CRYSTAL light a trail to their new album

Directed by Shinya Satotaken from the forthcoming album 'Reflection Overdrive' Download/Stream the single http://smarturl.it/CRYSTAL-ReflectionDirected by Sh...

Driven by a love for late 80s neon pop, the duo return to release the first few tracks from upcoming album ‘Reflection Overdrive’

Japanese group CRYSTAL has kept focus on the development of their own unique sound from the start, and their original attitude and style has begun to draw widespread attention. They’ve being receiving praise from both reviewers and artists, including Flying Lotus and Gaspard Auge of JUSTICE.

The artists behind this project Ryota Miyake and Sunao Maruyama, producers who share an interest in retro aesthetics, 80’s pop and experimental ventures in electronica. We previously covered their Ecco Funk EP back in 2020, a release which delighted in nostalgic pop funk vibes, without becoming confined to the pre-established genres of city pop of vapourwave. Tracks from Ecco Funk seemed determined to reconnect with that period when technology was rapidly developing, and artists were excited to see how they could incorporate that into their sound.

We may have jumped ahead to 2021, but CRYSTAL are still drawing on that early retro aesthetic. The duo has been dropping a few tracks taken from their upcoming collection ‘Reflection Overdrive’, which is set for a full release on May 7th via the ever indie Japanese label Flau. The pre-release singles so far are vibrant with racing synth and neon basslines; original work from a different time.

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Boundary transcending neo-classical from Hideyuki Hashimoto

The Japanese artist brings forth unfiltered emotion, as his newest EP surfaces

Hideyuki Hashimoto of Kagawa Japan, excels within the genre of neo-classical. A skilled pianist Hashimoto uses light touches of electronica to elevate the soft, physical texture of his solo piano compositions. The normally silent background tones of shifting mechanisms within the piano are embraced, rather than highlighted and dug out from the final release. This ambient sound is drifted into his work, adding layers of organic warmth to his tracks and bringing down boundaries between the minimalist percussion and audience. Particularly during this time of isolation from live music, it’s an artistic choice which carries with it an emotional resonance.

Hashimoto has just made public his newest EP ‘Fragment’, a compact trio of songs which demonstrate the artist’s patient appreciation for the impact simple beauty can have. All three tracks were improvised at the time of recording, an approach which has allowed the pianist to capture a moments from the past two years with a raw and personal intensity.  Winter 2020, summer 2020, and winter 2021 have all been times of turmoil and unavoidable personal reflection. In the Fragment EP Hashimoto works to encapsulate memories, effectively creating a diary of sound; it’s warm, intimate, and evaporates distance that seems insurmountable.

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Experimental Dream-pop marks Cuushe’s return

taken from the forthcoming album WAKEN http://smarturl.it/Cuushe-Magic video directed by Tao Tajima 田島太雄 http://taotajima.jp/ animation directed by Yoko Kuno...

Warm tones, soft percussion, and higher resolution; Cuushe steps back into a community ready for her voice

The past few years have been tumultuous for Japanese producer Cuushe, with circumstances leading to the artist taking a hiatus from the industry. The strength and determination behind her return to music is contrasted by the delicacy of her sound, and the ethereal quality of a voice which remains her distinguishing feature.

Cuushe, AKA Mayuko Hitotsuyanagi, often creates a mood in her music which draws from the same pool of energy as chillwave; reverb heavy and gentle in their warmth, early releases like ‘Sort of Light’ explored hard to capture atmospheres of familiarity and comfort. Accustomed to movement from place to place herself, Cuushe releases into her tracks a sense of open space, horizons too distant to conceptualise.

In her return to the electronic scene Cuushe is supported by acclaimed Tokyo label ‘flau’, on which has been released her homecoming single ‘Hold Half’. The track demonstrates a more defined process. Dream-like synth, shimmering melodies and the unconstrained freedom of space remains, but Cuushe herself stands in a clearer space allowing her vocals to lead the sound rather than fade into it.

The single is now followed by ‘Magic’ taken from upcoming album ‘WAKEN’. Within the track melodies of voice and experimental electronica reflect off one another.

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Listen to the label- Flau Records
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Check out more quality electronic tunes in our Spotify playlist!

New perspectives from Tokyo’s LITE, with ‘S’

Offical Audio for "S" Listen to "S" here: https://lite.lnk.to/S_LITE Follow LITE Wsbsite: http://lite-web.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liteband In...

The first release since the hardworking group’s last album connects personality and minimalism

LITE are a four piece band whose discography stretches back to 2006 and carries a series of tracks which delve into the genres of post, progressive and mathrock. The consistent quality of their work, the dedication with which they’ve developed their sound, and the energy they’ve brought to live shows have helped Japan hold onto its significant presence in the field of mathrock.

Starting out from Tokyo, the group are recognisable by the classically raw energy of drums guitar and bass, meticulously cut with synthesiser. The powerful talent and drive of the four artists packs a punch with the bass riffs hitting particularly hard, but part of LITE’s process is to refine the music, making sure no elements overstep their carefully planned limits.

LITE has released six albums, in addition to a range of EPs, mini albums and even DVDs. The most recent activity from the group comes in the form of ‘S’, a single originally intended for 2019 album ‘Multiple’.

‘S’ explores a different direction for LITE, with Yuto Uchino of indie band ‘The fin.’ on hand to help nudge the track towards a pop culture sphere. The quartet’s characteristics remain central; as does their tenacity as they prepare for a virtual wold tour following the release.

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Demsky condenses quarantine introspection into a new single: ‘Cold Coffee’

Demsky · Cold Coffee

Demsky keeps active throughout isolation with streams, and brings back a new release

In the past, Canadian artist Demsky has brought his indie electronic style to festivals across Europe, Canada and Japan. There’s a strong influence on his sound from post rock groups, but it’s an element blended together with downtempo and ambience before appearing as the final product. You also throw around terms like lo-fi, but its unpredictability which is at the heart of Demsky’s production.

There’s also an apparent desire to try to decode and reflect on a few of the social norms we’ve accepted. Demsky brings into question narratives that play out around us not just through his calculated selection of vocal samples, but also his choice of when to leave tracks instrumental and more emotionally raw.

Ironically, despite his music being difficult to isolate Demsky himself has been setting down some roots in Tokyo and steadily becoming a constant of the local electronic community. That doesn’t rule out the chance of more international tours, but certainly for the time being we’re all pretty limited in our travel options.

Demsky is managing to keep up with performances however, forming part of the line-ups for streaming sessions held in both Japan and Canada this year, with the latest being hosted in Setagaya, Tokyo just this month. Live performances like this seem to be where he’s most active, freedom to change and redirect his sound mid performance fitting with his shifting style.

It’s been a while since Demsky released his second solo EP, ‘The Taboo of All Things’, but quarantine has given rise to a new single, ‘Cold Coffee’. Named for the things we forget as immersion in the moment takes hold, the track takes a slow trip through lo-fi edited vocals and balances itself on gentle beats, low tempo enough to give time for self-reflection.

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Mix, Live Drums: Szymon Aleksander Piotrowski
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Mastering : Hear Candy Mastering
www.hearcandymastering.com

Weightless Synthwave as CLAYRANGE makes his debut

READ DESCRIPTION FOR DISCLAIMER/ VIDEO INFO* CLAYRANGE - 'Voyager' Available on AppleMusic @ https://music.apple.com/jp/album/1520197833 Available on Spotif...

CLAYRANGE makes an assertive entrance, leading a series of singles with the mellow toned ‘Voyager’

The artist who now goes by the name of CLAYRANGE made his first impact back in 2004, with tracks from his debut EP later being selected as part of a collection for Café Del Mar Music, alongside other downtempo, ambient inclusions.

Still actively producing from his local area of Tokyo, July 2020 saw the birth of a new project and the adoption of the CLAYRANGE alias. The first few tracks have been appearing with rapid succession, music which draws from cosmic synthwave and instrumental hip hop.

The track which CLAYRANGE announced himself with was ‘Voyager’, an ambient mix of twinkling starlight and a heavily softened vocal chorus. Electronica which turns its view to cosmic landscapes can often create a feeling of powerlessness, using broad waves of synth to create contrast between the listener and the open expanse of sound confronting them. With a less overbearing attitude, Voyager encourages mellow relaxation as we drift past vocal harmonies and distant melodies, taking a few moments to float in an atmosphere of peaceful wonder.

Further singles are steadily being added to CLAYRANGE’s discography, taking on influence from areas such as house and hip hop. As the number of tracks increases, CLAYRANGE’s universe is set to expand along with them.

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Explore deeper into the cosmos- with our electronic playlist!

Kamupanerura offers gentle ambience, with ‘Teo’

Provided to YouTube by BIG UP! teo · kamupanerura teo ℗ no left turn records Released on: 2020-03-06 Composer: yuki nitta Auto-generated by YouTube.

Kamupanerura is composed of four members, bringing together a fusion of bass, guitar, drums, vocals and programming.  The group are based in the Japanese city of Kobe and their music takes root in the indie electronic scene of the country, harbouring a unique kind of sensitivity that seems run through the community of producers in Japan.

Their style has generally run along lines of experimental post rock, influenced by music created for cinema and incorporating electronica into their work to soften the organic edge to their music, replacing it with an infusion of something more dreamlike and melodic.

Their discography has been growing steadily; as has the attention they’ve been receiving both in their home country and overseas, with review sites in both Europe and the US taking note of their carefully put together sound. In particular Kamupanerura’s 3rd album ‘Balloons’ contained tracks which attracted acclaim, two of which were nominated for YouTube’s official music playlist in Japan.

Though Balloons is the bands most recent album, our featured track is from a little earlier on in the group’s history. ‘Teo’ is a track that manages to encapsulate Kamupanerura‘s favoured approach fairly succinctly, with meticulous guitar, delicate drum beats and a daydream electronic twist.

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The contemplative ambience of Shinji Wakasa, ‘Several Waves’

Shinji Wakasa is a Japanese artist and composer based in the city of Yokosuka, with a host of interesting projects circling around his talent for ambient and experimental music. Professionally he’s active in the commercial music sector, producing for films and advertising with organisations such as New Balance Tokyo, sportswear brand Hummel and camera company Kitamure. His more left-field projects include bringing sound to the duo Semiosis, an award winning collaboration in which he investigates relationships between image and audio, alongside creative partner and cinematography specialist Ryo Takahashi.

Wakasa’s path as a solo artist features a curious collection of EPs, each eliciting gentle contemplation and calm, drifting along on minimal currents of synthesiser. Becoming more active around 2019, Wakasa has been focusing on releases with fewer tracks with significant length that take the time they need to play out.

Made public on April 8th, Wakasa’s 4th EP is a reserved offering influenced by moments of silence, sadness, and beauty. Named after the eponymous lead track ‘I dive in to my jade’, the collection features four tracks leading towards the neo classical ‘Several Waves’, six minutes of measured ambient soundscape which echoes time spent by the artist observing the waves of the Japanese sea and allowing time to slip by.

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Sound Collage Memorials with Nami Sato

Nami Sato grew up in Sendai – a small town on the coast side of Japan. In 2011, The Great East Japan Earthquake, a Tsunami washed out many towns. Her hometown, Arahama, was one of them. Despite losing family members to the tragedy and having her hometown swept off the map, Nami has come to a point of acceptance rather than despair. Throughout the healing process, her music has been a great source of reflection and inspiration.

’Our Map Here’ is a release composed primarily from field recordings from the surrounding towns affected by the tsunami. The five songs on the EP were originally written for a memorial installation, which was built next to a subway station nearest to the town she grew up. Nami says the idea "was to create a map of memories around the coastline of Sendai City”.

Each title of the songs are the names of the areas where field recordings were carried out. Nami visited those five areas a few times with her microphone: "Instead of directly interviewing the locals, I focused on capturing the sound of local festivals of affected areas and disaster relief events. I created collages of sound by extracting and using the most personally memorable part of the recording.”

Despite the melancholic nature of the EP there are moments of optimism and rebirth within the layers of sound. Sato skillfully wraps the recordings in light blankets of melody and mood which results in a hopeful yet nostalgic message to the world.

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Atelier Pink Noise finds solace in quietude with 'Meditation of silence'

Continuing in the rich tradition of Japanese ambient, environmental, and new age music, Atelier Pink Noise releases a brand new full-length, 58-minute long album titled ‘Draw a Sleeps.’ Today, we get to listen to a selection from the album, a track titled ‘Meditation of silence.’ For the uninitiated, pink noise is a mathematical noise function that is perceived very similarly to soundscapes found in nature, such as waterfalls.

Atelier Pink Noise, however, instead of using pink noise in his compositions, goes straight to the source and samples the world around him. The sounds of forests, water, small animals, and more reverberate through his compositions, processed and warped to evoke new aural worlds, excitingly fresh yet still intimately familiar. APN blends these sources beautifully with rich, uplifting synth chords that are nominally abstract, but still manages to provoke a narrative within the mind, if one focuses clearly enough. Indeed, I would invite you to experience this track, as well as the rest of the album, in a peaceful and intimate setting, with the lights low and your eyes closed. Perhaps you’ll even see the natural sources from which these sounds originated from.

Stream ‘Meditation of silence’ above, and listen to the entire album over on Spotify.

— review by autonomy

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