日本のジューク／フットワークって聞くと少し取っ付きづらいイメージがありますが、”Japanese Juke & Footwork Compilation“というそのまんまのタイトルのコンピは、シーンの入門にはうってつけ。様々なプロデューサーが、多彩なアプローチでこのシカゴのジャンルに挑戦しています。でも４５曲も収録されているので、もっと手軽にジャンルを知りたい場合は、食品祭り A.K.A. Foodmanの新曲、”Tantei Kun”がオススメ。切り刻まれたサンプルはジャンルの特徴を上手くとらえているのですが、テンポは比較的ゆったりぎみ(的確なのが聴きたい場合はPicnic Womenとか、アメリカのTraxmanをチェックして下さい）。でも、ソフトロック調の心地よさは素晴らしいです。視聴は以下から、もし気に入ったら、４５曲のコンピにも挑戦してみて下さい。
楽曲の大半は割と単純な同じビートの繰り返しになりつつも２分程続く）シンセの波がトレモロのストリングの波と重なり空気感が変わる瞬間が素晴らしい良曲です。ブレークを経てストリングスがもどる様もとてもパワフル。Terrence Malickの映画と調和しそうな美しさを感じさせる物 になっています。楽曲は以下から。
New year, same great feature. Here’s the first Music Alliance Pact post of 2013, and representing Japan this month is Tokyo’s OKLobby and their mesmerizing track “Fireworks.” Listen to it…and a whole bunch of other great songs from around the globe (Dragon Inn 3, nice!) below. Click the play button icon to listen to individual…
“Restraint”(制御)という単語をDe De Mouseと結びつける事などないと思っていました。彼の音楽は通常、ボーカルを切り刻み、その切れ端をスピード感のあるビートの上に乗せるようなスタイル。任天堂DSの音楽ゲームだったら最大級の難易度ですね。ドラムンベースの影響が薄い曲に限っての話ですが。新作Sky Was Darkからの曲、”Floats And Falls”は何と９分もあるのですが、今回はただ速いだけではありません。逆にスローなこの曲では、シンセが上手く曲を展開させて行きます。ボーカルのみにスピード感があります…というよりは、跳ねるようなスタイルがそう聴こえさせるのかもしれませんが。 “Floats And Falls”は５分が経過したその時点で既に完成された曲なのですが、それだけで終わらないのが今回の注目点。曲は不意に展開し、ビートが消えてボーカルとシンセのみのパートになります。その後も次々に新しい音色が加えられ、曲を終わりへと導きます。長くも飽きのこない、優れた工夫が施された作品だと感じます。De De Mouseの曲の中でもダントツで平和な、広々とした空気感を放っていて、彼の新しいスタイルを象徴した、新しい始まりを感じさせる曲になっています。ビデオは以下に。
I’d like to think this a case where a music scene’s very existence proves itself to be vital, to be responsible for fostering a young artist and helping them improve over time. Gloomy popped up on our radar late last year, when they (I believe they are a duo) appeared on the bill for one…
Sakanaction’s latest single “Music,” due out January 23, finds the group touching on some of their older material. The way lead singer Ichiro Yamaguchi stretches out syllables in the verses brings to mind the single “Endless,” while the late-song surge in emotion resembles another cut from DocumentaLy, “Monochrome Tokyo.” Yet this isn’t the sound of…
Kindan No Tasuketsu has a new album out this month, and although our interest was peaked from the announcement alone, it is now even higher thanks to “Tonight, Tonight.” Nothing at all like The Smashing Pumpkins’ song, this is a throbbing bit of electro-pop, unreletning save for a very very brief break late in the…
Japan’s juke and footwork scene can seem intimidating to dive into – the aptly titled Japanese Juke & Footwork Compilation collects 45 tracks from a wide range of producers serving up their take on the Chicago genre – but sometimes all it takes is one song to serve as a guide. Shokuhin Maturi A.K.A. Foodman’s newest song “Tantei Kun” might be one such entry point, as it hits on all the elements of the genre without feeling like too much to take in at once. Foodman dices his samples up, but the song moves at just a slightly slower speed than most footwork tracks (see Picnicwomen or American artist Traxman for examples of something that darts more). Most importantly, the purée of soft-rock sounds sound really nice. Listen below, and if you like that, give the aforementioned 45-song compilation a whirl.
The ’80s…or at least sounds heavily inspired by the ’80s…are never going away. So let’s embrace the artists who know how to capture shiny wonder in all its glistening beauty? Last year’s Schau=Essen 2 did the neon-soaked sound well it landed in our top-15 albums list, and now here comes the latest in the series,…
Kyoto’s Homecomings have found their corner of the music world, and they fit snuggly into it. “Songbirds” is their latest song, and it is a further Sharpie-underlining of what they do so well. No band in Japan captures suburban ennui —- a very Kyoto-born longing, a place that allows for the space and time to…
Everyday at 10 a.m., I fired up the HQ app and attempt to finally win about $11 by guessing on questions about the periodic table. Before it gets underway, they play this theme song that is the trivia-app equivalent of a Wave Racer song. It’s a daily reminder of the weird space future bass occupies…
Like I’m not posting an EDM-leaning track that samples Elmer Fudd. Listen above.
The run up to Kyoto producer Madegg’s new album New continues with “National Water,” and a bare-bones but appropriate clip, which you can watch above. The young artist has always been good at working tension into his music, and he’s gotten particularly good at it over the past year, moving beyond highlighting great sounds and…
It’s gone from sorta neat to kinda annoying to pretty impressive that the 80’s remain such an artistic inspiration to so many musicians. Remember, this is a decade most people want to forget, or at the very least lampoon – VH1 greenlit a 10-part series about making fun of the ’80s. Yet just like how…