Elen Never Sleeps: “White Surrender” (Taquwami Remix)
September 3, 2012
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Elen Never Sleeps and Super VHS, two of the best young artists in the Tokyo music scene right now, have teamed up for a late-summer split EP. The prior’s “White Surrender” finds Elen Never Sleeps stepping out of the shadows slightly, the vocals clearer on this track than at any other point in his young career. The rest of “White Surrender” is more in line with what Elen Never Sleeps has done before – a minimal musical backdrop accented by some lovely wordless vocals. Super VHS’ “Stuck On You,” meanwhile, is guitar-powered garage rock sounding appropriately rough. Unlike Elen Never Sleeps, Super VHS’ contribution strays more from the synth-heavy style they usually rely on. The EP also features remixes of each track courtesy of another buzzed-about Tokyoite, Taquwami. His take on “White Surrender” veers closer to what Elen Never Sleeps usually sounds like – Taquwami muffles the vocals more than on the original – save for a few instances of slowed-down vocals. His remix of “Stuck On You” adds more synths and takes the song in a more dance-friendly direction.
The White Surrender/Stuck On You EP is available on BandCamp
Written by Patrick St. Michel
Tags: Asia, elen never sleeps, Japan, Reviews, Taquwami, Tokyo
Reviews
Russian duo ĸŋüłł just dropped a duo of digital EPs earlier this month that have forcefully pushed their noisy, often caustic drones into more distinct, if varied, shapes, while simultaneously piling on rhythmic elements heavy enough to make the seemingly impenetrable textures wriggle and shimmer under the pressure. Put simply, they’ve obviously been busy honing their sound since we featured a track from their debut release, arhitektura, on our mix for Vice Italy seven months ago. The track “peru” is exemplary of the pair’s ability to build daunting sounds out of diminutive samples and thenredirect their energy at a moment’s notice. The lyrics, also a new element, are presumably in Russian, but they might as well be sung by a weaponized clone of Damo Suzuki for all the strange tension in their delivery. Listen with caution and don’t forget to breathe.
The twin EPs nature morte and marina are available for free download
Written by Luke Carrell
Tags: Asia, Europe, knutt, marina, nature morte, Reviews, russia, ĸŋüłł
Reviews
New from Australia’s Rocket Machine Tapes comes Husnaan (given name, Duto Hardono), a solo synth Indonesian artist of the minimal variety. The album is evocatively titled Recordings of Names and Misled Trains and it was recorded in real time using a Nakamichi CR-1 and Nakamichi LX3 onto a cobalt type II cassette. ”Luth” is a track from the tape with one chord that pulses through the composition as the occasional whizz-whirl scream flies past us like a hawk dive bombing a mouse. There is so little activity in this piece that we must confront our surroundings and ourselves whilst in the track’s trance. It puts its hooks (not hooks like Beiber or hardcore mind you, but “hooks” like metaphysical devices of spiritual intent) in our ear canals, and maybe even deeper. Focusing on music like this is a challenge as difficult as repeating a mantra is for those new to meditation. Under the rule of this rhythm, we start to hone in on sounds outside our listening station. People walking in the hallway adjacent or cars driving past an open window. Exterior sounds overdub themselves onto this piece, creating a fleeting, sui generis sound collage. Whether Husnaan intended that or not, we don’t know. All we can safely say is what Lennon sang all those years ago, “turn off your mind, relax and float down stream.”
Recordings of Names and Misled Trains is available on cassette from Rocket Machine Tapes
Written by Jeff Daily
Tags: Asia, husnaan, indonesia, Reviews
Reviews
First off, Elen Never Sleeps’ new EP Open Air Dance doesn’t constitute a major change in musical style. The Tokyo artist still records lovelorn pop out of his bedroom, and apart from the incorporation of some more traditional song structures, his latest four-song offering not radically different from this past January’s “My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel” release. Yet, Open Air Dance sounds livelier, more appropriate for the summer months and the outside world rather than just being confined to the indoors. This comes across most clearly on the title track, where Elen Never Sleep’s interlocking guitars are joined by a pounding drum machine beat that’s crisper than any he’s used before. The additional percussion that’s introduce late in the song adds to the festive feel and even the lyrics sound more upbeat, with lines like “it feels like I’m floating” sounding joyful contrasting with the usual wistful ennui. The rest of the album features more typically bedroom-friendly tracks, like the hazy indie-pop of “The Sweetest Thing” and the galloping “Drumming Gemini,” but each sounds more confident than on earlier Elen Never Sleeps’ works.
Open Air Dance is available on Bandcamp
Written by Patrick St. Michel
Tags: Asia, elen never sleeps, Japan, Reviews, Tokyo
Reviews
So far, 2012 has been the year of indie pop becoming the fashionable sound Japan’s underground music scene. Although artists have been making the type of songs easily labeled “twee” in this country for years, the past six months have seen a boom in the style, coinciding with the rise in popularity of websites like SoundCloud and Bandcamp in Japan. Tokyo’s BOYISH have been following this digital path closely – since forming earlier this year, they’ve trickled new tracks online, even releasing a split EP with fellow indie pop outfit Daisyblue on Bandcamp. For new EP Kissing The Sea, though, BOYISH are taking a cue from the indie-pop band of the 80’s that have influenced them deeply by releasing it as a limited cassette, along with a fanzine and a badge. This collection of eight warm-sounding songs conceal ennui in the feedback-muffled vocals (“Cupid” and “Waiting In Summer” in particular shine at this) and form what is arguably one of the most cohesive releases from the current crop of Japanese indie pop artists. BOYISH honor both the history of their sound, while also watching out for those who can’t snag one of the 100 cassettes due out 6/22/2012.
Kissing The Sea is available on Bandcamp
Written by Patrick St. Michel
Tags: Asia, BOYISH, Daisyblue, indie, Japan, Reviews
Mixtapes
aus is the solo incarnation of Yasuhiko Fukuzono of Tokyo, Japan. As well as making music, exploring diverse audio textual landscapes and sonic variations, Fukuzono runs Tokyo-based record label, Flau, releasing records for the likes if Cuushe, Madegg, MayMay and Sylvain Chauveau. Having remixed for international acts including Tujiko Noriko, The Declining Winter (aka hood), Fedaden, Northerner, The Boats, Miou Miou and The Heart Horses, aus offers up a new mix called “A Dream Within a Dream.” The mix features tracks by Arvo Pärt, Midori Hirano, Tim Hecker, David Sylvian, to name but a few. It’s a collation of tracks that may inspire us to transcend our sensory boundaries.
01 Einstürzende Neubauten – Ragout: Küchen Rezpt
02 Tsumugine – So 2 (improvisation by pianica)
03 Satoshi Ashikawa – Image Under The Tree
04 Luc Ferrari – Tête Et Queue Du Dragon
05 Tsukimono – Weak Ends, Weekends
06 Teiji Furuhashi – Lovers
07 Pierre Henry – Variance D’exercice
08 aus – Landed
09 Ultra-Red – Red Light
10 Duul_Drv – Under Words, There Is Something Hidden
11 Henry Flower – The Leaning Tree Trunk
12 Ulf Lohmann – (Untitled)
13 Novisad – Zerfall
14 aus – Middle March
15 Jonas Lindgren – More Beautiful Than The Rest
16 David Cunningham – Two Lisening Rooms(Birmingham)
17 Drone – Stadt
18 Gastr Del Sol – Eight Corners
19 Iannis Xenakis – Concert Ph
20 Toshiro Nakagawa – Kanon
21 David Leith – The Quickening
22 K.M.Krebs – Small Golden Chains Extending To The Heavens
23 Aphex Twin – Donkey Rhubarb (Steve & Rob Version)
24 Adrew Thomas – One
25 Maja Ratkje – Acid
26 Liz Christine – Holiday
27 Somei Sato – Birds In Warped Time II
28 Arvo Pärt – Spiegel Im Spiegel
29 John Lurie – Whales-Jacques’ Voiced
30 Kyle Dawkins – Finally Falling
31 Edwin Morris – As The Sun Sets On Us All
32 www.nonphilio.org – Un Caddie Renvers Dans L’Herbe
33 Midori Hirano – Kalimba
34 Toys For Elliot – Songs We’ll Never Do
35 Dale Berning – Cloud
36 B33P3R – Transit
37 David Sylvian – Darkest Dreaming (edit)
38 Colophon – Eat The Moon
39 Tim Hecker – Ghost Writing pt.1
40 aus – It’s Tomorrow Already
41 Ljudbilden & Piloten – Sventeen Curves, Five Lines
42 833-45 – Enigma v2 4147kHz 22-07-99 700
43 Miho Asahi – Zenmai Jikake no Shikisha
44 Dragibus – Namida Kara Ashita E
45 David Toop – Howler Monkeys
46 Tomas Boden – Utan Titel (Motminne)
47 Dumb Type – Forest Of Memories
48 Robert Lippok – Close
49 Popol Vuh – Nicht Hoch Im Himmel
50 John Davis – Audio02 part.3
51 Noël Akchoté – Cesse
52 Dinosaur Jr – Poledo
53 Magical Power Mako – The End Amen
54 Gavin Bryars – Hymn II (the Sinking Of The Titanic)
55 Jetone – One
56 Colophon – Love Loop
Submitted by aus
Tags: Asia, aus, flau, Japan, mixtape, Mixtapes
Reviews
Argentina’s Pakapi Records and New Zealand’s PseudoAracana have teamed up to release Splito, a (yes, you guessed it) split 7″ of the label runners’ own projects: GMC and Antony Milton, respectively. Recording with ad hoc methods, both artists manifest a dissonant take on a wonderfully bent brand of acoustic music that’s as organic as it is infirm. It’s as if the city noise leaking in through your headphones overcame your favorite indie singer songwriter and suddenly decided to commandeer the music entirely, transforming it back into a purposefully experimental demo tape. If that sounds like it’s up your alley, give the juxtaposition-heavy “Jingle 1: Pumice” a listen.
Splito is available on lathe cut 7″ from PseudoArcana
Written by Luke Carrell
Tags: Antony Milton, Argentina, Asia, GMC, new zealand, Reviews, South America
Reviews
Polymath Kouhei Matsunaga is a card-carrying world traveller. A resident of both Osaka and Berlin, his time is divided between producing intricate pen illustrations which depict a disjointed surrealism with impeccable technique and electronic music which is a combination of digital primitivism and an un-abashed, wordless emotiveness. While his line drawings are always black pen on white paper affairs, his music as NHK’Koyxeи is an open language, taking in digital technology and slanted club musics of the past 30 years. You can compare his mediums and find similarities – both his visual and aural arts present consistent, self-contained worlds, means of escape – but they’re best understood on their own terms.
Propelled along with a beat that wouldn’t be out of place on some Brainfeeder jams and cloaked in decaying synth patterns, “614″ does that thing that truly great electronic music does – it moves the listener into an alternate head space, a space with more possibilities. A visual accompaniment in the form of Piotr Kamler‘s Chronopolis is suggested above.
“614″ features on the PAN release Dance Classics Vol. 1. Matsunaga also released a sold out split with SND on the same label
Written by Michael Kasparis
Tags: Asia, berlin, Europe, Kouhei Matsunaga, osaka, PAN records, Reviews, SND
Reviews
Over the past few months, Osaka’s Cloudy Busey has been busy carving out a sonic identity. The solo project of Bob Willey, who also fronts the outfit Ice Cream Shout, initially sounded like an extension of his primary band, to the point where the spacey indie-pop of last year’s “Broken By Inertia” started creeping into Ice Cream Shout’s live shows. This year, though, Willey has made his Cloudy Busey project distinctive from Ice Cream Shout by embracing dance music. “Who Says They Love You” is the culmination of this shift, a song still carrying traces of twee – see the lyrics – but with a sound that’s built for the club. Willey describes the track as “acid, Latin break, Stardust,” and those influences certainly show over these bouncy four minutes, but he places these sounds within the constraints of pop, making sure no section ever trails off and that the catchy chorus is never far away. Regardless of what sounds he’s dealing with, “Who Says They Love You” is further proof that Willey is distinguishing himself as one of the best songwriters in Japan today.
Watch for more Cloudy Busey on Soundcloud
Written by Patrick St. Michel
Tags: Asia, Cloudy Busey, Japan, osaka, Reviews
Mixtapes
We’re switching things from our usual format today for the premiere of Ç86, a brand spanking new compilation of bedroom-recorded music from across Japan. Chiba-based four piece möscow çlub conceived the comp as a celebration of coming of spring and the heterogenous universe of DIY production technique.
The sixteen artists and bands yield a diverse array of styles and sounds, encompassing various branches of post-punk, tasty bits of house, and a rainbow-flavored assortment of sample pop and include both familiar names and new discoveries. To save you some googling, here’s the list, complete with linkage: möscow çlub, SUPER VHS, Occult You, Lilacs, Elen Never Sleeps [hi, again!], It Happens, Slow-Marico, The Moments, figure, OMEGABOY, coffee_and_tv, Breezesquad, women in the dune, ILL DAZE, edel & weiss, and Exccow. In addition to the original tunes, the mix also includes 7 covers that we’re still wrapping our heads around. There’s plenty here to move your feet, warm your soul, and fill your playlists. We have our favorites, but the best advice we can give is that you explore this landscape for yourself. Prepare for a crash course in independent Japanese music.
Gay Vegan Vinyl Cassette is offering the entire compilation on Bandcamp
Written by Luke Carrell
Tags: again!], Asia, Breezesquad, coffee_and_tv, edel & weiss, Elen Never Sleeps [hi, Exccow, figure, ILL DAZE, It Happens, Japan, Lilacs, mixtape, möscow çlub, Occult You, OMEGABOY, Slow-Marico, SUPER VHS, The Moments, women in the dune
