Here’s the final premier from the remix collection Paradice: Revisited By Friends & Lovers, an album featuring reworked numbers from Tokyo outfit LLLL’s debut album, out today via Zoom Lens. The finale comes from fellow Tokyo unit Jesse Ruins, who remixed “Because Of My Eyes” into a skittery number that would fit in just nicely amongst a CUZ ME PAIN night somewhere in the capital. Listen to it above. And get the album here.
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New Jesse Ruins: “L For App”
It has been a while since shadowy outfit – and CUZ ME PAIN group – Jesse Ruins have shared a new song…but they have a lot to reveal today. The group will release their second album Heartless in November (well, in Japan…an international release follows the next month), and here’s the first taste of it. Jesse Ruins’ music has always struck a fine balance between dreamy wonder and creeping unease – see “Dream Analysis” and remember those deeper-toned backup vocals backing the sweeter ones up front – but “L For App” leans more towards creating a creepy atmosphere. It’s a sparse number featuring clattering percussion and chant-like voices saying “just feel…sick sick sick” (or, depending on how you want to hear this, “6 6 6”). The voices eventually stutter, and electronic pulses enter it, adding to the sweltering feel. It builds up to something, but even the climax here is claustrophobic. Listen above.
Jesse Ruins’ Nobuyuki Sakuma Makes Soundtrack To Isabelle: Isabelle X
I have never seen the film Isabelle, and am not even sure if this is the film Nobuyuki Sakuma is referring to with his Isabelle X project. Here’s a trailer…seems like it could be! Sakuma has gone and created an “imaginary soundtrack” to the film, and even at 22 minutes it is a disorienting listen. Over the course of Isabelle X, Sakuma weaves in what sounds like an interview between two people (possibly a reporter and Sophia Coppola?)…except they are often very distorted, and at times sound inhuman. These sounds pop up all the time, often over music that would otherwise sound straightforward, but takes on a menacing vibe. Alongside the voices, the music here alternates between chugging, menacing passages of minimal electronic sounds to more relaxed stretches all the way to some euphoric moments, like the one ending the soundtrack (albeit it is disrupted by those warped voices and other sudden sounds). Not sure how it works as an actual soundtrack, but it’s a good listen, especially if you like the similar atmosphere conjured by Jesse Ruins’ music. Listen here, or below.
Listen To Jesse Ruins’ A Film Now
It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally arrived – Jesse Ruins’ proper debut album has finally arrived, and The Fader is streaming it all right now. A lot has changed since the CUZ ME PAIN label emerged from the shadows of MySpace – Jesse Ruins has evolved from a solo-project of Nobuyuki Sakuma into a proper trio. After signing to Captured Tracks, they focused on developing their live chops. After releasing one solo compilation for Captured Tracks, they parted ways with the popular New York-based label and, for A Film, teamed up with Sacramento-based Lefse. The bedroom-music community in Tokyo, which CUZ ME PAIN once found itself in the center of, has expanded drastically since “Dream Analysis” appeared online a few years ago.
What hasn’t changed is Jesse Ruins approach to music – the songs on A Film are still synth-heavy creations splitting the same difference between dreaminess and creepiness that breakthrough singles “Dream Analysis” and “Sofija.” Opener “Laura Is Fading” sets the tone, wispy synths racing alongside bass and a beat that hint at the group’s dance-music leanings. It resembles the songs on their Captured Tracks’ collection, and the majority of A Film finds Jesse Ruins creating intriguing bit of dark-synth-pop using the techniques they’ve honed over the years. A few songs on our initial listen jumped out as different – “The Red Part Of The Thin Line” – but we shall need some more time with this one. Still, listen to it here.
New Jesse Ruins: “Laura Is Fading”
Finally, Tokyo trio Jesse Ruins’ debut album will come out on May 21 via Lefse Records. In advance of the album A Film, the imprint has released a new song called “Laura Is Fading” from the group, which you can hear below. It’s more immediate than many of the songs Jesse Ruins has played before, mostly because the song wastes little time building atmosphere, “Laura Is Fading” introducing a drum bit from the 13-second mark. The beat brings to mind “Dream Analysis,” especially when it really hits it stride midway through and even more so near the end when it kicks up and sprints to the end.