With their new album Lightbulbs (out now on Full Time Hobby), Fujiya & Miyagi continue to put out well-crafted pop songs with subtle electronica touches, beautiful melodies, and knack for romantic delicacy. Good news, they made an exclusive mix for us!

What are you up to?
We have just started touring the Lightbulbs record. We played Switzerland last week and we are going to Ireland in a few days.

How is Fujiya Miyagi on stage?
We now have enlisted a drummer to our ranks which has made us more dynamic live and probably a little bit faster. He is quite hard to keep up with: we’ve still got the dice visuals which I think look really good.

You just released a new album and bands generally say that the new one is the best one. Why is this one your best album? Why should we buy it?
I like the new album a lot but I can only compare it to what we have done before after a long period of not listening to it. I know that we have tried to do different types of songs than previously and I think we have gotten better at writing and more confident in what we are doing. It’s also got a great cover.

What are you currently listening to?
Lots of old soul records from the 60’s and 70’s. I like Beck’s Modern Guilt and the Odd Couple by Gnarls Barkley a lot. I’m looking forward to hearing Steeple Remove’s new record too.

How is the scene in Brighton at the moment? Good bands around?
There seems to be more groups in Brighton at the moment than during any other time since I’ve lived there. There’s Bat For Lashes, The Go Team, British Sea Power to name just a few. I haven’t been around enough to see new groups emerge but I’m sure they are coming up

How important is the internet for you?
It’s hard to imagine a time when the internet didn’t exist. I wonder what people used to do. Maybe they spoke to one another more. It’s really important for a group as there are no long barriers between the musicians and listener anymore. The downside is illegal downloads which make it hard for some groups to continue.

Where do you see it going?
I think maybe there will come a time where the only format are downloads and vinyl. It would be nice if more people listened to vinyl as you tend to listen to the whole album rather than the odd song here and there.

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Tracklisting:

1. Gnarls Barkley-Whose gonna save my soul
2. Beck – Volcano
3. Ghostface Killah-Kilo
4. Tv On The Radio-Dancing Choose
5. Au Revoir Simone-Sad song
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds-Dig Lazarus Dig
7. Jamie lidell-Multiply
8. Eine Kleine Nacht Musik-Finster
9. Wire-One Of Us
10. Bonnie Prince Billy-Am I Demon
11. Joanna Newsom-Emily
12. Dangerdoom-Sofa King
13. Black Lips-Veni Vidi Vici
14. Jape-Floating
15. Portishead-Silence