We talked in December, but what’s new with Kulu Kulu Garden since then?

Kotone Miyahara: We’ve started to expand acoustic Kulu Kulu Garden seriously. We ask our favorite musicians to come in and help us out. The non-acoustic side of us has been busy writing new songs. They’re a lot more poppy than before, but I think people will be excited when they hear them and I think they are turning out really well. I can’t wait for everyone to hear them.

Ryotaro Aoki: We technically have enough songs for a new mini-album already, but I think we’re going to wait a bit and let some more songs get written before we start any recording. We’ll be giving out a sampler CD-R with demos of some of the new stuff to people who buy our EP. It’s a bit of a preview of things to come.

How has the international response to Detorake Yuuenchi been?

Ryotaro: We see people on last.fm and stuff who are listening to us who probably couldn’t listen to us before. Hopefully we’ll see an even bigger reaction once we start the tour.

How did you get involved with this tour?

Ryotaro: Steven Tanaka, the organizer, came to see us play early last year at Shinjuku Motion. We didn’t know he was coming, much less did we knew who he was. Apparently he heard us on some free compilation my friend had made. Anyways, he came to see us, and we started talking after the show, and since then he’s come to see us a couple of times and we gradually started to get to know each other a bit more.

Some time last summer, he came up to me at another show and said that he was interested in taking a couple of Tokyo bands over to Canada and the States. I was overwhelmed, but at this point it was just a little idea of his, and nothing more. I expected it would be a while before things would start to materialize, but he e-mailed me just a couple weeks after, asking if we were still interested. I couldn’t believe it! We jumped on immediately.

What is one thing you want to do in Canada?

Kotone: I want to eat maple cookies while watching the Niagara Falls.

Ryotaro: I like going to record stores, so I want to check out as many stores in Canada as I possibly can.

Have you traveled abroad before? Where? What was it like?

Ryotaro: Kotone and I have both lived abroad. She lived in Hong Kong and I lived in the States. I was in a really rural part of the country, so it was very peaceful and quiet.

What would you like to say to Japanese music fans in Canada?

Kotone: We hope to bring you all the live power of the hottest Japanese indie musicians that you can’t get on CDs or youtube. I’m sure it will be a very worthwhile experience.

Thanks Kulu Kulu Garden!  The tour is currently underway.  Ironically, I’m in Japan while an amazing tour of Japanese bands passes through my hometown, so those of you in Canada would be well-advised not to miss these shows!

May 22   Vancouver @ the Biltmore Cabaret
May 25   Montreal @ il Motore
May 28   Toronto @ the Rivoli
May 29   Toronto (All-Ages !!) @ Whipper Snapper Gallery 

July 9  Tour finale in Tokyo, Japan @ Shibuya
O-nest !!

The Next Music from Tokyo tour is blasting through Canada right now and I was lucky enough to get to talk to mothercoat about the tour.  Here’s what they had to say:

How did you get involved with this tour?

A Canadian guy called Steve offered this tour to us. He is kind of famous among Japanese indie bands in Tokyo because he shows up at cool bookings too much often for a resident of Toronto. We got to know his high motivation to convey real indie music of Japan which he would enjoy so much to the audience in his own country where only limited stereotypes of traditonal and pop idols music are recognized as the ceiling of Japanese music scene. We were moved by his dedication and accepted the offer.

Have you traveled abroad before?  Where?  What was it like?

We have played in Fanime 2006 held in San Jose and SXSW 2007 in Austin, both in the U.S. They were great experiences, especially the visitors to Fanime love Japanese culture from the start so we were highly-welcomed. SXSW was so exciting in another way, we enjoyed playing in the stage of SXSW and also seeing other great bands like Sparklehorse much closer than we see them in Japan. We tried to talk and give our albums to Mark Lincous and he was so gracious, which becomes a sad memory at this moment.

Your style has a lot in common with many indie bands in Canada – what foreign bands have influenced your music?  Any Canadian bands?

Oh, we do? We haven’t given much of the exposure to Canadian indie music scene before, so your question arouses interest in them.

Do you hope to tour outside of Japan more often in the future?

Definitely. Actually we are going to be touring in the U.K. fresh off the plane back from Canada and would like to continuously expand the opportunities in the future.

What do you do when you’re not making music?

We do something other than music.

What is one thing you want to do in Canada?

We’re dead set on seeing the Horseshoe Falls.  (ed. note:  more commonly known as Niagara Falls)

What would you like to say to Japanese music fans in Canada?

We would like you to feel mothercoat in lives!! This tour is really an invaluable and rare opportunity for you to touch the real cutting-edge music scene of Japan that internet cannot tell you.

Thanks mothercoat!  Their tour is currently ongoing,  here are the dates:

May 22   Vancouver @ the Biltmore Cabaret
May 25   Montreal @ il Motore
May 28   Toronto @ the Rivoli
May 29   Toronto (All-Ages !!) @ Whipper Snapper Gallery 

July 9  Tour finale in Tokyo, Japan @ Shibuya
O-nest !!

For that reason, Catalystrock was a little hard to get into for me – truthfully my first hope was for an album full of bangers like “Ms. Panic”. But, the upshot of this change is a much more consistent album, with no filler and more variety. They combine punk rock with 60’s group sounds in a way that betrays their debt to Shonen Knife, use disco rhythms on “Romancer” then hit you with the in-and-out before you know it “Still Alive”, which explodes with lo-fi, punk-rock basement-show energy with reckless abandon for 90 seconds before collapsing in on itself.

Where Molice has gained the most traction is with a better handle of their softer side. “Fine Wave” is the best example. The pixies influence remains, but this time is more in line with the excellent “Slow Surf” version of “Wave of Mutilation”, with spare, echoing guitars creating a much heavier atmosphere than any of the faster songs on the album.

Really, it’s towards the end of Catalystrock that Molice really starts to shine. The untitled “Inori” has more surf guitars and a steady but slow rhythm and the final track “The Haze” combines a “Secret Agent Man” espionage verse with a screeching, feedback-laden bridge and and a wonderful “Tegan and Sara” meet “The Ramones” chorus.

Catalystrock is not what I expected from Molice, but I’m happy that it’s what I got. I could definitely do with dirtier production, but the improvement in songwriting makes that complaint seem feeble. Molice has evolved, and their progression demonstrates that they’ve got the potential to stick around for a long time.

Listen: Inori –

Molice Website | MySpace

The concert is being organized by Steve Tanaka, a Canadian whose boundless enthusiasm for Japanese music shines through everything he does.  This guy knows Japanese music and he’s recruited some amazing bands for the tour.  I can’t recommend these concerts enough.

There’s lots of information about the tour at nextmusicfromtokyo.com and tickets are on sale at TicketWeb for $8 – yes, you read that right, $8.

Here’s the schedule:

May 22   Vancouver @ the Biltmore Cabaret
May 25   Montreal @ il Motore
May 28   Toronto @ the Rivoli
May 29   Toronto (All-Ages !!) @ Whipper Snapper Gallery 

July 9  Tour finale in Tokyo, Japan @ Shibuya
O-nest !!

Andymori:

Mothercoat:

Owarikara:

Kulu Kulu Garden:

Goomi:

Blue Rondo is a fresh look at the sounds of the 60’s, with reverb dripping vibrato guitars, roomy drums and warm upright basslines accompanying Kojima’s vocals.  While Kojima’s vocals can sometimes lean too far towards the ‘childish’ side of the spectrum, her singing on Blue Rondo sounds supple and mature.

“Paper Moon” is a lively gypsy jazz tune with a wonderfully bouncy acoustic guitar driving the off-beat rhythm and a wispy Farfisa organ filling out the melody.  The highlight of the album, though, is the slinky “Suspiria!” with features Kojima’s cooing vocals at their best.  With just a hint of a coy whine in her voice, Kojima knocks this one out of the park.

While there is much to be gained from exploring new branches of music, Kojima demonstrates that there is plenty of substance left in the roots.  A retro treat, Blue Rondo is one of the best records I’ve heard so far this year.

Video: Arabesque

Buy Blue Rondo at HearJapan

While they don’t take many risks on Fanfare to Nekkyou, Andymori expand their sound with horns on “1984″ and with a harmony-laden capella break during “Zutto Groupie”. Regardless, if you didn’t like their first album, you won’t find anything revelatory here.  Fanfare to Nekkyou is ultimately a refinement upon Andymori’s sound – which is a good thing in my books.

Andymori’s music is imbued with a sense of melancholy that always draws me back to one of my favourite American bands, Nada Surf. Both bands are fairly modest in their sonic ambitions – sticking to simple instrumentation and a focus on vocal melodies – and both bands create striking songs that get better and better with each listen.

Andymori’s strong songwriting and an incredible sense of melody push Fanfare to Nekkyou above the masses of indie-rock bands in Japan. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see them getting prominent displays at Tower Records and HMV and I think they could be on the verge of having a big hit. This success comes without any artistic compromise, though,as Andymori’s music is as potent as ever. Highly recommended.

Andymori on MySpace | Buy Fanfare to Nekkyou at HearJapan.

Andymori will be touring Canada in May as part of the Next Music from TOKYO!!! vol. 1 tour!

Here’s the schedule for the tour:

May 22   Vancouver @ the Biltmore Cabaret
May 25   Montreal @ il Motore
May 28   Toronto @ the Rivoli
May 29   Toronto (venue tba)

July 9  Tour finale in Tokyo, Japan @ Shibuya O-nest !!

Audio: “1984″

Videos:

SuiseiNoboAz’s debut album has managed to tug upon the deep range of emotions that this year has brought me so far.  I only picked up this album at all because Mukai Shutoku (Number Girl, Zazen Boys)  produced it, and at first listen I felt that SuiseiNoboAz was good, but perhaps unambitious.

Clearly my first impression was flawed!  Further listens have allowed the band to gradually reveal their powerful depth of emotion.  It’s to their credit that SuiseiNoboAz don’t immediately come across as ambitious and far-reaching.  They make their music seem effortless, which is only possible because there is a deep well of honesty behind their ambitions.

Sakurai Nori’s drums strike with a clarity that pulls at your heartstrings.  He is a driving force behind the album, injecting funk into “from suisei with whole lotta love”, Arcade Fire-esque movement to “poolside murder case” and simple honesty into “Happy 1982″.

My Japanese language comprehension is quite poor, so I rarely comment on lyrics, but when Ishihara Masaharu sings “Sayonara Girl.  Sayonara Pixies” during “poolside murder case” (referencing two of my favourite bands – Number Girl and Pixies) I can’t help but feel a swell of excitement – it’s a bit early to make comparisons to either of those bands, but the potential is there.

Ishihara’s vocals and the rest of the band’s melodic sensibilties are expressive enough to transcend the language barrier and “Happy 1982″ draws out waves of nostalgia (though I’ll admit that I wasn’t even born until two years after 1982).  My time in Japan has been amazing so far, but of course there’s plenty that I miss from back home, and this is the first new music I’ve heard this year to successfully tap into both my excitement and anxiety’s at once.  The best art can help people understand their emotions in ways that weren’t possible before, and that’s what this album does for me.

Although Mukai Shutoku’s involvement with the record was the reason I first heard about this band at all, I’ve spent remarkably little time talking about his production.  There are lots of his signature sounds, and fans of Zazen Boys will definitely hear some familiar engineering tricks, but his production fits the band so well that it’s transparent.

Consider this album highly recommended.  This is a potent debut that makes SuiseiNoboAz a band worth watching.  SuiseiNoboAz make music with a casual sense of clarity and honest intentions that add up to a uniquely powerful album.

SuiseiNoboAz Myspace

Listen: “poolside murder case”

Watch: “from suisei with whole lotta love”

Though, sadly, it is only for about 2 weeks, this trip will include recording sessions for their up-and-coming new album with producer John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake), who they have been craving for working with, so I have to say it’s worth it.
Before they took off for this tour, I was lucky enough to interview them.

Q: On Feb 10th, the last day of the new EP tour, I enjoyed your performance much more than last year.  It was one of the best shows this year so far.
What kind of bands do you particularly respect?
A: 54-71. Their live performance has all the elements such as techniques, original ideas, surprises, and funniness, living on their stage. I have never seen any other shows that full of originality.

Q: What were good and regretful things during this tour?
A: Good: Had a great time touring with the band Marvins Revolt (Denmark).
Sad: The band (Marvins Revolt) broke up after this tour.

Q: I heard you are doing some recordings after the US tour, could you tell us about that?
A: We have been longing to have John McEntire to record our music. We couldn’t schedule it last time as he was busy, but this time we were able to have a chance to ask him for it.

Q: About the new EP “Turns Red”, I see there were some new things in your music, such as a synthesizer. Was there anything that influenced you? Were there any changes for making music?
A: We did not get influenced by anyone particular. We thought we have done enough in our former style of music, and wanted to try out something new and challenging. We finally have learned how to make music on our PC.  We did a demo on Garageband.

Q: When are you planning to release the new album?
A: We would like to release it by this Summer if possible.

Q: When it’s released, are you planning to go on tour abroad?  You went to several places on the last tour, what country was the best place to play? and why?
A: We would like to go to Europe again.  Hard to name one place since we have good memories at each location, but Dublin, Ireland, (the hometown of our label) was very lively.

Q: Do you have any confirmed plans for summer festivals? Do you prefer to play outside or inside?
A: We don’t know about summer festivals yet.
We like to play outside, because it seems more fun.

Q: Do you ever feel music is your job? If so, what makes you feel it?
A: We have never felt that music is our job.

- US Tour Dates -
3/4 – RHYTHM ROOM – Phoenix, AZ
3/5 – BOOTLEG THEATER – Los Angeles, CA
3/6 – THE CASBAH – San Diego, CA
3/7 – MERCURY LOUNGE – Santa Barbara, CA
3/8 – THE BLUE LAMP – Sacramento, CA
3/9 – BOTTOM OF THE HILL – San Francisco, CA
3/11 – DANTE’S – Portland, OR
3/12 – CHOP SUEY – Seattle, WA

LITE: MYSPACE

Omodaka’s violet brew of Japanese traditions (traditional music, of course, and another famous Japanese tradition – videogames) says a great deal about Japanese culture.  As I settle into my new apartment in suburban Japan, I’m become more accustomed to the mixture of modern and traditional lifestyles.  Many Japanese balance shrine visits and holidays like Setsubun  – where family members throw roasted soybeans at the head of their household, who dresses as a Demon – with an addiction to mobile phones and playstations.  Old houses with clay-tiled roofs exist alongside concrete apartment buildings.  Plum Song expresses this quintessentially Japanese union of old and new with a casual offhandedness.

Of course, most important is the quality of the music, and Omodaka delivers.  Soichi Terada, the man behind the Omodaka mask, has been making music since 1989, and has picked up a few tricks during his twenty year career.  While chiptune synths lack the dynamix flexibility of live instruments or even modern synthesizers, Omodaka is an expert in his field.    Each blip, bloop and beat is well placed, and the bit-crushed synths never sound like a novelty (I’d argue that getting music inspired by Nintendo games to be more than a novelty is something of a feat unto itself).

Ultimately, if you like electronic pop, Plum Song is well worth a purchase.

Omodaka will be playing various USA dates this march as part of Japan Nite 2010 – check out the dates at  SXSW Asia website.

Buy Plum Song at HearJapan.

Omodaka  MySpace.

Musically, Jupiter Jupiter is a danceable indie-rock record – in line with Vola & The Oriental Machine and with the usual list of influences (Franz Ferdinand etc.).  Lyrically, this is a space-nerd’s dream album.  With song titles like, “Universe Universe”, “Hyper Space Music” and “Ursa Minor” how could it be anything else?

The highlight of Jupiter Jupiter is the boundless enthusiasm of the band.  Each song is imbued with a sense of joy and wonder.  Perfect harmonies belt out, “Universe! Universe!” on the lead single, then grow into a shouting chant of “Space! Space!”

Alongside all the nerdy stuff, Avengers in Sci-Fi make some very solid indie-rock.  Nothing wildly original, but the hooks are fantastic and each song is memorable and distinctive.  “Monkey Bites The Sun” sounds, from moment to moment, like Number Girl, Art-School, Blur and even Polysics while  “Symphony Of The End” is softer and features Cornelius like harmonies and a church organ.  Avengers In Sci-Fi’s influences are easy to see, but they sure know how to make a great album.

Did you want to be an astronaut when you were ten years old?  Did you have glow-in-the-dark solar-system stickers on your ceiling?  If so, this album is for you. Even if you think you’ve grown beyond your space-dreams, I bet you can’t watch the video for “Universe Universe” without grinning like a kid again.

Video:Universe, Universe

Avengers in Sci-Fi Official Website | MySpace

Buy Jupiter Jupiter from YesAsia | CDJapan