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。
Is it an ode to times that have passed, or a celebration of a period in one’s life that will soon be history? The beauty of “Younger Life” is it leaves that a little bit open-ended…it could be a memory or it could be in the moment, but Ykiki Beat’s strutty number about the joys…
Elen Never SleepsとSuper VHSがスプリットEPを発表しました。White Surrender/Stuck On Youに収録された曲は、どちらも彼らの今までのスタイルとは異なった方向性となり、新しい可能性を追求した良作と言えるでしょう。Elen Never Sleepsによる”White Surrender”は、今までのドリーミーなサウンドより、少しくっきりとした曲です。きちんと輪郭のあるボーカルに時折囁くようなコーラスが混ざり、ギターとミニマルなビートの上に重ねられています。ボーカルはハイトーンではやや不安定なものの、ミニマルな曲に上手くマッチしています。Super VHSの”Stuck On You”は、彼の楽曲の中でもダントツにガレージ・ロック寄りと言えるでしょう。短いものの、バックグラウンドに面白いノイズが使われていて興味深いです。 EPには東京のトラックメーカー、Taquwamiによるリミックスも含まれています。不思議なことにWhite Surrenderのリミックスは、すごくドリーミーに作られているため、本人達の物より、過去のElen Never Sleepsスタイルに近く感じられます。遅くされたボーカルを除けばElenのオリジナルのようになるでしょう。Taquwamiのサイドプロジェクト、Occult YouとしてリミックスされたStuck On Youは、ガレージからガラリと変わり、Toro-Y-Moiのようなダンスチューンになっています。視聴、ダウンロード(無料)は以下より。 White Surrender / Stuck On You by Gay Vegan Vinyl Cassette
Vocaloid-user mus.hiba has been teaming up with a lot of folks recently – first, Bo En and him came together for the cut “Winter Valentine” on the English music maker’s Pale Machine release. And now he’s bringing the syllabic sounds of Sekka Yufu to the late-night sounds of Irish producer Harmful Logic’s chilly “Whispery Voice.”…
Okinawa’s StillSound returns with a lovely, bouncy number called “Good Idea.” It’s a relatively straightforward track – a beat, some non-flashy synths, singing which isn’t immediately audible but far from fuzzed out – that doesn’t change much during its playtime. Yet it’s an effective combination, especially StillSound’s singing, which rises and falls elegantly and ends…
It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally arrived – Jesse Ruins’ proper debut album has finally arrived, and The Fader is streaming it all right now. A lot has changed since the CUZ ME PAIN label emerged from the shadows of MySpace – Jesse Ruins has evolved from a solo-project of Nobuyuki Sakuma…
YMCK, like fellow Japanese artists Omodaka and the older material of 99 Letters, pulls off a rare thing – being able to make music based primarily around 8-bit sounds and turning it into something beyond novelty. “Sesetsu Shite Usetsu Shite” could be goofy novelty in the hands of someone more interested in playing Mega Man…
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.
Osaka producer Nite Body erased almost all of their previous digital footprint, meaning the handful of EPs the smooth, tropical-tinged track maker have vanished from the web forever (for now). Thankfully, Nite Body as a whole isn’t gone, with the shimmering aqua-ambient of “Waters Of Rauresia” coming at just the right time to eliminate any…
I figured, oh I’ll just write about this series when it reaches its conclusion. Little detail forgotten — I have no idea when that would come. So let’s just jump into Kool Switch Works delicious beats 4 sale! series at the third installment, because I can’t ignore this anymore. The series aims to offer up…
Since I’m not much of a winter sports enthusiast and have no idea what else can be enjoyed in the area, I’ve never traveled to Nagano. Accordingly, my perceptions of the prefecture mostly stem from the 1998 Olympics or, more appropriately, the subsequent video game that came out for the Nintendo 64. In my mind…
Digital noises shouldn’t sound this alive. Tokyo group Candles resides in the same space occupied by fellow Japanese artists like EeL, Nuxx and √thumm – electronic-swamped outfits not quite as sugary as Perfume, but more than just dancefloor fodder too. They are groups that see both dance music and pop as forms of emotional release,…
Producer Daisuke Tanabe has a new album on the way, and he’s shared a little of it with XLR8R. “Origami” features off-kilter…damn, they already beat me to that description…how about Tanabe that fuzzy…gahhhh, OK…hold on, let me throw the adjectives out the window. Tanabe has always chased more creative – alternatively, weirder – ideas down,…
Perhaps you read this Pitchfork piece on the decline of the greatest-hits album? It’s really good, one of the better (and inspiring) pieces of music writing I’ve seen in a bit. Anyway, none of it really applies to Very Best Of Bulbs Of Passion, a best-of from Japanese indie-rock outfit Bulbs Of Passion. This will…