Explanation

Yes. I know, I know. This blog has turned from general pop culture into announcements for J pop / J rock artists in between episodes of The Shockedelic Radio Show. I'll try to rectify this in the new year. It's just that, well, everybody talks about movies these days and it's becoming less and less worthwhile to write about films with all of these self professed "Critics" around. It just seems everyone who has an opinion on movies only wants to write about how vital their views on current film are and they do it while showing how clever they are with pop culture references. I don't want to be one of those people and I really haven't been in the mood to write something worth writing, so I guess it's going to be what my favorite artists (Western and Eastern) are doing these days until I can move past this funk. I can't even bring myself to do a year end list. Crap, getting older sucks.

In the mean time, here are some YouTube Videos to keep y'all riveted. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Let's start off with the latest single from Morningwood's "Diamonds and Studs" album:


Next, a great single from Japan's Scandal. "Shoujo S":


Superfly fronts Big Brother and Holding Company at Legends of Woodstock 2009:


Focus Live with an incredible version of "Hocus Pocus":


Of course, P.I.S.S. Will Never Go To School:


Cracker came back ferociously this year with a new single, "Yalla Yalla":


Hitomi Takahashi and the Beat Crusaders whip up some wonderful
pop confectionery with "Wo Ai Ni" (Song begins a 1:34):


Shaka Labbits with their latest single, "Roller Coaster":


Kimura Kaela's "Hot Pepper" CM was a viral hit this past year:


American gibberish as Italian funk. "Prisencolinensinainciusol":

Love Psychedelico's new album! ABBOT KINNEY

It's almost here! The new album from LOVE PSYCHEDELICO is being released on January 13th, 2010. Can you believe they've been around 10 years???!? From the clips on YouTube, it looks to be one of their best. Here are some clips:

Click on the above logo to go to the official Youtube page!

Click the Love Psychedelico Logo to reserve your copy of ABBOT KINNEY

And, of course, the official Love Psychedelico webpage has been overhauled and enhanced. Go give it a looksee!
http://www.lovepsychedelico.net/index.html

The Bawdies!

Do you love Rock -n- Roll? I mean really love Rock -n- Roll? Most people say they do. Joan Jett said she did (and she was covering The Arrows). Thing is, I don't believe most of those people. Oh yeah, people yell "Rock and Rolllll!" as a battle cry and everyone wants to be a Rock Star (even down to Miley Cyrus), but put real Rock -n- Roll in front of them and they'll most likely balk. But why?

Well, seems to me that true Rock -n- Roll has been bastardized by many forms of Pop music over the years. I have nothing against Pop. I revel in it. Hell, my radio show's slogan is "The Best In International Pop", but Pop and Rock -n- Roll are different beasts, as are Rock, Classic Rock and Southern Rock. None of those things are Rock -n- Roll. In fact, it seems all forms of music from the 1960's on all envy good ol' Rock -n- Roll so much that they constantly try to make ties to it. The lines start to blur to the casual listener who doesn't know better. That's why confusion sets in when such people are confronted with real Rock -n- Roll.

An oft missed point is that Rock -n- Roll is not a pretty thing. It's dirty. It's sexual. It's very name is derived from slang for f**cking. It's also very much an attitude thing. It's rebellious by nature. All these things contribute to why Rock -n- Roll has been all but lost to Western culture. The late 1960's Summer of Love and 1970's Sexual revolution killed it for all future Americans (with small exceptions in the mid 70's and early 90's; both times quickly and decisively killed by corporations). There is no need for teens to rebel anymore. Electronic gadgets and mood controlling medications keep them docile these days... along with idiot parents who want to stay forever young and be their children's best friends. It's a rather disgusting time here in the west.

Thank god for those Japanese. They've always understood, right from the first time it hit them. Why is that? Easy. A repressive society always needs an outlet for rebellious youth to exercise their primal urges. This brings me to today's show and tell band, The Bawdies from Tokyo Japan.

They've been around for a few years now in the indie scene with three albums ("Awaking of Rhythm and Blues", "Yesterday and Today" and "This Is My Story") and an EP ("I Beg You"). They've now been signed to Victor Japan and a new single has been released, "It's Too Late"; produced by Love Psychedelico's Guitarist Naoki. Here's the video for the song:



The enigmatic thing about the new single is that it isn't actually a single. It's touted as one and the first of the two tracks is "It's Too Late", but the second track is an unbanded, full 40 minute live concert at the QUATTRO Club and it's the real reason you should absolutely own this disc. It's a load of their Indie material and covers of "Pretty Vacant" Which they Who up substantially and a brutal rave up on "What'd I Say?". Now it's pretty obvious that you should buy this and CDJapan has it for $16 US before shipping. The link to buy it is below:


The Bawdies - It's Too Late


Here are some more videos from their Indie days...

Happy Halloween!

I hope y'all have a sweet and scary Halloween! Here's a playlist that you can keep on in the background for your party or what have you. Press Play, turn it up and click on the full screen tab. Enjoy!

The Shockedelic Radio Show EP 5:06 - "Lady Killer"

Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 5, Season 6; "Lady Killer". Can you figure out the reason for the title? It's in this episode. Give it a listen.


Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP5:06

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

KISS "Sonic Boom" Review

The new KISS album, SONIC BOOM, arrives on Tuesday only at Wal-Mart stores, but I've been listening to it for about 2 weeks now (damn this Internet). Of course, I'll be buying the 3 disc (2 CD + 1 DVD) package on Tuesday, but I really felt the need to hear what I was getting into in advance.

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer have been stating that this album of all new material is All Killer No Filler. Gene Simmons even went as far as saying it was the best thing KISS has done since DESTROYER in 1976. As a longtime KISS fan (I grew up in the 1970's, so it was required), I staunchly disagree with that statement. Even when I gave up on KISS after UNMASKED in 1980, I still considered their makeup-less 80's output as pretty damn good, even though it wasn't my KISS. After the PSYCHO CIRCUS album, which I bought and listened to once, I was absolutely skeptical that these boastful... well, boasts were just that.

I'm thrilled to report that it is a very good KISS album. It's not a great, end all, be all, KISS album, but it's probably the most consistently listenable KISS album since probably 1991's REVENGE. What confounds here is that the album is a winner despite being quite schizophrenic. The Paul Stanley sung material sounds like CRAZY NIGHTS / ANIMALIZE KISS while the Gene Simmons sung material sounds like ROCK AND ROLL OVER / LOVE GUN KISS.

The album opens with the first "single", MODERN DAY DELILAH. It's a Paul song that, I admit, sounded a bit generic and limp on the first listen. It has grown on me since. A Gene song follows,entitled RUSSIAN ROULETTE, that evokes REVENGE era KISS, but the chorus definitely hearkens back to late 70's KISS. NEVER ENOUGH follows and, being a PAUL tune, reeks of CRAZY NIGHTS era KISS.

At this point, I wasn't impressed, but I wasn't quite ready to dismiss the album. YES I KNOW (NOBODY'S PERFECT) was the turning point for me. A Gene song, this song is so very 70's party rock KISS that I got a little emotional. The sound is reminiscent of a ROCK AND ROLL OVER / GENE SIMMONS (SOLO) outtake with it's instantly recognizable guitar work and the trademark chanting of "I Know" (if you're a KISS fan, you could make a drinking game out of how many times the phrase "I Know" is uttered on a KISS album). Gene's vocals and Bass work is the best I've heard from him in literal decades.

The album gets a bit confused with the song STAND. It's great because Simmons and Stanley trade vocals on the verses. KISS was always the best when there was vocal interplay, for my money. The Four Tops/(REACH OUT) I'LL BE THERE style vocal interjections by Paul lift the song up considerably. However, the choruses (Reeking of I from 1980's MUSIC FROM THE ELDER album and the shifting musical styles within the song are a bit ill fitting. HOT AND COLD, which follows, is a standard Simmons 70's throwaway. No great shakes, but infinitely better than anything off of PSYCHO CIRCUS.

Eric Singer does lead vocal duties on ALL FOR THE GLORY, a particularly 80's KISS sounding track. His vocals are nice and raspy a-la Peter Criss and it's a pleasing song overall. DANGER US is Paul at his punniest. Another great 80's sound.

Gene pipes in next with the heaviest song on the disc, I'M AN ANIMAL. It's a song in the I LOVE IT LOUD / WAR MACHINE mold and it really showcases the commitment Gene had to the project. It's a fist pumper.

Tommy Thayer also gets a chance to shine vocally with WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES. His vocals are good, but his style is a lot like Gene's and it took a little bit for me to figure out who was singing at first.

The album closes with SAY YEAH. This is a great classic KISS song and the true anthem of the album. I mean, what's a KISS album without an anthem? It closes the album on a nice 80's vibe.

Paul Stanley's production works well simply because he understands KISS better than any current producer could. Another producer would have most likely tried an Everything Louder Than Everything Else approach and that would've killed it. The album also cheekily pays homage to 60's British Invasion and Motown Pop in refreshing and unexpected ways. In addition to the aforementioned Four Tops references, HOT AND COLD and SAY YEAH have sly Beatle winks in them and STAND shifts musically like a Metal GOOD VIBRATIONS.

Tommy Thayer, it should be noted, is the true star of the album. His guitar style is quite adaptable to each song and he plays Ace Frehley riffs better than anyone, including Ace. That is to say, Tommy balances the lead guitar work in a way that it sounds like KISS should sound without him losing his musical identity.

It's a highly recommended album. KISS fans are the intended target, of course, but anyone who misses Metal Pop should take a stab at this one.

I should also write that I've had the other re-recorded Greatest His disc for a while now already as a Japanese Import. You simply can't go wrong with that one, either. The redone songs are hard, raw and plain fantastic. This is how KISS sounds now and they sound better than ever. Unfortunately, the DVD isn't a complete concert, but a selection of 6 tracks from the Buenos Aires show this past year.All in all, though, for $12.00, you can't beat it. KISS Loves You. This proves it.

KISS M&Ms are going to be available at Wal-Mart, too. Awesome.

The New Kimura Kaela Concert DVD

Damn this recession! I've had the new Kimura Kaela Concert DVD, "Go! 5! Kaeland", ordered for over a month now and then I get this notice of a Premium box set version:

http://columbia.jp/kaela/

Yep, it's in Japanese, but a peruse over to CDJapan.com reveals the Box Set includes the following:

• Deluxe DVD box set release from Kaera Kimura featuring her Jury 11, 2009 "Go! 5! Kaeland" performance at Yokohama Red Brick Park. Set includes USB memory stick, memorial photo book, stickers, and mini-poster. Comes housed in an original can box.

...and it retails for $109.64 US (more than double the price of the DVD only version). Now, you know I want this. I'd kill for this. Sadly, I can't afford this. Oh, maybe someday into the future, but not now.

This doesn't mean YOU can't get it, though. Below, please find links to the Premium Box, the DVD version and the BLU-RAY version of the Go! 5! Kaeland Concert video.

Go! 5! Kaeland Premium Box (Title subject to change) [Limited Pressing]

Kaera Kimura

GO!5!KAELAND

Kaera Kimura

GO!5!KAELAND [Blu-ray]

Kaera Kimura

Video from the show to whet your appetite: