More pop from Japan, this time from Nami Shimada and the techno stylings of Soichi Terada, who is most known for his work on the Ape Escape soundtracks (in my mind, anyway). This song rips and will definitely get you moving in your step aerobics class.
Realizing that a lot of these posts for February are going to be about Japanese pop music from the 80s, primarily labeled as “city pop.” This is the intro track to one of my favorite pop albums of the era, Miharu Koshi’s Parallelisme from 1984 – most notably mixed and produced by Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haruomi Hosono. It’s a fantastic record overall, but this opener is by far the best track in my opinion.
Another entry to great 2018 tracks, from Holodeck Record’s Lou Rebecca. Intoxicating synth pop with serious Glass Candy feels added in there. Lou Rebecca’s new self-titled EP is solid – I’m very likely going to feature it on my albums of January post.
Another early 2018 standout track comes from CO-based electronic vibeman Lane 8, featuring Channy from Poliça. I wouldn’t say I’m always a huge fan of this type of music, but this song really hits. I’ll give most of the props to Channy’s vocals and the flickering, accelerating synth in the background of the track. Well arranged and something that would definitely go over super well live. I can see a bunch of folks in snowboarder jackets totally vibing out to this.
I’m going to try and post something every day during the month of February, usually consisting of either brand new music or folks that I’ve never posted about before. Yesterday I posted about the brand new Negative Gemini EP, so today I’m indulging in something older.
I recently rediscovered this album by The Supreme Jubilees and decided to put their 1979 album (reissued by Light In The Attic in 2015) on my phone for the week, especially since it’s a very cold Friday and I need a bit of comfort. This did the trick and warmed me up during my frigid commute to work this morning. The story of the band is heartwarming and another story to add to the collection of labels like Light In The Attic or Numero resuscitating old, forgotten records to the present day. Read the whole story below and enjoy.
First 2018-related post is a dang good one. I was a big fan of Negative Gemini’s 2016 album Body Work, so I was jazzed to find out that this new EP, Bad Baby, builds upon the sweaty rave stab into dream pop that was set up on the last record. “Infin Path” is the first track on the record and it gets things started off well, priming the listener for what’s to come. A bleary smear of electronics, drum samples (unsure what the exact name of that pattern would be – it’s not breakbeat / drum & bass right?). Either way – it’s a mess of styles coherently blended together in a satisfying package. Listen to the rest of the EP and maybe even buy it HERE.
ALSO – I’m going to try and do a post every day this month (February 2018). If I fail, flay me alive in the town square!
I would write papers during my final year of college to Sun Araw, one of my favorite psychedelic artists. It would put me in some sort of primal trance, not allowing any confounding thoughts to interrupt my process. I previously had trouble with things distracting me while doing big projects, likely to reduce the stress that I was putting upon my brain. This music allowed me to amply distribute said stress into other areas of my brain while still utilizing its maximum efficiency. Or something like that. Either way, I finished college with a minor in Spanish after taking four upper-level Spanish classes at once, so I definitely have this man to thank, at least partially.
This song specifically is the climactic conclusion to his 2010 album On Patrol (Not Not Fun). It isn’t the best track off the record, but it’s definitely one of the most memorable. Since it was the longest it meant I had the most uninterrupted time to get through the jam and get my work done. The final bit (I’ll let you get to it naturally without me spoiling it) really throws this song over the edge for me. The trance is a real thing and this track will show you.
One of the most underrated closing tracks of all time. Perfectly wraps up this cinematic masterpiece of an album. If the track before this one, “Live At Dominoes,” is the climactic final chase and satisfying ending scene, then “Extra Kings” is not only the place for the credits, but for a suspicious hint of a sequel.
The first forty seconds have to be sampled from a mysterious ending of a movie. You know the type where the camera slowly zooms in on a key piece of the story that has been discarded, but actually suggests something bigger occurring in the future? That’s exactly what I think of. The eyes in the broken mask light up again, the character with amnesia winks at the camera, the lost treasure map washes back up on shore, the powerful gauntlet falls into the hands of the apprentice, etc. But just as the true nature of where things are headed next, the film unexpectedly cuts, sending us back to the main story on a very satisfying, yet unsatisfying note. Credits play in the background as we see our characters wrap up their comical adventure on this crazy pleasure island.
Has anyone ever written an imaginary film to this album? I would love to do something like that. Either way, you should probably listen to this whole record to get the scope of why this is such a closing track, but alone it’s pretty great too.
Since mid-December 2017 til the time of this blog post (and likely long after), all I’ve been listening to regularly has been Charli XCX. More specifically, her two 2017 mixtapes Number 1 Angel and Pop 2. The latter is what threw me down this never-ending set of addicting stairs, but Number 1 Angel has some big, big bangers that continue to bring me in. This song, “Roll With Me,” is the biggest of them all.
Featuring classic, razor-sharp bubblegum production from SOPHIE and some melt-worthy vocal melodies in the hook from Charli, this song is a tried and true earworm that has me near-breaking my replay button. Each repetition of the song allowing the release of another stream of dopamine into the mainframe, resulting in a vicious, never-ending cycle. It’s fast-paced, hot-tempered, makes me want to join a step aerobics class (as many club-minded songs do) and it just plain makes me feel good. Does your pop song make you feel good? Might want to find a new pop song if not, buster brown.
Recently revisited this weird, somehow-never-been-beaten record by Sweet Trip, Velocity : Design : Comfort. A weird mix of glitch, Stereolab-worship and shoegaze that makes me feel all warm inside. It’s very unlikely you’ve ever heard anything like this before.
Warm Visions 