DJ Memento - Badassfunk Gets Nice and Mad

Recently I've been trying to crack my way into the local underground hip-hop and DJ scene as it's sadly been an area of neglect for me thus far. I've only just scratched the surface but have already made some great discoveries. DJ Memento is a local mix DJ and collage artist who plays sets every Friday night at Panorama in Osaka. "Badassfunk Gets Nice and Mad" is the 2nd mix CD-R from Memento and contains one non-stop 60 minute mix of the finest funk, jazz, psychedelic rock and retro TV samples. Memento likes to keep it old-school using only analogue techniques in his mixes/collages lifting all his music and samples from vinyl and videotapes.

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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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Marble Sheep - Silo 1 , Töging Am Inn 17 March 2006

Posting Gagakirise reminded me of these guys. Marble Sheep have been a prominent fixture on the Tokyo underground rock/psychadelic scene since their formation in the late 80's. This is a rare Live CDR recorded on their German tour back in 2006. (According to wikipedia Toging Am Inn being a tiny village of just 9,000 people in Bavaria. Interesting choice of venue for an international tour.) The bands usual 4 strong lineup is complimented on this recording with the addition of an extra drummer. Because you can never have too many drummers in a rock'n'roll band. The bands studio albums can be a little hit and miss but live is where their jam heavy, psychadelic rock'n'roll really shines. These guys tour the States and Europe fairly frequently so be sure to check them out if they're in your neck of the woods. You won't regret it.

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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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LIVE LOG: Degurutieni

A few weeks ago I went to the launch party for the release of the theater group Kodomo Kyojin's (子供鉅人) latest DVD. The group hired out a large warehouse and ran various performances, activities and bands throughout the evening. The highlight of which for me was Degurutieni. Never heard of him before I was very impressed. Something about that Tom Waits inspired down-tempo, jazzy groove really really clicks with me. I promptly bought his album but unfortunatley through itunes so as soon as I can figure a way of converting the files so they'll work for other people I'll be sure to upload it. For now this will have to do.

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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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Bonanzas - Live Bonanzas + Live 2

Bonanzas are a Kobe band made up of members from a number of other local bands including the excellent instrumental math-rock band Talking Dead Goats 45" and the hardcore band Suspiria. Sadly their output is fairly limited with only two 2-track live CDR's being put out by the band. As with so many other Kansai underground bands their sound is difficult to pin down but they sound somewhat like a down tuned Shellec or Big Black. Their music is minimal but heavy and reminds me little of Kyojin Yueni Dekai's stuff with a simillar use of muted, a-tonal guitar "playing" and the drums forming the backbone of the music. Hopefully these guys will get round to releasing something a little more substantial in the future as what's on offer here shows alot of promise.

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