Strung Along: Special Favorite Music’s “Summer Serve”

It has been an indie-pop sort of week, which seems about right given the suddenly warm weather gracing Tokyo (just remembered a typhoon arrives tomorrow, alright). Special Favorite Music add to the week’s already sunny collection of Japanese indie-pop with the seasonally appropriate “Summer Serve.” Like a lot of the better indie-pop bands out there, though, Special Favorite Music’s decision to put in a little more effort goes a long way. “Summer Serve” has a nice bounce to it, but what makes it sparkle are the strings rising up in the background and the horns, adding an extra urgency and drama to the song. Indie-pop often benefits from a childlike simplicity, but “Summer Serve” shows a little polish goes a long way. Listen above.

Similar Posts

  • New Cherryboy Function: “Distopia (Inter-Tech)”

    The first ten days of the year have already seen a handful of great Japanese releases, with the latest coming courtesy of long-running electronic producer Cherryboy Function. His Word In The Petals album arrived this past Wednesday, and he shared the chipper “Distopia (Inter-Tech)” the same day. The just-over six minute song is Cherryboy Function’s…

  • Half-Speed City: Abenie’s “Metropolis”

    Glitz can sound really interesting when parts of the charm feel just off. That’s something rarely — sometimes, but rarely — found in the current crop of smoothed-out rock performing well in Japan’s mainstream. The project Abenie shows how a little bedroom-pop charm can go a long way. “Metropolis” moves at a dazzled-by-the-lights pace, and…

  • Handsomeboy Technique

    I stumbled across Kyoto DJ/producer Handsomeboy Technique looking for remixes of Thieves Like Us’ “Drugs In My Body.” Handsomeboy (a.k.a. Yoshitaka Morino) somehow made the nocturnal strut of the original into something strangely triumphant. Check it out at his MySpace page. He has a new album of remixes available titled Discommunication Breakdown including the “Drugs”…

  • Not Lethargic: Head On The Sofa

    リニューアル後のタワーレコード渋谷店に遊びに行ってきました。2階がカフェで埋め尽くされていたりして、とても面白いですね。いろいろ試聴してて、新しいCDが欲しいなと思ったものの…一番安いのでも4曲入りのシングルで1000円だし…アルバムは2500円だし…この高価な価格設定がCDが売れなくなっている一番の原因ではないでしょうか。Head On The SofaのEPなんかは素晴らしい上にBandcampからタダでダウンロード可能ですし、今の時代多くのEPがMediaFireで無料で落とせます。 Head On The Sofaの新作Memai EPはギターが中心なものの、キャッチーなメロディーが好印象。一曲目の“Stay With Me”はシューゲイザー風の空間ギターにけだるそうなボーカルがフィーチャーされ、退屈になりがちなスタイルなものの、一直線な飽きのこない仕上がりになっています。一番注目すべきトラックは“Through Your Ways”なのですが、これはしゃっくりしてるかのような面白いリズムパターンが特徴的です。最初は不快に感じるかもしれませんが、慣れてくるとやみつきになりますよ。Dinosaur Jrのようなギターが印象的なインストの“Veranda”はギター少年にオススメ。すごく完成度の高いEPですし、Head On The Sofaは他にも作品を出しています。試聴(もちろん無料で)はこちらから。