By Linc Bradham
It’s not every day that you hear a song that makes you want to do nothing more than drive around with your friends, lean back in the seats, and rock your heads back and forth to the beat for the entire tune. Well, as rare as it might be…Dan Lee, PRD, Astroboy, Rodely “RJ” Joachim, and Jillian Flaherty were able to create a tune that does just that in their recent banger, “Trip to Japan 3.”
From the first eerie sample of what sounds like a Moog or Oberheim synthesizer that leads into a beat that slams as hard as anything Drake or Childish Gambino have put out in recent years, “Trip to Japan 3” absolutely does not disappoint. It beckons you to take a trip – literally or figuratively – not just to Japan (although that’s the example given in the tune), but to wherever you need to go to fulfill your heart’s calling. It’s inspiring, fun, and slammin’, all at once.
All of the collaborators on “Trip to Japan 3” come in full force, bringing the necessary heat to create hit, but perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the tune comes at the bridge, where vocalist Jillian Flaherty explains how important it is to go where you need to in order to feel your own personal peace…following this comes what genuinely might be one of the best guitar solos in hip-hop history…but take a listen here and decide for yourself. Follow our Alchemical Multigenre Mixdown playlist for more great music featured on the site.
Linc Bradham is an American multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, audio engineer, and songwriter originally from Savannah, GA. He has resided in the DMV for the last three years and has served in the active-duty Army for the last 12 years. He is in the process of switching Army careers into the Army Field Band as an audio engineering professional, with long-term goals of promoting music education in America and the Middle East.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
