Continuing on the theme of “Tokyo…weird place to live,” Osaka’s Cloudy Busey sounds afraid to live in Tokyo on “I’m Afraid To Live In Tokyo.” The song nails an anxiousness about moving to…well, it could apply to any massive city, between the cost of everything and fear of natural disasters. The milestone here? This is the first song I’ve ever heard to reference “bagelheads,” so shouts out to that. Listen above. And Tokyo isn’t that bad! But I also stay in my apartment most days now, so what do I know!
Tag Archives: cloudy busey
New Cloudy Busey Video: “Overcame The Sun”
“Overcame The Sun” came out back in 2013, on a very solid collection called Wait In The Shade. And now, around two years later, the indie-pop number from Osaka’s Cloudy Busey has a video, which you can watch above. And it is a fantastic excuse to revisit both the song and the album it came from. Listen above.
Everyone Is Releasing Albums In December: New Cloudy Busey And Ykiki Beat
Why release an album in December???? Don’t you know it won’t appear on year-end lists???? Nobody who is anybody would release an album at the end of the year, right???? Oh.
Two great Japan-based artists released new albums this past week, and the only real loser is me, as neither of these could sneak onto this blog’s best-of list. Both probably could have too, so let’s give ’em a special Sunday post.
– Osaka’s Cloudy Busey released the Wait In The Shade album last week, after holding off on them for some time. “I’ve smothered these songs long enough. they are probably perfect, they deserve to be let out,” he writes in the description for this six-song set. Glad they did get out – they find the producer working to his strengths, creating dark songs with a dance edge. Opener “I Would Love You” sets the scene well – it is a percussion-heavy number…including cowbell…which could have mutated into a proper party number in other hands. But, as the Twilight Zone worthy intro suggests, this is anything but a party, with the vocals especially driving home the more despondent side of this song. Tracks like “The Promise Of Chance” and previously released stunner “A Spring Fuck You” take the formula even further…though he does make room for one sunny(ish) number in “Overcame The Sun.” Get it here, or listen below.
– Tokyo’s Ykiki Beat – a project associated with the super-promising DYGLW and Timothy Work – has collected a handful of songs that have popped up on SoundCloud (also under his other projects) and compiled them into the hook-tastic Tired Of Dreams collection. This thing is loaded with choruses – “Garden,” “Hollywood!,” “Elise” and “Roll The Dice” being immediate highlights. Ykiki Beat also makes room for more reflective numbers like “Younger Life” and the chillwave-ish “London Echoes.” Get it here, or listen below.
New Cloudy Busey: “A Spring Fuck You”
At long last, Osaka’s Cloudy Busey is back with a new song and video. “A Spring Fuck You” breaks a bit from the last few songs this Osaka-based artist released to the world. Those songs set far-from-positive lyrics against pop-oriented backdrops. Now, similar words are being set against music that practically lurches, and at times seems close to turning into a sea shanty. Yet this also allows Cloudy Busey more space to experiment with, which makes details like the trailing echo on his vocals and those lonely cries deeper in the mix that much more affecting. Whereas earlier Cloudy Busey songs had you dancing while also holding back emotions, “A Spring Fuck You” hypnotizes you in to just wallowing in them. And it sounds really good. Watch the video above.
The Best Of The Rest Before The Best: New Stuff Last Week Featuring Cloudy Busey, The Vanities, bbbbb And More
We spent last week yacking about all the great music we overlooked throughout 2012…and, in the process, missed out on a lot of great new tunes that popped up during those critical five days. Ironic! The rest of the year here at Make Believe Melodies will be spent talking about the best music of the year in some form or another, with only updates for really significant new stuff. So before we get serious about looking back, let’s catch up with all the good stuff that came out over the past seven days.
Cloudy Busey/Bobcat – Only Devotion
If anyone one long-playing work released in December this year is going to charge our year-end-best features, it would be this majestic beast of a mixtape. Only Devotion gathers all of Cloudy Busey’s (sometimes Bobcat) “sad disco songs” from 2012 in one mix. It features downtrodden dance numbers like the the hiccuping “B4 This Loneliness” and “Up To You (If You Love Me),” one of the year’s finest. Your late-night walks home – alone – just got a soundtrack.
The Vanities 1+1=26 EP
Superb young indie-pop label Ano(t)raks close out an already strong year with one more solid offering courtesy of duo The Vanities. This pair are the most shoegazey of the groups circling the Ano(t)raks world, and this brief outing showcases their buzzy best. Get it here.
bbbbb Anti GridEP
Know another genre of music that had a tight 2012? Juke/footwork! bbbbb appeared on that awesome Kool Switch Works compilation this summer, and now has his own EP of fast-paced, R&B-sampling dance music for you to enjoy/soundtrack your New Year’s Eve party with. Highlight is “B2T,” check it out.
Kangaroo Girls Column By Column EP and Elfs In Bloom Summer’s (Not) Gone
Two new releases from Canata Records – one from Kyoto bedroom project Kangaroo Girls and another from the still-fuzzy Elfs In Bloom. Check ’em out, they are free after all!
Winona Hyper
Will Taquwami-esque music be the Japanese trend of 2013? If it is, Winona Hyper will be in the mix, so get familiar now.