Archive for April, 2006


[Electro-rock/hard alternative] Along with regulars and semi-regulars, the upcoming iteration of Electrock will feature Sino (Re-build Projects), a righteous, instrumental powernoise industrial performer in urban Tokyo. Sino’s performances are heavy electro-noise assaults with infectious rhythms. Of course, this is just one of the eight acts set to wreak hard elektronicka on Saturday evening. Only costing 1,800 yen pre-booked or 2,000 yen at the door makes it a great lead up to Tokyo Dark Castle beginning midnight just a stone’s throw away in Marz – put together, you could be partying for 12 hours+ straight!

Other acts include Japanese babies – kinda fast metal; Kwik Kick Mummy Lee – hard-core techno remixing; Far Eastern Eclipse – sexy elektronicka; Control Freak – more core remixing; Eingezogen Gestalt – mood electronic; System Error and Nebulae. Throw in a couple of DJs and a VJ and you have Electrock Circus #17.

Electrock Circus vol.17
When: Saturday, 6th May
Open: 17:00 :: Start 17:30
Where: Urga (7 minutes from JR Shinjuku East exit)
Address: B1, 2-42-16, Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo :: Map
Phone: 03-5287-3390
Live: Sino (Re-build Projects), Japanese Babies, Kwick Kick Mummy Lee, Far East Eclipse, Eingezogen Gestalt, Control Freak, System Error and Nebula.
DJ: chisato&chinami(soul source)
VJ: くっSeaまめE/a>

[Goth-Visual Mix - Live] This is a nice dark three-band event at Area, Takadanobaba. Calmando Qual offer great rocking sets whether they’re playing nasty or nice, The Candy Spooky Theater offer a Tim Burton-flavored fantasy experience, and Sugar is a band I have never heard of before (but they look kind of sexy). Calmando Qual have been trouping into Tokyo Dark Castle quite often recently and have developed a good profile overseas. CST did a couple of early TDC gigs. There is a CD with a track from each band for people who rock up.

Honey Club
When: Saturday, 6th May 2006
Open: 18:00 :: Start: 18:30
Where: Area Takadanobaba (nr. JR Takadanobaba)
Address: B1, 3-3-8 Takadanobaba, Shinjuku, Tokyo :: Map
Tel: 03-3361-1069
Price: 2,500 yen adv. :: 3,000 yen @ door
Live: Calmando Qual, The Candy Spooky Theater, Sugar

[Gothic-alternative - Live] Toge Toge Tokagee is a stylish laid-back dark live event. It is quite a nice place to chill at the end of the week with a variety of live acts, some exhibition/craft space. Head Power is split up with live space on the upper floor and a labyrinth with nooks for art/craft displays on the lower floor. The event is the closest I have seen to the Goth-art pubs back home – cool!

Toge Toge Tokagee by Daybook
When: Friday, 28th April 2006
Open: 18:00 :: Start: 18:30
Where: Head Power Shinjuku (nr. Shinjuku stn.)
Address: B1, 1-34-13 Shinjuku Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 166-0002 :: Map
Tel: 03-3354-7727
Price: 2,000 yen adv. :: 2,300 yen @ door
Live: Secret Dead Space, MusuBore, Madle Loop, Lavis en Sort and more.
Exhibition: GODCHILD, Black Garden (Kuroi Niwa), MRtwin and more.

Two men were found in a car in the wilds of Kanagawa dead from asphyxiation caused by charcoal burners. According to reports it seems the two had met online. Statistically, the same day this took place somewhere between 80 and 100 other people had also deliberately killed themselves.

In another report from a week or two ago a woman failed in her bid to die by jumping in front of an oncoming train. While hit, the woman did survive and the injuries were not considered life threatening.

Some people may have noticed that Tokyo Dark Castle’s tokyounderground.com site has experienced difficulties the last couple of months and that Midnight Mess has been dead for months. Now both are back.

Tokyo Dark Castle is now located at http://tokyodarkcastle.org. The site design returns to its original bloody color scheme including variations of the old logo – which is much better in my opinion. So update your bookmarks.

The Midnight Mess site has returned at http://www.midnightmess.com/ as a good example of effective blog-esque design. The annoying free-hosted board is gone, and the site now includes are more information on events (not just MM), places of interest and even a link to little old me.

There are a few other places that are getting refreshed, relaunched or started up for the summer season in 2006 so there could be more announcements in the weeks ahead.

Tokyo Dark Castle[Goth/Industrial Live] The Golden Week edition of Tokyo’s main regular live Goth/underground event is back with regulars a couple of returning friends and a couple of new Tokyo Dark Castle acts… If I was to colorize TDC #19 it would be fluorescent green or perhaps soylent green – healthy, tasty and friendly on environmental resources or perhaps of the people, by the people for the people. This TDC is delicious, and if it tastes good Jimmy, then eat it. Tonight’s event brings you goth rock, industrial rock, cyber industrial, sonically intense noise, alternative grinding rock, melancholic divas and some megalopolis underground pop.

Starting up with the Goth-scene regulars… Auto-Mod doing their heavy goth-rock with the new eastern layering, Destruct System ripping shit up (as they do) with heavy industrial rock, and Baal ripping more shit up with their cyber-industrial rock.

Returning friends are Chaos Royal (aka 666dB and Noise/Girl) with hellacious (in a good way) noise performance, and gadget. with their mighty grooving alternative-retro rock sounds.

The new bands are interesting. The first, lloy, has quite haunting instrumentals and lovely elfin vocals, which should go down well for the interlude set. The second, function code() has a more straight alternative pop rock feel. If it is the same band I am thinking of I have been interested in seeing them at alt-rock events to see them with 101A amongst others. I am interested in seeing what kind of set they will produce at TDC.

On the DJ front you have the glorious Violet and Chihiro filling the regular spots with Taizo dropping in some great 80s Goth mixes to boot.

All up it’s looking like this will be up to the usual TDC standards. The five live acts that do know and have seen (Auto-Mod, Destruct System, Baal, Chaos Royal and gadget.), score high on the quality and excitability, and the two unknowns will add spice to the night.

So while the rest of Japan is stuck in a traffic jam trying to get out of (and then back into) the major cities, I WHOLLY recommend that the Goths, alternatives, dissatisfied corporate drones and anyone else haul ass down to Marz and having themselves a damned good time at TDC. Kansai editor, Jude should be along for the party, I may be there dependent on how massacred my body is by then, and no doubt quite a number of regulars will be there – so ALL IS COOL.

As always book with the band of choice to support them (and get a discount and maybe a special little extra).

Finally, Tokyo Dark Castle’s site has moved to http://tokyodarkcastle.org. Please update your bookmarks to stay informed of the latest.

Tokyo Dark Castle #19
When: Saturday, 6th May
Open/Start: 24:00
Where: Marz Shinjuku (near Shinjuku)
Address: B1F Dai-ichi Tokiwa Bldg., Kabukicho 2-45-1, Shinjuku :: Map
Tel: 03-3202-8248
Price 3,000 yen adv. :: 3,500 yen @ door (plus 500 1D)
Live: Auto-Mod, Destruct System, Baal, Chaos Royal (aka 666dB, Noise/Girl), gadget., function code (under), lloy.
DJs: Chihiro, Violet and Taizo.
Note: Must be 18+ (ID checks) – 20+ to drink.

[Alternative Rock] Yes, a more general event, but the reason for the announcement is 101A. This band has got grit and plays some hot alt-rock songs with a dark ambience. They also got a spot on one alt-goth CD a couple of years back (Daybook’s various artist release – that’s where I first heard them). Given those two things, how can I overlook an interesting event with the band! 101A does a number of gigs each month, but Urga is a good place to see the band as Urga tends to get a good mix of bands for events.

On an extra note, this is part of Urga’s 6th anniversay celebration. This means there are going to be all kinds of acts on so worth checking out – Urga is know for getting the harder bands!

Urga 6th Anniversary
When: Sunday 23rd April
Open: 18:00 :: Start 18:30
Where: Urga (7 minutes from JR Shinjuku East exit)
Address: B1, 2-42-16, Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo :: Map
Tel: 03-5287-3390
Price 2,500 yen adv. :: 2,800 yen @ door
Live: 101A, QYB and more…

Titled “Arabesque Rosario,” the third instalment of Sakinohaka is an overnight event taking place at fan J twice. The event features three live bands – Bat Cave, Psycho Dream and Phantasmagoria – other live performances and a bucketful of DJs in pear tree. Book to avoid the hefty door premium or drag a friend along to reduce the premium.

Sakinohaka :: Arabesque Rosario
When: Friday, 28th April
Open: 20:00 all night!
Where: fan J twice
Address: B1F. B2F, B3F 2-1810, Nishishinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan :: Map
Tel: 06-6484-3880
Live: Bat Cave, Psycho Dream, Phantasmagoria
Performance: Rose de Reficul et Guiggles, and more…
DJs: TONS OF FREAKING DJS!

Dark-Horse.netThis month has been owned by Agent Murder, and deservedly so – the new CD is a quality piece of work that brings out the heart of the band, and AM’s live intensity is inspiring stuff. Now there is even more to scream about with a video podcast on Dark-Horse.net! The emergence of Dark-Horse is great news in itself as it marks a welcome return the master of Dead at Last – the original guide for dark stalking in Japan.

Dark-Horse.net will bring a variety of video podcasts from the underside of Japan. This is really exciting as 005X (Zero-Zero-Go-X – ぜろぜろご

I bet you are wondering WHY I am online this weekend (I am kind of on a health vacation). Well, I just realized that two years ago today, April 16 2004, I got the inkling to register the JPGoth.com domain name and doing a site. Woohoo, I have been at the computer desk for too many hours for two years now. While I am on holiday and should not be hanging around doing hobby-work, I decided to follow the sage advice of Diana Ross, “It’s my party and I’ll crash and burn while suffering a psychotic episode if I want to.”

The First Year
I was going to write something boring about the site’s history, I will cut half of that out by pointing you to the First anniversary page.

The Second Year
The second year started completely on the wrong foot with some *stuff* going on that nearly saw the demise of the site within days of the first year anniversary! I guess that has worked itself out in a way, but that and more direct challenges to come during the past year told me the honeymoon was over.

Just at the point where I reached the decision to wrap up the site in late 2005 a mysterious e-mail from Germany arrived. It was from A stan Magazine, who were preparing an issue dedicated to Japanese Goth (and some VK as well, but fortunately it was more Goth and the Visual band selections were good!). So armed with a circle of friends and people willing to invest a bit of energy and trust over here, an interesting project to get local Goth overseas began. Japanese Goth deserves its place in the global Goth scene and the screaming cannot stop – I want everyone to know… IT ROCKS!

The Third Year
So year three begins with me scarfing some goop to make me genki and powering up for the next stage. What is in the next stage? To tell you the truth, I don’t know – actually I do know, but it is many months away from fruition. Your support is key to bringing these bands and a number of JGoth events into the international spotlight (the light may be dim now, but it is getting brighter every month).

There are already a variety of projects from a number of sources that are looking to further the Japan Goth invasion of Europe (and a couple in the U.S.), and those looking towards bringing Japan into the global Goth fold. The foreign component of event goers is growing and the local Goth crowd show themselves to be amongst the coolest, most cosmopolitan (and best dressed) group in Japan – win-win-win.

Some of the other projects are very exciting. There is a lot of work ahead for those involved, but it really seems that the scene is at the start of something special. While mainstream Japan is slowly choking itself with corporatism on steroids and a pop culture rivaling Kylie’s Locomotion, the breakaway bohemians of Goth, industrial, alternative, underground, etc. are building something that can really connect with the world.

I am scared that the new developments will see JGoth.com die out like a dinosaur, but I am excited of what the new energies will bring.

THANK YOU
The good experiences have far outweighed the negative ones this year – and the help from friends, in Japan and online, and other contacts have dragged me over the bad patches. There are many people who have helped keep things going or keep me going and I thank you all. I would particularly like to thank the following people whose efforts, information, kind words and ears that kept things on track in 2005/06:
Jude (Sins of the Flesh), MoonChild, U-tarou & Mikito (BAAL), Sisen, Rieu (Despair) & Kazue, Fred, Zac, Gsson, Dee Lee & Awi (2 Bullet & Agent Murder), zAkro (Basaracracy), Mina (Satanyanko & Switch Bladerz), Genet (Auto-Mod), Finn (Harshrealm), Kiwamu (Blood), Kenzo (Gadget), A04 and Carmilla. There are many more people deserving of thanks – please forgive me for any ommission.

Finally, a really, really big thank you to my wife, for tolerating my mad underground adventure and the many nights spent tapping away at a keyboard… Thank you.

I remain committed to the scream.