It’s year-end season, and I think one of the major trends that is going to get glossed over in lists and thinkpieces is how nostalgic everything felt this year. It’s unavoidable in Japan, where the biggest artist of the year was Namie Amuro and the biggest song resurrected Eurobeat. But it’s also playing out elsewhere…
Satellite Young was out in front on providing alternative angles to nostalgic sounds, and have always introduced some sort of wink into their retro-leaning synth-pop. “Moment In Slow Motion,” however, is a simple reminder that for all the app jokes and Twitter nods, Satellite Young can just write a dazzling pop number that doesn’t need…
Lyrical cleverness has always been the element of trio Satellite Young’s music separating them from similarly “retro new-wave” artists. Anyone can pen some overly dramatic lyrics and set it against synthesizer melodies before slapping some Blade Runner imagery over it. But Satellite Young ultimately focus on the now through a throwback lens, or at last…
#20 Suntra Oblivion Summer Coast There were plenty of chances to escape to the sea if you followed Japanese music in 2017. Suchmos broke big with their Shonan-inspired smoothness, while slightly more ragged bands such as never young beach and Yogee New Waves laid out what to expect from their names even before hearing their…
Nostalgia and irony frequently criss-cross. This is hardly a new observation — anyone who sat through ten hours of Mo Rocca explaining The Love Boat in the Aughts knows it well — but one that feels ever present. Satellite Young offer a masterclass in balancing this just right without tipping over into the sort of…