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[imustak]

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Music in July #iTunes #love #like #happy #vinyl #album #covers #records #CD #アナログ #音楽 #レコード #music #sounds #art #Alternative #Punk #Rock #Electronic #Dance #Experimental #Industrial #NewWave #Pop #Reggae #World #Ambient #Noise #Jazz #NewAge African Head Charge Airway Andrew Paine Andy Fairley Antara Annemarie Borg Caroline McKenzie Clint Newton D.N.A. Delphine Dora DSPS Echo & The Bunnymen Elph vs Coil Erasure Ground Zero Hello Nico Ian Holloway James Chance And The Contortions Joe Gibbs & The Professionals Judy Nylon and Crucial Le Forte Four Little Annie Lotus Eaters Maki Ishii Makoto Moroi Marco Lucchi MATZKA Meredith Monk METROFARCE Michael Snow Michel Chion Mika Vainio & Franck Vigroux Miklós Maros Minao Shibata Mirror Monday Michiru Monos Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra Palais Schaumburg Pefkin Public Image Limited Rainier Lericolais Salon Music Sandii Serge Gainsbourg Strange Parcels Susan Matthews Tafari All Stars The Dead Mauriacs The Mira Ensemble The Pale Fountains The Polyphonic Spree Thorsten Soltau U2 Underworld, Iggy Pop, Karl Hyde, Esme Bronwen-Smith, Rick Smith Vast & Hazy YBO2 Yoshida Brothers スネークマン��ショー 旺福 旺福 WonFu 加藤和彦 原子邦妮 江惠儀 四枝筆樂團 周蕙 小娟&山谷裡的居民 脆弱少女組 曾軼可 曹方 孫盛希 孫盛希;J.Sheon 陳欣恩 陳昇 方拾貳 呂薔 莊心妍 魏嘉瑩

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 4, Number 3

Dark Blue covers the Anti-Nowhere League in this edition

Another few weeks of accumulated dust spans genres from classic jazz to no wave skronk to guitar-centric country blues. Dusted writers including Isaac Olson, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Justin Cober-Lake, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers and Jonathan Shaw write about the near-famous and the purposefully obscure. We hope you’ll find something to intrigue you in this mid-March collection.

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Successful revolutions enable freedom, including the freedom of salvaging what is worthwhile from what was overturned. There’s been a smattering of punk bands recently who, thanks to the death of rock as a driving force in global pop culture and the enabling of increasingly omnivorous tastes by the internet, are doing away with old tribal notions of taste and proudly tracing their lineage to both Sticky Fingers and Damaged. Seattle’s Advertisement, on their debut tape, This Is Advertisement, follow in the footsteps of fellow travelers Milk Music in stripping Thin Lizzy and Crazy Horse for parts and wiring what they’ve found to a lean, hardcore-influenced sound. This day-drunk, punks-on-a-road-trip sound is increasingly fashionable, and at this point, Advertisement isn’t doing anything that, say, Sheer Mag hasn't done before, but the two best songs here, opener “Past is Alive” and closer “Cryin’ Wild” fuse the joy of the unironic guitar solo with the joy of the mosh pit successfully enough to be optimistic for what they’ll do next.

Isaac Olson

 Jaap Blonk & Terrie Ex — Thirsty Ears (Terp)

“Are you listening?” Those are the first words you hear from Jaap Blonk on Thirsty Ears, and he poses the question with full knowledge that the question will be definitively answered before the track is done. He goes on to describe the process of listening, catalogs sounds quite like the ones you will hear throughout this record and then describes the vanity of trying not to hear him. “You block your hearing but it won’t work,” he crows. Rest assured, you will either give this record your full attention or turn it off; there is no middle ground. Blonk is a master sound poet, his voice an elastic instrument that can groan, croon, gargle, or articulate so flexibly that he could have voiced every machine and critter in contemporary non-live-action Hollywood if he would only consent to being told what to do. But he is a free man, abetted here by another man just as free. Terrie Ex is equally unwilling to be boxed in, even by his own extensive history of free, punk and African-derived music making. He matches Blonk’s utterances and ultra-theatrical speech with detuning adventures that make his guitar sound like a time-lapse documentation of a the sounds of a suspension bridge’s slow deterioration in the centuries after the humans clear out.

Bill Meyer

 Boneshaker — Thinking Out Loud CD/LP (Trost)

Thinking Out Loud by BONESHAKER

Boneshaker does not want to keep you in the dark. The trio includes Chicago free jazz veterans Mars Williams and Kent Kessler plus citizen of the world Paal Nilssen-Love. The band’s name tells you what they aim to do, and album’s title tells you how they do it. Their collective cv includes work with Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide and Hal Russell; these guys have learned from the best about how to shiver timbers, and given they longevity of their involvement with high energy improvisation (the Americans are in their 60s, Nilssen-Love is in his 40s), they’re teachers too. The ability to blow as hard as Albert Ayler, to launch a percussive barrage that’ll stop a bus and to propel the whole affair with resonant bass patterns is necessary, but not sufficient. You also have to think while you’re doing it, so that soul and exhilaration come together with coherence and logic. Listen and learn.

Bill Meyer

 Dark Blue — Fight to Love b/w For You (12XU)

Fight To Love by Dark Blue

“Warning: This song is going to be rubbish.”  That’s the first thing you hear on John Sharkey III’s latest single, a young boy managing expectations for, most likely, his dad. But no need for that, because the a-side is a grand and gothy guitar fest, with giant arc’ing chords and fizzing smoke-pot riffs that sound more like 1970s radio metal than anything punk. Sharkey sings, as always, in a hollowed out baritone that’s somehow snide and doomedly romantic. The second side is a cover of the Anti-Nowhere League’s 1982 single “For You.” Even the original was far less scatological than the band’s big hit “So What” but Sharkey has turned it into an existential anthem, slower, more echo-ridden and full of frustrated longing.  No rubbish here, just a reminder of how good Dark Blue can be.

Jennifer Kelly

 Ravyn Lenae — Crush (Three Twenty Three)

Totally unhinged and memorable ululations herald the arrival of many great songs, and Ravyn Lenae's at the beginning of "Sticky" ranks among them. Not just that, but syrupy organ and snappy guitar capture the total abandon and carnal pleasure in getting sticky, however you might please. Inventiveness, especially experimenting with texture, is de rigueur in R&B lately, and Lenae and producer Steve Lacy explore their own sound through layered vocals, punchy but smooth production and unexpected key changes. Lenae attempts to sustain the magic of the EP's opening number throughout, but both of Lacy's vocal turns are distractingly blasé, and the unique pose of first sound never surfaces again as assured. There are enough creative risks here to suggest that 18-year-old Lenae could further develop this sound into something that can be better sustained. For now the abandon of "Sticky" and the music that follows is like diving into an ice-cream on a hot day: It feels great to let loose and let the sugar drip all over, but after that there's nothing much special about having sticky hands.  

Bryan Daly

   The Lovely Eggs — This Is Eggland (Egg Records)

“Wiggy Giggy” is maybe the most exuberantly silly song you’ll hear all year, from its chanted backbone of “wiggy, wiggy, giggy,” repeated ad infinitum, to its giant  clanging guitar riffs, to its sweetly demented vocals, courtesy of Lovely Eggs diva Holly Ross, who is married to David Blackwell, the band’s other half. The song is so much fun, and so ridiculous, that it could only have come from a band completely unconcerned with public reception – a band, perhaps, the records and releases its material completely on its own. And this, in fact, is what we have here, a band that has completely immunized itself to popular opinion and can consequently do what they like. What do they like? Think of the Breeders joyful riffery, crossed with Imperial Teen’s way with a hook, with a bit of Flaming Lips spliced in, and you’ll be close. The Lovely Eggs don’t care if you like their music, but if you have any fondness for psychedelically tinged pop rock, you will. Marc Riley does, and think how many DIY bands he has to wade through on an average work day.

Jennifer Kelly

 Nick Millevoi’s Desertion Trio w. Jamie Saft — Midtown Tilt (Shhpuma)

Midtown Tilt by Desertion Trio with Jamie Saft

Desertion? Hey, why not? Anyone playing western-themed music in Philadelphia probably has some kind of evacuation in mind. But even the desert’s likely to be left behind when this combo gets cooking. Guitarist Nick Millevoi kicks off Midtown Tilt with a skirling line bold enough to light up a dune-studded horizon. His lead, however, is more of an anchor than a spotlight. Drummer Kevin Shea’s pummeling attack seems bent on blowing the music off course, and guest organist Jamie Saft’s references are more storefront church than arid vista. And that’s just the first tune.  

Lucky for Millevoi, bassist Johnny De Blasé has a healthy respect for the pulse, because he’s often the guy holding the center. Sometimes he can lure Shea into the pocket, but Saft takes full advantage of his guest soloist role to detour around and redirect the guitarist’s stark melodies at every opportunity.

Bill Meyer

 Meshell Ndegeocello—Ventriloquism

If someone told you that bad-ass bassist Meshell Ndegeocello was covering Prince on her next album, the last track you’d expect her to revisit would be “Sometimes It Snows in April,” a strummy, acoustic ballad from Under the Cherry Moon that sounds, for the Purple one, downright folky. Yet her soft-focus cover of the Artist Formerly Known As’ least funky cut is just a taste of the chilled out vibe Ndegeocello brings to formerly nasty grooves including TLC’s megahit “Waterfalls” and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog.” The covers on Ventriloquism share a bleached out vibe that comes partly from Ndegeocello’s soothing voice, but also from cool temperature arrangements that favor pastel tone-washes over slap and pop. Maybe that’s why Ndegeocello sounds the most comfortable in reservedly powerful “Private Dancer” or, once the silly spoken word is over, Sade’s quiet storm classic “Smooth Operator.”  Yeah, maybe a little too smooth.

Jennifer Kelly

 Overmono — Rinse FM, Boiler Room live sets

What is it about Overmono’s sublime blend of junglist memories, lead foot techno and airy ambient that puts them a cut above their contemporaries? The latest answer to that question comes in the form of these two live sets just days apart, the former in support of Derrick Carter in Moscow (ably assisted by Irish up-and-comer Or:la, also worthy of mention here) and the latter on Hessle Audio’s usual Rinse slot. Starting with “U-Plastics” from the mammoth #savefabric comp, I can say with confidence that there’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more consistently over the last year and a half than London-based brothers of a single mother Ed and Tom Russell, aliases Tessela and Truss, who have been reliably plying their trades in the orbit of R&S, Poly Kicks and Perc Trax for years now. As the Arla triptych on XL and Water the Planets giveaway mix demonstrated, Overmono is a collaborative leap from the marginalia of heady British rave investigations into the wild blue yonder of open-ended rhythm, noise and melody —  a less seamless but altogether more fascinating affair on every level. It’s a poor dancing experience but a great listening one, in other words, as they guiltlessly ransack genre and era alike with equal fervor. It’s also without equal in this sphere right now.   

Patrick Masterson

 Parasight — At Leve Som Hvis der Var et Håb (Indisciplinarian)

This first full-length release from Danish d-beat band Parasight sends a number of provocatively mixed signals. Not musically — Parasight plays straightforward metallic punk, driven by the signature rhythm Discharge canonized in the early 1980s. Occasionally the band experiments with a breakdown, as in “Grådigheden Selv,”or a more mid-tempo intro, as on “Håbløst.” On the whole, the songs are well structured, passionately executed and compelling. The more interesting stuff operates at the level of suggestion. Unlike a lot of European bands that play heavy music, Parasight insists on composing lyrics in their native language; they up the ante by not offering translations on inserts or on Bandcamp. In interviews they’ve suggested a desire to position themselves in the tradition of Danish heroic poetry. All that sounds pretty nationalist, which isn’t great news if one is looking for the leftist stance that has always dominated d-beat and crust. But the album art references the tragic drowning of a Syrian Kurdish boy, Alan Kurdi, rendered internationally infamous through a series of photos of the recovery of his tiny body on the Turkish shoreline. The title of the record translates, “To live as if there is still hope.” All of that begs the question: what forces have eradicated hope? Where can we find the resources to continue living? What does Alan Kurdi have to do with it? It’s the sort of conundrum that our instant, digitized and indiscriminate access to art and information makes painfully evident. The way the pun in the band’s name focuses those issues — am I seeing clearly? — in its English presentation only increases the provocation.

Jonathan Shaw

 Preening — Greasetrap Frisbee (Ever/Never)

Greasetrap Frisbee by Preening

Erratic rhythms jitter manically, bass and drums punching out dance figures for odd numbers of flailing, electro-shocked limbs. Free jazz sax splatters in skronky blotches during the intervals between inscrutable chants. Preening, trio out of Oakland, churns a no wave noise just playful and rhythmic enough to incite a St. Vitus dance. (Members go by single names, but a little googling reveals that they are music critic Sam Lefebvre on drums, Max Nordile on saxophone and Alejandra Alcala on bass.)  On a limb, I’d call “Associated Press” the catchy single, its off-tempo drum and bass racket punctuated by frantic reed abuse and chanted madness. See-sawing “Face On” serves as the crowd pleasing hit, as it teeters on tipsy bass, skitters to speed in double-time nervous attacks and earns a round of live applause. “P.O. Box,” which is literally about a band member’s mail receptacle, channels Preening’s unruly energy most effectively, but things are always apt to fall apart, never more so than on the title track, a collection of bleats, drum crashes, spoken asides and inchoate noises pieced together out of studio outtakes.

Jennifer Kelly

Sonny Rollins — Way Out West (Craft)

Sixty years after Way Out West’s release, the cover still makes it look like a gimmick (and it's still hard to tell if it's best read as camp, kitsch or subversion). When drummer Shelly Manne opens the album with a hoof beat rhythm, the strangeness continues, but as soon as Sonny Rollins' saxophone begins, it's clear that there's no joke here. The album marks the first jazz album of a sax-bass-drums trio (ditching the piano and its chords), a startling shift away from the work Rollins had just done on Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners and a forerunner of his later unaccompanied experiments. 

If the album marks a pivotal moment, it should also be remembered on its own terms, hence the 60th anniversary two LP reissue. Rollins remains amazing, and the record catches him in peak form. Bassist Ray Brown, unfortunately too low in the mix, keeps up, but this set is Newk's show, his tone rich and his melodies — whether in the playfulness of “I'm an Old Cowhand” or the increasing heat of “There Is No Greater Love” — surprising. The bonus record, among other tracks, includes a couple unreleased takes, and the extra-hip extended version of “Way Out West” feels most necessary of this material, all of which makes for as inspiring a current listen as it does a historical study. Cowboy hats are optional, but beneficial.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Chris Smither — Call Me Lucky (Signature Sounds)

It's a little strange that a songwriter's album would be most notable for a cover and for reworkings, but not necessarily a bad thing. In Call Me Lucky. Smither reworks Chuck Berry's “Maybellene” as a deep blues number, changing the song from a teenage bit of hilarity into something truly dark and sad, recasting the entire narrative. The performance is less a gimmick and more an insight. Smither follows it with “Down to the Sound,” a complex number full of realism, hurt, and a taste of unlikely optimism. Even the upbeat country-blues of “Nobody Home” reveals the loss of human connection in our culture, whether in a neighborhood, a church, or the public square.  

Smither's tight songwriting drives the album, but Call Me Lucky comes with an unusual second disc that includes one Beatles cover (“She Said She Said”) and five new versions of originals from the first disc. It feels a bit like a bonus disc, but these versions are fully fleshed out. In the context of Smither's songwriting and his covers, the new performances provide a look into the way small decisions (or large ones in the case of “Everything on Top”) can shape the experience of a song, and helping to differentiate between terms like “song,” “track,” and “performance.” It doesn't need to be a heady experience, though. After all, they're just good songs well-executed, sometimes twice.

Justin Cober-Lake

Tangents — Stents + Arteries EP (Temporary Residence)

As the title suggests, this release from Australian group Tangents is concerned with matters of the heart a little more literally than most, the pulse and thrum of that muscle inside all of our chests whether it’s racing or soothingly steady. Comprised of two new tracks plus an extended version of soon-to-be-album track “Arteries”, the EP blends together varies threads of jazz, electronic and post-rock music so effortlessly and compellingly that it might take a couple of listens for the boldness of their approach to really sink in. You can catch hints of influences, everything from the Necks to Can to IDM, but what makes this EP such a joy to listen to is how Tangents make their sound simply their sound, and how natural it feels. More than anything else, the 20 minutes here indicates that June’s New Bodies is going to be worth waiting for.

 Ian Mathers

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2020/12/18/1000-people-stuck-overnight-in-japan-traffic-jam-stretching-9-miles-long/

1,000 people stuck overnight in Japan traffic jam stretching 9 miles long

Reports of the traffic jam, on the Kanetsu Expressway connecting Tokyo and Niigata prefectures, began emerging on Wednesday. By the early hours of Thursday morning, authorities had closed the highway entrance to alleviate clogging.

The jam began after a car got stuck in deep snow in the middle of the highway, grinding traffic to a halt, according to the Nippon Expressway Company (NEXCO), the country’s highway operator.

The country’s central and northern regions had been hit with heavy snowfall that morning, disrupting transit and causing some communities to lose power.

Traffic built up on the stalled highway; at its peak on Thursday night, the jam stretched to 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles), NEXCO told CNN. Some segments of the long traffic line were able to move slowly with starts and stops, but some motorists remained stuck in place for more than 40 hours.

The jam continued through Friday; the lanes coming from Tokyo eventually cleared, but the lanes heading into the capital were still halted. As of noon on Friday, there were still 1,000 cars stuck.

Photos of the highway show the long lines of unmoving cars, many with piles of snow on top of and around their vehicles, stranded amid snow-covered fields.

Some limited relief came on Thursday when emergency responders passed out rice balls, bread, crackers, sweet snacks, and 600 bottles of water, as well as thousands of liters of gasoline and diesel oil.

But it wasn’t enough, with drivers stuck for many more hours in the cold.

“The snow was extremely heavy. As time went by, the cars got buried. I was really scared,” one unnamed driver told Japanese public broadcaster NHK. “I’ve eaten all of my food and drinks. Now, to drink water, I have to melt snow I collect in a plastic bottle.”

A woman in her 30s and a man in his 60s were taken from the jam to hospital for respiratory problems and nausea on Thursday, according to Niigata’s crisis management officer, Tsuyoshi Watanabe. No fatal or serious incidents have been reported so far.

Watanabe added that the prefecture has asked for the Japan Self-Defense Forces to be dispatched to provide water, food, gasoline and portable toilets for the people still stuck on Friday, and to help clear away the snow.

NEXCO is also warning drivers, through social media and over the radio, to be careful of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning while waiting in their cars for hours at a time.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has met with ministers to discuss the heavy snowfall, calling on local officials to work together to restore services and help those affected, NHK reported.

This story was updated to reflect that the traffic jam started on Wednesday.

Source

[shoujotraveler]

I finally got these after a long wait. Sense Up Fes 2016 was nice. Idk if there’s a copy of it anywhere else. Should I rip it? Hmm.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> For my 5th year anniversary at work, my company gave me a budget and allowed me to splurge at CDJapan. I got seiyuu- and butai-related albums and a DVD: ① "Toshihajime!! Sense Up Fes 2016 DVD" starring Furukawa Yuta, Hirose Yusuke, and Sasaki Yoshihide who are from the same agency (SenseUp) and the same stage production (Musical Kuroshitsuji). ② "Kimi to Issho Nara Melody mo Yuki ni Naru" cover album by voice actors Terashima Takuma and Wataru Hatano's unit, M.O.E. I bought this for their Love Live! (Snow Halation & Shocking Party!) and iM@S (Onegai! Cinderella) covers lol. ③ "HIDE out -Moon" album by singer and stage actor Sasaki Yoshihide-sama. ④ "Zero" album by singer and voice actor (+ daitenshi, oujisama!!) Aoi Shouta.

[pianowagon]

Guided tour details

Mt. Fuji & Lake Kawaguchiko Private Tour Overview

The tour starts from Shinjuku Station, Tokyo to visit Lake Kawaguchiko at the north foot of Mt. Fuji, not to climb Mt. Fuji nor to visit Hakone. Mt. Fuji is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan which was designated as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2013. The area has a variety of attraction with panoramic Mt. Fuji and Fuji Five Lakes, cherry blossoms in spring, colored leaves in autumn and beautiful landscape covered with white snow in winter. The tour highlights some view points around Mt. Fuji including lakes, parks, an excursion ship, and an onsen hot spring bathhouse. Your itinerary will be tailored upon your request.

Note: Mt. Fuji is often invisible unless weather permits and the alternative tour date may be suggested by the guide. The tours is offered from November through May exclusively when Mt. Fuji is snow-capped. A part of or a whole tour can be canceled due to bad weather such as heavy snow fall.

Tour Itinerary 9:30 - 10:30 Shinjuku to Otsuki, Limited Express Kaiji 3

11:30 - 11:50 Excursion Ship Ensoleille on Lake Kawaguchiko

12:00 - 12:50 Lunch, hoto wheat noodles or Japanese cuisine

13:00 - 13:10 View Mt. Fuji from Lake Kawaguchiko

13:30 - 13:40 View Mt. Fuji from Lake Saiko

13:45 - 14:30 Saiko Iyashino-Sato Nenba, old folk village

14:45 - 15:45 Onsen hot spring bath at Yurari

16:47 - 17:51 Otsuki to Shinjuku, Limited Express Kaiji 18

The itinerary will be flexibly tailored upon your request to include Arakura Sengen Park, Oshino Hakkai spring, shrines, lakes or seasonal events. Tour 

Price

396 USD per group (maximum guests: 7), and additionally, the travel expense such as transportation, lunch and admission of each tourist attraction will be previously estimated and the actual expense is expected to be settled at the end of the tour.

Estimated Local Cash Needed: 11,000 JPY (approx. 100 USD ) per person,  6000 JPY (approx. 55 USD) for a child under 12 years old; 4640 yen: round-trip trains from Shinjuku 3550 yen: local transportation around Mt. Fuji 1000 yen: excursion ship 350 yen: old folk village 1450 yen: onsen hot spring bath house The transportation will be booked by the guide in advance, but train seats are supposed to be reserved by the guest in case you would like to book them with your Japan Rail Pass.

What's Included: Guide fee, itinerary arrangement, reservation of the transportation method on behalf of the guest. What's Extra: Transportation, lunch and admission of each tourist attraction. The expense will be previously estimated when your detailed itinerary is offered by the guide. Meeting Location: Shinjuku Station End location: Shinjuku Station

Guide

Yoshihide Hagimoto Credentials: Certified guide interpreter,  Domestic travel service supervisor Languages: English (advanced), Japanese (fluent)

I have been involved in tourism business for years. I used to work as the editor-in-chief of a major hotel booking website in Japan. I am a certified guide interpreter and a domestic travel service supervisor. I have been working recently as the director of a social travel website DeepJapan.org that offers practical advice about travel in Japan posted by hundreds of international members who have been living in Japan. I published "Mt. Fuji Travel Guide" e-book in 2014 and I am familiar with the area, where I can suggest the places you should visit out of dozens of local tourist attractions. It is always my great pleasure to guide overseas tourists to Japan and I would like to show you a lot more attractive places that you can visit and experience in this country.

Reservation

Please send your message from the following Facebook page with your desired tour date (a week or more prior to the tour date)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MountFujiTourGuide/