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Tweekend Update: Wallflower, The Moments And More Put Together Sarah Records Compilation, Traffic Light Release Split EP With Saturday Looks Good To Me

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Indie-pop, twee, wimpy love songs, cardigans, you know the schtick, let’s just focus on the music.

A group out of Osaka called Sarahry Records will be holding an event at the Pangea Cafe in Sakai on September 22, described as “dedicated to Sarah Records,” the seminal English indie-pop label from the 1980s. The event will feature some of the best up-and-coming guitar-pop bands in the region today, and in advance of the show Sarahry has released a special compilation featuring each of the groups performing at the even covering a Sarah Record’s classic. The versions appearing on this online compilation don’t stray from the source material – Wallflower’s take on Brighter’s “Does Love Last Forever?” and Lilac’s cover of Heavenly’s “Cool Guitar Boy” sound faithful – which is appropriate given these groups wide-eyed love of indie-pop…they aren’t going to go and muck up the classics. Only Fandaze’s version of The Field Mice’s “Emma’s House” seems slightly adjusted, moving at a slower pace than the original. It still sounds fine, but you should really just listen to the original, here’s a link (critical bias: it’s my favorite indie-pop song ever). Visit the official page here, or listen below.

In other Japanese indie-pop news, quaint outfit Traffic Light have released a split EP with long-running Ann Arbor project Saturday Looks Good To Me. You can buy the single at the Violet And Claire store in Shibuya, or cop it online here. There is no sample of the songs online at the moment, but it’s a good move for Traffic Light, teaming up with a group who has been receiving a lot of praise from the American music media in the past ten year.

Jolie Joli: “Dreaming Girl”

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This year has seen a lot of really good Japanese indie-pop music spring up, but this scene has also been a bit male-centric. Some bands to pop up in 2012 feature women playing in the band, but they are rarely at the forefront of the group and, save for Osaka’s Twinkle Twinkles and (if you like your indie-pop darker) Tokyo’s She Talks Silence, not many have appeared over the last few months featuring just women. Just look the C86 tape released a few months back, a compilation serving as an introduction to this new wave of bands in Japan. It features no women singing vocals, and to my knowledge the only group with a woman present is Slow Marico. Where did you go, Puffyshoes?

Jolie Joli, a recently formed group out of Tokyo, adds some fresh air to the twee scene. It’s an all-woman duo making cheery indie-pop that takes cues from the all-woman groups that filled the North American indie-pop scene in the early 1990’s (Tiger Trap, Heavenly, Cub). They don’t have many songs, but their “Dreaming Girl” shows a lot of potential. It’s simple – guitar and drum, gleefully straightforward at that – but also sweet, thanks to the vocals – especially at the chorus. Here’s hoping they keep it up, and others follow suit. Listen below.

Post Modern Team And Twangy Twangy Team Up For EP, Where The Action Is

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This is something of a Japanese indie-pop power meeting. Osaka’s Post Modern Team, responsible for two of 2012’s best songs in “Heartbreak” and “Never Let You Down,” team up with Twangy Twangy, fronted by Dai Ogasawara who used to be in the Shibuya-kei outfit Candy Eyes, to release a split EP on one of the nation’s best twee-leaning labels Canata Records (BOYISH, Elfs In Bloom). Post Modern Team’s contribution, “She Does Something To Me,” sees the group move away slightly from the formula they used on their best songs this year. Those two tracks each saw Post Modern Team penning a great hook and then getting as much mileage out of it as possible. “She Does Something To Me” is closer to what Sloppy Joe does, a more reserved take on Smiths/Cure-like indie-pop, with more detail paid to the verses and a less fist-pumping chorus. Twangy Twangy’s contribution, meanwhile, is a jogging number fueled by a combination of electric and acoustic guitar strums. The vocals are practically muttered and could stand to be a little louder, but the actual music is lovely mid-August fare. Download it for free here, or listen below.

The Paellas Release The Following EP, Get It Now

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(First, officially back from Fuji Rock! Regular posting resumes now.)

The Paellas have been having a nice summer thus far, and over the weekend they made it a touch better by releasing the Following EP. The Osaka group previewed this new release by uploading the wonderful title track earlier in the week, but now they have two additional songs to round out the release. “Spider” is a Paellas’ original, one resembling the fast-paced indie-pop of the title track. They also cover 80’s lo-fi rockers The Cleaners From Venus to close out the EP, delivering a muffled and quicker rendition of the song, one that puts a very Paellas spin on The Cleaners’ original.

Following also serves as the initial release for ano(t)raks, a new online label focused on highlighting Japanese indie-pop. They are offering the EP for free, so download it here, or stream it below.

New Moscow Club: “Radio Vietnam”

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Moscow Club has been playing such a vital part in pushing the current Japanese indie-pop scene…see their C86 tape, for starters…that it’s easy to forget they haven’t released any music since that free mix dropped a few months back. The wait is now over though, as tonight the Tokyo group uploaded “Radio Vietnam” online.

What has made Moscow Club stick out from the elbow-rubbing tight Tokyo seen has been their ability to tinker with new sounds, whether it be the sea-side chillwave of “Echo Beach” or the lively dance of “Pacific 724.” Yet, despite all these experiments, Moscow Club are at heart a really good indie-pop band, and “Radio Vietnam” highlights this side of them well. It’s all guitars and muffled vocals, which by now has become such a common combination on my SoundCloud feed that something needs to really be catchy to rise above the ever-growing digital pile. This track does just that, Moscow Club finding a sun-dappled melody that they run with. It’s not complex, but their best stuff rarely is. Listen below.