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.

Ogre You Asshole + nisennenmondai

July 10th, Shibuya O-Nest

The first band out tonight was nisennenmondai. I saw them at Nest Fest in October, but I thought they were pretty bland and boring. Could be because I was tired, and not in the mood for that kind of music or something. This time I actually thought they were really cool.

nisennenmondai can be described as a sort of psychedelic drone rock, maybe? Purely instrumental, hypnotizing waves of sound that builds up and ends in wonderful noise. I had forgotten ear plugs this time though. My ears were ringing afterwards. Especially my left ear seems to be sensitive to noise these days... Anyways, like I said earlier, they made a much bigger impression on me this time. Could be because I was standing in the first row and could see the very energetic drummer during the entire show. She was seriously awesome.

www.myspace.com/nisennenmondai
http://www.nisennenmondai.com/

(pic from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwng/3708905026/in/set-72157621253591770/)

setlist:
shiranai aizu shiraseru ko
rail
advantage
katappo
pinhole
coin laundry
J.N
hitorinori
necktie

I've seen Ogre You Asshole a number of times the past year, more precisely about once every month (fangirl alert). I've come to realize that they're not the most amazing live band to watch if you were to compare them to f ex The Novembers' intensity, Otogi Banashi's charm, OWARIKARA's craziness etc. That's not to say that their bad live. Definitely not. They're solid from beginning to end, play really tight and most importantly they make me happy.

Since I reviewed them last time in February I've seen them at the tiny venue in Chiba Look, their "pinhole"-tour oneman final at Quattro and at the Tobu Ongaku Sai. The festival was a really nice experience. Outdoors venue, nice, warm weather and a great atmosphere.

This time it was back to good old O-Nest. One of the first times I saw them was here, and this was the last time in a while. I'm leaving Japan in August, and although I'm certain I'll come back one day, I'm not sure when that will be. So yeah I've been feeling all sentimental at concerts lately.

They played the key tracks from each cd, and then a whole lot from "shiranai aizu" this time. I'd still love to hear a couple of the older songs, but I guess that will only happen at onemans nowadays. I don't think I've heard "Rail" that much live before, so that was nice. "Necktie" with the swirly noisy guitars at the end are really cool.

I think Ogre's strongest point is the fact that they have so damn good songs. Great guitars, catchy melodies, unique vocals and good lyrics. They have a sound unique from all the standard Japanese rock bands, and although they're often compared to American indierock bands I think they sound different from them as well.

Apparently they've been recording new stuff this summer, so that means a new release is on the way. Also, Ogre will be opening for Sunset Rubdown on their Japan tour this fall. Pretty exciting.

www.ogreyouasshole.com
www.myspace.com/ogreyouassholemusic





mp3's:
Ogre You Asshole - Coin Laundry
Ogre You Asshole - Advantage
Ogre You Asshole - shiranai aizu shiraseru ko
Ogre You Asshole - mata ashita
Ogre You Asshole - ni dai

Btw, tonight's gig was part of a series of gigs presented by moools called "moools matsuri" (moools festival). They were headlining, and I like mools, but I ended up only seeing like ten minutes so no review this time.

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.

Stars + Ogre You Asshole

january 10th, Shibuya Quattro

I didn't know quite what to expect from this gig judging from the last time I saw Stars at the Hove Festival in Norway last summer. They played early at the biggest stage (too big for them), the teeny boppers that had showed up were all waiting for the Kooks, and the band seemed to be uh, less happy. I enjoyed the concert because it was my first time seeing them, but in retrospective I've sort of realized that it was kind of terrible... But I do like their music, so I decided to give it another chance. This time indoors at a smaller venue. And hey, even if it wouldn't turn out good they still had the best support act.

I don't think anyone in the audience were familiar with Ogre You Asshole, but they seemed to like them (considering the fact that it was a japanese act warming up for a foreign act). Towards the end of the set people were clapping more than at your average Ogre gig. Not that that means a lot... They did a short set:

Coinlaundry
Flag
JN
shiranai aizu shiraseru ko

katappo
hitori nori

They had a new intro before "Flag" which was quite cool. I'm glad they played "katappo", off the new EP, because I really like that song. It's soft and mellow.

I actually saw Ogre the next day as well. They did an instore live at Tower Records Shibuya together with the Novembers. The Novembers were headbanging like crazy as always, even in the slower songs. It was quite a sight to behold on the tiny stage, but more about them later. I'm seeing them again later in February. Ogre played the exact same songs except that they added "Advantage" as well. The crowd was dead again. During Novembers the dude next to me was actually sleeping through the entire thing, standing upright. That takes some skills, I guess.

Anyways, back to Stars. They were so much better this time. First of all they covered the entire stage with white, pink and red roses, many of them which they threw out to the crowd (I managed to catch two!). Pretty~. Secondly, they seemed to be in a good mood, especially Torq.

Also, I could hear his voice a lot better now than last time. Amy's voice is always amazing, especially on the slower songs. I've read some japanese blogs about the gig, and litterally all of them commented on her weight. I guess she has gained some, but I don't really see that as an issue..? The rest of the band didn't make too much out of themselves.

They played many tracks from their latest album, but also from "Set Yourself On Fire" and "Heart". They also did one or two tracks off their latest release, the "Sad Robots" EP (which is more or less download only). I loved hearing "Elevator Love Letter" and "Look Up" from "Heart". "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" was also great. They did a long encore, but I can't remember the setlist.

I had a good time, but there still something about Stars' attitude which puts me off. I can't explain it properly, but they seem to be a bit...conceited? I don't want to decide whether or not I like a band judging from their perosnalities, but this has kind of bothered me since the last time I saw them, and I'm still thinking about it now...

I'll never get tired of this song though:

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE oneman!

nov. 20th, Club Quattro, Shibuya

Ogre You Asshole did like three onemans for the release of their latest EP "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", and of course I had to go to one of them. I was still bummed out that I missed their oneman in January. It was their first oneman ever, and I could've gone but it was at a little club in shimokitazawa and it sold out way too fast. According to an interview I read the other day though, the audience in Tokyo were pretty lame. The audience this time was no different, but more about that later. They played at Shibuya Quattro which is quite small, but still pretty big for a band of their size I suppose. I've seen the likes of Sufjan Stevens and the Shins there before, and they definitely would've played at a bigger venue in Norway. The show was sold out this time as well, but not until like one day before or something. Nonetheless it got pretty packed in there.


The new record is great. I guess I like them too much to be objective though, but even so. The new songs are more pop-inspired and they sound a lot more lush and melodious. At the same time they still have their trademark guitars (or more precisely Built to Spill/Modest Mouse trademark guitars - which is exactly why I like this band so much). The lyrics are also, as far as my japanese knowledge goes, pretty good. My favorite tracks are "katappo", "nadaraka nanda" and the title track.

This is probably really insignificant, but I'll go ahead and write it anyhow: Before the gig they always play music over the speakers right? The day before I had the pleasure of hearing the same four Bowerbirds songs played on repeat for the entire evening, and at Crystal Castles it was the latest Cut Copy album on repeat. I don't mind those bands at all, but hearing the same songs over and over again makes waiting even more boring. This time someone had made a playlist and it was really good. Modest Mouse, Death Cab, Wolf Parade, Built to Spill, Band of Horses etc. More or less, it sounded like something Ogre would've picked it out, but do bands usually do that?

Anyhow..

Deto said that they were planning to play the longest set they'd ever done and they played around 20 songs. Which isn't bad for a band who has a total of maybe 30 tracks. The setlist went a little bit like this (after my memory so it's not entirely correct):

ひとり乗り
しらない合図しらせる子
なだらかなんだ
どっちかの角
カポ
J.N
ロボトミー
フラッグ
バックシート
コインランドリー
おまじない
サカサマ
かたっぽ
アドバンテージ
ラムダ・ラムダ・ラムダ

En.1
マスク
ドーナツ

En.2
辺りはここ
また明日

I love how "nadarakananda" builds from the bridge and out. The same with "sakasama". I guess it was during the first that I realized that the five rows in front of us weren't moving an inch. Not even nodding their heads, nothing. The people behind us were a little bit better, but all in all not much enthusiasm to spot. I'm not the one to say that everyone in the crowd should jump around like crazy, and I honestly think that people have different ways of enjoying music. Just because your not moshing doesn't mean that you're not having fun. But I did find the crowd here a bit strange. And ultimately, boring.

Also, in Norway you clap when the song is done, even if you don't know the band/liked the song you can always muster up a halfhearted applause. In Japan, the land where they give applause all the time in any other situation they don't clap after the songs - unless the band says "thanks" in the mic right after the song is finished. Maybe it's just me who is unacustomed to this, but it becomes these unbearable silences between the songs. Are people being too polite, or what's the deal here?Shouldn't the crowd give the band some kind of response? No wonder they always have anquete's at gigs, when it's impossible to get a hint of what's going on inside people's heads. It's usually better when it comes to more popular bands, or at onemans because everyone's there to see the same band, and they all like the music - one would assume. But no, not at Ogre apparently. There were some clapping at the beginning, but it gradually stopped. If I were the one playing I'd think "great, they're already tired of us. Let's get off this stage". In fact, upon commenting on their first oneman Ogre thought the audience was so quiet that they were almost wondering if people had really come to see them or not...

Not that Ogre You Asshole make a lot of themselves either. They're pretty much just doing their own thing up on the stage. Not everyone can be B-Club, I guess (and thank God for that). Deto was actually a bit more talkative than usual, although he claimed to be the opposite. The entire show was broadcasted live on tv, so apparently there were "lots of things he wanted to say, but couldn't". He did however manage to talk about meeting an old friend at the super market, changing wheels on the van etc, and don't think he has said that much before ever.

They did two encores. "mask" is probably my favorite song on their second album, but they haven't played it live recently so I was happy to hear it. "doughnuts" is the b-side from the tanishi-single. 7 minutes long, perhaps a bit more experimental, and very awesome. For the second encore they played two fairly mellow songs "atari wa koko" and "mata ashita". I was disapapointed that they didn't play more songs from the first EP. "pullring" is one of their best songs, but apparently they've only done it live once. I'm really curious to know why they don't play it. "mata ashita", the first track off the first album, a great opening track and also a great ending to this show.

Ogre You Asshole definitely deserves all the attention they can get, but I have to admit that I like to be able to see them play small venues like this, or even smaller (O-nest ftw). I already have a ticket for a show in January where they will play together with The Novembers. That should be awesome.

I found a live clip from the concert on youtube:

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - カポ (live)


Ogre You Asshole - しらない合図しらせる子 (PV)

Nest Fest' part 2

It disappointed me a little bit that Ogre You Asshole didn’t play the title track from their upcoming EP 「しらないあいずしらせる子」(shiranai aizu shiraseru ko). However they opened with another new song 「ひとり乗り」(hitori nori). It’s rather slow-paced, but I like it a lot. I think the new tracks lean a lot more towards pop than before, and it sounds more polished maybe? I like catchy songs, but I also like some good guitar noise. Here’s hoping the new EP has both. It has actually been released in the iTunes Music store, but I’m waiting patiently for the cd. I’ve realized that if you hear albums in advance it takes away some the excitement when you finally have the physical cd in your hands. Anyways, their performance was good. I think they played a rather short set, and I’m looking forward to their oneman in November.

Ogre You Asshole - ひとり乗り live


Although the audience didn’t seem that into Ogre You Asshole it felt as if everyone left the stage area after they had finished. They sold merch, cd’s and tickets in the hallway and food on the second floor. I got my ticket for group_inou’s oneman in December. My ticket number was 71, but after a closer inspection I realized it was G-71. Usually it means that they call the A 1-100 tickets first then B 1-100 etc. In other words I’m like nr 700? Oh man.

Nisennenmondai was next in the lineup, but after half a song I came to the conclusion that I have very little interest in them. They’ve played in Norway at least twice this year, and I’ve read that they’re a noise band which is supposed to be influenced by Sonic Youth and similar bands. They were totally different than my expectations though. They didn’t really have any structure in their songs, no apparent melodies and it sort of dragged on forever and yeah, we went to eat some curry instead. I don’t like Japanese curry.

The stage area was packed during Shing02 set. Again, hip hop is not my thing, and in contrast to group_inou this was more mainstream hip hop which I found it really hard to get anything out of.

Next followed I AM ROBOT AND PROUD, an electronic act from Canada. I’ve seen him before at O-Nest. His music is likeable, but a little one-sided in the long run. I think his sound is a lot more organic compared regular electro music and I like that a lot.

We saw toe and dosh from the second floor. About that time I was extremely tired, and seeing many other people sitting against the wall sleeping, I say I wasn’t the only one. Toe mostly have instrumental songs, but I believe they had vocals on a song they played towards the end of their set? I’m afraid I was half asleep at that point. Sorry. Dosh was kind of cool though. They were the second foreign act of the day, and they had some interesting tunes. Not that I remember them very well. Sorry again.

Finally it was Shugo Tokumaru’s turn to perform. Tonight he performed together with the Magic Band and they were 8 people on stage on percussion, synth, contrabass, toy instruments etc. They played a variety of songs from all three albums and a couple of new ones as well. The songs from his first two albums, f ex “the Mop” and “Mist” sounded a lot bigger when performed with the band. Tokumaru’s voice is kind of light and timid and in the beginning it drowned a little bit in the music, but it soon became better. They new songs sounded pretty similar in sound with the songs from EXIT – playful and beautiful at the same time. I was really hoping that they would play “La La Radio” from Exit because it sounds amazing when performed with the Magic Band, but unfortunately.

All Japanese bands usually say thanks for coming, next live is then and then, thank you again etc during their live set. Last time I saw Tokumaru with the Magic Band he started talking after the first song and the man went on forever talking about everything and nothing. It was interesting the first five minutes. Tonight however, probably aware of his tendency to talk way too much, he did a little speed talk. Funny. The set ended with a great version of “Green Rain”. I wished they had played longer though, but it appeared that they weren’t the last act of the day after all.

Shugo Tokumaru – Green Rain


Secret act!
マヒルノ(mahiruno) played one song at the little side stage. Hardrock with pretty cool guitar sounds. The vocals and lyrics were a bit crap though. But it was a good ending to a long day.

YO-MA ~Sparks In Winter~ release tour of 1st album

YO-MA is a new band from Nagoya that are signed to Ogre You Asshole's label OYA. I could try to describe their sound - or I could just call them the Arcade Fire of Japan. 'Nuff said?

I discovered this band through Ogre You Asshole's myspace site, and because mp3's were slightly impossible to get hold of, I've been listening to the three tracks they had on their myspace site all summer. I wasn't kidding when I said that they sound like Arcade Fire. At least I get the same good feeling when I listen to them as when I hear Arcade Fire's most up-beat songs. Basically it's beautiful, melodic indiepop with enthusiastic vocals, glockenspiel, piano and handclaps. It's impossible not to be happy when I hear their songs. My favorite tracks are "Rumin", "Flower King" and "宇宙環状線", but honestly, all tracks on the album are great.

YO-MA's debut album "Sparks In Winter" was released in September, and I went to see their show at Shibuya O-Nest September 20th. O-Nest is a small venue, and I love going to liveshows there. The smaller shows the better, I think, because you get to connect more with the bands.

Opening acts were Ogre You Asshole and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Emperor Tomato Ketchup are a pretty straight-forward indie post-punk band. They were pretty good, but somehow they failed to leave a great impression on me. Maybe it was simply because the other two bands were so incredibly good in comparison?

I've seen Ogre You Asshole a couple of times before and they never disappoint me. They have a new record coming up in November "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", and I was excited that they played a couple of their new songs. More about them later on though.

YO-MA turned out to be an amazing live band. They were five people on stage, and all of them were in good spirits. They were so energetic and enthusiastic on stage that they totally blew me away. The vocalist was jumping all over the stage. I think they played about all of the songs on the album, and maybe a couple more? "Rumin" was one of my favorites. I definitely have to see them live again.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/yomajp
Website: http://music-space.ddo.jp/~yoma/top.shtml