80kidz have issues with timing. If the one secret to obtaining blog hype is making sure your artistic outfit exists at just the right moment, the Tokyo duo managed to just miss out on being way bigger than they ended up. Justice exploded in 2007, grabbing mad popularity and critical praise which led to an…
Shugo Tokumaru’s Port Entropy recently came out in America and Europe, which means Western media who give him any notice will be reviewing his fifth LP in the coming days/weeks. Pitchfork struck first, with writer Jayson Greene kinda slamming Shugo with a 6.2, as he dropped lines like “prolonged exposure to Tokumaru’s flights of fancy…
Yamatopia, Nara trio √thumm’s second album, manages to meet every stereotype associated with the hotly-anticipated sophomore record while also marking an astronomical leap forward for the young group. Last year’s Coton burst into the world a catchy subversion, √thumm flipping the script on Japanese electro-pop. They took a sound often dependent on studio excess…the pop…
This review comes nearly five months after the official release of Texas Pandaa’s third album, and as much as I want to blame some outside force for preventing the writing of this piece…like, how I didn’t see this album on sale anywhere except Tower Records in Akihabara…I can’t. Whereas some groups warrant quickly written critiques…
Hotel Mexico’s being pushed hard as Japan’s first chillwave band. The Kyoto-based six piece has garnered attention from indie-leaning magazine Snoozer to national newspaper The Japan Times because they offer an easy gateway to the hottest blog-centric trend of the moment. Even chillwave-depot Altered Zones wrote a blurb about the band, wherein they dropped the…