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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Up-Tight - Early Years

U is for Up-Tight

Carrying the torch first lit by early 70's Japanese noise-psychedelia pioneers like Hadaka No Rallizes, The Jacks and Taj Mahal Travellers Up-Tight have been gloomily moping around since their inception in 1993. True to Rock'n'Roll cliche and despite the trio's 20 year history and strong reputation amongst their peers the band have managed to maintain a thick enigmatic cloud around themselves. No small feat in the all enveloping internet age. The bands records are notoriously hard to track down with their discography spread across multiple labels, across multiple continents in multiple formats and often in very small numbers.

"Early Years" is a 2007 re-release and re-master of the first self-titled album originally put out in 1999 and in typical Up-Tight fashion was limited to a run of 600 copies. The band along with their dogged adherence to the sounds of Rallizes and The Velvets also filter in their own flavour by throwing in more contemporary influences from U.K.Shoegazer bands like My Bloody Valentine and The Stone Roses. Dense walls of reverb drenched guitar wash over unintelligibly echoey vocals as brooding drums slowly build up momentum for the inevitable unleashing of the claustrophobia inducing acid-lick guitar solo. They may not win many points for originality but you can't fault them for executing on an age old formula with effective authenticity. The re-release also comes with 2 bonus tracks of early Live and studio recordings dating back to 1994.



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Spectrum Synthesize! - Humour and Destruction (ユーモア アンド デストラクション)

S is for Spectrum Synthesize!

Roughly two and a half hours drive west of Osaka lies the cosmopolitan city of Okayama. Adjacent to Osaka`s Psychedelia and Prog inspired "Zero Generation" Okayama began to breed it's own young generation of musical experimenters and wave makers. While channeling similar No-Wave and Noise influences as their Osaka counterparts Okayama's vanguard came in a very distinctive Hardcore, Post-Punk flavour (How can you spot an Okayama band? It probably has cowbell in it.) that set them apart from their slightly more recognised big city contemporaries. 

Spectrum Synthesize! were one of those bands. Their origins began in 2001 and went through multiple lineup changes over the years until their eventual dissolution in 2008. Originally a dual bass and drums setup the band became a 4 piece (As they appear on this record) before expanding their Guit, Vocals/samples, Drums and Bass configuration to include Sax. 

Melt Banana and Deracine with a smattering of early Boredoms are the easiest comparisons to make along with fellow Okayama bands such as Accidents In Too Large Field and I want City with whom the band have shared members. In other words attention deficient, schizophrenic punk that sounds like an entire albums worth of ideas being thrown into a washing machine at the same time and then spat out as 60 second long delinquent disco-punk rampages. This, the bands only full release clocking in at 11 tracks in just over 11mins  will chew you up, ruffle up your hair, steal your pocket money and spit you out before you`ve even had time to lace up your dancing shoes. More cowbell!

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EAD - Lead Or Deadead? Head Or Ead.

E is for EAD.

EAD are one of the many bands that sprang up during the sudden peak in interest in the Japanese experimental underground scene in the mid-90's that followed on the heels of the success of bands like Boredoms, Ruins and Acid Mothers Temple.

"Lead Or Deadead?" was put out by renowned Osaka D.I.Y. label Gyuune Cassette in '97. The label was created by local musician Suhara Keizo in '94 as a way of documenting the local underground experimental scene. Over the years the label has been home to some of Japan's best known musical vanguard including Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Omoidehatoba), Hiroshi Na (Hadaka No Rallizes, Port Cuss, Niplets), Tabata Mitsuru (Acid Mothers Temple, Zeni Geva) as well as younger generations of cosmic sonic adventurers such as Afrirampo and LSD March. 

EAD were a 4-piece collaboration project (Junji Miike, Atsushi Shibata, Koichi Yoshimura, Manabu Ishikuma. Off the top of my head the members don't ring any bells but I'm sure most of them must have been active in other bands and projects. Kudos to any knowledgeable reader who can point them out to me.) that bare many of the hallmarks of the underground scene at the time. Genre-less experimentations into noise-psychedelia with heavy Krautrock, prog and No-wave influences. The album also features a number of guest musicians including members of Omoide Hatoba and Solmania.

It doesn't look like the CD is still available (I found my copy tucked away in the treasure trove of Japanese underground gems that is Forever Records.) but you could always try contacting Suhara himself through the Gyuune Cassette website to inquire about it. Yeah, when I say D.I.Y. label I mean D.I.Y. label.

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Gezan - Hakkoushita Wa Ga Bokoku (下山 - 発酵した我母国)

A lot has happened in the world of Gezan since I was last online. The ambitious Osaka 4-piece released their debut studio album earlier this year through their own label 13th Records then in October bid farewell to Osaka with a sold out oneman sayonara show and upped sticks to the bustling metropolis that is Tokyo. The band also have a live DVD/CD set coming out next month which features the aforementioned farewell gig.

The band have been on the up and up since their formation around 3 years ago so it seems appropriate to return to the bands humble beginnings. "Hakkoushita Wa Ga Bokoku" (Fermenting our homeland) is the bands first CDR release from late 2009. The CDR is a set of live recordings made at Bears livehouse. For those unfamiliar with the band intense, sleazy psychedelic noise-rock is the name of the game. The band have diversified and developed their sound over the years venturing into punk, hardcore and even electro-hip hop but what's on display here is the pure unadulterated psychonoise that earned them their fierce reputation on the local live circuit.

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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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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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Gagakirise - Black Long Hair Nice Wah Pedal ( ガガキライズ - Black Long Hair Nice Wah Pedal)

Gagakirise (Pronounced Gagaki Rise but written as one word.) are an impressive Tokyo based 4-legged instrumental band who are more than adept at unleashing some ear shattering guitar strangulation and drum kit abuse. It's fast, intense it's rock'n'fuck'n'roll. The appropriatley named "Black Long Hair Nice Wah Pedal" is a CDR mini-album the band put out back in 2009. The band toured the U.S. in 2009/2010 then went quite for a while but have recently resurfaced playing a number of shows around Tokyo. Drummer Inoue Ryo and guitarist Yoshizawa Sachio are also involved with a number of other bands. I'm too lazy to list and link them all here but check the blog section of their official site and you should find all the relevant links there. Worth checking out if you like Gagakirise's hectic style of guitar shredding.Happy head banging folks.

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DJ Carhouse & MC Hellshit - Live!! EP

Stumbled across this extremely rare beauty in a used section recently. DJ Carhouse and MC Hellshit are none other than Yoshihide Otomo (Ground Zero) and Yamantaka EYE (Boredoms). This mini-CD (Literally mini, it's one of those half sized CDs.) is the second of 2 live EPs the guys released back in 1996. Only 500 copies were made so are extremely sought after. As you can probably guess this is far from your usual DJ-MC setup. EYE screams like some deranged Sesame Street puppet over Otomo's manic record destroying "scratching". Y'know the kind of shit grandma would totally dig.

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Afrirampo - Never Ending Afrirampo

I've been hesitant to upload this as it's a new release but I've had quite a few people asking about it and it doesn't look like it'll be getting a release outside of Japan. So as a compromise I'm uploading the CD portion of the boxset. And trust me you'll want to see the great DVDs too. (A small sample below)

"Never Ending Afrirampo" is a CD a 2xDVD boxset of their final live show at Shangri la in Osaka on June 26th 2010. Along with a CD and DVD of their Shangri la show the second DVD features a ton of previously unseen footage including their incredible (Actual) final secret show at Bears with a guest list of onstage collaborations that reads like a who's who of the Osaka underground scene. Hide (Ultra Bidet), Oshiri Pen Penz, Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Watushi Zombie, Doddodo, Outdoor Homeless and many others. Overall there's over 3 hours of great footage making it a fitting tribute to one of Osaka's best loved noise makers.

Like I said before I doubt this will get a release outside Japan but the DVDs are region free making it import friendly. It's a little pricey but is definatley worth it for any Afrirampo fan. Pika also makes a brief appearence on the new Yamp Kolt album "Yes".



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Chinchilla Silas Hole - Socrates Live 2010 (チンチラシラスホール)

I'm going to partake in a little bit of Psuedo bootlegging here but it's all for a good cause. With consistantly impressive live shows and a well developed sound all their own Chinchillas Silas Hole were probably my favourite band of 2010. Everytime I've seen them I've begged them to put out a CDR of some sort but since the band have yet to do it themselves I decided to take the initiative. I ripped the live recordings off their Myspace page and ran them through some EQs and noise reducers to improve the quality a little. The audio quality isn't great but is hopefully listenable enough to appreciate this truly great band. 

Chinchilla are a Kyoto based bass, drums and vocals/Kaoss pad trio who have since 2009 slowly been building up a buzz on the Kyoto underground circuit along with bandmates Shut Up Merry. Pinpointing their sound is a little tricky but I think what I like about them so much is that they combine many of the traits familliar to Kansai's avant garde underground (Randomness, noise, humour, spontaneity and freneticism.) and roll them into some seriously catchy, hook laden grooves. One part punk, one part funk, one part Boredoms and 100% fuckin' great. 

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Boredoms - 77 Boadrum

Last Thursday I watched "Drumandala" a reproduction of the Boredom's Yamamoto Seichi's original drum orchestra concept. The 10 drummers included members from Gezan, Shitappa Oyabun and Power Empire whom were conducted by LSD March's Michishita Shinsuke. The 10 drummers packed within the tiny confines of Bears basement live house made for some pretty impressive listening and reminded me of this breathtakingly ambitious gem I've been meaning to upload.

Behold! 77 Boadrums! The concept is simple enough. 77 drummers sat in a spiral formation with the Boredoms Yamataka Eye at the centre conducting the chaos with one of his custom built guitar towers. The original work was performed in New York in '97 and was then followed by 2 simultaneous shows in Los Angeles and Brooklyn featuring 88 drummers and coincidentally enough featuring 88 drummers. As you might expect the results are pretty jaw dropping.

The recording was originally released in Japan in twin CD set that included a DVD documentary and booklet of photographs of the performance. While I think th CD is still unavailable outside Japan the DVD was finally released in the U.S. last year.  

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Ichiji Kujiru - Live At Shinjuku Motion (いちぢくぢる - ライブ@新宿モーシオン)



In japanese the word "Fuzakeru" (ふざける) means to playaround or joke about and it's a phrase often attatched to Kansai's bizarre and wonderful underground scene. Bands like the Oshiri Pens Penz and Kyojin Yueni Dekai exemplify the progressive but humorous approach to music left behind by the legacy of Osaka's underground legends The Boredoms. Ichi Kujiru are another such band. This drums and bass Kyoto two piece have just released their first album so I won't be uploading that just yet out of respect for the band but I will upload a 3-track CDR recording of a show they played at Tokyo's Shinjuku Motion. Amongst Ichiru's stop/start punk numbers are songs about wanting to be a girl, noodles, bananas and pricing schemes. Sadly much of the humour in the lyrics and the band's inbetween song ad libbed gags will be lost in translation but will probably seem no less bizarre. 

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Bonkura Touge - Asobou ze (ぼんくら峠 - 遊ぼうぜ)

Don't let that rather serene looking cover fool you. Bonkura are a fukuoka drums and vocals duo. That's right no guitars just some harsh, fast drums and the sort of gargled rants you expect to see the local town drunk screaming at unassuming passers by. Most of the tracks on this self released CD clock in under the 1 minute mark with the notable exception of the albums "epic" 11 minute closer. It's fast, it's silly and it's loud. If this band ever head round your neck of the woods be sure to check them out. An extremely entertaining live band.

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Gezan - Warhol's Hole (下山 - ウォーホールの穴)

Something a bit special this time. This is a rip of a DVDR given away by the band at their most recent show. Gezan have been together for just under a year but are fast making a name for themselves thanks to stunts like this. Warhol's Hole sees the band unleashing their unholy, psychadelic musical vandalism on a terrorised and unsuspecting public in the middle of downtown Osaka. I've uploaded a WMV vesion of the video and an MP4 version of the video for Mac and ipod. Quite surprisingly no one actually got arrested duing the recording of this. Fans of Les Rallizes Denude (Hadaka No Raliizes) and LSD March should be into this.

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Shitappa Oyabun - Shitappa Oyabun (したっぱ親分)

Kyoto's Shitappa Oyabun are one of my favourite bands on the Osaka underground circuit. The trio have existed in various forms for almost 4 years now but have existed in their current lineup for about 2 years. Fans of Oshiri Pen Penz and Kyojin Yueni Dekai will definatey dig this band. They combine the skittery off beat guitar melodies of the Pen Penz with the more percussive heavy drive of Kyojin. This self released CDR contains 6 surprisingly good quality studio recordings but unfortunatley no track listing or info.

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Oshiri Pen Penz - Gorifana (オシリペンペンズ - ゴリファナ)

Today was the release of the Pen Penz new album "New Me". Out of respect for the band I won't be uploading their latest just yet so instead I give you "Gorifana". Probably my favourite Pen Penz release "Gorifana" is a 40min live CD released in 2009 and also features some of the tracks on the new album. Studio recordings don't really do the band justice but this live recording does a pretty good job of conveying the energy and swagger this band pull off live. The skittery drums, impressive fret noodling and drunken obnoxious rants manage to form some sort of unholy trinity that makes this band an oddly addictive concoction.

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Kyozin Yueni Dekai - Tatemono (巨人ゆえにデカイ - たてもの)

...and yet another band whom are also good friends with Afrirampo and legends on the Osaka underground scene. Kyozin along with bands like Afrirampo, Oshiri Pen Penz, Bogulta and Watushi Zombie are what became known as the Kansai "Zero Generation" The generation of up and coming young bands who formed around the early to mid 00's and were heavily influenced by the likes of other Osaka underground legends like the Boredoms and Acid Mothers Temple. Unfortunatley it seems that Afrirampo were the only band to make the leap over the pond and make a name for themselves outside of Japan. So hopefully I can rectify this. (Not that Afrirampo aren't deserving of their unexpected success.) Translated into English the amusingly monikered Kyozin Yueni Dekai means "They're called giants because they're huge". Following they're namesake the guitarist of this drums and guitars duo wears a massive pair of stilts at their shows. I just wonder where he managed to get the pants from.

Kyozin's music is a little hard to describe but is very much in the same vain as the Oshiri Pen Pens. Chunky, muted, atonal guitars fumble over screamed, chanted and howled lyrics that make pretty much no sense and quite frequently diverge into a totally made up language. (Atleast I'm pretty sure it's not a real language. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) All of it is just about held together by some very impressive and sturdy drumming. Kyozin's drummer Shinji Wada has played in the most recent lineup of DMBQ since the death of Shonen Knife's touring drummer "China" back in 2005. Fuck it! Just listen to it. It's cool.

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RaP - Chaos/Process vol 2

I was hoping to find this bands website or myspace before I posted this but after hours of endless searching I can tell you that Rap is quite possibly the most un-google-ble band name you'll ever come across. Unfortunatley there's also no cover artwork or track listing for the bands CDR either. What you get is 10 tracks of what sounds like semi-improvised rehearsal studio recordings. Noisy, sometimes jazzy, sometimes funky freeform experimentation. There's some pretty impressive fret work in here but it's not all pretentious noodling. When it hits a groove you'll probably find yourself doing a bit of good old fashioned toe tapping and head bopping.

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Gezan - Ichijitekina Chou (下山- 一時的な腸)

The bassist is naked, the guitarist is wearing some some of sequined transparent leotard and the vocalist has set his mic stand in the middle of the crowd and is busy climbing and jumping off anything that's strapped down and throwing around anything that isn't. These guys just don't really give a fuck. The Osaka quintet spew feedback drenched psychedelia and noise that would make a hippy weep. No peace, love and happiness here. The band have to be seen live to be properly appreciated and it's not that their music is the greatest but their "Fuck you all!" approach to things has a definate charm to it. 

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