4 Bonjour’s Parties is a 9-piece band that formed in the suburbs of Tokyo in 2001. In 2005 they toured Australia, sold out their demo CDs, and met Clue to Kalo who found them a record deal. Their first album Pigments Drift Down To The Brook was released in the US by Mush Records and Japan by &records in 2007. They toured Japan with support from US indie bands in 2007-2008 and returned to Australia in 2009. Their newest albumOkapi Horn was released last week in Japan.
Their dreamy flute and horn soaked bedroom pop makes 4 Bonjour’s the ultimate chillout band. The first 4 songs on myspace come from Pigments, while “Pins and Needles” and “Optical Song” highlight Okapi Horn. “Pins and Needles” is a peaceful track that’s just begging to whisk you to sleep. It was originally recorded as a live video for Sleepers Film last year (and also the very first video posted on J-Rock Fridays!). “Optical Song” livens things up a little with synthesizer and handclaps. Overall two beautiful tracks that has me excited to hear the new album.
Earlier this year, I started a mini-column called J-Rock Fridays on another blog. Obviously, it never caught on. So in order to breathe new life in this blog, I decided to recreate it here bigger and better. For now this will be a biweekly column. Ideally, I would want a couple posts in between J-Rock Friday columns and I can’t promise that if it was done weekly. So for now, sit back and enjoy videos from some upcoming (or dead) Japanese bands!
4 Bonjour’s Parties- “Pins and Needles”
Pretty cool single-camera video. Yes, this video was recorded live. I can’t imagine how many hours were put into preparing this. Sure, the audio isn’t that great, and the video definitely not polished, but it has that indie charm the major’s can never reproduce. http://www.myspace.com/4bonjoursparties
1000say- “Lostman”
I was told that if I liked school food punishment, I’d like this band too. I can see where they were coming from. The electronics are similar, but I think 1000say has better pop vocals than sfp. Overall, a fun song and a fun band. http://www.myspace.com/1000say
Electrico- “We Satellites”
The latest single from the Singaporean trio. It’s filled with horrible CGI of space debris. The band themselves don’t show up until half way through when a broken shard of glass floats across the screen. And then they kind of disappear. The song itself sounds a lot like U2. I really don’t know what’s holding them back. They’re signed to Warner, but they’re content to stay in Asia. Every other day, “electrico we satellites download” pops up in my search engine terms. I’m sorry, I don’t have it. Apparently you can download it at Wayango. But it’s region blocked so don’t bother. http://www.myspace.com/electricomusic
PARMS- “Stolen My Heart”
The first music video from PARMS. From the looks of it, the footage is taken from their 2009 US tour with Park Ranger. I thought “Sunlight” would have made a better single, but this one is OK too. They’re finally putting their debut album out in Japan this October, even though it’s been available in America since February. Oh well! http://www.myspace.com/parmsmusic
Shing02- “Wankyoku feat Emi Meyer and Motoki Yamaguchi”
This is the first time I’ve seen Shing02 perform with a drummer, a beautiful woman, and in Japanese. Maybe I should check out more of his albums. Shing02 is most known for his work on Samurai Shamploo, but he’s worked with a lot of other famous rappers and DJ’s since then. I really like this song and hopefully he’ll gain more recognition overseas. http://www.myspace.com/shing02
Versus the Night- “Peace Out, Girl Scout”
I’ll leave you guys with something a little more heavy. This recently released “tribute” video is taken from their farewell EP So This Is Goodbye. They had so much more to contribute to the hardcore scene, but at least they went out on top of their game. And it looks like their singer is finally putting out an album with his new band Inhale. PS: I was pleasantly surprised that Shima from buddhistson edited this video. http://www.myspace.com/versusthenight
J-Rock Explosion 