Red Sun

From smooth, bossa-tinged, ultra fashionable tracks to dreamy yet solid electro pop, the duo of Maiko Mogi and Naoya Yuda navigate through all sorts of twee bedroom grooves as Red Sun.

Formed around 2000, the duo has released a number of albums over the years. They mostly blend singer Maiko's mid-range, smokey voice with the equally muted and organic synths. If it wasn't for their total reliance on electronics, Red Sun might be almost bluesy or have a hint of a lounge vibe at times. They definitely like to work a groove rather than show off a bunch of flashy tricks or frantic tempos. Instead they just let the songs float along at their own pace.

The do ramp up the volume from time to time though, as seen most clearly on their newest mini-album Escape, Please. Three of the album's five tracks are indeed on the soft side, but the album opener "笑う泥棒" has a real stomp to it, and the title track is an instant hit that will glue itself to your brain after the very first listen. If ever you needed proof that good things can sometimes come in small, unassuming packages, then look no further than Red Sun.

BUY RED SUN RELEASES AT CDJAPAN AND AMAZON.JP

"Dada Blue"



Official Site
MySpace

Members:
Maiko Mogi
Naoya Yuda

Albums:
Escape, Please - 2009
R - 2008
Fragrance, Old Girl - 2007
Dada Blue - 2004
香るリンチ - 2002
落ちる話 - 2002
無能の画家 - 2001

Rejuvenated Half-Face

Formed in 2004, the short lived Rejuvenated Half Face threw in the towel soon after in 2008. With only a single album, Ccmmgr, released in that time, it's tough to know what might have been, but the crumbs they've left behind are nothing if not a promising sign.

Their natural post-rock elements are tempered by generally softer treatments and front woman Mai Karasawa's voice. She sings in a very clear and restrained tone, instead letting her breathing do most of the angry work. She seems to sing to the point of exhaustion, then letting her lungs shriek in more air. Her breathing/gasping adds tension and a sense of urgency. It's almost an instrument in and of itself. On "Relative Downer" especially, her high pitched and ragged intakes of breath are highlighted when all the other instruments stop, leaving Mai to do her best drowning victim impression, desperate for just one more taste of air before going under another wave of noise.

Much of their music is a bit like that of School Food Punishment or Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, with a heavy dose of some pretty arty progressive tendencies, maybe more like Zazen Boys (see "Herring Roe"). Yet they always manage to reel in their more out-there passages and bring the melodies back down to earth.

This is most obvious on "Antimony," an epic trip through bizarre and frenetic mash-ups of notes followed by some soaring vocal passages. Even more so on "Cucumber," the closing track on Ccmmgr. It's one song, but with many different ideas broken into several tracks. It's as if they wanted to pack up all their remaining material into one song, doing their best to mold it into a single cohesive whole, yet still making sure to keep it separated for some reason, at least cosmetically.

Sometimes it's best for everyone when a band puts everything they have into a single, precious package, quietly leaving it behind for future fans to discover and wonder about. Other times, one can only morn the loss of so much potential. In this case, it might be better if the world could at least get another chance with Rejuvenated Half-Face.

BUY REJUVENATED HALF-FACE RELEASES HERE

Cause and Effect



Official Site
MySpace

Members:
Mai Karasawa - Vocal, Guitar
Yuki Abe - Guitar, Backing Vocal
Hiroshi Kishi - Bass, Backing Vocal
Hideyuki Sakamoto - Drums, Backing Vocal

Albums:
Ccmmgr - 2006

Reach Up to the Universe

If you took Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Sakanaction and turned them both down a notch or two, you might have something closely resembling Reach Up to the Universe. In fact they fall into the sort of slippery gray area inhabited by other slightly softer yet poppy bands like Base Ball Bear and Winnie (who they have shared the stage with.)

What sets them apart from your standard rock outfit is their use of both keyboards and cello, as well as the occasional boy/girl vocals. None of these elements are overused to the point where they overshadow the usual rock formula, but they are instead used to bring a bit more depth to the sonic pallet.

Formed in 2002, the band has released one mini and one full-length album. Most notable here is that they started off the first few years with a Caucasian guy singing and playing guitar. There's no word of why he left in 2007, but it may have been for the best as current frontman Hirokazu Notomi brings a bit more power to the role.

In a way, it's a shame that they don't play up their more unique features, adding a bit more definition to their own personal atmosphere. Songs like the dreamy "Faster Mistake" and instrumental "Chiisa Na Ongakukai" show that they can mix these elements into something beyond the norm, but they seem distracted by their more natural pop tendencies. As it stands, the sporadic mix of electronics, strings and vocals alongside their solid pop-rock guitars and drums is enough to keep things interesting, but they'll need to keep searching for something more to propel them up into the universe they are reaching for.

BUY REACH UP TO THE UNIVERSE RELEASES HERE!

S.T.A.R.S.



Official Site
MySpace

Members:
Hirokazu Notomi- Vocal, Guitar
Junco Takahashi - Cello, Keyboards, Vocals
Keiji Ohashi- Guitar, Programming
Tomoya Minami - Bass
Keita Morisawa - Drums

Albums:
You & Me - 2008
Reach Up to the Universe - 2006

Reasons

rururu

It's easy to think, upon hearing descriptions like "spaced-out" or "instrumental" or "shoegaze," of a bunch of sullen dudes playing soft, twinkery tunes in a dark room. While that is certainly the case for Toyko's rururu, it's also far from the mark. rururu might play spacey songs, but they are loud spacey songs. Loud and huge. Full of swirling guitar noise and Dina's occasional high pitched vocals. Much like Downy, rururu builds their songs up over time through both repetition and sheer volume. Dina's vocals are treated just like the other instruments, acting more as raw tones instead of words, his words stretched and awash in delay and reverb.

Their songs have that dark and dangerous feel so common among the shoegaze set, but songs like "Mugen" and the amazing "&" also offer up trance-like tribal rhythms between the drums and bass, allowing the guitars to spin and scream over the top. This adds a welcome feel of triumph and celebration in an otherwise dismal and despairing genre. Truly awesome, awesome stuff.

&

Buy rururu music here. | Listen to rururu here.



Official Site (seems to be down)
MySpace

Members
Dina - Vocal, Guitar
Jaba - Guitar
Kunoki - Bass
Yoshioka - Drums

Releases:
rururu (2006)

Roach

Roach is a new band from Okinawa, Japan. They've been honing their skills since 2003, releasing their first album in 2007. At first glance they sound like your typical screamo-nu metal outfit, but upon closer inspection one finds a much deeper store of genre invention. They are actually very poppy, yet very heavy. Singer Ta-ma effortlessly shifts from overly affected screams typical of screamy emo bands, to oddly traditional sounding, extended nasal crooning. The band follows suit, swinging from straight ahead pop rock to very heavy metal riffs. As someone who hates, hates the new breed of emo/screamo nu-metal sludge bands, I find a lot to like in Roach. They bring a much needed twist to the genre, adding a ton of melody to their primitive riff rhythms, as well as some unusual exotic touches, mainly in the drumming and singing. They often remind me of Coaltar of the Deepers, another band who likes to keep the listener guessing. Roach proves that they can play by packing each song with subtle flourishes, yet keeps things grounded enough so as not to scare away the more timid listeners.

Momoiro no Kaze





Official Site
MySpace

Members
Ta-ma - Vocal
Kubocchi - Guitar
Masashi - Guitar
Miaski - Drum
Katsuya - Bass

Major Releases
Mind of the Sun - 2007/04/18

Shiina Ringo

I find it a rather daunting task to try and define Shiina Ringo. She began her career in 1998 as a solo artist, though with a full band backing her. Her music ran from noisy, trashy rock to soft ballads, often with full string sections or electro backing tracks. She worked with different bands, eventually forming Tokyo Jihen in 2004. She is now back to working solo. The most obvious trademark (at least now that she got rid of the mole) is her high, reedy, screechy voice. It's like a cat in heat. Overall her style is rather Bjork-esque, meaning it's all a bit on the strange and arty side, though also fragile and calming at times. Lately she's stuck more to the lush, organic ballads than the rock fueled jams. Visually, she often adopts a classic style, either traditional Japanese or in a sort of '30-50s Western vein, but that doesn't mean she won't occasionally pull out all the stops and roll around with another woman in a nurse uniform. Basically, expect the unexpected, and expect it to be amazing.

BUY SHIINA RINGO RELEASES HERE!

Remioromen

Conversely to their being one of the many Japanese bands with a name I can never spell correctly on the first try, Remioromen are one of the few Japanese soft-rock bands that I like a lot. What can I say? A good song is a good song. Never mind that I'd usually be the first in line to punch me in the nuts for listening to them. Actually, some of their earlier stuff sounds a bit like some of the more rockin' songs from The Pillows. They've become hugely popular over their brief four year lifespan however, and lately have been focusing much more on the safe-bet soft ballads.

BUY REMIOROMEN RELEASES HERE!

Red Balloon

Red Balloon is a super safe-rock holding-hands running-through-verdant-fields-in-the-sun type rock band. They are still a somewhat young band, having only released a few singles and a couple albums since 2005. They've also provided an ending song to the anime Gintama. While their career is still young, they show a lot of promise with, no doubt, many more earnest, feel good ending themes still to come.





Official Site

Members
Muraya Kouji - Vocals, Guitar
Muraya Katsunori - Bass

Releases
Forget-me-not (2005.11.09)
FIRST STORY (2007.09.05)

Ram Rider

Ram Rider falls somewhere in between the hard hitting beats of Daft Punk and the 8-bit electro bliss of YMCK. Most of his songs are somewhat mellow dance tunes, a little like the newer Capsule albums. They are full of playful samples and soothing, robo lyrics. Think Katamari Damacy run through a retro-future dance club and you might get close to the feel of Ram Rider. In fact, his one original album has been re-worked and remixed at least twice by the aforementioned Capsule and YMCK among others, only enhancing his music's considerable retro video-game cred.