Artist: Various Artists
Title: Chloroform
Year: 1999
Label: Mangrove Records
Tracks: 1.) Cock Scratch "Wrong Idol", 2.) First Alert "Dear My Sweet Radio", 3.) The Young Ones "I Waiting For Your Miss", 4.) Engine Boo "Space Invader", 5.) Tonight "Papa Mama", 6.) The Knocks "Traffic Jam", 7.) Registrators "Radio Man", 8.) The Knocks "Don't Call For Me", 9.) Engine Boo "Fall Down", 10.) First Alert "I Wanna No More Lies", 11.) Registrators "Pogo Machine", 12.) Tonight "Flatterer", 13.) The Young Ones "Suck Me...", 14.) Cock Scratch "Make Your Face"
I've mentioned this a few times; now here it is. You get two great songs by the pre-Intimate Fags and pre-Private Ways group Cock Scratch, the only two songs I've heard from them. (They have an impossible to find Japanese 7" I've never heard.) You get two raw, early Young Ones tunes. You get possibly my favorite Tonight song and then possibly my least favorite. You get one non-LP track from prime era Registrators and one of their best LP tracks. I don't have anything informative to say about The Knocks but they are good, too. First Alert and Engine Boo I can do without but others like them.
Sample: here
Artist: The Young Ones
Title: Till You're Down
Year: 2000
Label: KOGA Records
Tracks: 1.) Till You're Down, 2.) Sixties
More millenium Japanese punk. This is The Gimmies' first release. They would shortly after release a 7" on Screaming Apple but it is not as good as this one. I have a Japanese CD from some time after that I will post.
Sample: here
Artist: The Young Ones
Title: Fear
Year: 1999
Label: Pogo 77 Records
Tracks: 1.) Fear, 2.) Brains
Here's the 7".
Sample: here
Artist: Various Artists
Title: Ad Vice
Year: 2000
Label: Mangrove Records
Tracks: Firestarter 1.) Slum Rock, 2.) Trashy Dreams, 3.) Johnny Moped Was Right; Intimate Fags 4.) Talking In My Head, 5.) We Are The Thorough Cheap Boys, 6.) Shoot Craps; Radio Shanghai 7.) (You Look Out Through) Instant Emotion, 8.) Artificial Life, 9.) Frustrated Town; Zymotics 10.) (Oh My) Tic, 11.) Dirty Punk Man, 12.) I Wanna Go To Play School; Private Ways 13.) Information Disk, 14.) She's Gone Again, 15.) I'm In Safety
I previously mentioned the Chloroform comp that introduced a lot of people to the lesser known Japanese bands of the mid-90s. Ad Vice is sort of a follow up with a bunch of new bands from the next mini era of the early 2000s. This comp was of particular interest because I believe it has the first recordings from Firestarter with Fifi, Fink, and Sammy reunited for the first time since Teengenerate.
After that you get Intimate Fags, which were kind of a continuation from Cock Scratch, who had a run of domestic releases on Rip Off Records. Radio Shanghai has its fans and pushed things in the pop/wave direction. Zymotics were a continuation of Bou Sou Nezumi, who had a well-regarded scuzz garage 7" from 1996 and were also on the A World Full Of Friends comp LP on Repent Records from 1997. Lastly is Private Ways, which continues in the pop/wave direction with Radio Shanghai.
Sample: here
Artist: Registrators
Title: I Call Your Name
Year: 1995
Label: Wallabies Records
Tracks: 1.) I Call Your Name, 2.) Teenage Heart, 3.) Television Screen
Registrations should not need too much of an introduction. I feel like most people regarded them as the second best Japanese punk band of the 90s after Teengenerate. This is one of their prime singles. "I Call Your Name" and "Teenage Heart" ended up on the singles comp but their cover of Radiators From Space's classic "Television Screen" didn't make the cut. Here you go.
Sample: here
Artist: The Young Ones
Title: self-titled
Year: 2003
Label: Needle Records
Tracks: 1.) Diseased Kid, 2.) Fear, 3.) Wasted Time, 4.) I Know, 5.) Don't Like Your Action, 6.) Radio One, 7.) In Cross Bar Hotel, 8.) Wild Eyes, 9.) I'm Me
Japan Month continues. You may have first experienced The Young Ones from the excellent Chloroform comp on Mangrove from 1996 and possibly gotten their "Fear" 7" from 1999. You might know that bassist Azumi has been playing with The Raydios since 2007 and drummer Suzuki since 2012. The Young Ones were part of the last wave of good, legitimately punk Japanese bands before everything melted into pop.
This CD-only release was pretty elusive. Run by Masa from Cock Scratch (!!!), Private Ways, and Small Speaker, Needle Records releases for the most part did not leave Japan. I think I bought this from Japanese-American label Nice & Neat a long time ago.
Sample: here
Artist: Supersnazz
Title: The Barba Rockets Patrol
Year: 1999
Label: Time Bomb Records
Tracks: 1.) Barba Rockets Patrol, 2.) Tell Him, 3.) Static, 4.) Barba Rockets Patrol (Karaoke Version)
Here's a Japanese-released CD-EP from the Kanako/Shoe era. "Tell Him" is the Exciters classic written by Bert Russell.
Sample: here
Artist: Tonight
Title: 1978
Year: 1997
Label: Freaked Out Frequencies
Tracks: 1.) 1978, 2.) Animal Call, 3.) Germ Girl
Here's their other full 7". This one is a little more melodic than the first one. "Animal Call" is a Bags cover.
Sample: here
Artist: Tonight
Title: Search My Face
Year: 1996
Label: Wallabies Records
Tracks: 1.) Search My Face, 2.) That's A Farce, 3.) Boston Babies
I haven't done a Japanese record in a while. Tonight had a short run in the mid-90s and while their sound is harder than what I normally go for, they approach it with a more wild rock 'n' roll style than pissed off hardcore, so I can still get into it. This is their first release. "Boston Babies" is a Slaughter And The dogs cover.
They shortly after released a split 7" with Gyogun Rend's, another solo 7" on Freaked Out Frequencies, a few comp tracks, and then that was it. None of their releases have any credits so I have no idea if any of their members went onto other groups.
Sample: here
