 What is there to say about the legendary Melt-Banana that hasn't already been said? One of the best punk bands of all time has been making some of most hyperactive and imaginative music since the early 90s, and the fact that they're so unknown should be a crime. Melt-Banana (or MxBx, as they often like to call themselves) has a ton of great albums, including 2013's magnum opus "Fetch", but I'm gonna talk about one a little older than that; ten years older to be exact. "Cell Scape" is an incredibly important noise rock album and I want to give it all the attention it deserves.  "Cell Scape" starts off with an unassuming instrumental intro "Phantasmagoria", but the harsh feedback kicks in for "Shield For Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand". The glitchy, screeching riff sounds almost computer-generated, but guitarist Ichirou Agata is doing this all with just his guitar and about a million pedals. Yasuko Onuki's high-pitched vocals come in and the song just slams into you with an incomparable force. This is what Melt-Banana is all about. "A Dreamer Who is Too Weak to Face up to" is catchy, especially for a pre-Fetch Melt-Banana. There's a lot of noise, but it has an unmistakeable energy and sense of rhythm. On the subject of rhythm, there are no drums on this album; it's all done by drum machine. I, for one, couldn't tell. "Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold" is one of my favorite classic Melt-Banana songs, a more familiarly-structured song even through the intense feedback and glitchy guitars. Yasuko's "so cooooooooold" isn't exactly "catchy", but somehow really infectious. "Chain-Shot to Have Some Fun" is another one of my favorites by the band, starting with an intensifying wall of sound that explodes into a pummelling thrash. The riff is one of the catchiest things here somehow and is just so unique and ear-splitting at the same time. I love how this band's songs go from the often bare(ish) verses to the often EXTREMELY heavy choruses. There are elements from punk rock, harsh noise, and even heavy metal swimming in the veins of every song. "Like a White Bat in a Box, Dead Matters Go On" starts off with an ear-piercing screech, which becomes even more glitchy and noisy guitar sounds. Past all of that there are a lot of Polysics-esque elements here, plus some more traditional punk rock sounds. This is pure 90s punk in an early-2000s package that got dropped on the curb. At one point Yasuko is singing through what sounds like a broken vocoder and it's like writing a pop song with the sound of nails on a chalkboard. I absolutely hate that sound more than anything, but somehow this song is just... really catchy? I don't know why, but I like it a lot. Next we get "Key is a Fact That a Cat Brings", which has a really awesomely heavy riff. The band jumps back and forth between pitches so high they can probably only be heard by dogs, to sludgy, Melvins-esque hardcore riffs. "A Hunter in the Rain to Cut the Neck Up in the Present Stage" is an absolute mess, which I love. It has barely any structure but it's just so much fun. It's about as hard to follow as its title is hard to remember. There are a lot of intricacies in the noise that are hard to pick out, but can also be rewarding if you do.  The last real song on the album comes in the form of "If it is the Deep Sea, I Can See You There" which features one of the only instances ever of Yasuko actually singing, rather than yelping. Her voice is a bit wavering, but it fits the music perfectly. It's as noisy as any Melt-Banana song and it's great, I love it! This brings us to the closing track, "Outro for Cell-Scape". Back when I first saw this title, I thought it would be similar to "Phantasmagoria" on the other end of this album. Well, not quite. "Outro for Cell-Scape" is a ten-minute-long ambient electronic piece. It has no place on the album whatsoever, but I'm not complaining. It's calming, and maybe that's the point.
Cell-Scape may not be Melt-Banana's BEST album, but it is AMONG their best; definitely top 5, if nothing else. Top three, even. 13 years later, it's still just as surprising, experimental, and just absolutely insane as ever. Melt-Banana is a staple of Japanese underground music, and remains one of the best punk bands in the world to this day. Favorites: Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold, Chain-Shot to Have Some Fun, Like a White Bat..., Key is a Fact..., If is is the Deep Sea... -Justin Cell Scape: 01. Phantasmagoria 02. Shield for Your Eyes, a Beast in the Well on Your Hand 03. A Dreamer Who is Too Weak to Face Up to 04. Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold 05. Chain-Shot to Have Some Fun 06. Like a White Bat in a Box, Dead Matters Go On 07. Key is a Fact That a Cat Brings 08. A Hunter in the Rain to Cut the Neck Up in the Present Stage 09. If it is the Deep Sea, I Can See You There 10. Outro for Cell-Scape Melt-Banana Is: Yasuko Onuki Ichirou Agata For More Information: Website: http://www.melt-banana.net/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melt-Banana/192954987398661 Twitter: https://twitter.com/melt_banana/  POLYSICS is an internationally loved electro-punk band formed in 1997. "What's This???" is their... well... They have a lot of albums, let's call this the 20th. Before I take a look at this album, I have to admit that I haven't listened to anything POLYSICS has done in the last eight or so years. That's about six albums worth of material I'm missing, at least. Not that I'm a professional on the rest of their discography, but anyway. POLYSICS is a great band and this is a new album by them. I'm gonna talk about it.  After the intro track "Introduction!" (there have been a lot of those lately, huh?) we get into the REAL first song, "SUN ELECTRIC". I love the pre-chorus punk breakdown, and the vocoder-ridden chorus is just lovely. Even more important is the next track, the perfectly unstructured "Alps Lun Lun". The verses are super fun and loose, and the chorus is incredibly catchy. Out of nowhere, the song slows down before exploding into chaos again. If I had any doubts that POLYSICS would still be amazing almost 20 years later, this song smashed those doubts into the ground. The energy stays up with the next song "Funny Attitude" with some rap-inspired vocals and a little bit of video game synths and, once again, an amazing chorus. POLYSICS definitely has a penchant for amazing choruses. At this point I'm taking a look at the track listing; there are 19 songs on this album. How can POLYSICS possibly keep this up? I think I might actually go track-by-track here, just to follow the album's progession. The next song is "8 Beat Division", which is pretty much all the things I said about the other songs. The chorus melody is as expected, amazing. Still this early on I'm already running out of things to say. "Nail" has some awesomely deep BUCK-TICK-inspired vocals over some slightly harder rock, culminating in a high-pitched chorus not unlike a Melt-Banana song (I mean not THAT high, but there's some similarity there). "Dig Down!" jumps from hyperactive techno punk to... slightly slower hyperactive techno punk? I love the high energy of this album (and of POLYSICS in general), but I wouldn't say no to a nice slow song around here to catch my breath.  And you know what? The next song, "Shunkashuutou", might be about as slow as POLYSICS can get. It has a great bassy groove going and it's nice and danceable without being too much of an anxiety attack. It also has the old catchy chorus, because POLYSICS. It actually is a nice breath of fresh air from an album I've been loving but has also worn me out by this point. The next song, "Take Away", does exactly that. We're back to hyperactive techno punk with another great vocoder-infused verse. It's fun, but does get a little boring halfway through. "Be A Human" would probably be pretty fun live, and maybe even a good closing track. It's been 10 songs now; this is a full-length album and we're only halfway done. "Flying V" is slightly slower, but like a POLYSICS version of slightly slower, so it's still a bit hyper. The opening to "Robot Mime Mime" sounds like we're about to start playing Mortal Kombat or something. It has some really cute synths though and this song is actually revitalizing my interest in the album where I was starting to get tired. Finally we're back to something the last couple songs were missing: THE CATCHY CHORUS! Surprisingly, those don't get old. "1.2.3.4" starts off thankfully calm, sounding like a slowed-down version of a song out of DOOM. The vocals are pretty cute, and it's not too crazy. It picks up in a pretty natural way about halfway through, and it's really a nice song. It has a little more structure than what we've been hearing, even if it's super repetetive.  From the intro bass on "Dopple Gokko", I actually thought this was a Melt-Banana song at first. It's not. Somebody sounds like a robotic chicken during the chorus? I don't know what's happening. It's kinda fun. I'm getting tired, but we're down to the last five songs now. "Hurry Up" is great! It might actually be, heaven forbid... the POLYSICS version of a ballad??? It has some summer song synths (you'll understand if you listen to it) and the vocals are drenched in vocoder the whole way through. It's actually a pretty song too, I like this one a lot. "Vow Vow" is fun with a catchy chorus. "299" is fun with a catchy chorus. "Tempo Tempo Tempo" is fun, with... is there a chorus on this song? There's some kind of breakdown that's for sure. The tempo changes a lot; clever name. Get it? "Goody-Goody" is the last song. The last song! And you know, I'm pretty worn out, but this has actually been a really amazing album so far. Yeah, it has those points where I get a little bit tired, but there are 19 songs on it so that's to be expected. as for "Goody-Goody", well, it's fun. It has a catchy chorus. You know what though? I love it. The melody is so great here, I just can't possibly not love it. And that's how I feel about this whole album. This is a long album. I mean, this is a LONG album. A really, really long album. It's understandable if it's a little hard to get through; I had some trouble too. But in the end, it's not a bad album at all. The other band this year who released an album longer than they should have was Gesu no Kiwami Otome, and they absolutely DID NOT pull it off; it was some of their worst work of their career. POLYSICS pulled it off quite nicely. I love "What's This???", flaws and all. It actually has some of my new favorite POLYSICS songs on it. All that's left now is to wait for the US tour I desperately hope is coming with this album.
-Justin Favorites: SUN ELECTRIC, Alps Lun Lun, Shunkashuutou, Be A Human, Robot Mime Mime, 1.2.3.4, Hurry Up, Goody-Goody POLYSICS Is: HAYASHI - Guitar, Vocals, Programming FUMI - Bass, Synthesizer, Vocals YANO - Drums For More Information: Website: http://www.polysics.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/POLYSICS/260419960659129  Perfume will be ending their COSMIC EXPLORER national tour in the US this summer! The dates are as follows: 8/25/2016-The Wiltern(Los Angeles) 8/28/2016-The Warfield(San Francisco) 8/30/2016-The Vic Theatre(Chicago) 9/3-4/2016- Hammerstein Ballroom (New York) You can pre-order their new album COSMIC EXPLORER at: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/person/325277 Perfume is: A~Chan (Ayaka Nishiwaki) Kashiyuka (Yuka Kashino) Nocchi (Ayano Omoto) Follow Perfume On: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Perfume.global/?fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/perfume_um Official Site: http://www.perfume-web.jp/   Silent Siren is a rock band who make incredibly idol-like pop rock. "S" is their 4th album, following up last year's "Silent Siren". This band was honestly not on my radar at all, but there was a lot of hype surrounding this release. After a ton of suggestions, I decided to take a look at "S". I'm really glad that I did! The first song on the album is "Cherry Bomb", and what an introduction! As the first song I've ever heard from the group, I'm not disappointed in the slightest. It's catchy, almost too catchy, and just so sweet. It has a super cute refrain of "cherry cherry bomb" all through the song, and you really could mistake it for an idol song if it wasn't for the rock instrumentation backing it all up. Love it. "milk boy" is another song that caught my attention right off the bat, with the band showing a little bit of pop punk influence with some nice power chords filling out the track. The chorus is really great too, and there's a part in the bridge where they delve into a sort of circus or carnival style sound. The first ballad-like song of the album comes right after in the form of "Happy Marriage". It's a cheerfully upbeat song, but just slow enough to call a ballad.
Some other standout points are the amazing bass lines in "Love install", the ACTUAL ballads "hikari", "alarm", and "nukumor", and the group chorus vocals in "C.A.F.E." The closing song here is a cover of ZONE's "secret base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~", another ballad covered here in good form. It's the longest song on the album, at just under six minutes long. It's slow and pretty, a calming end to an exciting album. I probably would have chosen "C.A.F.E." as the ending song, personally, but I like their version "secret base" enough anyway.
I love this album! As someone who had never heard Silent Siren, I'm really glad "S" came out when it did. "Cherry Bomb" is already among my favorite songs of the year, and I'm sure this album will be among my favorites as well. Highly recommended. Favorites: Cherry Bomb, milk boy, Happy Marriage, Yoshida-san Track List: 1) Cherry Bomb 2) Hachigatsu no Yoru 3) milk boy 4) Happy Marriage 5) Love install 6) hikari 7) Yoshida-san 8) Leila 9) alarm 10) nukumor 11) C.A.F.E. 12) Slow Morning 13) secret base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ Silent Siren Is: Suu – Vocals, Guitar Hinanchu – Drums Ainyan – Bass Yukarun – Keyboard For More Information: Website: http://silent-siren.com/ Blog: http://ameblo.jp/silentsirenblog/  SHISHAMO is an indie rock band formed in 2010, who released their first official album ("SHISHAMO") just three years ago. I actually missed out on their second album, "SHISHAMO 2", when it came out last year, but that takes us to..."SHISHAMO 3" which, as you can probably guess, is the band's third album. As a big fan of their debut album, I was excited to pick up this new record. I was not disappointed.  "SHISHAMO 3" opens up with a soft and gentle intro to "Gomen ne Koigokoro", an otherwise fast and compelling opener. It's a little bit on the longer side, but I don't mind that in the least. The band keeps the energy up for the next few songs, including "Ikiru Girl". This is easily one of my favorite songs on the album, being super punky, catchy, and to-the-point. The album slows down with the beautiful acoustic "Egao no Tonari", and the incredible "Tenohira no Uchuu". In fact, the entire mid-section of the album is a bit down-tempo. There is the bouncy "Suitei Idou Kyori", though, which I love. Not that I dislike the slow songs; some of them are actually exceptionally good.
The energy doesn't really pick back up until the last couple tracks on the album. "Kimi to Gerende" is another personal favorite, with a great melody and some pretty fun riffs. The closing song, "Minna no Uta", delves slightly into ska territory, with some backing horns. In keeping with the theme of the album, it's also an amazing song. As you might have noticed by my review, there are a lot of amazing songs on this album to be honest. It's really hard to find anything bad to say here, and I don't see any reason why I should anyway. SHISHAMO is a band just starting to hit their peak, and I'm hoping it's a peak that lasts for a long time. The songs on "SHISHAMO 3" are among the best music I've heard so far this year. Vocalist Asako Miyazaki has one of my favorite voices in rock music, and the band as a whole are so talented, I think it might actually be impossible to dislike them. Please listen to this album, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Favorites: Gomen ne Koigokoro, Ikiru Gal, Egao no Tonari, Tenohira no Uchuu, Suitei Idou Kyori, Kimi to Gerende, Minna no Uta Tracklist 1) Gomen ne, Koigokoro 2) Nakaniwa no Shoujo-tachi 3) Ikiru Girl 4) Egao no Tonari 5) Tenohira no Uchuu 6) Suitei Idou Kyori 7) Onnagokoro 8) Nettaiya 9) Tabi ga Eri 10) Kimi to Gerende 11) Minna no Uta -Justin SHISHAMO Is: Miyazaki Asako – Vocals, Guitar Matsuoka Aya – Bass Yoshikawa Misaki – Drums For More Information: Website: http://shishamo.biz/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SHISHAMO_BAND YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/shishamoofficial  SCANDAL is a rock band formed in 2006 by a group of high school girls. They've been together ever since without a single lineup change, gaining international fame for their punk-inspired pop rock. "YELLOW" is their latest album, and it's actually the longest wait in between SCANDAL albums there has ever been (not that it really means a lot in this situation). From 2009-2014 SCANDAL had an album come out every single year, making this the first time there's been a two-year gap. Not exactly that long, but something to note anyhow.  "YELLOW" starts with a so-so instrumental song, but the second song, "Stamp!", is where things start getting good. Upbeat and feel-good all the way through, it's a great way to introduce the album. It ends with the repeated line "Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be okay". This is already shaping up to be the brightest album of the year. Track 5, "Sunday Drive", is super bouncy. It reminds me of something Shonen Knife might do. "Konya wa Pizza Party" is really catchy with semi-hyper, idol-esque vocals and a fantastic melody. There's only two points where the pop punk takes a break; for the aptly-titled love song, "LOVE", and the second-to-last song "Chisa na Honou". They're both pretty good songs, but maybe not my favorites. The album ends with an English version of "Your song", an extremely upbeat pop song song which once again calls back to Shonen Knife, or even The Ramones. It's pretty fun. In fact, "YELLOW" is a pretty fun album overall. It's a nice change of pace, as there's a lot of much tonally darker music being released this year. -Justin Favorites: Stamp!, Konya wa Pizza Party, Happy Birthday, Your song SCANDAL Is: HARUNA – Vocals, Guitar MAMI – Guitar, Vocals TOMOMI – Bass, Vocals RINA – Drums, Vocals For More Information: Website: http://www.scandal-4.com/ Blog: http://ameblo.jp/scandalblog-4/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/scandal_band Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scandalofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRgOqI54g1VqnQnwIB6WPSA SCANDAL - LOVE ME DO MV (Short Version) 
Legendary drone metal band Boris is on the verge of two (!!!) releases this year, including a collaboration with Merzbow and a tribute to Motorhead's Lemmy. Last year at Leave Them All Behind festival, they debuted a new song called "More". Now that there's an official live video, those of us who DON'T live in Tokyo can finally hear the song.
"More" builds on the style Boris has been toying with for a few years now, being a cleaner form of their heavy metal side. Taking cues from the other side of their discography, though, we get some pretty thick noise elements, especially near the end of the song. This song would have fit in perfectly on their 2014 album "Noise", or maybe even the 2011 version of "Heavy Rocks". The first thing you'll notice is that this is a new Boris song with vocals! Unlike the trio of instrumental drone albums they released last year, it sounds like they're moving towards a new commercial release ("More" isn't listed on either of the announced releases thus far). I would love a new full-length album of new material, so let's keep our fingers crossed. As for "More", it's a great song. It starts off with a light intro, but leaps into Boris' signature sludge metal. With the soaring vocals Takeshi is known for, "More" reminds me quite a bit of songs like "Quicksilver" or "Vanilla". The song builds up, getting more massive by the second. When the feedback comes in, it's the perfect moment. I can only imagine what the audience must have been feeling. The song ends with a bang, and I swear this is the best Boris song I've heard in a long time. They may never live up to the pinnacle of modern metal that was "Pink", but I think Boris has a lot more to say. I can't wait for the many, many things they'll be dropping on us this year. -Justin Boris Is: Atsuo - Drums, Vocal Wata - Guitar Takeshi - Bass, Vocal For More Information: Website: http://homepage1.nifty.com/boris/top.html Boris - More (Live)
Boris “More” from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo.  FEMM (Far East Mention Mannequins) pretty much blew up in 2014 when the PV for their song "Fxxk Boyz Get Money" went viral. Even if they never made it onto the charts that song became an instant hit for the group. With their debut album "Femm-Isation", FEMM solidified their spot as international pop stars that broke through barriers typically set for Japanese artists. This new release, "PoW!/L.C.S." is a bit of an odd one. The title songs make up a brand new single for the group, but this was actually released as a double album, including both the English and Japanese versions of "Femm-Isation", both previously released digitally. Since "Femm-Isation" came out two years ago, I'm only here to review the new songs. That said, "White Noise" (from the "Femm-Isation" album) is an amazing song, and never got as much attention as it should have. Now on to the review.  My first thought is that "PoW!" really lives up to its name. Featuring superhero imagery and lyrics, it's basically just another super catchy radio pop song. The production is great, the song just explodes in a perfect way. I also love the group's look in the PV, another iteration of their well-known mannequin style. "L.C.S." starts out with some Daft Punk-esque vocoder, and it certainly fits the theme. It's a robotic, electric-sounding song. It's actually pretty unique within FEMM's discography so far, just in terms of melody and structure. There's a little more risk, a little more experimentation. I love it! The video features the "mannequins" in motion capture outfits, in a computerized environment filled with 3D models and CGI effects. This song is a natural progression for FEMM, I think. I love the idea that they can make such radio-friendly pop sound so strange and robotic. I think it's a little odd that FEMM decided to tack on their entire debut album (TWICE!) onto this single, but it's not like it hurts the release in any way. The two new songs are pure gold, and I cannot WAIT to hear more from FEMM. I'm 100% on the bandwagon with them, and I won't be getting off any time soon. -Justin FEMM Is: RiRi (MS-00000 / Honey-B) LuLa (SW-000000 / W-Trouble) For More Information: Website: http://femms.jp/femme/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FEMM____ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Pp-ffsPH8ozLKFMdxOvFw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femm____/ FEMM - PoW MV   KANA-BOON is an indie rock band, who have released some pretty strong music in their relatively short career. Their single "Naimononedari" is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of indie J-rock in recent history. "Origin" is their third full-length album, and it's hard to say just how well it stands up to their previous work.
My first thought on the album was that there are a worrying amount of songs that just don't stand out at all. The first two tracks sound fine, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about them if they weren't playing at the time. The third song is a bit better, with a fantastic melody in the chorus. As far as the first half goes, "anger in the mind" has some pretty heavy riffs, and "Indifference" is just overall a great song, if a bit standard for KANA-BOON. It's the second half of the album where things start to pick up a bit. While nothing is overly as catchy as the band's earlier singles, there's still a lot of great songwriting and technical skill on display. Even as none of the songs stand out on their own, there's a lot of emotional intricacies at work. I LOVE "Stand By Me", which has nostalgic melodies fitting snugly together with some incredible riffs. The closing track, "Origin", is a pretty solid end to the album. The second half of the song in particular speeds things up for an explosive finish, something I wasn't expecting based on the rest of the album's tone. It's not a slow album exactly, but it's not an exciting one either. "Origin" isn't the best song, but its placement on the track list is what gives it that extra edge. It works nicely as a closer if nothing else. KANA-BOON has definitely done better work in the past. That said, "Origin" isn't a terrible album. It has its ups and downs, but in the end it falls somewhere around the "decent" mark. It's not bad, it's not great. Bigger KANA-BOON fans than myself might love it (or hate it?) but I'm feeling pretty unmoved by it. Favorites: Nandemo Nedari, Indifference, Stamd By Me, Origin -Justin KANA-BOON Is: Taniguchi tuna (Vocals, Guitar) Koga Hayabusato (Guitar) Iida Yuba (Bass) Takahiro Koizumi (Drums)  The Lost Ctrl are a hip-hop and EDM influenced rock band formed in 2010, based in Tokyo, Japan. "Blink" was released as a double A-side single in 2013, along with "Ball and Chain", but the video wasn't released until just this week. It also serves as the band's first-ever music video. Shot while the band was on tour in California (a tour that included a show at the world famous Whisky A Go Go), the music video for "Blink" features the band members walking along Santa Monica beach and pier. It's pretty straightforward, there's not a lot to be said about the video itself except that they chose a nice location for their first MV outing. Santa Monica is a nice enough place, if maybe a little strange for a band from Japan. The video mostly features the band hanging out in various shops near the beach and occasionally interacting with locals. The song is pretty straightforward too, like the band's aesthetic. It's a pop rock song with a little bit of rap thrown in for good measure. It kinda reminds me of Orange Range meets Spin Doctors, the sort of radio-friendly hard rock that was really huge in the mid 2000s. The band knows their way around their instruments, and it all sounds pretty clean. It's all very down-to-earth, a fun song for a club show (at the beach even) and maybe even a road trip. That said, I don't understand why The Lost Ctrl would choose such an old song for their debut video (They released a new single in December of last year, after all and the song "QUASAR" is an A-To-J favorite.) but it's not bad. If you're into some sort of chill, comfort-zone pop rock, this band might be up your alley. -Justin The Lost Ctrl is: AMA: Vocals/Rap Jim: Guitar/Synth Ray: Guitar/Cello Tatsuki: Guitar Katy: Bass Masaya: Drums For More Information: Website: http://tlclol.wix.com/thelostctrl-english Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelostctrl The Lost Ctrl - Blink MV |
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