Whether it's younger stars like Sam Smith and Charli XCX whose pasts have seen collaborations with producers such as Disclosure, Alex Metric and Starkey, or established names like Bjork delving into the underground to work with Arca and The Haxan Cloak, the trajectories of pop and club music have never felt more closely aligned.
But despite the success of Yasutaka Nakata's productions for Capsule, Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japan's music scene has yet to demonstrate a recognition that club-friendly might also equate to chart-friendly.
Tokyo duo Young Juvenile Youth, consisting of beatmaker Jemapur (real name: Toshiaki Ooi) and vocalist Yuki Matsuda are looking to challenge that perception. The duo releases the mini-album "Animation" via iTunes on April 27 with a physical release to follow June 3. The music video for the title track — a stunning example of post-processing trickery by director Kosai Sekine — transforms Yuki's portrait into a variety of digital structures, and has quickly been lauded for its originality.