Now in its sixth year, the Atomic Bomb Compilation continues to be one of the best collections of political music and juke going in Japan (and, really, globally). Let’s tackle the first element. For the first time in a few years, nuclear weapons and energy aren’t at the forefront of the summer news cycle. Yay?…
Cleverness can wilt to novelty quickly, and it isn’t easy to avoid the plunge to meme hell. Japanese juke producer Gnyonpix’s Juke Chips presents an idea that could go wrong if done poorly — what if juke, but 8-bit? Which, to be clear, isn’t totally radical. Those sounds pop up in footwork-ready tracks all the…
“Can this be called juke?” Gnyonpix wonders this in the description for “Tropical Cider Blue,” and my initial reaction is no, as it resembles more of the reggae-inspired output of someone like Quarta330. But also! Maybe lightening up about genre would be a good thing (to a degree) in 2017, and “Tropical Cider Blue” does…
Japan’s juke scene has been the most consistent over the last few years, receiving plenty of praise but never being pushed too far where it becomes a trend (when Hoshino Gen starts footworking, we can declare a state of emergency). And critically, the music remains strong as ever, artists out here offering a wonderful new…
Two of Japan’s finest juke makers dropped new albums during the same week — and that’s not even counting both of their contributions to Atomic Bomb Compilation Vol. 4, which they both played a big role in making happen. First up is Hiroshima’s CRZKNY, who follows up his politically charged contributions to that comp with…