Hyottoko - Demo CDR (ヒョットコ - Demo CDR)

Hyottoko are an Osaka bass and drum duo who draw their name from the bizzarre looking Japanese folklore character who is most often represented in masks worn at festivals and parades. The pair have been active for around 2 years and pedal some groove heavy intrumental punk that's tighter than a nun's untarnished holiest of holys. The band display some damn impressive drumming and fret work and their 6 track demo CDR here has some surprisingly high quality production value to match. The band remind me alot of Chinchila Silas Hole which I posted a while back only minus the jabberwocky vocals. Think somethink like Lightning Bolt only much less esoteric and much easier on the brain and ears and with added cowbell.

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3/3 - 3/3

Rounding the Friction bonanza is an album that became one of the most sought after records in Japanese rock. As mentioned before in my "Atsureki" post 3/3 (Sanbun No San) were a pre-Fiction band formed before the members relocated to New York in search of inspiration and glory. The reason this album became so sought after was because it was self recorded and only 10 handmade demo records were ever made. The band never got picked up by a label and so the album was swallowed up by the great rock'n'roll ether. After Frictions rise in popularity fans went in search of this holy grail and for many years the only way to get hold of the album was via a dodgy bootlegger who had obtained a cassette recording of the record and re-pressed it on vinyl complete with incorrect album artwork and track titles. Thankfully P-Vine in their reissue series have found one of the original vinyl prints, remastered it and as an extra bonus also uncovered a selection of previously unheard live recordings.

Disk 1 is the original 3/3 album with 2 added bonus tracks recorded during the same recording sessions. The album recorded in 1974 was very much of its time. Full on psychedelic rock'n'roll with some very impressive fret work that betrays the minimal sound the band later established with Friction. Disk 2 is a series of live recordings dating back to '76 and '77. Most intriguing is the inclusion of tracks like "Crazy Dream" that would later go on to become Friction staples. It's interesting hearing the evolution of the tracks from their earliest forms to how they were later represented in Friction. The pre and post-New York influence on their music being immediatley recognisable.

Not the musical milestone Friction would later become but none the less an excellent if not terribly original record and an essential listen for Friction fans who want a glimpse of how the band developed their distinct sound over the years.

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Friction - '79 Live

Well now I've given you a brief history of the band in the post below it's time for another gem. As great an album as "Atsureki" is one thing that is perhaps most dissapointing about Friction is that they never recorded an album that anywhere near approached the ferocity and rawness of their live shows. So much so that they almost sound like 2 entirely different bands. Luckily audiophiles have been combing the archives for Friction material and in 2004 P-vine records in their continuing re-release and remastering of anything and everything Friction related put out this CD and DVD double pack featuring a previously unreleased live recording of the band from 1979.

The audio quality isn't great but is appropriatley grimey for the kind of music and performance it is. It's great to hear earlier, warts and all versions of songs that would later appear on the bands debut but with thier rough edges trimmed. To be honest this is the Friction I prefer. Dirty, nasty, loud and chugging with none of those dancefloor rumbling basslines or glass shattering abrasive guitar punches being handicapped or tied down by conservative studio production. This for me is the essential Friction sound.

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Friction - Atsureki (フリクション - 軋轢)

Time for another classic. Friction are one of Japan's most influential underground bands and have a long and complex history deserving of a band of such legendary status. The members first emerged as young teenagers in the early 70's Tokyo hippy commune band   (Maru Sanakaku Shikaku) and then went on to form their own band 3/3 (sanbun no san). The band recorded a self-titled LP under the 3/3 moniker that sadly only made it as far as 10 original test pressings but more on that in the above post. By the late 70's the members upped shop and headed to the holy mecca of New Yorks underground no-wave scene where they joined the lineup of Teenage Jesus And The Jerks and then shortly after became original founding members in James Chance And The Contortions. The band then returned to Japan and formed the no-wave inspired Friction. After releasing a few singles and live recordings and earning a fierce reputation on Tokyo's late 70's punk scene the band were discovered by legendary YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) member Sakamoto Ryuichi who produced the bands first studio album which you see here "Atsureki" and was released in 1980.
So with the biography out of the way what about the music?

Well the band fused New Yorks avant-garde no-wave scene with its more accessible counterpart new-wave punk. Friction strike a nice balance between no-waves grittier, rougher more abrasive moments with the dancebility and directness of new-wave. Think Joy Division meets Big Black meets the Sex Pistols and the Contortions. In short "Atsureki" is a superb album that still sounds as potent today as when it was released over 30 years ago. Shortly after "Atsureki" the band line-up changed but continued under the name Friction and went on to produce several other follow-up albums. They may be worth seeking out but to me none of them come anywhere close to the greatness and sound the band had on their debut.

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Nohshintoh - Cannibal Circus (のうしんとう - Cannibal Circus）

"Nohshintoh is like a baby, both cute and grotesque at the same time..." is how the band describe themselves on their website and it's pretty accurate. Nohshintoh (Literally meaning concussion in Japanese.) are a Nagoya 5 piece who have actually been around for over 20 years and have finally got round round to releasing their first studio album. It's a new release so I won't be uploading it just yet (It is superb though and worth checking out.) but luckily the band have an open policy of letting people record at their shows and even have a free archive of live recordings. So I picked through a few of them and plucked out the one that had the best sound and performance and uploaded it for your listening pleasure. If you'd like to hear more just check out their archive here. All files can be streamed or downloaded for free.

This recording was made at KD Japon in Nagoya in 2008. As for the music, well it's a wonderfully schizophrenic mix between no-wave punk, dub, ska and funk. One minute it's steel drums and thick reggae bass lines and the next it's frantic hardcore drumming and rabid guitar savagery all mashed together a refreshingly un-self concious manner that Japanese bands seem to do so well. Equal parts catchy and sweet and equal parts challenging and "grotesque". Imagine James Chance & The Contortions jamming with Manu Chao and you're halfway there. Many of the tracks in this recording also make an appearence on the album albeit in a slightly more refined forms.

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Funeral Beer - Funeral Beer

This was an impulse buy that I plucked from the Japanese indie/underground section at Timebomb records a few weeks ago. It was the rather excellent artwork (Gold leaf CD jacket mmmmm!) and equally excellent name that drew me in and I'm happy to say it payed off. After giving it a listen I had to double check the liner notes to make sure they were actually a Japanese band as they sound very un-Japanese. It's not a criticism but you get used to alot of local bands drawing from a simillar pool of influences and peers and these guys are definatley drawing on more western centric influences. The album is fairly eclectic but fuzzed out, lo-fi shoegazey reverb drenched Velvets inspired indie/garage rock is the order of the day which makes them more comparable to U.S. bands like Thee Oh Sees than any Japanese bands I can think of. This self-released album dates back to 2009 and most of their tracks on their myspace are new so hopefully they'll have a follow up out before too long.

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Killer Bong - Osaka Dub

...and I've saved the best for last. The awesomely named Killer Bong is another local Osaka DJ and beat maker and he has some awesome music to back up his awesome name. Killer reminds me alot of early DJ Krush with a similarly sparse, minimal ambient sound. This is dark and grimy down-tempo, trippy instrumental hip-hop/dub at its best. There's not alot of info around on Killer Bong (His utterly perplexing website won't help any either.) but what I do know is that he released his first album back in 2003 on the Osaka hip-hop label Black Smoker Records created by local Hip-hop unit Think Tank. (K-Bomb, Baba, Jube, D.N.A., DJ Yazi, Wadake and Chi3-Chee.). Most recently he hooked up with the legendery vocalist Suzuki Damo (Best known for his work with Krautrock band Can on their albums "Tago Mago" and "Ege Bamyasi") to release a collaboration of improvised music. It's just come out so I won't be uploading yet but it is fairly limited release so I won't make you wait too long.

"Osaka Dub" is the first in his series of "Dub" CD-R albums released in 2005 which also include "Tokyo Dub" and "Moscow Dub". Not sure what the significance of the cities is as none of the albums are live recordings or seem to figure into the albums in any way. "Osaka Dub" is probably my favourite of his releases but pretty much eveything he's done is gold and despite being fairly elusive is well worth the trouble of tracking down.

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ALTZ - Funk Do Wap

ALTZ is another local Osaka mix DJ I've discovered recently. "Funk Do Wap" is one of ALTZ recent mix CD releases but he's also a multi-instrumentalist who performs his own music and is a frequent remixer and collaborator. While DJ Memento's mix is straight up old-school ALTZ draws from a much more diverse pool of music ranging from classic funk right upto modern house and electronica. ALTZ has quite a reputation in Japan's club scene and frequently plays shows up and down the country. His reputation has also landed some high profile gigs in Europe and has had a number of his releases put out on U.K. label Bear Funk. ALTZ also sometimes performs under the name WALTZ.

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DJ Memento - Badassfunk Gets Nice and Mad

Recently I've been trying to crack my way into the local underground hip-hop and DJ scene as it's sadly been an area of neglect for me thus far. I've only just scratched the surface but have already made some great discoveries. DJ Memento is a local mix DJ and collage artist who plays sets every Friday night at Panorama in Osaka. "Badassfunk Gets Nice and Mad" is the 2nd mix CD-R from Memento and contains one non-stop 60 minute mix of the finest funk, jazz, psychedelic rock and retro TV samples. Memento likes to keep it old-school using only analogue techniques in his mixes/collages lifting all his music and samples from vinyl and videotapes.

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Mach 1.67 - Star Burn

I'd been after this CD for quite a while so was happy as a pig in shit to find it lurking in Forever Record's Japanese underground/indie section for 500 yen. Mach 1.67 is the band formed by influential 70's Japanese new wave movie director Ishii Sogo (Who's groundbreaking movies inspired directors like Tsukamoto Shinya: Tetsuo Iron Man and Takashi Miike: Ichi The Killer among others.) and acclaimed Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano. The band originally formed in 1996 and released an LP before the members went their seperate ways on various film and music projects. The band reformed in 2000 and put out the single "Star Burn". A year later Ishii Sogo used the single as the soundtrack and visual inspiration for his awesome 2001 film "Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts". A 50min black & White punk movie about 2 rival "superheroes" battling it out in down town Tokyo. A cinematic audio/visual overload of face melting proportions.

Mach 1.67 much like Sogo Ishii's own movies deliver some harsh balls to the wall punk rock but the standout track on the single and the movie is without doubt epic 9 minute sleezy, ghetto dub creep of "Electric Buddha". Hopefully we'll see the winning combination of Sogo and Tadanobu pairing up again someday.

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Electric Dragon Trailer