Escalator Records' final release will be Yukari Fresh's forthcoming LP, GRRRL SUMMER CAPE KID. The seminal Tokyo-based label has been churning out Shibuya-kei, electro-pop, experimental, and dancey tunes since the early 1990s, and it's with a deep sorrow that we say goodbye to them.
One of Escalator's first signings was Yukari Fresh -- albeit not by that name -- so it seems fitting that the long-standing roster member's new full-length will be released on her first (and only) label. After amicably folding, the ex-Escalator staff will dedicate its time to its Shibuya record store, Every Coversation and Crazy to Live record labels, and its Tokyo dance parties. May the Escalator legend live on.
GRRRL SUMMER CAPE KID is a refreshing return to Fresh's roots. It's spunky and concentrated, hooky and quick, jumpy and energetic. Fresh never fails to cut to the chase with her recordings, and often times, that's a good thing. She's a thirty-something (maybe forty-something?) mother now, though, making the sheer energy and sometimes bombastic forcefulness all the more inspiring. This statement rings very true with the new LP and is certainly not to be missed.
Ah, and if you missed it the first time around, check out the lengthy (definitive English language?) interview I did with Naka, Escalator Records et al's president, for Anthemright here. It looks as though I caught them on the brink of their dissolve!
GRRRL ... is out on August 27; below you'll find one song from that and two extra old tracks to tide you over until the record hits stores.
Liars Interview from Anthem Magazine on Vimeo.
Oh, how I love Liars. The trio is one of those bands that we all know is going to be pumping out albums for years and years to come; one of those bands that will inspire generations of future musicians; one of those bands that will always seem utterly accessible and completely alien (have you ever seen Angus and company live!?)
Four albums and a handful of EP's in, countless recording locations later, and uncanny genre hopping, Liars comes out with a curt single that has no affiliation to anything as far as we know, "Disgusting." Unlike the bulk of their last LP's work, "Disgusting" is more reminiscent of early punk cuts by, say, the Slits during their collaboration with Half Japanese that never happened. The throbbing beat and helter-skelter hook makes the tune messy; the slightly off drumming only further convolutes the thing; the piece is genius.
Now that the band is officially holed up in L.A., I'm hoping to see more of them ... don't tell me this isn't a Los Angelino tune.
"Why can't they turn on the lights? You are a man and I am a drug. It's so disgusting."
The Awaji Island native is an incredibly mellow electronic composer who merges the peaceful calm of the Lost In Translation sound Westerners have come to associate with Japan and the curious energy of fellow folk musicians like Shugo Tokumaru, for example. There's an ethereal quality to the songs that makes them seem other-worldly, but the deeply personal qualities of the syrupy slow arrangements brings them back to real life.
Check out one MP3 below and download the entire three-track EP, Fragments, right here.
It being the Fourth of July in Los Angeles, it seems only fitting to celebrate another Los Angelino's music. Jaguar Farm is the solo project of Alex Ladarola, a budding songwriter who claims Liars, Animal Collective, Philip Glass, Neu!, Franz Schubert, Steve Reich, Stereolab, Frédéric Chopin, and Kraftwerk as influences. While he doesn't muster up to the more classical on that list and isn't quite as intense as the more modern acts, there's something utterly smart about his wacky pop sensibilities.
"Baby's On Fire" -- a Brian Eno cover -- is reminiscent of an Ariel Pink rambling with some delicate and thoughtful orchestral undertones ... almost as though he worked with Owen Palette on it. "Blizzard" sounds like a lo-fi Zappa covering the Unicorns; "Land of 1000 Lakes" dabbles with jazzier arrangements and sparser production. While all the songs are especially sketchy -- they are demos! -- they're all boldly self-aware and ambitious. Hook this guy up with a fancy studio and he'll do some wild stuff with his endearing tunes.
Jaguar Farm - Baby's On Fire (Brian Eno Cover)Jaguar Farm - BlizzardJaguar Farm - Land of 1000 Lakes
Studio - Yearbook 2 from Information on Vimeo. Sweden's Studio (MySpace) enraptured us with Yearbook 1 last year (released on the guys' own record label, Information), and for good reason. Their post-punk-done-electronic-dub style is all at once captivatingly melodious/poppy and experimentally alluring. While most of the songs hoovered near the ten-minute mark, none felt too long and not accessible or radio-friendly. A work of genius, to say the least.
While Studio's yet to release new original material, they did a handful of remixes since they found fame, and chose to release the seven edits as Yearbook 2. The LP flows like an original work ... Studio applies such a unique sound and aesthetic to all music they touch -- whether it's their own or someone else's -- and that's what holds this full-length together. Working with mega pop-stars like Kylie Minogue is no more difficult than sprucing up a folky single by California's Rubies or trancey cut by fellow Swedes, A Mountain of One.
Keep an eye out for more Studio news on BBBD. We've more to bring to you all ... for now, though, just get pumped for the release of Yearbook 2 on June 23, check out this preview video, and download or stream one of the remixes that appears on the release below!
In the earlier part of this millennium's teen years, Baltimore's Wilderness became one of the most important post-punk revival groups, seamlessly melding the old aesthetics of the 1980s angular rockers and the more experimentally-driven and rockier sound of modern times. Wilderness' stuff was, granted, artier than typical post-punk bands (the Cure, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen), and a little more melodious, edging dangerously close to the "rock" genre. That aside, though, Wilderness was one of the first Baltimore bands to gain national attention, and certainly one of the more oblique quartets out there. Still, they're shrouded in mystery and darkness ...
Colin McCann, Wildnerness' guitarist, has obviously been a little bored since Vessel States, an oddly emo-twinged work ... so bored that he went off an made his own solo album under the moniker, the Lord Dog Bird. Whereas Wilderness' output is hyper-complex and obviously the work of an especially able bodied studio ensemble, the Lord Dog Bird is a bedroom recording of an unusual variety. The nine tunes were recording primarily with a four-track, and definitely sound it. There's a simplicity and delicateness to the tracks that is topped off by distortion and atmospheric echoes, ghost sounds, creakings ...
Listen to a couple songs below and see for yourself. This is magical stuff -- and really emotionally accessible -- that represents a slight departure from Wilderness' usual ambiance and a definite switching up of the usual formula solo lo-fi artists incorporate into their pieces.
To be brutally honest, BBBD wasn't into London's Little Boots when the singer hit several months ago. Our outlook has morphed, though: this chick is pretty friggin' great, and the new single, "Meddle," is proof of her fresh talent.
Little Boots is the culmination of our current fascination with Italo-disco, 1980s girly pop, and grimy, dark, atmospheric electronic grit. "Meddle" is a stark and magical pop gem that stands out not only for the downright sexy vocals, but also for the snake-charming jazz melodies, techy yet mystically organic beats, and nontraditional arrangements. Catchy and alluring through creepiness and spacey uniqueness. Ach, it's killer. With breath baited, we wait for more, more, more!
America's strangest musical entity, Bradford Cox, AKA Atlas Sound/frontman of Deerhunter, has worked his remix magic on the Chap (MySpace), London's closet thing to the Sparks, 2008. Atlas Sound, known for its bizarre breed of flowing, atmospheric shoegaze, constructed in a soft-spoken and shy lo-fi/bedroom recording sort of way may not be the most likely remixer for the Chap's "They Have A Name," but the result is more compelling than one would originally thing.
Whereas Mega Breakfast's opening track is a gooft kraut-rock-inspired sing-along sort of ditty, the Atlas Sound interpretation is a glitchy, laptop-pop, "folktronic" sort of mix that's a bit more soothing and melodious. It's completely different (there are no vocals on the Atlas Sound remix, for example), but well worth a listen.
Grab both the Chap's original tune and Cox's altered one below.
Those of you who have been reading BBBD for longer than just the past few weeks (whoops, I wrote some left-field stuff!) may remember Buttonhead, the London, U.K. experimental and spastic rock band we loved to death and accidentally omitted from one of our many year-end best artists lists.
Anyway. This post is not about Buttonhead, but rather Ross Blake, one of the members of the above mentioned quintet. While Blake is still an active and integral part of Buttonhead, he's gone off to pursue more fine art endeavors, namely composing the soundtrack to a new play entitled The Dybbuk. Judging by the glowing reviews and enchanting musical work, it's both very good and quite haunting as well.
We don't mean to draw too many comparisons, but would like to note here that when we first wrote about Buttonhead, we mentioned the group's likeness to Deerhoof in some regards. Isn't it quite the coincidence, then, that both bands have interacted with theatrical productions at some point? Hmmm ... we're feeling a transatlantic collaboration coming on ...
Back to the soundtrack. The Dybbuk O.S.T. is reminiscent of a Danny Elfman score with the quirkiness and off-kilter penchant for spasm and wall-of-sound noise barrages that only a modern London pop musician could churn out. The technical abilities of Blake must be pretty stellar, anyway, considering the complexity, depth, and dense construction of the fifteen-song score. It's incredibly expressive and enigmatic, which is all at once alluring personally -- this is some great standalone music! -- and a concrete reason to check out the actual production. But alas, BBBD resides in L.A. and can only hope to catch this on tour (not going to happen). For now, we'll just anticipate an Owen Palette/Deerhoof/Ross Blake supergroup.
BBBD has always been a blog focusing most of its time to the new, the current, the hip. Keeping up with the modern is only half of the fun of listening to music, though; revering the old, the past, and the seminal is just as important -- if not more so -- as hailing the up-to-date, though, and BBBD has been deficient in remembering what once was. We proudly present you Reverse, a new column that highlights the music of before from all corners of the globe. With N° 1, we look at some older Japanese groups you all may not be terribly familiar with.
Japanese pop music -- on all levels -- has been too neatly categorized and grouped for comfort. As we all know, musical scenes, eras, and loose communities serve as a good way to make sense of the tradition of music, but not a whole lot more. Few artists -- and certainly barely any of the authentic, sincere, and respectful ones -- begin making music of a certain variety to conveniently fit into a specific genre. Such is the case with the much discussed and revered Shibuya-kei movement of the early- to mid-1990s. While Pizzicato Five, Cornelius, Fantastic Plastic Machine, and a handful of others certainly share similarities with each other, the short-lived Shibuya-kei episode of Japanese music was more complex and detailed than we're led to believe.
Citrus
The Shibuya-kei period of outrageous musical creativity was not confined solely to and rooted only in a rebirthing of the post-punk guitar-pop of the Postcard Records outfits and a rediscovery of the 1960s lounge pop. Indeed, there was a segment of creators who could more aptly be tied to the twee styles of the late-1980s ... the early bedroom pop artists and lo-fi folks of the C-86 crew. Citrus was one such band. (Néojaponisme has a great interview with Emori Takeaki -- Citrus' frontman and brain -- online now that's very worth reading through.) Their tunes are eternally rooted in the spastic early days of punk (and ridiculous and goofy crap of 1980s Boredoms), hyperactive, neon-lit streets of Shibuya, and the modest production qualities of say, Mt. Eerie. A bizarre and utterly compelling mix to say the least.
The more ignorant of us perpetually assume that Japanese composers merely ape other musical varieties. Everything is derivative of something else -- and clearly so -- and never completely unique unto itself. Listen to any of Citrus' songs, though, and you'll find it difficult to pinpoint their sound. The band sprouted in 1993 and dissolved in 2000/1 and truly served only as a predecessor to today's Japanese pop rather than another imitator that hopped on one of many fashionable musical bandwagons.
The below two songs are quite possibly BBBD's favorite Citrus cuts. "Colo Colo Meets the Stripes" represents one of Trattoria Records' crowning achievements -- a world of tense and angsty guitar-driven punk with an oddly soothing lightness and eccentricity that only a Tokyo band can deliver -- and one of the Shibuya-kei era's most significant works. Not one band in the scene today would admit to not knowing this track and it's undeniably just as important in terms of setting the stage for future generations of musicians as Y.M.O. was for electronic music or Plastics was for Japan's retort to American New Wave. Rock out.
When discussing Japan's infatuation with clean, crisp guitar-pop a la Aztec Camera and Orange Juice, Keigo Oyamada's (AKA Cornelius and the founder of Trattoria Records) outfit, Flipper's Guitar, is usually the one and only seminal group namedroped. A true shame as there were, obviously, many, many more equally exciting bands that ran in the same direction and with the same crowd and were just as intriguing. Kaji Hideki's pre-solo endeavor sextet, Bridge, is BBBD's favorite non-Flipper's Guitar ensemble.
There's not a tremendous amount of information floating around the Internet concerning Bridge, but the early 1990s band was very, very cool -- trust. The band served as the connector, in many ways, between the distinctly foreign in quality of Flipper's Guitar and specifically Burt Bacharach-esque of Pizzicato Five. Strangely, Bridge sounds like one of the most Japanese products of the Shibuya-kei movement. Mami Otomo sings in the way that any other J-Pop vocalist circa 1980 - 1990 would've, and in terms of production, Bridge sounds sparkling and shiny in a karaoke arrangement manner as opposed to a post-punk sanitary sort of way. That being said, Bridge was most definitely influenced by the sounds of Western countries -- Hideki now lives in both Tokyo and London, for example -- but erred more on the aesthetics of easy-listening J-Pop. Bridge -- which disbanded in 1995 -- brought plenty into the equation (Latin rhythms, loungey horn and string arrangements, easy-listening guitar melodies), but rarely pushed the envelope or forced native Japanese listeners to reexamine their musical preferences and likes. Listen and you'll understand.
After Bridge's 1995 breakup, Kaji Hideki traded in his bass for a guitar (or rather, added to his repertoire everything else one needs to make an de facto one-man band) and released an EP, Muscat, the following year. Hideki is very interesting for one reason in particular: he crystallized Japan's indie-pop obsession with Sweden, and never turned back. Instead of drawing primarily from the Sounds of Scotland, 1980, Hideki pulled specifically from the awesomeness that was Swedish pop, 1995. It wasn't hip to be in love with Sweden back then -- certainly not like it is today -- and the fact that Hideki brought that country's music up to a new level of admiration while simultaneously constructing his entirely unique sound is the simple and fair reason to appreciate the forty-one-year-old.
Hideki fully realized his aesthetic in the late-1990s, though, so listen to the below tracks and note the development, progression. Stunning. "You Can Work It Out" may be one of the most uplifting songs ever written. He's a new LP out now called Towns and Streets that BBBD would kill to hear ...
In BBBD's humble opinion, Salon Music is/was Boris before Boris. The duo has been recording music with some regularity since 1981 with the single, "Hunting On Paris," never settling on one specific sound or approach to creating songs. Now, they resemble more of a kraut-rock outfit with disco-infused beats and spacey arrangements, but they used to subscribe more to the shoegaze sound and at one point settled for more straightforward J-Pop in the Shibuya-kei tradition.
They moved to Trattoria Records in the 1990s, tying them to the Shibuya-kei sound by contract and affiliation, but not by much else. The pair were first noticed by Western journalists, critics, and labels, further cementing their place in the international scene rather than in the Japanese indie movements they lived through. Regardless, Salon Music is a dense and worthy addition to the body of music Japan has produced. Listen to a couple songs from two very different and distinct LPs below. Hopefully they'll come out with something new soon!
Surprise, surprise: S.L.U. has yet another rad release on its hands by the name of Twin Crystals. The Vancouver trio rose from the ashes of Channels 3X4, but doesn't sound a whole lot like the Johnny Jewel-produced group. Twin Crystals draws heavily from the grunge of the 1990s, the gritty industrial aesthetics of the early-1980s (think Throbbing Gristle), and, on occasion, the off-kilter shouting-not-singing of Mark E. Smith.
And, behind the curtain of noise and distortion, there's an art-punk vibe as well ... something edging close on, say, Liars. Twin Crystals screech about crackheads and darkness, anger and resentment, though, distinctly setting them apart from ... just about anyone else.
The band's just released the "Two Girls" 7", so grab that up, but the 10" for "No Clinics" is gone forever. So here's a tune from that release. Bang your head hard ... if that doesn't render your brain numb, the music eventually will.
I vividly remember first hearing two particular artists at some underground Turntable Lab-esque record boutique in the heart of Shibuya a few years back: Whitey and Padded Cell. As it always is in such a shop, there's a certain thrill that comes along with vinyl sampling ... pulling a 7" or 12" from it's sleeve, approaching a polished and well-kept turntable, flipping the disc on it, putting the headphone on, tweaking the bass, middle, and treble, and, finally, listening to the organic sound waves only a wax recording can produce. A sublime moment.
I wish I could hear Padded Cell's new stuff in such a fashion, but alas, my gear isn't up to snuff. I'm confined to sample the cuts on a mediocre pair of speakers sans the glamor of a posh Tokyo record distro. That being said, the new material is spectacular, and there will be a time that I hear this stuff in a more proper and reverential manner.
But what is the "new stuff" exactly? The London disco/funk/psychedelic/post-punk duo has a new dark, brooding, and spacey LP coming out on Monday, May 19 on DC Recordings. The label's been kind enough to make a pretty cool e-card for the forthcoming Night Must Fall full-length, so if the below freebie ("Faces Of the Forest") ain't enough to hold you over until the album's release, hop on over there and check out more material! The record is going to be great ... quite possibly their best yet.
The Morning Paper (MySpace) drips with so much reverb, guitar feedback, echoey vocals, and thick string arrangements that it's sometimes a little difficult to find the hook or melody in their tunes! That being said, the songs -- whether hyper melodious or not -- wrap you up tight like a warm blanket, a sensation that most groups can't replicate, no matter how hard they try.
The Swedish trio's hyper-ambient, shoegaze is really appealing -- don't get me wrong! The song below -- "Fingers Crossed" -- is like what would happen if the Tough Alliance did Cocteau Twins covers and then rerecorded them as though they were in Slowdive. The Morning Paper selectively pulls shoegaze and dream pop influences from all across the board, but melds it all into one modern and catchy entity that I can't get enough of.
Order their new EP -- It's Getting Clearer -- right here!
Cosmo Vitelli's Pariaisn record label, I'm A Cliché, is back with a great new release by Uncle O, a new roster member. The musician's been around the block quite a few times, though, so don't think of his new LP, cutely titled LP, as a rookie attempt. Uncle O "is a restless record digger ... was a resident DJ at the mythical Bains-Douches club in Paris [during] its golden era (82-85), a graphic designer for James White, O.M.D., The Cure, A Certain Ratio as they were touring in France, and later part of the emerging French hip hop scene." Cool, cool dude!
LP is an experimental collection of ten electronic tracks that edge towards the prog end of the dance spectrum while simultaneously incorporating tons of tribal rhythms, ethereal atmospherics, and acoustic samples and riffs. It's a pretty chilled out effort, but certainly a varied and complex one. Check out a couple tunes from the long-player below
It's always the most mysterious and oblique bands that insight the most wonderment and curiosity, and Salem is certainly a band shrouded behind veil upon veil of obscure meaning, darkness, and opacity.
The samples of their material I've heard (you can listen to loads of tunes here and here) don't disappoint, either (you can't be all smoke and mirrors with!) The Chicago/New York City trio is "inspired by black metal, Southern rap, early goth, screw, and juke" -- sounds a little like Crystal Castles, yeah? -- and while they don't necessarily channel any of those styles in particular, it's easy to see how they're inspired by such genres.
The songs are gritty and at times robotic with chaotic beats and warbley synth bass lines. Somehow, the ethereal and absently cold aesthetic conveys tremendous emotion, though ... the tracks sound like bedroom folk recordings from an alternate reality of utter depression and misery. Listen to the songs and you're feel bare; your heart will be exposed and shredded; tears will stream down your face. Be prepared for some brutally expressive songs of utter sadness and alienation. It's all in the empty spaces ...
Music Related's Internet imprint label, Creation Centre had a new EP out by the Tokyo unit, Hula Hooper. The free EP (available for download here) is an uplifting yet contemplative and delicately constructed effort that reminds me a little of something that a collaboration between Pizzicato Five, Tujiko Noriko, and Cornelius would have yielded.
Indeed, the duo admit to making "experimental music using max/msp and multiple recordings of voices and just intonation electric gutars. They are influenced by impressionism especially Debussy, contemporary music, jazz, and bossanova." The Good Morning Good Evening EP is a delightful collection of four songs that softly and serenely washes wave upon wave of gentle synth experiments and vocal sketches upon you ... that dazes you with relaxed forays into a sort of math-rock/jazz hybrid ... that puts you to sleep with beautiful Latin-twinged, extra-melodious acoustic tunes.
A lovely release by a fantastic record label. Stream BBBD's favorite tune below and be sure to grab the entire release right here.
Experimental Dental School (MySpace) is one of the most exciting and stunning bands I've heard in a while. 2008 is going to be great, man.
The Oakland, California trio is far from placeable; they defy classification, although a few things can be safely said about the organ-guitar-vocals group's aesthetic and sonic style. Imagine a more scatterbrained Deerhoof or sharper, higher contrast second-coming of Captain Beefheart. Whatever it is, Experimental Dental School is definitely an art-rock outfit that has somehow slyly released three full-length albums internationally without my knowledge! I feel so left out, so not on top of what's pushing pop music forward.
Experimental Dental School is a group intimately focused on constructing music from the bottom up. There's no predetermined tone or genre that they apply to their songs (I can't imagine these three saying anything like, "I just came up with this great hook -- let's make a song out of it!"), but rather a desire to explore, simultaneously, noise-rock, experimental guitar noodlings, jazzy and spazzy explosions, heavy garage rock (turned upside down, flipped inside out), and percussive foot stompers that all make you want to bounce around a concert venue, bedroom, subway stop, whatever. There's a life and energy behind their work that's rare and jaw-dropping ... but not too severe or unpalatable to turn you off, close your ears.
Buy the older LPs and grab the new full-length, Jane Doe Loves Me, from Cochon Records. Highly, highly recommended. I want this to be my breakfast, lunch, and dinner for months to come.
It being the Fourth of July in Los Angeles, it seems only fitting to celebrate another Los Angelino's music. 
