Ring Your Bell: Ibo Ibo Ruukern’s “Danqa”

The moment that “Danqa,” a song from “17 y/o Japanese” Ibo Ibo Ruukern out in Nagasaki, really gets interesting comes just before the first minute arrives. Up until that point, “Danqa” is a perfectly fine bit of wavy pop, in the same orbit as fellow Japanese producers such as Parkgolf and Kosmo Kat (or non-Japanese acts such as Wave Racer and bo en). It is already a welcome move forward from someone whose SoundCloud feed mostly consists of Future Funk and vaporwave, which — while sorta interesting when looked at as coming from a (purported) Japanese person — isn’t exactly an interesting approach to music in 2015. “Danqa” signals a nice shift in a new direction, though it doesn’t really get going until a few second before the minute mark. That’s when this jittery song loaded with 8-bit confetti and synths drops a bell into the fray, adding a distinct sonic signature onto “Danqa.” In a song that tries to do a lot, it ends up being the detail that hints at Ibo Ibo Ruukern having a good ear for detail. Listen above.