Tag: review

All In The Game – 12th February 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I wrote this while sitting in a cafe with many tourists coming and going. A scenario ran through my head that someone might come and ask me what I’m doing. How would I answer this question?

I thought the best answer might be that I was playing a game. This game involves finding words and sentences of a particular length with specific rhymes as well as adequately conveying a message for the reader. What do you win? Well, the fun is in the playing, not the prize.

The title comes from the drug dealer’s motto in The Wire. It seems everything is a game; serious or not.

Shared with dVerse MTB: The Sparrowlet

Liars succeed, when men believe

the lure of money may deceive

the many still prepared to bleed.

There’s hidden aces up the sleeve;

it’s in the game, it’s been agreed

when men believe, liars succeed.

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #8 and my quick thoughts:

O. – I’m in guitar attack mode at the moment and this is too electronic sounding to me. I like the production for this style of music but I need more dirty guitar grunge at the moment. I’m going to listen to this one again later – I think it might grab when I’m in the right mood.

Fat Dog – This is pretty cool but I don’t like it when they go into the gothy-electro-dance parts. Not for me really.

URNE – I kinda like a lot of metal of all varieties until there is vocals. I like loud music with vocals more than without but I can’t get into a lot of growl/grunting or something like URNE when they get into operatic emo style. It just ruins it. Love the music though. I don’t know what kind of vocals would work with this style of music either.

The Headhunters – I wouldn’t mind watching this live at a cool jazz venue but never gonna sit and listen to it at home.

Nubya Garcia – I understand why jazz folks would like this. Again, not something that I would listen to.

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #9 and my quick thoughts:

The Natural Yogurt Band – no loud guitars! Not for me!

mockART – no loud guitars! Not for me! Not today anyway. I like it when it has a more restrained Matmos feel.

Combat Astronomy – no loud guitars! But at least some gnarly bass! And a slight Thinking Plague connection helps. I don’t think that I would buy this but I will listen again. I quickly listened to their most recent album and that sounds great too.

TISM – Despite being in Australia during the TISM heyday I never heard much more than their couple of ‘hits’ which I enjoyed but never thought to check out anything else by them. Obviously talented musicians and with a great sense of humour, sadly they just make me want to listen to I Spit On Your Gravy.

Buttress O’Kneel – Awesome execution of political cut-up/mash-up and a damning indictment of the Snakes of Agression. Not something that I’ll ever listen to though.

Details – 3rd February 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Shaping one’s trajectory
Commits to long-term memory
The person to become
Life is no more than the sum
of the attention paid
and thus a character made
The mind is the portal
To the soul of the mortal
The rule that never fails
The devil’s in the details

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #7 and my quick thoughts:

ni – Already familiar with their madness. Great stuff.

brb>voicecoil – Not my thing these days. I do like it though!

Sbassbear – This is great. More ADHD creators please! ‘Jeff Motorcycle’ sounds like a Heavy Vegetable pastiche. Happy to discover this.

Squarepusher – Just misses the mark for me. Makes me want to listen to Plus Tech Squeeze Box and the Usagi Chan comps instead.

The Books – I dig this but not sure when I would listen to it. Gonna download and check out more.

Good mix of stuff again!

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #6 and my quick thoughts:

Kim Deal – Not for me. Don’t know why she’s playing a guitar in the video when it is barely audible! Smash some barre chords Kim Deal!

00Genesis – It’s OK. About 20 years ago I would’ve used tracks like this as links between more punk/hardcore songs on mix CDs.

Robustom – Cool concept, fine enough execution, I’m just not connected to it.

Shock Therapy – The singing cracks me up as it is so serious yet the lyrics from what I can make it, so absurd. I’d enjoy this live. Hopefully the dress up as lobsters, right?

Damaged Bug – I actually have a bunch of DB downloaded already and enjoyed having a listen through again with this reminder. Not mind-blowingly but has that little bit of enjoyable oddity.

No Thunder – 11th January 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 6 Comments

There’s bad blood under the skin
A sickly patient wearing thin
Invisible infection, a misdirection
A poorly boy since conception

A head full of holes slowly leaking
Sanity fails whenever speaking
There’s no thunder while going under
A broken mind rent asunder

So many opinions without conclusion
Perfect health is just an illusion
Nowhere to hide from the end of the ride
Living is a glacial suicide

Written whilst sitting at the hospital for 5 hours waiting for a doctor whom I saw for less than 2 minutes

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #5 and my quick thoughts:

Magdalena Bay – liked this and was surprised to see that they are playing in Australia. They seem to be popular and I’ve never heard of them (which I guess isn’t unusual these days!). The thing that puts me off their music though is that it’s just too damn nice!

Irreversible Entanglements – Again nice agit-jazz but too far into the jazz for my tastes.

Prurient – I understand the appeal. Not for me.

Omar Souleyman – I seem to be behind on his releases and this is another enjoyable album. I was disappointed when I saw him live though, it didn’t quite translate in the venue where I saw him which was part of an arts festival. Needed more sand!

Avalanche Kaito – Recommended by you before and I enjoyed the discovery.

The Silo – 5th November 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

There were many that day
Was it day? Is it night now?
Here, it’s not possible to tell
Time has lost all its meaning

We lined up waiting for the interview
It has been a long wait
But I will review all that came to pass
It was obvious, even as I said it
It took me a long time to figure it out
The master told me that messages were sent
But I had been slow to realise

Later, we all gathered round
And I wasn’t the only one
Most of us facing the review agreed
That we all took too long to realise
Then we returned to the silo
Perhaps one day, we can try again

A time-disorientated play on a life’s review in The Matrix or Heaven.

The Uninvited – 3rd April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Stuck in a bubble of Twitter chatter
Angry at things that hardly matter
Guard against drama and distraction
Uninvited guests don’t need a reaction

It’s sometimes said that life is a precious gift but I wonder if that’s the best metaphor. Is it better to understand one’s life as a loan? A loan that can be called in at any time, sometimes with no warning at all.

David Loy

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that today the sun has picked up my spirit slightly after the grey old day yesterday. The cold and rain was nice but give me sunshine any day.

Accidents In Too Large Field – New Buildings

I knew this was going to be a challenging listen. Accidents In Too Large Field are a Japanese band and this release is on Less Than TV, run by Yukari’s (Limited Express (has gone?)) husband, Taniguchi, and this disc is one of a handful I received from them after sending them some money and telling them to send me whatever they thought I might like. Everything they sent was interesting but I also remembered that none of them was music that could just be put on in the background and you could do other things. They demanded attention.

A week or two ago I had a listen-through and my recollections were correct. The difficulty with this music is that the guitar is incredibly clean and trebly. As with Limited Express (has gone?) they were self-defined as ‘new rock’, taking post-punk rhythms, punk rock energy and that clean guitar sound and meshing them together in what can be imagined to be a highly entertaining live show if you were ever lucky enough to see them.

Sometimes it’s difficult to catch the threads of the song, to make sense of the melodies and the relentless assault on the ears has to be penetrated deeply with attention. That listen-through was enjoyable. Trying but enjoyable. This is actually the kind of music I like a lot. Right up my proverbial.

So, the sun’s back out and the rain probably won’t be back for three months. Let’s give this a blast.

Introduction

Sounds like a crowded market, overblown and forcing me to turn the volume down immediately. Hints of a tribal rhythm develop and promise. Adjusts made to bass and treble settings. It’s got a nice rhythm that recalls Big A little a.

Pigeon at Belvedere

So, the rhythm maintains into this first tune for real. The guitar squall is intense, with a funk of the Pop Group. It’s dance music for folks who cannot dance, like me. It feels like the guitar is used as rhythm rather than a tune, the bass seems to carry that along. Even more intensity as the song proceeds and disintegrates into a kinda prog breakdown and disappears into a fuzzed-out echo delay.

ノンフィクション落下

A twisted ska guitar, backed by bass and drums all seemingly playing in different time signatures. I think this is why I like this kind of music. Things that shouldn’t make sense, making sense (at least in my nonsensical mind). The bridge twists the song into some normality for a moment. The heavily affected vocals give way to some wild piano bashing as the drums go off into punk jazz spasms.

Diagonal

The barrage is constant. Sharp guitar, funky bass, tribal beat, screaming vocals. This requires study, would be intense in a live situation. Diagonal struggles to stay still, twitching from riff to riff, some Agata-style skronk over-riding the funk. A favourite so far.

Stair

The screaming pace picks up at the start of this track before settling back down into a frantic funk. The guitar and bass are highlighted and clear whilst the drums tend to be spread across the sonic spectrum. When they finally reappear the vocals are buried and operate almost as pure sound. And then an abrupt implosion finishes everything off. Excellent funking funk.

Beat Freezing

Some dynamics break up the relentlessness through this short track. A different vocal style, a monotone, doubled. A sweet guitar plinks through the second half before crazy to a quick finale. So short I have to listen again to comment.

イエストゼロ

Fuck, this intro is magnificent. Super fast delicious bass, deep and melty. The drop breaks things up nicely without slowing down any momentum. The bass tone is incredible, reminding me of Germany’s Megakronkel. Actually, this is a way more intense version of them, perhaps with a little less tempo variety. I guess there’s also some comparison with compatriots Melt Banana but purely in the guitar and bass tones and interactions. Their songs are only similar in speed, brevity and intensity.

August Out

Static, wild soloing chainsaw guitar, rumbling bass, ear-splitting, brain-melting. I’m glad I’m not listening on headphones. There are probably some nice stereo effects happening if you choose to attempt a headphone listen. This makes me realise I don’t own any decent headphones these days. This feels like the wind-down final track. Plodding yet still relentless. This would be ideally placed at the end of side one on a vinyl release but also makes sense on this relatively short CD. The instruments give up and give way to the noise and finally, ear-ringing silence.

I’m glad to have given this a couple of listens and let it earworm somewhat into my headbone though there are no real hummable tunes here. This is more likely to make its way back to my CD player than previously. Stellar, killer and other ars and ers. I feel cleansed and renewed though perhaps in need of a more gentle ear massage. Maybe some Nick Drake. What a way to work towards a Sunday afternoon.

The Fantastic Four – 26th December 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

A family always on the edge
Fighting to hold itself together
Fear and doubt grows in the dark
And the fantastic four will be no more

Make your own bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to see the beautiful sunset over the cloudy mountains at Singha Park yesterday. The view was lovely and filled with warmth.

As I’m getting to the bottom of the bottle of weed tincture that I got off Matt, the effects are getting stronger. Today, Amy is off with her friends to celebrate Christmas, leaving me this opportunity to be home alone and get a little high..

Singha Park yesterday seems like weeks ago right now. In the end, I ate too much despite not finishing a third can of Wild Rose, drank too much. My stomach just couldn’t take it. I realised it soon after that the beer was just too gassy. I burped and farted the drive home. I took a minute at the park and savoured a divine moment watching the sunset to the clouds on the mountains. As the clouds were moving, the sun would peak out again and it felt like a special surprise and a secret message meant just for me. I’ll hold it in my memory more than any photo I could’ve taken as a reminder.

This morning has been righteous, with two good coffees and a few more pages of the Slash biography read. It has been interesting to me to see how their band worked (as people, not as musicians), think about how my bands worked and wonder how everyone deals with it differently.

I updated more blog posts and listened to the ..? album to write a review and that was fun, and the start of reviewing my CD collection – an impossible task, I know, and already this morning I could think of at least ten different, other, things I could be doing. This is life and I’m loving it.

..? – …! – CD review

I had downloaded this album back when I was living in Sydney and as I did with a few different albums I enjoyed, I burned them to CD and printed a cover and pretended they were the real thing. So something must have struck me about this album at the time but in all honesty, I have probably never listened to it since. I would venture to say that this album is more than 10,000 other album downloads ago by now!

Searching for this band (…?) and album (…!) is not google-friendly, to say the least. Luckily some of the track titles enabled me to find a little information that this was actually a one-man recording project and the music is described as avant-metal. 16 songs in 26 minutes apparently. Appealing to my short attention span.

Let’s see how it sounds on this slow, tired Sunday morning.

Goodnight, Folks
It’s a cartoon intro and vocals that recall Pentti Dassum from Deep Turtle. Ah yes, I can hear what pulled me into this. The first minute or so actually recalls a few Finnish bands such as Keukhot and Y.U.P. before a half-minute Darth Vegas/Mr Bungle bomp-a-long. Obviously, an ironically titled introduction that has me curious. I’m expecting the beginning of the next track to be bombastic.

The Band of Bald Mountain
Well, only for a second, a big booming crescendo before wandering off and then careering through all sorts of genres, this definitely has me smiling behind my serious lips. I like this middle section that hangs around for a relatively long chunk of time, until the end in fact. I like that balance and transition, from the crazed to the more straightforward and especially like the fact it doesn’t go back into zaniness as may have been expected.

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten
Haha, this is a high-octane counting song that would be on my dream Sesame Street. The transition into single snare hits about three-quarters of the way through is very cute. The lyrics though… Well, I guess they are easy to remember. A favourite so far though.

3-2-3
More counting? It’s ominous, booming, and Emerson Lake and Palmer have arrived, then Slayer and it’s on. Fuck yeah. Yes, it’s that cartoon thrash that has been heard many times before, BUT, because it is cartoon thrash it’s never the same and I marvel at the musical dexterity of it all.

Moe and Mumbles
Ah-ha. The gypsy thrash song! And…..there’s the Simpsons theme tune thrown in for a couple of bars for good measure. Impossible not to smile at but feels a little filler here.

Tear Out My Eyes
What is this main riff, lifted from – it sounds familiar? I’m digging the pace of this one, a jaunty thing…oh – double speed and I’m turning the volume and pumping my imaginary double kick drums. And it’s over before I could even finish writing the first sentence. Dug.

Hello, Oh, Sweetheart
Is this the interlude? A show tune of sorts. It’s brief and serves as an intro to the following tune.

Mitch, The Bastard Id
Nice bass tone, nice guitar tone, this punks along before speeding off. Like a twisted cowboy song, the rhythm feels like horse riding. Weirdly, I think this is the first tune that has a repeated section before scattering itself all over the place. It’s good music, so why not?

Peeping Toms Make Good Spies
Yes, spy movies are brought to mind here, at least at the beginning. I like music when I have no idea where it is going. Of course, I also like music that is more conventional but I think I like to work a little when listening. I like things that most people would find testing. I’m gonna listen to this one again, right now.

Damn Gypsies
Gypsy? In a ska way. In a punk-ska way. Great chorus and again the pace is compelling. This is actually the most conventional song so far. I want to sing along and punch the air.

The Charmer – The Torture
A slow down, another interlude tune. Good to give the ears a little break from the nonsense-circus-core. Haha….and then…..great. Perfect. Yes – kill me!

Subservient Girlfriend
This intro reminds me of DI. A faster So-Cal classic punk bounce around which a swirling synth before a mad chorus that I wish I could hear the lyrics more clearly.

Siblings
OK – well, lyrically this one is straightforward and clearly understood. Sibling love.

Fireworks Away
A great speedy tune with uplifting tunes and some sweet percussion tingly away in the background. I’m liking that this one maintains a steady beat and not pounding off into double-time death metal mayhem. Another favourite.

X
Fuck, this recording is very nice, probably lots of time poured over each sound. I like that the distorted guitars are cut so cleanly into each section. Not attracted to this middle-end section breakdown but as with music like this, it’s not usually long before a change comes along.

Mania Love
Well, those recording cuts are even more overplayed at the beginning here. And I’m loving it. This farts around all over the place wildly and every moment is genius or thereabouts. And farts is the word as this crazy fun album blows off back onto the shelf for now.

That was a rad listen and I will check it again. I think the album has been looked over as it exists at spot #1 in my collection and so is not easily seen. Perhaps I should move to the D section (for dot).

Favourite track right now is ‘One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten’, I’m thinking purely because I have an idea how the lyrics go!

Ozma – 27th November 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

The hungry tiger had dead babies on his conscience
The more he wondered, the hungrier he got
Why was it so, that he should be born this way?
Which crazy god made this the hungry tiger’s lot?

21st Sep 2024 – Submitted to Ragtag Daily Prompt – ferocious

Leopold – The Wreck of Hope
CD on Total Annihilation Records
I’m always checking out new music, mostly through Bandcamp pages. This album was mentioned on the You Don’t Know Mojack podcast, which is going through the SST catalogue. At the beginning of each episode, the hosts (Brant and Ryan) talk about other items of interest that they’ve been listening to. Brant leans more on the metal side of things whilst Ryan is more in the noise rock direction so my ears prick up when he mentions something he likes and so it was with Leopold. I had a quick listen on their Bandcamp page and liked it enough to contact them about buying the CD.

Usually, I’m fine with just a digital copy but I think I was feeling comfortable with my bank account balance at the time that I shot off an email to find out how much it would cost to get a copy sent to Thailand. It was ridiculously expensive, the shipping costing one and a half times more than the actual CD. But having made the enquiry I felt obligated to buy it and in the end, glad that I did.


Quebradita Num. 4
This pummelling intro has me hooked already. Jesus Lizard-like, before a change of pace into a chugging bassline and some screeching guitars that have a wonderfully sharp tone. And here’s the riff, which has a nice Drive Like Jehu melody and timbre. The vocals are reminding me of my good friends from When Chimps Attack. I think this could have been what attracted me to buy this CD. I still wish the Chimps had made 10 more albums, so this is a nice addition to my album collection. Some nice high-neck guitar action breaks into the melodies and then there’s this funky Iron Maiden break. Er…perhaps funky isn’t the right word. It’s great!

Yes My Love
Oh, some skronking sax! Excellent. Great off-kilter rhythms that swell to a wicked bouncing chorus, if it could be called a chorus. Air punching, floor punching good stuff. Followed by a spacious guitar to let the bass and drums flow. Nice dynamics. Now chilling…is it going to stop? It feels like a wind-down. And that’s it.

Junior Perkins
Jesus – it’s the Ace of Spades warped into a noise rock blur with buried vocals trying to punch their way out of a sleeping bag. The guitar tone is sharp and piercing, just the way I like it. Doubled vocals make me want to sing along but all I can make out is ‘get me out of here.’ I think I would like these lyrics. And it’s over as quick as you like.

(Another Killer In) Texas
A nice switch of pace after the previous frenzy but the whole band soon gets busy again, pulling everything together into a ferocious pounding force. Sinister and foreboding the song lurches forward, stalking the listener down the darkened streets. Suddenly cornered and roaring, the killer pounces, your guts are twisting, head exploding. Here it comes again. You’re dead.

Bag
A galloping pace, this one jumps out of the gate and feels like it won’t let up. A break comes a couple of minutes in which allows some breathing space before the anticipated relaunch. A great drum-rolling finale puts the final full stop in the sentence. The bag is broken.

The Wreck of Hope
Is this the opus rock-epic title track? This reverbing intro could go anywhere. Thankfully it dives into a gripping riff-heavy verse and staccato chorus and post bridge these soaring guitars are taking my mind off to faraway places. I’m back now.

Kentucky Nurse
A no-wave guitar freak-out leads this off before we get back to the brutality with an epic guitar sliding riff, flying off a cliff into some dark air. This is bringing me back to the best Chimps’ work.

Lovingstick
Holy ripping intros of death, Batman! Some exceptional noise rocking noise rock, all too brief but nailing each idea to the wall and screaming ‘THIS IS IT’

When Cousins Marry
A creeping pace with some Yow-like whispers, from Jack Brewer no less, before a lovely sax (?) riff gets added to the mix. No chords in sight so far….oh wait – here they are and we’re off, rolling down the freeway, overtaking the Tar Babies on the inside lane, skronking off the turnpike, heading nowhere in particular and without a care. Damn, that drummer is tight, holding the falling bumpers together. Train coming!

Brick Full of Tables
The rhythm section is freaking exceptional I realise by now, having paid too much attention to the guitar tone at first. Ah, this one has a buried chorus I would like to scream into the faces of all the idiots who’ve wronged me. I’ve no idea what they are saying but I’m absorbing the passion. More freak-out guitar before coming together for the chorus again. Time is flying along and I want the songs to last forever. But now we’ve disintegrated together and I’m spent.

There’s lots of great noise rock out there and I can’t quite put my finger on what sets this apart from many of its contemporaries. But, apart it stands.

Favourite songs on this listen: Junior Perkins and Brick Full of Tables.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to go to Game’s new cafe, fulfil, and try new coffee and his wife’s cookies and talked a little to Didi who dropped in. More good coffee in Chiang Rai.

It’s been a good Saturday so far; exercise, coffee, reading more about Slash’s childhood, blogging more poems, a nice drive to a cafe/restaurant for lunch, listening and reviewing the Leopold CD.

The morning sun has disappeared and a grey doldrum has set in that wants me to get out of my room. I still feel content but my mood has deflated. I was going to call Hayden but I don’t have the feeling now. I must do it tomorrow morning.

With a snap of my fingers, in the blink of an eye – 10th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

How can I surprise my partner?

This is a tough question. After more than 10 years together we don’t have many surprises these days. I was thinking I would like to book us our holiday in Vietnam as a surprise but curious that she may just get upset for not consulting her. We have our ten-year anniversary coming up – perhaps I could book us a place to stay for the night. Yep – that’s what I’ll do – find a 5-star resort in the mountains and we’ll spend our anniversary there.

18th Dec 2022 – I did book this but Covid got in the way as everything shut down. I booked it again a second time in 2021 and that too didn’t work out as lockdowns happened in Thailand at different stages.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for Amy when she cooks me breakfast in the morning and doesn’t complain to clean the dishes and iron my shirts. I will try to do these things more when I can share our burden.

Commonplace book for work

Use this space to write out quotes, passages and thoughts that have some meaning for me. These could come from anywhere.

On Journaling

Prepare for the day ahead

Each morning you should prepare, plan and meditate on how you aim to act that day. You should be envisioning everything that may come and steeling yourself so you’re ready to conquer it. As Seneca wrote “The wise will start each day with the thought ‘Fortune gives us nothing which we can really own.’ Or think of Marcus’ reminder ‘When you wake up in the morning tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil.”

Put the day up for review

Stoicism isn’t just about thinking, it’s about action – and the best way to improve is to review. Each evening you should, like Seneca did, examine your day and your actions. As he put it “When the light has been removed and my wife has fallen silent, aware of this habit that is now mine, I examine my entire day and go back over what I’ve done and said, hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by.” The question should be: Did I follow my plans for the day? Was I prepared enough? What could I do better? What have I learned that will help me tomorrow?

To-do list

  • Drive slowly and safely – enjoy the journey ✅
  • Talk with John and learn more about him
  • Prepare yourself to meet UK bureaucracy ✅
  • Go to the bookshop if you have time ✅
  • Be courteous to all traffic ✅

I fairly lazily drove over the mountains today and really enjoyed it. I was somewhat sad to arrive. I managed to do everything I planned and bought 5 books at the bookshop. A bit of an extravagance as none of them are on my to-read list.

The application for a new passport was also a completely painless experience for which I’m grateful.

I have very much enjoyed today so far sit now waiting for John to arrive and open his bar. The old auntie here, collecting parking money, shouts instructions from her wheelchair, as the cars pull into the driveway. John is running on Thai time and I’m starting to flake, the long day catching up with me.

I gave it half an hour and decided to leave, tiredness getting the better of me.

At Oh’s place and loved playing and petting her two puppies – once we had become friends. I suppose I could’ve waited for John for longer but don’t feel bad for not. I’m sure we’ll meet someday. It’s just nice to put a real personality to the online persona.

Tomorrow I have to drive back and teach Khawtang and Prang/Sea. Based on how I’m feeling right now, I’m going to be exhausted. Hopefully, I can enjoy some free time on Sunday.

I am soundcheck! – 26th November 2004

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

missing link instore

we got up early in an effort to get down to lygon street for breakfast though by the time we were sorted it was lunch time anyway – still, the food was great and we relaxed a little in the 30 degree plus heat. we found the source of jj’s technical problems, so feel confident everything should go well today.

so – load out from the house, load in to missing link, setup and wait – thank god for the air conditioning in the store!

gray daturas play first and churn out some nice sludgey noise – the set is short and sweet and the crowd are digging it.

anticipation mounts as limited express take the stage and play through a more poppy set (if you can call it pop!) with a great rendition of ‘donuts’ and much jj and yukari theatrics. everything goes without hitch and the band are happy and the crowd are happy too!

everyone comments on how happy limited express (has gone?) are on stage and how infectious their smiles become. special show time!

jj – “i did a good show – but we forgot to sell t-shirts – sorry!”
yukari – “in japan we can’t have a show in a record store because they are too mainstream”
koji – “i was a little nervous because i haven’t played many instores. i am soundcheck!!

pony with ai yamamoto & kaigen and twitch of the death nerve

after much chat we finally load out and head up to the pony to load in again! straight onto stage and the band are jamming out and instrumental soundcheck while soundman nao sets up around them. twitch of the death nerve looked impressed as they brought their kit in and were really looking forward to the show.

the room filled up and ai yamamoto and kaigen beat out some laptop noise and curious hip-hopisms which sounded great to me.

a few minutes later and twitch of the death nerve cranked up the pressure some with some very impressive genre bending stop on a dime twists and turns – they were cool and super nice guys too.

there seemed a genuine curiousity about limited express (has gone?) tonight and the crowd eagerly watched and enjoyed the best show of the tour so far.

the pony is a nice intimate venue and nao managed to get a good loud sound cranking. with a little bit of space in front of the stage it was the perfect opportunity for yukari and jj to mix it up with the crowd and the response was very enthusiastic indeed.

it took us a long time to get out of there as we sold a ton of merch and the band were asked to autograph cds and have a chat with near everyone in the place! cool cool – damn cool – tonight was the shit – but i reckon it’s going to get better!

jj – “awesome! awesome people – lots of applause – we had lots of fun together – our music is best enjoyed together – band and audience. australian audience is nice.”
koji – “last night was the best show in australia so far. fucking great show! everyone was nice – i like melbourne people.”
yukari – “now i don’t remember everything because i was too excited. i was glad many people told me ‘fantastic’ and ‘great!'”


mark from twitch of the death nerve had this to say after ‘special show time’:
“bands like limited express (has gone?) are capable of making someone’s year or even changing someone’s life. seeing artists who have delved so deeply and passionately into a world of their own inspires others to fight harder for their art. it reinforces peoples belief in the things that they already know, universal truths which reside in the minds and hearts of all people who truly believe in the significance of art. it is clear that touring a band like limited express (no matter how mind blowing) is a low profit venture. the fact that someone was prepared to lose money on them warms my heart.”