Japrock

Speed, Glue & Shinki....
.... I've thumbed through Julian Cope's new book 'The Japrock Sampler' a few times recently and have been intrigued by the idea of crazy fuzzed out Japanese heaviness...but where do you start? I have the Flower Travellin Band - Satori....but where next? Luckily for me I was over at my friend Michael's house the other day and he was introducing me to the joys of Foodbrain, Flied Lice and the absolute crazed heaviness of Speed Glue & Shinki. ;
Speed, Glue & Shinki was a Japanese psychedelic rock power trio formed in late 1970 by guitarist Shinki Chen and his mentor Ikuzo Orita. They took their name from Kabe's love of sniffing Marusan Pro Band glue and Joey Smith's obsession with amphetamines, as evidenced by the lyrics of many Speed, Glue & Shinki songs (all lyrics being written and sung by Smith). The resulting sound was extremely bleak and raw, with Kabe's crunching atonal bass runs and Smith's stop-start rhythms creating a unique foundation for Shinki Chen's euphoric blues. Song titles such as 'Stoned Out of My Mind', 'Mr Walking Drugstore Man' and 'Sniffing and Snorting', combined with Smith's dangerous outlaw lyrics and caustic Iggy Pop-like vocal asides, gave the band an edge that no other Japanese band could (or would have wished to) achieve. Unfortunately, the band split after the debut album 'Eve', resurrecting briefly (and mostly without Kabe) for festivals and a huge self-titled swansong double-LP, that was mostly the work of Joey Smith and new bassist Mike Hanopol. Check this fucked up number...l 1970?? fuck.
Speed Glue And Shinki - Sniffin' And Snortin Part 1

There Can Only Be One.

Kilt-wearing skinheads: check.
Sword-fighting punks: check.
Castle backdrop: check.
The Outcasts - Winter.

Teenage Kicks

With the aquisition of 400 old Peel tapes, my mind has been on the old fella recently. I was checking out Steve's excelent 'Teenage Kicks' blog which has a ton of cool info about Peel's festive 50's. Here's the Cuban Boys homage to the man himself...

Cuban Boys - The Nation Needs You

We Have Music....

Added some music to some of the earlier posts... The Peace - Black Power....pretty lo-fi, but still ripping. Fuzzbox - Love Is The Slug too....

Two Uncles

Our mate Jon who moved to New York to marry his Swedish sweetheart records music under the name Two Uncles. He is coming back to SF to record with Craig....look below at the US Air Guitar posting. Here's one of his songs....
Two Uncles - Song For The Blind

Airfix Kits

as promised, here is an audio clip of the Airfix Kits. This track is from their demo.... well worth getting! SF heads can catch 'em this week at thrillhouse records in the Mission.

Airfix Kits - Flex Time

Bicycle Film Festival

Click the link above - lots of cool bike films in SF this weekend...and a block party....