Tag Archive: japan gothic


Just a quick note to let you know that the JGoth.com blog (formerly the JGoth.com community Web site, which was formerly the JGoth.com blog – lol), has moved to blog.jgoth.com. The www.jgoth.com Web space will now be a bulletin board for those into the Japanese gothy industrial scene to talk more freely. Also note that Igor runs a global Gothic community site at www.gothers.com (around 3,800 members and counting).

Cheers from the dungeon.

Igor

Here is an interesting event featuring The Royal Dead in the band line up. I cannot speak of the other bands, but it is worth a look.

When: June 13 (Sat)
Where: Urga Shinjuku
Address: Address: B1, 2-42-16, Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo :: 東京都新宿区歌舞伎町2-42-16 B1F
Tel: 03-5287-3390
Live: Gregor Samsa, Nazoo, Queen of Wand, The Royal Dead, Vanished Empire, Himemanik, Vukanian Medium, CyberDeath.
DJ’s: NAR, JOTA, CHIHIRO, MANIK, dB
Open: 17:00 Start: 17:30
Price: Adv 2000 yen :: @ Door 2400 yen View full article »

Please excuse my newfound interest in blogvertising – it not only helps pay the bills (believe me I really need the dosh for something special), but is also fun to do! However, before you throw your hands in the air in Despair, please note I am just getting prepped to do some of the more regular blogging that you are looking for. First up there are the indy nights that will be updated for Clubs Chop and Urga and possibly a more Goth event or three to be included. Then there are the reviews – I just got a couple of CDs from the states that I will listen to closely and I’ll check my JGoth CD pile for good measure.

Cheers,

Igor

Sawdust in MeMortification Made Me is the debut EP from Osakan femme-driven Sawdust in Me (MySpace). Formed in 2005 Sawdust in Me is a female duo consisting of Haji (vocals and programming) and Hinowa (vocals and performance). The music is club-play ready with its combination of EBM and distorted breakbeats. However, what makes the CD special however, are the two vocalists whose diverging voices create the six vocal variants with two screaming, singing, spoken voices playing throughout the CD. An extra plus is that the work has been the re-recording and mixing by Jude from DeathWatch Asia. The combination of varied vocals and professional recording makes this CD something any club goer of J-Music lover would enjoy. Don’t be fooled by the cakes and pretty animals, that’s just a cover for the evil inside!

The first three songs, Define, Envy, My Way Out start out as straight dance floor tracks before the vocals kick in. Once the screaming begins the songs take on a more serious mien. As the two vocalists play off each other’s voice ranges, the songs become quite a deep listening experience without losing their pop-appeal. Thirteenth starts the heavy EBM beat and kicks in some radio-voiced vocals.

Substitute knocks you like a tsunami with evil bitch screams crashing down over the sound. Clever mixing of the music and vocals makes this a quite unique industrial track – almost, but not quite – as heavy as Despair. This is probably my favorite track of this EP.

The final track, Heaven, is the instrumental sign-off track featuring slow, heavy Gothic keyboards with glitch beats thrown in for added effect.

Overall, I find this CD to be a really accessible dance CD with the twin vocalists giving it a real kick as a unique piece of work, although I would have liked a couple more extended tracks going over four minutes. It is definitely worth checking out.

Sawdust in MeMortification Made Me :: Track List
01. Define (3.00) – Sample
02. Envy (3.36) – Sample
03. My Way Out (3.03)
04. Thirteenth (3.28) – Sample
05. Substitute (2.47)
06. Heaven (2.49)
Total Time: 18 minutes
Price: ¥1000 / Euro 7.00

You can find distribution on the DeathWatch Asia distribution list or simply buy direct from Music Non Stop internationally.

Igor is proud to announce that he has become an affiliate of Music Non Stop, a totally kicking alternative music store able to ship all manner of music almost anywhere in the world. It even carries a range of Japanese Gothic titles from the small, but growing DeathWatch Asia label. If you are feeling like shopping for some alternative music or something dark and from Japan, please click on the banner or individual links below!


 Items of particular interest to JGoth readers are:

Demonoid 13
- Gate of Hell (Igor’s Review)

Despair
- Deserted Technology Riot (Igor’s Review)
- Rewired Riot Technology (Rewired! Review coming soon)

Sawdust in Me
- Mortification Made Me (Review coming soon)

Sins of the Flesh
- Death Wish
- Death of the Flesh (Igor’s Review)

Various Artists
Dark Waters (Igor’s Review)

All these titles are quality examples of the Japanese Goth, especially Dark Waters which offers a broad cross-section of Goth, industrial, electro and more. Remember if you make a purchase after clicking the links above, that supports Igor and JGoth!


gateofdeaths.gifThis devastatingly heavy EBM release from Demonoid 13 (MySpace) comes to you professionally repackaged by the small, but quickly expanding, Deathwatch Asia label in Japan. The music comes across as hard, powerful dance tracks, which reflects the nature of lead man Fixer-D, a.k.a. DJ DoomSpider of Nagoya’s Stigmatic events. Aside from Fixer-D on vocals and programming the band includes Sister Levi (DJ VenoMoth) on synths and sonic waves and DxUxSx on metal and electro percussion.

The band’s mix of dark metal, and heavy grindcore is built around Fixer D’s own powerful demonic voice. Whether “whispering” or screaming, his voice powers through the soundscape with little difficulty. Despite the harshness of the sound, the last three tracks of the CD play really well for club events – Sinister Circle, Master of D and Satanic Panzer Unit – and can often be heard in the DJ’d sets at Goth events in Japan. The other two tracks, Reflected Lights and Hypocritical Souls and are more straight heavy EBM-industrial that you can enjoy blasting away anywhere you are!

Overall, the CD plays really well and is a fine example of the Japanese dark EBM, delivering a powerful mix of metal and electronicka with powerful vocals. The price for this CD is quite reasonable at 1,500 yen for 25 minutes of some great music.

Gate of DeathGate of Death :: Track List
1. Reflected Lights (4:58)
2. Hypocritical Souls (5:08)
3. Sinister Circle (4:55)
4. Master of-D (5:21)
5. Satanic Panzer Unit (4:47)
Total Time: 25:07

You can find a list of domestic and international distributors on DWA’s order information page.

Finally, you may want to check out the video sample:

[youtube lBfj8vbc1y8]

Gizenrou small

Location: Tokyo, Japan – Genre: Metal, Hardcore, Industrial

Gizenrou/Earth of Hypocrisy is a hot dark metal album I picked up from Agent Murder back in March 2006 and at the time decided to write a review of it on the old site. However, it still has the crisp hardness it did when I first reviewed it, so I decided to redo the review for the new JGoth.com site.

Earth of Hypocrisy plays hard and fast with instrumentals loud and crisp and lead singer Awi’s eerie vocals come out nice and strong. This release takes you to the core of Agent Murder and is one of the most satisfying recordings I’ve picked up in the Goth/underground scene.

Right from the start your mind is assaulted by the thrash anthem Imaginary Number “N”. If you like your metal fast and dark, or your Goth hard and fierce, or just something that freaking rocks your ears off then give this album a try. The album consists of seven tracks along with four remixes to give you a good balance of the Agent Murder’s true metal sound and remixed electronic versions.

I liked their first album, a lot, but the new release is a quantum leap – the sounds are more mature, more balanced and focus on the essence of the band. It is just a fantastic piece of dark metallic work.

Production quality is high with everything coming through crisply and having Awi’s voice right at the forefront of the songs gives them a lot more power. The drums, guitar and bass are played with fury and to perfection. The members know where to let rip and when to lay off the rage holding all the songs together well. The move towards more Japanese vocals than seems to have freed Awi up to focus on impaling the lyrics the way they were intended adding more powers to the tracks.

There has been no skimping on the recording, the disc production printed matter and case are all professionally mad. It looks and feels like a bought CD should be. For 2,000 yen Gizenrou is very good value with both production and creative quality kept very high and a sound that has popular appeal.

Igor’s final call: Agent Murder have been the dark princes of the Goth scene for a long time, but this time they have thrown down the gauntlet and emerged as one of the true lords of the realm. Whether you buy the album or not, keep an eye on this band, because with the new sound and focus Agent Murder is looking hot.

But don’t take my word for it. I wouldn’t trust a gaijin as far as I could throw one! Have a listen to a couple of tracks yourself on the Agent Murder Myspace site (Agent of Murder and Lucy’s Blue Birdcage are from the new album).

[Editorial note: due to illness of one of the band members Agent Murder has been out of circulation for a while, but are due to be back and around in November. Their main site is down at the time of writing, but you can hear some of their work through their MySpace account.

Agent Murder偽善楼/Gizenrou/Earth of Hypocrisy Track List
1. nと云う虚数 :: Imaginary Number “N”
2. 姦淫 :: Adultery
3. Lucyの青い籠 :: Lucy’s Blue Birdcage *
4. 卵の殻をつけた愚者の踊り :: Ballet of the Unhatched Fools
5. 身代 ~ :: Agent of Murder *
6. 無言の石 :: At the Edge of Your Death
7. 幻想即興罪 :: My Fantasie Impromptu
= Bonus Remix Trax:
8. 偽善楼 :: Earth of Hypocrisy (Original remix)
9. 姦淫 ~ :: Adultery (2 Bullet remix)
10. nと云う虚数 :: Imaginary Number “N” (Original remix)
11. 幻想即興罪 ~ :: My Fantasie Impromptu (Original remix)

MySpace samples are marked by a * above. There are also two sample from their earlier album

Unlike most releases from Japan’s underground, Agent Murder has got local and overseas mainstream distribution through Amazon in the US and Japan.

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.jp

Good morning folks.

I am sorry for the JGoth.com site problems and general instabilities in recent months. However, things are getting worked out just in time for Halloween (okay, most parties have finished), but there is still TDC to look forward to:
http://forum.jgoth.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8

First up, the board has been re-launched at the following URL:
http://forum.jgoth.com/ Being a stand-alone board it offers greater flexibility and more options, which is good for board members.

On top of that you will find that there is a stack of topics to cover more Japanese music scenes not to mention international sections to talk about various Gothic scenes overseas.

The board comes in five major sections. The lengthy list is:

  1. The Welcome board with FAQs, Polls and Suggestion box
  2. A smeg-load of boards covering J-Goth, industrial, other music styles and life in general in Japan. There are also special sections German, French, Spanish and Japanese.
  3. A European section for listing the 10 countries that I get the most visitors from including the U.K., Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Italy, Greece, Spain and Belgium and a board for other countries.
  4. Goth in the Americas with U.S.A. Canada, Brazil and Chile listed plus a board for other countries.
  5. Finally Oceania and Asia where the bulk of visitors come from Australia & New Zealand and China/Hong Kong.

If you are interested in giving the JGoth.com forum another try I’d be most appreciative. Because the password encryption is different from the last board you will need to re-register. That takes about one minute to do. Once in feel free to post away!

Remember the new board is located at:
http://forum.jgoth.com/

The archived articles for JGoth.com are presently located at:
http://xfactor.jgoth.com/

So that’s three places to keep in mind:
Board: http://forum.jgoth.com/
Archive: http://xfactor.jgoth.com/
New site: http://www.jgoth.com/

Thanks again for your support.

Cheers

Igor/Admin
forum.jgoth.com
xfactor.jgoth.com
www.jgoth.com