BUDDHISTSON will be having their 10th Anniversary showcase in their hometown of Kashiwa on December 5. They plan on playing over 30 songs. I’m surprised to hear they’ve been around that long, and that I’ve been listening to them for at least half of that. This is a band that has flew under the radar for far too long. Let’s get them more listeners for 2010.
Acclaimed mixed martial artist Genki Sudo may have retired in 2006, but now he’s one step closer to his dream of becoming a JPOP legend. If you thought Genki’s flying leg-triangle choke or spinning backfist techniques were impressive, just check out this son of a gun’s dance moves…
Since I have no plans to bring back Random J-Rock Updates, I decided to take something from it to make a weekly feature–myspace band of the week. Same rules apply. These are bands that don’t have much material or a PV to share, but have still impressed me with a song or two on myspace. You have given me your song and now here’s your sandwich.
Alis del lotton ROY’ symphonica orchesto is a 3-piece “genre-less” band. If you’re wondering what their tongue-twister name is all about, Alis Del Lotton is the queen of their fantasy land and they are her royal symphony orchestra. Yeah, seriously. The lead singer/guitarist/cutie Momoko and pianist Yanigisawa have practiced classical piano since at least the age of 4, which plays a heavy component in their songs. Their music ranges from fuzzed-out acid trips to standard coffeehouse rock ala Norah Jones/Sara Bareilles. Their debut mini-album New Morning comes out November 25 via Theory&Practice Records. “Beautiful Stranger” is my jam.
ELLEGARDEN fans are going to have to wait a little longer for their comeback album. The first EP from the HIATUS titled Insomnia will come out in Japan tomorrow. It features three new songs. The songs are a little darker than what we heard on Trash We’d Love, and feature more violins and heavier piano. The video above is for “Antibiotic,” an unprecedented ambient/electronic track from the band. Looks like Takeshi Hosomi was listening to too much Radiohead this time around.
Back to our regularly scheduled program. This week we have eight new videos by eight bands. You’ll also find a poll at the very end. Thanks goes out to International Wota for the Halloween shoutout, making last week’s column the most viewed yet!
Another excellent artist from UK.PROJECT. Their sound is hard to compare, but I settled with the telephones meets Nine Inch Nails. If you’re into mysterious garage rock than this one’s for you. Their debut album Mirrored Flag was released earlier this month and it rocks. (myspace)
For the handful of nonvocal readers that have kept up with my This Month In J-Rock columns, I thought I’d let you know that I plan on restarting the column within the next couple of weeks.
I’ve been wanting to restart the column for several months but have met with plenty of unfortunate setbacks. Most importantly my father’s acceptance into the convalescent center in May and subsequent death at the end of October. It’s been a difficult 6 months watching every function of his body die and finally his last breath. His four and a half year journey with cancer has shaped me and my writing in more ways than I can write down in the lifetime of this blog.
But perhaps the real reason I’ve been avoiding the column is the standard “writing into a void” syndrome. When you spend hundreds of man hours working on something and the only comments you receive are from a psychotic Dir en grey fan, you have to rethink your outlook on life. It just doesn’t make sense killing myself every month to write 15-20 reviews that won’t be read.
So the next column will be posted in the next couple of weeks and if that doesn’t happen assume I gave up on the idea. The new column will be very much condensed, combining two months into one, and will have much less reviews. Perhaps that’s for the best. There’s only so many ways I can say “this album sucks.”
-a
Toe will break their 3 year silence with their second album For Long Tomorrow on December 9. The band will self-release this album on their record label Machupicchu Industrias. From the sound of it, the album will be more chill, but that doesn’t explain the moshing in the video!
http://www.myspace.com/toemusic
edit (12/9/2009):
Because this post has received an insane amount of views within the past week, I thought I’d let you know I have it, but I’m not sharing. Enjoy their new PV for “After Image” instead.
I’ve always enjoyed collaborations between Japanese and foreign artists. Today I came across “Lightning Runaway” by the pillows and Texan rocker Ben Kweller. The single was made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Tower Records in Japan. The one-track single is available now, but only at Tower Records.
Greetings, and welcome to the special Halloween edition of J-Rock Fridays. Some of the videos here are fun, with a little bit of spook, and others are downright disturbing. Watch at your own risk!
WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT In the anime Yu Yu Hakusho, former spirit detective Sensui was shown a never ending videotape detailing all the crimes and wars of humanity. I’m pretty sure these clips were taken from that video. Nothing but 6 minutes of archival footage of murder, stabbing, strangling, throat slitting, jumping out windows, jumping off buildings, and just plain death. World’s end girlfriends’s music was creepy enough but this video just put him over the edge. At least it’s in black and white. (myspace)
Ever wonder what happened to the original members of BEAT CRUSADERS? Umu went on to form FREAKYFROG with ex-members of Rude Bones, SCAFULL KING, and other ska bands. Their debut album will come out on November 4.
Listening to the video clip below, it’s hard to distinguish umu and Toru Hidaka’s vocals on the indie BEAT CRUSADERS recordings now. It makes me wonder if umu did more than backing vocals on those recordings. The clip for “Grasshopper’s Symphony” on myspace sounds very much like a classic BEAT CRUSADERS’ song. Regardless I have no doubt that this will be one of the better pop punk albums of the year.
J-Rock Explosion 