VA - Kuruisake Meets Revolution [2004]

Jukeboxxx Records started out as a primarily thrash label. The preeminent label from Nagoya release a lot of Nice View's early recordings, as well as several critical Japanese thrash compilations. This is one of them, and it's pretty dang good. There's a pretty good mix of thrash/hardcore bands that cover a wide swath of different styles.

The standout on this compilation is the first track, from Turtle Island. I saw them in Kyoto in 2002 on a bill with Naiad and The Futures. I had no clue what I was in for, but after setting up kodo drums, flutes, and even a sitar, they totally blew me away. I've never been a fan of "tribal" punk. It usually ends up pretty boring and hokey. Kind of like a drum circle gone awry. But Turtle Island is super tight, and all of their wild instrumentation packs the energy and excitement of punk and hardcore. The entire band is just so into the music and the songs are so well written, you can't help but get into it. I was instantly smitten. Since that time, they've even added the amazing George, from Bluebeard/Naht fame, on guitar. Not sure how he fits, but that's pretty interesting. To taste what Turtle Island is doing, here's a live video from 2008. So amazing:

VA - 狂イ咲け Meets Revolution

1. Turtle Island - どろろ

2. 枯梗 - 歌ってほしいあがる歌

3. Beryneck - ジプシーガール

4. TA-KEN & GoodbanD - VICTORY

5. Cause - Gari Gari

6. Strong Style - 朝日なき夜明け

7. Qua - キラキラ

8. Echo - I Say

VA - Nameless Flames [2003]

I can't remember where this came from. Maybe I bought it in Japan? This compilation has a very eclectic mix of bands, from wild thrash to dreamy shoegaze. Some of the "bigger" names on this comp are Deep Slauter, who toured the States in 2007, and Snore, who are similar to Deep Slauter. Crap, there's just a lot of different stuff on here. I don't have much inside knowledge into this comp, so just give it a try.

Here's some Deep Slauter:

VA - Nameless Flames

1. Deep Slauter - Peeping

2. Deep Slauter - A Full Stop

3. Fakestarfakes - Can I Close My Eyes To Sweet

4. Fakestarfakes - God Stays

5. ExVxS - New Word

6. ExVxS - Nauseating Sight

7. Slick - After The Deep Grief

8. Slick - Leave Tracks

9. Remainasit - 見つからない

10. Remainasit - Byeture

11. BxQx Idol - DxMxNxG

12. BxQx Idol - 有象無象

13. BxQx Idol - インチキジャスティス

14. BxQx Idol - ExLxD

15. Guernica - Kings

16. Chavo - Meaning

17. Chavo - Fuck All

18. Chavo - I Was At A Loss For Words

19. Weatherroll - Asayake Meets My Cartain

20. Zillion - 断

21. Zillion - 研ぐのは誰か、使うは我か

22. Zillion - 散乱の中心

23. Zillion - 人人人

24. Snore - 空白

25. Snore - 美しい物に心を蓴われてそこに在る哀しみに耳を傾けようともしない

Nice View - Thirteen Views With... [2005]

Nice View is a long running Japanese thrash/hardcore band. I don't know many details about them, but they've got plenty of releases before this one. This is their first album on Sonzai Records, though (Tetsu from envy's label). 13 tracks of hi-octane Japanese thrash. I'm not sure who to compare this to, it's awesome though.

Nice View - Thirteen Views With...

1. scene #1

2. 崖っぷち

3. 泥の誘惑

4. ラジオの向こう

5. scene #2

6. タ焼けとモンスター

7. ロースハム（for empty head）

8. deaf ear

9. scene #3

10. 残像

11. sense of doubt

12. フールの誕生 (karaoke mix)

13. ready to accept

Framtid - Under The Ashes + 8 Track EP [2004]

I picked this CD up at a used media store in Nashville called The Great Escape. They carry comics, music, movies, toys, cards, games, whatever, and get their product from local people selling stuff to them. Framtid seems an awfully obscure thing to sell to a place like that, for sure. But, there's an older scene of "crusties" in Nashville that were grouped around early Nashville crust bands like From Ashes Rise and Asschapel. His Hero is Gone being two hours away in Memphis didn't hurt. A lot of these guys got into Japanese punk and crust through 625, Prank, and MCR, so there's occasionally remnants of that stuff floating around Nashville places. I bought my first envy CD's at a local record store, 12th Ave. Records, which has since gone under. That place always had good stuff and stocked a lot of Japanese stuff like Forward, Exclaim, and some HG.Fact stuff. So, yeah, that line of people is probably where this CD came from. Ironically, I never associated too much with those guys, probably because I don't dress punk enough or something.

My other personal touchpoint with Framtid was in the Netherlands in 2007. Cease Upon The Capitol was playing Trashfest, which is a pretty old and well-respected music festival. We played earlier in the day, but I noticed that Framtid was one of the headliners. We had to leave soon after we played, but I saw them in the parking lot, hair spiked a foot high of their heads. A part of me wanted to go talk to them, but I'm super shy about speaking in Japanese, so instead I hopped in the van and we took off.

This CD collects an LP and EP they did around 2002. The music is pretty fast crust punk that is by the numbers. There isn't much of this stuff in Japan (can probably count the crust bands on my digits), but Framtid is pretty solid regardless of their origin. The sound is firmly Swedish, following after early Wolfpack or Skitsystem stuff. It's good, though, but doesn't have the melodies I would hope to see from a Japanese band. It's funny how Ekkaia, a Spanish band, integrates the Japanese style of melodies into crust, but a Japanese crust band tries to stay away from those melodies. I guess that's just how the world works, or something.

Framtid - Under The Ashes + 8 Track EP

1. Intro

2. The Total Arse

3. Over Population

4. Scapes Of Tragedy

5. Tomorrow

6. Consuming Shit And Mind Pollution

7. Centuries Of War

8. Death Protest

9. Curse

10. No Installation

11. Life's Hard

12. We Must Impart

13. Bomb Blast

14. Counter Attack

15. Third World Fear

16. Anguish

17. Crucified

18. Overkill

19. What's Going On

20. Homeless

21. Depression, Oppression

[Bandcamp] Trikorona - Various Embarrassments [2012]

In 2007, Aki from Impulse Records floated the idea of my band, Cease Upon the Capitol, doing a release on his label. A split seemed the best idea, and he offered Tokyo's Trikorona as a split partner. I'd only heard a song or two from their myspace, but I really dug it. That early stuff was reminiscent of Tiala, a blend of grind and emo-violence that I liked to call Tokyo-violence (stupid name, I know). The split went good, and their songs were amazing on the split, but not much communication happened after that.

Fortunately, they're still around and tearing it up. I got their split 7" with No-Yard from CCJ Records, and it totally rips, as expected. And now in 2012, they have some new nuggets for us to absorb, in the form of two songs on their Bandcamp.

Not much to say about these songs, they totally rule and are right there for you to gorge on. Thick, burly guitars riff metal while the drummer channels Spazz and Infest through sticks of dynamite. Just listen.

Here's a full set of Trikorona that will shred your face:

Trikorona - Various Embarrassments

1. 完全に架空_completely imaginary 

2. ある野蛮_A brutal one

Anthropic Disease - Come To The Same New War [2003?]

First, sorry this is late. It's been a bit of a lazy week for me. Ugh....

Now then, I got this CD one night after a show at EMSeven. I was walking home with the 3cm Tour guys, and one of their friends, who was in this band, handed me the CD telling me it was his band. That is about the entirety of my knowledge of this thing. The band was already broken up, or broke up shortly after I met him. I have a feeling that someone from the band went on to play in a more well-known band, but I can't tell from the members list in the CD.

So, what you have here is some brutal crusty thrash. It's pretty dang good, outside of the extremely fuzzy guitars that sound a little ridiculous. The song-writing and playing is tight and harsh, just like it should be. Overall, pretty damn good shit to go to sleep to.

No video, cause there ain't none! Enjoy!

Anthropic Disease - Come To The Same New War

1. U.S. Fuck Off

2. 1:30

3. 差別

4. 毒キノコ

5. 生存

6. 北方領土返還

7. 投下

8. 搾取

9. Domestic Violence

10. Icon Of Busterd

11. DESTROY

12. 誰のセイダ？

13. Youth Of Void

Fugüe / Overmars - Our Dreams Walking Their Way Chapter 3 [2003]

Not a lot of info exists on Fugüe. Even when this release was announced, I was kind of confused by the pick. You're doing a series, and your first two bands are envy and TIALTNGO. Who should you have on the next one? My picks would be nine days wonder, bluebeard, kulara, maybe black film dance or end all. But Fugüe? Who the fuck are they? I knew Overmars, and dug their debut album, but the Japanese pick on this was confusing.

On getting the release and listening, Fugüe is pretty good. They play a really noisy, stoner metal variant that fits nicely with Overmars' own epic doom. The bands are a surprisingly good match, and if the whole point of the series was to do something like: hardcore, emo, stoner doom, then I guess the whole thing makes sense. Still, I wish the series would've included the 1000travels/Aghast split that came out the next year. It would've been that cherry on top.

No videos I could find of Fugue. Here's one of Overmars. Have a good weekend!

Fugüe / Overmars - Our Dreams Walking Their Way Chapter 3

1. Overmars - I Take Degenerating Materials For My Knowledge

2. Overmars - Instrumental

3. Overmars - La Nuit Des Masques Et La Systématique De Ses Lendemains

4. Fugüe - Into The Soul

5. Fugüe - MISTRAL

6. Fugüe - Real Love

7. Fugüe - TRUTH

Japanese Hardcore Flyers (Corrupted, Shikabane, Real Reggae)

These are bands on the more hardcore/thrash side. I didn't go to any of these shows, but the flyers usually look so cool.

[Bandcamp] Pastafasta - split with Swarrrm [2011]

I picked up the Pastafasta/Swarrrm split CD from CCJ Records for Swarrrm. I've been a huge fan of them since I grabbed their Swarrrm/Fugaku split CD back in 2002. In 2003 I even bough a shirt of theirs from Allman, which I still wear to this day. They've done amazing work as the band evolved from Against Again to Nise Kyuseishu Domo to Black Bong, their sound becoming more and more unique and inventive. But when I got this CD, I almost forgot all about Swarrrm because of Pastafasta's tracks.

Pastafasta is a three-piece from Tokyo with a horrible name. Maybe you like it, but to me, it doesn't sound like a band I would want to listen to. Their sound, though, is completely different. They play raging hardcore thrash that reminds me of The Futures, Youth Enrage, and Exclaim. The best of Japanese hardcore with a wicked sense of humor. These songs just hit all the right notes with perfectly played drums, wild guitars, rumbling bass, and dual shrieking vocals.

It's not often that I'm surprised when I get CDs or records. I usually know what I'm buying. Pastafasta was the best kind of surprise, and now they've put their tracks up on Bandcamp for you to listen and buy. Check out the video below and the bandcamp link.

Pastafasta - split with Swarrrm

1. GET STONE GO MAD

2. 狂乱

3. PYRAMID CORPSE

4. UNDER MY DOMINATION

5. SUMMER ENDS SUN

[Bandcamp] Sete Star Sept - Gero Me [2011]

50 songs, an exercise in desensitization. In many ways, the cover above pretty much sums up Sete Star Sept (SSS) (they do say a picture is worth a thousand words). But, putting a Shintaro Kago drawing on your cover (and a wild one at that) takes some pretty big balls. Kago is on the forefront of the insane manga wave and to liken yourself to his stature means you're pretty much setting yourself up for failure. Luckily, though SSS pulls it together and blows your face off, just like this cover.

Two people and a wall-full of noise. Between two instruments and a voice, they make the grindiest, power-violentiest concoction around. Most two-pieces usually go for fast stuff, but SSS takes it to a whole new level. As this 50-song album can attest, songs will be as fast as they can humanly be played and as short as one second (take that Napalm Death!).

SSS is on tour in the West Coast USA starting this Friday. Below are the show dates, so make it out if you can, or just check them out on the MRR radio show on Friday:

April 27 (Friday): San Francisco, CA
     Maximum Rock and Roll Radio show http://radio.maximumrocknroll.com/
April 28 (Saturday): San Francisco, CA at Parkside
     w/Tragedy, Needles,Permanent Ruin, Stressors
     more info: http://theeparkside.com/event/39664
April 29 (Sunday): Portland, OR at Brickshit House
     w/Transient, Honduran, Worthless Eaters
     more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/407627449249490/
April 30 (Monday): Seattle, WA at Club M
     w/Same Sex Dictator, Sidetracked, Spirit Of Radio, Exogroth
     more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/159298387524190/
May 1 (Tuesday): Arcata, CA at Mex'N'Wow
May 2 (Wednesday): Bakersfield, CA at Munoz Gym
     w/Runamuck, Mobius Dick, Whore Scent
     more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/238768366221759/
May 3 (Thursday): Las Vegas, NV at Yayo Taco
     w/God's America a.k.a. The Seeds Of Rape, Nests, Vihan Rytmi
     more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/159906597464857/
May 4 (Friday): Los Angeles, CA at Rito's house
     w/Suffering Luna, deadissue
May 5 (Saturday): Concord, CA at Greenhouse
     w/Godstomper, Your Enemy, Queffer Sotherland, Striations

Their full-length from last year is available on bandcamp (and amazon and probably iTunes), and the whole thing can be streamed on the site:

Sete Star Sept - Gero Me

1. gero me

2. social insect 

3. all time low

4. schizop hrenia 

5. prayer prayer

6. absolute zero 

7. supporters of euthanasia

8. waiting room

9. endless path 

10. gas chamber executions

11. lethal injection

12. enshrining

13. forty minks

14. water parks

15. lush

16. me lush soft

17. lush end 

18. active immunity

19. u.f.o

20. suck a dummy

21. counter productive

22. scoliosis

23. bein a haze

24. shi talks silence

25. dust bowl

26. windswept

27. vamoose 

28. zip zag

29. mollusc 

30. playing craps

31. system of govemment

32. fill one's stomach

33. sensory aphasia

34. vocal apparatus

35. motion sickness

36. counterattack

37. press restraints

38. fairy forest

39. fuck1

40. fuck2

41. fuck3

42. fuck4

43. fuck5

44. fuck6

45. fuck7

46. fuck8

47. he needs a lesson

48. lesson charge

49. lseeo7

50. multiple personality

VA - Saitama Local Music Reconstruction [2012]

This isn't a part of emo week, it's just something I found and wanted to put out here. I'm not sure who long this will stay up and free. This is a compilation of local Saitama acts. There are 27 tracks & bands in total, and Ototoy (a Japanese MP3 service) has it all up for free. You do have to register and login to download, but it has English instructions and is pretty simple.

The compilation is an extremely diverse mix of styles. It starts with some punk/hardcore, moving into electronic, then hip-hop, then experimental noise, then rounds it off with rock. I liked some of the stuff and did not like others. But, it was fun hearing a ton of bands I was unfamiliar with. S-Explode is the only band I knew on the compilation. Try it out, and quick cause I feel like this won't be free for long.

V/A - SAITAMA LOCAL MUSIC RECONSTRUCTION

1.  Little basterds - DAY BY DAY

2.  HIGH THRASH GIRL - Do You Live Or Die

3.  GLEAM GARDEN - MAYBE TOMORROW ,MAYBE NOT

4,  s-explode - RE:dis heat

5.  Fragment - bluff dance

6. k-over - ネガポジション[改] 

7.  Hirotaka Maki - infiniti

8. アナログ輝 - DOPE ROUND

9. BARZ BEATZ - Sunset Blues

10. Ken sakano - set-your-soul-free 

11. EMDEE1 - INFERNO

12. あなあくやまい - 雨お通り

13. codomotona - ゆびきり

14. 突然段ボール - この世に無い物質

15. ジブンジカン - ループ/ototoy ver

16. Sunnyday hit singers - 作りかけの日曜日(Another mix)

17. Floating Feelings - カラフル

18. Even Sense - Top secret

19. RAGNAROCKS - touch

20. Far apart Daily life - give me my self

21. HOCKLE HOCK - a new song

22. Broken Mountain - From This Town/

23. theビューティフルニー - ガンマンの腕の中で 

24. Lipples - 大嫌い

25. NANISAMA? - 僕の花

26. FUNNY FINE DAY - Flower

27. ゆいだいき - コメットハンター

Tiala - 2 Song Demo [2005]

In 2005, I was still in school in Murfreesboro. I worked part time and pulled in about 400 bucks a month. This was barely enough to pay for rent, food, and gas each month. At the same time, I was still trying to run I've Come For Your Children and release stuff. Distro sales were non-existent at the time, so all money had to come out of my pocket. To add to the money difficulties, I was trying to release legit versions of everything (ie. Real CD's or Vinyl), so large chunks of money had to be doled out for each release. That meant that each release took a very long period of time to release, and I was really impatient.

So, with my friend Chris, we decided to start a side label releasing 99 copies of CD-R's. Chronocological was a funny way we mis-pronounced chronological when trying to come up with a name for a label. Our first release was a reprint of Utarid's demo, then a CD-R version of Cease Upon the Capitol's End of History EP. Finally, we did a reprint of Tiala's demo, which is what we've got here. We were both friends of Tiala's and loved the band, so it just made sense. Instead of doing any screenprinting (like the Utarid demo) or weird paper and cuttings (like the CUTC ep), we focused on weird design instead. The booklet inside is only about 1" x 1", but the cover is a replica of the outer jacket. I thought it was a pretty neat conceptual insert. The CD-R itself was stamped with a hand-cut stamp.  Overall, I was really frickin' proud with it. It ended up being the last Chronocological release, even though we had several more planned (as you can see on the site).

Tiala sounds like The Futures, The Carnival of Dark-Split, and Jerome's Dream put into a blender, sprinkled with cayenne pepper, and vomited out after a 24-hour bender. Their sound is nuts, and their live shows are fun as shit. They've taken on a more eclectic sound now, with saxophone and some different members, but this stuff was always my favorite from them.

The video quality is crap, but here's a show that I videoed:

Tiala - Demo

01. kotoba no naka
02. moetsukiru made

Hemp Coaching Juicer - 全部つながっている [2008]

I ordered this from Oto Records after doing some trades, sometime around 2008-2009. I hadn't been paying attention much to the Japanese scene, just catching the occasional band that popped out (like killie and hiha). So, I went through his distro and just grabbed whatever looked promising.

It turns out, I didn't do so bad. Hemp Coaching Juicer is fucking awesome. Their sound is pretty noisy hardcore that ventures into thrash, but they have that undeniable Japanese sense of melody. You get 6 songs here, which is much more than a demo. The cover is cloth, essentially a patch, although sewing this on my shorts would leave me no cover for this CD. This is for fans of Tiala, The Carnival of Dark-Split, and Breakfast.

I just got their split with High Tension Sex Girl, and it's amazing. I'm hoping to post a review or something sometime soon.

This is still available to purchase (I know, I'm kind of breaking my philosophy a bit here), so please support the band if you like this. I kind of realized this was still out there while I was trolling some record shops. Buy this here:
Record Shop BASE
Senseless Records

Here's a whole set:

Hemp Coaching Juicer - 全部つながっている

1. 良いところだけ

2. 思いやりの心

3. 自分自身で決めたこと、自分自身で選んだこと

4. すぐそばに

5. 全部つながっている

6. 手遅れになる前に