Kai Takahashi’s remix of The Hiatus’ “Thirst” is funny, but not in a “haha” kinda way. It’s more like chuckling at something because you never thought to look at it from that angle before, like someone making a cake in a mug. The Hiatus’ original song…and, based on everything I know about them, The Hiatus’…
Few producers in Japan today are as versatile as Kai Takahashi. Dude boasts one of the most all-over-the-place catalogs of anyone around – he remixes Phoenix, he creates breezy ’80s-inspired dance songs and he’s the lead singer for the beach-loving, heart-broken indie-pop outfit Slow Beach. And now he’s flexing his love of the warmer months…
The Fogpak compilations, albums collecting songs from independent electronic artists all across Japan, have been getting a lot longer with each new installment in the series. The sixth edition featured 33 tracks, and that already felt like a challenge to get through. Now comes the seventh in the series which ups the ante with 48…
I wouldn’t go as far as to say Kai Takahashi’s remix of French outfit Phoenix’s “Entertainment” is better than the original…but it is definitely more consistently good. What bugs me about the Phoenix cut is how the hook just sort of hangs in the air, the driving energy of the verses gone in favor of…
As mainstream Japanese music continues to revolve around only a handful of pop-leaning acts – the biggest sales all come courtesy of groups with a “48” in their name or a boy group from Johnny’s – underground artists who will never have a shot at breaking through into the Oricon world have turned to the…