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Ano(t)raks Release New Compilation Upwards And Onwards, Featuring Post Modern Team, Canopies And Drapes, JAM The MOD And So Many More

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There are a few new few twists to be found over at Ano(t)raks, the online label specializing in Japanese indie-pop. The Upwards And Onwards EP, the follow-up compilation to last year’s excellent Soon collection, features sounds just outside of the collective’s usual twee leanings. Tokyo’s Canopies And Drapes shows up with her bouncy, Night On The Galactic Railroad referencing “G&C – Giovanni And Campanella,” and that’s followed up by the electro funk of Kai Takahashi’s “1980.” Soft As Snow But Warm Inside make great use of space on the slow-moving “When The Nightmare Ends,” while the biggest eye-opener (and the best song on the album) comes from Fukuoka’s JAM The MOD, who deliver a showstopper with the eight-minute-long “2nd Rainbows.” It’s a superbly paced song, going from twinkling passages to moments punctured by harsh guitar. JAM The MOD – probably the new band of 2013 to keep the closest eye on.

But this is still an Ano(t)raks’ comp, and that means a lot of excellent indie-pop along the new wrinkles. The names should be familiar by now if you’ve kept an eye on the Japanese indie scene over the last year – Boyish, The Paellas, Foodie, Post Modern Team (whose “Someday” is especially strong among these tracks, deserves to be put up with “Never Let You Down” and “Heartbreak”). The pleasant surprises – The Ship’s skippy “Her Secret” and, less of a surprise but among the best things they’ve ever released, The Vanities’ “Gabriel’s Blue Hat.” Download here, worth every second.

Rising Girls: CRUNCH And Jesus Weekend

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Two months ago, in a post about new outfit Jolie Joli, I wrote how 2012’s big online boom in indie-pop seemed to skew towards the dudes, with the majority of bands putting out music in this scenes were made up of all men. As October comes to a close, though, a slew of new women-centric acts have popped up all over the country and a scene that once looked like a boy’s club is now pretty evenly split, which is great. Groups like the aforementioned Jolie Joli, Old Lacy Bed, The Homecomeings and Foodie have popped up, while longer-standing groups like Les Glass Glace and Memory Girls reemerged. Add two more trios to the list – Nagoya’s CRUNCH and Osaka’s Jesus Weekend.

CRUNCH aren’t particularly new – a casual glance through their Twitter reveals they’ve been at this since 2010, but they got our attention by starting a SoundCloud this week featuring a single, maybe-not-even-new song called “Simple Mind.” Regardless of when it’s from, it’s the sort of song that slides in well into this current scene. It’s more minor note than most of the bands mentioned above – and check the echo affect on the guitars. Listen below.

Osaka’s Jesus Weekend, meanwhile, are definitely new – they just formed, and will be releasing an EP on Ano(t)raks next month. It will be interesting to hear if what they release on that indie-pop label is more polished than what they’ve offered up so far because right now their recordings are very lo-fi. Like, recorded-in-the-hallway quality. The best cut is “Puberty Bell,” a simplistic and sweet acoustic ditty where the recording sound doesn’t subtract from the overall quality. Listen below.

New For Tracy Hyde: Juniper And Lamplight EP

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For Tracy Hyde first caught our attention when they appeared on an EP with fellow indie-pop outfit BOYISH, this new project complete with upbeat guitar-pop songs and a name the Sarah Records people probably regret not scooping up back in the 80s. The earliest material from For Tracy Hyde seemed mostly in tune with the rest of the year’s Japanese indie-pop output – although For Tracy Hyde sang in Japanese (which continues to separate them from most other groups), the songs were jaunty tunes that wouldn’t look out of place next to a Wallflower or BOYISH tune. The project’s debut EP, Juniper And Lamplight, predominantly features such sunny songs, highlighted by the jaunty “A Clockwork Lemon” and the shoegaze-tinged “First Regrets.” So far, so twee.

But For Tracy Hyde finds a way to stand out from the pack once again, and on this EP they’ve included two songs you wouldn’t expect an indie-pop album to house. The best track here is “Shady Lane Sherbert,” which sets the guitar aside for throbbing synthesizers, For Tracy Hyde constructing shimmering music featuring many elements of chillwave music. The vocals sound clouded up, and the whole song unfolds at a more relaxed pace than any of the straight-up indie pop found elsewhere on Juniper And Lamplight. EP-closer “₀oOℑ ∪╹ω╹∪ℜ (Delikate Dawgz)” (yep, an emoji) is brief, clocking in at under two minutes, but is the wonkiest thing here. It features wriggly electronics and a sampled vocal floating over it. It’s an unexpected ending, but one that makes me wonder what will come next from For Tracy Hyde. Get it here, or listen below.

Ano(t)raks Release New Compilation Featuring Post Modern Team, The Paellas, Foodie And Many More

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Relatively new indie label Ano(t)racks don’t have many releases – they released Osaka group The Paella’s last EP, and dropped an indie-pop compilation titled Soon V.A. last week. Yet the latter upload is one of the best starting points for those looking to get into the current crop of indie-pop bands that have sprung up this year. Soon is an excellent compliment to the Moscow-Club-curated C86 comp from earlier in the year – whereas Moscow Club’s tape featured a lot of bands relying heavily on synths, Ano(t)racks’ latest features very few electronics (BOYISH’s song “Couldn’t Remember” features some keyboard, while a few songs use drum machines). This side of the Japanese indie-pop scene sound more observant towards the bands that inspired them, English groups that usually just featured guitar, drums and vocals. A lot of Ano(t)rack’s contributors get by with just those sounds – Osaka’s Post Modern Team deliver a simple but catchy bit of pop with “In The City,” while groups like The Paellas and Twangy Twangy continue to play to their strengths (the prior still sound like they are playing in an abandoned lounge on “Not So Sweet,” while the later just love jangling off).

Ano(t)racks also highlights some groups featuring women in prominent roles. Kyoto’s Homecomings provide one of the compilations best moments with the all-together-now singing of “You Never Kiss,” a song with sweet sounding vocals but some sharp guitar playing underneath them. Old Lacy Bed get whistle happy on “Coastlands” while Osaka’s Foodie closes out the album with a lovely bit of tight grooving. Get the tape here, or listen below.

BOYISH Releases New Split EP With For Tracy Hyde, Check The Flower Pool EP Out Now

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Tokyo indie-pop outfit BOYISH have had quite a busy 2012, having released a bunch of singles, split EPs and an on-cassette album, plus a bunch of live shows on top of that. Yet onwards they jangle, this week dropping a new EP on Canata Records which you can get here. This time around, they’ve teamed up with new group For Tracy Hyde for the Flower Pool EP. BOYISH contributes new number “Shadow Of You,” one the Canata page describes as showing “their new wave/post-punk dark side.” “Dark side” might be a stretch, but the track definitely sounds like a switch for a band spending most of 2012 turning a love of Sarah Records’ releases into a sound, this one more fond of the minor scale and of whispy synth that would sound at home in a Hotel Mexico song. What isn’t new is the sense of detachment the vocals give off – they sound practically mumbled, but that sense of distance works well with the downtrodden music around it.

For Tracy Hyde is much more straightforward – their contribution is called “Her Sarah Records Collection,” and whatever sound you conjure up in your head after reading that is probably right on the money. This song does feature Japanese lyrics, though, which has been rare among most of the indie-pop bands coming up this year. The majority sing in English (BOYISH included), so it is neat to hear a song of this style done in a different language. Listen below.