[Japan] Cigarette in your Bed – “Darkness”

Cigarette in your Bed have been a part of the Japan Shoegaze scene as it has been growing over the last few years.  The trio released their debut LP Darkness earlier this month via shoegaze label High Fader Records (Lemon’s Chair, sugardrop, Yellow Loveless).  They’ve been gigging alongside Lemon’s Chair, who released an album of their own in April and who are getting ready to re-release their much sough after debut.  Cigarette in your Bed released a video for their first single “Let Me Out” and today announced that they will be shooting another for the album’s title track.  The EP version of “Let Me Out” is available for free download as part of Muso Planet volume 4.

[Japan] “Dark Entries” by The Florist

The Florist

Tokyo’s The Florist were featured in the most recent issue of Muso Planet, having just released their debut full-length Dark Entries.  One of many emerging shoegaze artists in Japan, the band made their name with the track “Middle of Winter” which originally appeared on their first release, a maxi-single of the same name.  The band have announced a summer tour in support of the album and have released a video for new single “Sun Kills Moon”.  Though the physical CD is currently available on a bunch of Japanese sites, the band has announced that it will be available via iTunes in June.

Cigarette in your Bed Announce Debut Album

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Tokyo’s Cigarette in your Bed have announced that their debut full-length album “Darkness” will be released this coming May via High Fader Records (Lemon’s Chair, Sugardrop, Yellow Loveless).  The trio, who frequently feature at the Japan Shoegazer Festival have been gigging regularly since the new year in addition to working on their upcoming release.  In March they will be taking the stage at Lemon’s Chair’s record release show at Tokyo’s Koenji High.

Cigarette in your Bed are a treat live, always putting on a powerful and entertaining show en route to establishing themselves as one of Japan’s more impressive shoegaze acts.  To date they have released a handful of EPs which are made available at gigs.  Until now, it’s been difficult to hear their music online outside of recorded live footage, so the upcoming album should be much anticipated for fans of Japanese shoegaze music.

Art-School Return With a New Lineup, New Album in the Works

Just months removed from the news that their rhythm section had left the band, Art School have announced the addition of three new support members to support core members Riki Kinoshita and Satoshi Todaka.  The future had looked bleak after it had been announced that bassist Takeshi Uno and drummer Hiroyuki Suzuki decided to part ways with the band.  With Kinoshita and Todaka focusing a lot of time on their side-projects (Killing Boy and Ropes, respectively) there were a lot of questions about whether Art-School was nearing the end, and some ominous tweets from Kinoshita made it seem like that was the case.
Now here we are in late-March and how things have changed.  The band has showered its fans with a series of exciting announcements.  The first of which is the addition of three new support members:  bassist Kentaro Nakao and drummers (yes drummers) Yuichi Sakurai and Isamu Fujita.  The new lineup will make its live debut at the also recently-announced “Kinoshita Night AX 2 Days” which will take place at Shibuya-AX on June 2nd and 3rd.  Both nights will be headlined by Art-School with Asian Kung-Fu Generation opening on Saturday and Straightener and The Mirraz supporting the Sunday evening show.

The last of the big announcements was that the band would be recording a new album.  Normally, this sort of news is exciting enough for fans of any band, but news that the band is currently in Chicago recording with legendary producer Steve Albini at Electrical Audio.  Taking a look at the laundry list of bands with whom Albini has worked (Nirvana, the Pixies, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the Stooges, Helmet, to name just a few) it seems safe to say that his unique and distinct recording style should complement Art-School’s sound wonderfully.

Hopefully this is just the start of a resurgence of a band whose fans have spent the last few months worried and confused about what the future would hold.  At least for now, we have a lot to look forward to.