MEISHI SMILE SEOUL

I got like food poisoning or something. It's not very fun. I'm only eating the freshest, most sanitarily made food ever from now on. I probably won't, but that's really all I want to do. No more germs, I've had enough. So I'm in my dressing gown sitting on the sofa feeling generally shiddy. But it's ok because I thought of something nice to write about to perhaps lift my spirits.

I've been meaning to write about this guy for a while now, but much of his recent SoundCloud stuff is mixes, live sets - basically not original songs that I could pick out and pin down with writing for you all here (whoever is reading). His name is Meishi Smile and he's a DJ, producer and co-founder/owner of Zoom Lens, a label/collective that releases some pretty leftfield, experimental stuff. I'm happy that finally I have found something that I can write about, an original Meishi Smile song to send everyone blissfully into a nostalgic dream. Indeed, the man himself describes his own music as "an eternal homage to the feeling of summer and youth taken by 2D form." Taking many cues from videogames, anime, and Japanese pop culture in general, that's certainly what it sounds like.

This particular song I believe had an earlier form, as it's apparently the "2013 Ver." but I've not heard it so let's imagine I never said that and listen to it instead. It's called 'Seoul' and it's ready for your ears now.

Delicate glitter needles of synth like shards of magic ice raining down provide the first melody that melts in your mind. Soft rolling chords provide a wash of cushioning for the piano notes and the minimalistic house-style beat with its thin open hi-hats and reverbing claps. Magical chimes glissando into to the main section of the song, where saw-wave bass synth alternates between octaves and white noise hisses throughout. The melody is now layered to include strings and popping flute sounds, too - an ecstasy of noises - all the way to the all-too-early end of the song.

Inspired as it is by Bomberman 64 (I actually spent a while getting sucked into its soundtrack) and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (two grrrrreat games for the N64!) the song contains in it that charming, memorable, melodic feel of videogame soundtracks - the ability for music to both soak into the background AND into your memory is quite a feat indeed. Speaking of videogames, 'Seoul' is taken from the new Zoom Lens-curated Untitled Mix, a downloadable collection of songs that goes towards supporting indie game developers and their projects. Go for it!

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JOLLY MARE CASTLEMARE [VIDEO]

I really like the video for this song. But I'm confused because I just checked Jolly Mare's SoundCloud for an image - he'd only JUST uploaded 'Castlemare' and in its description he said he had "a lot of fun making a soundtrack for this amazing video". But I'd say that the video is an illustration of his music. No? Well. I dunno. You be the judge. For me, I think they just work really nicely together. As for the music though, that's what I'm really here to talk about.

I last wrote about this Italian producer - Jolly Mare, that is - when I found his song & video 'Nobody Cares'; it was a wildly synthesised track, loaded with funk and a solid-as-a-rock bassline. Most notably, it was rather retro in its stylisation - not just in the video, but in the sound itself of course. The same goes for the retro sounds in this song, 'Castlemare'. However, it's a very different style. Instead of beachy, sunny, funky stuff, it's videogamey triptune (see what I did there?) synthy 8-bit kind of stuff. Still retro, but a different twist, a different facet of "retro".

It's the videogame sound that rings true with me mostly. It's like the type of music you'd find skulking in the air of the last level of a quite hard retro videogame - set in a castle, obviously; the title being a portmanteau of "castle" and "nightmare", it makes sense really. Why not watch the video and get into the atmosphere of yesteryear, sword in hand, magic in mind, courage in heart.

Space between the synth melodies gives it a careful-where-you-tread,-there-could-be-traps kind of atmosphere, an eerie sound that conjures cold torchlit corridors with their echoing reverb. The melodies themselves are cast in a gloam of foreboding - a little bit dark - helped along by the fidgety beat that seems itself reluctant to get into a full, undisturbed rhythm. At about 2:00 in the song, a regular build-up starts and drum machine toms pound and roll up to a change in the song. The synth becomes fuller, other shining beams of electronic noise wail in, until towards the end when they disappear altogether - bar the clean, glossy bass - and focus shifts instead to that distinctly two-step beat.

Did you beat the boss?

Other than the sound, that video - I am not sure where it's from but it's pretty cool and I think I'd like to watch it now. It's some obscure retro supernatural martial arts film, lots of flying and energy beams involved; a bit like the precursor to Dragonball or at least perhaps an influence on it. Anyway. The music fits perfectly. Bye!

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EMUFUCKA INTERVIEW

With a name like Emufucka, you're already making some kind of splash in the music scene, perhaps even securing your place, too. Of course, a name all depends on the music that follows it (if, that is, you see or hear the name first), and it seems that the music that this guy makes is quite reflective of his moniker.

His real name is Takafumi Sakurai and he is a music-maker from Tokyo, Japan. As a participant of the globetrotting Red Bull Music Academy 2013, he was kind enough to answer my questions when the festivities slowed down a little at the end of last week. Spreading his brand of video-game inspired sometimes-dark-edged hip hop (see his track 'Clown' that I wrote about the other week) around the world must have been a lot of fun, and certainly beneficial for such an interesting producer as Mr Emufucka.

Here it is.

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Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
My real name is Takafumi Sakurai. Stage name is Emufucka. I'm from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture. But I'm currently living in Tokyo, since I was 20 years old. I make beat music.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I'm not sure about it. But I always got some inspiration from my mother, who is a music teacher.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
Beat Music or Beats.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
Almost - in my bedroom studio. And also I listen to music on my iPod when I'm walking or on the train.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
When I make music, I am always detonated by contact with video games and animation. I always think that I want to make an OST of a game and animated feature film.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
Red Bull Music Academy 2013.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
Slugabed - Bombok

Starkey - Fade

Blue Daisy x Unknown Shapes - 5's Up

Who do you most admire in the music world?
I have a lot of people I want to praise. So, it's difficult to pick that one person.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
I'm not sure about it.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
First of all, I want a successful performance of in Russia in the summer. After that, I have to target the release of next EP by the end of the year.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Imagination.

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Damn right imagination is important! Without imagination there would be no music, that's for sure. Anyway, judging from the answer to what his most memorable musical experience was, it seems that he rather enjoyed RMBA and may now even have the travel bug. From Tokyo-based domestic studio to playing clubs in New York as part of RMBA, it's been a long way and he is now home after a 2 weeks that was "sooo good", says Sakurai.

Having now graduated from RBMA 2013, the world is his oyster. Working on a new EP seems the logical next step. But, a quote from the man himself in the Japan Times sums it up quite nicely: "I feel like I’m just standing at the start-line of the global ‘beats’ scene". RBMA, then, was just the first step.

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EMUFUCKA CLOWN (2013)

I'm not altogether sure whether the title of this song is 'Clown (2013)' or just plain 'Clown'. SoundCloud says when things are added so the '(2013)' should be self explanatory, but then again who knows the inner workings of a song title. Let's just call it 'Clown' for now eh?

Though there's nothing clowny about this song, unless of course you go for that clowns-are-horrible kind of thing - which I do, only in part however: because they are weird. If you do go for the clown-is-a-perfect-addition-to-a-horror-film thing, then this song fits that perfectly. Whilst I wouldn't exactly say terrifying, the vibe of this innovative song by Japanese electronic artist emufucka certainly holds within it a clouded swathe of sound positively pregnant with menace and a markedly attitudinal atmosphere.

Indeed, he's labelled the song himself as 'Trap' and, yeah, I'd go with that - all its missing is vocals tuned down several octaves. It definitely has that southern hip-hop swagger that you find in Trap music (please Allah let me stop talking about genres), sounding a little bit like - well actually, especially the intro, very much like - that Jay-Z & Kanye West song, 'Niggas In Paris'.

What characterises this song most, however, is its blend of dirty beats with a videogame-esque style of sound. The synths climax a number of times throughout the song, like some game-music organ wheezing out its scratchy soaring sounds. Yeah so another label of this track is 'Game' and also the description of the song is "PlayStation®" and the image (above) is 16-bit style... all adds up to a definite videogame vibe.

These are future beats, tripping hi-hats, blended styles of music synthesised with an impactive sound in mine - something to please those who listen to videogame music exclusively and those who love the balshy bass of heavy-handed hip-hop; a world of musical ideals catered for in the vision needed for 4 (unlucky - homophone with 'death' in Japan - yet more menace?) minutes of sound. Whew! Is that too deep?

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TOP GEAR MUSIC SNES

What a treat this is.

Top Gear was one of my favourite games on the SNES. The SNES wasn't even mine, it was borrowed, and luckily this amazing game was included in the borrowment. It's not an easy game. But it's a racing game. I used to spend hours on it.

That's a screenshot of the game. I remember playing that track. The frustration of not having turned quickly enough and just ploughing through all those trees was terrible.

But the music was something that stayed with me. I was so glad that I found it again. The bleeps and arpeggios and synthesised wonders of this game's soundtrack are a joy to hear.

This is the one I remember the most. It's the first track. People say it sounds like 'Bliss' by Muse, but 'Bliss' by Muse has a lot to answer for. They're standing on the shoulders of giants.


Isn't it wonderful?

And if you liked that, here are the other tracks from the game.

Title Track
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4

All of them were added to YouTube by this guy.

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• Learn all about Top Gear here on the Wikipedia page about it
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FORD AND LOPATIN TOO MUCH MIDI

In association with Kia, Adult Swim are releasing a cool single every week for 10 weeks straight - for streaming online as well as free download. The Adult Swim 2011 Singles Program looks like it's shaping up to be a fantastic showcase of some great new talent in music - something that I am always very happy about, and something that Yes No Music is priding itself on. So without further ado, here is last week's single, 'Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)' by Ford & Lopatin.


The track is joyful electro house, pulsing with a firm 4/4 beat and dirty, scratchy bass sound. Saturated, hollow synths populate the track throughout, all stop-start and chopped up - very Justice; there's a clear rock influence here - especially shown by a crazy guitar solo towards the end of the song. The vocals come in meekly and chilled, contrasting the fuzz of the rest of the song. It's a perfect way to start the Singles Program, and a perfect song for this time of year, with an overall sunny, upbeat feel that would go perfectly with a warm summers day. Think sunglasses, picnics, and impromptu barbecue-piss-ups.

This single comes from new album Channel Pressure, released June 7th (Software Records), after a name change in February of this year from Games to this more descriptive moniker - named after the duo themselves: Joel Ford (of the group Tigercity) and Daniel Lopatin (who also records more experimental stuff under Oneohtrix Point Never). Releasing their first recordings in 2010, Ford & Lopatin have continued to create music heavy on analogue synthesisers, midi sequencers, and drum machines, resulting in a loveable electro house sound with more than a dash of experimentation added in.

Check their SoundCloud, and Myspace (which is just earlier, Games-era tracks).

This week's single is 'Gone Again' by Best Coast - something that I actually covered last week.

Top photo by David Black
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