In honor of the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, RiLF uploaded their unreleased cover of “Love.” If Lennon’s “Love” is the song you hold your sweetheart to on a cold winter’s eve, than RiLF’s “Love” is the apocalyptic backdrop to blowing your lover’s brains out after a zombie infestation. A perfect addition to RiLF’s catalog.
Back from the ether: Lily Chou-Chou
December 8, 2010All About Lily Chou-Chou house band Lily Chou-Chou is back with their first song in 9 years. エーテル (Ether) was released today as a digital single and here’s the PV to go along with it. Dreamy and epic, “Ether” fills in the void missing all these years with a hint of lemon zest. Let’s hope Salyu and company don’t drop this collaboration for another decade.
world’s end girlfriend offers “Xmas Song” for free
December 6, 2010
Virgin Babylon Records is offering world’s end girlfriend’s Xmas Song as a free download December 2-December 31. The EP was originally recorded and released under the moniker world’s end boyfriend in 2001. This glitch/IDM release includes the holiday inspired “Very Merry Happy” and the jingle-bellin’ “Jaichel Mackson.” The zip file also includes the unreleased “SelfSale Fantasia” from 1997 and others.
You can download Xmas Song in the release section in a zip file.
Czecho No Republic
December 2, 2010myspace band of the week
Czecho No Republic hails from Tokyo, not Czechoslovakia like my great-grandparents. Two of the three band members played in The Mirraz before the Quattro boys stepped in. They formed in March 2010 and just released their first CD Erectionary sold exclusively at Tower Records.
Most of the songs on Czecho No Republic’s myspace are demos. They have a stripped down acoustic quality, almost tropical, which may explain why the demo CD cover has the band members hanging from their necks on a palm tree. “Call Her” from Erectionary, though, has a fun pop hook and “Goodbye” brings them closer to indie-pop territory. Tropical or not, this trio will be making waves in the indie scene.
New: J-Rock Explosion’s Amazon.com Store!
November 29, 2010What better way to celebrate Cyber Monday and the start of the holiday season than introducing J-Rock Explosion’s new Amazon.com store? J-Rock Exposion’s J-Rock Store has hundreds of CD, MP3, vinyl, and DVD releases with more being added everyday! Each purchase is handled through Amazon.com and a very small percentage of each order comes back to me. Treat yourself to some quality releases so I can buy presents for my family! I’ll start you off with 3 free MP3s
http://astore.amazon.com/jrockexpl-20
http://astore.amazon.com/jrockexpl-20
J-Rock Fridays Vol. 34
November 26, 2010Ultra late Black Friday edition!
SAKEROCK- “Muda”
I’m not sure this is the kind of rock I would listen to if I drank sake, but that trombone is awesome.
Paunch Wheel
November 24, 2010myspace band of the week
Paunch Wheel (パウンチホイール) is a band of friends who met in their high school chorus club in 2000. A fan of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper and long names, they originally called themselves All About My Paunch and Bucket Wheel Excavator. Thankfully they shortened it. They’ve released three mini-albums leading up to their debut album ダウンロードは下の in 2009.
Their songs on myspace are of the smooth rock variety, similar to Acidman. Their single “ロミオ＆ジュリエット (Romeo & Juliet)” is the most upbeat and might have found itself as an anime theme on another label. But I guess Paunch Wheel’s J-Pop will have to stay at the live houses a little while longer. Their mini-album Real is the only thing available on CD Japan.
mmm
November 18, 2010myspace band of the week
mmm (memymo!) is the solo project of mmm from Maria Hato and friends. Her first album パヌー (Panu) was released late 2009/early 2010 (whichever makes it eligible for my year-end list) on kiti label. She also helped out on labelmate oono yuuki’s Stars In Video Game and released a CD-R in July.
“マジカル・オムニブス号 (Magical Omnibus)” was the first single off Panu and was made into an exuberant one-take PV. It’s easily the happiest song on the album and you’re a horrible person if that video doesn’t make you smile. The rest of the songs are much more of a subdued folk affair, or as she says “all my songs tend to be saddy but I actually am very happy.”
“外人さん (Foreigner)” and “ゲロ吐く時の歌 (Song of vomit puke)” are strange to say the least but showcase mmm’s vocal range. “There there” is a beautiful song, sung entirely in English, that should put mmm on the shortlist of best female singer-songwriters in Japan.
Buy mmm releases at Jet Set Records and Amazon.com.
J-Rock Fridays Vol. 33
November 12, 2010So after last week’s Halloween excursion (which had a low turnout—last time I’m doing anything special), I had a surplus of videos. Maybe they’ll spill into next week, cause I’m tired.
noughts and exes- “The Start Of Us”
Noughts and exes adapt a childhood art-class assignment for the title-track of their sophomore album. It’s somewhat unsettling but strangely fits this beautiful track. Let’s hope Pepsi doesn’t get wind of this.
Live From Tokyo—West Coast Premiere Tonight
November 12, 2010I don’t like posting about events I have no way of attending, but I’ll make an exception for Live From Tokyo. In 2008 filmmaker Lewis Rapkin and his crew traveled the backstreets of Tokyo to highlight some of the most innovative musicians of the scene. The film includes interviews and performances from artists such as Shugo Tokumaru, Uhnellys, and Tenniscoats.
Live From Tokyo will be shown at the Viz Cinema theatre in San Francisco at 7:15PM. Following the film, there will be a Q & A with the filmmakers and LIVE webcasts from Kirihito, Sajjanu, Yudaya Jazz, and Onnacodomo in Tokyo. Ticket and location info can be found here. If you can’t make it you can watch tons of raw concert footage on the documentary’s YouTube page. I’ll be slowly going through them and post my favorites the next time substantial news (DVD release?) of the film is announced.
J-Rock Explosion 