Japanese indie music ~VOCALOID

I'm going to introduce to you Japanese indie music.It's not about rock music but "vocaloid".
I think the vocaloid music scene is independent in the real sense.

This is the CM of Google Chrome appointed Hatsune Miku,the girl with green long hair.
Miku isn't the character of some animation,but virtual singer developed by Crypton Future Media.
It uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2 synthesizing technology.

No sooner had it been released in 2007 than many songs using Miku software were made and uploaded to "Nico Nico Douga"which is Japanese movie sharing site like youtube.
The chain of creation has started by people inspired by the music uploaded.
For example, someone made animation video for a song ,and someone who saw that danced like that.
These works and performances were uploaded mainly to Nico Nico Douga.

Crypton Future Media saw the fever,then made guideline to admit the derivative works using the character within the limits of non-profit and gratis.
I think it's great because it made these free creations possible.

But the phenomenon was sometimes a threat for existing music business.
The most of creations are made for fun not for money but sometimes they are better and more popular than professional works.
They don't hit the chart but number of views shows their popularity.
Now vocaloid can't be ignored anymore and not a few are trying to make money from that.
Some creators turned professional.

Miku's live concerts using hologram were held in recent years.
Performed songs were the most popular among more than 30,000 songs made by various amateur artists.

Blood Red Shoes live at The Cockpit, Leeds, 12 May 2012

Last Saturday Leeds welcomed Blood Red Shoes, who played the penultimate set of their current UK tour at the city's Cockpit venue.

Throughout this tour Dublin rockers, The Cast of Cheers, have been supporting BRS and they arrived on stage at 7:40pm, playing a frenetic 30 minute set of songs.

Being a support act can be difficult at times, chances are a good percentage of the audience will be unfamiliar with the songs but the audience seemed to enjoy The Cast of Cheers and I'm sure they picked up a few fans that night.

Then came the wait for the main event as instruments were tuned, sound levels checked and the stage made ready, consisting of, amongst other things, red curtains, a lamp and a tv showing static, mimicking the style of the album cover of In Time To Voices.

Just before 9:00pm the volume of the tv was switched up and Laura-Mary and Steven took to the stage, promptly drowning out the sound of static with the wonderful "It's Getting Boring By The Sea", taken from their first album.

Next up was "Don't Ask" from their second album before they launched into "Cold", the first single from their latest album, from which they would play several tracks.

This included their next single, "Lost Kids", and the titular "In Time To Voices", interspersed with track from their first two albums, amongst which were such gems as "Light It Up", "I Wish I Was Someone Better", "You Bring Me Down" and "Heartsink" to name a few.

After the last song the dynamic duo retired backstage to await the obligatory calls of "Encore!". The pair returned to the stage to play not just one more song but three, ending with the short but sweet "Je Me Perds".

Throughout BRS were certainly on form, despite Laura-Mary suffering from a cold, which I could certainly sympathise with, suffering that week myself also from the same thing.

However, amazingly she still sounded great and her work on guitar was top notch. In fact, one has to wonder at times if these two are superhuman, for if Laura-Mary demonstrated remarkable resiliance by playing and singing with a cold, Steven demonstrated great stamina and lung-capacity by simultaneously laying down some very rapid and heavy drum beats whilst giving a good vocal performance over the course of 17 songs.

At the same time both kept looking into the audience, never becoming lost in their instruments or microphones and all this whilst barely looking like they were breaking a sweat.

A great performance from them both, sounding every bit as good as their studio productions and then some. The acoustics of the venue were spot on and, whilst as loud as one would hope at a live concert, didn't leave an awful persistant ringing in the ears like some venues.

If you ever get the chance to see Blood Red Shoes live you won't be disappointed.

Blood Red Shoes Official Website


The Cast of Cheers Official Website


The Cockpit - Leeds

Explosions in the Sky

Explosions in the Sky have been post-rocking out (see what I did there! :) ) from Austin Texas since 1999. Influenced by bands like Mogwai and Dirty Three, they create emotional soundscapes that are quite completely devoid of vocals.

Last week, Explosions in the Sky released a video for their song 'Postcards from 1952', which features a series of almost-stills and slow motion sequences that capture: the essence of life, being human, young, growing old, and the beauty and conflict in our inter-personal relationships... pretty much all of the things that one might expect from real art.

The video's directors (Peter Simonite and Annie Gunn, according to the Youtube post) cleverly use the song's structure (a slow start, building up over the course of the song to a cathartic crescendo then fade at the end) as a metaphor for life's progress.

The two main time-frames in the video are: the progress of the bubble to the little girl (which takes the almost the length of the video), and the duration of the camera's flash, which corresponds to the duration of the song's climax. These two durations come to an end at the same moment, with the bursting of the bubble, the extinguishing of the camera's flash, marking the beginning of the outtro in which the child's disappointment is turned to curiosity again with the birth of a new bubble and the loving smile of the mother.

It's all good stuff, and I'm going to recommend to you this song - and every song - by Explosions in the Sky :)

Links:
Explosions in the Sky's official website - http://www.explosionsinthesky.com
Bella Union's site - http://bellaunion.com
Bella Union is an awesome record label started by two members of the Cocteau Twins in the 1990s.

A MishMash of Newness

I will preface this by saying I'm not a big fan of non-utilitarian apps. But my all time favorite app is called Band of the Day. If you don't have it - get it! It's free and it's awesome. I have discovered tons of new bands of varying genres from Band of the Day.

That being said, I recently caught up on the days I missed while on vacation a couple of weeks ago, and below is a taste of the ones I really dug. This is a diverse little sampling, so hopefully you enjoy at least one of them!

Elliott Brood -- A three man Canadian folk band that recently released their first non-acoustic album, called Days Into Years. I can't find a non-live session for you to hear the more electric sound, but get a taste of them with the video for their CBCRadio session of "Northern Air".

xoxo

Mac

Kasabian - Man of Simple Pleasures

The fourth single to be released from their rather super album, Velociraptor, came out this week. Another solid tune from the Leicestershire lads. Take a listen below and see what you think.

Kasabian Official Website.

Allah Las

It's hard not to accuse these guys of being unoriginal. The sound is unmistakably 60s surfer/garage rock. Yet the charm with which they pull it off and the comfort with which they do it makes this a rather good listen.

Allah Las Official Website.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fiJYecS0vU0]

Exitmusic

Band of the moment, a husband and wife combo, Exitmusic's 'The Sea' shimmers, swells, recedes and... entertains.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/43342834" params="auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&color=ff7700" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

Their new LP will be out on 22 May, and I'm really looking forward to it. I have also added the Secretly Canadian record label to our list of resources.

Bibelots

Up and coming London band Bibelots caught my attention recently.

A band that aren't ashamed to wear their Britpop influences on their sleeves, which is no band thing when it results in great songs such as their latest, The Revolution Will Be Digitised. I have a feeling this is a band to watch out for in the near future.

You can get a free (and legit) copy of the song here. There's also a couple more songs you can download at their official website, the link to which is just underneath.

Official Website.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3RyXLnulWVg]

More different...

Ok my next something different is way different. Let me preface this by saying not only do I love music, I love games too. I mean I do love a great game to while way some down time or to get my mind off of things while I try and dream up some ridiculous theme for a set. So Just like with how indie music has some fantastic artists, there are some fantastic indie developers out in the game world too! So with all this being said there is this fantastic site that combines the best of both of my worlds. They support Indie games as well as music and let you buy games, albums etc for whatever price you want to pay. Best of all, they allow you to determine what portion of your payment goes to the artists / developers/ *charities they support* and of course to support the fantastic site. So now after all of my blabbing I hope it has piqued at least some of your folks' curiosity and you end up enjoying this site as much as I do. So with no further ado let me provide you with a link to Indie Gala!

 

 

Have You Heard The Latest From France?

This song, from one-woman outfit Melody's Echo Chamber, is burning up the indie music blogs right about now. This taste makes me reallish that the CD was out right now! Give a listen to the Soundcloud stream from Fat Possum Records and let me know what you think of the song.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/44958720" iframe="true" /]



From the RCRD LBL site: "A melody? Not really. Echo chamber? That's about right. A new tune from this one-woman, mysterious project was mixed by Tame Impala's Kevin Parker and sports all the psychedelic charm you'd except to emanate from under his thumb. Two-thirds of the way through, "Crystallized" really starts to drive as the Parisian songstress' coasting vocals get put on the back-burner."

"Crystallized" will be released on 7" via Fat Possum later this year. She will also be touring the US this Fall.

Animal Kingdom Drops 2nd Album

Animal Kingdom released their second album yesterday - The Looking Away. This is the follow up to 2009's Signs and Wonders, and although they've kept their basic sound - emotive indie ballads sprinkled with some catchy pop touches - The Looking Away is a bit more upbeat than Signs and Wonders.

"Straw Man" reminds me a lot of a song you'd hear on Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism, slow and soulful with an overlying vocal seemingly crooned in moments of pure emotion. Conversely, the first single, "Strange Attractor" (which is becoming ubiquitous here in the States on TV shows that like to showcase new artists), resonates the catchy Brit-pop inspired sounds we're hearing from bands like fun. and Neon Trees. The other eight tracks are all somewhere in the continuum of these styles.

Although I've enjoyed the album on my first listens, and Strange Attractor has been an earbug since I first started hearing it on AltNation, the album overall lacks a definite progression and flow. The songs are all good in their own ways, but you could play this on shuffle and not lose the experience of the album itself. This is after all only a sophomore effort, but approach it with an attitude of enjoying the songs as a collection of singles.

Check out the official video for Strange Attractor here:

Broken Needles - Abattoir Song

So...I don't really know much about this band and can't find a useful clip. Their album is fabulous. A hard decision for which song to feature here but this is my current favourite. You can sample all of the album from this link anyway.

[bandcamp track=3976210203  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Maybeshewill

Maybeshewill live in Switzerland, playing the song "Not For Want Of Trying".

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/39803238 w=600&h=450]

Atlas Genius - Trojans

I quite like the slower pace and intimate setting of this acoustic video:

The new Alt Nation top-18

... is remarkably similar to the previous week's Alt Nation top 18 list, with a few songs changing positions, and Gotye and Kimbra entering the list.


The Alt-18 Countdown - Week of April 28

18. Gotye – "Eyes Wide Open"
17. Kimbra with Mark Foster & A-Trak – "Warrior"
16. Santigold - "Disparate Youth"
15. Chappo - "Come Home"
14. Grouplove - "Tongue Tied"
13. A Silent Film - "Danny, Dakota & The Wishing Well"
12. The Temper Trap - "Need Your Love"
11. Atlas Genius - "Trojans"
10. Electric Guest - "This Head I Hold"
9. Imagine Dragons - "It's Time"
8. Of Monsters & Men - "Little Talks"
7. The Shins - "Simple Song"
6. Jack White - "Sixteen Saltines"
5. Silversun Pickups - "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)"
4. Bombay Bicycle Club - "Shuffle"
3. Walk The Moon - "Anna Sun"
2. The Wombats - "Jump Into The Fog"
1. The Black Keys - "Gold On The Ceiling"

The Band I Saw Last Night: Electric Guest

A few months back, a little-known LA band called Electric Guest released an advance single called "American Daydream" from a then-upcoming album called "Mondo" and I instantly became a huge fan of that particular track and have played it repeatedly at my Second Life shows. It's a great summery tune--light, quietly upbeat, featuring a trip-hop beat and a high-voiced singer whom I assumed--mistakenly--was a woman.

Now I know that the singer in question is one Asa Niccone, a mere slip of a young man who possesses a great voice that frequently slides into the falsetto range and who accompanies it with a sprite-like stage manner that's infectious. I feel qualified to offer these assessments because I saw this band perform last night in my city before a highly enthusiastic crowd.

The reason I went is because it was only yesterday morning when I first heard the album, which made a big impression on me. I then immediately sent an e-mail to a fellow music lover,  saying, "You gotta hear these guys," and about an hour later he responded by asking me if I was aware that Electric Guest was playing here in Boston THAT VERY NIGHT!

So I jumped into action, saw that tickets were still available here but that the Wednesday-night show in New York had already sold out! In other words: move quickly! So I did and ended up seeing an excellent show.

Electric Guest definitely rides a retro groove--in their case, soul, funk, and R&B--and it kinda reminds me a bit of Gnarls Barkley. They sounded great, but I couldn't help but wonder how genuinely "soulful" this music really is to them and whether it's really more of a derivative thing.  But that quibble aside, I highly recommend this album and I also strongly recommend  these guys as an excellent live show. But if they're coming to your town, act fast. Their reputation is growing, and their shows are selling out.

--MobyTen

Portugal. The Man

This band's imagery freaks me out. Probably because I'm a wus. I'm posting this video because the other two 'official' videos featured ... blood (albeit clay blood in the animated version). In this acoustic video, they are merely singing and playing their instruments :)

Wiki describes Portugal. The Man as 'psychedelic' rock and looking up the term produces the following, which seems quite accurate of Portugal. The Man's music (and official videos):

of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair.

The Shutes EP

Well, it's not easy to categorise this band...

They seem a bit confused also describing their EP Echo of Love as a collection of Indie Rock with Psychedelic and Surf flourishes. I'd say they're more folky than psychedelic and less rock than they are indie...but this isn't a bad thing :)

To me it's simply a showcase of sensual vocals combined superbly with original, innovative guitar riffs and melodies.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2MZRg1a6rA&w=560&h=315]

This five track EP was recorded with producer Julian Simmons (Midlake, Guillemots) at East London's Dean Studios and mixed by Rich Woodcraft (Radiohead, Neil Young).

So.. spread the word, expect big things :)

Agnes xx

Jezabels - Endless Summer

This Australian band are blowing me away at the moment - and it's not just this song, but the entire album that is awesome. The music is different, hard to define. According to wiki, the band describes themselves as 'intensindie'. I think it's a really fitting term :)