Shimantogawa Tomomi - Kanojo Dekimashita (四万十川友 - 彼女できました)

It's a well known made up fact that one in every three Osaka-ites is a self styled singer/songwriter. Another well known non-statistic is that 90% of those one in three is utter rubbish. Blander than a cup of boiled water and soul suckingly dreary. Shimantogawa Tomomi while not the most original singer/songwriter does manage to play around with the tortured lovestruck troubadour cliche and spin it out into an exaggerated caricature. Not that his warts and all take on balladeering isn't sincere but the emotional melodramatics are carried out with a self awareness that borders on self parody.

Shimantogawa who named himself after one of Japan's most famous rivers and is convinced he is the bastard son of the late Japanese rock legend Imawano Kiyoshiro (忌野清志郎) has been performing in Osaka's dingy underground live houses since he was a young teenager. (Even managing a brief stint across the U.S. in 2010) "Kanojo Dekimashita" (Literally "I got a girlfriend") is a self recorded CDR he put out around 2 years ago. The entire album was recorded on a cheap tape recorder in his bedroom so expect lots lo-fi tape hiss but it mostly adds to the rag-tag DIY charm and intimacy of the recordings rather than detracting from them.

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I Want City - Add 2009

I Want City are a sideproject formed by excellent Nagoya band's drummer Accidents In Too Large Field Shimizu Makoto and Tempeng bassist Sakata Junko. Despite only having 2 members the band manage to have a pretty fleshed out sound that sits somewhere between a faster Public Image and a harsher Red Snapper with an overt penchent for breakbeats and cowbell. In short noise music with a definite groove.

The band formed in 2006 and put out their first and to date only album in 2009 on Kochi based indie labe Chaotic Noise but haven't played since very early 2011 so I've no idea if the project is still alive or not but hopefully these guys will get round to doing something again someday as I'd very much like to see a follow up to their excellent debut.

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Power Empire - Live At Bears Nov 2011

Well hope you all had a good X-mas and New Year and with any luck the prophesied 2012 Mayan doomsday comet will obliterate the planet before Sarah Palin has the chance to sit behind the presidential desk in the oval office. Stay positive people!

It seems fitting to kick off 2012 with a band that became my favourite band of 2011. Power Empire formed a little over a year ago from the ashes of members previous bands have been on the up and up and exhibit all the traits that turn a band into cult favourites in the Osaka underground. A fetishistic love of noise, a blatant disregard for their audiences aural well being and the ability to empty venues inspite of Japanese audienes usual high level of tolerence. In short if I were to describe Power Empire in a single adjective it would be "facemeltinglyferocious". Power Empire's formula is pretty simple but is damn effective. Towering walls of guitar noise being rolled along by basslines thicker than London smog and pummeled into bloody submission by drums so brutal that even Amnesty international are concerned. The bands drummer also has the unique distinction of being the only drummer i've ever actually seen play so hard that he actually managed to tear a kick drum skin.

Live is definitely best way to experience the so I've uploaded a bootleg recording of the band I made myself of a live show of theirs at Bears a few months back. The recording is of 2 of their tracks 13mins and 9mins respectively. The audio quality is pretty decent, I've EQ'd it to clean it up a little and I think it does a fairly decent job of conveying the awesome intensity of the band.

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