Moving at an appropriately frosted-over speed, Killing Boy’s “Frozen Music” lingers around so long it’s easy to slap one of the bigger critical cop-outs on it and just call it “boring.” This isn’t fair for two reasons – first off, it’s their song “Call 4 U” which really deserves that label, a meandering number where…
Musical supergroups usually end up the butt of jokes – remember the way 40-Year-Old Virgin treated Asia? – so take If By Yes with a little caution. Yet this one does have some real potential to tread above Judd Apatow punchlines, featuring Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, Araki Yuko of The Cornelius Group, Shimizu Hirotaka…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtfanPuYjQw”] This otherwise simplistic guitar skip-a-long boasts such a feeling of naive optimism it’s hard not to fall for it’s easy charms. Heavenstamp pretty much nail it with the title – this track brims with the same energy that comes when one wakes up in a positive mood, feeling like today of all days features…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Lrj9kmxJM”] Few bands manage to tightrope between pop success and artistically sound music as well as Tokyo Jihen do. New single “Sora Ga Natteiru” once again finds the group laying out a technically monster pop joint…see the soaring chorus which all but cement that status…while doing enough to seem like they work off the grid…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHNGJJWNzZ8″] Personal story time – back in college I really really liked the album Pregnant Fantasy by Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re. After spinning (clicking the iTunes play button over and over again?) for about six months I ended up moving on to whatever else I thought was cool in 2006 and forgot about Tsu…