Friday, 19 March 2010
Japanese Music - Part 4
The list
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
A Sense of Scale
Genbaku, the A-bomb Dome was a stirring sight. I know it is truly impossible to know the absolute decimation that must have ensued after the atomic explosion, but this building is an eerie and evocative monument to an event that truly opened Pandora's Box. The accompanying museum also has a sensitive, even-handed exhibit that outlines the human side and the administrative story of this horrific event. I defy anyone who goes there with an open heart and an open mind to remain dry-eyed.
However, there were a few people amongst the visitors, let us say from a certain country that finds this event particularly difficult to interpret in a favourable light for their own purposes, who were being quite disrespectful about the museum. I heard one middle-aged man say "I get the gist, let's get out of here." I mean, why did you come here? Did you think this was going to be a "U.S.A! All the way!" experience? This event happened, and it was the United States Army that decided how this was going to go down. The funniest part was that this certain specimen of historical denial was only in the first room, in the first few exhibits. He hadn't even gotten to the far more moving exhibits about the hibakusha (a-bomb survivors) upstairs. The pain, the poisoning, the instant deaths, the prolonged suffering, the lurking cancers - some skin and flesh was vaporised, others skin and flesh harboured the poisons that would ultimately kill the victim years later - the potential lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals, wiped out.
Parts of exhibit made me quite angry, particularly the written evidence that the existence of this new, more deadly weapon was hidden from the Japanese and the target city was chosen because of its high civilian population. It was a scientific curiosity for decades after. There is something very cold and calculated about such a decision being made in the name of science, as well as military merit of the bombing, as the penultimate event in the series of reversals against the Japanese army that ultimately resulted in the decision to surrender.
Genbaku (A-bomb Dome) and Hiroshima A-bomb Museum
The atomic bomb museum seems like a very poignant place to commence "The Beginning of the End."
It's the beginning of the end, and it's the beginning of the start as well. Next adventure, here we come. Thrall has done the last Osaka show (thanks to Elsa for the above video footage). As usual, we got offered another show off the back of that show, but it was on after we are gone, so we had to decline. We had lots of people turn up to show support, which is seriously sweet of them, as I know that many of them are not the kind of people who usually (a) go to shows, or (b) listen to misanthropic antipodean black metal. We soundchecked for a good 10 minutes. God, it made all the difference. That, and that Tom bought a line splitter so he could play through two amps at once (which really helped thicken out the sound). We played hard and fast, we roared through all the lyrics, and the crowd stood around and nodded their heads approvingly. It was a good little reception for our last Osaka show. Next we have the Kyoto show, and then it's Sayonara!
So, we've been busy, busy, busy, and to round out our busy time in the last few weeks we went to a very interesting festival, which I shall enter into this blog at a later time...
I recently went back to Nagoya, the town where I spent my first solo year in Japan. And it was tiny! Living in Osaka, the second biggest city in Japan, Osaka is just so much bigger than little Nagoya is. Nagoya just falls asleep at about midnight, the venues close, the bars lock you out, and there's no street culture compared to the vibe of Osaka. I remember when I first arrived in Japan, Nagoya just seemed so enormous, and now it just feels so tiny. My sense of scale has been completely skewed by living here. I really wonder how we will fare when we return to Australia... will it just feel too small for us to fit there anymore?
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Things I'm NOT going to miss about Japan
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Japanese Music - Part 3
I have been a huge fan of this band for many years. I used to order their music through the local music store in Hobart when I was a teenager:
"I`d like to order in Desire for Agony by Zeni Geva."
"You`d like to WHAT??"
Given that now I can order ridiculous titles without ridicule from the internet, such record store clerks are now contributing generously to the length of the unemployment line. Jerks.
Zeni Geva (ゼ二げバ) is the brain-child of one Kazuyuki Null, AKA KK Null. KK Null had already made a name for himself as a, shall we say, sonically challenging/borderline unlistenable auditory assault solo noise artist. He came up with the idea to form Zeni Geva in the mid-80's. Tabata Mitsuru - the other half of Hanatarash - is the other longest serving member of Zeni Geva.
Zeni Geva is two guitars and one drummer. Despite the lack of bass player they make an absolutely massive sound. Down-tuned, pitch-shifted, but for the most part, recognisably guitar. The song writing is a kind of hulking, geometric, angular approach to songs. Major pre-occupations appear to be with body-mind issues and nuclear war. There's a kind of aching Omega man loneliness to some of Zeni Geva's songs. Others itch with sexual energy, life blood screaming the the veins.
Although they consider themselves to be a sort of experimental/hardcore kind of band, they fit very nicely into my sonic interests as a mathematical exercise in riff writing (see Shellac), and what I consider to be part of the metal cannon, be it in a rather avant garde manner. Steve Albini is reputed as saying that he likes Zeni Geva because they do not attempt to Westernise their sound - and I agree. They are distinctly Japanese, mercilessly experimental, and yet eminently listenable. Highly recommended.
Hard work pays off
We have a record label. An honest to God, record label. Away from the Haunts of Men will be released on Total Holocaust Records (Sweden). How cool is that? The first pressing will be a limited edition of 500 copies. We'll see what happens, but I'm hoping it will go to a second pressing...
Japanese Music - Part 2
Hanatarash ("snot face")
Hanatarash (ハナタラシ) was a band formed in Osaka by Yamatsuka Eye and Tabata Mitsuru in 1984. Their music remains relatively unknown compared to their awe-inspiring, life-endangering live shows. Cutting a dead cat in half with a machete, Yamatsuka Eye almost cutting his leg off with a circular saw, driving a bulldozer through a venue wall, smashing A LOT of things, and throwing molotov cocktails... superbly crazy, but unfortunately unsustainable. By 1985 they were banned from playing at pretty much every venue in the country.
The band split and the members contributed to two of the most important music exports Japan has ever produced...