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Tag Archives: twee as fuck

New Les Glass Glacé: “Sumorsaete Daydream” And “A Piece Of Summer”

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There are bound to be even more songs about the summer in the coming months – heck, Japanese indie-pop bands have released enough popsicle-smeared tunes to fill up an album, and we haven’t even hit the rainy season yet – so the novelty should go away pretty quickly, right? Welp, not so with Les Glass Glacé’s “Sumorsaete Daydream,” the latest sun-speckled bit of pop to emerge from the Kansai region. What helps this track out a lot is the space it allows – whereas other twee-worshippers fill every second of their songs with feedback-rich guitars. Les Glass Glacé aren’t nearly as aggressive, as “Sumorsaete Daydream” gets by mostly on a sparse beat and keyboard that sounds like it was lifted from a pleasant busy signal (with a few other additions, none of which overpower anything). It’s refreshing having room. It also helps that, without having to be drowned in noise, the vocals get to be heard clearly. “No ticket, it doesn’t matter/just close your eyes, there you are” goes the chorus, and it’s a simple but lovely line brimming with optimism.

Les Glass Glacé also posted the song “A Piece Of Summer,” which similarly doesn’t go overboard on noise, although it lacks the immediate sweetness of “Sumorsaete Daydream.” Listen to both below, and prepare for the nice months now.

Twee-kend Update: The Paellas

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Japan’s indie-pop spring looks to transition into an especially twee summer, as more and more bands inspired by 80’s indie-pop pop up, forcing people like me to enter “jangly” into Thesaurus.com in hopes of not burning out on that adjective. Osaka’s The Paellas add to this vocab challenge, as they are certainly…hold on, “clinking?” How about “strident?” Hmmmmmm, I guess that’s better than “grating.”

So yeah…The Paellas, formed in 2009, aren’t breaking new ground in a crowded Japanese indie-pop scene, but they do pull the sound off well. Their best moment so far is “Lights,” a seemingly minimalist number full of space. Whereas a lot of twee bands in Japan sound suitable for soundtracking picnics, “Lights” actually sounds a bit stuffier – the swaying vocals, also benefiting from some nifty echo that sounds less like amplifiers and more like a spacious room, would fit in well at a lounge that has seen better days. The Paellas’ big trick on “Lights” is how the thin structure suddenly pivots into a driving segment that teases drama – suddenly, all that empty room is full and it looks like the song is heading towards some sort of climax. But it doesn’t – it draws out the new-found tension longer by returning to the turning back to the minimal bit. Which, naturally, leads to a chugging outro. “Lights” showcases some songwriting smarts from The Paellas.

Newest song “Long Night Comes” isn’t as alluring – it’s far more straightforward, a simple structure that The Moments or It Happens also could have put together on a lazy afternoon. That said, The Paellas lead singer adds a touch of mystery to the track, singing in a lower register and prone to drawing out words. Listen below.

New Post Modern Team: By The Sea EP

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We’ve now reached the point where this new wave of Japanese indie-pop bands are releasing music at such a madcap rate where keeping up with it can be more challenging than actually listening to the music and getting lost in the sound. I guess this could be brushed aside by saying that it’s just indie-pop, the sort of jingle-jangle recorded and tossed out into the online ether in an afternoon. Yet that’s not fair, because a lot of the music coming out of this scene in Japan today deserves more than a cursory SoundCloud dashboard listen. Osaka’s Post Modern Team are one such act worthy of extended time, and their new By The Sea EP is a good gateway. The title track lacks the coastal catchiness of their first song “Never Let You Down,” but boasts a slightly harsher guitar sound and a structure resembling early Oasis. It’s a grower, but once it sinks its claws in, watch out. Plus, Post Modern Team throw on a nice cover of Another Sunny Day’s “Anorak City.” Spend some time with both. Listen below, and download here.

New Radio Friends: “Want Of Order”

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This post comes with a big disclaimer – Radio Friends are very much a young band, the sort that shouldn’t be tossed into the musical wilderness before they are ready, the type that shouldn’t play a live show until they feel really ready to instead of forcing something that could make them look bad. Their newest song, “Want Of Order,” also happens to be a demo, meaning this track can and should evolve into something more. So when I say I really like “Want Of Order,” how the guitar melody following the singing is so warm and inviting and (most importantly!) catchy, understand I recognize what this song is – a sketch in need of detail from a band still trying to figure everything out. What a promising sketch though. Listen below.

Elfs In Bloom: Girl Meets Manifesto

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One of the more interesting trends in Japanese indie music this year as been the influence of anime in various songs. We’ve already talked about a pair of artists who create Ghibli-like wonderlands, but other musicians have been literally summoning old Japanese cartoons in their tracks. From the submerged beauty of Shortcake Collage Tape to the twee of Daisyblue to the AKB-step of Maltine Records, more music makers are getting nostalgic for the animations of (presumably) their youth.

Add Hokkaido-band Elfs In Bloom to the colorful pile. Though this home-recording project only features anime samples twice on their EP Girl Meets Manifesto, Elfs’ placement of said samples end up influencing the vibe of the rest of this EP. They appear in the first and last song, both times graced with an echo effect that gives them the feel of being lost to the past, memories. What follows – noisy indie-pop that would have taken part in an exchange program with Creation Records back in the 80’s – aims at evoking a similar times-gone-by atmosphere, highlighted by feedback-rich exercises in indie-pop like “I See Your Face And Feel Ecstasy” and “Resurrection.” Even the more straightforward moments, like “Summer Of Love” and “Everything But A Girl,” choose the twee path of sun-dappled reminiscing, music that sounds good in the summer but isn’t necessarily about this present summer. Those anime samples might come off as a little strange at first, but they make perfect sense in Elfs’ world. Listen below, or download here.