YAPOOS LIVE
URA TAMAHIME
Nothing much more to say, she is heaven.
-Michelle
Zoom Lens is the "label" I started to self-release my own music from various different projects, as well as that of close friends. The latest CD I am releasing is by Class of 1923, whom I feel that everyone should know about:
"A sense of innocence, nostalgia, and complexity. Synth-noise destruction and electro-pop melodies with a post-punk approach, A highly versatile, yet seamless CD that takes an adventurous approach in finding a medium between the clashing of both old and new sounds. Extremely unique and highly addictive."
Class of 1923:
http://www.myspace.com/classof1923
You can purchase the album from here:
http://www.myspace.com/zoomlenslabel
-Garrett
Friction was birthed by bassist Reck post-collaboration with New York No Wave initiators James Chance and Lydia Lunch, in which Reck and the other founding members of Friction played instruments for. Chiko Hige, drummer and back-up saxophonist of the Contortions, along with Reck and Tsunematsu Masatoshi formed the orignal line-up, releasing their first album in 1980: 軋轢 (Atsureki).
I can't help but say that I always think of The Fall when I listen to this album; granted, Reck's vocals are in my opinion much stronger than Mark E. Smith's. The British post-punk influence is obvious, as much as the abrasiveness of the New York No Wave sound. Jazz funk and all. Quintessential Japanese punk...simplistic, melodic.
軋轢 (Atsureki)
-Michelle
Somebody on Last.fm was nice enough to upload this rare gem for me (I hope it's alright with them that I'm sharing this, but this was only limited to 500 copies, why not?).
The first track, 'Super 77,' is intriguing in it's concept, it's a composition composed entirely of the sounds of the band's manager's then-three-month-old son, however, it falls pretty flat in holding that much attention. This track can easily be skipped.
The second track, 'Super Sky,' is a great listen and is what one would expect with later Boredoms. Tranced-out sounds and tons of drums. What is odd is that 'Super Sky' is supposed to be an early version of 'Super Going,' and while there are many recognizable moments, the song actually starts with the end of another song, 'GO!!!!!,' the single 64 minute track off of their release, Super Roots 5. Mmmmm. Not often do you get to hear a Boredoms track before it's heavily manipulated in post-production, so it's an intriguing listen either way.
Usually most Boredoms is good Boredoms (everything before Seadrum anyways... OOPS! LOL), this is no exception. Check it out!
-Garrett
In same taste and light as Afrirampo, Pikacyu, along with twelve other female-friends make up モンモントゥナイ (femalemasturbationtonight). Pikacyu is the drummer for the more famous of the girl-projects from Japan, Afrirampo, a duo from Osaka... famous being that Pitchfork has reviewed them (fuck), they've toured with Sonic Youth (another offense) and that they are also included in the ATP line-up this year. Nevertheless, I think I do enjoy Afrirampo...Pikacyu has also drummed for Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno, one of the very many psychedelic projects and combinations of various musicians formed by Acid Mothers Temple. The two have also collaborated.
Happynoise.
モンモントゥナイトのテーマ
-Michelle
Download
Hijokaidan has always stood out from it's peers due to their highly confrontational live performances and their somewhat unnerving and unique approach to their sound. Unlike some of their counterparts (Hanatarash, The Gerogerigegege), their music has little driving rhythm, rather, most of it is extremely disconnected, and in this, their music is only that more aggressive. It was said that Hijokaidan originally set-out to sound like Hawkwind performing at an airplane landing, which is really not too far off of a description. The noise can be characterized by being abrasively spacey and psychedelic. Although this record may not be as noisy as their future releases, it certainly captures a sort of essence of raw violence due to it being a compilation of live recordings. Personally, this is one of my favorite Hijokaidan records, and perhaps, one of my favorite noise recordings ever.
If you enjoy this record, I am willing to upload it in lossless for anyone who is interested. However, please support the people who made this album and consider purchasing it as well
-Garrett
If you enjoy this record, I am willing to upload it in lossless for anyone who is interested. However, please support the people who made this album and consider purchasing it as well
-Garrett
DownloadSo basically I am horrible at writing music reviews, so I'm going to do this the Pitchfork way and tell you my own personal biased opinion about this record by the instrumental Japanese band, Toe. What? Another instrumental band from Japan besides Mono? Personally, I don't like Mono. I hate when the dynamics of instrumental music are reduced to tremolo picking and playing octaves. Toe doesn't do that. They also know not to drag things out, another problem with most instrumental bands. There is a fine line between building tension and being plain boring. We hear recurring themes in a lot of Toe's songs, acoustic break downs, subtle electronics, and several spoken word monologues, but these are songs that are very distinctly melodic. The guitar work is lush, intricate, and beautiful. You can really sense the communication between the two players and they do not simply imitate each other. The bass serves it's purpose and creates a nice middle ground between the ting of clean guitars bouncing off each other, and the drummer... is just amazing, by far one of the most phenomenal drummers I have heard, the album is worth checking out solely for his playing.
Another thing I would like to mention is that Toe's drummer drums for Kimura Kaela. Kimura Kaela is close friends with techno-pop group, Perfume. So... in my fan boy fantasies, Toe and Perfume would collaborate one day. Hell yeah. Download the album!
If you enjoy this record, I am willing to upload it in lossless for anyone who is interested. However, please support the people who made this album and consider purchasing it as well
C [Live]
Kodoku no Hatsumei [Live]
Everything Means Nothing [PV]
-Garrett
Another thing I would like to mention is that Toe's drummer drums for Kimura Kaela. Kimura Kaela is close friends with techno-pop group, Perfume. So... in my fan boy fantasies, Toe and Perfume would collaborate one day. Hell yeah. Download the album!
If you enjoy this record, I am willing to upload it in lossless for anyone who is interested. However, please support the people who made this album and consider purchasing it as well
C [Live]
Kodoku no Hatsumei [Live]
Everything Means Nothing [PV]
-Garrett
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)