Wednesday, September 30, 2009

plenty - 「ボクのために歌う吟」

New up and coming band called plenty. Apparently they're quite young (20y) and are just about to release their first album, but they've been invited to play as opening act, along with the Novembers, for Art-School on their "14 Souls Tour". Not bad at all. Art-School are pretty big on the indie scene in Japan. At least among the indie kids. Personally I'm not a big fan, but I think it's safe to say that a lot of people (read: everyone) who likes the Novembers also likes Art-School, and I think plenty will appeal to the same group. Indierock mixed with a good portion of melancholy. I quite like this song (called "boku no tame ni utau gin"). The album 「拝啓。皆さま」(haikei. mina-sama) is released on Oct. 21st.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Ogre You Asshole - Headlight

New music video from OYA's upcoming album "Fog Lamp" which will be released Oct. 7th. Cool song. Very unusual for a single, I think, especially compared to "Pinhole" which was very poppy. This one's pretty catchy too though. Strange and funny video.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Karen - Enemy

Music video for "Enemy" from Karen's 2nd album "Sunday Girl In Silence" which was released at the end of August. I have their first record "Maggot In Tears" and although I have to admit that it's not the most exciting album, I think it has a lot of good tracks. This video promises well for the new album too, although it doesn't seem like they've evolved a whole lot. I like the more experimental instrumentation.

The band includes members from Art-School and downy, but I think the vocalist, Achiko, deserves all the credit. I love her voice. A talented singer and she's really charismatic live.


http://www.myspace.com/KARENofficial




a couple of tracks off the first album:


Thursday, September 3, 2009

andymori - s/t

I had some problems getting into this band in the beginning. I mean, can you take a band whose songs are titled "Life Is Party" and "boku ga hakujin dattara" ("if I was a white guy") seriously? The answer is you can. The more I've listened to them the more I've come to like them. I've seen them live twice, but I think they lack that little extra to be a solid live band. Anyways, this album is awesome.

They remind me a lot about British rock a la The Libertines, The Fratellis etc. I used to be a huge fan of British music a couple of years ago. Recently I've haven't been up to date on music coming out of Britain, but I still enjoy a lot of the bands I used to like. andymori seems to be greatly influenced by this scene, and I think they're doing a good job incorporating into their own thing. They have catchy up-tempo tracks like "FOLLOW ME" and "everything is my guitar" with humorous lyrics about everyday life and situations. Slower tracks like "aoi sora" and "happy end" that could easily be written off as shallow attempts to be sensitive, but I must say I like their naivety. I think that's what Andymori wins on. Simpleness. Simple and catchy, but more important they're able to create a good atmosphere throughout the album which makes it perfect for a warm, sunny day.

I also believe they have a good portion of self-irony. They have t-shirts that say: "WE ARE THE GROUPIES". 'nough said.

http://www.myspace.com/andymori

andymori - everything is my guitar

andymori - mongoloid blues
andymori - bengal tora to whiskey
andymori - sugoi hayasa



(notice the video budget rise from the first video to the other...)