ALL MY FAVORITE BANDS COME FROM OSAKA!
hi. it's aaron (duh). so we went to osaka and it rocked really hard. uhm... we stayed at this "hostel" called Go Osaka. you should go there sometime because it's run by this awesome high-ass korean guy named ray and all the guests like to sit/lie around and play need for speed in what is actually just a pretty sweet apartment decorated with a lot of san rio stuff and korean post-its left by a lot of the guests who are korean and very interesting people who like to sell silver to old people at the osaka world trade center, as well as ride bicycles across japan. anyways, we were very lucky that Go Osaka happens to be located in Namba, the really cool part of Osaka where there are many covered arcades and live houses to see all the really cool bands from kansai that kick ass. here are some namba pix:
our first night we went to a live house called Namba Bears that we had heard about in Tokyo. it turns out it's owned by the guitarist of the Boredoms! it's really small and they sell beer out of a cooler. lots of amazing noise bands and maniac bands play there. and it's this whole scene thing sort of because nobody really talks or moves (absolutely no dancing! or very limited nodding perhaps). most people just sit on the floor. apparently it's for serious listening only! obviously i like this kind of place. a lot. we missed most of the first band although they were quite amazing. just two guitarists singing really intense songs with spacey noise jams. then the modern-day version of Zatoichi came onstage to play an hour long set of minor key spazoid blues songs. it's hard to imagine but every song was pretty much the same two chords. he was super-intense and if anyone has seen the Miike movie Izo... just think of the singer guitar guy who shows up now and again. it was a lot like that. well, i was really hoping to see some kansai girls rock out! after all, shonen knife, Ni-Hao!, etc... and the next band really blew me away. their name is very long and i'm too lazy to type it out right now. if you want to know it you have to talk to me personally or something. by the end of their set i think i had melted like a mint choco bar. two guitarists, a bassist, no drums. i can't wait to get home and listen to their cd! i took this picture but it's sort of unclear... the reason being that taking pictures in Namba Bears is a bit risky. so i had to take this right at the end of their set when nobody would be looking! hehe. anyways:
so yeah. you can kind of make out what's happening in Namba Bears. here are some other random pictures from Bears:
after the show we walked back to Go Osaka and on the way we met saw some kids freestyling on the street and laying down some ill beats. david got up the courage to spit some rhymes with them and i have to say that he held shit down! i videotaped it! so soon i'll throw it on youtube and You can see the splendor of kansai hip hop. the next night we went to a very different live house, the self-proclaimed best rock and roll club in Osaka called Fandango. what we saw there was... well... funky... and... punky. suffice it to say for now that the two opening bands led me to believe that i had walked into the Nuggets Box Sets of 1960s garage rock actualized into a venue. the complete of opposite of Namba Bears. but that's just the beginning of the story my friends... the first two bands rocked pretty hard. i don't remember their names. maybe david knows. here's a picture or two of these worthy (or perhaps not so worthy) openers:
well. yes. if you are feeling a bit underwhelmed... i'm saving the best for last. just like at a real rock and roll show, or "live" as they say in japan. but to be honest, the headliners of this concert deserve their own post and so... well actually, i'm sure you will have already seen it before you read this! that being the case, i'll go on a bit about osaka. we hit up two really cool record stores, Time Bomb and King Kong. they both ruled. a lot. david got two aphex twin records and a Sonic Youth Sister LP (yes, all vinyl). there's something strange about the cover of his Sister record... though it's hard to pin down just what... nonetheless he got this record for under 15 US bucks and if i didn't already own a first edition pressing of Sister on vinyl with the original un-C-blocked cover (by disney that is) i would have had to throttle him for the one he got at such a winning price. as the aphex records, they were so cheap that those of you who have been searching all over the tri-state and e-bay for aphex girl/boy song 7"s for under 40 billion dollars... well, what i'm trying to say is that King Kong is a great store and you must go there when you go to Osaka someday. here are some pictures. this first one is of the infamous "pink" Boredoms box set that i will never be able to afford.
that last picture is a little fuzzy but you might be able to fathom that it is indeed a japanese laser disc of Return to Oz, one of the creepiest movies i've ever seen. okay. enough of this stuff. it's time for... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hi. it's aaron (duh). so we went to osaka and it rocked really hard. uhm... we stayed at this "hostel" called Go Osaka. you should go there sometime because it's run by this awesome high-ass korean guy named ray and all the guests like to sit/lie around and play need for speed in what is actually just a pretty sweet apartment decorated with a lot of san rio stuff and korean post-its left by a lot of the guests who are korean and very interesting people who like to sell silver to old people at the osaka world trade center, as well as ride bicycles across japan. anyways, we were very lucky that Go Osaka happens to be located in Namba, the really cool part of Osaka where there are many covered arcades and live houses to see all the really cool bands from kansai that kick ass. here are some namba pix:
our first night we went to a live house called Namba Bears that we had heard about in Tokyo. it turns out it's owned by the guitarist of the Boredoms! it's really small and they sell beer out of a cooler. lots of amazing noise bands and maniac bands play there. and it's this whole scene thing sort of because nobody really talks or moves (absolutely no dancing! or very limited nodding perhaps). most people just sit on the floor. apparently it's for serious listening only! obviously i like this kind of place. a lot. we missed most of the first band although they were quite amazing. just two guitarists singing really intense songs with spacey noise jams. then the modern-day version of Zatoichi came onstage to play an hour long set of minor key spazoid blues songs. it's hard to imagine but every song was pretty much the same two chords. he was super-intense and if anyone has seen the Miike movie Izo... just think of the singer guitar guy who shows up now and again. it was a lot like that. well, i was really hoping to see some kansai girls rock out! after all, shonen knife, Ni-Hao!, etc... and the next band really blew me away. their name is very long and i'm too lazy to type it out right now. if you want to know it you have to talk to me personally or something. by the end of their set i think i had melted like a mint choco bar. two guitarists, a bassist, no drums. i can't wait to get home and listen to their cd! i took this picture but it's sort of unclear... the reason being that taking pictures in Namba Bears is a bit risky. so i had to take this right at the end of their set when nobody would be looking! hehe. anyways:
so yeah. you can kind of make out what's happening in Namba Bears. here are some other random pictures from Bears:
after the show we walked back to Go Osaka and on the way we met saw some kids freestyling on the street and laying down some ill beats. david got up the courage to spit some rhymes with them and i have to say that he held shit down! i videotaped it! so soon i'll throw it on youtube and You can see the splendor of kansai hip hop. the next night we went to a very different live house, the self-proclaimed best rock and roll club in Osaka called Fandango. what we saw there was... well... funky... and... punky. suffice it to say for now that the two opening bands led me to believe that i had walked into the Nuggets Box Sets of 1960s garage rock actualized into a venue. the complete of opposite of Namba Bears. but that's just the beginning of the story my friends... the first two bands rocked pretty hard. i don't remember their names. maybe david knows. here's a picture or two of these worthy (or perhaps not so worthy) openers:
well. yes. if you are feeling a bit underwhelmed... i'm saving the best for last. just like at a real rock and roll show, or "live" as they say in japan. but to be honest, the headliners of this concert deserve their own post and so... well actually, i'm sure you will have already seen it before you read this! that being the case, i'll go on a bit about osaka. we hit up two really cool record stores, Time Bomb and King Kong. they both ruled. a lot. david got two aphex twin records and a Sonic Youth Sister LP (yes, all vinyl). there's something strange about the cover of his Sister record... though it's hard to pin down just what... nonetheless he got this record for under 15 US bucks and if i didn't already own a first edition pressing of Sister on vinyl with the original un-C-blocked cover (by disney that is) i would have had to throttle him for the one he got at such a winning price. as the aphex records, they were so cheap that those of you who have been searching all over the tri-state and e-bay for aphex girl/boy song 7"s for under 40 billion dollars... well, what i'm trying to say is that King Kong is a great store and you must go there when you go to Osaka someday. here are some pictures. this first one is of the infamous "pink" Boredoms box set that i will never be able to afford.
that last picture is a little fuzzy but you might be able to fathom that it is indeed a japanese laser disc of Return to Oz, one of the creepiest movies i've ever seen. okay. enough of this stuff. it's time for... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by maitreya at 12:39 AM
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