album of the week: 3.5

tsushimamire

GIVING BLOOD

Mojor Records (2011)

why you'll love it: jagged and hard rocking as ever

why you'll hate it: toned down the bi-polar gimmick / still hard on the ears to some

Is the official name tsushimamire now? I haven't seen つしまみれ printed on an album cover in quite a few years. So I don't know... I'm gonna go with tsushimamire for this review.

Unlike last week's sweet & overclocked sweeter album, tsushimamire has grown a reputation of being sweet & sour. They can be ditsy and childish at times, but that is only to lead you into a rusty bear trap of screaming and distortion. Most people will probably be happy to hear that in their third album, there is no candy bait to GIVING BLOOD. It's almost nothing but crunch and noise.

Luckily, this trio is really good at making noise. "Doing Nothing" is an instant classic. Punk the the core, relentless, and not wasting a second. "なmellow" is a moody complicated holdover from their early years of demos and EPs. It fits in seamlessly with this tracklist where overt silliness is kept to a minimum. That isn't to say they stopped having fun with their songs. "Grapefruit Girl" doesn't drop the distortion, but its harmonic vocals make it the closest thing to pop on here. "French Toast Rendezvous" and "Bryan" are also clear just-for-fun songs, but without resorting to most of their old schizoid tricks.

In what is meant to be the defining song for this album, "献血Song" eschews all catchiness or cuteness for a 9 minute mad rant. While it doesn't use anything they haven't tried before in portions of much shorter songs, its a bit of uncharted territory for the group in ambition and dedication. Obviously, the message is lost in the language barrier, and it's certainly not a song you play for fun; but it's remarkable nonetheless.

Without their defining bait and switch, tsushimamire loses a bit of what makes them special. There are a couple flat songs in the middle of this album that could have benefitted from a usual injection of craziness. On the other hand, I found it commendable of them to make a different sounding album; even if this isn't really branching out, rather a light pruning.

super sweet

After falling down a rabbit hole of sorts with Snatcher, I also started poking around for info on Sweet Home. I'm a huge fan of the original Resident Evil. Sweet Home was a Famicom game that Resident Evil was a quasi-remake of. It shared a similar plot (team of people stuck in a mansion) and gameplay elements (finding diaries to piece together the story, multiple endings depending on the survival of your team, opening door loading screens...)

What I discovered this weekend that Sweet Home was actually a movie tie-in game. It was released in the same month, and both the film and game were advertised in equal amount.

Even better, I found the movie on youtube. I've only watched the first act so far, but it's surprisingly campy. I feel like I'm watching The Goonies or The Gate. There are perky characters, an upbeat musical score, and all sorts of 80's tropes. Definitely not what I expected.

album of the week: 3.4

EeL

For Common People

Stubbie Records (2011)

why you'll love it: unapologetic insane pop. very creative

why you'll hate it: cute to the point of nausea. not so much talent in performance

If you have managed to keep reading beyond the album cover, then congratulations. You have joined us up here on the very dangerous precipice of incurable pop-madness. It's just you, me, and EeL; who happens to be carelessly dancing along the cliff face with appendages flailing over the edge.

This is pop music, but isn't pop music supposed to have mass appeal? EeL songs aren't so catchy or sing-alongy, as they are compelling. The fate of falling in love with one seems to be more damaging to the brain than your standard pop song, or even Japanese pop song. The nightmare of pop music is typically conformity. It's opium for the masses. Not so much For Common People, which commands your attention at all times. You're always thinking when listening to this album. Most of the time, it may be "what the hell am I listening to?", but the creativity behind this pop toolset doesn't numb your brain, like (dare I say it) a Rebecca Black youtube video. Although, I can't promise that this album will not poison your brain. Intentional or not, there is an fearless amount of subversiveness in the best EeL songs. Her skills at being shockingly abrasive and nauseatingly cute are juggled better than ever in For Common People, her first album in over five years.

EeL was lumped in with the whole neo Shibuya-kei wave in the early 00's, with acts such as capsule, and Plus Tech Squeeze Box. Their electronic experiments in completely different directions sort of rendered the genre nebulous and kaput. Almost all of these bands either found all new niches to continue with, or disappeared. I never thought I'd hear a new EeL album again, so its very existence really caught me by surprise, on top of being good.

Maybe good is too subjective. I must reiterate how aggressively over the top this album is. It's more fascinating than anything, but probably the most successful output by EeL; if I am right in assumption that her goal is to make it feel like you've been hit in the head with an ACME anvil and are seeing cartoon birds spin around your head. There is a surprise around every corner of this album. From track to track, it switches between soft innocent saccharine melodies, as childish as a baby crib mobile, and electroclash levels of samples, drums, and distortion. While these songs are flying off the rails, EeL hardly changes her tone of voice, as if nothing has gone haywire. Especially in "Foolish Swines", you get a feeling like you're on that Willy Wonka boat ride through the LSD nightmare tunnel.

DEFINITELY NOT FOR EVERYBODY! This is a tough album to recommend. I think it's a perfect EeL album, and enjoy every single track. Even the couple that are just plain cutesy, and don't have any paranoid madness undertones. On the other hand, there is nothing rational or applicable to the music. It serves as a defiant corrosive acid to pop music created for mainstream appeal, which is always fun. It also wickedly neuters by the numbers anti-conformity rock or over sexualized pop, which maybe I only find to be enjoyable. This album has no friends. It alienates everybody. Proceed with caution.

penance

Hello. I'm behind on updates this week because I've been playing Snatcher, the early 90's Hideo Kojima Blade Runner adventure game, brought to America via the SEGA CD. I forget what prompted me to seek the game out in the first place; but now I'm looking up all kinds of trivia that surrounds it. I was reminded of this interview of a once translator and V/O director for Konami, who worked on this game, as well as Metal Gear Solid, and three Silent Hill games.

This is a great interview that sheds a lot of light into how much (or how little) goes into translations and voice work. There is also a lot of candid discussion about the frustrating politics of working for Konami, and Hideo Kojima. I've heard this interview once before, so it's been out there a while, but seemingly only in the form of youtube clips (no clue what happened to the podcast). I've taken the clips and combined them into one mp3 file, just under two hours.

Download the whole thing here.

Thanks to

BigBossIsBack (youtube): for uploading the most widely accessible version of the interview.

Push To Talk Podcast: Wherever you are

album of the week: 3.3

the pillows

HORN AGAIN

axex trax (2011)

why you'll love it: A few new tricks in the mix of solid indie pop

why you'll hate it: just as inconsistent and forgettable as the usual pillows album

the pillows is a band that has been plateauing for so long, even writing about their musical cryostasis has become a bit rote. So let's stip the "quantity over quality" and stagnation arguments for this 20+ year old band. I'm not saying these discussions are invalid. I'm just sick of going over them, and just want to enjoy some catchy music.

Things were put into perspective when I took a look at my iPod. I've got about seven or eight songs from HORN AGAIN. Not that much (although it is only a 10 song album.) I glanced at 2009's OoParts (which I for the most part, trashed), six songs.

Then I looked at what people call the classic pillows albums. Happy Bivouac (1999)- 7 songs. Little Busters (1998) - 7 songs. hmm.. what makes those albums so much better?

There are only two things consistent about this band, their inconsistency, and their simple catchiness. To be honest, these songs on HORN AGAIN are really not all that different from the mush revered FLCL contributions. The old songs are louder, and more distorted. I love that kind of music, so I prefer it like most fans do; but the blueprint is the same as these songs on HORN AGAIN, which are pretty damn good as well. I enjoy the innovation on "Limp Tomorrow". The record-skipping motif in the song. Sawao even gives a stuttering vocal delivery, which is a clever touch. "Movement" is a solid pop-rock song, and I think "Nobody Knows What Blooms" is one of their most ambitious and evocative songs in years. I think once you get the complaint of "Why can't they just make Runners High (1999) again?!" out of your head, you can start to enjoy albums like this and Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up! (2007).

The thing about this album that annoys me the most is the engrish. The whole two random English words thing I usually take in stride with Japanese bands, but this is a 20 year band. Don't they have anyone to tell them things like "Doggie Howl" and HORN AGAIN are just awkward and a bit delegitimizing? Also, I have no idea what's up with the cowboy obsession. It's not as egregious here as in the recent past, but still leaves me scratching my head.

Maybe I've just become desensitized. I just look at a new pillows album and go "ok, what are the seven good songs? Are these better than the seven good songs on the last album?" That little difference is what makes praises of "diamonds in the rough" or complaints of stagnation. Such as is the kind of subtle innovation the pillows puts into their seemingly normal songs. I've managed to find the kind of patience to tolerate/appreciate this, but I don't blame others who haven't. This isn't a good album, but there are a handful of great songs on it. It's enough to leave me walking away saying "You know, that pillows band is doing alright."

Live or die!!!

Oh! No! It's Heavy Polysick!!! arrived this week. To celebrate the release, Polysics performed a free concert for the internet last week with lots of new songs, and special performances of old and rare songs. Those of us with jobs missed it, but youtube comes to the rescue once again!

album of the week: 3.2

The Go! Team

Rolling Blackouts

Memphis Industries (2011)

why you'll love it: The best mash up of 70's hip-hop, indie rock, and pop yet

why you'll hate it: Third record in a row of the same thing

How does The Go! Team make their music so appealing? I don't really know. When describing them, I call them a modern day Schoolhouse Rock or Jackson Five. I didn't watch Schoolhouse Rock or listen to Jackson Five as a kid. Their music usually sounds like cheer squad chants and college marching bands. I was the last person you'd expect to care about a football game or pep rally at high school. So why am I recommending them?

I don't fucking know, but Rolling Blackouts is my favorite album to be released in the past two months. Most of the album is overly simplistic hip-hop with a positive message. It's kind of like when early 90's public service announcements tried to be cool and hip thinking "what do the kids like? The Run DMC? Let's try to get kids to say no to drugs with that sound." Only here it's not trying to be hip, and getting it wrong. In typical UK fashion, The Go! Team is proud of their kitsch, as it balances out the adrenaline pumping songs that would usually be dominated by off-putting Jock Jams competitive machismo.

There are a couple mellow instrumentals that defined their debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike (2004), and more successful attempts at old school rap than the iffy follow-up, Proof of Youth (2007). The best songs on Rolling Blackouts are the positive energy spiked power anthems. Proof of Youth had a couple of these, like "Fake ID". This album has a few more, and they are amazing. The middle 8 of "Buy Nothing Day" is so rousing, you'll feel like you can take on a hurricane. A vocal cameo by Satomi Matsuzaki from Deerhoof slots right into the bouncy and irresistible "Secretary Song".

I haven't quite figured out where the line is yet, between fun party music, and mainstream hip-hop and pop. The Go! Team finds a way around that trigger in my brain. There is no idol worship. No generic fantasies about sex, fame, and power to make me think "Well this song was just made to make money." "Voice Yr Choice" has some narcissistic lyrics, but doesn't give me strong douche chills. I think i'm getting a bit too over my own head here. Maybe what I'm trying to say is I'd much rather see The Go! Team do a super bowl halftime show than the god damn Black Eyed Peas; but there isn't not all that much that separates these groups. Rolling Balckouts is a fantastic party album that doesn't stoop to risque catch phrases or promote ridiculous facades. It's fun that isn't concerned with looking cool.

FLUXXX

The much praised (ok maybe just by a few people and Destructiod) Bit.Trip series came to an end this week, with the release of Bit.Trip Flux. I've ramped down the Bit.Trip love over the past year only because I thought I was getting redundant. Although the games have all played differently, I always have the same general loves (music, atmosphere, sense of accomplishment) and hates (too punishing, lack of unlockable "free play" modes). I skipped reviewing last year's on-rails shmup, Bit.Trip Fate, for this reason.

Being the finale to my favorite game series this generation, I felt I should rant/rave about Flux for a while. So here is a review over at Giant Bomb.

album of the week: 3.1

Deerhoof vs Evil

Polyvinyl (2011)

why you'll love it: Positive and colorful songwriting approach.

why you'll hate it: Too short, the singing still scares most people away.

If you felt an ominous disturbance last year, an inexplainable feeling of something askew, It may have been Deerhoof's departure from Kill Rock Stars. It's hard to imagine Deerhoof's last 5 albums being released on any label but KRS. 2012 is right around the corner! I'm sure Nostrodamus mentioned something about "After one become two, a noisy melody will point in a new direction." And what's this? The Polyvinyl logo! Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!

Or Deerhoof Vs Evil could be business as usual. The message of this new venture into the unknown is a great big DON'T PANIC. Deerhoof vs Evil is pretty much a love album. Sarcastic and atonal, as usual; but also quite warm and welcoming. There are a lot more instruments (especially acoustic ones), and a more positive atmosphere; but this is surely a result of the direction intended for the album, and not a result of the label change. Right off the bat, they throw everything at you in "Qui Dorm, Només Somia", almost to give fans that "oh my god, what?" reaction. You can breathe a sign of relief as the song continues. Unpredictable song structure, and Satomi Matsuzaki singing in Catalan. Discomfort has never felt so comforting.

For a Deerhoof album, this album is quite easy on the ears; but is certainly doesn't offer the accessibility to newcomers Friend Opportunity (2007) had. Unless you are an addict that can only get satisfaction out of their most abrasive material, this album is a real treat for the fans. It's very fun without compromising anything they usually do. For the first time, I've taken an immediate shine to some of the lyrics, especially in "I Did Crimes For You" and "The Merry Barracks". This is a short album, especially after I found myself throwing away a couple really slow songs. "No One Asked To Dance" justifies itself for its mariachi kind of instrumentation; but not so much "Almost Everyone, Almost Always". I never have been able to get into Greg's songs. I think "Cast off Crown" is the only one of his I've ever really enjoyed.

Despite its length, I enjoy this album a lot. Every Deerhoof album has its own story to tell. Some have made a bigger artistic splash, like Milk Man (2004). Some are just Deerhoof being Deerhoof, like The Runners Four (2005). The heavy themes of love/destruction, kindness/chaos on this album sum up the band quite well. I'm not sure if Evil gets defeated here, or if I want to see either side win. Their relationship is like Batman and The Joker. From Satomi's cherished and hated voice, to Greg's catchy but unpredictable drumming style - if there was no radical juxtaposition in Deerhoof songs, they wouldn't be any fun!