American imprint Squiggle Dot just released three albums from a trio (or, maybe 2.5, as one is a split with another artist outside the country) of Japanese artists, each hitting on different pleasure centers. Boogie Idol’s Mall Pop Hits is a great place to lead off, the Tokyo producer’s crystalline synthesizers and BGM-ready beats intertwining…
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,…
North American label Rain Dragon Records put out a new sampler, full of lots of retro-tinged electronic numbers. That includes Japan’s Boogie Idol, the reason we are writing about it and…well, honestly, a song I’d just like to sink in to this week (rough times! work wise!). It sounds so shimmery and happy, a sonic…
Still catching up a bit, will start sneaking in some newer songs tomorrow, but first three electronic producers who dropped releases on the world before 2016 kicked off. – Boogie Idol had an eventful 2015, helping keep the neon glitz of Bubble Era Japan alive across solo releases and compilation appearances. He closed out the…
One of the problems with “new City Pop” — a “trend” created by music stores and slapped on artists such as Cero, Mitsume and Shiggy Jr. among more — is how un-glitzy any of the acts corralled into it actually sound. City Pop, especially during Japan’s Bubble peak, was often times grotesque in its shininess,…