Welcome! ようこそ!

I set up this blog to hopefully introduce those outside Japan to some of Japan's best music and a taste of Osaka and Kyoto's thriving underground music scene.

Alot of what I post will be CDR's and CD's sold by bands on the Kyoto/Osaka live circuit. Hopefully giving a little exposure to the bands outside Japan. The rest will be Japanese bands from pretty much any and every generation and genre. From 60's Rock'n'Roll and folk to 00's noise and electronica.

If anyone has an issue with me uploading their music please contact me and I'll remove the links immediatley. My intention is to introduce this music to new audiences. So please help support these bands by buying their releases or catching them live if you have the opportunity. Alot of these guys are working full time jobs on top of making great music. Please send comments, complaints, recommendations and seasonal greetings to stinkinhippy@hotmail.com

Sunday 26 December 2010

Gezan - Warhol's Hole (下山 - ウォーホールの穴)

Something a bit special this time. This is a rip of a DVDR given away by the band at their most recent show. Gezan have been together for just under a year but are fast making a name for themselves thanks to stunts like this. Warhol's Hole sees the band unleashing their unholy, psychadelic musical vandalism on a terrorised and unsuspecting public in the middle of downtown Osaka. I've uploaded a WMV vesion of the video and an MP4 version of the video for Mac and ipod. Quite surprisingly no one actually got arrested duing the recording of this. Fans of Les Rallizes Denude (Hadaka No Raliizes) and LSD March should be into this.


Friday 24 December 2010

Inuhiko - Obachan Kara Moratta Coat O Sutemashita (犬彦- おばちゃんからもらったコートを捨てました)


What do you get when you combine twisted Japanese nursery rhymes with brutal hardcore drumming? One of the most ingeniously discordant sonic mismatches to grace my battered eardrums in recent months. Inuhiko is Tokyo singer/songwriter Inu Jon (Dog Jon) and Hiko, drummer from renowned Japanese hardcore band Gauze. Inu plays baltic tinged folk songs on the organ while wearing a giant dog costume that resembles the creepy reanimated corpse of Fantastic Mr Fox which makes the band as bizarre and otherworldy looking as they sound. It's an aquired tastes but this is an absolute must listen.




Tuesday 21 December 2010

Shitappa Oyabun - Shitappa Oyabun (したっぱ親分)


Kyoto's Shitappa Oyabun are one of my favourite bands on the Osaka underground circuit. The trio have existed in various forms for almost 4 years now but have existed in their current lineup for about 2 years. Fans of Oshiri Pen Penz and Kyojin Yueni Dekai will definatey dig this band. They combine the skittery off beat guitar melodies of the Pen Penz with the more percussive heavy drive of Kyojin. This self released CDR contains 6 surprisingly good quality studio recordings but unfortunatley no track listing or info.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Oshiri Pen Penz - Gorifana (オシリペンペンズ - ゴリファナ)

Today was the release of the Pen Penz new album "New Me". Out of respect for the band I won't be uploading their latest just yet so instead I give you "Gorifana". Probably my favourite Pen Penz release "Gorifana" is a 40min live CD released in 2009 and also features some of the tracks on the new album. Studio recordings don't really do the band justice but this live recording does a pretty good job of conveying the energy and swagger this band pull off live. The skittery drums, impressive fret noodling and drunken obnoxious rants manage to form some sort of unholy trinity that makes this band an oddly addictive concoction.

Sunday 12 December 2010

LSD March - Live 2010


I'm sure LSD March needs little introduction but for the uninitiated LSD March is a band which revolves around core member Michishita Shunsuke. Michishita's music varies between stripped down acid-folk funeral dirges and face melting psychedelic freakouts. The line up of the band is constantly changing and quite often features guest musicians. But while LSD March has a bit of a cult following outside Japan his CDs are notoriously hard to get hold of. Fortunatley Michishita was giving out CDRs of live recordings at his most recent gig. Unfortunatley however there's no track listing and no info on exactly when or where the recording was made. What I can tell you though is that it features the wonderful Maruo Maruko on guest vocals and guitar and that most of the tracks are taken from his most recent album Under Milk Wood . This is also actually one of my favourite LSD recordings. The sound quality isn't great (You can hear the audience cracking open cans of beer.) but it's a good mix of LSD's more introverted folk leanings and his more extroverted guitar strangling. Not to mention Maruo's vocals add a certain warm sanctuary to Michishita's gloomy ballads. So enjoy this rare gem and may ye wallow in it's ice cold misery. T'is the season!

Music Trivia: Michishita Shunsuke is also Oshiri Pen Penz sound engineer.


Saturday 11 December 2010

Various - Beat Architecture


Beat Arichitecture is a compilation put together by Tokyo based label Easel of Japanese beat makers on the underground scene. Fans of Ninja Tunes and Tru Thoughts will should check this out. All the tracks are instrumental hip-hop that run the gamut between chillout, funky, jazzy and electronic. Overall it manages to remain pretty consistent and there are a couple of gems in here. Jemapur in particular is worth checking out and I'll get round to uploading some of his stuff soon.

Osaka Monaurail - Reality For The People

Y'all feeling funky? Then ladies and gentlemen I present Osaka Monaurail. This 9 piece funk machine seriously know how to kick a groove. What you get here is 8 hot slabs of old school JBs, Sly Stone, Charles Wright style brass heavy deep funk. Unfortunatley these guys are probably much better known in Europe than inside Japan. Back in 2006 they put out an album with former JBs backing singer Marva Whitney and quite frequently do European tours. So if you get the chance check these guys out live an I promise a good time.