12/19/2014: Hyper Sonic Vale Tudo 3 @ Okubo Earthdom

For personal reasons, the line-up on this one was kind of out there. Hitting shows in general is pretty much a must-do, as its the best way to maintain relationships and get things done (a quasi-lamentable fact that I'll address in a subsequent post), so to that end this show had the potential to be just as good as any.

Bloody Ears 'n' Beer with Zothique

The Tokyo band Zothique was first described to me as “psychedelic/sludge/doom/noise nightmare music”, which gave me pause since I was asked to interview them and could not for the life of me imagine what kind of sounds those words described. The first three descriptors I could maybe manage, but given my ignorance of and distaste for noise music in general, I accepted the assignment with reservations.

Halloween 2014: Koiwa Bush Bash & Shinjuku Jam

Bit of a late post here. This past Halloween, Retch booked a night of double brutality: 2 shows across the city from each other. Pretty decent night, all told, though it took a turn for the boring near the end.

Songs of Morning: Sept. 30, 2014

Its a pretty common occurrence that I wake up with a song already stuck in my head. This morning it just happened to be Manilla Road's Necropolis. Great song one of their best albums, Crystal Logic, if I do say so myself.

In Darkness We Are Doomed Vol. 3

Our good friend Makoto (who runs the record label Weird Truth Productions, and who also has mixed and mastered both Darkcorpse and Retch releases) put on the 3rd volume of In Darkness We Are Doomed over at Earthdom on Saturday night. In addition to Makoto's own Funeral Moth, who are an absolute must-listen for any Corrupted or Mournful Congregation fans, the line-up also featured labelmates Deadly Spawn and Basilisk in addition to the legendary Necrophile. So, a whole lot of death and one massive slab of really heavy doom.

Blood Rite Vol. 6

One hell of a time getting this event together, though happy to say its finally all in the bag, and with a lineup that I'm really quite satisfied with: relative newcomers Lifeblood with what is more "Black Rock" than Black Metal if my memory serves me correctly from when Retch played our first show with them, grind darlings Self Deconstruction, and the Black Thrash bastards of Doraid will all be joining Anatomia and Undergang on 10/14 over at Nishi Yokohama's El Puente. Really looking forward to it!