Archive for February, 2008


For the two years I have been under the influence of iPod. My little black nano has been my entertainment center with my music along with various podcasts. However, the last year has seen me move away from music to more talk-radio (mostly lefty stuff) and podcast theater and audio novels. Today I would like to introduce you to one of the coolest podcasters out there, the sci-fi horror novelist, Scott Sigler. This man’s horrorcasts are works of art filled with intense drama, good plots and lots and lots of violence! View full article »

The third Machinery Magic night will include cybernetic dolls, Psydoll, the militant industrial rock of 2Bullet. They will be joined Shredni, Yuko and other band for a mechanized Thursday night. Definitely an event worth dropping in on.

機械魔術 :: Machinery Magic Vol.3
When: March 20 (Thursday)
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 :: Google Map
Tel: 03-5287-3390
Live: Psydoll, 2Bullet, Yuko, Shredni and more
Open: ???? :: Start: ????
Price: 1,500 yen adv. :: 1,800 yen @ door.

[Club Goth - DJ] A monthly dose of Sunday-evening Goth with Inferno’s Khimaira and friends.

2,000 yen gets you entry, two drinks and a special mix CD.

Soundscape is Gothic, death rock, positive punk, dark wave, dark electro, technoiz and more.

Club Inferno @ Club Shifty in Shibuya Map
Open/Start:
18:00
DJ’s:
Khimaira, Satsuki

Club Inferno

In March, Clup Chop @ Ikebukuro has three general indy events that look worth checking out.

All events:
Where: Club Chop
Address: Floor B1, 2-46-3 Ikebukuro Toshimaku, Tokyo 171-0014 :: 〒171-0014 東京都豊島区池袋2丁目46−3 :: Map

Monday March 3 :: Cry for the Moon
Live: munimuni, 学生棺桶, SEX -virgin killer-.
Open: 18:30 :: Start 19:00
Prices 1,500 yen adv. :: 2,000 yen @ door.

Wednesday March 19 :: General rock with Twisted Clock
Live: stylus, wisted clock, 刺四 and more…
Open: TBA
Price: 1,500 yen adv. :: 1,800 yen @ door.

Friday March 28 :: Case of Sex on the Mars with The Lechery From Mars!
Live: The Lechery From Marz, Over Drive, Red Hots, The Lex and more!
Open: TBA :: Start: TBA
Price: TBA yen adv. :: TBA yen @ door.

[Goth - DJ’d] The only regular Goth event in Nagoya, Stigmatic takes place on the third Saturday of odd-numbered months this year. That means you better turn up to every event, or you are going to be piking for 60 days for the next industrial-EBM-alt outing in Toyota land!

Soundwise the event’s master, DoomSpider, is harsh EBM industrial Goth with flourishes of lighter sounds mixed in. He’ll be joined by VenoMoth (aka Sister Levi) doing femme-future and elektro-Goth, and riz-K with elektro-clash.

They usually have 25 mix CDs available, for the first 25 to book.

To book you need to send the following information to staff[at]stimatic[dot]jp:

  • Date of event you want to book
  • Name
  • Number of people
  • Contact number

As always, remember your ID for all-night events. Organizers will never bend this rule for because it could mean a whole world of trouble if the cops visit.


Where: P.O.D. Nagoya
Address: 4F VOICE Bldg.1-23-1 Izumi Higashi-ku, Nagoya :: 1 minute North walk from exit 1-A of Hisayaodori Station (the 4th floor of the grey building)
Tel: 052-953-0393
Bookings: staff [at] stigmatic.jp
Open: 21:00
Price: 2,000 yen adv. :: 2,500 yen @ door.
DJs: DoomSpider, Venemoth, Riz-K

Event Schedule for Stigmatic in 2008:
January 19 (Sat)
March 15 (Sat)
May 17 (Sat)
July 21 (Sat)
September 16 (Sat)
November 15 (Sat)

More information

I feel very honored to be able to do a review about the contemporary classical music site of Frederik Magle. Frederik Magle is a composer, concert organist and pianist based in Denmark. His works are mainly modern tonal-based classical and film music. Frederik Magel has composed a variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles as well as solo music for violin and piano. His work stretches across genres from full orchestral works to modern electronica.

All items reviewed in this post are available for download on the site with but you will need to register on the Magle International Music Forums to gain access to all works (access is free). This works quite nicely as you can discuss the works further online.

There were around 10-12 tracks available online, but I have selected four to review on JGoth.com – Rising of a New Day, The Shadow, Far Away and Lullaby.

Rising of a New Day is a powerful piece bursting with energy with lively strings and brass alluding to the moment the sun breaks the horizon with all the promise of a new day. There is a quieter interlude perhaps alluding to the still-sleeping creatures, before the sunburst sequence returns again. The piece culminates with drums and finally the music quickens its tempo to exude the feeling that the day has truly arrived. I find it to be an inspiring piece reminding me that every new day has the potential to be a great day. This song is only available in the Forum so you will need to register to listen. Another interesting light-themed piece is Let there be Light, a heavier piece available here. However, I personally find Rising of a New Day the more satisfying of the two to listen to and worth registering to get access to.

The second piece is Skyggen (The Shadow), one of 20 songs based on fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen on the album Sangen er et eventyr (The Song is a Fairytale). The Shadow is a vocal piece backed by cello, piano and bass. It is an interesting piece, capturing the fantasy tale’s essence. However, the vocals are in Danish so I was unable to fully appreciate the track. You can find this track and Fra et vindue i Vartorv (From a window in Vartorv) on the main site here.

One of my favorite tracks on Frederik Magel’s site has to be Far Away, an ominous piece of electronica. Starting slow there is a feeling that something dark is approaching. Then it breaks out into gamboling keyboards as the darkened being comes into view. It is a fine piece of work that captured my imagination especially in the fast-tempo sections with keys and percussion playing off each other. About two-thirds of the way in the music lets up before unleashing a high-tempo, more uplifting tone. I definitely recommend taking a look at this piece through the forums here – remember you need to register first before getting access to tracks released on the forums.

The final track I looked at is Lullaby. As the title suggests this is a very peaceful piano work. Its tempo is slow to begin with and slowly fades to lull you to sleep.

There are plenty of other downloads on this site and I would recommend anyone looking for more modern classical works to take a look at this site. My favorite was Far Away, but many more tracks have found their way to my iPod this weekend.

Links:
Frederik Magle’s site
Frederik Magle downloads
Magle International Music Forums

[Uber Goth-Industrial Live & DJ] Tokyo Dark Castle (TDC) is the main event for the Gothic underground in Tokyo. Populated by the best-dressed Goths from all walks of life TDC delivers some of the best live acts and DJs in the scene. This makes TDC a must on any Goth agenda.

TDC have announced the event schedule for 2008 and rather than do a single post each time the event is set to roll, all details will be held on this page,

Unless otherwise stated, TDC begins at 12 midnight Saturdays and goes through to the early morning (around 6 a.m.). Remember that as with all overnight events you need photo ID to enter.

Web site: http://tokyodarkcastle.org/

Where: Marz Shinjuku

Address: Dai-Ichi Tokiwa Building B1F, Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo :: 新宿区歌舞伎町2-45-1 第一トキワビルB1F :: Map

Tel: 03-3202-8298

Price: 3,000 yen adv. :: 3,500 yen @ door

Event Schedule for TDC in 2008:
January 5 (Saturday) Vol. 36 (DJ Castle)
February 2 (Sat) TDC Vol. 37
March 01 (Sat) TDC Vol. 38
April 05 (Sat) TDC Vol. 39
May 03 (Sat) TDC Vol. 40
June 07 (Sat) TDC Vol. 41
July 05 (Sat) TDC Vol. 42
August 02 (Sat) TDC Vol. 43 (DJ Castle)
September 06 (Sat) TDC Vol. 44

October 18 (Sat) TDC Vol. 45
December 06 (Sat) TDC Vol. 46

This is just a small reminder that there is a forum included in the back of the site. You can get there by Clicking here or you can click the big red link at the top of the pages saying Forums. I haven’t been spending much time on the forums as I tend to be busy on the front of the site and believe my biases should be kept out of the forum area.

As with last month there four general events at Club Chop in Ikebukuro that are worth checking out. They may not be Goth, but don’t let that stop you. There are events with Twisted Clock, Arise, a group from Korea and more!

All events:
Where: Club Chop
Address: Floor B1, 2-46-3 Ikebukuro Toshimaku, Tokyo 171-0014 :: 〒171-0014 東京都豊島区池袋2丁目46−3 :: Map

Monday February 11 with Twisted Clock & The Sound Bee HD
Live: Twisted clock, Hologram head, Zakzone, Millhouse and The Sound Bee HD.
Open: 18:00 :: Start 18:30
Prices 1,500 yen adv. :: 1,800 yen @ door.

Friday February 15 :: General rock with a Korean band
Live: Distortion×Drop, Low Head Machine, 椿 tsubaki, Down in a Hole (from Korea), Sepia and more…
Open: 17:30 :: Start: 18:00
Price: 1,800 yen adv. :: 2,300 yen @ door.

Friday February 22 :: Cry For the Moon Gig
Live: About Tess, Munimuni and ぐしゃ人間
Open: 19:00 :: Start: 19:30
Price: 1,800 yen adv. :: 2,300 yen @ door.

Sundary February 24 :: Metal Pick
Live: Breed of Darkness, Arise, Blitzkrieg, Psychosis Brain Sqid & more.
Open: 17:30 :: Start: 18:00
Price: 1,500 yen adv. :: 1,500 yen @ door.

A late announcement for an event that has a good dose of Goth going down. All artists Musu Bore, Psydoll, Shingguapoura and Nicht have connections to the Goth and underground scene so this is looking like a very good night indeed.

機械魔術 :: Machinery Gramary Vol.2
When: February 3 (Sunday)
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 :: Google Map
Tel: 03-5287-3390
Live: Musu Bore, Psydoll, Shingguapoura and Nicht
DJ: ymot
Open: 18:30 :: Start: 19:00
Price: 1,500 yen adv. :: 1,800 yen @ door.