Obligatory Mono Post

What is there to say about Mono? They're the pinnacle of Japanese post-rock as far as I'm concerned. They were one of the first post-rock band that I ever listened to, and it was so radically different from everything I had listened to before that I was simply blown away. Mono is one of those bands that really speaks through their music, and pours every ounce of their emotion into it. Mono are known for their long, quiet, minimalistic songs that can sometimes ramp up into a beautiful echoing wall of sound. One of the most relaxing bands ever.



Balmorhea is an experimental post-rock band from Austin, Texas. Like Mono, they have songs that are very minimal in nature. However, what Balmorhea is known for is their use of more classical instruments, most notably the violin, cello, and upright bass. Pianist Rob Lowe also incorporates a banjo and melodica into a few songs. Balmorhea released their 4th full-length album, Constellations, in February of this year, and began touring Europe with none other than Mono this fall.

How sublime~

Early Morning Ramble

I've barely moved a muscle in the last 6 hours other than my well-trained index finger. I've been sniping blocks of coal, iron, gold, and diamond in that order with my .50cal diamond encrusted mining apparatus. Yeah, I've been playing minecraft, and I'm literally in pain from it, so I figured I'd take a break and write something stupid.

Reflective Euphoria

Another set of Japanese post-rock bands.



Get the album Fluidity for free at Euphoria's official website!

I don't know too much about Euphoria, but I do know that they make beautiful music. Most of their songs are very quiet and peaceful, but with their third album Silence In Everywhere, and their newest album Fluidity they've tweaked their sound a bit. They're starting to go in a more guitar driven, swifter paced blend of math rock and post-rock, and I couldn't be happier about it. The band was formed in 2001 when the three of them were in their third year of high school, but they've all been close friends since elementary school. It must be nice having two best bros to make amazing music with. Euphoria is mostly instrumental, but guitarist/programmer Hiro Morikawa does pull the mic up and sing in a few songs. If you like this song at all, and want to see them recording it in the studio, check out this video. They run through a few different songs, and it's really neat to watch.

 


One of my favorite discoveries recently was this band, Mirror. This video is really QUALITY too, but they don't have much for songs up on youtube. They don't have a lot of views either, and neither does Euphoria, which I think is a crime. Anyways, Mirror reminds me a lot of toe with their clean, dueling guitar work and acute drumming. Their sound is a bit more rock n' roll at times though, in my opinion. They also play with a few time signature changes in some songs, which gives them an interesting sound. Their first album, On, Then, In, is chock-full of cool guitar riff after cool guitar riff... from both guitarists. It's like they have 20 songs worth of material snipped together perfectly into 10 songs.

Oh, now I'm hungry for more~

Make Friends With These Enemies

I mentioned before that the bands Mouse On The Keys and toe are on a small label (called Machu Picchu). Well, the only other band on that label is Enemies. The extremely cool part about it is that these guys are originally from Ireland. When their first EP, called Alpha Waves, made its way to Japan, the indie label quickly picked it up. The band flew over to Japan to support the release of the record, and played four sold out shows in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya. The great thing about being an instrumental group is that there is no language barrier to overcome with your fanbase; you can speak to a much larger group of people.

Enemies combines the poly-rhythmic tapping / time signature swapping madness of math rock, with the soothing sounds of instrumental post-rock. They've mastered the art of what I like to call "interesting repetition". Enemies have songs to relax to, song to dance to, and songs to lazily shuffle around your small room to (my favorite). And they're not afraid to stomp on that distortion pedal and give us something heavy to listen to either! They're an extremely versatile band, as far as I'm concerned.



First of all, what an amazing band name. God Is An Astronaut? How can you not love it? Anyways, GIAA are the absolute kings of ambiance, the post-rock gurus, the space-rock generals, the insert genre I just made up guardians! The reason I'm posting GIAA is because of a tiny connection they have to Enemies; they're Irish as well. No cool story about Japan jump-starting their career, they're just Irish. GIAA crafts these incredible ambient walls of sound that are accompanied by swift and technical drumming. Their songs can literally give you goosebumps, and I speak from experience.

Maybe god is a Buster Machine. That'd be cooler.

Fermenting School Food... Masses Of It.

Rock n' Roll and pretty dresses.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I LOVE MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I didn't think this was possible, but MOTFD just keeps getting better and better as time goes on. I fell in love with their first self titled CD, then in more love with World Is Yours. And now, they've done it again with their August release, ゼロコンマ、色とりどりの世界. MOTFD is a 3-piece shoegaze/post-rock/indie group hailing from Kobe, Japan. Everything about these guys (or girls I should say) is just great. The lovely vocals, the bass-driven energy, the super creative song writing, awesome use of effects pedals, the MASSIVE sound they have for being such a small group, everything. Yup, there isn't one thing I dislike about MOTFD. They used to be an all-girl group before former drummer Reiko Gotoh left the band, and they have yet to list any new drummer as an official member. According to the band, the name Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs doesn't have any particular meaning, they just thought it sounded cool. I agree.




You may recognize the next band, School Food Punishment, from the song "Futuristic Imagination" that they did for the ending theme of the 2009 anime Eden of the East. Not a band that many would consider looking into past that one song, but it's definitely worth it. Something about guitarist and lead singer Yumi Uchimura's vocals really connects with me. To me, the maturity in her voice counter-balances the electronic poppy-ness of their songs. Their drummer, Osamu Hidai, is surprisingly excellent as well, not to mention the fiend on the keys, Masayuki Hasuo. They have some really cool jazzy songs throughout the Amp-Reflection album, and those two on drums and keys can really sell it. All in all a very neat band with a great sound!


Ride those good vibes!

1st, 2nd, 3nd.

Ok, just one more before I enter the sleepy netherworld.





This guy must have a japanese instrumental post-rock fetish or something...

Maybe so! But, that doesn't retract any awesomeness from 3nd. Quite similar to te, but different in ways that definitely make them stand out as a band. 3nd just has a plethora of cool ass riffs that never seem to stop, and that I never seem to get tired of. The first song, Walts For Lilly, is by far my favorite song of theirs, but I've also included the song SSK, since they've done a pretty sweet PV for it (and because of DAT FLYING V).

I swear I'll try and mix up the content here soon, so it's not just the same type of music over and over!

Take it easy neat NEETs~

We Could Write A Book With Our Song Titles

té té té té té té té té!

That's right, té! Excuse me while I get my fists out of the air. Té could literally power cities with that kind of energy. Except the power would constantly go back out when they go all ambient and stuff, but then the power would shortly be back on again! They're known for their simple, easy to understand song names like this one called "言葉を用いて奏でる者は才能に在らず、ただの記憶に『過』ぎぬ". Yeah, no problem. They're said to put on some of the most thrilling live performances of any post-rock band, but I'll probably never know! The coolest thing about té is that their drummer uses a tiny 4 or 5 piece drum kit. He's not encased in symbols or 20 different toms, so you get the full view of his violent-yet-calculated flailing.



You can't talk about post-rock bands with ridiculously long song names without at least mentioning Red Sparowes. They're not Japanese, so you'll have to deal with that. The full title of this song is "The Great Leap Forward Poured Down Upon Us One Day Like a Mighty Storm, Suddenly and Furiously Blinding Our Senses". TL;DR. Red Sparowes is quite fantastic music, though. They're known for their use of a pedal steel guitar, an instrument most commonly used in country. It's kind of odd I suppose, but it ends up sounding really neat.

On a side note, I've decided to start taking walks with my dog every morning, just so I have some form of exercise. I'm not exactly "in shape", and neither is my dog, surprisingly, so we took it slow today. All in all it was a pleasant walk, and now my legs ache.

Pump up the volume!