Earlier this year, popular foreigner-catering ad-vessel Japanzine named Keikaku.net one of the best Japanese music websites. A fine choice, seeing as it is one of the most thorough spots dealing with Japanese artists. But also a troublesome one, as Keikaku at the time hadn’t updated in almost six months. The writer made note of this,…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDmKnZVah0&hl=en_US&fs=1&] School Food Punishment make like Commando on “Futuristic Imagination” and ruin the bad guy’s shit. The villain here is the ever-present J-Pop Ballad, oversaturating Japan’s pop charts and taking violin strings hostage as the unfortunate hallmark of the sound. This dreadfully named four-piece throw a steam pipe through the ballad’s chest and saves the…
Usually rookie bands stumble with trying to create a signature sound on a first album go-around, often imitating other acts instead of carving out something distinct. See: the majority of British indie since 2005. Tokyo’s Merpeoples, though, sound like the rarest of young bands on their self-titled debut mini-album – a group that has achieved…
House producer FPM boasts a lot of great music worth you’re time over at his MySpace. Despite sometimes flirting with too-much squanky crunchiness (picture a parrot stepping on leaves for all eternity), he finds a way to inject a good bit of charm into his track. “Without You” loses any of the electro-house connections and…
Featured on the Beautiful Girls Electro compilation CD, THE DIM’s “1, 2 Waltz” above all else recalls Polysics more than anyone else. Just check that goofy Devo-aping keyboard line and dysfunctional beat. That’s not necessarily a compliment – “1, 2 Waltz” sounds like Polysics 2009, when the band’s energy started sounding a little phoned in….