japan_fav

2016

tomo

dim shape

おやすみソング ITTO&EVIS  Track by WATT

王舟 - New Song

Erased Tapes Collection I

Boundaries

Kyte - Boundaries

次やったら殴る

EVISBEATS【MV】ゆれる Feat. 田我流

Out on Labrador.
www.labrador.se // info@labrador.se

iTunes

The Radio Dept. - This Repeated Sodomy

Limited 12": smarturl.it/MariaUsbeckVinyl
Spotify: smarturl.it/MariaUsbeckSpotify
Apple: smarturl.it/AmparoApple
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Maria Usbeck's solo debut, Amparo, is a collection of songs written and recorded across the span of three years in Ecuador, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Barcelona, Lisbon, Easter Island, Costa Rica, Florida, L.A. and her home in Brooklyn. Though the songs were composed electronically, Amparo called for an acoustic treatment, so Usbeck spent a winter in the studio recording the arrangements live with producer Caroline Polachek and mixer & engineer Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. Fleshed out in full sonic color on the marimba, xylophone, quena flute, piano, and harp, the album stretched into something hi-fi and expressive, meditative but not meandering.

Amparo stems from Usbeck's desire to compose in Spanish, her native language. Growing up in Quito, Usbeck was immersed in salsa, merengue, bachata, and Andean music, but was more attracted to German and American culture than to her own, and moved to America by herself at 17. After five years of fronting new wave outfit Selebrities and writing songs in English, Usbeck experienced a delayed-onset homesickness and knew it was time to "let the mother tongue speak." The impulse manifested itself directly: Amparo takes its title from Usbeck's middle name and her mother's name, and translates roughly as "to guide, protect, and embrace." Usbeck wields her Spanish lyrics cleverly while folding in snippets of several other far-flung tongues: Rapa Nui from Easter Island, Quichua from Ecuador, Bribri from Costa Rica, and Catalan. Because these lyrics were composed while visiting the countries from which they originate, their usage is more impressionistic than literal, like a mockingbird imitating fragments of other bird calls. Similarly, Usbeck reinterprets the Ecuadorian music that she grew up with as a newcomer, returning home with fresh ears, and as such the sounds are very much her own.

The backbone of Amparo is percussion, vibrating throughout with timbales, tumbas, a talking drum, bongos, shakers, and an Indian flat drum, with the gaps filled in by her field recordings of birds, beaches, and jungles. The songs were written and recorded chronologically, with the exception of the closing track, a cover of Colourbox’s “Tarantula” reimagined in Usbeck’s Spanish translation. Amparo is a reflection of the textures of Usbeck's childhood. It is also a distinctly grown-up pop record – a travel diary, music made by a visiting outsider to tap into a shared core of human expression. Emotively, Usbeck is her most powerful on piano ballads "Uno De Tus Ojos" and "Jungla Inquieta," but is a magnetic narrator throughout, moving between whispers, chants, and lullabies. Amparo pulses with many stories in many voices, but they flow together seamlessly like water, leaving behind a wordless hum.

Amparo is released May 27 via Cascine in North America, Labrador in Euope and Rallye in Japan.
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Cascine on FB: bit.ly/1QTpyHQ

Maria Usbeck - Ciudad Desnuda

from single "ブルーハワイ"

http://mitsume.me/

Released by:
mitsume

Release date:
16 Oct 2015

ブルーハワイ

忘れる / wasureru from single "ブルーハワイ"

Felicita feat Toshiu

2016.09.16 On Sale
KAKU-077
YOUR SONG IS GOOD / “Waves”（12’ Vinyl）

SIDE A
Waves(Original) 
MUSIC : Jun Saito

SIDE B
Waves (Gonno Remix) 
Produced, arranged and mixed by Gonno

Available on Kakubarhythm Delivery Service: http://kakubarhythm.shop-pro.jp/

Waves（Trailer）

YOUR SONG IS GOOD - Waves (Gonno Remix)

空洞です HIROSHI II HIROSHI feat. 小泉今日子（ゆらゆら帝国）

Postiljonen - We Raise Our Hearts

https://vimeo.com/49009510

We Raise Our Hearts

Bored with both rock and roll and his own name, ex-drummer Steven Ford released his debut 12", a techno single titled Read Me/Silver City, under the pseudonym Bruno Pronsato in 2003. The response to that release, though overwhelmingly positive, was dwarfed by the critical praise heaped on its follow-ups: 2007's Why Can't We Be Like Us, which effectively established Pronsato as one of the most innovative and vital producers in dance music, and 2009's groundbreaking The Make Up The Break Up, which further cemented his credentials as a visionary. NDF combines Pronsato's talents with those of Sergio Giorgini – one half of Benoit & Sergio, whose rose-lensed debut EP, What I've Lost, was released through Pronsato's thesongsays label. On their auspicious first outing, Since We Last Met, NDF offer music almost perfectly summed up in their own words as "dance music twilit by…melancholy."

The A-Side track, which begins nearly fully formed – with handclaps, keys and a sparse, bassy percussive loop – is a roomy, wide-open construction of electronic pop. Sergio's languid vocals echo outward into whispered descriptions of familiar post-romance scenarios: "One day I'll see her on the street/And we'll greet with casualness/And discuss the flow beneath the bridges/Since we last met/And that'll be all..." There are ghostly voices that hang ephemerally in the background, and a rippling percussive build through the song's middle, but not a lot more. Instead of filling the track to its brim, NDF's minimal, but studied, arrangements leave plenty of room for every element to breathe – and listeners to swoon.

Side-B, notably, is a remix of the title track from superstar Ricardo Villalobos. The famed producer elongates the single to nearly three times its original length. Villalobos's rebuilt track starts as a nearly naked beat, with Sergio's vocals layered into a haunting procession of blank-eyed repeated mantras. Villalobos adds here and there – carefully and slowly – a steady, unerring hand keeping things just so. Perfection through precision and subtlety. 

- Kali Holloway

YOUR SONG IS GOOD - Waves (Gonno Remix)

kakubarythm