So Hokkaido Fair wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. They basically had a few food stands right when you’re walk in the door. There were samples of squishy fish I could never identify and some octopus. I wound up having Bi Bim Bap and a Taro Latte in the food court. I don’t know why I’m writing about this here and not my food blog. But anyway it’s Mitsuwa so it’s always an adventure. I wound up buying Perfume’s new single in the bookstore and a copy of Rockin’ On Japan with Beat Crusaders on the cover!
Ivory7 Chord- “Fire Works”
Where we sober when we first met? All I know is I saw fireworks.
What’s more exciting than a new world’s end girlfriend album? A new post-rock label founded by none other than WEG himself! But a new WEG album is awesome as well. And this will be Virgin Babylon’s first release. “Les Enfants du Paradis” was a little more upbeat/chipper than we’ve come to expect from WEG. But I’m interested to hear what this “irregular pop album” is all about. (myspace)
OGRE YOU ASSHOLE – Ukareteiru Hito
What’s more exciting than a new Ogre You Asshole mini-album? An Ogre You Asshole North American Tour! That’s right, OYA will be opening for Wolf Parade this November in the States (and Canada). Hopefully an American label will release some of their material in the States. Or at least pick up a few CDs at their show? (myspace)
Peelander-Z- PTV
Just when you thought Peelander-Z couldn’t get any crazier, they decided to release a children’s album. No joke. Chicken Ranch Records will release the album stateside with a bonus DVD of music videos and extras. They’ll be touring America (and Canada) a lot this fall so check them out! Human bowling! Limbo! (myspace)
Envy- Recitation
Envy’s fifth album is upon us. Said to be their most epic yet. Hopefully that doesn’t mean long, droning songs like on Insomniac Doze. The two songs that were released remind me of old-school Envy, though. If you can wait, Temporary Residence will release the album stateside in October on CD and vinyl. They’ll also be touring America with a bunch of skramz bands this September-October! (myspace)
Ling Tosite Sigure- still a Sigure virgin?
Ling blew us away with just A moment last year, but apparently we’ve heard NOTHING yet for we are still Sigure virgins. Get ready for another nine tracks of virgin goodness. (myspace) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Other Stuff
avengers in sci-fi- Delight Slight Lightspeed: Just one b-side for this single, but it comes with a DVD loaded with live videos. (myspace)
HALCALI- Roman Hiko: HALCALI remakes the classic 90s song from Kome Kome Club. Features ska favorite Your Song Is Good as guest musicians. (myspace)
Rega- Lyrics: The title makes no sense they play post-rock. (myspace)
RiLF- Ferris Wheel: Featuring members of Anoice and matryoshka. (myspace)
sleepy.ac- LIVE @ Sapporo Kitara: Live sleepy.ab album? I’m confused. (myspace)
Start Of The Day- Love: New album. New band members. And no more of this StartOfTheDay crap. (myspace)
VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE – PRINCIPLE: A new Vola album? Yesssssssssss. (myspace)
Wagdug Futuristic Unity- R.A.M.: AA= released their new album earlier this year. Time for this other Mad Capsule Markets spinoff that sounds exactly the same to release theirs.
We’ll be getting the new Peelander-Z and Envy albums in the US very soon, but there’s also a couple of older releases coming out.
Boom Boom Satellites- Over and Over
Boom Boom Satellites will be coming to America this fall and Sony decided to release a compilation album to celebrate. Over and Over features 17 tracks from Exposed, ON, Umbra, Photon, Full of Elevating Pleasures, and Out Loud. The only problem? This is a CD-R release. That’s right, Sony loves this band so much that the only physical release they plan on giving it is a burn-on-demand product from Amazon.com. Disappointed.
Boredoms- 77 Boa Drum
Thrill Jockey will release this monumental DVD release from Boredoms. 77 Boa Drum documents a concert held at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, NY on July 7th, 2007 at 7:07pm. 77 drummers were asked to play as one in this live event.
Winter break begin! It’s been a long month but finals are over and I almost got straight A’s 🙂 The following are PV’s from albums I plan on reviewing in This Month In J-Rock: November 2008. Hopefully that will be done around Christmas. There’s a lot to review!
avengers in sci-fi- “Homosapiens Experience (Save Our Rock Episode.1)”
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Comments: I love this song. It’s so catchy. “Save our rock, save our rock, save our rock, save our rock!” It’s a great performance video. It’s fascinating seeing these guys play guitars and synths at the same time. The video follow the same “triangular” theme as the album cover.
Comments: Random fat guy floating in a pool. Not as creative as their last video (neurotic white family at dinner table eating) but does the job. Dustbox reminds me of Ellegarden, with the English punk-rock and what not. Another energetic song.
Comments: “ORANGE” is the latest video in hare-brain’s recent disco system. With the help of masked power rangers and brilliant choreography, hare-brained brings the dance ROCK. My favorite video this month.
Comments: “Look Inside the Mirror” sounds like a British pop song. Probably because half of their members are from Britain. This a very delicate song. Not very rocking at all. The video uses stop animation and has the lyrics translated in kanji (LOL) scrolled on the right side of the screen.
Comments: A piano driven pop-punk band, similar to enie meenie. This song is a little slower than the others on the album but still has some great synth lines. The video is your standard band performance interspersed with animation of a girl running, reminescent of the album artwork.
Comments: SCLL is the ultimate chill band. It’s easy to find yourself drifting in thought to Kana’s delicate vocals. They decided to go the artsy way, again, for their new video. It’s composed of still images of a girl on the beach.
Comments: The best way to describe this band is a female version of Nature Living. The synths are very heavy in this song with an 8bit quality. It’s interesting they chose a song without screaming that highlights the singer’s J-pop voice. This video is a backlit band performance with the members in silhoutte.
Comments: Not as “disco” as the name implies but another great pop song by the telephones. This is an interesting video that meshes animation, a newscast, and the band’s performance. The aerobic scene at the beginning is hilarious.
world’s end girlfriend- Seven Idiots
Peelander-Z- PTV
Envy- Recitation
Boom Boom Satellites- Over and Over
Boredoms- 77 Boa Drum
J-Rock Explosion 