Capuchin - Takaramachi (Capuchin - 宝町)

Well it's time to put my money where my mouth is I guess. This is actually my own album. Capuchin was a solo project I started shortly after coming to Japan. Inspired by the sights and sounds around me in my new enviroment I set about trying to fuse my field recordings with live instrumentation and to try and use sound collages as a part of the music. I was listening to alot of Four Tet and Manitoba/Caribou at the time so it has a "Folktronica" feel to it. Though almost all of the instrumentation is from live recorded instruments rather than samples which were then later chopped up and looped etc. The recordings date back to around 2005/2006 but the album was put out by Easel a Japanese sub-division of Prefuse 73's own Eastern Developments label in late 2008.

The title "Takaramachi" refers to the name of the neighbourhood in which a group of my Japanese friends shared a flat together. Around the time the label decided to release the album the friends, many of whom had been close friends ever since kindergarten went their seperate ways after getting married, changing jobs etc etc and genrally being caught up by lifes ebb and flow. So I named the album after the flat as a nostalgic tribute.

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Hamah Moh - Ghost Slider

Hamah Moh is a Kyoto based singer/songwriter who writes some impressively dank and dingy ballads using his disctinctively raspy resonator guitar and slide setup. Backed by harmonium and the occasional bit of didgeridoo and percussion Hamah's lengthy. sparse, bluesy dirges have an almost Eastern flavour to them managing to fuse blue grass, folk and eastern influences with elements of traditional Japanese folk music. To be honest I find his vocals to be a little grating after a while (He has a slight "tang" in his voice that sounds a little forced, but perhaps it's not so noticeble if you don't know Japanese.) but he does a great job of creating music that manages to be dark but also surprisingly uplifting and upbeat. Hamah even manages a worthy cover of Japan's multi-talented comedian turned actor turned songwriter turned painter turned author turned movie director turned university professor Kitano Takeshi's "Asakusa Kid".

Dim the lights and break out the cigars and whisky for maximised listening pleasure.

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Ultra Jr. - We R ULTRA Jr.

OK I got a couple of great responses and requests from the Ultra Bide post so I thought I'd upload this rare CDR. Ultra Jr are one of Hide from Ultra Bide's many sideprojects. Featuring Jinichiro Ida (A.K.A. JJ) from Limited Express (Has Gone?) and current Shonen Knife drummer Reo. Sadly the band were fairly short lived and only put out 2 CDR singles. The band have been on indefinite hiatus since Reo joined as Shonen Knife's drummer after the tragic death of their previous drummer China in a car accident while touring the U.S. Unfortunatley I don't have the other single otherwise I'd bundle them together.

Jr. are much closer in spirit to JJ's band Limited Express (Has Gone?) with Hide taking a backseat role and letting JJ and Reo share vocal duties. Sadly the single is only 2 tracks long but shows alot of the promise the project had which will hopefully one day be fullfilled.

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Ultra Bide - Sonic Crush!!!

Ultra Bide are one of Kansai's most respected bands and local legends on the underground circuit. Originally formed in the late 70's by core member Hide the band over the years has gone through numerous line-up changes and switch ups. The original line-up (Now fondly refrered as "The original Ultra Bide".) included noise legend Jojo Hiroshige on bass with Hide himself taking up duties on lead guitar. In it's current form Ultra Bide feature a brutal dual bass and drums set-up.

Bide are without a doubt Kansai's most consitently impressive live bands. No gimmicks, no fucking about just straight up ear drum battering punk. But despite how great the band are their recorded output is patchy at best and doesn't really do the band justice which is why I've held off on posting about these guys for so long.  Thankfully though the band recently put out a DVD-R of one of their live shows and luckily the sound is pretty good so I've taken the liberty of ripping the audio from it for your listening pleasure. It's obviously no substitute to seeing these guys but it'll have to do. Pure obnoxious, snot nosed punk is what you get. Fans of Friction, Big Black, Shellac etc should find immediate comfort.

Not resting on his laurels, Hide despite being one of Kansai's longest standing and well respected underground veterens (Hide turned half a century old this year. Happy Birthday you old cunt!) is also deeply involved in nurturing up and coming acts and is always seeking to use his status to champion the latest generations of bands. Not to mention that even at 50 Hide and his cohorts consistently manage out play bands more than half their age. Take note kids. This is how you do punk.

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The Impacts - Go! Mask Man From Hell!

A quick rhetorical question. Do you like Guitar Wolf? Ever wondered what they'd sound like even scummier and trashier than they already are? Well look no further because the appropriatley named Impacts are here to blow your eardrums straight out your ass. The Osaka trio who play their shows wearing all over chequered body suits were an impulse buy for me. Picked up from Timebomb for just 100 yen (That's roughly $1 U.S.) the band clearly aren't too interested in actually making much money. The only problem with the CDR is that it's only 4 tracks long and is over before you know it. Rock'n'Roll!

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