And now the final list begins…here is part one of our “best albums” list, featuring our favorite Japanese releases of the year. #30 Wata Megumi Blindman Wata Megumi’s nervy pop has always felt just off, regardless of whether she was taking aim at society as a whole or otherwise. Blindman aims for something more ambitious,…
Calling the latest two songs from Cemetery “comforting” probably implies that they are more easygoing than they really are — “Tillmans” and “Riffs” still force me to go to all of my favorite descriptions (“shadowy,” “unsettling,” “like walking around a sunny park but clouds keep following you”), but the prior plays out like a lullaby….
Denial surrounds and unnerves. The first album from the Tokyo-based project of Cemetery…the solo outing of Batman Winks’ member Kota Watanabe…loads up on spoken-word samples in all sorts of tongues and layers on the thick synthesizer lines to create a collection following somewhere between Jesse Ruins and a puddle of wet cement. Sometimes, a clear…
Cemetery is the project of Kota Watanabe, who plays with (or is associated with, at least) the Ariel-Pink-worshipping project Batman Winks. Yet, as demonstrated on “Vit,” Cemetery takes its time to establish an unsettling vibe. The song wisps forward, a persistent beat and vocal samples of a conversation lurking just underneath. It isn’t quite there…