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turnin' japanese

The Sinister Haiku Bureau

13:14 / 09.09.01

I've recently gone into a bit of a phase for japanese or japanese-sounding weirdy noise music, like melt banana, ooioo, merzbow and such forth. can anybody reccomend more similarly strange and/or gorgeously trashy sounding music? I'm not even sure if all of the above are japanese, but I've certainly been led to believe that they are. Also, does anybody know what the japanese music scene is like at the moment?

uncle retrospective

13:16 / 09.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Johnny Haiku Headed Racoon-Dog:
Also, does anybody know what the japanese music scene is like at the moment?

You could try audiogalaxy and search for experimental noise. Then brace yourself.

Seth

13:25 / 09.09.01

Yeah, I’m really interested in finding out more, too. The only record I’ve heard is the latest Boredoms record (“Vision Creation Newsun”

which is brilliant. Any recommendations will be much appreciated.

[ 09-09-2001: Message edited by: expressionless ]

rizla mission

14:49 / 09.09.01

I'm big into Melt Banana.

I heard some FANTASTIC tracks on the radio by a similar band called eX-Girl. Apparently they've got an album out called "The Revenge of Kero-Kero" or something along those lines, but I can't find it anywhere..

I'd like to hear The Boredoms sometime.

YNH

14:56 / 09.09.01

Sorry, I'm more into the weirdy sounding pop music. Let me know if you want any Amuro Namie

Seth

20:56 / 09.09.01

The weirdy sounding pop also turns me on. Again, I’ve only dipped my pinky in the pool (just Pizzicato Five, I’m afraid, and nameless stuff I can’t really remember). Really liked it.

autopilot disengaged

09:18 / 10.09.01

eX-girl are fantastic. they dress up as frogs onstage.

for an epic intro, check 'disco2000' (NOT the pulp number).

Ellis

09:21 / 10.09.01

You know what song I love? Its in Ghost in the Shell, its this cool Techno Opera sounding song, it so rocks.

Techno Opera, now doesnt that sound cool?

autopilot disengaged

09:32 / 10.09.01

back in the day, underworld (as lemon interrupt) made a superlative instrumental version of their track 'dirty epic' (called 'dirty') that sampled the BLIM-BLAM-BLIM-BLAM sing-songy child's voice bit from 'Akira'. it's amaaazing.

Seth

09:54 / 10.09.01

I own and love the "Akira" soundtrack. Is "Ghost in the Shell" readily available (time to start a thread in Comics about the original GitS strip - after I've slept...)?

There's a piece on the Passengers album inspired by GitS, isn't there? I remember thinking, "This is dull compared to what's in the movie." Dublin boys - stick to tune smithery and God-bothering. Eno - stick to beautiful minimalism. Pavarotti - stick to being fat and weirdy beardy.

09:54 / 10.09.01

gotta mention The Boredoms again. though i guess anyone who likes the Merzbow/ Melt Banana end of the spectrum knows them already. totally mental band, but they've learnt to play their instruments finally after 15 years.

there are lots of bore side projects too, a couple of them i remember are:
UFO or Die, DJ Carhouse and MC Hellshit.
[nothing if not good names eh?]

how about High Rise, more superdistorted guitar power chord punk?
or a merzbow alike called i think Masonna.

or if your tastes are more broad than that, then the Pizz 5 are great, like the japanese St Ettiene. Ken Ishii makes great dance music. There's really odd breakbeat from Boom Boom Satellites, and anyone who likes japanese music has to own at least one Sakamoto/ Yellow Magic Orchestra album.

Now, slightly more esoteric, but can anyone recommend good bands from Korea or Singapore or Taiwan, since my dad regularly travels those parts, and i've long since run out of things to ask him for.

rizla mission

09:54 / 10.09.01

Oh yeah - Boom Boom Satellites - I'd completely forgotten about them .. they rule..

Saveloy

09:54 / 10.09.01

I've got this cracking compilation called "Cosmic Kurushi Monsters (Tokyo Invasion Vol 1)" - see below for link - which features High Rise, Melt Banana, Boredoms, Masonna and loads of others whose complicated names I cannot remember. Mostly insane guitar stuff but plenty of ambient spacey things too. Will copy for anyone who wants a bit.
http://www.supergraphics.demon.co.uk/soundprojector/sp2.html#badnice

[ 10-09-2001: Message edited by: Saveloy ]

Seth

11:58 / 10.09.01

Please! I'll private message you my address.

Thinking… do I owe you a mix tape, Saveloy? It’s been a while since I promised a couple of people, and my memory is crap at the best of times. If so, state your preference and I’ll do you something in return.

mondo a-go-go

13:08 / 10.09.01

picked up a freebie japlish mag with a compilation cd recently. fell in love with the track by love psychedelico. and the supercar one was nifty too. would like to hear more by both bands...

Saveloy

14:14 / 10.09.01

Expressionless: I've private messaged you back. Can you let me know if you get it or not? (I'm paranoid, okay?)

grant

14:27 / 10.09.01

Shonen Knife, you posers.

Seth

14:36 / 10.09.01

I'm sharing Private Message Paranoia, my friend. I just replied and now I can't see anything we've sent each other on my profile.

RadJose

22:29 / 10.09.01

the Polysics
frickin' ACE i listend to the ONE stateside CD they have and i found myself sayin' "this is just noise but it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO POP" kinda like a japanese DEVO, even do a p5 cover, it's NICE

the Nelories
only have an EP but it's oddly pop geeky, they're good friends w/ TMBG and it makes sence, kinda, but it's 2 sisters, not 2 guys

and yeah, i mean like it's been said there is Shonen Knife, and Pizzicato 5, and don't forget bands like Cibo Matto or Butter 08, and i heard a GREAT song on a comp by a band called Sunnychair.

Red Cross Iodized Salt

05:04 / 11.09.01

Boredoms had a recent project where their back catalogue was remixed and released on a series of mix CDs. There are three so far (with more to come?): an UNKLE one, a DJ Krush one and a Ken Ishii one (which I bought, but have not listened to much due to not having a CD player and its not being very good). By all accounts the DJ Krush one, Rebore Vol. 3 is muy bueno...

Yamatsuka Eye of Boredoms has also put out a mix CD (that I can definitely recommend). Released under the moniker 'DJ Pica Pica Pica' and entitled Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999, it somehow manages to work as a DJ mix while dispensing with anything that might have been considered a 'rule' (such as beatmatching or using genres of music that have anything in common).

The Return Of Rothkoid

07:42 / 11.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Rizla Year Zero:
I heard some FANTASTIC tracks on the radio by a similar band called eX-Girl. Oh yes. They rock, very, very hard. I saw them support Fantomas, about a year or so ago; hilarious stuff. Their website's here and you can buy their albums from Amazon.co.uk, Riz.

rizla mission

21:13 / 12.09.01

neato. thanks.

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:40 / 13.09.01

This turned up in my inbox yesterday: quote:YOH-CHU-SHA (LARVA HOUSE) (pop)
Pop unit from Kyoto, Japan. Female vocals with Japanese lyrics. Some electronic, some progressive and some featuring Japanese traditional music style. Lyrics are written in Japanese only, and are sometimes based on
Japanese old tales or myths. One of the listeners described the sound as "Sacred beauty, with cruelty and sorrow."It's a little more washy and ambient than I thought it'd be, but this stuff be good. Three albums-worth of MP3s up there...

You can also search by location at iuma: Japan.

11:43 / 19.09.01

I've got a BIG thing for Japanese punk/rock'n'roll/garage/powerpop kinda stuff.

There seem to be so many fantastic bands of this sort in Japan that it boggles the mind.

I recommend you buy records by all of the following:
Teengenerate (trashy punk rock)
Banana Erectors (bubblegum powerpop-punk)
Supersnazz (punk-pop-rock'n'roll)
Gasoline (unbelievably noisy garage rock'n'roll)
The Titans (Cramps-y/Saints-y punk rock)
the 5678's (sexy rock'n'roll)
Grace (indie-rock-ish punk)
The Pebbles (60's style rock'n'roll)
Mach Kung Fu (surf/rockabilly/rock'n'roll)
Mach Pelican (3-chord punk rock- actually live in Australia)
or the compilations JAPAN PUNK KILLS YOU or SCHOOL IS OUT, or any other rock'n'roll record that even looks like it's from Japan- you will almost certainly not be disapointed.

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