THE NOVEMBERS - paraphilia

New mini album (EP) from The Novembers. The first time I heard The Novembers in 2007 I sort of wrote them off as merely another emoband (nothing wrong with emobands though), but they have evolved so much since then. Their shoegaze influences have been apparent before as well, but this time they've really accomplished a great sound. I particularly love the opening track "philia". The sound is light and lush, and it stands apart from all their previous songs. They still keep their characteristic screamo-ishness intact with the second track "dnim", but the arrangements are definitely more nuanced now.


As for the lyrics, vocalist Yusuke Kobayashi is still brutally honest. The contents are indeed emotional, but also dark and twisted, and the way he rips his heart open sure keeps your attention. Hearing "keep me keep me keep me" and "mer" for the first time I almost thought they were a bit over the top, especially the parts with high pitched vocals, but if you're in the right mood I think it works well.

I've been listening to this record almost non-stop since I bought it, and I think it's great. May 1st the band is doing a oneman show at Shibuya Quattro, and I'm excited to hear the new songs live.

tracklist:
1. philia
2. dnim
3. keep me keep me keep me
4. para
5. mer

THE NOVEMBERS - philia
THE NOVEMBERS - dnim

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - pinhole

With the release of "pinhole" Ogre You Asshole have been signed to major label VAP. It looks like they had a bit more money to spend on the music video, and the song will also be used as an ending theme for an anime tv series.

The song itself is up-tempo and catchy, and puts me in a happy mood. The video is cute too. Second track "necktie" is over 7 minutes long, and like "doughnuts" was on the "tanishi"-single this one's more experimental. But compared to the aforementioned this one seems more calculated, and I wish it was more spontanous and rough on the edges. It's still pretty cool though. Half-way through the track the tempo changes and I like the swirling guitars towards the end. Last song "boat" is slower and sounds like filler material to me. It's not bad, but it feels unnecessary. Overall I guess their sound is gradually becoming more polished and available to more people, but I try to ignore that as I fear the major-label-sellout-doom. ahem.

tracklist:

1. pinhole

2. necktie

3. boat

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - necktie

If anyone can enlighten me on what the bassist is playing on in the beginning of the video, please...

Space Shower 列伝

February 26th, Shinjuku LOFT

Space Shower is a music tv channel I sort of wish I had, but unfortunately. They host an event called "Space Shower retsuden". The bands performed on two separate stages at LOFT, the bar stage was so small that it was hard to get a good view of the stage, let alone be able to enter the room because it was packed with people. Fortunately they had set up a big screen and a couple of tv screens where all the performances from the bar stage were shown. Both bands I wanted to see performed at the main stage, so I was happy that I didn't have to run back and forth between stages. The bad part was that the bands only played for 25-30 minutes each.

おとぎ話. Otogi banashi opened. The band name literally means "fairy tale", and they're incredibly charming and sweet. I think their dream would be to play during the 60's with lots of screaming girls in the front rows. Arima is the sweet and funny vocalist, while Ushio is the cool guitarist. They're all super genki and a bit quirky too. I love the song "Neon Boys". Whenever I hear it it's impossible not to become in a good mood. They played a couple of new songs as well, which were also really nice.


andymori. Andymori is a young and energetic band, but it seemed like they still have a little while to go. The vocals are really quick, and sounds interesting on record, but a bit messy when done live. I'm not sure about the lyrical content either. One song had the theme "if I was a white guy...". They had a lot of energy, but in the end it became a bit frenetic and I lost interest.
Ogre You Asshole. Ogre probably did the shortest set of all the bands today:

Coinlaundry
Flag
Pinhole -new single-
Advantage
Lambda Lambda Lambda
hitori nori

They played their new single "Pinhole". It was pretty up-tempo, but melodious, and kind of had the same feel to it as "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", but more playful. With the release of the new single they're switching to a major label. I'm not sure how much change is involved with that (other than their income), but here's hoping there won't be any big changes.

It disappointed me that they didn't play any other songs from the latest mini album other than "hitorinori". Instead they played it safe by doing "Coinlaundry", "Flag" and "Advantage", songs they almost always do. I have a feeling that "hitori nori" has become part of that group of songs too. When you play at an event where there's many people who's unfamiliar with your music it's of course safer to do that, but personally I'd like to hear all kinds of different songs from their discography.

Manabu didn't say much today, but I could tell that he tried to be a bit more open towards the audience. No hiding behind his hair anymore. I read in an interview that they now wanted to improve their live performances and connect more with the audience. I guess that's a good thing, but personally I've never had any problems with their past live shows. I'd like to see the crowd wake up for once though.

つしまみれ。tsushimamire is a band who frankly I don't get at all. People were going crazy in front of the bar stage, so I watched the show at the screens in the other room instead. What annoyed me the most was the leadsingers whiny, shrill voice who sounded awful, both when singing and talking/screaming. 「準備はよろしいでしょうか？！」And when she first started talking she went on and on forever. When they finally started playing again it didn't sound any better, and I was glad when it was over.

www.myspace.com/otgbanashi
www.myspace.com/andymori
www.myspace.com/ogreyouassholemusic
www.myspace.com/tsushimamirejp

I didn't see the last band, The Bawdies, because I left to catch the last train instead, but they're featured on Myx this month.

Earlimart, moools, toddle

February 22nd, Shibuya O-Nest


toddle. The first time I saw toddle last fall they didn't make a big impression on me (other than having Neutral Milk Hotel as the opening song), and I actually left in the middle of their set. This time I realized that the noisy guitar parts of their music are actually quite good. The flat vocals however sound incredible uninspired. There's almost no variation, and the monotone, anonymous vocals became a complete turn-off for me. The two girls on vocals are also pretty boring to watch on stage. The bassist however was crazy, jumping all over the place, rocking out and not to mention looking like he was having fun on stage. Screw indie estethics, a good stage show makes a lot of difference. This guy was more into it than the entire band and the audience combined, and that made me have fun to.


toddle's drummer tonight was also the drummer for the next band moools. I've also seen moools once before about a year ago. They've been playing a while if I'm not mistaken, and they certainly seem like routined, skilled musicians. As with toddle I actually left halfway through moools' set last time, but this time I enjoyed it all the way through. They play indierock, which kind of reminds me of the Pixies. Also, the vocalist told funny stories between the songs, and the bassist's playing really impressed me.


Earlimart have been around for a while, but I've only recently started listening to them. This was their first tour to Japan, and they seemed super excited to be here. They had decorated their instruments with pretty lights too. I got their latest album "Hymn and Her", and I think it's quite good. Sort of quiet and nice indiepop. Live however, they seemed more interested in trying to make a lot of guitar noise, which, personally, I think didn't suit them much. I prefer their softer songs, and I enjoyed when they played songs like "Face Down In the Right Town". During one of the last songs the vocalist attempted to make the crowd wave their hands over their head from side to side. That was so out of place. It was a fairly good concert, but I guess I expected a bit more from them - or less depending on how you see it (right back to the indie estethics).


www.myspace.com/toddleto
www.myspace.com/moools
www.myspace.com/earlimart