An eerie, crackly beat and deep bass with a spooked and plaintive vocal. Reminds me of Tricky’s side project Nearly God, from about 15 years ago. A tune to get lost in. I notice that the King Midas Sound album Waiting For You is in The Wire magazine’s top 10 for 2009. And Kevin Martin… Read more »
Posts By: Bennett
Fantastic Plastic Machine — If You Do, I Do
A very fun cut-up of an old orchestral piece over a chugging disco beat. Halfway through, the original main theme plays unaccompanied for a few bars. I laughed when I recognised it. Then there’s an amusing Beatbox Saboteurs moment when the beat comes in under the original. Nice. Source: On the Wire
OMO — Live Show
This is understated and great. The vocals are spoken by a woman in a deadpan English accent over a crunchy lo-fi metronomic rhythm. ‘Hello. My name is Elmo. I do this live show to sell my promo.” Live Show is the standout track on OMO’s album, The White Album. It’s worth listening to, but not quite… Read more »
Boom Boom Satellites — Back on my Feet
This is a band that makes a worthwhile electronic/rock combination. Tracks like Girl make me want to jump out of my skin. The new single Back on my Feet is in this vein. Big big sound, fast with drums and guitars and vocal histrionics. Strings, too. And adrenaline, lots of adrenaline.
Freezepop — Tenisu no Boifurendo
Hilarious. Perhaps in response to the hundreds of Japanese artists singing in heavily-accented English, Freezepop have come up with a lovely pop tune, sung sweetly in Japanese with a heavy English accent. That’s really all you need to know about this track, except that it’s very cute and a fine and hummable song even without… Read more »
Ai Otsuka — Sakuranbo
Ai Otsuka’s big hit is as sweet and fresh and zingy as its titular cherry. I may be the thousandth person to say this, but at least I am the first to use the phrase “titular cherry” while doing so. It’s been re-released on her hits and remixes album LOVE is BEST, with the emphatic… Read more »
Shonen Knife
Shonen knife are a great straight-ahead guitar pop band with female vocals. They sing in English as well as Japanese. I have a remix CD of theirs, which is one of my favourite CDs — there’s a juddering Alec Empire remix, and the Bis remix of Wind Your Spring is as absolutely mighty as you… Read more »
PINE*am
I heard this band first on last.fm, and recently heard a few more of their songs on Japanator Radio. Jaunty! Lightweight! Quirky! It’s that Shibuya sound that I just can’t get enough of. Love Giraffe for example — cute, sweet and fun, and that’s just the title! Then there’s Red Car, which is much more… Read more »
Micro-Escopio — The Road to Masada
I like Micro-Escopio’s brand of melodic chiptune techno electronic fun. And “The Road to Masada” in particular has the most insanely catchy and memorable little hook I have heard. The only awkward thing about having instrumental tracks like this running through your head is that you can’t sing them — whistling and humming are the… Read more »
The Raveonettes — Last Dance
This is just so catchy. I love the Raveonettes’ sound, all reverbed wall-of-sound guitar and OTT ’50s-style vocals. I can’t resist this opportunity to reminisce about seeing the Raveonettes play at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2003. Nice to hear that they’re still going strong and their studied Scandinavian cool is intact.