Xinlisupreme - Tomorrow Never Comes

X is for Xinlisupreme

Given that these guys are the only Japanese band I know of that begin with X (Besides the ridiculous X Japan.) choosing a band for X wasn't very difficult.

Formed in Oita on the Japanese island of Kyushu the elusive 2 piece serve up some pretty eclectic offerings. whether it's blasts of industrial noise, 808 drum sequences or ambient electronica, the one constant is the bands love of their bedroom recording quality Lo-Fi sound. I can't say I really "get" these guys but they do make for an interesting and unique listening experience. 

This is the bands debut album released back in 2001. The band managed to find a decent following outside of Japan thanks to the album being released on the prestigious UK indie label Fat Cat. The band then seemed to drop off the radar for almost 10 years until the release of their sophomore effort "4 Bombs" last year. 

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Sim + Otomo - Monte Alto Estate (Sim + 大友良英 - Monte Alto Estate)

Sim are a pretty well established Tokyo 3-piece who have been knocking around since the mid oo's. Comprised of Drums, Guitar and various electronics on this album they're joined by veteren noise maker Otomo Yoshihide (大友良英) (Check out the DJ Carhouse & MC Hellshit collaboration with the Boredoms EYE I posted a while back for more Otomo weirdness.) Here Otomo takes up "DJing" duty on turntables and homemade synths and electronics to help flesh out Sims minimal style.

I guess if I had to draw comparisons then Tortoise spring to mind. But think more super minimal no-wave rather than progressive jazz meanderings. The drums are central here forming the skeletel structure of Sim's barebones music to which stabby guitars, droning, bleeping electronics and chopped up audio samples are pinned to. My only gripe with this album is that it doesn't really deviate or expand upon the idiosyncratic so it can make for tough listening in long chunks and it's difficult to distinguish one track the next. But having said that I still enjoy this album very much and is to date Sim's best work. Sadly although the band members have been involved in various other projects Sim seem to have been virtually inactive for the last few years.

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Itoken - Pins And Needles (イトケン - Pins And Needles)

No doubt the first word that will spring to mind when listening to Itoken is "quirky" and you'd be right. Itoken is a Tokyo based producer/musician/composer/drummer whose prolific but fairly obscure output includes soundtracking games, TV commercials, animations and websites. Not to mention his numerous collaboration projects.

Itoken uses toy instruments, oddball electronics and homemade gadgets to create his off the wall intstrumental ditties. His sugery sweet music is quirky and upbeat but also oddly sinister in a twisted sort of way. Replace the toy melodicas, xylophones and hand claps with electric guitars and drums and it could almost be Battles or some other math-rock ensemble.

"Pins And Needles" was released in 2001 and a number of tracks made an appearence in the Xbox game Phantom Crash.

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Ydestroyde - s/t (イデストロイド - s/t)

Ydestroyde are a local Osaka band who first emerged in the early 00's alongside the likes of Afrirampo, Oshiri Penpenz and Kyojin Yuedekai as part of what was later labelled the "zero generation". The band began life as a solo project by vocalist and electronic noodler Synzo then quickly expanded into a 4 piece before the band disbanded around 2005 then continued as a solo project with various stand in and guest members. Earlier this year Synzo put out the bands second album "Synosizer" as a solo project before going on an American tour. 

"Ydestroyde" is the bands first self released CDR mini-album recorded in 2004 when the band were a 4 piece consisting of Synzo on vocals and electronics complimented by drums, bass and guitar. True to many of their "zero generation" peers humourous, chaotic loud as fuck rock'n'roll is the order of the day. Ydestroyde's sound may not be quite as left field as the likes of Afrirampo and Kyojin Yuedekai but it's anarchic fusion of anthemic-punk, prog rock and noisy ,brutal hardcore,  all sprinkled with bits of synthersizers and electronics give Ydestroyde a sound that's difficult to pigeon hole. 

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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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Baiyon - PixelJunk Eden (Original Soundtrack)

Baiyon is Kyoto DJ and graphic designer Kuramitsu Tomohisa. Back in 2008 he collaborated with local Kyoto game developer Q-games to create a game that used Baiyon's stripped down minimal, electro house music (Think of a more chilled out Plastikman) and his distinctive and stylish graphic design as its source of inspiration. The result was the rather unique and addictive PixelJunk Eden. But while Baiyon has been around for quite some time contributing music, sound design and art to various projects and exhibitions over the years his musical output has been fairly limited. Thankfully Q-games were savy enough to actually release the games soundtrack on CD. The game did alot to raise Baiyon's international profile so hopefully you'll be seeing more from him in the future.

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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: 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.

Oorutaichi - Cosmic Coco, Singing For a Billion Imu's Hearty Pi

With an album name like "Cosmic Coco, Singing For a Billion Imu's Hearty Pi", song titles like "Merry Ether Party" and not to mention the epic twenty four sided, three meter long gatefold sleeve that it comes packaged in you know you're in for something special. And it's that proviso that I'm breaking my own rule on not uploading new releases. It's just simply too damn good not to share. Oorutaichi has been making music since 1999 and is also the founding member of the wonderful bizarre folk/pop band "Urichipangoon". Oorutaichi's music covers all sorts of musical spectrums and on his latest solo outing sounds something like if Animal Collective joined forces with Bjork and Four Tet to produce an album of floor stomping dance tunes. And yes it's every bit as wonderful and brilliant as that potentially sounds. The album features 2 bonus track remixes from Eye of the Boredoms and Daedelus. 2011 is off to a great start.

Oorutaichi is currently touring his album with various shows across Japan before he'll be heading overseas for some more shows so keep your eyes open. .

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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.

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Doddodo - Donomichi Doddodo



Another well known player on the Osaka underground scene and good friend of Afrirampo and Oshiri Pen Penz. Namin Haku A.K.A. Doddodo has been on the scene since the early 00's and started off producing some old-school style sample based hip-hop. Sounds a bit like Coldcuts older stuff. It's all about mashing as many different genres, styles and samples into a semi-cohesive beat. It's not exactly graceful but it is pretty amusing and it's the kind of hip-hop that DJ Shadow seemed to  have effectively killed dead with the release of "Entroducing". Doddodo has more recently been involved in alot collaboration projects the most recent of which being with her and bassist Inada Makoto which I'll get round to uploading soon. Enjoy!

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Himuro - Clear Without Items

Time for a little change of pace. Himuro A.K.A. Tokyo based electronica producer Himuro Yoshiteru has been releasing music on and off since the late 90's. Clear Without Items released in 2004 varies between slick hip-hop influenced Prefuse 73 style grooves and agitated drum'n'bass, jazz inspired workouts more akin to someone like Square Pusher. It's eclectic but there are a number of absolute jems on this album. Great for blasting on summer drives with the windows down.  

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