When: Saturday 25 May 2013 (9pm-3am)
Where: Bloomsbury Lanes, 50 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 9EU
Nearest Tube: Euston, Russell Square, Holborn
Tickets: £5 if you tell the doorman you’re there for Japan Underground, Otherwise £8
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/297698260361917/

In recognition of the ultimate hero, Japan Underground teams up with the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes and Throwback Club to present a night of Bowie mania, celebrating his influences in music, art, fashion and film!

Spread over two floors, there will be live music from 5-piece Bowie tribute act The Thin White Duke, cult-classic Labyrinth showing in the in-house cinema, DJs spinning the best of Bowie and other fantastic fancies all night, plus the Japan Underground crew taking over the entire Kingpin Suite for ‘Club Bowie’, a tribute to the legend by way of Japan – a country with subcultures deeply influenced from the legend.

Plus! Bowie cosplay competition and plenty of Bowie inspired prizes to be won throughout the night!

Entry to the night includes access to both floors (the whole venue!) throughout the night, but if you want cheap entry be sure to tell the door staff you’re there for Japan Underground to get in for a fiver! Plus, bowling, karaoke and arcade machines available at additional costs.

And yes, we will play Japanese music. Who knows where visual kei would be without a touch of Bowie!

When: Wednesday 15 May 2013 from 7pm.
Where: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7DA.
Tickets: £7.50 advance (buy here), £10 on the door.
Support: Area 11 // NO CARS // Ken Kobayashi & The Colors // DJs and special guests
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/116765661855283/

Here’s some updated information about the special showcase show we have coming up this Wednesday with Japanese indie rockers [Champagne]! Check out all the bands involved, their stage times and don’t forget to share this page with your friends before tickets sell out!

[Champagne]

Stage time 9:30-10:30
Fresh from supporting the likes of Muse and Kasabian in Japan, Tokyo’s hottest new indie band [Champagne] venture to London to pay homage to the country that originally inspired them to create music; the UK. In Japan they’ve topped the indie charts, played major festivals such as Summer Sonic and become one of the most talked about new pop-rock bands of the last few years. You can check out all of their catchy music videos by clicking here and scrolling down. Or click the video below for one of our personal favourites:

Area 11

Stage time 8:40-9:10
Bristol’s finest Minecrafters (see this music video of theirs for reference)  are back! The boys released their debut album All The Lights in the Sky earlier this year, and it went straight to the top of Amazon’s MP3 rock chart, and entered at number 10 on the official UK rock chart. Earlier this month they supported My Vitriol at Koko in Camden, and now they’re here to support [Champagne]. Here’s a video of them tearing up the stage of Japan Underground, supporting FACT earlier this year:

No Cars

Stage time 7:55-8:25
Quirky all Japanese girl band No Cars have built a reputation for their zany live shows. Having supported the likes of Shonen Knife and Adam Ant, the girls, when not singing about tuna and cello-tape, have been known to bully members of the audience, do cartwheels, and generally cause a bit of a ruckus in the cutest way possible.

Ken Kobayashi and Colors

Stage time 7:15-7:40
Ken Kobayashi is a singer, songwriter and a producer based in London. Ken was born in London in 1988 between a German father and a Japanese mother. Spending childhood in Tokyo, Berlin and London, Ken was exposed to a wide range of range of music genres and movements. Ken started writing songs when he learnt to play the guitar at the age of 16. In 2009, He released his debut album My Big Foot Over the Sky.

Tickets are selling out fast – see you there!!

Related Stories:
JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents [Champagne]‘s First UK Live – 15 May

Japan’s notorious boiler suited techno-new-wave hooligans POLYSICS return with Weeeeeeeeee!!!, their latest high-energy album, scheduled to shatter the eardrums of the UK and Europe from 10 June courtesy of JPU Records.

Following in the footsteps of their 15th anniversary release – which featured collaborations with a number of music legends, including the band’s personal hero, Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO – Weeeeeeeeee!!! sees the acclaimed outfit return with a mighty 17 tracks packed with fractured punk rock, vintage video game sound effects and the refreshing and quirky charm that only POLYSICS can muster.

To celebrate the release of the album, the physical version will come bundled with three exclusive bonus tracks not available digitally or on the original Japanese version. The band has also launched their official overseas Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/polysicsvevo ahead of album’s release, which includes the full videos to Weeeeeeeeee!!!’s catchy singles ‘Everybody Say No’ and ‘Lucky Star’, as well as the famous video to classic track ‘I My Me Mine’ – the first time the video has been officially available in this region.

TRACKLIST
01. Sparkling Water
02. Lucky Star (Music Video)
03. Distortion
04. Steam Pack
05. Ice, Tights, Mike
06. Why
07. Quiet Smith
08. Kitchen Ban Ban
09. Lightning Express
10. Raptus
11. High Kcal
12. Everybody Say No (Music Video)
13. Round The World
14. Weeeeeeeeee!!!
15. No Control (CD bonus track)
16. Watson 2012 (CD bonus track)
17. KI.KA.I.DA! 2012 (CD bonus track)

Pre-order from: Amazon UK (CD) (MP3), Amazon DE (CD) (MP3), Amazon FR (CD) (MP3), Amazon ES (MP3)

ABOUT POLYSICS
POLYSICS burst into the British psyche when cult TV series Adam and Joe Go Tokyo introduced their music ten years ago. From there the group went on to inspire a generation, becoming one of the most established Japanese acts in the UK and even influencing the likes of a young Ricky Wilson, who would later invite POLYSICS to tour with his band, The Kaiser Chiefs.

To date, POLYICS have played a total of 99 shows in the United Kingdom – including main stage at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. In their homeland of Japan they’ve played every major rock festival and recently conducted a headline show at the legendary Nippon Budokan (14,000 capacity). The group was also one of the very last bands to record a session for John Peel.

MEMBERS
Hayashi (Hiro) – Guitar, vocals, synthesizer, programmer
Fumi – Bass, synthesizer, vocals
Yano – Drums, vocals

LINKS
Homepage (English): http://www.polysics.com/en/
Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/polysicsvevo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/POLYSICS/260419960659129
Twitter: https://twitter.com/POLYSICS_TOISU

When: Wednesday 15 May 2013 from 7pm.
Where: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7DA.
Tickets: £7.50 advance (buy), £10 on the door.
Support: Area 11 // NO CARS // Ken Kobayashi & The Colors // DJs and special guests
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/116765661855283/

From performing on the streets of Harajuku, to rocking tens of thousands at SUMMER SONIC and a host of other top Japanese festivals, to selling out every tour they’ve ever done. [Champagne] are living proof that it is possible to go from indie heroes to full-blown rockstars in a matter of years, and now they’re ready to burst out from Japan for the next chapter in their musical conquest by performing in the UK for the first time.

[Champagne] will hold their first overseas headline show at The Pipeline, London on Wednesday 15 May 2013. Tickets for the show in London are on sale now (click here), priced at £7.50. They will also be available on the door whilst stocks last for £10.

The band will be joined with support from Brit internet sensation Area 11 – who recently celebrated chart success with their debut album ‘All the Lights in the Sky’ – and the quirky Japanese all-girl group No Cars, plus DJs and special guests.
Led by Yohei Kawakami (vocals and drums), who grew up in Syria, and Hiroyuki Isobe (bass and chorus) who grew up in America, [Champagne] manage to fuse the best from western and eastern music to create unique and catchy pop-rock songs. Since forming in 2007, they have released three albums; the first entitled ‘Where’s My Potato?’, followed by Oricon Indie Chart topper ‘I want to go to Hawaii’, and then ‘Schwarzenegger’, with a fourth hit album expected to be released soon.

あなたの声優としてのキャリアは約30年に及ぶわけですが（おめでとうございます）、この間にレコーディングの過程に変化はありましたか。

まず、ここまで長くこの仕事を続けてこられたことをとても感謝しています。
それぞれ、出会ってきたキャラクターとの相性や縁がとてもよかったこと、
またそれらのキャラクターをたくさんのみなさんに愛していただけた結果だと思います。

レコーディングのプロセスそのものはずいぶん変わりました。

簡単に言えば、アナログからデジタルになり、編集が容易になったことがあげられます。
しかし、そのデジタルの力に頼りすぎると、一番大切な人間にしかできないこと、
すなわち、心を込めるということが箕臼になる可能性があることは忘れてはいけないと思っています。

ピッチ（音程）やリズムのずれさえも、ちょっと機械をいじれば修正が可能です。
それは、レコーディング時間の短縮や、声を発する時間そのものを短縮するメリットが
あるようですが、
私はできるだけ、そこに頼らず、メロディーと歌詞とアレンジの盛り上がりと、
そして最後に乗せる私の声の一体感、ひいては、さらにその先にある、
予想を超える力が生まれる事を信じて歌っています。

それは
この世界に入った時に最初に言われた言葉に由来していると思います。

うまい人が歌手だったら、音楽の先生はみんな歌手だ
あなたに求めていることはそれじゃない

という言葉です。
決して音楽の先生をバカにしているわけではありません。
楽譜通り、正しく歌うのが私の仕事ではなく、その世界を「私なりに」解釈し
「私なりに」歌唱し、結果「私なりに」伝えることが、私の使命と考えています。
そして、その「私なり」の考え方が正しいのかどうか、常に立ち返る作業も大切です。
近くにいるスタッフとのコミュニケーションをとり、その空間に立ち会っている人たちが
同じ目線で、作品の完成を目指すことが大切と考えます。

技術の進歩により声優の仕事はやりやすくなりましたか、それとも大変になりましたか。またそれはどのように変わりましたか。

一つ前の質問でもふれましたが
デジタル化によって、難しいことが容易になったという素晴らしい現実があります。
しかし、私たち表現者は、その「難しい」部分と、いかに付き合うかが問われる仕事だと考えます。

人は容易な方に流されがちですが、今一度、その流れにあえて逆らう姿勢が大切だと思います。

現実に
「あ」と「り」と「が」と「と」と「う」をバラバラに録音して
上手にはめこめば、日本語の「ありがとう」
英語で「ＴＨＡＮＫ　ＹＯＵ」が
セリフとして完成してしまうところまで、テクノロジーの技術は来ています。

しかし、
そこに込められた気持ちそのものは、テクノロジーでは表現できないはずだと
信じています。
いえ、もしかしたら、信じたいだけかもしれませんが。

お母さんへの感謝のありがとう
恋人からもらったプレゼントへの、うれし泣きのありがとう
ゾンザイなふりをしながらも、本当は感謝しているありがとう
挨拶代りに言ったありがとう
うれしくないけれど、とりあえず言ってみたありがとう

それは
あ・り・が・と・うをパソコンの画面上でつなげてできるものではないと信じたいです。

それぞれの「思い」とテクノロジーの到達度。２０年後は「声優」の仕事がなくなっていたりして？
それは避けたいな。

正確な言葉の伝達としてだけではなく
本当の意味や思いを伝えるために声を使いたいです。

声優という職業は、子どもの頃からなりたいち思っていたものですか。若き日の林原めぐみさんという少女は、学校卒業後に何をしたいと望んでいましたか。

私が小学校５年生の時に、
映画館で見た「さらば宇宙戦艦ヤマト」が大きなきっかけです。
それまでは、アニメーションのキャラクターは世の中に実在すると思っていたのですが、パンフレットだったか、当時の雑誌だったかに、声優さんの顔写真が掲載されていて、
古代進は古代進がしゃべっているのではなく、森雪は森雪がしゃべっているのではなく
その裏に生身の人間がいたのかと、かなりのショックをうけました。

今でいえば、
ポケモンのピカチュウはピカチュウが鳴いていると思っていたら違った…。
といった感じでしょうか。
当時は、「声優」という職業がクローズアップされることはあまりなく
あくまでも影の存在だったので、この仕事そのものの存在を知る機会がなかったということもあげられます。

そこから、アニメに、また、それを演じている声優に興味を持ち始めました。

ところが
中学生の時、父親が病気で倒れ、病院に出入りすることが多くなり、
現実的には看護婦と目指すこととなりました。
高校卒業後は看護学校に通い
国家資格を得るまでとなり、看護婦という仕事を選びました。

しかし、小学５年生からの夢をあきらめきれず
声優のレッスンを無料で受けられるというオーディションを雑誌でみつけて
応募し、合格し、それをきっかけに、
看護学校と声優のレッスンを同じ時期受けていました。

看護学校卒業後、両親に３年だけ、とにかくやらせてほしいと伝え
３年たっても、声優として、何の兆しも、光も見えなかったら、
今一度看護婦になると約束し、本格的にオーディションを受け、
４本のレギュラーが決まりました。

結果、看護婦の道に戻ることはありませんでした。
しかし、看護学校で学んだすべての事が今の私の柱になっているのも事実です。

Part 2 coming Friday 26 April!

When: Saturday 27 April 2013 from 7pm.
Where: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7DA.
Tickets: £5 advance (click here), £7 on the door.
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/442402782502160/

Get ready for a night of mayhem in the company of some of Japan’s finest rockers. Japan Underground has finally finished mopping up the sweat from our last hard rock party, which featured one of east’s finest post-hardcore artists, FACT (check out this video for a glimpse of what went down that night). Now we’re back with a showcase set featuring THREE rock acts that we guarantee will melt your mind. Plus our usual DJ piling on the rockiest, heaviest and all out coolest tracks from Japan for your pleasure. Just get a load of this line-up:

BRAIN DEATH ZOMBIE

To weigh down our rock, we have called upon Kobe’s newest metal outfit BRAIN DEATH ZOMBIE (pictures above). Looming from the shadows of doom metal, and inspired from the likes of Korn, SCREW, DIR EN GREY and alt. noise makers Pay money To my pain, this band bring a unique, artist and deeply haunting edge to the evening’s proceedings. Here’s a preview clip we used for their first ever overseas show earlier in the year:

TAIGEN KAWABE (FROM BO NINGEN)

When he’s not fronting one of the hottest names in psychedelic rock, Bo Ningen, Taigen Kawabe is busy crafting music on his own. Armed with a bass, impressively long hair and an effect pedal, he becomes a one man army of mind melting sound.  Some have likened his solo work to a spiritual experience. So fittingly, here’s a video of his band in action. In a church. Taigen Kawabe, we’re not worthy.

COLORS

Bringing the 80s back! London-based Japanese rock outfit COLORS borrows influences from many genres of music. It’s front man Kenji loves British punk, new wave and old skool visual kei, while other members take inspiration from heavy metal, pop and even a bit of a good old drum ‘n’ bass. They recorded their first music video last year, get your leathers out and have a gander.

The album made its debut in Japan’s Oricon album chart today, smashing into fourth position. The news that it will be coming to Europe – the group’s first release outside of Japan – has already made the news across Japan’s major music and entertainment press, including MTV Japan, Yahoo! and Natalie.

Hailing from Saitama, just north of Tokyo, the trio has managed to smash through the country’s notorious indie rock scene to become one of the most talked about new bands of the decade. Their ferocious yet beautiful arrangements feature sharp and technical guitar work; thick, distorted basslines; and aggressively progressive beats set against haunting, intertwined male-female vocals. It all contributes to i’mperfect being one of the most refreshing, unique and powerful albums of the year.

TRACKLIST:
1. Beautiful Circus (<-click for the music video)
2. abnormalize (<-click for the music video)
3. Metamorphose
4. Filmsick Mystery
5. Sitai miss me
6. make up syndrome (album mix)
7. MONSTER
8. KIMITOOKU (キミトオク)
9. Missing ling

Release Date: 24 June 2013
Formats: CD and MP3
Territory: the UK, Europe and Russia
Pre-order From: Amazon UK, Amazon DE, (more stores coming soon)

To celebrate the release Ling tosite sigure’s official Youtube channel has been opened up to international fans for the first time. Check it out by clicking here.We’ll leave you with the music video to their smash hit single abnormalize, which is also used as the opening theme to hot new anime series PSYCHO PASS.

It’s been seven long years since major Visual Kei band, NIGHTMARE very successfully brough their two albums Libido and Anima to Europe, but they are finally back. Their new album, SCUMS, releases all over Europe today; available on iTunes, Amazon and (ding ding ding!) CD.

Just for one moment, let us have a little reminiscence of days gone by. Days when I used to scavenge CD stalls for Visual Kei. Barely ever lucky (never lucky), but always looking anyway. And then one day, behold! NIGHTMARE CDs! A shining light in the darkness for the impoverished teenage Visual Kei fan. Those two albums, Libido and Anima, still sit on my CD shelf now, valuable as the first European released Japanese CDs I ever owned.

Luckily, sentimental value is not the only value NIGHTMARE CDs have either, they also sound pretty good.

Nightmare have not been slacking in their time away from Europe. With 13 years experience at the top of their game, NIGHTMARE have some impressive credentials. Made famous internationally for their musical contributions to the anime Death Note, the band have become a serious institution, and in recent years they have continued to experiment freely. This album follows their usual path of baseline metal, piled on with funk and jazz elements along with gigantic vocals (ironic, as their vocalist stands a mere four feet in height).

The lead track for the album, ASSaulter, not only has a suspicious name, but also has some strange keyboard accompaniment, and an even stranger music video – which you can sample below if you really want to. However, once things get going, I promise they get better. In fact, they get better immediately with their single from this time last year, Mimic. This not only provides a much better music video, but also less weird synth and some nifty guitar. This up and down quality has existed on every NIGHTMARE album I’ve ever heard; brilliance and strangeness mix together to produce an album which is constantly changing direction.

It’s a very long album though, and there are a lot of very bright highlights. There’s Riddle, which contains some very interesting experiments with electro and ska elements. DISSEMBLE goes hard and fast with impressive rhythmic guitar and some super high-speed drumming. Amongst the softer, more toned down tracks, it really stands out. Deus ex Machina, which was a recent single, is another stand-out. There’s some great harmony between guitar and vocals and the melody is very uplifting. The track which stood out the most though, is 404, which is right slap bang in the middle of the album. Packed full of jazzy riffs and a load of electronic accompaniments, this song is the bounciest, most feel good thing on this album. Vocal participation by all band members is required and the overall effect is set off by an outstanding funk filled bass line.

NIGHTMARE use all their many talents to the full. If they have the faintest desire to make a song which sounds like it has jumped straight out a Disney movie, they will make it (and have, in fact, check out I’m not). If they want to make a pumping hardcore party metal track, they will also do that (Behind The Mask). This whole album has a cheerful sense of freedom about it, like they piled one project on top of another until – tah dah – an album appeared.

So if you need an album in your daily life which contains a great variety of music, lots of fun and no small amount of talent, you should probably buy this one. And who doesn’t need that album?

Title: SCUMS
Tracklist:
1. My name is “SCUM” (1:37)
2. ASSaulter (3:43)
3. Mimic (3:49)
4. Riddle (3:48)
5. Ame to Yoru ni Ochite (5:44)
6. DISSEMBLE (3:31)
7. ERRORs (3:41)
8. Owaru Sekai no Hajimari ha Kinari (4:22)
9. Droid (4:32)
10. 404 (4:35)
11. I’m not (5:12)
12. Deus ex machina (4:25)
13. Black Out (3:59)
14. Behind The Mask (4.03)

Release Date: April 12, 2013

Available from: Amazon (CD), Amazon mp3, iTunes

2013 is the year of J-pop. First Harajuku heroine Kyary Pamyu Pamyu left London giddy in February with a sold out show at the O2 Academy Islington, and now the mighty electro-pop threesome Perfume have just announced that they’re London bound on Friday 5 July as part of their ‘WORLD TOUR 2nd’ tour, which includes Germany (3 July) and France (7 July).

Tickets for the show in London go on sale first to O2 customers from 9am on 13 April, followed by Live Nation pre-sale from 9am on 14 April, and general sale from 15 April 2013. Tickets will be available from this link, priced at £22.50 plus fees.

Promoters Live Nation had this to say about the group;

Perfume are a three piece techno-pop girl group from Hiroshima, Japan, consisting of Aa-CHAN, KASHIYUKA, and NOCCHi. Formed in 2000, the group released their debut major label single in 2005. Their album “GAME” – released in April 2008 – reached number 1 in the Japanese chart, since then, all of their subsequent albums have also taken the number 1 spot.

In 2010, Perfume performed to 50,000 fans at a sold out show at Tokyo Dome and also received the Best Asian Pop Artist award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA). Their first Asian tour – “Perfume WORLD TOUR 1st” – in 2012 also saw them perform to sold-out crowds in four Asian countries.

Known for their futuristic concept and creative dance performances, don’t miss your chance to see Perfume live this July.

Anyway, despite being lovers of rock here, we have a special place in our hearts for the likes of Kyary and Perfume. Check out the video for FAKE IT from Perfume and see what you think:

For now, check out the madness, as captured by Electric Bloom Webzine, of what went down at FACT’s show below:

HEADLINE: FACT

SUPPORT: AREA 11

Related Stories:
FACT Set to Obliterate UK Sold Out Headline Show: 1 March