Yet another @brainbombs rec, and even more punk! They might look like they're committing medical malpractice on the cover, but you can't deny they're very cute. Oh, and this is the band that has that one photo where people think it's MALICE MIZER's Mana. Anyway, this is a really kick-ass 14-minute EP. It's pretty much Hardcore, but you can hear other V-Kei sounds in the mix, including the alt metal leanings of the time. Did I mention there's a medical theme ... read more

It might be surprising to hear, but Juntaro wasn't too happy with Senzuri Champion. Remaking it must've been an important matter to him, as he started working on Senzuri Champion Revised in 2016 and finished it in 2018, releasing it the same year. It's a whole different beast altogether: half of the original tracklist isn't on here, and what's there is either edited or a different recording altogether. Everything comes from the same time period (1985-1987).

We see our ... read more

"Most of the concepts that the Gerogerigegege has pursued are "documentary" and "human feelings". When I released my 1st album, "Senzuri Champion", in 1987, I remembered that I had already told my friend that "Senzuri" had the meaning of "misunderstandings in human relationships" for The Gerogerigegege."
~Juntaro Yamanouchi, in the liner notes for Shinjuku ni inochi sabi shimu uta ōshi (2022)

Senzuri Champion is The ... read more

"In 1985, a deranged high school student sent a cassette tape to Masami Akita."

These are the words that Juntaro begins one of the Facebook posts about this tape's reissue with, and they're oh so fitting. Gerogerigegege's self-titled demo tape—and their first ever release—released on Merzbow's ZSF PRODUKT sees the project operating in a mode it usually doesn't. The noise that Juntaro and Takeshi Ohmura bring on here is quite mechanical and ... read more

By the 80s, Trot was declining in popularity in Korea, but that didn't stop a tour bus guide from somewhat hitting it big there and in Japan. E-Pak-Sa's debut isn't your average pop album: there are 33 tracks on it, all relying on the stock instrumentals included with keyboards, and they all flow together. There are only 2 different instrumentals on here in total, albeit with some differences on each song. What makes E-Pak-Sa really stand out from other techno-trot artists are ... read more

Our Father who art in Breakcore, hallowed be thy Breakcore. Thy Breakcore come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Breakcore. Give us this day our daily Breakcore; and forgive us our Breakcores, as we forgive those who Breakcore against us.

Now on a more serious note, is this the most amazing breakcore and whatever other EDM genre is on here release? Yeah not at all, but it's stupid and fun and that's why it holds a place in my heart.

Juntaro buys an erotic tape from a mail-order ad in a pornographic magazine in the early 80s and reissues it 40 years later. Naomi's Masturbation and Wakakusa Dormitory Guide RE-ISSUE is the only release in The Gerogerigegege's discography where the source of the porn is outright given to you; in other cases, you'd only get the medium at best.

It's a scripted recording of a woman talking and moaning for almost half an hour. While her voice is pleasant, her speech ... read more

Shoutout to @brainbombs! It's a bit tragic listening to The Piass's debut album knowing that vocalist Chihiro and drummer Hiroshi died a few months later due to falling from a bridge while recording a music video and that bassist Yoshio committed suicide two years later, leaving guitarist Takayuki the sole living original member. It's nice to see that Takayuki continued on with the band up until recently (I can't find any mentions of activity since Covid, and he stopped ... read more

Aaron Funk (aka Venetian Snares) and Rachael Kozak (aka Hecate) record themselves having sex on tour and use those samples to make an album. I haven't heard any Hecate albums so I can't speak on Rachael's contributions but anything I think was done by Aaron just sounds like standard VSnares stuff, with the added novelty of hearing moans in the background or having ass smacking drums. Those tracks (Blood on the Rope, Amaurophilia, and Pervs) are fun, but Aaron has far better ... read more

This is a dead-end record.

Anxious Performance comprises 10 hours of Japanese erotic cassette tapes. Tapes like this were mainly sold between the 1960s and 80s, and while some were more "professional" affairs, others purported to be eavesdropping recordings. You could find them sold at street corners and the backs of bookstores and advertised in porn magazines (obviously). The release is named after a 1961 Seichō Matsumoto mystery novel. In it, a magazine editor secretly records ... read more

Finally, some serious electronic music for a serious reviewer like me. Ever asked yourself, "What if there was music made entirely out of vomiting sounds?" Otto von Schirach answers it by throwing filth from all directions into your earlobes on Pukology. The sounds of puking, gagging, spitting, coughing, and the occasional spoken word (all coming from a contest ran by the label) get arranged in rhythmical ways and get turned into lasers, drums, and glitches. It doesn't get stale, ... read more

It has been decided, my AOTY reviews are now the slop grounds.

On today's episode of "I'm a lazy reviewer" we got this EP! I like how it starts with this melancholic guitar and a flute (!) and bass that pop up often (that bass makes it a little ominous to be honest), before shifting to the kick-ass rock part. Something about how the vocals sound recording-wise also does it for me. Very fitting for the song to go back to the sound from the beginning when it ends. The second ... read more

The band has started to get heavier since the release of Kyousouroku, but this is where you see that shift into the more "death metal"-like sound of Mad of Pain. It might be the band's fiercest release and the meatiest-sounding one (you can really hear that kick drum). 3 tracks, 9 minutes. Just rage from start to finish.

This was supposed to go into the list, but I think putting these thoughts in a more visible place might lead to something.

All 9 hours of this are nice: the synths are soft and beautiful (though I'd say tracks like Whistle in the Walls and Depth, or Simply Death, have a slight tinge of creepiness to them), the loops don't get boring, and the occasional changes and additions make the tracks more interesting—but I have one problem, and it doesn't apply to just this release. ... read more

Carpe Diem is ∀NTI FEMINISM's 3rd album—2nd if you want to count their Kansai branch as a separate thing—released 5 years after ∀NTI DAMASHII. It might be my favorite release from them yet, for two simple reasons: it's nearly 26 minutes long (slightly shorter than their debut) and is heavier. Yeah, I'm a simple person. The album continues the more metal-influenced sound from Mad of Pain, although it dials it back a bit, dropping the growls and shrieks; ... read more

D・P・S is THE DEAD P☆P STARS' 4th album, their major debut, and their only album on a major label, as they've gone back to being independent a year after. It's comprised of mostly heavy/speed metal à la X Japan, but it does a few things that wouldn't appear on one of their albums, at least not from the hands of Yoshiki. The intro track begins with baby crying sounds and some electronic samples, replacing them with nice strings in the middle and introducing a ... read more

It's not as heavy as Mad of Pain, but it seems like it's somewhere around here that the band got heavier. Kenzi sounds more like a madman compared to the more spoken screaming style on prior releases, and there are lots of moments where they speed up. Interesting moments would include track 3 sounding like both drums and a break are playing at the same time, and track 6 repeating the same vocal line from Kenzi for most of its runtime, except for a few seconds where it switches to this ... read more

In a surprising twist, Mad of Pain isn't the usual ∀NTI FEMINISM sound. Sure, the re-recordings of existing songs don't sound too different, but the new material is just fucking heavy: growls, riffs, drum kit murder, and all. Wasn't expecting something from the brutal family of metal to be thrown into the mix, but I like it. Definitely makes for a funny contrast with the bridal suits. Also, track 7 seems to just be Keloid ripped straight from Nihon wa Shizumu.

Kyousouroku is a greatest hits album: it compiles ∀NTI FEMINISM's work from 1998 to 2008 and even includes two new songs. If you want to check them out, listen to this album; all the essential songs are here. There's not a lot I can say that I didn't already say about the debut. It's crossover Stalin with a man who loves jumping into fluorescent lamps on vocals, sounding like he's screaming into a megaphone. It does feel samey, especially due to the number of ... read more

After Kamaitachi disbanded, Kenzi (then going by Crazy Danger Nancy Ken-chan) promised he would be back with a new band, which would be THE DEAD P☆P STARS in 1992. In the meantime, he founded ∀NTI FEMINISM, where he does vocals instead of playing the drums. They disbanded in 1992 but came back in 1998 with a rotating cast of members and still play to this day.

2003's Kyouhan Sabetsu Hinichijouteki is their debut album, and while I'm no ∀NTI FEMINISM expert, it looks ... read more