The Sleepwalk is a shoegaze/electronic project of Oshima Masaki, who has been apart of various projejcts such as Melt Banana, Coaltar of the Deepers, Astrobite, Sadesper Record, Watchman, etc., and has composed for various video games and anime. Time After Time is a long, meditative pop song, soothing in it’s ambiance, but reflective in it’s sad dual boy/girl vocals that seem like the two singers are trying to grasp each other through a heavy winter storm.
Masaki’s music can be purchased through his Official Site. Although shipping may not be available outside of Japan.
DJ Newtown is a prolific artist from the digital label, Maltine Records. As noted in the song title, Flying Between Stars is a cut-up rendition of Seikan Hiko, originally sang by Megumi Nakajima for Macross Frontier. This sort of harsh cut-up style can be likened to DJs like Shinichi Osawa or new artists such as fu_mou, employing a sort of “aggressive” yet pop-music conservative form of DJing. The album itself, however, also contains more traditional house music, experimental hip-hop and about any other electronic genre currently being embraced out there right now. Recently, Maltine Records even released a tribute to DJ Newtown, with many artists giving their own renditions of their respected DJ.
Techno Imoco is a 29 year old composer who remains anonymous. He writes ethereal and haunting pop music that could be likened to something childlike in nature, nostalgic and also frighteningly reclusive sounding. The song, “first love,” seems to capture such a moment precisely, a moment that for most, is more of a reflection of heartbreak and being ultimately let down.
group_inou is a rap group who uses video game sounds and embraces a punk rock aesthetic. They are perhaps one of the few distinctly Japanese sounding rap groups of Japan. While most rap or hip-hop in Japan is predominantly influenced by urbanized Western culture, group_inou has their own distinct sound and energy which isn’t really as much rap as it is wildly experimental.
