Category: Miscellany

SXSW 2006: Dir en grey, WTF?

SXSW 2006 updated its partial list of bands performing at this year’s music festival. As is my habit, I search for any Japanese bands listed. Here’s who’s booked so far, schedules as always subject to change:

  • Afrirampo
  • Caroline
  • Dir en grey
  • DMBQ
  • Ellegarden
  • The Emeralds
  • eX-Girl
  • Gitogito Hustler
  • Limited Express (has gone?)
  • Luminous Orange
  • My Way My Love
  • Masahiro Nitta
  • Noahlewis’ Mahlon Taits
  • PE’Z
  • The Rodeo Carburettor
  • Kunimoto Takeharu
  • Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re
  • Toru Yonaha

Dir en grey? What the fuck is up with that?

I know at this point I want to catch PE’Z and Luminous Orange. I would love to see what eX-Girl has been up to since 2003’s Endangered Species. And I’m vaguely curious about Noahlewis’ Mahlon Taits. We’ll see how the scheduling goes, though.

I wish … more than moon …

I wish YesAsia had a wish list more like Amazon — a gift registry rather than a personal checklist. Because my wish list is look mightly long at the moment.

I was surprised to find ZAZEN BOYS 3 available for pre-order. YesAsia doesn’t usually have a great track record when it comes to stocking indie rock bands. A bit of random browsing also revealed Sasagawa Miwa will release her third album, Yoake, on Feb. 22, 2006.

If Shikakui Vision by SLOTH LOVE CHUNKS turns out to be any good, I might bundle these purchase up together. I guess I’m going to have to resort to Amazon for VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE’s Waiting for My Food.

Favorite list (of sorts)

I’m working at Waterloo Records again for the holiday season, and a year-end tradition is the Employees’ Top 10 Picks. I haven’t kept a running list this year — apathy, go figure — but with a deadline looming for submission, I figure I may as well take a stab at making one.

Here goes.

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That kind of protection would make a lousy prophyllactic

I looked over the list of Sony titles with XCP, and the only title I would have considered getting is The Bad Plus (which I didn’t.) I guess I don’t fit the profile of someone who would put Neil Diamond, Cyndi Lauper and A Static Lullaby up on a sharing network.

Sony Music Japan was not part of the Sony BMG merger, so I don’t think XCP made its way on any Japanese titles. In fact, Sony Music Japan announced more than a year ago it would no longer put copy protection on its releases. If one hand would only listen to what the other hand was saying …

Bach (Not Bach)

When is Bach not Bach? When it is the Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor.

According to some scholars, at least. For the past century, musicologists have been debunking the Tocatta and Fugue, a popular tune around Halloween, as part of Bach’s canon. This article details the scholarship happening to authenticate one of Bach’s most famous pieces as his own. Scandal!

Return the gift

Billboard.com reports half of the 20,000 copies of Gang of Four’s Return the Gift contains a crisp $1 wrapped in the CD booklet and will not be visible from the case. But the copy of the album I bought today had the $1 wrapped around the booklet, and it was as clear as day.

Being the anal preservist I am, I did not put the dollar bill in my wallet upon opening the CD. In fact, I’m going to keep that dollar bill as part of the album art for as long as I can. Because that’s a really cool way to return a gift.

P.S. I’m going to the band’s show at Emo’s tomorrow!

A first — no 2005 list

There’s a reason the list-making record clerks in High Fidelity — the Nick Hornby book and John Cusack movie — are comic relief. Music geeks love making lists.

And I speak from experience.

Usually by June, I’ll have a preliminary list my favorite albums from the year. I not only have 10 items, I’ll usually have a few leftover. Around this time of year, I’ve just about settled on 3/4 or the list.

This year, I haven’t bothered.

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