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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QSON - House Dust Meltdown

Q is for QSON.

Qson's music is hard to categorise so I'll go with his own description of his music "Genreless-Freakout-Avant-Spiritual". The Chris Morris coined phrase "Seriously monged music" springs to mind. In less vague terms Qson's music is basically a mashup of lo-fi oddball musical collages layered with garbled nonsense vocals, random audio samples and slightly off key original instrumentation. It's all rather silly and aimless but manages to be thoroughly entertaining in the process. Although I could also see it being equally effective being put to use as a torture device in American blackspot interogation facilities. 

"House Dust Meltdown" is Qson's sophomore album released in 2008 on what appears to be his own label Aaahg Records. (Given that the only releases on the label are this and his first album "Dirty Toilet Restaurant".) I havent been able to dig up much information about the guy so I've no idea whereabouts in Japan he's from (Assuming he's not infact some sort of extra terrestial.) or if he's still active. 

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Funn - 1st Demo

F is for Funn

One of the fun things (No punn intendended.) about uploading things in alphabetical order is that it's allowed me to rediscover parts of my music collection that had been blanked from memory. No "F" bands immediately came to mind until I dove into my horded mountain of aural artifacts and I pulled out this Demo CDR by Funn. (Fabulous Vibrations and Freedom were also on my candidate shortlist.) 

Unfortunately there's not a lot I know about Funn besides what nuggets of info are contained in the CD liner notes and their defunct website/blog. The demo was recorded in 2008 and the band seem to have been inactive since 2009. The 4-piece are listed in the credits as Tamai Masae O0wng, MDLPitnblog and Kenn3 and the demo was recorded in Rinky Dink studios in Tokyo so I assume they're a Tokyo band.

Details aside Funn are exactly that, toe-tapping, head-bobbing, trashy, fuzzy, lo-fi Japanese garage punk. There's some decent variety in 9 track "Demo" CDR that show off the bands versatility. From mid-tempo grungier moments that sound reminiscent of Tokyo rockers Silver Fins to breakneck hardcore grooves that bring to mind the similarly styled D.I.Y. punkers Sika Sika all mixed in with some catchy retro-throwback guitar hooks. 

Also F is for Fucking Thee Oh Sees came to fucking Japan and fucking rocked fuck yeah! Thanks guys for making the expense trip to this tiny, distant island. Hopefully John returned home with enough money to buy a new shirt. Fucking bum!

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Puffyshoes - Finally The Weekend (Bonus CDR)

Japanese all-girl, lo-fi, DIY, garage rock bands are practically an institution unto themselves. Pioneered by Shonen Knife, introduced to wider audiences via Tarrantino's championing of The 5,6,7,8's in his movie Kill Bill, flipped on its head and shaken by the ankles by the likes of Afrirampo and Kiiiiiii and finally resurrected by Kinoko Hotel. It's a quirky genre that captalises on the heart stealing mix of girly Japanese cuteness and charming lo-fi naivity. But with so many such bands around it takes something a little more special to linger in peoples memories after the 2-3 minute sugary coated goodness has left your stereo. Puffyshoes are one such band who manage to distinguish themselves from the oh so adorable horde.

Formed in 2009 this Tokyo duo have quickly been building up momentum and even count bands like Gagakirise amongst their mutual fans (Click here to hear Gagakirise's 12min "cover version" of Puffy's album) . "Finally The Weekend" is actually the bands 2nd album but the first to be released in Japan with their debut "Something Gold" being released by Canadian cassette label Scotch Tapes. With "Finally The Weekend" being a new release I won't be uploading the album itself but I will be uploading the free bonus CDR that comes with it. What you get is 9 tracks, 7 of which I assume are album outtakes and the last being a cover and remix of a Puffy song by another band. Puffy's songs sung in excellent English probably bare more resemblance to current hot ticket U.S. girl rock bands like Best Coast and Vivian Girls than their Japanese counterparts. DIY, grungey, reverb soaked 2 minute rock songs are the order of the day with the whole album clocking in under 20 minutes long. It's not going to revolutionise music but then that's not really the point. Just hope these girls would make the trip down to Osaka soon.

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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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Silver Fins - Pigment

This album has been a personal favourite of mine for quite some time but despite many attempts at searching I've never managed to uncover much info about the band. The band was formed by members from a previous band called Salon Music ( サロン・ミュージック) and managed to find brief success when one of their songs was selected to feature on the soundtrack of the animated adaptation of the comic Berzerk way back in 1997. As far as I know this album and another entitled Hollywood are the only 2 albums the band ever released before drifting off into the great ether. I have no idea if the band are still together and active or if the members went on to form other bands. If anyone has any more info or know where I can get hold of their other album Hollywood please get in touch.

Silver Fins have a great lo-fi, sloppy early 90's grungy, alt-rock sound. The band evoke the lazy charm of Pavement and early Beck and the slurred, badly pronounced and grammatically awkward English lyrics only add to their loser stylings.

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Moon Mama - 幸せの可視

Next up is Pika's solo album. Released back in late 2008 under her solo moniker Moon Mama. Pika's offering is a much more low key affair than Oni's album. Heading in much the same direction as Oni's solo work, gone for the most part is the ecclectic noise in favour of stripped down acoustic songs. The album is a collection of bedroom recordings that sound like they were recorded on a 4 track tape recorder. It's very lo-fi, personal and intimate but unfortunatley the quality of the songs is just not up to the level of Oni's work. Still worth a look for diehard fans but it's hard to reccomend for ayone else.

Pika still plays occasional solo live sets but also plays with Jim O'Rourke (Who has lived in Tokyo for the last 2 years.) very regularly in Tokyo and Osaka and very occasionally performs with her all-girl-supergroup side project Monmon Tonight.

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SEX+Y - SEX+Y

Talking of un-google-ble band names meet SEX+Y (Apparently just pronounced sexy.) Ignore that awful cover artwork for a moment and you'll acutally find a pretty cool band. SEX+Y lie somewhere between the lo-fi bedroom pop of Shonen Knife and the batshit-cutesy crazyness of Afrirampo. Sweetly sung pop one minute, wailing banshees the next. It's very girly, very Japanese, very loud and also very good.

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