THE TOMBOYS – exclusive London show: 25 March 2016

Event Name: JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents THE TOMBOYS
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/558339214341814/
Support Bands: The Johns, The Picaresque, DJ: JPU Tom
Date: Friday 25 March 2016
Location: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London E1 7DA [map]
Nearest Tube/Train: London Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Shoreditch High Street
Entry: £5

Japan’s all-girl rock squad THE TOMBOYS are currently recording their debut EP in London. To celebrate, they will perform a one off show in London on 25 March, before jetting back to Japan.

THE TOMBOYS started life in 2011 as a cover band of SCANDAL, one of Japan’s most successful all-girl pop rock artists. Called NoName, they entered SCANDAL’s annual cover band competition and got to the finals, where their drummer picked up the RINA Award from SCANDAL’s drummer.

Since then, NoName started recording their own original songs and touring Japan with their cute and fun response to punk and rock music. They also continue to enter SCANDAL’s annual cover band competition, and have so far picked up the HARUNA award too (gotta collect ’em all).

Now the band has changed their name and working on their first EP under the new moniker. Don’t miss this rare chance to see the band in their one and only overseas show, before they head back to Japan.

THE TOMBOYS: (previously known as NoName)
http://noname-band-official.tumblr.com/

 

PLUS! Make sure you get down early to catch indie rockers The Johns and Japanese pop punk locals The Picaresque perform live! Plus the latest Japanese hit courtesy of JPU Tom from JPU Records, Europe’s hottest label for music from Japan.

The Johns

The Picaresque

the GazettE to Re-release NIL, STACKED RUBBISH and DIM in the UK and Europe

Japan’s ‘visual kei’ veterans the GazettE will release their first three major-label albums in physical and digital formats in Europe through London’s JPU Records, ahead of the release of their hotly anticipated eighth album DOGMA.

Breakthrough album NIL (Nameless Liberty Underground) saw the group emerge from Japan’s underground visual kei scene and become one of the biggest, most influential names in the genre. When released in 2006, the album reached number four in the Oricon Weekly Album Chart and the tour surrounding it brought the GazettE in front of 20,000 fans for its finale at The Nippon Budokan, the country’s most revered venue. NIL will be available from 10 July in the UK and soon after in the rest of Europe.

Follow up album STACKED RUBBISH gave the band their highest chart position to date, reaching number three in Japan’s album chart in 2007 and redefined visual kei in the process. The album experimented with elements of R&B, jazz and blues, and incorporated into the band’s existing heavy, aggressive and dark sound. The results crossed boundaries, even countries, as the GazettE embarked on their first world tour, including a show at a packed out O2 Academy Islington from word of mouth alone. STACKED RUBBISH will be available from 14 August 2015, and had several tracks available to buy in advance from iTunes right now, including fan favourites Filth in the beauty (one unofficially uploaded video of the song has over five million hits on YouTube), high-energy anthem HYENA and the moody theme from Korean horror flick APT; Chizuru.

The last of this year’s re-releases will be DIM, an album described as having riffs as “heavy as the soul of Dracula” and sounding like “Slipknot playing Powerman 5000 covers” by AllMusic’s Alexey Eremenko. Leading up to its release, the GazettE performed a guerrilla gig outside of Shinjuku Station, the world’s busiest transport hub. Police had to pul the plug on when several thousand fans turned up to the secret event. DIM includes the group’s first single to reach number two in the charts, LEECH. The album will also be released on 14 August 2015, with several tracks available now from iTunes.

The CD editions of the albums include the original photo and lyric booklets, as well as all-new booklets containing new images and the lyrics translated into English and Romaji.

NIL TRACKLIST:
(Release: 10 July)
01. THE END
02. Nausea & Shudder
03. Bath Room
04. Maggots
05. Namaatatakai Ameto Zaratsuita Jounetsu
06. D. L. N
07. SHADOW VI II I
08. BARETTA
09. Cassis
10. SILLY GOD DISCO
11. DISCHARGE
12. Taion
Pre-order on CD.

STACKED RUBBISH TRACKLIST:
(Release: 14 August)
01. ART DRAWN BY VOMIT
02. AGONY
03. HYENA
04. BURIAL APPLICANT
05. GANGES NI AKAI BARA
06. REGRET
07. CALM ENVY
08. SWALLOWTAIL ON THE DEATH VALLEY
09. MOB 136 BARS
10. GENTLE LIE
11. FILTH IN THE BEAUTY
12. CIRCLE OF SWINDLER
13. CHIZURU
14. PEOPLE ERROR
Pre-order on CD or from iTunes,

DIM TRACKLIST:
(Release: 14 August)
01. 「HIKARI」
02. THE INVISIBLE WALL
03. A MOTH UNDER THE SKIN
04. LEECH
05. NAKIGAHARA
06. 「ERIKA」
07. HEADACHE MAN
08. GUREN
09. 「SHIKYU」
10. 13STAIRS[-]1
11. DISTRESS AND COMA
12. 「KANSHOKU」
13. SHIROKI YUUTSU
14. IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS
15. 「MORO」
16. OGRE
17. DIM SCENE
Pre-order on CD or from iTunes.

moumoon and PASSEPIED, Two of Japan’s Rising Talents, Announce Special One-off London Show

Event Name: JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents moumoon x PASSEPIED – JAPAN RISING Warm Up
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/454371931382680/
Date: Wednesday 13 May 2015 (from 7pm)
Location: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London E1 7DA [map]
Nearest Tube/Train: London Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Shoreditch High Street
Entry: £5

Schedule:
7-8pm: Japanese music DJ session
8pm: PASSEPIED
9pm: moumoon
10pm-close: Japanese music DJ session

Two of Japan’s hottest rising talents, moumoon and PASSEPIED have already been selected to represent the best in new talents from Japan at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton between 14-16 May 2015, and now they have announce a very special one-off show in London to warm up for the festival appearance, accompanies by DJ sessions from UK-based Japanese music label JPU Records.

PASSEPIED (www.passepied.info)

Named after French composer Claude Debussy, PASSEPIED have became a sensation in the Japanese music scene since forming in 2009. With their unique music style crafted by keyboardist and founder Narita Haneda, who graduated the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in classical music, and illustrations, artwork and music clip animation created by the band’s own vocalist, Natsuki Ogoda. This will be PASSEPIED’s very first performance outside of Japan.

moumoon (www.moumoon.com)

moumoon is a Japanese group formed by YUKA (Vo.) and MASAKI (Gt./Composer). They both grow up with classical music with Masaki playing piano and YUKA playing violin. Their present musical style covers various types of music such as pop, alternative rock, electronica, folk and indie rock with YUKA’s lyrics and vocal adding scenery and a story to Masaki’s sensitive but dynamic melodies. After moumoon was formed, their songs were power played on radio and used in many TV commercials earning them name recognition. Their latest single is also currently being used in hit new anime series Assassination Classroom as its closing theme.

moumoon and PASSEPIED are in the UK to take part in the JAPAN RISING showcase at The Great Escape on Saturday 16 May, where they will be joined by Yosi Horikawa. The showcase is supported by The Foundation for Promotion of Music Industry and Culture (PROMIC) and Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), and coordinated by Japan Underground. It is part of a remit to create overseas showcase opportunities for performers at Tokyo International Music Market; further showcases will follow.

SCANDAL to Release GREATEST HITS Exclusively in the UK and Europe – 4 May

One of Japan’s leading all-girl groups, SCANDAL, will release a special collection of their greatest hits exclusively in Europe on 4 May 2015.

The powerful Japanese pop-rock band is currently preparing for their first world tour, taking place between April and May. To mark the occasion JPU Records will release a special compilation CD of the band’s biggest singles and fan favourite tracks.

Entitled GREATEST HITS – EUROPEAN SELECTION, the album will be SCANDAL’s first to not be released in Japan, and is instead exclusive to the UK and Europe. The collection features 15 tracks, including their feisty 2008 debut single DOLL – which has racked up over one million hits on YouTube – as well as seven of their top-ten chart smashing singles (Oricon Weekly Singles Chart) and four catchy pop-punk songs featured as theme-tunes and insert songs from popular Japanese anime.

This will be the first time several tracks from SCANDAL’s back catalogue has been made available outside of Japan, and includes a booklet containing lyrics translated into English and Romaji. This album will not be available for digital download or streaming.

SCANDAL – GREATEST HITS TRACKLIST
01. DOLL (video)
02. HARUKAZE
03. Midnight Television
04. Shojo S (video)
05. LOVE SURVIVE (video)
06. Queens are trumps
07. SCANDAL BABY
08. Taiyo to Kimi ga Egaku STORY (video)
09. KOSHI-TANTAN
10. Shunkan Sentimental (video)
11. Awanaitsumorino, Genkidene (video)
12. Kagen No Tsuki (video)
13. Pride (video)
14. SAKURA Goodbye (video)
15. Sayonara My Friend

Pre-order from: [  JPU Records Shop ], [  Amazon.co.uk ], [  Amazon.fr ], [  Media Markt (France) ]
[  Amazon.de ], [  Media Markt (Germany) ], [  Weltbild (Germany) ], [  JPC (Germany) ],
[  My Media Welt (Germany) ], [  Treffpunktmusikshop.de (Germany) ], [  Music Corner (Poland) ],
[  imuzika (Italy) ], [  Media Markt (Italy) ], [  levykauppax.fi (Finland) ], [  Record Shop X (Finland) ],
[  CDON (Finland) ], [  Weltbild (Austria) ], [  CD Soundtrack (Czech Republic) ], [  CDON (Sweden) ],
[  CDON (Norway) ], [  imusic (Denmark) ], [  CDON (Denmark) ]

SCANDAL is

HARUNA
Lead Vocals / Guitar

MAMI
Guitar / Vocals

TOMOMI
Bass / Vocals

RINA
Drums / Vocals

SCANDAL online:
https://www.youtube.com/scandalSMEJ
https://www.facebook.com/scandalofficial

JPU Records online:
http://www.jpurecords.com
https://twitter.com/JPUrecords
https://www.facebook.com/JPUrecords

Japanese Rock Band Lost Ash Confirmed for HYPER JAPAN

The first live act for this year’s HYPER JAPAN Festival has been announced as Japanese rock band Lost Ash. The event, taking place at The O2 in London between 10-12 July 2015, has told us that this summer’s show will contain its strongest music line-up to date, including a dedicated live-venue with many more artists expected to be announced soon.

Lost Ash are Daiki (vocals), Show (guitar), Sai (bass) and Dye (drums). They’ve started developing a name for themselves since forming in 2009, including a festival appearance in Singapore and a nationwide tour of Japan in 2014. They’ve also been featured in popular J-fashion magazine “Men’s Spider”. This will be the first time the band has performed outside of Asia – to celebrate they recorded a special video message for HYPER JAPAN: