Music Bits of Noise that I Heard in 2017...

Can't exactly say there has been much to have a positive impact on my ear cavities this 2017. 

Hear were some that were more bearable than others. Though a year more of comedy silliness than really good musical offerings...That's what I heard...

ZEN-LA-ROCK, 鎮座DOPENESS and G. Rina - Seventh Heaven

This is just stupid.



YOUR SONG IS GOOD - Double Sider

Such a collection of attractive men in hats.



Chai - Sayonara Complex

This isn't completely terrible. They're kind of like Blondie for the under-5s.



Sludge Pump - Straight Outta Mount Penglai

Dirty British beat for dirty minds.



bugseed - E.S.T.

More solid stuff from the seedy insect. Decent, you know?!



Onra - Chinoiseries Pt.3

More Asian-inspired stuff from Onra's Vietnamese side. Tasty.


Damu the Fudgemunk - Vignettes

Autobiographical beat mix of words, noises and sounds.


U-zhaan, 環ROY, and 鎮座DOPENESS  - 七曜日

Those guys get to making fun videos yet again. This time summarising the repetitiveness of the seven-day week. And then they got off the bus...



Evisbeats - Week

The leader of the new school releases some nameless beats.



DJ Krush - Kiseki

A series of beats for vocalists. Speak words over it!



Anchorsong - Ceremonial

One of music's nicest men comes with another album of live-production fun. See if live.



Kid Koala and Emiliana Torrini - Music to Draw to: Satellite 

Slow, broody stuff to get your hands moving to. Not the rest of your body, mind!



環ROY - Nagi

Something of a mature album from the young man. Many songs getting - and deserving - promotional video formats also.



It's fair to say there wasn't too much great music this year, but feel free to change my opinion...

New Evisbeats

Some tasty new Evisebeats beats have made their pretty way on to Soundcloud. 

Here them...

10 Releases from 2016 that I Heard

List of some noises from the last pre-specified number of days...

No vintage, but some nods and taps...

Click your fingers to it...

Too much wanking over RTJ3 already to include that here.

De La Soul - ...and the Anonymous Nobody

Some nice noises on this. Not quite 3 feet high, but maybe about 18 inches and leveling out...

A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it from Here...Thank you 4 your Service

Difficult year for the other Native Tongues. 'We the People...' on your rotation box.

Zach de la Rocha (and El-P, of course) - Digging for Windows

'Big Zach' holding it down in the hip hop world with some tasty help from El-Producto himself. 

Mndsgn and Ahwlee - A Rap Vacation Xmas

An oldie (from like 2012) re-packaged with colourful vinyl...Ooooo, presents. 

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Invisibl Skratch Piklz - The 13th Floor

Q-Bert can scratch my back. Wrists not yet ruined.

ILL SUGI - Back to Rock

Unreleased noise-sounds from the Japanese man. The re-birth of the beat tape...Literally a tape. Sugimoto-san is a little sick. 

Evisbeats - Qualia

That man makes some nice noises yet again. Should do another full album. Alongside release of 'Hanabi' a nice effort, but where's 'Vietnam'?

サマージャム'95 - 鎮座DOPENESS and 環ROY and U-zhaan

The karaoke super friends recombine to re-create スチャダラパー's 1995 el classico of much the same name to the sounds of the tabla drum. 

Make sure to get everyone involved!

bug seed - Street Mentality

Listened to a bit too much bug seed this year - ha, there's never too much.

Damu the Fudgemunk - HISS Abyss EP

Unreleased instrumentals from Damu's various 'How It Should Sound' series. Volumes, 3, 4 and 87, or something like that. Ooooo, blue vinyl.The beat tape re-revolution continues...

Listen, ya heard!

MIGHTY MARS - Fantastic Romantic Radio #10

Mr. DJ MIGHTY MARS with a bit of the ol' Fantastic Romantic Radio, number 10 in the series, in fact. Called 'Cold Heat'?! 

Do I hear Scha Dara Parr 'Nice Guy' and EVISBEATS and that?! Oh yes...

Tunes and words, Mr Man!

Evisbeats - Qualia

New arrivals - makes up for finding out your flat in Budapest has got damp...Courtesy of JetSet Records.

Bump them now!

A Day in the Life...

Lonely days (and nights) for Japanese hip hoppers...

5lack - Next



EVISBEATS and 田我流  - ゆれる



田我流 and カイザーソゼ - アレかも


イシズカケイ - Track Maker



イシズカケイ's new album 'Yellow Source' released 30th October on http://on-sunday-recordings.com/

Sitting on my Bum Music

Evisbeats - Vietnam

Absolutely, bomb-tittingly loving this at the moment...



...place in your fuzzbox.

Politic 26

A little over five years ago, a relative unknown hip hop producer was killed in a car crash in Tokyo. But by this point, Seba Jun - also known by the backwards pseudonym Nujabes - was creating a cult status for himself among nerds throughout the West. As previously identified (here), built from his 'Samurai Champloo' soundtrack, anime fans in North America and Europe, as well as Japan, were posting his music on YouTube over their own photos and 'Samurai Champloo' stolen images.

Throughout the Naughties (teehee), he created his own brand of distinct, soulful, piano-laden hip hop of instrumental tracks and beats for underground US rappers, Japanese bilingual wordman Shing02 and Hackney's own Funky DL. But he chose to keep himself to himself. Little to no promotion existed and minimal photos are available of the man; 'Samurai Champloo' perhaps his delve into getting his name out there.

But beyond people who had seen and liked 'Samurai Champloo', Nujabes' influence can now be seen throughout Japanese hip hop. His releases between 2003-2008 can be, for me, seen as a turning point in Japanese hip hop, moving away from the trip hop stylings of the likes of DJ Krush and Tha Blue Herb and the American-influenced Zeebra and ilk of the 1990s.

Over the last few years, a new wave of Japanese hip hop artists have emerged, mixing soulful, keyboard-heavy beats with a more fun outlook, with comedy and imagery that feels distinctly Japanese, avoiding the temptation to too easily slip into an American style.

This post-Nujabes wave seems to be led by producer and rapper Evisbeats, collaborating with most, earning himself 1990s DJ Premier-esque production announcements from the rappers he works with, continuing this lighter side of hip hop. With the likes of BASI, 環ROY, Meiso, Haiiro de Rossi, Itto and the ever charismatic 鎮座DOPENESS on the microphones and Michita, Nomak and Eccy on beats, among others...Or, have I just made this all up?!

What follows is some beats and them words of this post-Nujabes generation for listening pleasure. Ya here...

Kemuri (Untouchable Mix) - DJ Krush

The Way That Hope Goes - THA BLUE HERB

mystline - Nujabes
八百万 - Evisbeats featuring 908
Do The Hip Hop - Evisbeats
あなたには - BASI
さみーね - Kakato
いい時間 - Evisbeats
Mentor - Michita
MOGU MOGU - 鎮座DOPENESS
Break Boy in the Dream - 環ROY featuring 七尾旅人
ゆれる - Evisbeats featuring 田我流
Allegro Pt 2 - Michita and Haiiro de Rossi
あの場所 - Itto
Nakanaka - Meiso
Dandelion - Michita featuring Meiso and Hisomi-TNP
散歩と太陽と音楽 (Instrumental) - Eccy and 環ROY
Velodrome (Nomak Remix) - Nomak 

蛍 - Evisbeats featuring Itto
果てない - BASI
チンコ - Crazy-T and Spence featuring 鎮座DOPENESS