May 14 – Les Instants Chavires, Paris, FR *
May 15 – Magasin4, Brussels, BE *
May 16 – OCCII, Amsterdam, NL *
May 17 – DBs, Utrecht, NL *
May 18 – NK, Berlin, DE * ~
May 20 – Hafenklang, Hamburg, DE *
May 21 – Hühnermanhattan, Halle, DE *
May 22 – Pilot Klub, Prague, CZ *
May 23 – Rhiz, Vienna, AT *
May 24 – Stadtwerkstatt, Linz, AT
May 25 – W71, Weikersheim, DE
May 26 – Halle14, Karlsruhe, DE

* = w/ Attila Csihar as part of Vampillia
~ = w/ Crystal Shipsss

The tour is in support of a forthcoming re-issue of Nadja & Vampillia‘s collaborative album The Primitive World, re-mastered, re-worked and with a new track and accordingly re-titled The Perfect World. This will be out shortly on CD and limited LP from Important Records. We should also have copies of our new LP Flipper due any day now from Oaken Palace Records.

Smudging, an album of experimental/drone/spacerock with live drums courtesy of Richard Baker (of ARC), a vinyl-only release by Backwards Records available in the BSP webstore and digitally:

Origins & Evolutions, four compositions for multiple guitars released by Install Sound, with contributions from the following guitarists: Jon Attwood (aka Yellow6), Mick Barr (of Orthrelm, Krallice, etc.), Bryan W. Bray (of Gates, Gardenia, etc.), David Daniell (of San Agustin), Jonathan Demers, Richard Graham (aka Signals Under Tests), N, JF Sebastian (aka Orange Swan), David Tagg, Vampillia, Matej Voglar, Brian Wenckebach (of Elika), Nigel Wright. The cd is available direct from Install (I should have copies myself shortly) or digitally here:

Hopefully that will tide everyone over until next year…

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 7PM PST / 9PM CST / 10PM EST / 11am (Thursday) in Japan

TWO full hours of Musical Madness from Japan!

Tonight, we are hitting the 2012 SXSW and Japan Nite Bands full force again. 

We will have some more Johnny Saito, more Nokies!, Kao=s, The Rubies, AND

some fresh Akabane Vulgars on Strong Bypass, new  ZZZ’s and Toquiwa (Pinky Piglets)!

And so much more!!

Tune in on your computer to Gimme Culture – Radio Deluxe!

http://www.colectivobunka.listodigital.com/

You can click on one of the four icons that works best for you:  Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, Real Player or Winamp. 

A file will “download” most likely to your machine (Windows) ….at least that’s how mine works. 

I then “Open” that file by double clicking. 

I have also found that I can have my iTunes software default as the program to open the Winamp file.  If you are a geek, and understand that….then cool.  If not, message me and we will get things straightened out!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 7PM PST / 9PM CST / 10PM EST / 12 noon (Thursday) in Japan

2 hours of Rocking Musical Madness from Japan!

Tonight, we are hitting the 2012 SXSW and Japan Nite Bands full force again. 

We will have some Johnny Saito, Nokies!, The Rubies, Akabane Vulgars on Strong Bypass and maybe a little something from the ZZZ’s and Toquiwa (Pinky Piglets) if I can!

Tune in on your computer to Gimme Culture – Radio Deluxe!

http://www.colectivobunka.listodigital.com/

You can click on one of the four icons that works best for you:  Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, Real Player or Winamp. 

A file will “download” most likely to your machine (Windows) ….at least that’s how mine works. 

I then “Open” that file by double clicking. 

I have also found that I can have my iTunes software default as the program to open the Winamp file.  If you are a geek, and understand that….then cool.  If not, message me and we will get things straightened out!

The announcement seemed to come a little later this year, as the Japan Nite 2012 tour information was released. It’s a brutal six cities in seven days tour that kicks off at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The bands will travel back in time, crossing the international dateline, on the way to SXSW then hopscotch around the United States time zones, playing a different city for five night in a row. It’s a feat only Audrey Kimura could arrange year after year, in addition to supplementing the US with tours of other great acts between Japan Nite tours. Last summer, Kimura managed Red Bacteria Vacuum’s opening slot for A Perfect Circle’s North American Tour as they crossed the continent no less than three times in a standard van, as they kept pace with APC’s touring machine.

The 2012 Tour

Often introducing acts unheard of in the West to new fans; the tour also makes it easy to acquire the music from these acts, so make sure you are ready to fill in those gaps in your music collection.  This year, the tour will be anchored by the ZZZ’s, The Akabane Vulgars on Strong Bypass and the Nokies!  Do check your venue for exact lineups as there could be changes from city to city as they head out of Austin.  This year’s tour will include: Austin, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The Legacy

The Japan Nite tour has an amazing history of bands that have been featured. Each year, touring gets more and more expensive and musicians see less and less income from their work. As mentioned earlier, the logistics of a tour like Japan Nite are such that only a few bands can even attempt the feat.  In the past, Japan Nite included stops in Denver and Boston, but much to the disappointment of fans in those cities, the tour no longer stops there. This year, the tour had to pass on the city of Seattle as well.

As important tours such as Japan Nite try to stay viable in this new musical landscape; the best way to ensure that this continues it is to support the tour and the bands on the tour. It cannot be stressed enough that tours such as this, could just “go away.” If you have been to a Japan Nite tour before, you will understand how amazing the shows are. The musicians are quite possibly the friendliest on the planet and are excited to be playing in your town. If you have not been, I strongly encourage you to see the tour. Be prepared to love the show, buy some new CDs and come home as a new fan anxiously awaiting 2013 Japan Nite!

*THE AKABANE VULGARS ON STRONG BYPASS have cancelled their participation in the tour.

• March 16, 2012 Austin, TX SXSW
• March 18, 2012 Chicago, IL Double Door
• March 19, 2012 New York City, NY Public Assembly Front Room
• March 20, 2012 San Francisco, CA The Independent
• March 21, 2012 Los Angeles, CA The Viper Room
• March 22, 2012 Las Vegas, NV Hard Rock Cafe

On the Internet

• Japan Nite 2012
• Japan Nite Facebook
• Japan Nite on Twitter

We also have copies of AB’s 2CD Loop Studies collection from Paradigms Recordings available in the webstore. It’s exclusively available physically (oh, the novelty) at the moment, but should you like a preview, you can stream the tracks here:

I will have copies of both cds, among various other sundry releases, available on my solo tour with A-Sun Amissa starting next week:

15-02-12: West Germany, Berlin, DE (performing w/ Erik Skodvin & Andrea Belfi)
16-02-12: Astrostube, Hamburg, DE
17-02-12: Christuskirke, Bochum, DE (performing w/ Maik Parker of Kodiak)
18-02-12: (H)ear, Heerlen, NL (also w/ John Chantler)
19-02-12: DB’s, Utrecht, NL
20-02-12: Waggon, Offenbach, DE
21-02-12: Komma, Esslingen, DE
23-02-12: L’inventaire, Le Mans, FR
24-02-12: L’espace B, Paris, FR
25-02-12: Le Plané Ari Home, Wanquetin, FR

If you’d like to read some more about the album and sample a few tracks from the Complete Sessions (available as a download with the CD — almost 6 hours of music) you can do so here on Pitchfork, Exclaim, and The Post Rock (Deutsch).

And here are some photos highlighting Matt Smith‘s delightful illustrations:

In other release news, my (other) new solo album Closure Axioms is now available from Miskatonic Sound Lab and Nadja‘s The Bungled & The Botched has been newly re-issued on CD by Consouling Sounds (it’ll be in our webstore later this week).

And lastly some tourdates:

Nadja will be heading off to Japan in a few weeks for a few shows with our Important Records labelmates, Vampillia:

28-01-12: Shibuya O-Nest, Tokyo
29-01-12: Unagidani Sunsui, Osaka
01-02-12: Club Quatro, Hiroshima
02-02-12: Voodoo Lounge, Fukuoka
03-02-12: Wakayama, Rub Luck Cafe
05-02-12: Soup, Tokyo (AB solo show only)

More info and tickets here.

And in February, I will be doing a solo tour with the UK trio A-Sun Amissa:

15-02-12: West Germany, Berlin, DE
16-02-12: Astrostube, Hamburg, DE
17-02-12: Christuskirke, Bochum, DE
18-02-12: (H)ear, Heerlen, NL
19-02-12: DB’s, Utrecht, NL
20-02-12: Waggon, Offenbach, DE
21-02-12: Komma, Esslingen, DE
22-02-12: tba
23-02-12: L’inventaire, Le Mans, FR
24-02-12: L’espace B, Paris, FR
25-02-12: Le Plané Ari Home, Wanquetin, FR

Vampillia is a 10-piece “brutal orchestra” that dubbed themselves the hardcore version of Arcade Fire. Members of the orchestra have included Toyohito Yoshikawa (ex Boredoms), Kazuhisa Chikada (World’s End Girlfriend), and Merzbow. But the main members are their three vocalists: Geath (the screamer), Death (the Mongoloid woodcutter), and OPERA (the opera singer).

They toured New York with Tujiko Noriko in 2008 and made a stop at SXSW this year. In 2010 they toured Australia to all sold-out shows. Is Collage Collective released their first album Sppears late 2009 in Japan. US label Important Records released their next album Alchemic Heart January 2011. This album is a collaboration with Jarboe, Inswarm, and Merzbow and contains two 25-minute songs. Their next album Rule the World + Deathtiny Land will be released this April from Italian label code666. This album will contain 24 songs and last 24 minutes.

Vampillia’s sound is a mix of classical and hardcore music. The combination of screaming and opera in songs like “heyoah” calls to mind bands like mutyumu. “Sea” from Alchemic Heart only gets a 3-minute mix on myspace but that’s enough to get the gist of it. This song has much more in common the post-rock/doom genre than anything on Sppears. “Mersum” with vocals by Tujiko Noriko sounds a bit out of place but it’s a beautiful piece amongst chaos.

Buy Alchemic Heart and Sppears at Amazon.

http://www.myspace.com/vampilliaofficial

Tornado Boyz- “Ich Bin Auslaender”

German rap? Really? I don’t know how foreigner Daisuke met up with this Berlin-based band but this video is endlessly amusing.

Vampillia- “heyoah”

Amazing. There’s nothing about this band that isn’t full of win. This will require further analysis.

Nedry- “Dusk Til Dawn”

If you’re into English bands with hot Japanese vocalists, Nedry is for you.

Ydestroyde- “Promo”

If you ever wanted to learn how to make yakisoba, “Promo” has you covered.

Peelander-Z- “E-I-E-I-O”

Enjoy Peelander-Z’s cover of “Old Macdonald” from their children’s album P-TV-Z. I saw them live at an anime convention once and it’s a must see show!

oh sunshine- “Beautiful”

Emily Connor’s Japanese is pretty good. Beautiful, you could say

White White Sisters- “imperfect conflict”

This is the third time I’ve had to post this video on J-Rock Fridays. What can I say about this that I haven’t said twice before? Whatever, best electronic track of 2010. It’s a shame they won’t be coming to Japan Nite Chicago. I probably won’t be able to take off work anyway.

Takashi Kamide- “Dreaming”

Takashi Kamide provides a wistful accordion solo. Be sure to read his moving story about losing his foot to cancer on his SXSW page.

Puffyshoes- “Lazy”

Not Puffy AmiYumi. But just as cute.

The Suzan- “You Know Nothing”

I already posted “Home” several times so I thought I’d post their first PV. It’s a bit more raw than their Poco Beat stuff but still captivating.

Lolita No. 18- “Bye Bye Joey”

These girls have been a staple of Japan Nite since it’s inception in 1996. This song is a tribute to Joey Ramone, who produced their fourth album.

sonodaband- “Soul River”

So there’s a band of pretty boys who make chill instrumental music. Cool.

Cubismo Grafico Five- “Green Monster”

I’m more of a fan of Cubismo’s DJ stuff but this is pretty great too.

Mo’some Tonebender- “Green & Gold”

Our Japan Nite headliner. Mo’some Tonebender is the band that got me into undergroundish Japanese music. With this video in fact. So you can thank “Green & Gold” for the existence of this blog.

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Pick which bands you’ve seen live, or would like to. No limit!

Band Links:

Cubismo Grafico Five: SXSW page, CD Japan

Lolita No. 18: SXSW page, CD Japan

Mo’some Tonebender: SXSW page, CD Japan

Nedry: SXSW page, Amazon.com, CD Japan

oh sunshine: SXSW page, Amazon.com, CD Japan

Peelander-Z: SXSW page, Amazon.com

Puffyshoes: SXSW page

The Suzan: SXSW page, Amazon.com, CD Japan

sonodaband: SXSW page, CD Japan

Takashi Kamide: SXSW page

Torpedo Boyz: SXSW page, Amazon.com

Vampillia: SXSW page, Amazon.com

White White Sisters: SXSW page, Amazon.com, CD Japan, Play-Asia

Ydestroyde: SXSW page, Amazon.com