The artist formerly known as Madegg has been all over the place this decade. The Kyoto producer came up in the first half of the 2010s, in orbit around the Kansai region’s INNIT parties and seemingly releasing new tracks built around Brainfeeder-adjacent beats every other day (impressing a member of Perfume along the way). As the years went on though, his output slowed, re-orienting around albums such as the still-strong NEW. He then started leaning into more experimental territory, beats vanishing in favor of soundscapes. At times interesting, listening to his music and seeing him live could feel frustrating. It felt more like a grad school project than something to get lost in.
The Ambassador strikes a balance between the head and the heart. Released under his real name, this full-length comes with a bit of required-reading baggage — Walter Benjamin and surrealists play a role in surrounding text. Yet the music doesn’t require as much to get into. Opener “♗” envelops the listener immediately, synth lines zigging around samples to create a slightly off balance but ultimately pretty blur. It’s a vibe revisited throughout, from the dim-lit dizziness of “Money” to the more metallic “RAF S,” a number that feels like it is flaking away at times. Beats pop up sporadically, interrupting the music and offering a chaotic injection (see also…the sound of a Windows help box popping up on “SAD&MOB”). It’s Komatsu moving away from Teebs-like beat play in favor of headier fare in the same zone as Oneohtrix Point Never, and doing a damn good job of it.
Often to its benefit but sometimes to its disadvantage, Komatsu wanders off into other grounds across the album too. Vocals pop up, often warped into uneasy otherworld come-hithers. “Never Seen The Devil Look So Damn Clean” morphs from pleasant interlude to sinister descent when everything gives way for some creepy laughing, an idea explored further on the title track via the kind of warped voices you would hear in Silent Hill. These have a purpose, which is something I don’t get from “Info,” with its dueling languages, or “A2’s” sample collage (which…maybe features Lil’ Pump in the mix?). To its credit, even these missteps flow nicely in the album, and it makes the stronger moments all the more engrossing. It’s a strong album, and a big step for Komatsu. Get it here, or listen below.
From about late 2011 to mid 2013, the Kansai region boasted Japan’s best electronic music scene…and probably the best, period, in the entire country. That might still be true…but back then, things felt really exciting, with artists such as Seiho, Avec Avec and Metome…among others…starting to catch attention. Madegg, then a college student in Kyoto, was also a massive presence, a cornerstone of the INNIT series of parties and an all-around active producer and DJ. Like the names above, he’s gone on to do a lot of exciting things, with plenty more on the horizon. But Drowsy Numbness (2012-2013) — which Madegg writes consists of songs found on an “old HDD” hiding away — offers a snapshot of the artist during this thrilling set of time for Kansai’s electronic community. This is Madegg when texture was central to his sound — today, I’d say it is more about fogged presences, things just out of site — evidenced by the twinkling melodies of “Rings” and the pulsing waves of “Sub Bag.” Drowsy Numbness captures the moment where Madegg first started figuring out what his sound would be, moving beyond Brainfeeder-inspired trippiness to something all his own, from feel-centric to something also a bit mistier (see the vocal loops on “Sub Bag,” all of “For Stella”). Get it here.
It’s weird to think that Madegg has been creating richly textured dance music for, oh, at least six years now. And yet, it doesn’t feel that long ago he was the opening act for a Brainfeeder showcase in Osaka, or simply one of many now-notable names crowding the bill at an INNIT event. But he’s changed a lot since those days, moving in a more abstract direction and, as he told The Japan Times, becoming a bit more interested in visual art. His recent work, I’ve personally felt, has been a bit too grad school, more interested in ideas of sound than, well, actually making enjoyable music. Pushing yourself is great, but sometimes you can get lost in your own ideas. Madegg, at his best, hits the perfect sweet spot.
It’s a relief to hear the two tracks from his new release Her Check, then, and be reminded of just how great he can be. “III” (below) is a sterling example of Madegg’s approach to texture, a song where every detail feels like rain drops splattering against a window, slowly mutating while still retaining the visceral feel. It’s interesting and engrossing. And things only get looser on the other song (available through the link below), a bonafide shuffler that features plenty of interesting sonic details…but also is built to loose yourself to in a live setting. Get it here.
It makes sense, when you think about…of course artists share new music primarily on the weekend, that’s the time they are free, just like everyone else in the world. So a round-up post…especially after a pretty fruitful weekend for new electronic highlights out of the country…seems appropriate.
– Omoide Label dabbles in all sorts of sounds, one of which is juke. They’ve put out a handful of compilations centering around the skittery style, and the cryptically titled Juke Shiyouya Barren Ilusion ~ Remember Hiroki Yamamura is the biggest yet, spanning two volumes and artists hailing from all over the island and from all sorts of camps. The style leans towards juke, though in many forms — CRZKNY serves up some sweet reflective bounce on “I Spit On Your Grave Part III” while GAKI3 leans on traditional Japanese sounds on “Edo Juke.” And Hiroki Yamamura pops up twice, once on each comp (a bit more of a fan of Vol. 1’s “Let Me Love You”). This is massive, and well worth your time if you are coming around to Japanese juke. Get themhere, or listen below.
– Kyoto’s Madegg has been moving in all sorts of directions over the last month, but “Lightning” is a welcome bit of relaxing vibing for the weekend. It is a fragmented dance number, but compared to some of his harsher material in recent months, this shifty number is like a digital pillow. Listen below.
– Last week, Hikaru Utada made her much-anticipated comeback when a few short versions of her new songs emerged online (and are now not as easy to find). They are pretty boring piano ballads, the sort of trudges any artist could have released and, if you were trying to explain to someone why Utada is such a vaunted name in J-pop, would not help your case. You’d be better off pointing to something like “Sakura Drops,” an elegant merger of traditional Japanese sounds, balladry and ’60s pop among other things that sounds as alive today as it did (surely) in 2002.
Another name that has got some attention recently, Kyoto’s Toyomu (stylized TOYOMU), did what he does best and give his spin on “Sakura Drops,” a deconstruction of it that offers a new perspective on it. Weirdly enough, what it does best is remind how good Utada sounded back then — well, and adds in some skippy vocal slices. Listen below.
I’m not sure anyone can be truly nostalgic for a time that was about three years ago, but 2015 was the year I reminisced frequently about albums. Specifically, the commitment it took to go out and buy CDs back in the far-off time of 2010 (a point when physical releases remained the only way to listen to music in Japan). I’d ride a train for an hour to get to Osaka, wherein I’d spend a few hours stopping by music stores to buy albums that cost, oh, about $25 a pop. It sounds like a Simpson’s joke, but I thought about how this used to be the norm in my life.
Which isn’t to say I miss it — 2015 was the year streaming arrived in Japan in full force, coupled with a looser (uhhh, domestic) embrace of YouTube. It has never been easier in Japan to hear a wide variety of music much cheaper (if not free!). Yet this shift also moves against the album — singles and playlists excel at these formats.
So I’m not sure if making a “best albums” list in 2015 is simply just a nostalgia trip for me when the world turns a different direction. But after wracking my brain to make this list, I think this still works well, as Japan produced plenty of very good long (and short!) players full of great stand-alone songs and doubling as cohesive listens.
30. Yoshino Yoshikawa And Lovely Summer Chan Yoshi Yoshi, Summer!
Yoshino Yoshikawa and Lovely Summer Chan both made plenty of strong material on their own over the past year, but this joint album released near the very start of 2015 highlights just how strong they function together. Yoshikawa’s chiming playroom pop gets an extra dose of sweetness with her voice on top, adding extra pep to the bouncy “Hajimemashite” and extra longing to Yoshikawa’s “Yumetatsu Glider.” The most important result of their partnership, however, is balance, the songs on Yoshi Yoshi, Summer! showing elegance.
29. Beef Fantasy Japanese Recorder EP
It’s fitting that train stations and lines play a central role in the songs Tokyo’s Beef Fantasy creates. Spend enough time in the capital and you’ll realize how central public transit plays in the lives of everyone, whether as geographic marker or as the space where you spend a surprising amount of time just…being. Japanese Recorder centers around trains, whether it be the bouncy funk of “O.K.U.” or the slow-motion disco of “Dreaming Keihin Tohoku Line,” the latter loaded with JR-born samples. It’s an appropriate background for a project taking cues from Shibuya-kei without sounding like a museum piece, loading songs up with samples and blurring genre lines between dance, pop and hip-hop.
28. In The Blue Shirt Toward Morning
I expected everyone on the bill of the Harusaki show at Akihabara’s Mogra to deliver, and they did. I figured after a night of fizzy electro-pop, In The Blue Shirt’s night-closing set would be a nice come down, but the Osaka trackmaker ended up stealing the evening, with an hour-long show moving between energetic bouncers to more reflective songs, all while In The Blue Shirt himself grinned intensely, like he was surprised he was going this bananas.
Toward Morning is the bite-size peanut butter cup of this experience, a trio of songs that start with the reflective title track before getting sweetly manic on “Fool” and just losing it on the sample-rush of “Buttercup.” It’s silly and emotional, and always apt for the dance floor.
27. Izumi Makura Ai Naraba Shiteiru
What made the idol boom of 2009 to about 2014 so exciting was how these groups allowed up-and-coming producers a way to sneak their music to a wider audience. In 2015 that shifted, as idol outfits opt for more legacy names while more adventurous sounds have started flowing out of the burgeoning “women rap” scene.
Fukuoka’s Izumi Makura has been ahead of the curve on both these fronts, having been rapping over music from a wide array of artists for a few years now. Ai Naraba Shiteiru featured some of her most left-field songs yet, Makura delivering her confessional whisper raps over wonky tracks from abstract juke maker Foodman and astral-leaning beatmaker Olive Oil. Rounding out the album were more straightforward sounds, which put the emphasis squarely on her voice, which remains one of the most intriguing in the country today.
26. I-fls Artificial Outsider
Familiarity can be just as important as the thrill of the new. I-fls’ simple Garageband-born music remains the same as it did in 2013 — emotional elevator melodies reveling in the ennui of suburban life. I could spin a wheel at this point to select the collection I’d drop on this list, but Artificial Outsider stood out among them, jumping between longing and playfulness. Like the familiar restaurants and street lights of your hometown, I-fls’ songs offer comfort even at their most melancholy.
25. Poor Vacation Metropolis
Funk seeped into many forms of Japanese music in 2015, whether sneaking into mainstream J-pop or dripping out of the record-store-ordained “new City Pop” trend. Tokyo’s Poor Vacation stayed under the radar while making some of the best indie-pop featuring tight bass lines and sticky-as-glue synthesizers. Hayato Narahara’s solo project conjured up a longing that often got abandoned in similar sounding projects this year on debut mini-album Metropolis, all without losing the floor-ready sound.
24. Madegg New
The cleanliness of Kyoto producer Madegg’s previous albums and EPs didn’t exactly vanish on New, but the young trackmaker was far more eager to shine light on the cracks and wrinkles on his latest full-length. Voices blurred into disorienting swirls while low-end rumbles added a previously unseen menace to songs such as “Dragon,” and even the more uncomplicated techno creations like “National Water” came shrouded in mist. New wasn’t a fresh start for Madegg, but it showed how uneasy moments could be just as beautiful as the clean.
23. Sssurrounddd See You, Blue
First off, if you can find a better romanization for (((さらうんど))) outside of the band’s site URL, holler at me.
Second, See You, Blue is what I imagine something called “new City Pop” would actually sound like — Sssurrounddd map the genre’s genome and then restructure it into something totally different, something that couldn’t be pulled off in the Bubble Era. Sax goes superhuman on the dizzying “Boys & Girls,” while “Siren Syrup” bounces forward on chopped-up vocals and house pianos. It’s reverent to City Pop, but not afraid to push at the edges of what defines the style and stretch it out.
22. Greeen Linez The Calm
The music duo Greeen Linez made just a few years ago recalled the lobbies of fancy hotels and Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous bumpers, glitzy tunes taking cues from the opulent sounds of City Pop. Hints of the Bubble Era popped up across this year’s The Calm, but the pair expanded even further on The Calm, creating sweltering dance songs that retained a resort-ready vibe but open to new sounds (and eras, at that, as a healthy amount of drum ‘n’ bass pops up across this album, an expansion from last year’s Izu King Street). It’s the most contemplative Greeen Linez work yet.
21. Parkgolf Par
The part of me that likes dumb, sweeping statements in year-end lists wants to call Par the end point for SoundCloud producers, except Parkgolf isn’t retiring or anything. The Sapporo producer takes every sound that has become a stereotype about the music-sharing site — pitch-shifted vocals potentially lifted from R&B, an overload of synths, seeming incorporation of trendy dance styles — and fucks it up into something dizzying and glorious. The closest thing dude has to a Jersey Club banger is called “Woo Woo” and it sounds more like the Jersey Shore soundtrack run through a blackhole. His songs ooze a messy sensuality and Parkgolf splatters them with wild keyboard playing and splashes of bass, making for a very controlled whirlwind. Par stands as one of 2015’s wildest rides, and a reminder that even the things you are most used to can sound brand new in the right hands.
