What time is it? It’s Friday. Time for videos and junk. Let’s do this shit.
I’ve listened to ent and I’ve listened to FULLARMOR, but for some reason I’ve managed to avoid Mr. Horie’s bread winner STRAIGHTENER. And that’s a shame because “Man-like Creatures” is indie-rock goodness. Full of epic soundscapes and dreamy verses. I guess all that’s left to say is HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD.
Hardcore band LOST originally formed in 2000 and has been plagued by several lineup changes since, with guitarist Yoshimi Morinaga being the only original member left. In 2008, their lead singer and two other members left the band. This would’ve been the final nail in the coffin for most bands, but the remaining members quickly filled in the lineup with Hiroki Nakamori from Ikusa Fire on vocals.
Although the band has released an album in 2004 and a mini-album in 2007, the current lineup has only released a handful of songs on compilations. Among these are a track on Take 5’s hitori*anchuu and two tracks on a three-way split album with Nature Living and Evylock. LOST are currently recording their new album.
tweet tweet
In an effort to promote J-Rock Explosion, I have decided to create an official twitter page for this blog. I chose twitter because it was basically the only social network I’m not already on and you never know when “how do you tweet?” can come up in a conversation. I’ll be posting things that I don’t feel like talking about here, you know, things that can be said in a sentence or a link. The twitter link can be found below or under my Box.net widget on the right. In other news, you can now rate my blog posts. These may both be failed experiments but let’s see what happens.
Myspace Records have released Polysics’ latest album Absolute Polysics today, January 12, on CD with no prior warning. You can buy that at Amazon or Interpunk. They will also be on tour in America at the end of the month through February. This will be the band’s last tour with keyboardist Kayo. Now would probably be a nice time to see them, especially since they go “on break” after this tour. Tour dates can be found on this annoying splash image:
If by chance you are looking for the new ar album Love Lu Le Lo, you will find the album under the name A&R on iTunes. Out of all the work they put into licensing this from Japan, they couldn’t even spell two letters right.
But of course if you must pay for mp3s, you might as well buy them at Japan Files. It’s a couple pennies cheaper and isn’t gay.
Here we are at volume 11, my favorite number. What does the new year have in store for J-Rock Fridays? We’ll see.
Out of all the dark, depressing songs on mmm’s new album, she picked the only song that personifies joy as her single. And what a joyous video this is. It’s hard not to smile at this nerdy-looking girl dancing with an amusement park bunny and an assortment of nerd friends on the beach. It made me smile for 5 minutes in this cold, bitter world.
I guess it’s time to come back. Welcome to 2010, heading in to the third year of J-Rock Explosion. And although J-Rock Explosion still hasn’t made a dent in the J-Rock blogosphere, I still made some goals for myself. I wouldn’t set these in stone yet, but I’ll ponder them:
So there’s my list. In terms of my personal life, it’s the same as every year: lose weight, make money, find myself a nice girl. Maybe not in the same order. Have a nice day.
Merry Christmas.
I posted this last year, but who cares. Here’s a little holiday cheer from the Nicotine boys. Note: drugs are bad for you. (myspace)
SOUR’s music video for “Hibi no neiro” is nominated in the Music category for the 2009 Japanese YouTube Video Awards. To vote for the band, click the “please clap- GOOD!” button under the video on the Awards page.
Californian indie label n5MD will release ent’s debut album Welcome Stranger in the US/worldwide in 2010. The US release will contain all 7 songs from the Japanese release plus 3 remixes. Ent is the solo project of Atsushi Horie, frontman of STRAIGHTENER and FULLARMOR.
Welcome Stranger was originally released in February 2009 by Preco Records. The album, 3 years in the making, was a more personal and sentimental journey for Atsushi. Heavily influenced by electronics and post-rock, Atsushi combined these elements with pop sensibilities from his other projects.
J-Rock Explosion 