The end of the year is creeping up on us, which means it is time to start thinking about the memorable albums of the past 12 months. One of the bigger surprises came courtesy of Tokyo rock outfit Passepied, who have been a perpetually pushed “next big thing” for the last few years, though none of their EPs or albums really delivered on the hype – they had their moments, but overall they seemed like an outfit that had a rough idea what they wanted to be (vaguely retro Showa-rock pop built for festivals) but weren’t there yet by a long shot. So this year’s MakunouchiIsm was a great development – anchored by three killer advance singles (highlighted by best-to-date-creation “Tokyo City Underground“) their latest saw them take their sound and get ambitious with it…while also coming across some killer hooks. It isn’t their masterpiece or even a real top-20-of-the-year contender…the biggest compliment and criticism of it is it solidifies Passepied as an outgoing Sōtaisei Riron…but it’s a huge leap in quality and has completely flipped my view on them going forward.
And now, new ambitions. They have a new EP coming out which finds them eyeing the English market…they’ve recorded thumper “Matatabistep” into English, and called up hip-as-heck producer Seiho to remix it for them. That rework is out now, and the Osaka creator turns it into a liquid-limbed Jersey-Club-ish slinker (!!!). It is fun as fuck, and a preview of their English endeavor (sounds alright to me). Listen above.