Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs No New World is as welcome a surprise as you could ask for in 2018. The band largely stopped putting out new material following 2010’s triumphant third full-length from the trio, an urgent and propulsive set of songs that shoved against the usual placid pace of Japanese rock music. They re-emerged last year, with a song that sounded more fitting for end credits than anything else. Wisely, that’s what “Slow Motion Replay” basically serves as on No New World, with “New Order” leading off and asserting that, no, Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs still bring that energy rush to their songs. Like their best numbers, the band waste no time, driving off with the vocals zooming into focus a second in. The mood feels a little more downcast on verses, not because of changes to tempo but just because of how the singing comes off as more reflective, a mood only doubled down for the hook. But even if a tinge of melancholy has snuck in, the rush remains, and few do it better. And from there, they barrel into a welcome highlight of 2018. Listen above.
New Firedrill: Dog House EP
The newest from Datafruits founder Tony Miller’s Firedrill starts off by going all in. “Aho House” ramps up the acid house elements from the start, but rather than settle down it keeps on stacking up, the song growing busier and scragglier as it moves along. But the groove remains, even as it Jengas itself up more and more. It’s an attitude that carries over to the other songs on Dog House, from the squiggly “The Jack Crystal” and the click-clacking “The Doos.” Get it here, or listen below.
Wavy: Tsudio Studio’s Port Island
A surefire way to grab this blog’s attention is to take familiar retro ideas — say, anything inspired by (or straight samples) from city pop — and put a new spin on it. Kobe’s Tsudio Studio does just that with the harbor-cruise-paced Port Island, one which embraces the slower side of the style to come up with something closer to what Hiroshi Sato might have actually thought up. The tracks here take their time going anywhere, and on numbers such as “Mikage” they let filtered vocals and cruise ship percussion marinate, creating melancholy trips that often burst open thanks to timely saxophone solos. Opener “Tor” balances out tropical woodwinds with fluttery synth lines that give the whole song the feeling of a mirage, while “Azur” reduces everything to syrup, at least until the song progresses to a point where Tsudio Studio can let the pace rev up again. This whole album is an experiment in actually embracing the breezy rather than just stripping pieces off of what was once breezy to make a meme. And the end result is chill and frequently world weary. Get it here, or listen below.
Weird Incantations: Sea Level’s “Race Against the Drum Machine”
Every element of Sea Level’s “Race Against the Drum Machine” feels stitched together into a really jarring patchwork. The group, split between Fukuoka and Tokyo, recently put out their debut full-length on Call And Response (get that here), and this advance peek stands as one of the more wobbly — and fun in its unsteadiness — moments on that release. Voices drift in and out of frame, some of them backtracked and others half-scatted, but each generating more tension to a song that just skitters off on the edges. Details disorient — a sudden guitar line, whistling, that drum machine they are racing against rumbling off — and everything just rumbles around until the pieces end up in just the right order to create a real mind tripper. Listen above.
Re-textured Past: Maisou’s Fuuyu Kan
There has been a noticeable boom in young women crafting hip-hop over the last couple of years, but how does one go about standing out in an ever crowded field? Maisou jumps out right away on new album Fuuyu Kan by delivering near-whispered rhymes over a beat re-contextualizing Taeko Onuki’s “Tokai,” a song benefitting from the boom in older Japanese music, but one usually treated sloppily. But with help from producer T5UMUT5UMU, the song warps into something different, and becomes a good backdrop for Maisou to update the original’s meditations on city life into the 21st century. That vibe runs throughout this release, with beats seemingly sourced from older music (yeah yeah, nothing new, but maybe the way sampling has worked recently at least in online music circles has made something like this feel surprisingly fresh) that serve as proper foundations for Maisou’s own observations. Get it here, or listen below.