FINALLY

I have been goddamned waiting for some new UnsraW, it's finally here and it's just what the metal doctor ordered. Honestly I've been getting tired of such weak music coming out.. Don't get me wrong I love the new Cali=Gari, 9Goats and a few other recent releases, they have been pretty good and I will write about them soon, but seriously.. once in a while I need my metal bone scratched nice and deep. AND FUKKEN UNSRAW TO THE RESCUE!

The new single "REBORN" which came out on the 23rd (yesterday) has 3 tracks, which is ideal for a single, and to boot all of the songs are original. Track 1 is called 'Nightmare' when I first heard it, at first I wasn't satisfied that it was heavy enough, but by the end of the track I was begging for more. The 2nd track is the title track called 'REBORN' and it's pretty intense, real classic sounding UnsraW, but it's more melodic than I was expecting.. Nice and heavy though. 3rd track is called 'Switch' it's more on the softer side, but at almost 5 minutes you can really start to get into it. This new single is such a breath of *blisteringly painful metal air* I freakin' want more RIGHT NOW!@!!

I'm super impressed, usually singles don't make much of an impact on me, but leave it to UnsraW to kick some ass and leave me bleeding on the floor. Obviously, today's BAND OF THE DAY is UnsraW with their title track off the 'REBORN' single.

Kagerou

LOL, gotta love that picture.. XD. The word Kagerou, which means 'Mayfly' or what I assume literally translates to something like 'shadow fly' is severely overused in Japanese music. This article is mainly concerning the visual band actually called Kagerou, but when I type the word Kagerou into my iTunes search, a vast ocean of different songs/bands comes up including, but not limited to: Kiyoharu (of Sads and Kuroyume), Laputa, Buck-Tick and T.M. Revolution.. I suppose the ephemeral notion of a mayfly is a very Jrock thing.

Kagerou the band, is a strange topic for me, mainly because I have mixed feelings about them.. Kagerou formed in 1999 by the vocalist Daisuki and the bassist MASAYA, shortly thereafter they would be joined by guitarist Yuana. At the beginning their music was a slightly dirtier sounding version of the popular (dir en grey-ish) visual kei sound at the time, and progressed into something that was fairly unique, heavy and a little jazzy. During their lifespan Kagerou put out a total of 4 studio albums and one best of album and a bunch of singles and maxi singles.. Kagerou ended up disbanding in 2006. [as an aside, I would like to mention that when I met MUCC's vocalist at the Ebisu Liquidroom in 2005, he was with Daisuki]

Now this is where I become conflicted. I can't honestly say that I can sit down and listen to an entire Kagerou album (with perhaps the exception of Gore Shock). However! There are a number of Kagerou songs which I like the hell out of. Something from a single here and an album there, this small pocket of songs, I absolutely adore, like holy crap. I don't know what it is, but a few other bands have a similar trend.. which is, most of the songs are passable, but the songs I like, I REALLY like.

The aftermath of Kagerou is interesting to me, because it meshes with some of my favorite Japanese musicians. After they disbanded, Yuana was part of the formation of boogieman and Daisuki formed a band with some Nagoya band musicians called The Studs. Now there's something to talk about! Musicians from some of my favorite bands, Deadman, Gullet,Blast, and Lynch. The composer of the Studs is Yukino, who is one of my favorite bassists and a fantastic composer, he's worked with Lynch, Deadman, Gullet and (oldschool kein). The drummer from Blast, who I think actually left the band recently, the guitarist from Deadman, and of course the vocalist of Kagerou make up the Studs. (I will do a seperate entry on Nagoya bands in the near future!)

Todays BAND OF THE DAY! is Kagerou, with their song Shibire Gokoro from the 2004 album Rakushu. Here's to a really cracked out, unique and pretty brutal Japanese metal band. Definitely some of the strangest characters I've seen in Jrawk. Hope you all enjoy~

Oldskool

So, tonight I wanted to talk a little bit about Lunasea. Most likely if you are familiar with Japanese music, you are also familiar with Lunasea, they formed in 1989 and kept the same members the entire life of the band, up til they disbanded in 2000. Thats a pretty good run for a Japanese band. Their name is a take off of the word Lunacy, which was what the band was originally called.

In the beginning... Lunasea was scouted by "hide" Hideto Matsumoto of X-JAPAN and signed to their Extasy records. Pretty much everything that LunaSea put out, is important in the history of Japanese rock. I'm pretty sure that Lunasea is one of the most influential Japanese bands ever, next to X-Japan and Dead End.

LunaSea was one of my first Japanese bands actually, I really liked Rosier, Gravity and 1999.. I think those were my first songs. This was also at a time where it was difficult to find full albums as we were using Napster or WinMX so I managed to scrounge up songs here and there. In any case, I really enjoyed their music when I was younger.. now when I listen to it, there is a strange phenomena that occurs: I notice that other bands since have copied sounds from many LunaSea songs! I'm sure it's more of a tribute thing than a failing at being original, but I found it really interesting that I notice it now. I guess my point is that LunaSea was/is HUGELY influential in Visual Kei. ;D

Anyhow, LunaSea was active for a pretty long time, put out seven albums and a bunch of singles, pretty much all of it being good in my oppinion. These days the members of LunaSea are, for the most part still very active. J, the Bassist has his own solo career, just as "J" and has put out a bunch of music. Ryuichi the vocalist has since been in a band called Tourbillon, and puts out solo music. Lead guitarrist Sugizo, who is probably the most active, playing now with Sugizo and the Spank Your Juice (lol), A member in super group S.K.I.N. with Yoshiki, Gackt, Miyavi and Ju-Ken(support), and I believe was recently made an official member of X-JAPAN replacing the deceased hide. Inoran, the rythm guitarrist was also in Tourbillon and a member of Fake? for a while, but also has a solo career (I actually like his solo work). Finally, the Drummer of LunaSea Shinya, was also in a band called Potbelly, which I don't know very well, but I believe Shinya also played support drums for a number of high profile bands, (possibly including Creature Creature?). A note about Shinya is that, the drummer of Dir en Grey, also called Shinya, took his name and his drum style directly from LunaSea's Shinya. This may be of interest as Dir en Grey is hugely popular now.

LunaSea has recently played a few revival shows and at the hide memorial summit, this activity may lead to the band actually reforming! I don't know, but there are a lot of bands doing this recently. Honestly I hope they do, it would be cool to see something new from LunaSea.

Today's BAND OF THE DAY! is... well, Lunasea.. With their song Symptom from 1992 album 'Image', this song is one of the main reasons I think Lunasea is so influential. You can really hear all kinds of visual kei that sounds very similar to this song.

Hope you all enjoy~ TTYLD00D!

Something new!

Ok tonight, I am really drunk and waiting for my friend to drive 8+ hours up to NJ from VA. This may or may not detract from my post. Either way.. this evening my good friend who also lives down south(and may write for this blog in the future), sent me the new Cali=Gari single which he recieved in the mail today! So I will do my best to review, at least the A-sides on these singles!

As you guys know by now, I pretty much think of Cali=Gari as my favoite, or one of my quite favorites( in top 5 at least)!

I have come to the conclusion that, these two singles are for this day and age, with my musical taste, for the most part, perfect. (also, picture unrelated)

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Cali=Gari '9-to-hen' and '9-school zone-hen' are an amazing release for 2009 I havent heard music like this released since Cali=Gari broke up, which was in 2003, and since then, I haven't been exceptionally impressed with a whole lot of Japanese rock. (there are a few exceptions of course!)

Anyhow, the A-sides are both very unique songs. The song 'to', written by Ishii Shuuji, has a definite sound of his project, GOATBED, but also has that something extra that can only be found in Cali=Gari, I would go so far as to describe it as unique, a little bit of insanity, added to the fantastic musical composition, and fantastic musicianship. I am truly glad they decided to put this out.

The video isn't a PV, but is one of my favorite examples of Cali=Gari's music ;D

The other A-side, 'School Zone' is composed by AO, the guitarrist and usual composer of most of Cali=Gari's previous music. This single definitely has a sound of his side project, LAB the Basement. However, as he composed much of Cali=Gari's old music, this song sounds much more like traditional Cali=Gari, but definitely has some aspects of his solo music in it. The simple melodies are carried through out the song are definitely recognizable as Ao's style, but again, can't be classified, especially with Shuuji's voice, as anything but Cali=Gari.

The B-sides are really strange, which isn't unexpected, sounding like they were recorded in someone's bedroom (as my friend put it). In any case, they are very entertaining.

Overall I give Cali=Gari's two new '9' singles a 92% on the awesome meter.

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Beautiful.

Today doesn't have a band of the day, but as you've already heard To, on the PV I posted earlier, please enjoy the other A-side: School Zone.

Also, I would like to note that both of these singles are offically released today in Japan :]

Another Tool.

One thing, that I feel I haven't talked much about, is Guniw Tools.

Guniw Tools are among my top 5 bands. *Along with MUCC, Cali=Gari, Coaltar of the Deepers and UnsraW (in no particular order)*

Guniw Tools formed, I believe in 1992, and were signed to Buck-Tick's *major* label 'Victor Records' in 1996. Ultimately I think Guniw Tools is fairly unknown as far as really famous or popular Japanese rock, but by the fans who know them, are VERY well respected.

The style of Guniw Tools ranges widely, from very atmospheric ambient music, jazz, full on acoustic rock, to industrial and has hints of inspiration from Nepal, India and other countries around the world. It's really impossible to catagorize Guniw Tools at all. Somehow when I was a freshman or sophomore in highschool (2001?) I started listening to them, and gained a huge respect for their very strange music.

Now thinking about it, any music fan with an open mind would really appreciate their sounds, if I showed Guniw Tools to somebody who was super into a style of music, they wouldn't be able to understand it, somewhat like how many people reacted to Cali=Gari at about that time.

Guniw Tools was composed of FULL, Jake and Asaki, with other notable support members Dinah (who is an extremely unusual character) and Okazaki (who plays with Asaki now in Age of Punk). FULL is an artist.. he does pretty much every kind of visual and performing art you could think of, and makes some of the most unusual and unique art pieces I have ever seen.

Originally about 1989 Guniw was FULL's creative project, where he would do performing and visual art on stage, with home-made props and music, but after Jake approached him about starting a band, Guniw turned into Guniw Tools, and became a musical experience to be reckoned with.

Honestly the best way to learn about Guniw Tools is to experience it.

So todays BAND OF THE DAY is Guniw Tools, with Hush and Cool, which was actually my very first Guniw Tools song. It's definitely a song to relax and enjoy..

Gaze.

Today I would like to bring up a band that has been impressing the hell out of me for a while. Deathgaze. Having been around for a respectable 2003, Deathgaze is one of the heaviest, visual bands that is still active. And no joke, they are heavy, catchy and badass.

Originally formed by Ai, Kanna, Naoki and Hazuki, but has had frequent member changes. Hazuki left after the first single to form Lynch., and Sou replaced him as the vocalist. Sou then vanished off the face of the earth for a few weeks and created somewhat of an uproar in Japanese rock music circles, finally Ai (who had been writing the music and also played bass) got fed up with replacing vocalists all the time and started singing for the band.

Hazuki, Sou and Ai, as vocals go are all very talented and really sound very similar to one another. If someone played any given Deathgaze song, I could pick out which vocalist it was due to the time period the song was released, but that's pretty much the only reason.

I've pretty much been listening to Deathgaze since they formed, maybe a few months after their first release. Honestly? They've done nothing but get better! Their sound has changed a little from more of a darker Nagoya sound to a more standard hardcore metal sound, but I feel their songs have gotten more catchy and distinguishable from one another.

Deathgaze is really a band that stands apart from the Japanese rock crowd, with their amazing vocalists, catchy, super-hard guitars and pretty much one of the best lineups I have seen in J-Music recently.. I hope they continue to put out really sick music ;D

I'm sure you can tell that today's BAND OF THE DAY! is Deathgaze, with their song Miscarriage off the Genocide and Mass Murder album from 2006 (Sou is the singer here).

Enjoy~

Get a brain!

So I've been thinking a lot about the direction that Japanese rock music is going in. I feel that there is, as always, a huge number of disposable rock bands, even ones that get fairly popular. I won't go into detail about it, because everyone has their own personal 'I-hate-that-band'. A few times I've really disliked a band, REALLY disliked.. and ultimately became a fan. A great example of this for me is Plastic Tree.. I don't know if I had never heard them, and still disliked them or I had previously been introduced to them by a scrub, or heard a song I thought was really lame. In any case, I was listening to shuffle on iTunes and I heard this vocal-less track that I really enjoyed, but had NO IDEA what band was playing it. Later I looked and it was Plastic Tree, so naturally I downloaded their discography to see if it was any good, and ended up liking the crap out of their music. (Actually thinking about it, I think I was more responsive to Plastic Tree after I began listening to Coaltar of the Deepers)

Anyway that was off topic. There are many bands putting out music that is thoroughly useless, and this is what turned me off from writing for a while, but as I always somehow do, I dug through the crap and found the shining gems of recent releases. Right now whats really catching my ear, is new bands that have evolved from, or have the band members from older bands. Namely 9GOATS BLACK OUT, Moran, Kain and somewhat less recently Angelo.

For those who aren't familiar with these bands, 9GOATS BLACK OUT is the singer from GULLET with an otherwise brand new lineup. Somewhat more laid back than GULLET and have less of the Nagoya region flavor, they have been active since 2007.

Moran was introduced to me recently by a good friend, he referred to the band as something like 'Fatima light' which I would say is pretty accurate. I find listening to Moran is a lot easier than Fatima, not saying either one is better, but Moran is decidedly less intense. Moran has 2 members who used to be in Fatima and have also been active since 2007.

Kain, *I believe (I can't find the source now..) announced a hiatus a few weeks ago, but basically there are 2 ex-members of JILS and one member of their pre-JILS band D=Sire (not 100% on this either). Kain and JILS sound very similar to me, I do enjoy both bands, but do not claim to be an expert on either of them. Maybe with JILS being slightly more atmospheric and free form, and Kain being a little more on the heavier rock side. Kain also formed in 2007. (trend?)

*I apologize for writing about what I heard as opposed to what is fact, but in this case I wasn't able to find sources to check my facts.

Finally Angelo, is made from 3/5 members of PIERROT, and a support guitarist. This band is in fact more of an evolution of PIERROT, while most of the other bands I have mentioned are not nearly as connected to their members' older projects. Angelo sounds, looks and feels very similar to PIERROT and as such is quite enjoyable, but not quite as filling. Angelo has been active since late 2006. (pretty much since PIERROT disbanded)

Today's BAND OF THE DAY is Moran with their song 'Tonight, at the seaside without the moon' I do believe if you haven't heard either Fatima or Moran, you will quite enjoy it. And if you know Fatima, you will definitely hear some similarities between the two bands :D

Please turn off your cellular phones and enjoy the show.

P.S. Kain is spelled wrong because I don't know how to type the 'alpha' character.

And I probably messed up all the capitalization's on all of the bands, but I really don't care atm.

See you in a day or two<3

J-Punk, D.A and Droogs.

OK, so this is a post that almost has nothing to do with Seikima II. In any case, tonight I discovered that people on certain substances really enjoy songs written by Daisuke Asakura (He is a solo artist, in addition to writing the music for T.M. Revolution and Abingdon Boy's School, in addition to being one of the core members of ICEMAN).

Honestly I am not particularly surprised by this, as it seems like many of his compositions are written either being aimed towards the techno/industrial crowd. I was greatly amused by this however, seeing as I have recieved comments that said 'I would so love to listen to this when I was doing xxxxxx *drug*.'

Since my last post, I haven't experienced anything new that was actually worthwile, except many listenings to that new Cali=Gari pv's song :D

I did have a nice conversation with a youth, earlier this evening, about Japanese punk bands, which honestly.. I have no idea about, aside from Balzac (the Japanese Misfits), a few obscure 90's bands like The Blue Hearts and The Star Club. There are a few bands that I could loosely calssify as punk in the Visual scene, like the Piass for instance, but ultimately the Japanese punks would likely scoff at my taste.

My observation of "real" Japanese punks, of whom I have had plenty of exposure to, is that they listen to many super underground (unpleasantly noisy and underproduced) bands that I have never heard of, and seem to be MUCH cleaner and hygenic than American punk fans. Which is kind of ridiculous because I saw one of my Japanese punk friends lay a police officer the fuck out in Harajuku. (they are pretty hardcore when they're wasted!)

I guess my point is, that I see Japanese and American punk as very similar. I have a feeling that some kind of language barrier exists, keeping the Japanese punks from grasping what the true fundementals of punk music/culture is really like.

Regardless of how awesome these J-Punk bands might be, I cant get into the spirit, or relate to it in the way that I can about some of the old American punk I used to listen to frequently.

Often I find that the Japanese will emulate a foreign trend, and ultimately improve what it is that they are emulating...

Japanes punk is an exception to that rule.

Today's BAND OF THE DAY! is Seikima II (translated to 'end of the century') and their song El Dorado. Seikima II was a Japanese heavy metal band, active december of 1989 and actually broke up on 12/31/99 at minight on new years eve, informing fans that it was the end of the world. That was actually the premise of the entire band. But lead singer Demon Kogure still lives on..

P.S. I would like to apologize in advance for any rambling I may have done this evening :D

Enjoy your weekend, everyone~

I reform, along with Cali=Gari~

OK, so I am officially back.

I was really un-inspired to write about Japanese music for a while. Seemingly nothing new or interesting was coming out.. I ended up creating 2 podcasts and distributed them to people I know personally, ultimately I got positive reviews from everyone, but got lazy and didn't upload it anywhere. I don't think the files exist anymore though.

I don't know for sure if that is still the case, there are a few things from mid-late 2008 that were pretty good, but not in a high enough volume for me to care that much.

HOWEVER!

Freakin' Cali=Gari has reformed.* (a month or two ago officially) They put out 'Cali=Gari no Sekai' (Cali=Gari World) which is a sort of best-of album with an update to Oto-Sex lol. But next month they are putting out a new single, coming in 2 forms '9 - To - Hen' and '9 School Zone Hen' I suppose these singles are a ~sequel~ to the actual '9' (Kyuu) Dvd which was of their "last" live performance.

But the icing on the cake is, they are releasing a full album '10' on August 26th.

*I would like to point out that my last blog entry, over a year ago made this prediction :3

cali≠gari／－踏－【PV】

To make up for my being away for so long, I will be uploading a song every time I post (which should be a few times a week) I will be choosing a BAND OF THE DAY! and sharing whatever song grabs me that day. So please enjoy and if you like it, check the band out more!

Today's BAND OF THE DAY! is Lynch.

They are releasing a new album called Shadows on July 8th.

Beautiful.