Happy Friday.
Mudy on the sakuban puts on a haunted house show for an unsuspecting couple. There’s a Sadako spoof from The Ring and probably more I’m not well versed in the horror genre. I think mudy is officially one of those bands we can count on for great videos.
Gargle is an instrumental duo from Tokyo. Jun Minowa (guitar, glockenspiel) and Satoshi Ikeda (accordion, programming) provide a cinematic take on “a gleam of light in the darkness” mixing elements of ambient and post rock. In 2009, Gargle released their first EP Looming through the Russian netlabel Clinical Archives. Nevada based label Fluttery Records released Gargle’s first full length Glow In the Gloom on April 6, 2012. Minowa also has a side project called Yawning on Fluttery Records who released his EP in 2010.
Looming EP is available as a free download at Archive.org. You can pick up Glow In the Gloom at bandcamp and a lot of other places.
Taffy is an alternative/shoegaze band from Tokyo. Iris (vocals) and Koichin (bass) formed the band as Salt Water Taffy in the early 2000s after their previous bands had broken up. After years of lineup changes, the band name was shortened to taffy when Asano (guitar) and Ken (drums) joined last year. Taffy’s sound has often been compared to various Britpop acts with The Beatles being an obvious influence.
London based label Club AC30 has signed taffy and released their first album Caramel Sunset this week on vinyl and CD. You can read more about taffy’s focus on Britain at the Japan Times.
Warming up to the 70s.
I still don’t know what a “ponpidon” is but it’s been redone in all its dreamy glory for ZeZeZaZa’s first official CD. Shoegaze is off to a good start this year with this and Plastic Girl In Closet.
It’s been about two years since the Beat Crusaders broke up so it’s about time we check in on what the band members are up to. Frontman Toru Hidaka has kept busy since the split, starting with the supergroup TV Murders featuring Vola & the Oriental Machine’s Ahito Inazawa, Kaji Hideki and Kohei Dojima. Unfortunately, TV Murders only put out one cover song for New Rote’ka tribute album.
But Hidaka had plenty more projects to take care of, including producing Going Under Ground’s new album and Masafumi Isobe from Husking Bee’s solo debut. He also joined Monobright as their new bassist and is apparently a professor at Nakasu Sangyo University.
Fans of Hidaka’s side project GALLOW with former Beat Crusaders members would be happy to know that Hidaka started a new acoustic project with the boys from Fed Music. Their first single “Double Fantasy” was released as a split single in October with Sayaka Kushibiki and Cubismo Grafico under the name Our Favorite Songs with a bonus cover song from each pairing. “Double Fantasy” was itself a GALLOW demo from way back and has pretty much the same vibe as Hidaka’s other project minus the fancy synths.
Hidaka and Fed Music announced that they would release a full album entitled Replica on May 16. Their new single “The Long Good-Bye” can be heard above and you can preorder the new album at CD Japan. More samples can found at GALLOW’s myspace.
kyojaku (虚弱。) is an all girl post rock band with an average age of 21. The current lineup– Kana Tsuboichi (guitar), Miyuki Arai (Bass), Mana Kohno (drums) and Umi (piano)–reformed in 2008. They started to play live in 2009 and have been invited to many big festivals since. Their first CD-R Kabetosogy was released in 2008 and their second Donguribouya in 2009, both sold out. Kilk Records signed kyojaku. last year and released their first album Kokou No Gaden in March.
Kokou No Gaden is available now on iTunes and the CD will be available to purchase in America from Darla Records in June.
The Eglle is an all-girl post-punk band from Tokyo. Sugar (vocals,guitar), Tomoyo (bass) and Sayumi (drums) formed the band in 2010 originally under the name the brown. Their first 7″ record Swimming / My Moaning was released in December 2011 from ACCOMO.
Swimming / My Moaning is available at Jet Set Records. A free download of their new songs “Perfect of Triangle’s Balance” and “Disorder” can be found here.
Another month full of releases I can’t afford.
4/04 Applicat Spetra- Spectacle Orchestra (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/04 ar- YON (CD Japan)
4/04 B’z- Go For It Baby (CD Japan)
4/04 The Cigavettes- We Rolled Again (CD Japan)
4/04 BOYZBOYZBOYZ- Electric Evil Make Bomb (CD Japan)
4/04 Champagne- Schwarzenegger (CD Japan)
4/04 Deathgaze- Creature (CD Japan)
4/04 Earls Court- Resurrection (CD Japan)
4/04 Fake Face- Dichotomic (CD Japan)
4/04 group_inou- Monkey / Judge (CD Japan)
4/04 ivory7 chord- Pentagram (CD Japan)
4/04 Kyary Pamyu Pamyu- Candy Candy (CD Japan)
4/04 LM.C- Strong Pop (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/04 Man With A Mission- distance (CD Japan)
4/04 Para:noir- nihilism (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/04 recoride- MP3 no Danmatsuma (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/04 Sukippara ni Sake- Boku No Chi (CD Japan)
4/04 tokyo blue weeps- What Happened In Yesterday (CD Japan)
4/04 VA- Nevermind Tribute (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/10 VA- Vivid Covers – A 20th Anniversary Tribute To L’arc~En~Ciel (Amazon)
4/11 Asian Kung-Fu Generation- Kakato de Ai wo Uchinarase (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
Sexy time.
Stabbed in the heart and he still makes it to the show on time! After their stellar debut mini-album, Turntable Films made it into my most anticipated for 2012 and “Misleading Interpretations” does not disappoint. It is sad though to see they’re a trio now, which must be a recent development as I can hear former keyboardist Nozomi Funada all over this track (I think she even has a cameo in this video?).
Chik’nhood was hatched in 2008 in Tokyo. Syuji (guitar), Manabu (drums) and Tsuchihashi (bass) were originally in a band called Jam Band. They met their vocalist Hiro, who grew up in Manila, and formed Chik’nhood, a parody of the delicious restaurant El Pollo Loco. They are influenced by American alternative rock acts like Foo Fighters and Hoobastank. Their self-titled album was released in 2010.
Chik’nhood’s debut album is available at CD Japan and digitally on Amazon and iTunes. They have also put up a bunch of new tracks for free download on their bandcamp.
