Husking Bee is a fun punk band. Singer Kazuya Hirabayashi provided the singing voice for the Koyuki Tanaka in BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. Husking Bee is funny to listen to sometimes because they use a lot of engrish.
Cowpers is another Japanese punk band that is largely overshadowed by Number Girl, Bloodthirsty Butchers, Eastern Youth, and the like. I really like Cowpers though, something about their messy distortion and catchy riffs just pleases my ears.
A glossy orange button for when the morning's siren no longer sounds.
The screaming dissatisfaction of the Japanese youth is echoed in my favorite Japanese punk band, Eastern Youth. For over 20 years now, Eastern Youth has been crafting punk rock songs with their unique brand of poetic energy. They have surprisingly complex songs for only being a 3-piece, and my favorite part is that bassist Tomokazu Ninomiya often uses a fretless bass. Punk bands often have a lot of emphasis on super fast, loud bass playing, but the fretless bass really gives Eastern Youth a unique sound. Singer/guitarist Hisashi Yoshino's lyrics are very poetic in nature, as you may be able to gather from this song, and he's almost as snazzy of a dresser as he is a guitar player. I don't think he's changed his glasses in the 20 years they've been around. Or grown any hair for that matter. He really is a character, but a lovable character. Eastern Youth are truly legends of our time.
Today's double feature includes two not very similar bands, but two of my absolute favorites nonetheless: LITE, and OGRE YOU ASSHOLE.
LITE is another instrumental math/post-rock band, similar to the rega band I posted earlier. The difference between the two is that LITE gets much heavier into the post-rock and ambient side of thigs, which makes them really unique. They've also taken a step in a slightly different direction with their recent album Illuminate, incorporating a myriad of percussion instruments and synths into their songs. Everything to love about LITE is still there, the power dual guitar combo is still the main drive of their sound. Their songs communicate so well for a band with no singer, especially in this song.
No one does it quite like this indie post-punk quartet OGRE YOU ASSHOLE. Yes, their name is OGRE YOU ASSHOLE, referring to Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds. The funny thing is, no one in the band had even heard of the movie when they decided to make it their name. The story is that the drummer, Arata Nishi, a big fan of Modest Mouse, happened upon a drunk Eric Judy (bassist of Modest Mouse) after a show earlier that night. Nishi asked the drunken bass player to please give Nishi's band a name. Judy replied "I can't", and then just wrote "OGRE YOU ASSHOLE" on Nishi's arm. Pretty awesome way to get a name, and you can definitely hear the Modest Mouse influence in their music. The quirky but poppy guitar riffs and awkward vocals make OYA really fun to listen to, and give them a distinct sound.
