In “Marine Blue” there’s a sea breeze we can hear the gulls amid the lively interaction between acoustic guitar and choir. In “Crystal Halo” we hear birds and soft voices while a trip-hop beat and gentle strums of distorted guitar lead us into subtle horn flourishes that could be the sonic equivalents of lens flares from the setting sun. “Rainbowtime Boy” is a refreshing natural soundscape dominated by piano.

In the four tracks on this EP, Endo and Shin-Ski merge their strengths to create ambient instrumental music made up of poignant melodies. For his part, Shin-Ski’s versatile productions are known to include hip-hop, jazz, and techno elements, while he still remains a hip-hophead and beatmaker at heart. Endo also has a hand in making videos for his songs. His art includes DJing, programming, mixing, mastering, composing, and arranging - and that’s just the music. Endo regularly mixes the electronic and the analog in his music, even performing an electronic set in traditional Japanese attire in the very traditional setting of an onsen (温泉) hot spring inn. Online art forms are asserting the value of “art for art’s sake” in the emerging digital world.Įndo and Shin-Ski are both deeply experienced in creating this kind of noncommercial art. This has led some commentators to suggest that, while these genres are in some ways retro, their detachment from commercial pressures make them eminently relevant. Yet the fact is that critics are having a hard time pinning down these largely online phenomena.

It is a very Lofi Girl mood, as Endo and Shin-Ski incorporate the binaural beats and alpha waves that generate the nebulous nostalgia that typifies electronic music that is classified as “chillwave.” At least that’s how music critics have tried to categorize it and other sonic amalgams, such as vaporwave. The pixelated cover art by Muscat sets the appropriate mood. It is, as Endo describes it, based on “the theme of a world connected to fantasy during the magic time of dusk.” Endo also suggested it has an “old school hip hop flavor and 90s ambient soundscape” along with early 2000s Intelligent dance music (IDM) and Asian influences.

DE DE MOUSE, has released his new EP, Rainbowtime, in collaboration with fellow Japanese artist Shin-Ski. Whatever it is, it’s worth it.ĭaisuke Endo, a.k.a.

Binaural beats youtube