We accumulate so much junk. The internet just overflows with forgotten content, gigabytes of “Damn, Daniel” memes and thinkpieces about Iggy Azalea. It’s funny, but also depressing. But from that social-media-age churn comes stuff like Asaga Fu An Fumoragu Aria, the latest from Nagoya’s Woopheadclrms. It’s an album somewhere between ridiculous and gorgeous, the electronic…
#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…
The Japanese experimental community built around high-impact samples and disjointed electronic melodies that should rupture but always meld continues strong in 2018, and Aichi’s Woopheadclrms only adds to the growing catalog. They waste no time getting attention — second song “Empire of Shopping Mall” opens with spacious electronic waves, but a hi-def scream rips through…
Wasabi Tapes just keeps on bringing the textural bliss. The label’s latest release comes from Woopheadclrms, and it is 20 tracks of frantic, tactical noise, featuring rushing water mixed with sudden synth twists (“Bonfire”) and instructional voices clashing with bell chimes (“Misonikomi”). Kamechiyo sounds a bit more anarchist than other sound explorers like Toiret Status…
American imprint Squiggle Dot just released three albums from a trio (or, maybe 2.5, as one is a split with another artist outside the country) of Japanese artists, each hitting on different pleasure centers. Boogie Idol’s Mall Pop Hits is a great place to lead off, the Tokyo producer’s crystalline synthesizers and BGM-ready beats intertwining…