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

Fresh!

OK.. Sorry I haven't been writing much recently, I have been busy getting ready for my trip over to Japan later this month! As a few of you know, I will be (at some point) opening a live house in either Tokyo or Nagoya, and this trip is basically just preliminary scouting, I have a number of contacts that I will be speaking with while I'm over there and meeting with people who might also help my cause ;D

Now for the real stuff..

Recently I have been enjoying BLOOD STAIN CHILD quite a bit, their album IDOLATOR will be released here in the States later this summer, I definitely suggest giving it a listen. BLOOD STAIN CHILD is a fairly old band, they play what they call "Melodic Death Metal" which I suppose isn't too far from the truth, to me it sounds more like Alternative Metal, mixed with some Trance and electronic elements, which honestly fuse to become some of the most enjoyable and unique music I have heard in months.

Even more recently.. I obtained the new COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS album "Yukari Telepath". COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS has been around since 1991 which makes them one of the oldest Japanese rock bands that still exist today, (Buck-Tick has been around since 1987 congrats to them on 20 years!) COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS is classified as Shoegaze, which I had never heard of before I started listening to them, Shoegaze is a type of alternative rock that was started in the 80's by English bands, and was named because of the bands tendency of not moving around during performances and 'gazing at their shoes. Yukari Telepath is EXCELLENT, it's mostly electronic music with distorted guitars and Nackie's cracked out voice, in one song he will sound like a girl and the next song he will be screaming like the vocalist of a grindcore band. The music is very calming, and works very well for me as music I have on while I sleep or while I am doing something else on my computer.. overall it is really a great album!

By the way guys I plan to post more and hopefully I can write some blogs while I'm in Japan too :D