Welcome to J-Rock Fridays the 13th. Unfortunately, it didn’t land on Friday the 13th, but at least I didn’t feel compelled to compile another “scary videos” column. A little less videos this week. Get used to it.
This song is so bright and happy. There’s nothing else I can say. If you like a little folk in your indie-pop this is your new favorite song of the year.
German label Denovali Records will release mouse on the key’s Sezession and An Anxious Object worldwide on vinyl and CD in 2010. Sezession is already available for pre-order and will be released on CD and CD+vinyl combo (I ordered the black haze 10″). The price is in euros, put Paypal will convert it for you. Keep an eye on my Twitter to find out when An Anxious Object goes up for pre-order.
Mouse on the keys is an instrumental trio from Tokyo consisting of former members of Nine Days Wonder. Their sound can be described as jazz infused post-rock. They will be Read the rest of this entry »
GALLOW is one of those bands that I’m shocked no one has heard of. Why is that? It’s the “neo-acoustic” side-project of Toru Hidaka of BEAT CRUSADERS fame.
GALLOW is essentially a revamp of Pesela-Quesela-In, Hidaka’s side project with thai (ex-BEAT CRUSADERS) that released one album in 2002. That same year GALLOW formed. Likewise, GALLOW has had a rotating cast of current and past BEAT CRUSADERS members, most notably kato and Yukio Iwahara. Their first album Parkest! was released in 2006 and kato left the year after that. Their next album Too Virgin!! was released in 2008 and Iwahara left the year after that. GALLOW is yet again Hidaka’s solo project.
Hidaka describes his music as a “mixture of black music & white music with Asian feelings.” Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a year since we last heard a new single from the HALCALI girls. I hate to say that the girls matured, but “Endless Night” is backed by a dark, brooding beat that puts me in a nice depressed mood. Of course that mood was somewhat offset watching Haruka and Yukari’s goofy dance moves in this video. It’s quite polarizing.
I figured I spent enough time ranting about music videos on this blog that it’s time to post my very own music video. This is my video interpretation of “an umbrella fallen into fiction” by envy. I made it as a project for my TV production class last year. Looking back on it, I’m a little disappointed. For starters, I had to cut the song in half just to finish in time. But I’m still somewhat happy with the final product.
Yeah, I’m on YouTube now. Rate, comment, subscribe 
What time is it? It’s Friday. Time for videos and junk. Let’s do this shit.
I’ve listened to ent and I’ve listened to FULLARMOR, but for some reason I’ve managed to avoid Mr. Horie’s bread winner STRAIGHTENER. And that’s a shame because “Man-like Creatures” is indie-rock goodness. Full of epic soundscapes and dreamy verses. I guess all that’s left to say is HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD.
Hardcore band LOST originally formed in 2000 and has been plagued by several lineup changes since, with guitarist Yoshimi Morinaga being the only original member left. In 2008, their lead singer and two other members left the band. This would’ve been the final nail in the coffin for most bands, but the remaining members quickly filled in the lineup with Hiroki Nakamori from Ikusa Fire on vocals.
Although the band has released an album in 2004 and a mini-album in 2007, the current lineup has only released a handful of songs on compilations. Among these are a track on Take 5’s hitori*anchuu and two tracks on a three-way split album with Nature Living and Evylock. LOST are currently recording their new album.
tweet tweet
In an effort to promote J-Rock Explosion, I have decided to create an official twitter page for this blog. I chose twitter because it was basically the only social network I’m not already on and you never know when “how do you tweet?” can come up in a conversation. I’ll be posting things that I don’t feel like talking about here, you know, things that can be said in a sentence or a link. The twitter link can be found below or under my Box.net widget on the right. In other news, you can now rate my blog posts. These may both be failed experiments but let’s see what happens.
Myspace Records have released Polysics’ latest album Absolute Polysics today, January 12, on CD with no prior warning. You can buy that at Amazon or Interpunk. They will also be on tour in America at the end of the month through February. This will be the band’s last tour with keyboardist Kayo. Now would probably be a nice time to see them, especially since they go “on break” after this tour. Tour dates can be found on this annoying splash image:
If by chance you are looking for the new ar album Love Lu Le Lo, you will find the album under the name A&R on iTunes. Out of all the work they put into licensing this from Japan, they couldn’t even spell two letters right.
But of course if you must pay for mp3s, you might as well buy them at Japan Files. It’s a couple pennies cheaper and isn’t gay.
