At some point this fall, Make Believe Melodies turned ten. I’d known this decade milestone was looming — mainly because 2019 also marked my tenth anniversary of moving to Japan to work in the countryside teaching English to bored teenagers “for a year or two, tops” — and toyed around with ways to celebrate. Then life happened…
Sinking into the familiar can be so rewarding. The pace of life in the digital age puts a premium on the new, of celebrating sudden pivots that eventually lead to more pivots, until everyone involved is just dizzy. Perhaps this comes colored from working primarily in the media industry — which pinballs from idea to…
OK, time to start getting hyped for 2019! Spangle Call Lilli Line announced that they will release a new album in early January, and that comes only a few months before a 20th anniversary tour. “Mio” offers the first listen from that full-length, and finds the group crafting a slow-burning bouncer where there usual subdued…
Plenty of bands are consistent, but Spangle Call Lilli Line manage something far more rare — being deceivingly consistent. Over their career, they’ve experimented a lot and practically changed their sonic palette every album, yet it doesn’t feel like they are constantly tinkering because they also have a strong voice that comes through in whatever they…
20. Lolica Tonica Make Me Feel EP Tokyo’s Trekkie Trax runs on pure energy, the netlabel being a rare case where seeing anyone in their orbit live trumps digging into the .ZIP files they upload online. And they have released a lot of great dance music over the last couple of years, with 2015 being…