h1

Stuff To Look Forward To, April 2011

April 12, 2011

Back again with another belated Stuff To Look Forward To. It goes without saying March was a tough month for Japan. There were several releases pushed back to late April/May, mostly from the major labels. Unfortunately I haven’t kept tabs on those so you’re on your own.

This month we have new releases from old favorites Doping Panda and The Cherry Coke$ who have finally gotten some attention after their Giant Killing OP. We also have debut albums from myspace band of the week alumni LOST, the loud function, and Usotsuki Barbie. My mini-album pick of the month goes to Shugo Tokumaru’s band Gellers, who have surprisingly gotten little attention outside of our sister blogs. My album pick of the month goes to Vampillia. I got it last week (labels are finally starting to send me stuff!) and have been listening to it non-stop.

4/06 Apartment- Apartopology (CD Japan)
4/06 Kinoko Hotel- Marianne no Kokotsu (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/06 Merengue- Aporia (CD Japan)
4/06 Metron Ongen- Eden (CD Japan)
4/06 NICO Touches The Walls- Passenger (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/06 Plastic Tree- Ammonite (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/06 Usotsuki Barbie- Nininini (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/13 The Cigavettes- The Cigavettes (CD Japan)
4/13 Doping Panda- Yellow Funk (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/13 GEEKS- Babbage (CD Japan)
4/13 LOST- The Monsoon (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/13 Low IQ 01- Master Low Go (CD Japan)
4/13 Salyu x Salyu- s(o)und(d)beams (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/13 STRAIGHTENER- Vandalism/Silly Parade (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/15 Gellers- Guatemala (Jet Set)
4/15 Joseph Nothing Orchestra- Super Earth (Unsupermarket)
4/19 JAWEYE- alpha (CD Japan)
4/19 Vampillia- Rule the World/Deathtiny Land (Amazon)
4/20 The Cherry Coke$- Seven (CD Japan)
4/20 the loud function- world of monochrome (CD Japan)
4/20 Supercar- RE: Supercar 1 (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/27 ANA- Hole (CD Japan)
4/27 Going Under Groud- Inagawa Kun (CD Japan, Play Asia)
4/27 Mo’some Tonebender- Best of Worst (CD Japan, Play-Asia)
4/27 Wagdug Futuristic Unity- Raw (CD Japan)

Also of note, & records just released a benefit comp for the victims of the Tohoku earthquake. Includes Caroline and myspace band of the week alumni 4 Bonjour’s Parties and kuh (ex-Beat Crusaders). 40 tracks for $11.99.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Stuff To Look Forward To | Leave a Comment »

h1

Virgin Babylon signs Joseph Nothing Orchestra

April 9, 2011

Post-rock super label Virgin Babylon Records will release Joseph Nothing Orchestra’s new album Super Earth on April 15. It took me a month to write that sentence but at least we have a full PV for the title track now. You can even download it for free here. Pre-order now from Virgin Babylon and get a special bonus CD. Aliens and trailers below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Joseph Nothing Orchestra, Virgin Babylon | Leave a Comment »

h1

Sentinels

April 6, 2011

myspace band of the week

Sentinels! No worries, this has nothing to do with giant mutant-hunting robots. Sentinels is an “east meets west, west meets east” band centered in Osaka. UK native Matt Wycliffe Lucas landed in Japan in 2005 where he taught at a language school. He met future keyboardist Lito Cruz his first day and they became fast friends. Two years later Cruz and Wycliffe  had to come up with a song-to-sing-along-to for their students and magic happened. The two booked a rehearsal in Osaka’s red light district and worked on Wycliffe’s material.

Wycliffe met their bassist Maki at school. Somehow she was only student left in class and instead of talking about “business trips” they decided to meet at a coffee house and talk music. Maki was exclusively a guitarist but Wycliffe convinced her to pick up the bass and join his band. Lito met their drummer Atsuko at a subway station. She bumped him and he noticed the drumsticks sticking out of her handbag. Delighted to find a drummer, he invited her to rehearsal.

The three songs on myspace come from their demo CD available from Flake Records. “Telescopic” is a great piano driven song. One thing that is kind of surprising is the Claudio Sanchez quiver in Wycliffe’s vocals, which is even more apparent in “People Are Everywhere.” I’m not accustomed to hearing that quiver in happy music. But that didn’t stop me from singing along “oh oh oh I’m a doctor.” The last song “The Wa and the Wherefore” ends on a more melancholic, leaves changing note. Sentinels is an upbeat band with an international back story. The vocals may turn some people off but there’s definitely some good stuff here.

http://www.myspace.com/sentinelsjapan

Posted in myspace band of the week, Sentinels | 1 Comment »

h1

J-Rock Fridays Vol. 42

April 1, 2011

Back on schedule. No foolin.’

0.8秒と衝撃。- 町蔵・町子・破壊 (Machizou Machiko Hakai)

0.8Syooogeki had the top voted video of 2010. Let’s see if they can repeat it this year. Eat snow and dig in.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 0.8秒と衝撃。, co3, FACT, FEELFLIP, GaGaGa SP, J-Rock Fridays, JAWEYE, Lily of the Valley, Man With A Mission, Puffyshoes, Sherbet Clock, the cabs, the loud function | 1 Comment »

h1

Himawari Batake

March 29, 2011

myspace band of the week

Himawari Batake (ひまわり畑) is an indie rock trio. All I get when I Google their name is a lot of sunflower pictures so I’ll have to forego the usual bio paragraph.

For a band whose name translates to “sunflower field,” Himawari Batake rocks pretty hard. Not to say they’re mosh pit heavy, but they’ve got a good hipster head bob going on. おはよう (Good Morning) is a catchy song and I’m happy to say I knew what “ohayou” meant before plugging it into the translator (I know some Japanese words!). They have another song that they named after themselves. It doesn’t evoke sunflowers but it builds on the energy of their previous song. 月夜 stands out as they cut out the noise to focus on guitar work. The “GF version” is equally brilliant. If they focus on developing the sound of these last two tracks they’ll be a force to reckon with some day.

http://www.myspace.com/batake/

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Himawari Batake, myspace band of the week | 1 Comment »

h1

Free PeopleJam EP, new album in May

March 27, 2011

PeopleJam has a new EP available on their website for free. The Star Drop EP contains three previously unavailable instrumental tracks that won’t be on their album. Their debut full-length Dirty Groove will drop May 11 in Japan. Watch an album sampler below.

Posted in Free mp3, free music, PeopleJam | Leave a Comment »

h1

Vampillia

March 22, 2011

myspace band of the week

Vampillia is a 10-piece “brutal orchestra” that dubbed themselves the hardcore version of Arcade Fire. Members of the orchestra have included Toyohito Yoshikawa (ex Boredoms), Kazuhisa Chikada (World’s End Girlfriend), and Merzbow. But the main members are their three vocalists: Geath (the screamer), Death (the Mongoloid woodcutter), and OPERA (the opera singer).

They toured New York with Tujiko Noriko in 2008 and made a stop at SXSW this year. In 2010 they toured Australia to all sold-out shows. Is Collage Collective released their first album Sppears late 2009 in Japan. US label Important Records released their next album Alchemic Heart January 2011. This album is a collaboration with Jarboe, Inswarm, and Merzbow and contains two 25-minute songs. Their next album Rule the World + Deathtiny Land will be released this April from Italian label code666. This album will contain 24 songs and last 24 minutes.

Vampillia’s sound is a mix of classical and hardcore music. The combination of screaming and opera in songs like “heyoah” calls to mind bands like mutyumu. “Sea” from Alchemic Heart only gets a 3-minute mix on myspace but that’s enough to get the gist of it. This song has much more in common the post-rock/doom genre than anything on Sppears. “Mersum” with vocals by Tujiko Noriko sounds a bit out of place but it’s a beautiful piece amongst chaos.

Buy Alchemic Heart and Sppears at Amazon.

http://www.myspace.com/vampilliaofficial

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in myspace band of the week, Vampillia | Leave a Comment »

h1

J-Rock Fridays Vol. 41: SXSW Spotlight

March 18, 2011

If you’re reading this you’re probably not down in Austin watching a ton of great bands and films. Like me. But don’t fret, this week’s J-Rock Fridays is SXSW themed. This is not a complete list of all the Japanese bands playing at SXSW. Just the ones who had their video uploaded to SXSW’s YouTube page. Plus a few I’d be remiss not to post.

Tornado Boyz- “Ich Bin Auslaender”

German rap? Really? I don’t know how foreigner Daisuke met up with this Berlin-based band but this video is endlessly amusing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Cubismo Grafico Five, J-Rock Fridays, Japan Nite, Lolita No. 18, Mo'some Tonebender, Nedry, oh sunshine, Peelander-Z, Puffyshoes, sonodaband, SXSW, Takashi Kamide, The Suzan, Tornado Boyz, Vampillia, white white sisters, Ydestroyde | Leave a Comment »

h1

Download the new Shugo Tokumaru track, help Japan

March 16, 2011

Shugo Tokumaru is donating all proceeds of his new track “Open a Bottle” to the victims of the Tokoku earthquake. The track can be downloaded at bandcamp for a minimum donation of ¥100 ($1.27USD).

http://tonofon.bandcamp.com/

Posted in Shugo Tokumaru | Leave a Comment »

h1

Kaisoku Tokyo

March 15, 2011

myspace band of the week

Last week a lot of people came to this blog looking for Kaisoku Toukyou. It looks like they’ve changed the romanization of their name to Kaisoku Tokyo since I posted their video on J-Rock Fridays, but at least the name makes sense now. So for shattering my busiest day record I shall grant you band of the week.

Kaisoku Tokyo (快速東京) naturally comes from Tokyo. The four members met as students at Tokyo’s Tama Art University in 2008. They played shows in Kichijoji and made their first big appearance at Fuji Rock Festival in 2010. Their first album Music Station came out January 2011.

There’s four songs on Kaisoku Tokyo’s myspace and they average a minute. Their hard and fast style will lump them in the hardcore punk genre, but according to this Japan Times article they don’t consider themselves hardcore. “To the bitter end we’re a rock and pop band. It’s just that we’re fast and noisy” says vocalist vocalist Tetsumaru Fukuda. Whatever they want to call it, it’s fun to listen to.

Buy Music Station at CD Japan or Play-Asia.

http://www.myspace.com/kaisokutoukyou

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Kaisoku Tokyo, Kaisoku Toukyou, myspace band of the week | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Entries
Older Entries »