…says Kerrang.

Yep that good old English rock music magazine has reviewed MUCC and… apparently it is only worth 2/5. I find this hilarious considering most Japanese music related bloggers and reviewers were overwhelmingly pleased with the album or think it is the best album this year. Kerrang though call it ‘non threatening’ and ‘tuneless’. Not sure when music last had to threaten me… but nonetheless Kerrang started off on a bad foot suggesting that Japan only likes bands like MUCC because they like ‘glittery’ things and calling MUCC ‘lightweight alt-rockers’. All the while they say this, they fawn over genuinely rubbish bands. I probably sound super bitter or something that Kerrang haven’t fallen in love with MUCC but seriously, Shion is far better than a measly 2/5. It is majestic in parts, from the innovative water-drop opening to the sense of doom permeating throughout Game and the track Shion.

Then again, why should I be surprised… it’s not English and that of course qualifies it immediately as ’shit’. I even read in Rock Sound today that MUCC would be popular IF they sung in English. Reality though that may be, can’t people start to look beyond language in English speaking nations. Seriously? It gets right on my wick.

Like many working foreigners in Japan I teach a number of private students in addition to my regular work. As well as being good financially many of the people I meet are very interesting and teach me about Japanese culture as much as I help their English. I recently began lessons with a new private, an adorable lady called Hideco.

Last week Hideco told me she was in a band that she had named after the Oasis song, Little by Little. I wasn’t aware of the band so yesterday she gave me some CDs. It turns out that Little by Little are responsible for a number of anime themes including Naruto and Yakitate Japan and are fairly popular having has adverts screened in Shibuya. ‘Orange Range did the ending theme and we did the opening for Naruto’ she told me beaming. I couldn’t say much more than ‘wow that is quite awesome’ while musing to myself how life in Japan has taken another weird turn.

I listened last night and, any bias aside I really enjoyed it. Hideco’s voice is so very cute! I very much want to help them now, perhaps if they ever wanted to visit the UK I will try to help them.

The style is light indie pop rock; it kinda reminds me of Shakkalabits crossed with Ikimonogakari and a heavy layer of cute. The songs are so bouncy and full of optimism and life it is no wonder they were selected for fun anime themes.

The most recent single is Pray. A sample can be heard on the website. It is a beautiful wistful song that reminds me a little of Otsuka Ai.

Pray contains a further two songs:Re:birth Day and Japanese Compact Girl 148. The latter even has a twinge of Genki Rockets style electro!

Little by Little OHP

Track listing:

足跡
color
CTCR-40262 ¥1,000(tax in.)

GReeeeN are a band with a great little visual joke. Written with many ‘e’s in English, in Japanese this appears as a mightily extended line： グリーーーーーーーン. Well recently, GReeeeN got together with fellow rap-rockers, Back-On and music producer JIN (who also happens to be the older brother of GReeeeN’s hide) to form BAReeeeeeeeeeN, a 10 member project (with six extra ‘e’s to symbolise the 10 members).

Naturally they are called バリーーーーーーン in kana, which makes for a fabulous visual joke on their CD art as the extended line goes round the casing a couple of times.
Is it a one-off, is it for longer? Only time will tell.

Ashiato, the title track has a very familiar GReeeeN feel with airy synth sounds mixed with a dance theme running beneath the quick vocals. The rap vocals appear supplied in the majority by Back-On while the melody is more GReeeeN. The chorus takes a pop-rock turn away from the dance vibe of the verses and the GReeeeN vocalist takes over. It has that fun sound that characterises much of this type of music; summery and positive music as winter draws in.

color is more rocky than Ashiato with an even faster melody. This with the electronica feel of the bridge combine into a highly infectious track. The chorus heavily reminds of kiseki, the famous GReeeeN song behind the drama, Rookies but, given the presence of Back-On, with more rapping. It is perky, slightly punky and in all a neat showcase of the Japanese rap/rock/reggae style.

During a week of shocking break ups and tumult in the world I would never have expected this one… RENTRER EN SOI are splitting up???? I could have predicted the demise of Lehmans more easily than that shock announcement by Satsuki & co!

The official line is, they seem to have reached the end of their plans for RENTRER EN SOI. From the OHP translations on JaME and “http://www.shattered-tranquility.net” it appears there was no fundamental falling out of musical difference, just simply they felt that they had acheived all they could do and indeed wanted to as RENTRER EN SOI. It was a good 5 years and I’ll miss them a lot. They were just getting really good again too. I can’t feel angry though. It seems sudden yes, and certainly shocking as I felt they were a band with a solid future but sometimes people just want to move on to the next stage in their life and I hope RES will pop up in the music scene very soon.

The final live is on Xmas Day but before that they are embarking on a final tour taking in Meguro Rock May Kan, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka before returning to Tokyo for the Last Live.

Meanwhile in other shocking news, although slightly of the happier kind, Merry are re-releasing Gendai Stoic. They sent it off to London for engineers to play around with resulting in a lovely new remastered version that I cannot wait to hear. According the the Merry site it is being remastered at Metropolis Mastering in the UK by a gentleman named Tim Young. I wonder how the classic crackly tracks will sound…

I feel I want to adopt these guys as my band to pimp, 2008.

Anyway, the frankly awesome Deluhi have a PV that accompanies the new single released back in July. I only just discovered it too. It is a live recording (something many bands do for their first PV) but Juri’s voice sounds wonderful as ever.

It was going to come someday. For long the Japanese music filesharing community has felt somewhat immune from the raft of legal suits occurring in the Western music industry. Although Johnny’s Entertainment and Avex Trax among others have been cracking down on promotional videos being uploaded to Youtube, the filesharing of Livejournal and its ilk has been largely left be. Until now as, rightly or wrongly, Japanfiles have started to take a keen interest in protection of their rights to the music they sell legally.

This interests me for a couple of reasons – because although I understand and support the theory behind their actions – protecting artists that need protection – I also rather wonder if it should be the labels as the assignment to, essentially a retailer to protect rights is a little uneasy.

(more…)

I have been meaning to write a little about Deluhi for a while, since I saw them at Zeal Link a month ago. They were the opening act and on closer inspection of the flyer package we were given at the door, my friend and I discovered they had attached a free sampler CD to their flyer. How kind!

The foursome started out initially as GRAVE SEED until 25th February 2008. GRAVE SEED, who, according to the Grass Thread VK list, did not release anything until they became DELUHI. Under this new name, the four released ‘Surveillance’, a 5 track mini album at the end of March. It is also interesting to note that guitarist, Leda is also a member of Galneryus, providing bass for that famous metal band and so that DELUHI were an impressive opening act is not surprising.

At Zeal Link, Deluhi arrived on stage in the visual style that can be seen on the opening of their website – ominous black cloaks/ hessian sacks with hoods and that white emblem painted on the long sleeves. Despite resembling something rather cultish or, to my mind, the monks from Monty Python and the Holy Grail I really like these outfits. They provided an atmospheric opening to their set too as the band stood silently on a moodily lit stage with the accompaniment of dark cybergothic sounds. The shed the cloaks for their first energetic songs though to reveal a band attired in black with a style somewhere between the aforementioned cybergoth and classic metaller. They had fun with the crowd too, working them to grab the girls’ collective attention.

Enough about the style though, what about the music? They are typically heavy metal visual but tightly produced with some interesting guitar embellishments and funky basslines. They keep use of the synth effects to a happy minimum too. Each of the four members was highly skilled though and even put the later LiZ to shame. The vocalist was adept at screaming and as for the more melodic moments his voice was smooth and rich. The presence of the Galyneryus bassist in the band merely affirms that these guys are not mere newbies. Deluhi deserve to and should go far in the heavy hardcore side of the visual kei scene.

They have had a mini album out since March 26, Surveillance:

1. 〜Surveillance〜
2. Two Hurt
3. Vivid Place
4. 黄泉の譲り葉
5. Recall

Another post about live music. I will make more entries about other interesting things but recently it really has been a world of lives for me.

Akasaka Blitz, the famous live house in Tokyo has recently reopened its doors to the public. In celebration of this grand rejuvenation they are holding a long opening ceremony series of concerts of which one was Ayabie. During the MCs at the concert, Aoi referred to the pride he felt at being included in this ceremony but on each occasion, Ayabie were referred to as ‘The Visual Kei band’ and he poked fun at this by repeating, ‘Ayabie: Visual Kei Band’ a few times. The opening series is also, I imagine, to justify the reopening to investors, or at least that is how I would explain the strangely high number of old men in suits sitting in the guest area. I can’t imagine that Ayabie, a group of 5 fairly fey 20 year olds (one of whom dresses his nails up like a girl) would be popular with old men unless they had a fetish for young femme-boys

Anyway

Much manic laughter ensues….

The following video by popular boyband, 関ジャ二∞/Kanjani8 is on my musical radar somewhat at the moment. I confess to rather liking 関ジャニ∞ although their spate of recent releases have left me cold. They are meant to be the Johnny’s Enka band and are still releasing under the enka label, Teichiku although their music has dramatically changed from those early ‘modern enka’ releases. I personally tend to think of 関ジャニ∞ as the ‘Comedy Band’ in Johnny’s Entertainment; the majority of their songs and videos are lighthearted and comical with a certain amount of stupidity to them.

The imaginatively titled, Wahaha is a great example of this comical attitude becoming such an irresistibly catchy song that a mere listen is banishing the gathering clouds over Tokyo from my mind. It is the kind of song that you probably shouldn’t like so much (it is a little childish in sound) but the sunny appearance of the boys, especially in the promotional video is grabbing me. It gets under your skin like crazy! I believe the appropriate word is ‘Argh’, except this song makes me very happy so I don’t want to berate myself for liking it.

I should probably add as a disclaimer though that I do genuinely adore the 関ジャニ’s ‘colleague’ band, NEWS. Despite being a Jpop and a fan of the Japanese boybands there is still a certain amount of embarrassment associated with 関ジャニ∞. There should not be really; they are a rather fun bunch of mental Osakans but then again their releases in 2006 such as the dire Osaka Obaachan Rock means they did shoot themselves in the feet a little.

Track listing:

1. Wahaha
2. Dare yori ga suki dakara
3. Wahaha (Instrumental)

Y1000 plus the shame of taking that horrible CD cover to the cash register! Good song, bad cover art!