Help me remember an artist

jonahpwll

Japanese artist, though not sure if he/she is based there.

I was certain his/her albums were on the 1631 Recordings label, but maybe it was a related label.  I checked Kning Disk and Flora & Fauna, but no luck.

Electronic artist with ambient leanings.

Pretty sure it's a solo project.

There was a great compilation album of his/her music.  The same BC page also had several of the albums that the comp was pulled from.

One of those albums was a... what's the word... cartoon style? Like an animated movie... and it was mostly in pink colors and had a dude/dudette looking out over a distant city.

Pretty much, none of it ever getting sleepy, none of it ever getting volatile.  If I had to compare it to someone else, I'd reference the duo Air.

My fear is that it's no longer for sale on BC, and that's why I'm not seeing it.

Guh, so frustrating.  How did I not buy that album back in the day?

jonahpwll

Takahiro Kido

I suddenly had an epiphany that I might have reached out to the artist to get some help figuring out which of the studio albums the compilation pulled from.  And I had.  It was on the 1631 label, but apparently has dropped off, and is now on the Ricco label.

jonahpwll

Okay, I've got another one I can't think of.

I want to say that the album I'm thinking of came out around 2015.  Could be a year or three before that.  I have so very little to offer you.  Here are the only three things I remember about it.

1. The lead singer had sort of a Tindersticks sound.  Maybe the band did, too.  But the band might've also leaned into something kind of like the eccentric pop music of Efterklang.

2.  The album cover had a horizon & sky view like a painting and perhaps a solitary figure looking up/upon it(?).

3.  It was well received on this site.  It may also have garnered some praise on various other sites.

How to weight the above:  I am very confident about statement #1, only 50/50 on #2, and definite about #3.

I am embarrassed by how little I'm giving you.

jonahpwll

OMFG I found it.  The album I'm looking for is Devotchka "100 Lovers"

I only tracked it down because there was a Twitter handle that was a similar spelling of Devotchka, and that triggered the memory.

As it turns out, I was dead-on correct about #2 and #3, but wrong about #1.  Band has way more of an Arcade Fire sound than a Tindersticks sound and only vaguely reminiscent of Efterklang.

Doofy

jonahpwll said:

vaguely reminiscent of Efterklang.

Gesundheit

jonahpwll

Okay, I got another one.

• I'm pretty sure the band had the word "Red" in its name.
• They were kind of slowcore ambient.  Moody.  Strings in all their music or just some of it.
• We would've last talked about them way back in the eMusic days, like back when the home page gave you personalized suggestions with all those tiny thumbnail images (or soon after that).
• When I say "we," I probably should've said "me," instead.  I'm not sure this band was ever very popular at all.
  
• Okay, wait, maybe one of their album titles had the word "Red" in it, instead.
• Here's what I distinctly recall... I believe I didn't purchase their album back in the day because it was like one of those 28-track albums that had a bunch of one-minute tunes, and it vaulted its required download credits way up to more than I wanted to pay in credits.
• Okay, wait, maybe I didn't purchase their album back in the day because it was like one of those 3-track albums that had a huge 30-minute tune that vaulted its price way up to more than I wanted to pay in dollars.  Yeah, I think it's this one and not the previous guess (y'know, the one I said I "distinctly recall").
• Pretty sure that the couple or few albums to their name were all given pretentious titles, like something Billy Corgan would've come up with.
  

Okay, I'm ready for my band name now, please.

EDIT:  OH MY GOD IT'S RED HOUSE PAINTERS.

Seriously, sometimes I forget how anal-retentive music writers are and that maybe I should just be ridiculous and enter a google keyword search of "bands with the word red in their name."  The very first search result took me to a site and Red House Painters were like the 16th name on the list (behind King Crimson, which seems like list-cheating to me, and Helen Reddy, which is totally silly and disrespectful to the noble profession of list-making stuff like "bands with the word red in their name.").