Shenmue Dojo

Posted: **Mon Oct 05, 2015 11:00 am**

Newer band with the former vocalist for 9Goats Black Out (a band I freaking loved), called Hollowgram. I knew the guy had a new band, but hadn't looked into it yet. Got some good tracks, and I'm seriously considering importing their two mini-albums pretty soon.
This song is amazing.

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And looking into that, I also found out that the same vocalist has another new band as well, called Keel. And finding this one tickled me something fierce; the guitarist for it is one of my favorites, a guy named aie (I've mentioned him before in this topic; guitarist for bands like the studs and The Madcap Laughs), and on bass they've got the freaking bassist from Girugamesh (another goddamn excellent band, with a totally different style from this).
All together, it's like they've formed this cool little garage band supergroup, and I can't stop smiling at how odd-yet-interesting a group it is.
And to top it all off, they've got Lovecraft references for their album names. First was straight out called Cthulhu, while the second (set to be released in two days) is called R'lyeh.
Definitely gonna buy whatever I can from this one.

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Just drowning in cool music right now.

Posted: **Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:50 am**

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Posted: **Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:02 pm**

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Posted: **Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:51 pm**

So I ordered the second EP (only retail release available) of that band Keel that I mentioned in my last post, and as I'm trying to look stuff up on them in anticipation of it, I find that their first EP, Cthulhu, is actually on iTunes.
Friggin' shocked to see that, just because from what I've been able to gather, the first one was only distributed at small live shows. So not only having it on iTunes, but actually having it available outside of Japan on iTunes is a total surprise, but one I'm very happy to have found. Despite its members already being popular from other bands, as Keel they seem to be pretty obscure even among their usual fanbases, so a technically "international" release, even a digital one, was totally unexpected.
They're actually so obscure that I can't even find any of the Cthulhu songs on youtube, aside from the preview they put up of the EP.
So this one is actually from the second EP, R'lyeh (which I'm waiting to come in the mail).

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Only crappy thing is they seem to share a name with some other band from the 80s that was also called Keel, so iTunes automatically groups all their stuff together. Would make it difficult for anyone to actually discover the band, possibly thinking it's some 80s metal band or something.

Posted: **Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:32 pm**

That's some good shit right there. You can really hear the vocals if you know what I mean. Real raw like they're playing it to you over the phone or something.

Posted: **Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:38 pm**

^^Yeah, I think that's part of why I likened them to a garage band in my earlier post. The word "raw" really does feel pretty appropriate. Most of these guys have almost full-time gigs with other groups most of the year, so I think for this they must have gotten together and really quickly written and recorded everything in a pretty short amount of time, giving it this kind of "less-polished" groove. But it's a lack of polish in the best way possible; it's a group of experienced professionals tossing out a grenade of quick musical passion. And it's even better because of it, because it feels a little more real. I'm totally in love with it.

Posted: **Fri Dec 18, 2015 6:05 pm**

Their last album was just kind of "okay," so I hadn't preordered their new one yet, but the new DEZERT song is pretty effing rad. Instantly preordered after hearing this. Got me hyped for them again.

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January has a lot of great Japanese music coming out. Gonna be a good month.

Posted: **Tue Jan 05, 2016 6:56 pm**

EDIT: God damn I ramble a lot lately. Just noticing that crap. I go back and look at a post and it all seems extraneous.
Anyway, bottom lining it: good band I just found, blah blah blah...
Don't usually dig Japanese stuff that's all in English, but there's something about this band that makes it work for them. Great guitar work, especially.

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Posted: **Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:06 pm**

New Original Love song came out! Eclectic in the way only Shibuya-kei music can be. I can't wait for the full single to drop so I can get my hands on those delicious b-sides as well.

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Posted: **Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:39 pm**

Rakim wrote: Eclectic in the way only Shibuya-kei music can be. I can't wait for the full single to drop so I can get my hands on those delicious b-sides as well.

Great track! Will be interested in how the remix sounds as well.

Posted: **Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:57 am**

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i love this

Posted: **Fri May 06, 2016 1:29 pm**

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Posted: **Mon May 30, 2016 4:19 pm**

Man, I fucking love this band.
Second song is newer and might be a little more palatable to most, but the first is still a pretty great metal groove all the same. Really happy with how this band has been evolving.

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Posted: **Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:10 pm**

Randomly came across this song in my music library just now, hadn't heard it in a long damn time, but it brought to mind all kinds of memories. Good stuff.

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Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:40 am**

Man, just can't get enough of this guy's guitar sound. Posted stuff by him in various bands over and over in this topic. Just a testament to how much I dig his work.
Nice to see him stepping out as a frontman lately too, after so many years of just being a guitarist. Might not be the greatest singer in the world, but he knows how to write a great tune nonetheless. Just ordered a couple of his god and death stars albums (and funny enough, just as I finally do that, they announced a new album coming out next month). I'm working really hard trying to become a better guitarist lately, and this guy is a constant inspiration. One of the few I listen to that makes me feel like I want to write something other than metal.

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And I couldn't find a complete song for this next one on youtube, just this trailer for her album. Strong-as-hell solo effort though. The girl plays a mean fucking bass. And it's actually available on western iTunes, so that's a plus. Hope she gets more music out there, and quick.

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And both of them were in the Madcap Laughs.

Shenmue Dojo

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