Tagged: music review
Songs I Found Recently And Liked
I’m back from a most excellent trip to Taiwan so have had not too much time to blog. But! I did find some pretty cool music on my travels which I shall regale you with now…
PARIS x Keepa – Only You
A class production here and as a struggling electronic producer myself I greatly appreciate the talent. This is progressive house with a twist of the deep house. It’s the chordal modulations around the 2:50 mark that raise this track to a darned high level.
湯ノ山かがり – 自意識過剰撤廃委員会のテーマ
Theme of the Committee to Eliminate Excessive Self-Consciousness is what the Google translate tells me the song means; a maxim for us all! This is pure Jrock silliness but still catchy nonetheless.
Tuudi – Just Like Before
I’m not a big fan of the song per se but the reason I’m including it is for Tuudi’s voice which is magnificent – think a slightly innocent Lana Del Rey. I have my eye on Tuudi for some good things in the future.
Subway Rat – Corner Cafe
This is a very acquired taste this one but I do write a food blog where I ate cat food so there is that. David Polanco AKA Subway Rat is an autistic rocker from Queens, New York City and judging by the 11 submissions they sent, quite prolific!
Furami – Villian
To round off our list it’s Furami who says on Submithub “Hi, it’s FURAMI here! I make J-Core music!”. You go girl! This song makes the list not least because of solid production but a neat key change in the chorus which keeps things ticking along nicely.
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If you have any music you’d like me to hear send your tracks here.
Song Of The Week Dec 18
So I’m in Taiwan visiting family and eating random food when by a quirky twist of fate I chanced across a band called called The Kaleidoscopes who have a new song out called Kung Fu:
Musically it’s a mix of very good things: Home, Empire of the Sun, with bits and pieces of Tame Impala and M83 all thrown in for good measure.
Not much left to say except I have another blog post to write real soon about other great music like The Kaleidoscopes I’ve heard recently. And if you want me to hear your music you can send it to the blog here.
Ridiculous House Song Of The Week
Era Wadi – PRPL FREESTYLE REMIX ft. ARDLAP
As many visitors to my once world famous not-cooking-blog know I do like the odd bit of off-kilter house music and this week provides zero exceptions in the shape of Ardlap’s remix of Era Wadi’s track PRPL.
Era tells me he was a massive Prince fan and wanted to pay his respects to the wee guy by writing a song about the colour purple (not the film, ha!) and then have it remixed by someone certifiably insane. Et voila! Voici le résultat! Une chanson house vraiment dérangée! No idea why I’m speaking French but this song made me do it.
And you will be speaking foreign tongues too once you wrap your ears around this gorgeously deranged, very fidget-y, musical gem.
And if you want to send me stuff YOU’VE made, you can do so over on Submithub.
Song of the Week Louie Rubio – Echo
Louie is “a one stop shop, [who] writes, engineers, and mixes his music at his full-fledged studio in LA” and ‘Echo’ is a song that has such and interesting chorus – it doesn’t resolve per se but flips modally into something I can’t quite pin down; all I can do is feel and I feel happy and sad at the same time. This is a good thing.
Watch out for this guitarist. Ps Louie – I have a Flying V, although I can’t play it as well as your Strat/Tele xx
Lifeboat Share Crushing Song ‘Till the End’
Over on Submithub I often peruse the Hot or Not charts and every now and again I find a song that piques my interest.
And Some days ago I happened across this song by Lifeboats:
This is a massive song with huge production, crushing drums and a deceptively uplifting chorus.
Comparisons to Linkin’ Park or System of a Down will suffice but these guys lend an interesting blend of melody and melancholy I don’t hear often.
The band lends more detail over a brief chat:
[We are] a kind of powerful and modern rock’n’roll fed by a chaotic assembly of 5 guys, a gang of friends with very different backgrounds but who finally meet to do what they really enjoy.
And it really sounds that they know what they’re doing and I firmly believe they’re going places. Add them to your Spotify playlist right now.
Song Of The Week August 7
Yi – Runaway
To all the fellow producers reading this blog, a great way to meet new artists is to hang out on Twitch feedback streams where all the other producers send in their tracks for analysis by those watching and the stream creator. And so it came to pass as I was hanging around streamer Todd Champ‘s channel, a young chap called Yi pitched in with this absolute gem of a song. Clearly inspired by M83, FM84 and all your face synthwave greats, this is a very strong tune with a seriously infectious chorus. I really really rate this one.
Songs I Heard This Week And Liked
ウィアグリーバー – Singer
It’s nice to get some more Jrock through to the blog as a lot of folks seem to think I like listening to RnB and hip hop, which is fine n all, but that kind of music isn’t why I started Najinsan.
ウィアグリーバーcomments “how luxurious is the freedom we have taken for granted? I wrote this song while thinking about that.” It’s a fairly predictable pop song but a really nice listen, nonetheless.
Turbo Knight x Sonic Shades Of Blue x Castles Made Of Sky x Waves_On_Waves – Healing Hands
Wave on Wave are collaborators from Finland, Sweden, and the US and this is a track from their up-and-coming album Miami Arcade Vice Parade. This is a great slice of Synthwave with rolling basslines and big drums but the excellent vocals are what really stood out for me.
Salad – Too Good To Be True
I like a good salad, given my other blog is a food one. What’s your favourite salad? This song could be a salad with leaves by Neil Young, Dressing by Miranda Lee Richards, sprouts and beans by Joanna Newsome (did you see what I did there?). The last time I’ll use salad references to review tracks. Maybe.
Femke – Love Somebody Else
This reminds me a lot of Shawn Colvin and has it’s roots firmly in late 1990s Americana. Femke has a lovely voice and has used her musical talents to win a Latin Grammy with her contribution on the Transformacion album of Beto Cuevas. I expect to hear more from her in the coming months on the back of her new EP.
Louie Rubio – Find Your Light
Louie is a multi instrumentalist and when I asked him what the song was about he told me “Thematically the song follows a disenchanted protagonist escaping the Escher-like labyrinth of workaholic careerism and the status quo” then he went to great pains to lovingly describe the various instruments and musical themes running through the track, which I won’t go into here, but which tell me he’s really passionate about what he does. Great song.
5 Songs I Heard This Week and Liked
Seeing as I’m now a curator on Submithub I get sent loads of cool things. This week I’m distilling down five of the best. Enjoy!
NAMESAKE – In Different Cities ft Jewel Owusu
A fairly harmless slice of feel good bubblegum pop to play as you drive down to your local cinema to watch Barbie, which like the film, “explore[s] the delicate balance of seizing opportunities and embracing the transient nature of relationships”. I’ve not seen Barbie yet but I’m 100% sure this is what it’s about.
Sumer Nights – John Fox
When John sent this over I was probably going to pass because of the somewhat abrasive rhythm guitar during the introduction, but the more I listened the more I began to like it. John’s voice seems to have been transported – hot tub style – from 1986. Loads of Journey, Boston, Rainbow in this one folks (yes, I know they’re from the late 70s but I don’t really care).
Autodidactic Studios x pftq x Waterflame x Diana Garnet – Genshindou
Always great to get some Jrock submissions through to the blog and this features some very solid vocals from Diana Garnet. It kinda reminds me of a darker version of Doll$box although Tom over at JPU Records may have better comparisons.
Hoax – Into The Blackhole
ZUSO – Aurora
I’m not sure what the story behind this is; I did reach out to the singer, but like the Aurora Borealis, they were somewhat elusive. It reminds me of something you may hear on the Sunshine soundtrack by Underworld: transient, ephemeral, atmospheric, yet more uptempo. A nice deep house song for cocktails under the, er, sunshine.
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So there we are folks, a diverse selection of songs for you to enjoy. And if you have a song, why not send it over and I’ll have a listen? Pro tip: if you do, include a short bio about the track so I have some background; you wouldn’t believe how many folks just don’t bother.
Najinsan!!!!!!!!! 