May 11-22
Lillies And Remains
UK tour
11th May South of the Border, Old Street, London
12th May Flowerpot, Camden, London
13th May The Dublin Castle, Camden, London
14th May The Jam Clubnight, The Great Escape, Brighton
15th May Basement, The Great Escape, Brighton
19th May Windmill, Brixton, London
20th May Leaf Cafe, Liverpool Sound City, Liverpool
22th May Bumper, Liverpool Sound City, Liverpool
Source: It Came From Japan
On first listen, 6eyes sounds like a band fronted by a stumbling drunk with a mouth full of marbles. Upon further listening, that's not an opinion that's likely to change, at least not entirely. But the method to their madness becomes a bit clearer and things start to make a bit more sense.
6eyes formed around 2002. Since then they've released three albums featuring their particular brand of lethally tight, dirty, post-punk indie rock. Their early sound (that being from 2002 to 2007) is open to exploring brighter and more upbeat ideas. "I'm So Free" could very easily be mistaken for an early Supercar song, for instance. But these occasional forays into indie-pop territory are quickly beaten back by their insistence on returning to the dark and dingy sounds over and over. In either case, the band never wastes a single note in dressing up the songs or making them in any way ornate. "Efficient" comes to mind.
More recently the band has distilled its sound down into a razor sharp post-punk laser, while at the same time they've managed to highlight their simple yet infectious melodies. Blank in Black sheds the fuzzed-out guitar rock in favor of focusing on the raw and tight sounds. The songs are also more rhythmic, almost dance oriented, which makes them all the more irresistible, albeit quite dark. Almost goth-like at times. Think The Police meets Bauhaus (or maybe Molice meets Plasticzooms if you want to keep it Japanese)...fronted by a stumbling drunk with a mouth full of marbles.
Plasticzooms is a dingy goth rock band from Japan. Much like Lillies and Remains (more on them in a second) the band blends late '70s and early '80 goth punk with more modern-day post-punk with electro flourishes (My Bloody Valentine, Bauhaus etc...) Their production seems to be intentionally gritty most of the time. Both Sho (male) and back up vocalist TIF (female) sing entirely in English, though it's so heavily accented as to make it virtually another language.
Speaking of bandleader and front-man Sho, he is also the support bassist for the aforementioned Lillies and Remains. Both bands a quite similar, so it's safe to say that if you like one, you'll like the other. In fact, Sho even sings in the same low register as L&R singer Kent. The main difference is that Sho is much more likely to scream and screech. Plasticzooms is also more abrasive and raw, again due in no small part to Sho's performance. Unsurprisingly, the two bands often play live shows together.
Sho also seems to be the band's visual designer. He has a selection of art on their MySpace page, (the band doesn't seem to have any other web presence as of this writing) including the album artwork and t-shirts. As for albums, they have only one mini-album out so far. The five original songs are supplemented with five remixes by other artists, including the current buzz-band Selfish Cunt. A coup, indeed. Unfortunately, the remixes only detract from the album, as the band's own work is very good. On their own, the five originals make a spectacular debut devoid of the need for any embellishment. Keep your eyes on these guys.
There are two lines on Part of Grace, the first full-length release from Lillies and Remains, that basically sum up the entire album for me. The first is from the second track, "The Fake." The song itself is a dangerous, throbbing slab of post-punk doom. In this context, the line "The more I heard your song / The more I wanna write my own songs" could be construed either as inspirational or confrontational. This ambiguous split between positives and negatives seems to be exactly what Lillies and Remains is all about. They are constantly riding the line between sin and virtue, darkness and light. Their music follows suit, one the one hand bring raw and stark, frenetic and somewhat lethal, while on the other hand being incredibly beautiful at times, showing a soft and vulnerable underbelly under the scarred carapace.
The other stand-out line (and, it should be noted, all of the lyrics are in English) is on their very first single "Moralist S.S.," a song original released on their debut EP of the same name. Chanted several times is the line "Obeying my steady view / I bring you down." Again, this rather ominous statement could be seen as coming from either the protagonist or from an outside source, being a positive or negative idea. Either way, it's an obvious show of superiority through a sort of silent intimidation. Something almost vampiric.
[Hit the jump for more]
"Moralist S.S."
The fight between these dark and light feelings runs throughout Part of Grace. The biggest contributing factor has to be front-man KENT's baritone vocals. His low-register delivery is something unique not only in Japanese singers specifically, but in most modern post-punk styles in general. He doesn't croon in that mid to high falsetto so often seen in arty, beard wearing young bands trying to prove their emotional fragility though some sort of coquettish, effeminate boy. No, KENT plays the dark, brooding, well dressed mysterioso to a "t." The album's production follows suit, itself being raw and devoid of artifice. This is likely due in no small part to the fact the KENT produced the entire album, as well as writing all the words and music. The music sometimes echoes in a damp cave, sometimes creeps right up into your ear, but its intentions are always a very clear "beware."
All of this isn't to say that the band is crushingly brooding or always serious. They come for them school of "fun" goth right, if there can be such a thing in these post irony days. Everything they do has a definite pulse, a life that makes the songs infectious and groovy. Some more than others, like the swaggering "Unmade Schemer" and the desert-washed "Grind." There are also the pop-tinged "Wreckage" and "Part of Grace," the latter of which is an actual ballad of sorts. The album is bookended with two hidden gems, the opener "ARGO" and closer "Upsetter." Again, that theme of dark and light are in full force, with both songs full of very pretty melodies surrounded by a smoky darkness and melancholy. Both songs hint at an urgent need to "be let go," of misunderstanding and of being trapped. Of a feeling that there must be something more to life.
"Wreckage"
Perhaps it's this unbalanced feeling, the thought that what you know is wrong and that there has to be something, not necessarily better, but something "else" that helps make part of Grace such a fascinating work. Of course KENT and his band are working in a certain genre, but at the same time they manage to avoid all of the clichés, both in tone and production. The astonishing thing is that Part of Grace is only their first full album after being together for only a couple of years. It is a tremendously strong first step toward what we can only hope will be a long and prolific career.
You can buy Lillies and Remains CDs here and get all of their releases from iTunes.
The new single from the great new gothy/post-punk band Lillies and Remains is up on iTunes (as is their first E.P.)
"Wreckage" is the first single from the band since their very first release, the superb Moralist S.S. E.P. Much of that debut is full of very dark, yet rather energetic goth/indy-rock ala Bauhaus (their namesake) and other early, angular acts. "Wreckage," the first look at what the band might be gravitating toward on the next album, is much softer and tame by comparison. It still has that slightly muffled and brooding atmosphere, rife with reverb and delay, but the melody is very pretty and gentle, as opposed to the more confrontational tone on Moralist S.S. It's very much like Bloc Party's softer ballads, with its heavily delayed and clean guitars and thick chorus of sighing vocal harmonies. It's not lethargic by any means and still retains the band's danceable groove, but all of the rough corners have been rounded off.
It's obviously too early in the game to say that the rest of the next album from Lillies and Remains will fall in line with the softer tone set by "Wreckage." It could simply be that they are putting their more palatable foot forward before revealing the ax behind their back. Let us hope that is the case.
You can listen to the song on their MySpace page, and buy it for $.99 on iTunes, which I highly recommend.
Solaris are a tight little indie group formed in Kyoto around 2004. Before one can even really begin to talk about their sound, the rather unique vocal sound of front man Hanotomo needs to be addressed. While he's not harsh or unprofessional in any way, he's got the voice of geekdom personified. Not just the usual higher range that many male Japanese singers have, but truly whiny, nasal and squeaky. Again, it's not offensive in any way, and after you've listened through a few songs it becomes almost normal. Yet it is an issue that will keep many first time listeners distracted from the music.
Speaking of which, Solaris is a very capable and solid indie rock outfit. Their songs are tight and to-the-point, very melodic yet encased in a slightly jagged shell. Their production is like much of the current crop of post-punk bands, simple and clean guitar/bass/drums, full of quick delays and booming reverb. They're a bit like Base Ball Bear crossed with Art School and injected with the spirit of Yogurt Pooh. There songs are also very focused, wavering little in their generally upbeat, danceable bounce.
Like other vocally eccentric bands (Ling Tosite Sigure instantly comes to mind) Solaris certainly uses the uniqueness to their advantage, but they most certainly do not use it as a crutch. While they have only released a single full-length album over their four year span, Youth of Distortion is one great, catchy song after another. The band has released a number of demos and singles, so it will be interesting to see if they can keep the quality (and Hanotomo's voice!) as high from here on out.
Once you know that "Lillies and Remains" is originally the title of a Bauhaus song, the pieces very quickly fall into place. Well that, and the fact the front-man Kent is the spitting aural image of Peter Murphy (at least in his lower/more monotone register) both come together to give you a pretty fair image of the band.
Having been formed in the middle of 2007, Lillies and Remains are still a bit of an unknown equation. They've released one one six track EP and a single video go along with it. Their sound, aside from he above influence, is almost bluesy at times, though the old-school goth vibe chases most of the blues away in favor of its much more stark gloom. Their use of guitars is similar to Bloc Party and other modern post-punk outfits, namely tight and quick. They are also generally bass and groove heavy, letting the lower end really drive both the rhythm and melody of the songs. Their cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" is typical goth tongue-in-cheek, transforming a rather vapid psychedelic soft rock hit from the 60's into an epic doom rock song that all the girls (and guys) in black-lipstick will all be dancing to at their own special proms for years to come.
Again, the band is still very young, so it will be interesting to see how they develop from here. They could easily fall into the usual trap of dropping the more interesting aspects (the darkness, the raw goth elements) in favor of reaching out to a broader audience with a lighter "bad-boy" image. Most notably, their live performances fall short of their namesake. They certainly aren't as theatrical, and Kent's voice doesn't seem up to the task of maintaining his lower recorded register in a live setting. Still, these are minor details that will hopefully be worked out as the band matures. Apparently they are already working on a new album, so we'll all just have to sit tight until it's released.
