DJ Carhouse & MC Hellshit - Live!! EP

Stumbled across this extremely rare beauty in a used section recently. DJ Carhouse and MC Hellshit are none other than Yoshihide Otomo (Ground Zero) and Yamantaka EYE (Boredoms). This mini-CD (Literally mini, it's one of those half sized CDs.) is the second of 2 live EPs the guys released back in 1996. Only 500 copies were made so are extremely sought after. As you can probably guess this is far from your usual DJ-MC setup. EYE screams like some deranged Sesame Street puppet over Otomo's manic record destroying "scratching". Y'know the kind of shit grandma would totally dig.

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Afrirampo - Never Ending Afrirampo

I've been hesitant to upload this as it's a new release but I've had quite a few people asking about it and it doesn't look like it'll be getting a release outside of Japan. So as a compromise I'm uploading the CD portion of the boxset. And trust me you'll want to see the great DVDs too. (A small sample below)

"Never Ending Afrirampo" is a CD a 2xDVD boxset of their final live show at Shangri la in Osaka on June 26th 2010. Along with a CD and DVD of their Shangri la show the second DVD features a ton of previously unseen footage including their incredible (Actual) final secret show at Bears with a guest list of onstage collaborations that reads like a who's who of the Osaka underground scene. Hide (Ultra Bidet), Oshiri Pen Penz, Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Watushi Zombie, Doddodo, Outdoor Homeless and many others. Overall there's over 3 hours of great footage making it a fitting tribute to one of Osaka's best loved noise makers.

Like I said before I doubt this will get a release outside Japan but the DVDs are region free making it import friendly. It's a little pricey but is definatley worth it for any Afrirampo fan. Pika also makes a brief appearence on the new Yamp Kolt album "Yes".



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50on - Nervous Vs

Sorry for the lengthy hiatus. As you can probably guess things have been a little drmatic here in Japan recently. Anyay I haven't posted any electronica in a while so I thought I'd share this with you. 50on is a local Osaka sound collector who splices his field recordings, found sounds and samples with glitchy electronica beats to create som breezy laid back grooves that sound not unlike Prefuse 73 and Secret Mommy. Nervous Vs is a collection of tracks recorded between 2002-2006 and self-released on CDR.

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LIVE LOG: Kudo Tori & Michishita Shinsuke

...And finally rounding out the Kudou bonanza is a special one-off live collaboration between Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Kudou Tori and LSD March's Michishita Shinsuke. The slightly unlikely pairing actually made for some great results. All the songs were Kudou's own compositions filtered through Michishita's own interpretations and distinctive playing style. The pair were later joined by Oshiri Pen Penz drummer Yusuke and played some pretty awesome closing songs but unfortunatley by that point the battery on my camera had already died. The pair said it was their first time playing together but hopefully it won't be their last.

Maher Shalal Hash Baz - From A Summer To Another Summer (An Egypt To Another Egypt)

And for those who are unfamilliar with the weird and wonderful world of Kudou Tori and Maher Shalal Hash Baz here is "From A Summer To Another Summer". Kudou Tori  has been a highly prolific writer and composer since the late 70's but has also managed to remain impressively elusive. His ensemble band Maher Shalal... is a troop of amateur musicians he hires to perform his music with the lineup often changing from performance to performance and with very few consistant members. The band have never released a proper studio album. Instead releasing various compilatons and collections of rehearsal and live recordings. This can make diving into the world of Maher Shalal... rather daunting and confusing for newcomers. "From A Summer..." makes for an excellent starting point though.

Fans of Belle and Sebastion should immediatley find themselves in familliar territory as Tori composes similarly upbeat and quirky ensemble pop music. The key to Tori's unique style though lies in its naivety. As despite being an accomplished and classically trained musician deliberately infuses his music with a clumsy amateurish style that gives his music an amusingly charming "my first highschool band" feel. Imagine a Belle and Sebastion rehearsal session if all the members were drunk, sleep deprived and missing their score sheets and you're not far off. "From A Summer..." is a compilation recordings collected from 1985 to 1999 and selected by Tori Kudou and the Pastels own Stephen Pastel who discovered Tori while he was living in London in the late 90`s.

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Kudou Reiko - Kusa (工藤礼子 - 草)

I thought I would continue the Kudou family tangent by posting a few more albums from the Kudou household. Kudou Reiko is probably best know as the wife of Kudou Tori the man behind Maher Shalal Hash Baz but is also a very respected musician in her own right. She first began making waves on Tokyo's avant-garde underground back in the late 70's but her output has despite her longevity been pretty sparse. After meeting her husband Tori at a Hadaka No Rallizes concert concert in Kyoto the 2 teamed up to create the legendary "Tenno" album under the name Noise. Reiko then began writing and performing with Tori's Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Kusa is her 4th solo album released back in 2006 and also features Tori and Namio on a number of tracks.  It's easy to see the influence Reiko's own music has had on her son Namio. Rather than the cheery, upbeat ensemble pop tunes of her husband, Reiko's compositions are much more stripped back and fragile sounding but still harness some of the same clumsiness that is so intrinsic to Hash Baz's sound. Sadly it seems Reiko is just as elusive as her husband as I haven't been able to find any official website or myspace site and clips of her on youtube

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Kudou Namio - Spring Rain (工藤なみお - 春の雨)

Kudou Namio is the son of infamous Maher Shalal Hash Baz band leader Kudou Torii. I bought this CD at one of Torii's shows a few months back and was expecting Namio to be a bit of a chip off the old block. But I was pretty surprised when Namio's pitch black piano dirges turned out to be about as far removed from Torii's trademark breezy, clumsy pop stlye as you can imagine. Following a show last week I was lucky enough to talk to Torii at length and he revealed the fascinating and harrowing story behind this record. 

In 2005 Namio was living in London studying graphic design at a community college. On the 7th of July Namio was riding one of the 3 subway trains blown up by suicide bombers in what is now known as the 7/7 attacks. Namio survived the attacks with minor injuries but was even more shocked to learn that one of the suicide bombers that day had also been a friend of his from college. Shaken by the events Namio returned to Japan suffering from post traumatic stress and has since lived with his father Torii.   

The album is a collection of dark, minimal piano ballads with lyrics that jump between sung and spoken word and sometimes drift into English. "Lord" for me is the album highlight, exposing the routes of his religious upbringing Namio's stream of consciousness spoken word paces over a simple piano appregio as he seemlessly switches between English and Japanese. The lyrics are striking and often spine chilling as you can sense his agitation and frustration.

Spring Rain is no doubt a dark and difficult album but is also very rewarding for those who stick with it. According to Torii while Namio is still not fully recovered but is thankfully doing much better these days.

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Yolz In The Sky - Yolz In The Sky

Stripped down, no-nonsense post-punk/new wave is what Yolz In The Sky make and are pretty damn good at it. The Osaka quartet's minimal, restrained style is pretty refreshing and their drawn out grooves can become almost hypnotic at times. I don't much care for the vocalist's monotone, high pitched whine but the angular guitars, rolling bass grooves, spiky keyboards and solid drumming go along way in making you forget he's there. This is the bands debut album from back in 2007 released on Tokyo's Less Than TV hardcore/punk label. They released a 2nd album back in 2009 and are currently touring and working on new material. The band come off fairly tame on CD when compared with their formidable live shows but still make for a great listen

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LIVE LOG: Yamamoto Seiichi (Namba Bears 25-2-2011)

It's my birthday tomorrow! Yay me! I was lucky enough to get a digital camera which has some fairly decent audio and video capture which means... I finally have a way of documenting my live show addiction. So may I introduce the all new "LIVE LOG". A regular section where I upload shitty video of some of my recent gigging highlights.

First up is one of the Boredoms own Yamamoto Seiichi's many side projects/concept pieces. "Suimin" is a 3 hour, ambient, audio/visual experience. The audience were told to bring sleeping bags and pillows to watch the ceiling projected video pieces and their accompanying ambient soundscapes. I wasn't totally sure going in if I was going to end up bored out of mind but I came out pretty impressed. The audience were encouraged to relax and sleep if they felt like it so it made for a very informal and laidback experience. The more meditive experience was a nice change of pace from the usual noise and chaos I'm used to seeing at Bears. Worth checking out if you're seeking a more introspective experience.

Byouki Masanori - CDR2 (病気マサノリ - CDR2)

Byouki Masanori's (Sick Masanori) entertaining and unpredictable live shows have made him a bit of a legend on the local Osaka underground scene and evn counts the likes of Afrirampo and LSD March amongst his fans. Masanori makes silly and catchy as hell punk and anthemic folk songs. Sadly the amusing lyrics will be lost in translation to most but you'll no doubt find yourself singing along to songs about the wonderful smells women produce and the benefits of shampoo. The last solo performance I saw by him he refused to use a microphone and continued to "play" half his set accapella style mimicking the sound of the non-existant band and dancing around in his usual distinctive and amusing style. This is his second self-released CDR made up of an impressive 21 tracks and is a bargain at only 300 yen. Although in his usual mischevious manner only 11 of them are numbered in the liner notes.

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Nayuta - Solar Ribbon + Solar Children

This absolute gem comes courtesy of blog reader Francesco who was kind enough to send me a number of links to some of his own stash of Japanese rarities. After some digging I managed to find out that these guys are actually a local Osaka outfit. The original lineup consisted of 3 guitarists and one drummer but in their current line-up have slimmed down to just 2 guitarists. I was lucky enough to catch the band last week supporting Australia's own My Disco and seem no less formidable despite the thinner line-up. Nayuta's music is a little difficult to pin down. They craft technical, angular math-rock with some occasional post-punk influences that manages to be both complex and refreshingly unpredictable without ever feeling esoteric or showy. See, Nayuta also carry with them a very soulfull pop-edge that makes them thoroughly listenable. They cover a simillar ground to bands like Ogre You Asshole and the Gellers but while those bands moments of excellence end up being few and fleeting Nayuta manage to consistantly remain engaging and interesting. 

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