Archive for May, 2012

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Yucca

May 30, 2012

myspace band of the week

Yucca is a 5-piece indie pop band from Tokyo, not to be confused with the Japanese new age/opera singer of the same name. The band formed in 2003 and their current lineup is Yusaku Enomoto (guitar), Ayako Shinada (keyboard), Katsuyuki Umezaki (bass), Yuki Kawana (keyboard) and Kazuyuki Chujo (drums). Their first album Laboratory Products came out in 2005 and their second album The Orange Sun In My Room in 2006 through abcdefg*record. In 2007 Shinada (former drummer) broke her lower back and the band was out of commission for a while. But they’ve kept it together and with new drummer Chujo released their third album Our Journey (To Anywhere We Want) a month ago.

Yucca’s first two albums are available at CD Japan or Bandcamp. Their new album Our Journey was released through net label Sayonara Novels, owned by the same people who run abcdeg*record. You can download it for free here or pay for it at iTunes and the like.

http://www.myspace.com/yuccasounds

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Stuff To Look Forward To, May 2012

May 30, 2012

I guess this will be an end of the month column now.

5/02 andymori- Hikari (CD Japan, Play-Asia)

5/02 Dirty Old Men- Doors (CD Japan)

5/02 Shank- Calling (CD Japan)

5/02 SiM- LiFE and DEATH (CD Japan)

5/04 Dazzle Vision- Shocking Loud Voice (CD Japan)

5/05 The Mari On the Beach- Play Music, Sing A Song (bandcamp)

5/07 Taffy- Caramel Sunset (Club30AC)

5/09 Akai Kouen- Laundry de Hyohaku wo (CD Japan)

5/09 BACK-ON- Ice Cream (CD Japan, Play-Asia)

5/09 EA- Meteo (CD Japan)

5/09 The Flickers- Wavement (CD Japan)

5/09 Good Morning America- Kagayaku Ho e (CD Japan)

5/09 Keytalk- KTEP2 (CD Japan)

5/09 Kinoko Teikoku- Uzu ni Naru (CD Japan)

5/09 jizue- Novel (CD Japan)

5/09 Liaroid Cinema- inletPAGE (CD Japan)

5/09 Owarikara- Q&A (CD Japan)

5/09 rega- Solt & Plum

5/09 The Romantic Six- Stardust (CD Japan)

5/09 Sister Jet- Shirokuma (CD Japan)

5/09 tricot- Shogakusei to Uchu (CD Japan)

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podo

May 23, 2012

myspace band of the week

Podo is an electronic rock trio from Tokyo. Masudapodo (guitar) and Yukipelo (vocals) met in high school in 2000 and formed a band. Their current bassist Risapodo joined in 2002 and they started to play as a trio in Kumamoto. They were originally went by the name pedo until they realized what it meant in English. In 2007 they officially changed their name to podo and relocated to Tokyo in 2009.

Their third mini-album Raw Life was released in April and is available at Hear Japan and all other digital outlets.

http://www.myspace.com/pedojapan

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J-Rock Fridays Vol. 71

May 18, 2012

Happy Friday.

mudy on the 昨晩- “PANIC ATTACK”

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.

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Posted in Broken Doll, Bugy Craxone, EA, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, go green, J-Rock Fridays, Kaji Hideki, KETTLES, Keytalk, mudy on the 昨晩, Nihon Madonna, sakanaction, Shonen Knife, uchu-jin, Waka | Leave a Comment »

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Gargle

May 16, 2012

myspace band of the week

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.

http://www.myspace.com/gargleinstrumental

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taffy

May 9, 2012

myspace band of the week

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.

http://www.myspace.com/saltwatertaffy8

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J-Rock Fridays Vol. 70

May 4, 2012

Warming up to the 70s.

ZeZeZaZa- “Ponpidon”

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.

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Posted in andymori, Beat Crusaders, COgeNdshE, Crossfaith, DOACOCK, Fed Music, J-Rock Fridays, kataomoi, Liaroid Cinema, Man With A Mission, SiM, Taffy, The Flickers, The Love Ningen, Toru Hidaka, Tricot, ZeZeZaZa | Leave a Comment »

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Post Beat Crusaders: Toru Hidaka to put out album with FED Music

May 2, 2012

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 guitarist/keyboardist 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.

Posted in Beat Crusaders, Fed Music, Toru Hidaka | 4 Comments »

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kyojaku.

May 1, 2012

myspace band of the week

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.

http://www.myspace.com/kyojaku

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