opting for a pleasant skip over anything wild, while closer “Mado” ends this brief run with some strings. Get it here, or listen below.
New Harunemuri: “Kick In The World”
Navigating emotions and then simply going for total release is a constant element of Harunemuri’s music. It’s part of the reason her Haru To Syura album from earlier in the year is among 2018’s finest — the constant tension between turning things over frequently and using words as a way to figure out what’s happening, and the more visceral decision to just burst. Her newest single “Kick In The World” leans all in on this balance. The verses are all words, first set over synth bursts and the slightest guitar notes, and later picking up intensity while still allowing space for Harunemuri’s speak-sing tangle. But the hook is pure punch, the music recalibrating into a rock chug (complete with all-together-now “la las”) and Harunemuri screaming the title over it. That familiar tension smashes forward, and show she’s still able to get a lot out of this formula. Listen above.
New Pelican: Nagatsuta
The lead single didn’t capture all the different directions this one would go. Pelican’s Nagatsuta opens with two slabs of crunch electro-rap — including the linked “From Japan” — but it doesn’t take long for Pelican to swing off into all sorts of different directions. “Myth Scat” introduces a 2-step beat for her to bob over, while she covers a glistening C-Side Sea Site track. She then pinballs around juke and even appears on a noodle-like disco number. Whatever the situation, Pelican adjust accordingly, and the end result is a nice bit of chameleon pop with a touch of the wonky side. Get it here, or listen below.