Football is back! And it unexpectedly brings us a little J-Rock. Verizon Wireless has used “Come Come” by The Suzan in their new commercial for NFL Mobile, some kind of app for football fans. The song is taken from their 2010 album Golden Week For The Poco Poco Beat, which was released in the US by Fool’s Gold. Hopefully the commercial will give the girls some well deserved attention over here. If you could care less about football, join me in watching their performance of this song at the Japan Society in NYC .
Czecho No Republic preps first album
September 9, 2011
The final track off Czecho No Republic’s single Casually ショートバケーション has finally been given a PV. Except this time it’s associated with Czecho No Republic’s debut album Maminka! The album will be released October 5 and contains 12 songs including ショートバケーション and “Don’t Cry, Forest Boy” (videos below). Preorder is up at CD Japan. You know I will.
purple bloom
September 7, 2011myspace band of the week
Purple Bloom is a female fronted shoegaze band from Tokyo formed by Linden (vocals) and Tsuyoshi (guitar). Their first album purple bloom, self-produced and recorded in their tatami room, was intended for March release but was pushed back due to the earthquake. The album will see worldwide release September 13. Their song “Kisses Bloomed” was featured on Patetico Recordings’ Rock Back for Japan Vol. 1, a compilation series benefiting disaster relief.
As typical of shoegaze bands, purple bloom blends noisey guitar with Linden’s high-pitched whispered vocals. “Kisses Bloomed” happens to be the one with most distortion while songs like “Hyades” and “Star Is Mine” bring the sunshine.
Pre-order purple bloom at Darla Records.
J-Rock Fridays Vol. 53
September 2, 2011The_AIU- “CPU”
Put down your video games and check out this new sweet voiced electronic trio.
Miila and the Geeks
August 31, 2011myspace band of the week
One of the more exciting up and coming bands I haven’t featured on this column yet is Miila and the Geeks. Miila was originally the solo project of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Moe Wadaka, who is also a member of Twee Grrrls Club and the duo Love and Hates with HNC’s Yuppa. The project was expanded to a band in 2007 with the addition of drummer Kaoru Ajima and Ryota Komori on screaming sax. Their first 7″ EP 6 Songs was released in December 2010 and sold out in a few days as did their second EP 3 Songs earlier this summer. Their debut album New Age was released by Niw! Records last week.
Miila and the Geeks is associated with the “riot grrrl” movement of the 1990s. They list PJ Harvey, Bikini Kill and Kim Gordon among their influences. “Want,” “Cigarette & Water” and “Super Hero” are simple, yet aggressive punk songs punctuated by some crazy awesome saxophone. The sax is back in “Trouble,” which isn’t as fast but is still catchy with it’s one-line lyric.
New Age is available from Jet Set Records.
U900 releases Michael Jackson album
August 29, 2011
The ukelele has been making a comeback (I’ve seen that Jake Shimabukuro bloke on late night at least twice this month). U900, a ukelele duo known for their cute animated videos, released their new album Ukelele Michael last week. The album features eight ukelele covers of the King of Pop and three music videos. Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” is below. Black bunny plays the ukelele with Michael’s glove!
Wolfgang McCartney
August 24, 2011myspace band of the week
Wolfgang McCartney is a Hiroshima based duo comprised of brothers Eiji and Kazuki Suehiro. They formed under the name London in 2004 and changed their name to Wolfgang McCartney in February 2010. The Beatles and The Monkees, who they cover regularly on their YouTube channel, are a major influence on their music. Wolfgang McCartney has self-released two albums and several singles.
Their new single “I Don’t Care” is the most rocking song on their myspace. The rest of their songs seem to be more pop based with a lot of synthesized instruments. I don’t much care for “Magic Tree,” which sounds like it was recorded at the Renaissance Faire. “Bye Bye Rain” and “Chance Again” manage to be decent pop songs if a little off key.
Download Wolfgang McCartney songs Amazon and iTunes.
J-Rock Fridays Vol. 52
August 19, 2011Two year anniversary!
6eyes- “Radio”
There’s a lot of saxophone on the radio these days, it only makes sense for 6eyes to sax up their new single. Plus there’s a lot of cool things in this video, like a crossdressing drummer and a disgruntled office worker who grows dreadlocks overnight.
Nekocats
August 17, 2011myspace band of the week
Nekocats is a female fronted pop rock band from Tokyo. Guitarist Seigo Minegishi put the band together in the summer of 2010. Vocalist Erina Kawamoto was the first to join followed by Ernesto Salinas, a Puerto Rican drummer. Katsutoshi Tsunoda is their new bassist. The band’s name comes from Erina’s love for cats. They didn’t know whether to choose an English or Japanese name so they just wrote it both ways (“neko” is Japanese for cat).
GeeDes records released Nekocats’ first single She Loves You (no relation to The Beatles) in June. “She Loves You” is a fun pop song with a catchy chorus. It’s b-side “Utsusemi” isn’t up on myspace but they have a few more demo tracks up there. “Stray Cat” has the same amount of energy but has more of a bluesy feel. Meanwhile 鼓動 and 世界go for the cute factor.
Download She Loves You at Amazon or CD Baby. Physical copy is available from CD Japan.
J-Rock for Christ!
August 14, 2011So I was watching music videos on JCTV (Jesus Christ Television, seriously) in the wee hours of the morning and saw this sweet collaboration between Christian rapper Manafest and Koie from Crossfaith. Looks like “No Plan B” was released back in 2010 on Manafest’s album The Chase, proof that JCTV needs to find new material. Does anyone know of any Christian J-Rock bands? I’ve listened to J-Rock long enough to know they must exist…
J-Rock Explosion 