It is fairly difficult to traverse the Japanese rock scene and not hear about the pillows. With over 20 years to the band’s name, they have established themselves as the kings of Japanese alt/indie rock music. Trial comes from their 18th studio album sharing the same name released on Jan. 18th, 2012.

It is my pleasure to present this band here, as they are truly one of the greats. I hope you enjoy their music as much as I do.

Check them out at their website!

Also, you can find their album, “Trial”, at CDJapan or YesAsia

Indie bands will have the chance to take the SUMMER SONIC stage this year. So far, over 1700 bands have joined the contest hosted by E-MEETS and SUMMER SONIC.

Once they sign up online, their SUMMER SONIC dreams are in the hands of others. Users can watch Youtube videos of the artists’ performances and pick their favorites. Once user voting ends on July 13, a panel of judges take charge and who gets an audition and who gets to subsequently appear at SUMMER SONIC in front of thousands. It’s a long road to SUMMER SONIC stardom but a HUGE opportunity.

Getting billed next to names like Jay-Z, The Offspring, Stevie Wonder, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies, Taylor Swift, the pillows, the HIATUS, and Sakanaction (サカナクション) is a big deal regardless of taste in music. Check out the full SUMMER SONIC lineup here, there’s too many more to choose from for namedropping.

To vote for YOUR FAVORITE BANDS, 1) watch the videos, 2) visit the artists’ pages you like, 3) enter your email address and check the box to agree to terms of services in the big yellow box to the right, 4) click the big read button and your vote is tallied. Only one vote per artist. VOTE VOTE VOTE now now now!!

Big thanks to @sarita_sy07 for the tip off!

There are numerous great artists from Japan’s large, expansive northern island prefecture. Though, most of the bands mentioned below formed in Sapporo, many of the members are from elsewhere in Hokkaido. Here’s an alphabetical list of 10 great bands from Hokkaido, some moderately popular, some massively huge. Check it out:

BAZRA formed in 1999 in Sapporo. Watch “Jump” by BAZRA

bloodthirsty butchers have been rocking ever since they formed in Sapporo in 1987. Watch “Jack Nicolson” by bloodthirsty butchers

Bugy Craxone started taking stages in Sapporo in 1997. Watch “Come On” by Bugy Craxone

Eastern Youth formed in Sapporo in 1988. Vocalist/guitarist Yoshino Hisashi is from Obihiro and drummer Tamori Atsuya is from Rebun. Watch “Boiling Point 36℃” by Eastern Youth

monobright formed in Sapporo in 2006. Members are from Nemuro, Ishikari, Iwamizawa, and Sapporo. Watch “踊る脳” by monobright

Sakanaction (サカナクション) formed in Sapporo in 2005. Members are from Otaru and Sapporo. Watch “セントレイ” by Sakanaction

sleepy.ab formed in Sapporo in 1998. Watch “Melody” by sleepy.ab

tacica formed in Sapporo in 2005. Watch “人間1/2″ by tacica

the pillows formed in Hokkaido in 1989 and vocalist/guitarist Sawao Yamanaka and guitarist Yoshiaki Manabe are from Hokkaido. Watch “雨上がりに見た幻” by the pillows

Yoshida Brothers are originally from Noboribetsu. Watch “Rising” by Yoshida Brothers

OTHER RANDOM MENTIONS (because there’s still too many more to list):

Rappers THA BLUE HERB as well as DJs DAISHI DANCE and Michita are all from Sapporo. Miwa Yoshida (吉田美和) of mega-huge duo DREAMS COME TRUE is from Ikeda. NICO Touches the Walls’ guitarist Furumura Daisuke (古村大介) is from Hakodate.

There are a ton more artists from Hokkaido, both more and less famous than those mentioned here or now defunct. Who else is cool and from Hokkaido?

Well chances are this band will not give you the same reaction but, because I know you, the readers of Sparkplugged, generally have far better taste in music than the general populace, you’ll definitely be able to appreciate these guys.

Enter Galileo Galilei. (I’ll save you the anguish of a lame joke. Thank me later.)
Take this into consideration: at an age when Bump of Chicken had just barely formed and were doing covers of The Beatles at school events, Galileo Galilei has put out 2 full albums and a single, won a major music festival (SENKOU RIOT 2008), and is about to embark on their first national tour.
Not bad for a bunch of youngins who still have yet to escape the stranglehold of high school hey?

“But Jimi,” you curiously ask, “this is a pretty impressive resume, but how can they possibly be great if they’re so young? Truly great music takes years of refinement, and life experiences that mere high school students couldn’t have possibly gone through.”

Honestly, this is a bit of a mystery to me too.

Let’s take a gander at their latest album which was released Jan 21 2009: 雨のちガリレオ (ame nochi garirero / Galileo after the rain). It’s apparent in a handful of tracks that they’ve taken inspiration from many of the upbeat, heavy hitting bands of today. For example, “PIXIE” has some obvious pillows-esque guitar work. “Monday7s” has a playfulness reminiscent of Bump of Chickens’ FLAME VEIN album. Their flagship song, “ハローグッバイ” (hello, goodbye), is earnestly sung, with soft rolling rock melodies that fans of RADWIMPS should be familiar with; and so on. You can kind of sense Galileo Galilei is in a way, feeling around; trying different things to see what works for them and what they can incorporate into their own budding sound.

But then you have a song like “管制塔” which doesn’t have any immediately distinct influences other than being an amalgamation of all the bands previously stated. Thus making it original and fresh; not to mention it’s surprisingly well composed. It starts off with a lonely guitar rift that is soon joined by a steadfast bass, progressively building guitar, drums and vocals and in a moment of triumph breaks through into vivid daylight. An instant classic; it’s one of those great motivational songs that can pick you up on dreary days.

And then there’s “扇風機”. A solemn yet powerful song that that shows a level of maturity that you would think is unattainable at such an early point in the bands history; let alone at such a young age.

I realize we’ve touched upon their age quite a bit in this article, but I can’t help but think about the ocean of potential
Galileo Galilei has. At such a tender age they’re already producing high caliber music that’s close to, if not on par with most of the breakout acts of recent years. They’ve already rocketed up to one of my favorite bands along with Bump and tacica. Just imagine what another 5 or 10 years of experience will do for them.. oh the goosebumps.

Watch 管制塔 performed live at SENKOU RIOT 2008 (auto starts at 4:41)

Listen to a sample of “ハローグッバイ” from the album via youtube.

Buy 雨のちガリレオ

So, this was my list in order of awesomeness. For your information, the band apart was the most awesome in 2008, don’t listen to Shays and Jimis rambling ^_^, but like Jimi previously did, I also have to mention Bump of Chicken’s “Orbital Period” and “Action” from B’z, which were released on the brink of 2008 and are truly fantastic albums. Check out those also.

Back to PART 1 and PART 2

Pied Piper is the new studio album from the famous Japanese rock band the pillows. With more than fifteen albums under their belts, many people already balked at Pied Piper at the very announcement of its release, as ‘just another album from the pillows‘ (not the hardcore fans of course, cheers!). But, I have to disappoint the booers the ‘fans already fed up with the pillows sound’, because Pied Piper is pretty much has everything a fan could wish to hear from their favourite band. It’s fresh, it’s rocking, it’s fast, but slow when it has to be, it’s cool, it’s deep, err… it’s… the pillows

At the official pillows myspace there is a translated article by Sawao Yamanaka on Pied Piper (the original Japanese article can be found here). The explanation by Sawao (lead vocals and guitar) helps us to understand the songs and the whole album a bit more. If you have time and if you enjoy the album check it out, because this kind of additional information can change the perception of a few tracks from bad to good (or vica versa, but this hopefully won’t be a scenario ; ).

1. Pied Piper
2. New Animal
3. No Surrender
4. Last Holiday
5. Tokyo Zombie (The Knock Came at Dead of Night)
6. Across the Metropolis
7. Purple Apple
8. Tokyo Bambi
9. Ladybird Girl
10. That’s a Wonderful World (Song for Hermit)
11. Poison Rock’n'Roll

The albums starts off with the title track Pied Piper, which beings with a slow, ‘magical’ intro and then switches to a bit faster paced ‘pillows trademark’ song (you can check this out on Youtube).

This album also has the the obligate sad, love-song, Last Holiday. Compared to the other tracks, this song along with Across the Metropolis were the weakest parts of the album.

Tokyo Zombie is the only instrumental song on the album. It’s quite nice; the guitar has a unique texture to replace Sawaos vocals.

Purple Apple is the prime of Pied Piper, no arguments on this. This is the pillows. The bass line along with the funky guitar sweeps away everything on the album. It’s so charismatic and playful that’s just makes me happy every time I hear it. The chorus gives good company to this, and when the whistling part comes in, it’s just simple perfection. Hopefully this song will get a PV in the future, a ‘feelgood’ one similar to Terminal Heaven’s Rock.

The other tracks are cool also, although they were the type of songs that you have to listen a few times to get the hang of them.

This album is a good choice if this is your first encounter with the pillows and also I’m sure that die-hard fans who were a little bit discontent with the band’s latest works will like Pied Piper.

8/10

Watch the PV for ‘Pied Piper’

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Official MySpace

Buy Piped Piper by the pillows

The popular rock band’s 27th single hit record store shelves on January 30th and is hanging around the 10 spot on the Oricon charts.

The “Tokyo Bambi” single includes three songs with a special edition release boasting a 2-PV DVD. The single itself, “Tokyo Bambi” stands out of course but the b-sides are worth it too.

“Tokyo Bambi” begins with a sample similar to the “Amen break” before horns cut in and take things away. Yamanaka Sawao’s layered vocals make for a smooth verse while the guitar plays some funky riffs. A strong chorus and a good guitar solo make “Tokyo Bambi” slightly better than your average popular rock song.

The b-sides are worth listening to — especially “Across The Metropolis”. Its melancholy daze is nice change and makes for a strong finish despite the calm.

Tracklisting:
01. Tokyo Bambi
02. Go! Go! Jupiter
03. Across The Metropolis

[rating:7/10] 7/10

Buy “Tokyo Bambi” by The Pillows
Buy “Tokyo Bambi” First Press Edition by The Pillows