#10 Wai Wai Music Resort WWMR 1 If total number of plays need to be considered for any favorites list, Wai Wai Music Resort ran away with my 2019. Whether because I needed to concentrate on work or simply wanted a stereophonic sound trip bound for endless summer, WWMR 1 delivered pure breeze. It’s also…
This one’s taken a few plays to really wrangle with, but the latest single form tofubeats works when zooming in on the details. Taken as a whole “Keep On Lovin’ You” offers up some easy-going pop that imagines a best-case Maroon 5 circa turn of the century (OK, a far better comparison would be a…
Tofubeats’ Hihatt imprint functions as an ideal artist-lead label. It’s a space where he can put out slow-burning dance sputters that probably make the higher ups at Warner Music sweat if presented for an album under their watch, and offering a chance to highlight other creators doing good work (see last year’s Rubber Band EP…
#20 Hikaru Utada Hatsukoi At their best, pop stars turn the personal into the populist — they make songs for everyone, not for themselves, even if the inspiration comes from inside. Hikaru Utada’s 2016 comeback album Fantome stands as one of the 2010s most fascinating album, wrestling with loss and maturity in a way few…
tofubeats’ has a knack for building songs up, though it isn’t always the musical mode pushed to the forefront. Most of his major-label singles opt for pure pop pleasure with little wait. Yet he’s also skilled at the slow burn, hinted at by numbers such as “What You Got” and “Don’t Stop The Music.” But…