-Garrett

The two latest albums by Japanese screamo group, sora. A much cleaner and more well-produced sound than their early demos, yet still retaining their raw, melodic approach.

I exchanged a few emails with Yoshi awhile ago, and he said sora is going back in the studio soon to record a new album, so you can probably expect some new music from them soon!

As mentioned before, these albums can be purchased through Oto Records

-Garrett

Kenichi Fumoto is a singer/songwriter from Japan, who seems to be relatively unknown. I actually stumbled across him by complete accident and listened to a few samples of his out of pure curiosity (which can be heard through one of the links posted below). This is his first official CD (he previously released 3 CD-Rs before this album, of which some songs appear on this album).

Recorded entirely on Garageband in his room, one would imagine a level of quality that is quite sparse, but that is actually quite the opposite with Fumoto's music. There is a serene presence of melody brought by layers and layers of lush guitar work, keyboards, and drum machines (along with occasional female harmonies.) Although not similar in sound, hearing Fumoto reminds me of the first time I heard Grouper, transcending that level of a typical, lone singer/songwriter, and going beyond the sum of it's parts, Fumoto's music is more of a focus on mood and the slow, shifting pieces of sound that he creates.

I wish I could explain Fumoto better and not in such vague terms, there is just something oddly special about his music, as if it has a sense of familiarity and nostalgia that I cannot simply place the start of. When I put this album on I feel my heart shatter into a million pieces. Though I cannot understand what Fumoto is saying, I feel a sense of loss and longing in his music.

Some of Fumoto's CDs can be purchased through here and here. Although some of them may be out of print (including this one I posted), the second link contains a sample stream of his entire album and are currently selling his latest CD-R, which I suggest you purchase before it is too late.


Myspace
Official Site

-Garrett

capsule continues to further push the limitations of the electro-house genre which they have grown so close to during their last several albums, and although this may be the case, one can certainly make clear of the progression that Nakata is aiming for. However, if More! More! More! was any indication for Nakata's ever growing fetish for manipulated stock vocals and oddly placed rappers with British accents, then good news for you! PLAYER has lots of that, almost too much at times...

With that being said, that is my main (and possibly, only) quarrel with the album. As a whole, the music itself stands as a testament that Nakata is always fairly ahead of the game, reinventing the electro-house genre as quickly as he has perfected it. For a genre of music that seems so bent on maintaining such a retro quality, it is oddly new to the ears. PLAYER is relentless in terms of hitting hard.

Nakata even occasionally strays away from the electro elements, as heard on one of my personal favorites, "I Was Wrong," with it's delicate, poetic like mood and haunting, manipulated vocals, it almost sounds like capsule clashed with dubstep artist, Burial. "Hello" seems to return back to the days before Fruits Clipper, with its cute, hip, shibuya-kei sound, and "Player" with it's grime like influences.

Despite that much of PLAYER seems to make reference to many modern American electro acts in terms of sound quality and progression, it comes off nowhere near as obnoxious or soulless as it's counterparts. To note, this is capsule's hardest record by far, but also their most ambitious and possibly most accessible as well.

-Garrett