New, under-two-minutes-long track from Osaka’s Post Modern Team. They are an outfit who has gotten a lot out of repetition in the past, whether singing about heartbreak or never letting you down…and now they are REALLY getting direct with “I Just Wanna Make Love To You.” That’s because the title is the main part being repeated over and over again, a desire turned mantra backed by some lovely, Phoenix-ish dance rock. Listen below.
Well, turns out this is a real indie-popping weekend after all: Osaka’s Post Modern Team, behind some of the absolute finest songs in Japan’s current indie-pop boom, have just released their self-titled debut album. Post Modern Team mostly collects all of the group’s previously released numbers – which means this comes loaded with “Never Let You Down,” “In The City,” “Heartbreak” and all the other tracks Post Modern Team have been releasing into the wild over the last few years. If you’ve been following them since they burst onto the stage (and they really did…their first song was “Never Let Me Down,” the best Japanese indie-pop song of this decade so far) you might know these…but here they are all together, which makes for a hell of a debut. Get it here, or listen below.
Kansai outfit Post Modern Team’s first song made available to the world’s ears was a little ditty called “Never Let You Down.” It was one of 2012’s finest tracks, a breezy song featuring one of the sweetest hooks to come out of Japan’s indie-pop scene – “never let you down,” they sang, like whispering into a lover’s ear. It was such a sentimental start – and a high peak – that it has gotten hard to remember nearly everything that has come after has bit a lot sadder. Despite sounding upbeat as heck, “Heartbreak” was still about heartbreak, while cuts like “She Does Something To Me” were about unrequited love. Now comes a new EP on Ano(t)raks called Nite Life Lounge, and it might be the outfit’s most bummer-worthy set of songs yet. It also is another example of how good these guys are with just some guitars and drums.
All three tracks here are as simple as everything else Post Modern Team have done before, but they’ve proven that’s not a bad thing and simple repetition can heighten the emotions at stake. The title track sets the scene in a disco, and the main character is having “good times” but something happens where said protagonist needs to make a decision – set against surprisingly dramatic playing from the group. How it ends, we don’t know, but it sure sounds good. The other two songs are a bit more outright about their moods – “Fade Away,” the band’s best stab at shoegaze yet, features the line “thinking about those high school days” and it becomes pretty clear it’s a track about thinking about good times…”before you fade away,” which adds an ominous touch to the song. “Betterdays” is pretty clear from the titles, but the music itself is the closest Post Modern Team come to new sonic territory, as it features a build-up towards something, even if the conclusion isn’t anything huge (plus, the vocals sound like the dude from Built To Spill). Get it here or listen below.
Relatively new indie label Ano(t)racks don’t have many releases – they released Osaka group The Paella’s last EP, and dropped an indie-pop compilation titled Soon V.A. last week. Yet the latter upload is one of the best starting points for those looking to get into the current crop of indie-pop bands that have sprung up this year. Soon is an excellent compliment to the Moscow-Club-curated C86 comp from earlier in the year – whereas Moscow Club’s tape featured a lot of bands relying heavily on synths, Ano(t)racks’ latest features very few electronics (BOYISH’s song “Couldn’t Remember” features some keyboard, while a few songs use drum machines). This side of the Japanese indie-pop scene sound more observant towards the bands that inspired them, English groups that usually just featured guitar, drums and vocals. A lot of Ano(t)rack’s contributors get by with just those sounds – Osaka’s Post Modern Team deliver a simple but catchy bit of pop with “In The City,” while groups like The Paellas and Twangy Twangy continue to play to their strengths (the prior still sound like they are playing in an abandoned lounge on “Not So Sweet,” while the later just love jangling off).
Ano(t)racks also highlights some groups featuring women in prominent roles. Kyoto’s Homecomings provide one of the compilations best moments with the all-together-now singing of “You Never Kiss,” a song with sweet sounding vocals but some sharp guitar playing underneath them. Old Lacy Bed get whistle happy on “Coastlands” while Osaka’s Foodie closes out the album with a lovely bit of tight grooving. Get the tape here, or listen below.
This is something of a Japanese indie-pop power meeting. Osaka’s Post Modern Team, responsible for two of 2012’s best songs in “Heartbreak” and “Never Let You Down,” team up with Twangy Twangy, fronted by Dai Ogasawara who used to be in the Shibuya-kei outfit Candy Eyes, to release a split EP on one of the nation’s best twee-leaning labels Canata Records (BOYISH, Elfs In Bloom). Post Modern Team’s contribution, “She Does Something To Me,” sees the group move away slightly from the formula they used on their best songs this year. Those two tracks each saw Post Modern Team penning a great hook and then getting as much mileage out of it as possible. “She Does Something To Me” is closer to what Sloppy Joe does, a more reserved take on Smiths/Cure-like indie-pop, with more detail paid to the verses and a less fist-pumping chorus. Twangy Twangy’s contribution, meanwhile, is a jogging number fueled by a combination of electric and acoustic guitar strums. The vocals are practically muttered and could stand to be a little louder, but the actual music is lovely mid-August fare. Download it for free here, or listen below.