Folio

For those who don't like to read: Indie/emo from Japan. This guy's voice is awesome.

Folio is:

Soutaro Kimura: Gu & Vo
Takayuki Ishimoto: Gu & Cho
Kazuteru Niinomi: Bass
Masataka Enomoto: Drums

So here I sit, finals approaching quicker than tears as Bryzgalov lets in another goal, and I'm refusing to study and instead am writing about some band. It happens all the time, and the thought of not studying is the true motivator for me to continue all projects in my life. I remember telling myself that I'd make a conscious effort to better my study habits once I've gotten into college, but that hasn't happened yet, and smart money says it won't. (I'll try next year though!)

Served up hot and fresh for you is Folio, one of many bands coming out in todays Indie/Emo scene from Japan. Japan is really fucked up in a way, during the early to mid 2000s, you couldn't beat the melodic nature of Japanese pop-punk. In the same way the Indie/Emo scene rings true now, you just can't beat the stuff that is coming out in Japan (Climb the Mind, Balloons, Sora, As Meias, etc.). In the subconscious of my mind, I continually fight out the battle of which of these bands I like more, but fuck it, they're all great and will all probably end up on this blog in due time.

Folio- "Proof" live

The one thing that stands out the most for Folio is their vocalist. I'm not even sure if I can truly explain why I find these vocals so much more enjoyable than other bands in Japan doing the same thing, but it definitely has to do with the delivery of them. I don't know, there is more "umph" behind the vocal delivery? Something about it really pushes this band up to the next level, especially on their full-length "The Curve Causes a Shiver." Their music definitely falls into some of the more lighter stuff coming out of this scene in Japan right now (think like Climb the Mind's new album, "ほぞ"), very mathy, slow to a degree, but very tight and intricate. Pretty much just think of a revamped version of American Football, Japan seems to love American Football. Folio's full-length album is definitely an album that I highly recommend to all fans of music of the lighter persuasion. It's been a couple years since that album, which was the last thing they put out; but considering they're still touring, I imagine they (hopefully) have some new stuff in the works.

You can contact Folio at their website. I'm not entirely sure if they speak English, but that is something I'll find out next week, and I'll be sure to update if/when I get a response. Buy a shirt or something!

Standout Tracks (I'm gonna try this out and recommend a few of their better songs):

Fragmentary Trace, I Have

Count the Night

One of the Tenderness

Demo 2005

The Curve Causes a Shiver

The Urchin

For those who don't like to read: Arguably one of the best pop-punk bands out of Japan.

When it comes to late 90s to Mid 2000s Japan, there had to be something in the fucking water. I say this because in that era, Japan put out some of the most killer pop-punk that I've ever heard. I want to say The Urchin is my favorite out of all these bands, but it's really fucking hard when you have to compare them to bands like: The Because, Pear of the West, Minority Blues Band, Cigaretteman, and that is just off the top of my head. Whatever though, I can't complain about this at all, Snuffy Smiles records is one of the best record labels that ever existed, and continually killed it as far as putting out music goes.

The Urchin has been around since 1998 apparently, and they've put out a few 7"s, a couple split 7"s, and 2 full-lengths (as far as I know). Everything I can get my hands on so far is gold, but I'll have to keep looking out for their other releases. I honestly have no idea if they're together anymore, but smart money says that they most likely aren't.

With The Urchin's music, it's the standard affair of melodic as fuck pop-punk. The difference between them and all the fantastic pop-punk bands in Japan, is that they somehow do this simple style of music way better. The easiest thing that I could say for this is that The Urchin contained some ex-members of "Blew," and everything that has to deal with Blew (Disgusteens, others (I know this is really lazy, but I don't feel like digging deep in horse shit to find out every single band these dudes played in)) is fucking incredible, and I can't stop listening to it all.

The Urchin- "Chairman of the Discount Liquor Store"

Expect a lot more Japanese pop-punk bands over the coming days/weeks, it's about all I can listen to right now, and I don't really see myself stopping anytime soon. Hopefully I can make it to Japan some year, and then I'll just buy every Snuffy Smile record I can get my grubby little hands on.

Another Day, Another Sorry State

Fragile Songs in Lukewarm Dreams
Versus Brand New Equalizer EP

Split 7" w/ Anti Justice

Split 7" w/ The 'Tone

Split 7" w/ The Thumbs

Split 7" w/ One Leaf
Split 7" w/ Monikers
Split 7" w/ Hush Puppy

First Recording by the Band Using the Old Weapon 7"

as I find some of these records, I'll throw them on here

Gauge Means Nothing- The Absent Trail Of An Echo And My Future Plagued By Surrender

For those who don't like to read: I've wracked my brain over this CDep for 5 years now. I still can't pinpoint how I feel about it after all these years. This band has few more releases, but I really can't find them (although I'll admit, I haven't put a lot of effort into that)

It's 3AM right now, I'm supposed to be studying for tests, but instead here I am channeling bullshit here. I remember the first time I downloaded this album, it was sometime in 2007, when I first first first started to explore the depths of hardcore/screamo (that wasn't City of Caterpillar mannnnnn). I downloaded this because I thought the black and white art of the album was cool looking, and man, what a fucking title. I don't remember being so turned off so repulsively by a CDep so quickly. Listening to "Pilgrims" all I could think is, "what in the fucking christ is going on here? clean female vocals, frantic shouting followed by clean sung vocals, sometimes all at the same time!; this music is way too fast paced for 7 minutes of shit." I wasn't the smartest kid in high school, I'll go ahead and admit that right now. So I stashed this album away, doomed to the abyss of which I will never listen to it again. Every fucking year though, like clock work, I would find myself listening to the first song on this CDep (for some reason, I never progressed past this song, I just gave up halfway through because "I didn't get this," or whatever. Yet again, not the brightest.) For me with the first song, it really just repulses me around the 4:20 mark, when it's the female clean vocals over a violin in drums. It just sounded like shit to me then. Hell, I'm still not a fan of it, although I've warmed up a little bit.

I think the main problem with Gauge Means Nothing for me truly lies in the vocals. Although it's something I'm all fucking about now, it took 4 and a half fucking years for me to get into them. On the first listen, and multiple subsequent listens, it's just way too fucking much to take in at once. Couple that in with the music that'll just have different instruments thrown in whenever the fuck they damn well like it (pianos, violins, xylophones (i think?)). It's certainly something unique though. I feel the need to make this point though, you need to give it a chance, let it grow on you. This music fucking twists and turns like no other, and the vocals take you on an even crazier ride. It all changes on the fly, and it can get especially wary when it constantly shifts between frantic yelling --> clean female singing --> clean male singing --> frantic yelling + clean female singing --> frantic yelling + clean male singing --> fuck it, why not all of them at once?

So lets call me an idiot for this mistake, and hope that you don't repeat it (although you just may not like this release, I still encourage you to revisit it when you want to though). And forgive me for such a grievous mistake, for I never made it to the song "(Surely) Dies Black."

Gauge Means Nothing- "(Surely) Dies Black"

for some reason this song is listed under youtube as "Pilgrims," I dunno man.

First off, holy shit. What a god damn fucking song. For all the crazy tempo changes that happen on the other 3 songs on this CDep, this song motherfucking nails it. From the super slow start at the beginning, you don't really see the heaviness building into a complete stop that transitions right into the usual frantic screaming this band pulls off. The true shit hits at the 3:48 mark, in what I would like to put in my "Top 5 parts of any song, ever." It really doesn't get any better than this fucking part, in which I can not describe in words, because it is too fucking good. I mean the rest of the song is great as well, but the amount of times I've listened to this excerpt from the middle is way too fucking high to count. It seriously transcends most shit people right though, and is worth your time alone for you to download/listen to.

The Absent Trail Of An Echo And My Future Plagued By Surrender

buy this here (for only $3, quite a steal)

if this 4shared links act shitty towards you, let me know. I'm too lazy to upload this on my own this late at night. I'll provide a new, not-4shared link though if wanted.

killie

For those who don't like to read: Japanese screamo/hardcore/whatever from Japan. They've been around for years, and everything they have done is gold. Yoshi (who does bass/vocals) is a fantastic guy.

I know, I know. I haven't done any writing in over a month! The real reason is, I don't care. But going through the motions of listening to music, I came upon Killie (as I usually do, again and again).

Now, I can credit quite a bit of my existence to Killie. I started listening to them in mid-2008 when I found a download to their one-sided 12" Afterall, the Opinion of One in a Hundred Million Will Not Reach Anyone. The download mentioned that they sounded a lot like Off Minor (another band I have expressed and will continue to express deep interest in). Well, they don't sound anything like Off Minor, I also hear them compared to Daitro quite a bit, whom they also sound nothing like. It's hard for me to try and throw together what Killie sounds like, there is obviously the fucking rage and fury that you'll find in the best screamo/hardcore bands, but they spend a lot of time in their songs just with ambiance (or samples in Japanese). For some reason, the fact that they include a lot of dead space in their songs makes people classify them as "post-rock." They are the furthest from post-rock, and have gone as far as to make "Post-Rock Sucks!!!" t-shirts (which are pretty fucking awesome shirts, I gotta say).

Killie - "Abandoned Corpses with Graffiti" live

The one thing I truly love about this band is their willingness to give the most fucks about the punk scene in Japan. And it's more important to understand the punk scene in Japan, as it's pretty different from the scene found here in the US. There aren't hundreds (thousands?) of punk bands popping up day and night across Japan, there isn't a long standing culture of punk in Japan, it still far and away remains a counter-culture in Japan (at least from what I've read and talked to people about). And even though the punk scene is still young there, apparently there is already a schism of sorts developing in the punk community, the split lying between people who value the scene for what it is, a place where acceptance holds value, and where you can be you and not shunned for where you are; and people who view bands for how "pretty" they are (usage of "pretty" comes from the insert to the Afterall one-sided 12", more on that beautiful piece of work later, or soon). Reading interviews of the band proves one thing, they really fucking care. They care about all the contemporary issues of their country, of their scene. They want to make things right, and they're doing their hardest to try and make right. Hell, just reading the news page (even though it hasn't been updated in like a year and a half) you can feel their emotions towards everything.

"remember, as we sow, so we need to reap. your slackness sickens the community as a city cancer. stop the philosopher chats, and start holding your activist hammer. we're here to slam your preconceptions and customs.

raise it.

we hate you all."

-yoshi / killie

Killie - "Untitled Song" live

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of the Afterall one-sided 12" 2 years after it came out (for fucking cheap, too!). The first time I read the insert to this EP is something I rank as one of the highest moments in my life for change. It still is unlike anything I've read before. Reading it for the first time I felt this weird sense that being punk, and my values, had me on the short end of the stick towards a lot of people who don't agree with my viewpoints on issues. And not only that, but people who care less about the stature of the punk scene, and care more about how "pretty" (seriously, interpret the phrase pretty here your own way) bands are. The quote from Yoshi above is something that still rings in my head every day, especially "your slackness sickens the community as a city cancer." For me, nothing more seems to be truthful in whatever I see today. I'd be able to expand on this more if I actually had some basic concept of communication, which I lack.

"some of my lyrics might seems to be abstract to a lot of you (*irony is always made intentionally people), but this is the collection of my conscious inspiration of "minority against majority". these are lyrics of what i captured throughout seeing the current situation in japan; by reading this, i hope i will achieve even a small piece of understandings of our country. learn and react. enjoy conceit."

hirotatsu / killie - notes on "one in a hundred million"

Killie - "One in a Hundred Million"

I can talk forever about this bands ideals and values, and how much I respect them, and how much they inspire me, but I'm sure that will forever bore you, the reader. I will finish off here with saying, Killie are still going strong even after 7 years of being a band. I haven't talked to Yoshi in a couple of months, but hopefully the plans they have go through of them finally releasing their first full length album this year. And hopefully they'll finally do a US tour, that one is a pipe-dream though. Support these guys in anyway you can, because if there is one band I can think of that deserves it, it's Killie and OTO Records (run by Yoshi) as a whole.

Demo Tape

Want To Escape From The Underground, Don't Want To Escape From The Underground, Can't Escape From The Underground

September Against Sexism CD-r

Afterall, The Opinion of One in a Hundred Million will not Reach Anyone

Killie/Heaven in Her Arms- Koenji Split CD-r

Offering a Sacrifice that Presents and Indicates Mournful Resentment of Today

Offering a Sacrifice that Presents and Indicates Mournful Resentment of Today [tape]

Killie/Off Minor- Split 2xCD

Killie/Kaospilot- Split

Live at Shinjyuku Loft