Japan Underground: BRAIN DEATH ZOMBIE, Taigen Kawabe (from Bo Ningen) and COLORS – 27 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.

Former Visual Kei Rockers Alice Nine Ask International Fans to Help Write New Song

Top rockers Alice Nine are turning to international fans to inspire them lyrically. The group is taking part in J-MELO’s ‘New Song Project’, where fans of the television show (which is the only Japanese music show broadcast globally in English) are encouraged to send in messages to the band, and those messages may just end up in their next song, or may in some way inspire it.

Alice Nine comments, “We’re celebrating our ninth anniversary as a band, so 2013 is a very special year for us. We want to celebrate special things by creating a song with you. So we want to know who or what is most special to you. Your messages will be our inspiration for the song. Drop us a line!”

Quite how the quintet made this comment is unclear. Did they all say it miraculously at the same time, in perfect unison? Perhaps it was just vocalist Shou talking? Or was it all the ginger-one-staring-intently-to-the-right’s idea? Who knows, but what we can confirm is they want to hear from YOU. To make it happen simply click this link and drop them a message. Tell ‘em Japan Underground sent ya.

Related Stories:
the GazettE Celebrate J-MELO Awards Success With Exclusive Live Set

the GazettE Celebrate J-MELO Awards Success With Exclusive Live Set

NHK World‘s J-MELO (“the only show bringing Japanese music to the world”) announced the winners of the 6th J-MELO Awards last Sunday, and amongst them was the GazettE, claiming once again the title of most requested artist on the program.

On the band’s international success, drummer KAI commented, “People all over the word have sent messages asking us to come and perform. We’d love to expand our horizons and play more live shows abroad. So keep supporting us!”

the GazettE – DIVISION

In celebration of the GazettE’s popularity, this Sunday night the band will feature on the 6th J-MELO Awards Live Special, performing five tracks exclusively;
1. DERANGEMENT
2. VORTEX
3. Kage Fumi
4. REQUIRED MALFUNCTION
5. Filth in the beauty

You can catch J-MELO’s special with the GazettE on Sunday 24 February 2013 from 11:30pm GMT. Find out how to watch the channel on your television at home by clicking here. Alternatively you can catch it live online by clicking here. In the UK you can also watch it on channel 507 with BSkyB, channel 209 with Freesat, or frequency 11137.41MHz with DTH.

Join JPU Records’ Facebook event page for the show to get a reminder just before it hits the air! You can also check when it will how in your timezone by clicking here, J-MELO will be at the very end of the listing.

DERANGEMENT, Kage Fumi and REQUIRED MALFUNCTION are taken from the GazettE’s latest album DIVISION, out now across Europe on CD and MP3 from JPU Records. Find out where to buy your copy, from anywhere in the world, by clicking here.

the GazettE Dominate English Media Awards for 2012 by Winning Best Rock Act, Best Album, Best Music Video and More

Japan’s pioneering rock outfit the GazettE have proved to be an unstoppable force since unleashing their ground-breaking album DIVISION. Released from British independent label JPU Records in the UK and Europe, DIVISION and the GazettE have gone on to win a series of awards from English-language media, including best band, album and music video of 2012.

Over one-million votes were cast during Jpopasia.com’s 2012 music awards, asking Japanese music fans from across the world to select their favourite artists over 12 categories. the GazettE dominated the awards by winning six of the categories; ‘Favourite Band’, ‘Best Music Video’ (for album track ‘DERANGEMENT’), ‘Best Album’ (for DIVISION) and ‘Best Rock Act’, while the group’s charismatic guitar-shredder AOI won ‘Best Use of Social Media’, and band leader and drummer KAI was voted sexiest rocker in Japan. Other artists that were nominated included the mighty X Japan, Dir en grey and ONE OK ROCK.

Meanwhile the GazettE also claimed ‘Best Music Act 2012′ by the readers of NEO, the UK’s longest running Asian pop culture magazine, managing to surpass Korean pop-sensations PSY and Wembley Arena fillers BIGBANG, as well as Japanese guitar legend Tomoyasu Hotei (Kill Bill) and Japan’s electro metalcore outfit Crossfaith.

the GazettE’s vocalist RUKI comments;
“Thank you for your support as always. I’m happy that the GazettE won an award, but I’m even more happy to know that so many people are recognising and listening to the GazettE. Next time, let’s enjoy our music at a live show together. Thanks again.”

DIVISION is out now and available to purchase on CD and digitally from the following retailers found here, amongst others.

TotW: RADWIMPS – EDP

To celebrate the release of illion‘s first single BRAIN DRAIN, we decided to take a look back at Yojiro Noda’s hugely popular rock band RADWIMPS for our very first track of the week; ‘EDP ~Tonde Hi Ni Iru Natsu No Kimi~’. The song’s taken from RADWIMPS’ 2006 album RW3: Mujintou ni Motte Ikiwasureta Ichimai, and in our opinion captures their punkier, aggressive side. Click the album title or the sleeve-art to download it from Amazon MP3 (or click here for iTunes) and see what you think.

We’ve been big fans of when RADWIMPS crank the volume and rock out, and EDP is a great example of this. It also features a mish-mash of styles, including ska-inspired rhythms, a punk-rock sing along chorus (with F-bombs) and a verse structure reminiscent of their recent (and bloody awesome) single DADA. It all accumulates to a great track that is often overlooked. So if you’re new to RADWIMPS and wondering where to start on their vast catalogue, we’d recommend here for a taste of their harder side.