Jean Snow [.net]

Category: Music

  • Family Swing

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    Jean Snow
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    YMCK have a new album coming out this month, called Family Swing, and it sees the band get a bit jazzier than usual (without losing their chiptune touch). Patrick shares all the details in this post, which includes a video trailer for the album.

  • Diggin’ in the Carts, the Radio Show

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    Remember the fantastic Diggin’ in the Carts documentary web series about Japanese game music? Well, it continues, in the form of a weekly radio show on RBMA Radio, hosted by Nick Dwyer, who was also behind the web series. I haven’t listened to it yet, but looking at all the episodes that have been produced so…

  • Daisuke Kashiwa

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    I really do need to make a point of highlighting every episode of Toco Toco TV here, because it truly is my favorite online video series. The episode before the latest (on Shinji Tsuchimochi) covered musician Daisuke Kashiwa, who has been composing the soundtracks for the animated films of Makoto Shinkai, whose latest film, Your…

  • Quit Your Band

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    Ian F. Martin is a music columnist for The Japan Times, and he’s just released a book about the music scene in Japan that sounds quite interesting. Quit Your Band! Musical Notes From the Japanese Underground is available now, and Ian wrote a piece the other day to commemorate the release, that highlights other books…

  • Pizzicato Five Discography: 1998-2006

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    And so here it is, the final part of David‘s massive Pizzicato Five discography review series. The fact that I’ve highlighted every part here probably gives away that I so love that David took the time to do this, and it was fun to read along and listen again to a lot of these records.…

  • Pizzicato Five Discography: 1994-1997

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    Part 3 of David‘s review series of the Pizzicato Five discography is up on Neojaponisme, this time covering probably peak P5. So many great records here, including the album that introduced me to the band (and probably many other of us non-Japanese fans), Made in USA. I used to play so many tracks from that album…

  • Pizzicato Five Discography: 1991-1993

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    David‘s second Pizzicato Five review post is now up, covering the years 1991 to 1993, which is an important period, since it’s when Maki Nomiya enters the picture. Arguably the best P5 album was released during this period, at least according to David (Bossa Nova 2001).

  • Pizzicato Five Discography: 1985-1991

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    Following yesterday’s intro post, the first proper part of David‘s review of the entire Pizzicato Five discography is up on Neojaponisme, covering the “pre-canon” era that runs from 1985 to 1991. I’m with David here (as you’ll see through his scores), this is definitely my least favorite period of P5’s output, and I never spent much time…

  • The Pizzicato Five Discography Review

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    Jean Snow
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    I’ve mentioned in a few posts already that David was working on an exhaustive review of the complete Pizzicato Five discography, and it’s now ready. Head over to Neojaponisme for an intro post, and then check in throughout the week as he shares his reviews over 4 posts, each covering a particular era. The intro also…

  • Chiptune Primer

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    Bandcamp’s blog has a really nice post up that acts as a primer on the current state of chiptune music in Japan, also highlighting a bunch of artists. Pictured, Toriena, who also runs the Madmilky Records label.