Nemu Yumemi

I don't think anyone reads this blog anymore but I haven't updated in a while and I was logged in for something else so I decided I'd drop this new gem off. Nemu Yumemi is a "budding idol" from the Akihabara district in Tokyo. Akihabara, famously, is the neighborhood in Tokyo that is most densely populated by stores bearing items that are essential to the "otaku" lifestyle. Whether it be anime paraphernalia and action figures (which I guess could be anime paraphernalia as well) or video games and a great set of headphones (for the audiophile in you) Akihabara is filled with toys for the obsessive. In turn the music that comes out of a place like this is often goofy, obsessive in it's lyrical themes, and based around anime or anime-esque gimmicks. Nemu is one fifth of the larger idol group でんぱ組.inc (Denpa Gumi, Inc.) but--for me--the real prize is her solo work. The group had it's [I believe] second single come out on the sixth (at least the second with all of it's members, allegedly there is one from 2008 with only the two founding members--neither of these members is Nemu) and Nemu only has one single out as well, but I for one believe that this is the start of something beautiful. Nemu is my contemporary Yukiko.

If you want to download her single or see some of her official sites you can find links to them on my friend Garrett's blog. He basically copied and pasted this entry but he wasn't too lazy to post the links like I should have.

Noise Pollution at it's Finest: Yuko Imada

This is without a doubt my favorite band. Hailing from Anaheim, California and participating in the [seemingly] super active Santa Ana noise scene, I have been an avid Yuko Imada fan for going on a year now.

Yuko Imada, the name, stems from a fascination with the Japanese serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki. After raping, killing and mutilating 4 young girls between the ages of 4 and 7 Miyazaki was finally arrested while trying to insert the Zoom Lens of a camera into the vagina of a young girl in a park. Just with many a noise artist before, I believe, Yuko Imada uses the image of torture and violence as a parallel to the chaos he seeks to express through the rapidly oscillating beats and timbres of his craft. Not to mention the strong link to Japanese acts before him.

Splitting his time equally between raw ass harsh noise and soothing ambient Garrett Yim produces a project of such magnitude I often have to remind myself he's just some guy I met on the internet. This isn't just your pedestrian, ignorant, drive till we die harsh noise, this is touching emotional music that makes all the sounds of life seem significant. Drawing equally upon influences as diverse as Hijokaidan and Perfume, he is the icing on the yummy cake that is harsh noise. Plus he's about as big into Japan as I am it would seem :3.

This release is Garrett's first EP as Yuko Imada. It utilizes mostly found sounds and edits; it contains a lot of screams and talk radio noise. I can't describe the influence that this release and his other noise release, Ome, has had on my own work. I even did a cover of his track "Nylon Rope". If anyone remembers any of us in the up-and-coming U.S./California noise world, they'll certainly remember Garrett. This is the noisey side of things/life, the shit I just die for. My favorite band hands down. I love it, fucking love it.

Download オタク (Otaku)
myspace

Remember back in the days?

The Grizzly Mountain Boys (circa 2007)
Wu-Tang Clan said it best:

"Yo, remember back in the days? [. . .] everything was lovely"

Of course, for me as well, everything was lovely. Chattanooga, my hometown, is a boiling cauldron of putrid shit when it comes to [popular] music and I don't mean that in a good way. This region is full of bullshit scene bands, such bullshit I can't even describe.

However, here are two bands from my hometown, the only really good output from the city in my recollection. Both projects have since been abandoned by their respective members for newer shittier groups in the "Scenic City" (wtf, Scenic? Really?).

Download The Grizzly Mountain Boys' Dub Edition

Download Lioplurodon (I don't even know what this release is called)

p.s. I always like to boast that the 3 instrumentalists in TGMB went to my high school. True shit, they all went to a bullshit Christian private school, they attended before my time however.

p.s.s. Both bands have the same vocalist. TGMB recruited a new screamer after the time of these recordings; shortly before they started to blow and changed their name.