iLL

Being the solo work of Koji Nakamura, ex-frontman of the highly popular and influential indie-rock/shoegaze/electro band Supercar, it's perhaps understandable (if not inevitable) to want to compare the music of iLL to that of Supercar. This isn't helped by the fact that they are, in many ways, very similar. Similar enough to say with confidence that if you like one, you'll like the other.

Two of the largest missing pieces from the Supercar puzzle are bassist and vocalist Miki Furukawa, who brought the female voice to the Supercar equation and the more electronic slant that Supercar adopted later in their career (see Highvision.) iLL keeps the quiet and muzzy shoegaze vibe though, as well as the morose tone of Nakamura's own vocal delivery.

While Nyantora, another of Nakamura project, is almost 100% ambient electronic, iLL is rooted in rock, albeit very spaced out and simplified. Many of the songs are very repetitive and almost drone-like, though far from atonal. They often work themselves into a trance-like state with a wall of reverberant guitars and crashing drums. Again much like Supercar, the electronic elements are kept to a minimum, but when used are rather organic and raw.

iLL's output has greatly increased as of late, with two full length albums released in 2008. While many fans are still mourning the passing of Supercar, the can at least console themselves knowing that its shattered pieces are still spreading their own light into the music world.

BUY ILL RELEASES HERE!

Live



Official Site
MySpace

Releases:
ROCK ALBUM - 2008/08
Dead Wonderland - 2008/03
Sound by iLL - 2006/05

Flying Saucer


iLL TV 1


iLL TV 2

Immi

Immi is a new face on the quickly exploding Japanese techno-pop scene. Similar in tone to the overly compressed dance sounds of Perfume, Immi manages to add a much needed dose of originality and texture to her songs. Perhaps this comes from her work as an artist outside of music, or maybe it has something to do with the company she keeps.

Produced by N.A.i.D and JETBIKINI, and hosted by Grand Funk Inc., a TV and radio jingle studio, her sound is at once both very gloomy, yet very poppy. Much like The Cure, a band covered on her first album Switch, she manages to walk that thin line between pop and something darker. At times she hits on the same sort of ultra-consumerist Madonna/Meg line, with her slick and danceable candy-coated club tracks. Then she'll dip into a lower gear, sounding a bit more like Utada Hikaru, only much more minimal.

It's that willingness to strip things down to the bare bones that often pushes Immi's work just a bit beyond the average pop idol. Sure, she's very girly and bubbly at times, but there's also that element of early '80s new wave. It's different than the usual 8-bit band-wagon crowd as well. Instead of relying on the usual go-to lo-fi tricks, her producers stick to a few well developed synth sounds, extremely hard edged, yet backed with some nicely blissed-out pads, giving her a more melancholy space to work in.

To date, Immi has released only one full-length album, a collection of her previously released singles and EPs. It will be very interesting to see where she goes from here as the current electro resurgence inevitably starts to fade.

BUY IMMI RELEASES HERE

Klaxon




Official Site
MySpace

Releases:
Switch 2008

Live


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Inugami Circus Dan

"To say that these acts are in bad taste is all well and good, but for us it is a means of emancipation from the shadows society pushes upon us all. Those who have seen one of Inugami's performances claim to have slid into a sensation of seeing 'something which they shouldn't have', that as they are drawn into the performance their complicit conscious sprouts forth."

Whatever you say guys. One thing's for sure, Inugami Circus Dan is more than your average vis-kei band. For one thing, most of their music is straight-up rock instead of crazy harpsichord arpeggios and organ solos. In fact they often remind me of the metal band Sex Machineguns, only slowed down and fronted by a female lead singer with a much more restricted vocal range. I'd have to say that Kyouko's vocals are the only thing holding them back from being a really good band. Yeah, she's good, but she only seems to sing within a single octave, which makes the songs all sound exactly alike. Then again, I doubt it's the musical performance the draws in the fans. That would have to be Inugami's dark, sarcastic comedy and overall cynical outlook on modern Japanese society. Or maybe it's just the clown makeup.



I really like how they spoof the typical vapid idol performance here on Utaban: