17 posts tagged “japan”
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09/02/09
Stereo Glasgow, Scotland
Discography
09/03/09 Brudenell Social Club Leeds 09/04/09 moseley folk fest birmingham, Midlands 09/05/09 Thekla Bristol, Southwest 09/06/09 Bush Hall London 09/07/09 Point Ephémère Paris
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Indie pop has had its fair share of epic collaborations (Calvin Johnson and Amelia Fletcher, anyone?), but few are more unexpected and strangely fitting than the Glasgow-based Pastels and Tokyo-based Tenniscoats. Recorded in Scotland, their joint album, Two Sunsets, is a dreamy combination of both bands’ signature sounds and an intercontinental sampling of languages and aesthetics.
According to Stephen Pastel’s reflection on the album’s conception, the bands aimed to work “instinctively and quickly,” and this notion is clearly felt throughout the album’s many subtle quirks. Instrumental tracks like “Tokyo Glasgow” and “Modesty Piece” have an organic feeling to them despite being infused with soft tinges of electronica. Saya Ueno of Tenniscoats describes the collaboration as “something like Pastels underneath, sounding beautiful like a big cloud, with Tenniscoats flying over,” and the image of a cloud is fitting, as most of the songs have a crisp, almost post-rainfall feel to it.
This clean feeling of recovery reverberates in “Song For a Friend,” which has verses in both Japanese in English. Melancholy contemplations about “shadows as memories” and “places we would be” are accompanied by a simple keyboard and the occasional horn. Stephen’s baritone contrasts deeply with Saya Ueno’s tinkling voice, but somehow the delicate verses and melodies meld them together seamlessly.
The different languages make for an interesting combination in several songs, though most tracks tend to stick to only one. Despite this, both bands’ influences are clear on each track. On the English track, “Vivid Youth,” Stephen and Katrina provide breezy vocals, but the lounge-like ambiance is distinctly Tenniscoats. Similarly, on the Japanese track, “Sodane,” the upbeat keyboards and twangy guitars give off a subtle aura of Glaswegian pop. The two bands manage to strike a perfect balance of their particular sounds, and in true contradictory indie pop fashion, the end result is both sunny and gloomy – and of course, completely irresistible.
The Pastels and Tenniscoats are not two bands that immediately come to mind in terms of compatibility, but Two Sunsets is sterling proof of their chemistry and general understanding of each other’s personal motives behind making music. Quietly beautiful and subtle in all its charms, these two bands’ joint effort is quite possibly the musical equivalent to a summer rain shower: unpredictable, much-needed, and oddly refreshing.
Note: Domino Records, Two Sunsets will be available on vinyl, cd and download on September 22nd.
08/15/2009 23:27:16 ♥ kateg (
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tenniscoats.com/myspace.com
♥ myspace.com/thepastels
*The title courtesy of Kate & Lara.
JAPAN
Her second album, This Is The One, released May 12th, on Island Def Jam, sounds like more or less R&B.
The lead single, is "Come Back to Me", which I caught the music video for it during their promotional push in May (you could've also gotten the album for $5 too!). I was actually impressed with her English, it actually sounds like it was written and sung by a native English speaker (most Jpop songs seems to me like they throw in English words that sounds good, even if it doesn't make much sense in the song. Like South Park's interpretation.).
As far as the album is concern, it's very slick and, maybe just a little over produced? Take a listen to my favorite song, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI" to see what I mean. I liked the lyrics, "FYI, we're gonna be up all night". You can interpret that how you like, but I can't see this cute/big-eyed girl being naughty.
HMONG
I was given a few albums by popular Hmong singers, Maiv Xyooj (myspace) and Tou Ly Vangkhue (myspace).
Since all their songs are all sung in Hmong (and I don't speak a word), I'll admit to not spending too much time listening and analyzing the music.
As for Vangkhue, his music is basically what you would call "soft rock". I was surprise to hear his Hmong version of the Bobby Vee classic song, "More Than I Can Say" (how come nobody ever covers Vee's "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"?). Anyway, this version sounds like Hmong Karaoke: not quite as passionate with mellow guitar melodies.
VIETNAM
Of course, I have a copy, as do all Vietnamese families across the world (although ironically the program is banned in Vietnam).
The same crew and staff have been doing this annual program for years that it seems flawless, but because 2008 marked such a special year for them, everyone seems under a lot of stress and pressure. There are moments on the DVD where one of the hosts goes backstage and talk to the crew handling the program (everything from makeup, to lights, to camera works, etc).
As for the performances, it's not live... but the performers do some great lip syncing. Some of the speech are hard for me to understand, especially if they're using a northern dialect (they like the "zz" sound vs the south with the "yy" sound).
If you don't speak Vietnamese, don't bother tracking down a copy, there are no subtitled version as far as I know. But if you're just into the culture and performances, then Paris By Night #94 and Paris By Night #95 have a lot to offer. There's a bit of everything, from comedy sketches, insane dresses, film (The Vertical Ray of the Sun), interviews, traditional Vietnamese music, modern dance/techno, to even cover of popular American tunes ("Bang Bang I Shot My Baby Down").
As you can see from the follow epic intro to #94: it's pretty ridiculous. Especially when they started lowering this woman sitting on the 25th logo, holding a globe. As if the girls in white dresses balancing candles weren't crazy enough!
Stick around until 70% into this "thank life and parents" song, and it becomes a techno/dance song!
06/23/2009 00:00:44 ♥ vu (
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♥ news.weheartmusic.com
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PART ONE
Jon from Mason Proper was nice enough to stop by and talk about:
- the #2 most added album on College radio station this week
- The origin of "oly oly oxen free"
- "There is a Moth in Your Chest" title and two different versions of their album explained
- Moth vs Oxen
- The story behind their friendship with Cloud Cult
- Upcoming CMJ
- Insound.com's exclusive limited DVD and remix contest (ends Sep 30th).
Alex tells us about his recent Southern Lord purchases...on his BIKE!
PART THREE
Vu ♥ 60s girl pop and soul, so he mentions: You Bet!, The Shangri-Las, and Gossip.
CREDITS: Special thanks goes to Jessi Hector at Sneak Attack, Alex from We Heart Music, Christina from Ariel Publicity, Jacky and Strings, Abbotfinney, and, of course, Jon Visger from Mason Proper.
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Love Psychedelico is about to make their American debut with This is Love Psychedelico on one of my favorite record label, Hacktone Records.
I've previously mentioned them before, but to brush up, they are basically two people: singer Kumi and guitarist Naoki Sato. The band's been around since 1997 and have sold over four million records in Japan and even sold out the 14,201 seated Nippon Budokan several nights in a row, so this band is pretty massive.
Unlike typical bubble gum and manufactured J-Pop (usually centers around really cute young groups of girls or boys), this band is very 60s and 70s style rock n roll. I also have to point out that they sing in both English and Japanese, but their English lyrics makes sense and add function to their songs.
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With the exception of "Fantastic World", Hacktone's This is Love Psychedelico does a fantastic, for a lack of a better word, collecting 12 tracks from their first three albums.
I love their early work from The Greatest Hits ("Lady Madonna", "Your Song", "Last Smile", "These Days", and "A Day For You"), which seems more drenched in classic 60s rock. Take that amazing guitar repeating riff from their debut single, "Lady Madonna", which only adds to the groove as Kumi sings.
I am including "Standing Bird", which opens up the album Love Psychedelic Orchestra as well as this latest American compilation album. The guitar playing makes up in hooking you in, despite teh few English lyrics that appears on the second half of the song.
Since they seem to really be into love and peace and into art as well, I thought it would be nice if I drew a portrait of the two - based on their wallpaper.
Still not convinced? Head over to their American website, thisislovepsychedelico.com, as they have the entire album streaming. This is Love Psychedelico is out on May 20th on Hacktone Records, you can pick it up at any record store, including Amazon.
Links: thisislovepsychedelico.com
lovepsychedelico.net
myspace.com/lovepsychedelicous
hacktone.com
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An interesting thing to note is that whenever BECR make promotional appearances, they all wear dot-matrix images for masks.
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So I bought the starter boxset to Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad. The box is kind of cool because it's shaped like an Amp and it comes with stickers and a guitar pick, plus the first five episodes of this Japanese Anime.
Like most anime series, it is very slow to build. I can summarize the first five episodes by telling you that they form their band "Beck".... but I guess the early episodes are really an introduction to all the characters.
Our lead character, Yukio, is a bit naive, but it's okay because he's only fourteen, also (unknown to him) the singer in the show.
The DVD extras are a "music video" and a rather lively commentary by Taliesin Jaffe and Christopher Bevins.
So, I found out that the catchy theme song to Beck is called "Hit in the USA" by Beat Crusaders, aka BECR.
The song's influences seems to Ramones-style, but more power pop and with an Engrish chorus of: "I was made to hit in America".
I believe the correct lyrics should be "I was made to be a hit in America", but somehow that extra letter just doesn't fit too well with the melodies... And because they're Japanese, you just accept the broken English.
Apparently they have a new album coming out on June 4th, 2008. Since I can't read Japanese, I can't really tell you much about it. Go to www.beatcrusaders.net for more information.
04/07/2008 08:09:56
vu
my♥posts
beatcrusaders.net
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My favorite genre of music growing up as a teenager in the late 1970's and early 1980's was the stylistic New Romantic movement beginning primarily in the UK. Typical musical proponents of the New Romantic movement were Spandau Ballet, Visage, Japan, Ultravox, Landscape, Adam & The Ants, Culture Club, and Duran Duran - especially during the period from mid-1979 to mid-1983. Some other bands include (to some extent) Simple Minds, A Flock Of Seagulls, Kajagoogoo, Classix Nouveaux, Naked Eyes, and ABC.
The New Romantic movement was similar to that of the glam rock movement in the UK during the early 1970's, in that (male) New Romantics often dressed in caricaturally counter-sexual or androgynous clothing and wore cosmetics in the New Wave extension of (or reply to) punk fashion, with frilly "fop" shirts from the English Romantic period. David Bowie was an obvious influence and interestingly his 1980 single "Fashion" was influenced by and was simultaneously considered to be something of an anthem for the New Romantics, as were Brian Eno and Roxy Music.
The genre's genesis took place largely through clubs such as Billy's in London, which ran David Bowie and Roxy Music nights in the aftermath of punk. This evolved into the Blitz Club and later Hell, which were hosted by Steve Strange (the doorman) and Rusty Egan (the DJ) and in many ways defined the sound of the movement. Boy George was the cloakroom attendant who was fired by Steve Strange for stealing money.
Of the many differences from
glam, however, was that instead of guitar rock, the music was largely
synthesizer based electronic music. Now from my understanding as I
recall, the Danceteria in NYC was an early champion for spotting the
movement, and the Underground in NY had Spandau Ballet for a
performance in 1981. As I recall, this was the beginning of the
movement in America.
By 1983, California saw a slight shortening and "New Ro" (newro) became a trend among teens looking for synthetic medium between the surf and ska inspired "Mod", and the rougher guitar-based punk scene with the Dead Kennedys, the Adolescents, etc.
As with many trends in fashion and music, New Romantic was revived in England in the mid-1990's as a movement called Romo (romantic modern) in clubs such as Club Skinny. Orlando is generally seen to have been the most successful Romo group, and Electroclash, Fischerspooner and others were briefly popular. Personally, I am always looking for new ways and places to help keep the spirit of the music alive!
04/05/2008 09:38:46
todd
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
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04/19/08 Roadburn Festival - Tilburg
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The one thing I've learned in the couple weeks I've been writing here is that metal is a somewhat tough sell to the average music fan (even those with more “underground” sensibilities). And it's definitely not for everyone, sure. But I've also found one band that seems to be an exception to this rule. For some reason, Boris manages to unite all sorts of listeners behind them, despite being one of the more abrasive bands out there right now.
That said, I was excited as hell to get the new album, Smile, for review! After many, many listens, I can say with confidence that this album will probably be at the top of a lot of magazines' year-end lists for 2008. Even early in the year, I say this because yes, it's that good.
The album starts out with “Flower Sun Rain,” a cover of a song by a band called Pyg, which begins some good old fashioned guitar feedback, and ends up sounding more like a funeral dirge, with a “pretty” sounding guitar line repeated under a hypnotic, repetitive vocal part. Guitar feedback builds up into a full-on arena rock lead and then back again into a solo vaguely reminiscent of some of Built to Spill's heavier moments. This is the shortest feeling song it's ever taken me seven minutes to listen to.
“Buzz-In” is a perfect follow up. Some of that nice, spastic rock for which Boris has become known. The dissonant horns playing in the background bring to mind Nation of Ulysses or The Stooges.
“Laser Beam” starts off with a lead guitar dueling with another guitar feeding back. This turns into a vaguely Motorhead style rock 'n' roll song with some killer leads and straight-up punk rock drumming. Eventually it buries itself under a wall of feedback and changes up entirely to full-on Kill 'Em All thrash with melodic sung vocals. It breaks down again into feedback and finally into a drum beat with a bizarre acoustic section over it.
This is followed by “Statement,” the album's first single. A cowbell and a screeching lead guitar kick it off over a nice, thrashy, Motorhead style rock 'n' roll drone. More melodic vocals here. Really, this sounds like a more focused version of the last two tracks. Definitely a lot more straightforward than either of them.
The next track, “My Neighbor Satan,” starts out in more post-rock territory with what sounds like a keyboard with an almost Boards of Canada-esque drum beat with sung vocals high in the mix, and guitar drones in the background that slowly bury them. About two minutes in, the time changes, the crazy guitar wailing takes over, and about a minute later, the song is right back where it started. The song ends with a full minute of feedback that would make J. Mascis proud.
“KA RE HA TE TA SA KI – No One's Grieve” starts out with a Sunn O))) style drone. Downtuned and slow. About a minute and a half in, it's out the door with balls-to-the-wall spastic thrash with a feedback drenched guitar solo playing slower and pulling it all together. The vocals come in slow in contrast with the speed at which the rest of the song is being played. The lead guitar is mixed high and plays a crazy, almost improvised sounding solo. This song could put you to sleep as easily as it could melt your face off.
The last track, “untitled,” (a bonus track on the Japanese release) begins with more feedback, a consistent theme on this album. It goes into another dirge-like section that pretty much goes on for the duration of the song.
A few notes: I'm pretty sure the promo copy I have of this is chopped up a bit, and missing a track. It also sounds like it might be ripped from vinyl. Also, a few of the songs are shorter or longer than Wikipedia lists them as being on the Japanese version.
Still, I can pretty much say with confidence that this is going to be one of the best albums released this year. Definitely worth picking up.
03/07/2008 00:15:18
soup
my♥posts
inoxia-rec.com/boris
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| LOLITANIMATRONIC wrote: Dec 16, 2007 10:51 AM |
[this is good] I've been lurking. Can someone bring up an article or do some research on the Japanese band Tipographica? I can't find a damn thing.
[...]
Trigun was my instigation for asking. I found the First and Second Doughnuts soundtracks from YEARS AGO, when I was much younger, and recently redeveloped my appreciation for the composer Tsuneo Imahori- who is also a member of Yohko Kanno's The Seatbelts, if wikipedia does not lie.
I sometime really enjoy reader's assignments (even though I still have over 20 CD to review before the end of the month), so I thought I'd take on Lolitanimatronic's request.
With a little digging, I found out that Tipographica formed early in 1986 at a Japanese music school, between Tsuneo Imahori (who would later serve as guitarist and band leader), Naruyoshi Kikuchi, the saxophone player, and Akira Minakami (keyboards).
Originally their sound was inspired by Fred Frith, noted for his jazz funk and progressive rock, but by the time they had assembled the full band (adding a Trombone player, a drummer, and bassist), it would seem that all their releases practically worships Frank Zappa - as detailed courtesy of allmusic.com.
According to Sean Westergaard, for allmusic, he writes:
By this point, leader Tsuneo Imahori had absorbed so much Frank Zappa that it was practically exuding from his entire body. The liner notes describe a scenario in which someone doesn't speak any Russian, but is constantly drawn to a Russian book in his possession. After months of getting pleasure from examining the book, but not really understanding it, suddenly one day the person has full mastery of Russian. So it appears to be with Imahori and the Book of Zappa.
I want to say that most of the songs I've had a chance to listen to are often very long, such as the nature of improv free style jazz songs. The most interesting title, although they have a pretty interesting and odd selection of title names, is probably "Prostitute Robot (Made by Sony)". This is from their self-titled album and there is a long guitar solo in the middle of the piece.
TSUNEO IMAHORI
You can tell a lot about the band's history
looking at their discography. For instance, I can tell that they
probably broke up around 1997. By 1998, the man responsible for driving
Tipographica, Tsuneo Imahori, have moved onto The Seatbelts, the group responsible for the blues/jazz fushion soundtrack of Cowboy Beebop. Edit: a fictional group based around Yoko Kanno's work for Cowboy Beebop.
With the success of Cowboy Beebop, Imahori finds himself as the main composer of other popular anime series, such as Trigun (late 90s) and Final Round (2001+).
I find that these songs written for Anime are a little easier to swallow, obviously because it's more commercial and mainstream. I am including "Blue Funk" for you to listen to, the song sounds like it's a Japanimation Western... which pretty much describes Trigun.
According to discogs, his latest work appears on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the television show based on Masamune Shirow's popular animated movie that inspired The Matrix. I have been a big Shirow fan since Eclipse's US comics, Appleseed, so I found out that I actually have a few of these Stand Alone Complex soundtracks (because they came with Bandai's deluxe edition DVD).
The weird thing is that the CD pulls up Yoko Kanno as the composer (Kanno is also a member of The Seatbelts). A closer look at the liner notes revealed that Imahori is primary used as the guitarist and bass player.
It would also seem that Kanno have pretty much used Imahori as a session guitarist for her other projects (including Wolf's Rain and Be Human).
12/17/2007 02:16:00
vu
my♥posts
allmusic
 | roxfan wrote: Dec 17, 2007 3:07 AM |
[this is good] A few notes.
1. Yoko Kanno is a woman.
2. Seatbelts is not a "real" group but a group existing in the universe of Cowboy Bebop (there's even a fictional discography of their work in the booklet of "Tank! The! Best!" CD). It basically includes everyone who worked for Kanno on Bebop soundtracks.
3. Imahori is the main guitarist on pretty much all of the recent Kanno's works, including Maaya Sakamoto's solo albums until 2005.
4. Recently he worked several times with Taku Iwasaki - another notable anime composer. Iwasaki's soundtracks of note include Read or Die (2001)/R.O.D. the TV(2003)(without Imahori), Black Cat(2006), Angel Heart(2005), Oban Star Racers(2006), Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007).
(Japanese text by Tomo, translated into English by Maggie)
Supercar are probably the closest you'll ever get to a Japanese
shoegazer band. They hail from Aomori, a place in the countryside in northern Japan that is usually considered their version of
"the boonies." When they first started out, they were a guitar band
that seemed happy to just layer their ringing guitar sounds with
beautiful melodies. But with their 2nd album Jump Up, their sound
suddenly evolved (and this was evolution, not change), going from
Britpop copy band to developing their own sound identity.
The product of this was their 3rd album, the 2000 release Futurama. They got the title from a combination of the words "future" and "panorama," and sure enough, it was a record that seemed to depict the future and an all-encompassing view of sound itself. At the time, their use of both rock and electronica drew comparisons to Primal Scream and Radiohead.
Usually, it's very difficult to put Japanese lyrics to UK guitar band-type music as it comes off sounding very unbalanced (perhaps that explains the dearth of such bands in Japan), but Supercar skillfully maneuver around that, and the music and lyrics are written by different members of the band. Another feature of the band is the use of boy/girl harmonies, but on this album, the female vocals tend to take a backseat.In the beginning, the guitars jangle in
the instrumental "Changes," and lead into the deeper guitar sound of
the masterpiece "Playstar Vista." Despite its futuristic feel (perhaps
aided by the synths), this is an album that leaves you feeling
mysteriously warm. The first half of the album is so solid that when
you get around to the latter half, it sometimes seems like the album is
a little too long. But, there are still some gems like "Fairway" and
"Restarter" tucked away.
Post-Futurama, Supercar continued to evolve, stretching out into the far reaches of the electronica universe with the release of their 4th album, High Vision. After that, they once again changed direction and headed back to Earth with a more conventional, Talking Heads-esque 5th album Answer, and then they broke up.
Official SONY site | English fansite
ORIGINAL TEXT:
しかし2nd『Jump Up』になるといきなりその音は進化（変化ではなく進化です）の速度を時速150kmくらいに上げ、いかにもＵＫ好きってだけではなく、自分たちの音処理のスタイルがまるっきり変わりました。 ところがその音の進化はまったく止まることが無く、速度維持しながらも真っ直ぐだけではなく縦にも横にも向い始めました。
それが結晶されたのが2000年に発売された3rdアルバムの『Futurama』です。 タイトルはFutureとPanoramaを合わせた言葉らしく、まさにその言葉通りの音の未来と音のすべての景色をあらわしている傑作アルバムです。 発売当初はロックとエレクトロニカとの融合ってことでPrimal ScreamやRadioheadを引き合いに出して評価されておりました。
通常英国的なメロディとアレンジがあると、そこに日本語の歌詞を乗せるのは非常にアンバランスで難しいのですが（だから日本にはそういうバンドが少ないのかも）スーパーカーはその辺がとても巧みで楽曲と詩は別々のメンバーが書いています。 それともうひとつの特徴はヴォーカルが男女ひとりずついるということであり、このアルバムは男性ヴォーカルの割合が非常に高く、女の子の声は控えめに後ろから、または横からとても可愛げに顔を出してくれています。
さて、その後のスーパーカーはさらに進化をし続けて、エレクトロニカの星にたどり着いた4th『High Vision』を経たのち、その進化を 無理やりに止めて地上に戻ってきてTalking Headsのような原始化した5th『Answer』のアルバムを残して解散してしまいました。
１枚とも同じアルバムが無く、好みは分かれるとは思いますが、自分は最も動き続けていたこの『Futurama』が一番好きです。
Maggie | my♥posts | maggie@weheartmusic.com
I'm just surprised that Danzig spent so much time unemployed and living in his parents' basement, instead of working for the New Jersey Tourism Board. There's more to NJ than shopping, folks -- Infection and possible death. Remember, biohazard is just a beach away. Just kidding. They picked up those syringes ages ago.
Now, ready yourselves for some really unscary tunes.
Well, not this one. This is a really frightening song -- if you're four years old. I don't know when or where I first heard it, but I've loved spelling the chorus forever.
Wade Denning was a composer and jingle writer. (He passed away this last September.) Kay Lande is an actress and singer who's worked on children's projects since the early 60s.
I snagged the album from Scar Stuff.
This endearing, little song won me over at first listen. I even like her sort of out-of-tune singing.
There's really not too much information about Lady Krishna's Peppermint Lounge, except for the little that appears on their MySpace page. Their fan club is riddled with pop-ups and white space.
As a fan of SynthPop and some Dark Wave, I always thought that I would like Japan. I tried a couple of times, but, for some reason, their moody electronics would not take.. till now. I'm all gooey for "Halloween", "Quiet Life", and "Fall in Love with Me".
Typical Aqua. Squeaky, silly, and great, braindead entertainment for the whole family. (That bald fool always makes me laugh.)
As of yesterday, they've reunited for a tour.
There's no Halloween without Helloween's screamy goodness. I must apologize for depriving you guys of the 13-minute version with its extra shrillness and more menacing atmosphere. I don't know about those lyrics, though.
In November, Helloween will be touring with Gamma Ray (former Helloween guitarist Kai Hansen's band).
Oozing with moodiness, Cristina
