Archive for July, 2005


The sequence has begun brethren. The disenfranchised children of the night lie in wait. There is a new generation of heavy industrial sound-makers set to explode your brain stacks in Tokyo on Septeber 24. Be free that night, all night, to join the Slave’s Riot….

Technology
Cyborg + Organ
Industrial
Conflict + Junk
Pain Clinic
Decadence
Brainwashing
Skin Sence
Symbiosis
Body Speed
Worship

Stay tuned…
BRAIN SCAN

What is this? Gothic Lolita month or something? I know a couple of people doing research or articles covering Gothic Lolita style (you should see my inbox sometime), and the style is getting a bit of attention overseas, so I thought I better mention it tonight. Two local English magazines recently carried articles about Goth-loli style, which may be a useful reference people looking into these things.

First up is an article appearing in J@pan Inc., called Harajuku Girls Co-Opted. The article looks more at Harajuku’s emergence in the Western conscience than Gothic Lolita, but does have a healthy discussion on the topic about mid-way through. I guess the story picked up on the American singer who had some success dragging an entourage of ersatz Harajuku girls around with her. Interesting read.

The other is a little glamor piece in Metropolis, a Tokyo free-mag. What are you staring at? takes a look at foreign Gothic Lolitas in Tokyo. Just three quick questions to each of the girls covering general information about themselves, their style (interesting to see how much they spent on their outfits) and about Tokyo. It’s a nice piece, the outfits are great and you get to see how much people spend on this stuff.

Of course, the question remains… when are they going to get into the real events and sounds of Japan’s Goth scene (and I do not mean visual kei). Maybe next year…

Sicily — Just 3,000 euros four times a year ma’am will ensure we won’t impregnate you with the son of the Anti-Christ.

Yes, folks, a cabaret singer and his girlfriend managed to extort 50,000 euroes (about a gazillion yen) from a lady by saying they would impregnate her with the son of the son of the light bringer. Well, they were arrested, but I couldn’t find any statements that the couple were not vampires.

My mind’s already racing ahead with the next great idea in spam. A message from the Devil… They could even offer generic, herbal or RX discounts.

Yes, the wonderful world of social networking. Essentially it was for work purposes in response to Mr. Murdoch’s purchase of the parent. So Igor signed up like the good little miscreant he is to learn more.

Of course, by the time I signed up everyone had satisfied themselves as to what the site was. Now, I’ve got an account there and feeling kinda funky! Some amazing music on their including Despair…. WITH SOUNDZ!! If you’re a MySpace cadet, you can find me at http://www.myspace.com/jpgoth – you can find a link to Despair’s space there…. and a link to Tom…

Hi folks. I’m gonna be doing terrible things to the site over the next few days… DON’T PANIC! It should be better. Essentially I want to make it easier to scoot around with the menus and other things.

I’ve also had to do a quick fix and rip the guts out of a couple of things due to potential security holes. Nothing major, just monkeying with the pages… A few sites got knocked about a bit recently so if you’re running a PHP site (various Nukes, Xoops, Blogware, etc) you better check the vendor’s pages for any recent alerts and prescribed fixes.

Girls just want to have fun and, in this case, they want to be deathly cute! There have been a few people sending me e-mails asking about the Goth-loli phenom, but to tell you the truth, I don’t know much, except that it’s a fashion style. However, Lolita Snap should help you learn more about the style.

Lolita Snap is an international community site dedicated to the Japanese fashion style called Gothic Lolita. There’s news and information, pictures from members and discussion boards. It’s really cool seeing people form all over the world getting into the style with all kinds of interpretations of what GL is. The age spread of the members also serves as an interesting juxta-position compared to the Japan scene which sees many Gothic Lolita’s moving onto other things by their mid-twenties. So, if you’re interested in learning more about the style and don’t read or write Japanese, this would be a good place to start.

URL: http://www.lolitasnap.com/

14:55 JST – At 16:35 JST, A moderate earthquake hit the Kanto region. The ground was moving for about 20-30 seconds. It was a low 5 on the shindo scale at the center (reasonably big, but likely to cause havoce – that starts at 5+). It was a highish 4 on the shindo scale where I was at. The quake was enough to wake ferrets, but not enough to move furniture around – some things rocked a bit though. No damage reported yet, but there will probably be a few isolated things. I’ll keep updating the article tonight as information comes in.

17:00 JST Update — Just came in from a cigarette on the balcony. The cracks in the building across from us have remained the same size as before. Nup. Nothing to report.

17:05 JST Update — Just saw the news. Magnitude was 5.7 on the Richter scale. The trains stopped after the temblor. There were a group of 50-something ladies who hurt themselves somewhere. No idea what happened. The pictures of an intersection during the quake shook around (that’s just the camera), but people were walking around as normal.

20:00 JST Update — A number of train lines are still closed (probably just checking the lines, nothing to worry about). A few people were slightly hurt due to a falling sign board. A steel tower in Edogawa fell on a residential block, but nobody was injured. Quite a number of reports of people stuck in elevators. Nothing major or shocking to report. There will probably be a few incidents that crop up by tomorrow morning, but generally not much to worry about.

23:00 JST Update — No fatalities. 28 injuries (minor I think). Saw a car fell from an elevator car park and smashed up pretty nicely – no one hurt.

Oh boy, this has been one crazy month… but it’s not over yet. Nagoyan Goths starving for events should take particular note of STIGMATIC on Saturday!!

Aural Vampire will be raising hell on the last night of August with Zombie Lolita and others at UFO Club. Aural Vampire has a healthy mix of dark electronic, delicious female vocals and some serious grocking (guttural cries if your Igorian is rusty). Zombie Lolita have a lot of youthful angst, costumes mixing cute with gruesome and should be a blast to see live (mayhaps a bit visual kei-sy, but should be wild)! You have Konjiki mixing traditional Japanese sounds with techno beats (great downloads, but you need Real Media), and two more live acts. Great value for 1,300 yen or 1,500 yen @ door (+500 yen for drink ticket @ door).

Event Info:
Event: TOKYO TRIP with Aural Vampire
Place: UFO Club (3 min. from Higashi Koenji Station, Marunouchi subway)
Address: B1F, Harmony Hills, 1-11-6 Koenji Minami, Suginami-ku, Tokyo † Map
Club Phone: 03-5306-0240
Date: Sunday July 31, 2004
Start: Open 19:00 † Start 19:30
Price: 1,300 yen advance † 1,500 yen @ door (add 500 yen @ door for drink ticket)
Live: Zombie Lolita, Aural Vampire, Konjiki (金色), Black Ribbons and Tani Hiroshiyuki (谷 洋幸).
Band site: http://www.auralvampire.com/
Club site: http://home3.highway.ne.jp/psyche/ufoclub/

New Wave Junkies is an electronic/remix event producing a a range of funky sounds each month. The players bring various styles to NWJ and are very convivial, making it a good place to chill and enjoy the night. Styles range from the industrial-digital from Euthanasie to the grooving axe-funk from Dummy? to the pure digital arrangements from Lord aCid. The space is large and you can pick up some nice snacks along with your mind lubricants. If you want to get a handle on the scene you can check Igor’s take and GothicGaijn’s report.

Event info:
Event: New Wave Junkies
Place: Live Inn Peak 1
Address: B1, Mine Bldg. 3-28-8 Kita-senzoku, Ota-ku, Tokyo 145-0062 † Map
Phone: (Peak 1) 03-3720-0190
Date: Saturday, July 30, 2005
Start: 18:00 open † 18:00 start
Price: 2,000 yen adv. † 2,500 yen @ door.
Live: Euthanasie, DUMMY?, Lord aCid, Far East Eclipse, B/W,GoaT, and Pharmacy.
DJs: EKBT and more.
VJ: Masami Inaba (Crow).
Event site: http://www.246.ne.jp/~mo-mo/NWJ.html
Club site: http://www.peak-1.net/