Album releases

Why do half of all Japanese 'indies' bands still want to sound like Green Day? In terms of teenage rebellious gestures, listening them is on a par with sniffing Prit Stick to get high. If you want some real punk you should listen to Midori, whose latest album Shimizu jerks and spasms all over the place like a zombie with an axe in its head. Composed of piano, bass, drums and vocals, I detected a slight jazz sensibility but forgave them because of the overall brutal, raw and rude vibe coming from 'singer' Mariko Goto's chainsaw rantings. Check their website: http://midori072.com From bitter and dark ravings to sweet and light tinklings, Shugo Tokumaru's Exit, breathes life into the sparse sounds of battered music boxes, theramins and toy instruments so that they take on a rich orchestral quality. The auditory equivalent of a ancient fairground coming mysteriously to life, lush and unsettling. Check it out on: http://www.myspace.com/shugotokumaru Lastly, Afterglow, from Akira Kosemura and Haruka Nakamura, does what it says on the tin. Sparse, moving electronic music coupled with piano, some melodies are maybe a little too obvious and cloying, but this is perfect music for spacing out to after a hard day www.myspace.com/scholerecords