800 Cherries

800 Cherries are (were?) a lovely lo-fi electronic pop folk duo from Japan. (Well, they sounded lovely; I don’t know what they looked like.) They come complete with amusingly fey almost-tuned synths and quintessentially Japanese quiet-little-girl vocals. They seemed to disappear a few years ago. I just heard some of their songs on Japanator Radio… Read more »

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Japanese electronics

Omodaka “Asa doya yuta” – Electronics with traditional-sounding female Japanese vocal over it. Sounds nice, and a touch exotic. I’d like to find out a bit more about it. (From Japanator Radio 59) Aira Mitsuki “Sazae Funkadelic” from Robot Honey – Electronic, heavily processed and very energetic J-Pop. I don’t know what it has to… Read more »

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Aira Mitsuki remix and more

Aira Mitsuki “Beep Count Fantastic” from Copy – Muscular techno instrumental with liberal sprinklings of 8-bit throughout. (From Japanator Radio 59) Mosaic.wav “Anata no Tonari no Vampire” from “Meiwaku Mailing Girl” – Awesome hyperspeed pop chip(munk) tune. (From Japanator Radio 59) Sleepy.ab “Palette” from Palette – Lovely melodic mid-tempo male vocal. (From Japanator Radio 59)

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Die!! Die!! Color!!!

I went to a lot of effort to buy some Die!! Die!! Color!!! CDs. Their website pointed me to a retailer in Tokyo (Guh-roovy). I looked up the street address — Shibuya, opposite the Tokyu Hands north entrance. Then I used Google Street View to see the actual building it’s in. I could even see… Read more »

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Public Enemy – Harder Than You Think

I just heard “Harder Than You Think”, a Public Enemy single from last year, from their album marking twenty years in the biz. I lost touch with PE about ten years ago when I decided they weren’t going to surpass “Nation of Millions”. Also I just couldn’t bring myself to get past the stupid title… Read more »

Depeche Mode discographies

Depeche Mode used to be a synth-pop band from the UK. These days they sound full of doom and angst, brought on by bitter and painful obession; maybe this is what happens when people get old. Nonetheless, they’ve released many records, and lots of bootleggers have released records on their behalf. My Depeche Mode Unofficial… Read more »

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Hyperpop and slow folk

Hyperspeed pop/dance track of the week is Helen Love “It’s My Club” from “It’s My Club and I’ll Play What I Want”. This is truly awesome. It sounds like one of those hypervelocity Shibuya-kei bands, except the singer has a strong English accent. Helen Love have a Ramones fetish, and there’s nothing wrong with that…. Read more »

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