Shishido Kavka is a drummer and singer who formerly played with the rock band The News. After releasing her debut solo album "Kavkanize" in 2013, her popularity skyrocketed. I unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of the album, but I was into her sound. I could tell she would be somebody to watch, at the very least. It paid off. With the single "Asamade Sugar Me", written by Seiko Oomori herself, I was hooked. That song, which is also the third track on this new album, is one of the best I've heard in a while. Was it just Seiko Oomori's songwriting talent, though? Of course I had to listen to the whole album. "Toridori" open up with, you guessed it; an instrumental intro. I swear it's the new thing. It's pretty cool, though. "Get Up!" is the first real song, and ohhhhh boy. This is a great song! It's so hard, there's so much energy flowing through every piece of this song. The chorus melody is fantastic as well. "Sayounara Atashi" has a great jazzy, driving bassline. Track four is the perfect single "Asamade Sugar Me" which I mentioned above. I love everything about this song. All of it. Seiko Oomori's backing vocals sound incredible here, and it has the best chorus on the album hands-down. Asamada Sugar Me MV (short version) "Crying" begins a short break from the energy, a softer song with a little bit of a dark side. "Don't Be Love" is a lovely symphonic rock piece with an overlying cloud of malice. It sounds like something out of a western, maybe. Another high point on the album is "Spider Trap", which features some flamenco influence and a Spanish flair in the melody. The strings sound great on this one. It's a bit of a darkly romantic song, it fits the theme of "this could be in a western". Not like a spaghetti western, but more like El Mariachi. Chunks of this album could easily score a Robert Rodriguez movie.
It's a nice song, it sounds like a closer, I'm just not SUPER into it or anything. It's not bad! Overall, that's the album; not bad. The first half is full of powerful and energetic songs I love, the second half has some darkly romantic symphonic pieces I love. Everything in between feels like filler, though. Shout out to "Asamade Sugar Me" for being the song of the month hands-down, though. I love that one. I am into this album well enough; I'll keep listening to it for sure. Shishido Kavka still has a long career ahead of her, I'm sure she can keep putting out quality music. -Justin Toridori
Shishido Kavka
From The Stalin, to Polysics, to Shonen Knife, some of the most incredible punk rock of the past few decades has come from Japan. One of the most prolific Japanese punk bands around, TsuShiMaMiRe formed in the late 90s and have been playing together ever since without a single lineup change. A-To-J had the opportunity to see the band on their recent tour, both in Los Angeles and in Fullerton. This is a review of their Los Angeles set at The Echo, along with photos. Arriving early to The Echo, smack in the center of Echo Park, we were treated to the chilled-out folk rock (almost dream pop, even) of My Hawaii. They weren't too bad, giving a nice vibe to the few people who showed up early. Maybe an odd choice for a punk show, though. Even if they felt super out-of-place for the lineup, they actually had some pretty good songs. You could tell that it was the wrong environment for the band which is sad because I felt that they didn't get much appreciation. I was really into the mostly instrumental song which the singer said came to him in a dream. It sounded like some kind of psyched-out film score. The second support act was Skapeche Mode, a ska band who exclusively covers 80s post-punk and pop songs. They played some hits like Duran Duran's "Girls On Film", The Smiths' "Girlfriend in a Coma", and Depeche Mode's "People Are People". They also played.... the Popeye theme song? They were pretty fun. Skapeche Mode closed out their set with "Just Can't Get Enough", but before that they played a TsuShiMaMiRe song which they learned just for this tour! Unfortunately we don't remember which song it was and it's not reflected in their setlist, but it was a great time overall. Finally, it was time for the main event. TsuShiMaMiRe set up their own equipment, something I rarely get to see from touring bands. Combined with the extremely small venue, the show felt really intimate. The band came up and introduced themselves before launching into the hit "Speedy Wonder". They sound amazing! Even compared to the high energy found on the band's albums, they somehow are even better live.
Noticeably absent from the setlist are classics like "Sex on the Beach", "J-POP", and "UFO FOR YOU". Still, old songs always have to get cut when a band is touring with new material. I'm not complaining, I LOVE the new album! After the set, we were able to hang out with the members, take lots of pictures, and buy lots of merch. Overall, a really great time. TsuShiMaMiRe is one of the best bands I've seen live in a long time, really scratching the "Japanese pop punk" itch that so few bands can manage (even fewer who actually tour internationally). I'll definitely be seeing TsuShiMaMiRe the next time they come back! The next day, A-To-J's Manuel and Teepu went to see TsuShiMaMiRe in Fullerton and got an interview with the band. Look forward to that! Setlist: 1. Speedy Wonder 2. My Brain is Shortcake 3. BUBBLES 4. Hanami Soto de Sake 5. Psy-A-Kuma (Bad Dream Bear) 6. Human Coating 7. Ebihara Shinji 8. Time Lag 9. JAGUAR -------------------- 10. Tea Time Ska (encore) (NOTE: The band also played "Hyper Sweet Power", but it's not on the setlist and I'm fairly certain "Tea Time Ska" was the only encore. It was great though!) -Justin TsuShiMaMiRe Mari (Vocals/Guitar) Mizue (Drums) Yayoi Tsushima (Bass) Perfume has been around for years, and has a devoted and loving fanbase. As a result, one of the most hyped albums of the year has been "Cosmic Explorer". After months of waiting, it's finally here! Perfume's 5th album comes at a time when BABYMETAL is at the forefront of J-pop and Utada Hikaru is on the verge of a return; can this pop group from 16 years ago still get fans exited the way they could before? I think they can. If you've been following our J-pop reviews this year, you know a lot of artists are opening their albums with instrumental intro tracks. "Navigate" is that. It has a nice vibe to it, very spacey (cosmic, even?). It's fine. The title track is what I'm here for. "Cosmic Explorer" is an incredible song! I adore the whisper-thin vocals Perfume has become known for, and mixed with the amazing space pop background... Perfect. This song is so powerful. "Miracle Worker" steps away from the massive sound of the ttle track to get a bit cuter, and a bit softer. The chorus synths are super bouncy and danceable as well. The album hangs out in this mindset for a while. The fifth track, "STORY", actually makes me a little bit... upset? It's mostly instrumental, with occasional soft vocals barely peeking through. I actually like the vocal sections. The instrumental though? It's like the most watered-down dubstep/techno you can imagine. It's so repetetive! There are sections I like, but most of it is just filler. For an album that already has 14 tracks on it, I really can't imagine why this song even had to be included. Luckily "STORY" is followed up by "FLASH", the album's most recent single. I love this one. It's a great single and fits in well on the album too. The lead single "Sweet Refrain" is next. It's nice, but not much of a single. It wasn't recieved very well when it WAS released as a single, in fact. It's just solidly okay. There are actually a lot of singles on here. In addition to the previous ones, there's also "TOKIMEKI LIGHTS", "STAR TRAIN", and "Cling Cling". The latter song is EXTREMELY Kyary, like so Kyary it hurts. This makes perfect sense, as the song was actually produced by KPP's producer Yasutaka Nakata. Honestly, this album is a pretty straightforward Perfume album. It's cute and soft, sweet enough to be poppy but melancholy enough to have its own place in the world of pop music. If you're already a Perfume fan, this album will probably be pretty welcome. If you're NOT a Perfume fan, I can't think of anything here that might change your mind. I AM a fan, and I like this album well enough. "Cosmic Explorer" is an AMAZING song, the rest of them are nice but a little predictable and conventional. This is a comfortable album where Perfume just hone the sound they've been working on for years. It's worth a listen if you're into the group at all. -Justin Perfume is: Yuka "Kashiyuka" Kashino Ayaka "A~chan" Nishiwaki Ayano "Nocchi" Omoto Cosmic Explorer
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With this month marking the first new music from Utada Hikaru/Hikki since 2012’s "Sakura Nagashi", and also nearly a decade since the iconic "Utada United 2006 Tour", this TBT piece is dedicated to the DVD release of said tour. "Utada United 2006" arguably marked a high point for Hikki’s career with her latest Japanese album, Ultra Blue, having recently been released and her Western audience riding high on her works for the Kingdom Hearts series as well as her 2004 English album, Exodus. It also signaled a return for Hikki to Japan after Exodus, playing 22 big-arena shows across Japan. It’s hard to really emphasize Hikki’s importance on the Japanese music scene, but seeing crowd shots can put her popularity in perspective, and hearing her range in both vocals and song type only cements her as one of the strongest women in the Japanese music scene. Utada United’s DVD release setlist is an interesting mix of her latest tracks for the time, some of her more popular songs from Exodus, and her earlier works. The setup for the stage included a moving array of LEDs, which featured both her as well as various imagery during the show. The stage itself was shaped like an eye and featured light up tiles, pulsing along with the music. Hikki herself went through 4 outfit changes against an all black clothed backup band, as if marking different parts of the show. The first chunk of the show opened with her major single at the time, "Passion". This high-powered opening led into the catchy dance-y tracks "This Is Love" and "Traveling", before slowing down into into "Moving’ On Without You" and "Sakura Drops", and ending with the more somber "Final Distance" and "First Love". Here she wore a rather poof-y black and white dress, which bounced and fluttered around with her as she danced. The second movement, opened with an intense interlude that went into the Exodus tracks: "Devil Inside", "Kremlin Dusk", and "You Make Me Want To Be A Man". For being English tracks, the crowd seemed to respond well to them; but then again Exodus probably fared better in Japan than in the West for Hikki. She was covered in a pillow-y coat, which honestly could not have been the most comfortable thing to wear at the time. The third set opened with a heartbreaking cello-and-vocal-only rendition of "Be My Last". The cellist stayed as the set led into very-scaled-back-in-backing-instruments versions "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" and "Colors". She left as Hikki got into the groove of a retro-ish set of "Can You Keep a Secret?", "Addicted to You", and "Wait and See". This piece of the show ended with "Letters" and "Keep Tryin’". Her outfit here was a rather dramatic red dress seemingly made up of strip upon strip of fabric draped across her (it could actually be seen under the coat from the previous set). Hikki ended the show with "Automatic" and beloved crowd favorite "Hikari". Heartfelt thank yous to her band and the crowd and confetti dotted this ending (which could be considered the encore set), closing out a powerful show with a bang. Her final outfit for the night was a simple yet cute skirt and shirt combo. Hikki’s energy for the nearly 2 hour set never seemed to slow down, even with the slower tracks. She genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself, interacting heavily with her band as well as the crowd. The entire concert was a wonderful audio-visual assault of Hikki’s brilliance. Each segment felt cohesive, and the overall setlist was a great presentation of her body of works. The cinematography and audio of the DVD itself were great: a wonderful mix of up close, far, crowd, and overhead shots with music that felt properly recorded and not lacking in volume. I’m so very glad it wasn’t just focused on Hikki or just a handful of the same shot type, as it really gave the band proper due and the crowd shots gave depth to the insane amount of people who showed up. The segues from one song to another were well blurred, and the live versions of the tracks performed were, while different, able to stand on their own as solid renditions. I will always be impressed with Hikki’s ability to keep her vocals strong for live sets, especially with how long this one was. My copy of the Utada United 2006 DVD is one of my most prized possessions. Every re-watch of it is a delight, even after a decade since its release. I could gush about Hikki forever, but for now I’ll just say try to find a way to watch even just a couple videos from this DVD. If you’re a Hikki fan, it’s quite the highlight reel of some of her more popular tracks that you’ll find yourself singing along to. If you’re not, I promise it’s still really good music and an entertaining watch.
-Janette (anarchymarie)
After the massive wave of memes regarding the micro-genre "Vaporwave", all serious musicians even slightly associated with the tag either changed direction or dropped off the face of the earth completely. A couple years later, Dream Catalogue was born. Dream Catalogue is an internet record label devoted to electronic music following in the footsteps of Vaporwave, without all the ~aesthetic~ ****marble statues**** ~$sad boyz$~ you get the idea. Dream Catalogue instead pushes emotional dark and dreamy electronic music with a heavy cyberpunk vibe. While many of the artists in the genre are English-speakers using Japanese language and locations as a ripped-off aesthetic, there are some legitimate Japanese musicians associated with the style. Enter: Yoshimi.
Yoshimi Hishida, professionally known as Yoshimi, is an electronic musician born in Tokyo and known for his various film scores. "Tokyo Restricted Area" is his latest album, released on Dream Catalogue. It's largely instrumental ambient music with some minor vocals used for atmosphere. This is a very atmospheric album in general. It's simultaneously beautiful and traumatic, dreamy and haunting. Yoshida describes it as an album about the more esoteric aspects of Tokyo which many people may be unaware of.
Musically, "Tokyo Restricted Area" is a mix of dark ambient electronics and traditional strings and percussion. For example, the track "Refoulment" is heavy on the steely plucked strings but also glitchy beats and ambient pads. The music is both antique and futurist in a really unique way.. The people are Dream Catalogue have taken to calling this style "Hardvapour" and I don't disagree. Yoshimi himself calls it "Japanese Hell Trap" which is even better. "I Had So Many Names" has some pounding percussion ominously warning of something bigger to come. It's incredibly sinister. There's some satanic vocals on there too, distorted chanting reminiscent of SUNN O))). It's really terrifying in a way, just adding to the nightmarish atmosphere of the whole album.
We usually review pop music on this site. This is the polar opposite of pop music. "Tokyo Restricted Area" is not for everybody; in fact, it's barely for anybody at all. If you're looking for some background noise, check this out. If you're into horror movie scores, check this out. If you're of the small group who really enjoys dark ambient music then this album is right up your alley. It's experimental and atmospheric and super super ominous. If there were a movie to accompany this, I'd watch the hell out of it.
-Justin Yoshimi:Who?TsuShiMaMiRe is a punk trio formed in the late 90s by bassist Yayoi Tsushima (Tsu Shi), guitarist/vocalist Mari (Ma), and drummer Mizue (Mi). The lineup has never changed since the band's inception in 1999. Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re is a combination of the members' names and "mamire", the Japanese word meaning "mixed up". The band members were all college students when they formed the band and started playing in clubs. They've been touring the United States frequently since 2004, and will be returning next week at The Echo in Downtown Los Angeles (tickets available here, 18+ only) where A-To-J will be seeing them. They're also in the middle of a tour that will take them all across the US. What?TsuShiMaMiRe plays mainly punk rock with influences from ska, art rock, and indie rock. Their sound is generally fast and energetic, which translates best into their live shows. The band has released 10 albums between 2004 and 2015, as well as a best-of collection. They're still going strong and show no signs of slowing down. For Fans Of... Shonen Knife, Melt-Banana, Noodles, SCANDAL Official Links
The wonderfully weird pop singer Seiko Oomori is back at it again with her latest full-length album "TOKYO BLACK HOLE". A follow-up to her 2014 album "Sennou", "TOKYO BLACK HOLE" has been in the works for some time. With the single "Sacchan no Sexy Curry" being featured on the anime "Food Wars" (and now finding a home right here on this album), Seiko Oomori has been getting a lot more attention as of late. Attention she most certainly deserves. Magic Mirror MV Who? Rei is a singer/songwriter born in Japan in 1993. Growing up in New York City, she was playing classical guitar and blues by the time she was five years old. Now 22, she's a bilingual garage rock and folk singer making waves in both Japan and the United States. She played at SXSW this week, and will be playing a free show at Amoeba Records in San Francisco on MARCH 20TH What? Blues-influenced indie rock and folk. Rei names some of her biggest influences as BECK, tUnE-yArDs, Johnny Winter, and Blind Blake. Her debut EP "BLU" came out in February 2015, and the follow-up EP "UNO" in November of the same year. She plays music in a bunch of styles from gentle bluesy folk to indie garage rock. For Fans Of... BECK, tUnE-yArDs, Jack White, Shonen Knife, TsuShiMaMiRe, Utada Hikaru Official Links Number Girl was a hugely influential band in their time, but I don't really hear anybody talk about them anymore. They released some incredible indie rock during their short seven-year lifespan. From Sonic Youth to Husker Du, they had a wide range of 80s and 90s rock influence. Today they're looked back on as a major influence on bands like ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, tricot, and Kinoko Teikoku (who pay tribute in their song "Girl Meets NUMBER GIRL"). For this Throwback Thursday I'll be reviewing Number Girl's 1999 debut album "School Girl Bye Bye". "School Girl Bye Bye" opens with one of the band's most well-loved and respected songs. "Omoide in My Head" is almost seven minutes of noisy yet emotionally-driven bliss. The riff is actually catchy just on its own, no vocals required. The vocals themselves are endearingly low-quality, echoing through the air of the band's cheap recording studio. It's a bit like Guided by Voices meets Pixies. Vocalist Shutoku Mukai has an impressive range in his voice, but with a bit of a harsh punk growl to it. The energy picks up with the next song, "Ooatari no Kisetsu". I LOVE the riff on this song as well. It's all just a bit sloppy, in a good way. I also love the incredible vocals on the chorus. This is one of my favorite songs of the 90s, hands-down. It has this sort of shimmering haze of distorted beauty above it. There's a wall of noise in place of a guitar solo which explains my point quite nicely. "Sentimental Kajou" is a bit math-y, and just a bit off-kilter. The verses here are actually the standout part, with those great lead guitar melodies capturing the spotlight. This song sounds like an early prototype of The Pillows, in a way. I swear that the intro riff on "September Girlfriend" actually gave birth to modern indie rock. The vocals are either drenched in reverb or just really badly mixed, but I adore the tone. I'm trying not to use the phrase "lo-fi" (it doesn't mean what everyone thinks it means) but this song is the very essence of what people generally refer to as "lo-fi". The vocals evolve into a scream at times and it's super powerful. This album is already an emotional rollercoaster. Things slow back down again (ironically) with "Iggy Pop Fan Club". This is a bit more Pixies-esque garage rock. The chorus is beautiful, followed up by what would be a soaring lead solo which gets buried in the mix. It's funny; I usually hold pop music up to high production standards, but I'm enamored by the cheap punk sound of messy underground bands everywhere. "Mizuiro Kakumei" is another piece of summer-tinged garage rock, but this band is nothing like the generic SoCal garage scene of the 2010s. Something about their punk is just a little bit bittersweet. The album is chopped in half by the short instrumental track "Nagisa Nite", then we get "Summer of California '73". This is a bit of a slower one, just kind of chugging along with one riff all the way through. It sets the stage for "Mini Grammer", which explodes right out of the gate. The vocals on this one kind of twist through lazily underneath the urgent instrumentation. The second half is a little bit like Dinosaur jr. with the lazy but endearing guitar solo of a Dead Milkmen song. "Ware Kiritsu Yuiga Hitori" is a monster which clocks in at almost eight minutes. It's an indie rock epic masquerading as some kind of ballad. There's a ton of emotional depth to be found here, especially on the chorus. Shutoku Mukai's range is unbelieveavly high for the genre he's in. You can hear the strain on his voice in the most raw and sincere way. This would have made the perfect closing song. The closing song they chose instead is right up next. "4 Track Professional" closes out the album on a slightly faster note. The bass really shines through during the pre-chorus here. There's so much energy, I can only imagine what this band sounded like live! There's a certain tone to the vocals that makes me wonder if they would even have been the same band at all. This is a fantastic song, but I still believe it could have switched places with the prior track for a better album flow. That's just my opinion though. For all the experimental noise and math rock gods Number Girl is emulating, there's so much sweetness embedded in these songs that it's a different beast entirely. They have a certain quality that just begs to be explored more deeply, to get all the details hiding in the buzz of the cheap tapes they recorded to. Every detail you can pick out is rewarding in its own right. The band would slowly move towards a slightly (very slightly) higher production quality over the years, but they always tonally remained a group of indie kids in a garage. These indie kids just happened to have some unbelieveable songwriting talent. The first four songs on "School Girl Bye Bye" remain some of my favorite indie rock songs of all time, and the rest of the album is just a perfect listen if you're trying to get that nostalgic 90s hit that nobody else can cure. Number Girl caught the attention of Toshiba-EMI with this album, and their major label debut "School Girl Distortional Addict" came out later the same year. Some day I might get around to reviewing that one, too. I only wish I could have seen Number Girl while they were still around. There's something especially urgent here. This band was important to a lot of people, and they're important to me too. -Justin Number Girl was: Shutoku Mukai - Vocals, Guitar Hisako Tabuchi - Guitar Kentarō Nakao - Bass Ahito Inazawa - Drums School Girl Bye Bye: 1. Omoide in My Head 2. Ooatari no Kisetsu 3. Sentimental Kajou 4. September Girlfriend 5. Iggy Pop Fan Club 6. Mizuiro Kakumei 7. Nagisa Nite 8. Summer of California '73 9. Mini Grammer 10. Ware Kiritsu Yuiga Hitori 11. 4 Track Professional I think it's safe to say that Boris is one of the most interesting and unique metal bands in the world today. On "Gensho" they collaborate once again with the legendary avante-garde musician Merzbow. There's a bit of a unique edge to "Gensho"; Boris and Merzbow each recorded their own album to be played in tandem with one another. The listener can raise or lower each side to their own taste. The album can be as clean or as drenched in noise as you'd like! The Boris side of the album is made up of re-recorded versions of old songs minus the percussion. Merzbow composed all-new creations for his side. My first dive into this album was with the Boris side at 100% and the Merzbow side at around 30%. "Farewell" was once the booming introduction to Boris' beloved classic album "Pink". Now it serves as the equally booming intro to "Gensho". Paired with Merzbow's "Planet of the Cows", this song takes on an entirely new form. The twisting feedback from "Planet of the Cows" actually makes up for the lack of percussion in "Farewell" in an interesting way. With the two overlapping albums, I didn't even notice the transition into "Huge" on the Boris side. "Planet of the Cows" is still running. The squealing feedback intensifies while Boris cuts in with some HUGE guitar chords (pun intended). "Huge" was another opening track back in the day, this time for Boris' second album "Amplifier Worship". The Boris song "Resonance" begins at the same time as the second Merzbow composition "Goloka pt. 1". All the sound is coming from Merzbow at this point, from soaring feedback to a marching beat of steel drums. Interestingly enough, "Resonance" is just that. It's just a studio hum which is completely inaudible over the insanity of Merzbow. "Rainbow", from Boris' collaboration album with Michio Kurihara, attempts to break through the chaos with some beautifully harmonious guitar. If you turn Merzbow down just a bit, you can make out the slinking bass and Wata's gentle voice. A massive hit of guitar feedback slides in and becomes somewhat of a solo. The bass carries on even as the feedback abruptly drops out.
"Sometimes" and "Goloka Pt. 1" build into a wall of sound which shatters to pieces in perfect harmony. Merzbow's "Goloka Pt. 2" starts just as Boris' "Heavy Rain" (off of their most recent album "Noise") starts to peek in. Merzbow's side actually slows down to let Wata's voice seep through for just a minute, before Boris' guitars smash through and leave you breathless. This combination had been released earlier in the year, but hearing them as part of the whole just makes it so much better. "Heavy Rain" is one of my favorite Boris songs hands-down, and this is just more confirmation of that point. I have a recommendation for you: don't ever listen to music as loud as I listen to it. My volume is turned way up, and I think I may actually be dying as I write this. There's no other explanation for the way this song makes me feel.
With no warning, everything suddenly drops. A bassy electronic beat and Merzbow's glitchy feedback together serve as the introductions for "Akirame Flower" and "Prelude to a Broken Arm", respectively. The duet vocals on "Akirama Flower" are emotional and beautiful. I've actually never heard this song, originally from Boris' split release with nine days wonder. It's a gorgeous and powerful song. The melancholy of the vocals pair well not only with the instrumentation from Boris, but Merzbow's slightly more organized noise as well. This is actually my favorite Merzbow composition of the four as well.
GENSHO:
Boris: 1. Farewell (originally on Pink) 2. Huge (originally on Amplifier Worship) 3. Resonance 4. Rainbow (originally on Rainbow) 5. Sometimes (My Bloody Valentine cover, originally on Yellow Loveless) 6. Heavy Rain (originally on Noise) 7. Akuma no Uta (originally on Akuma no Uta) 8. Akirame Flower (originally on Golden Dance Classics, split with 9DW) 9. Vomitself (originally on Amplifier Worship) Merzbow: 1. Planet of the Cows 2. Goloka Pt. 1 3. Goloka Pt. 2 4. Prelude to a Broken Arm |
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