Buffalo Daughter’s index: CDs; Live shows; Other Projects; Metalchicks Live; Links
--Buffalo Daughter combine a variety of styles and experiments to create their new pop music--
BUFFALO DAUGHTER
suGar Yoshinaga--guitar, vocal, tb-303 & short wave radio
Yumiko Ohno--bass, vocal & mini-moog
moOog Yamamoto--turntables
Chika Ogawa--drums (left the band before Captain Vapour Athletes)
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Captain Vapour Athletes -- (42:20) -- (1996) -- Grand Royal
Records -- GR030 -- (U.S. release)
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| This recording is deliciously off-beat. There is a mini-moog, various electronics are used, and moOog Yamamoto is a DJ. On the other hand, they also use drums, bass and guitar. They mix these all together in a rather psychotic way. Wistful melodies are interspersed with bleeps, squawks, and mixed with all manner of odd spoken-word records. Some of it is intentionally odd. Much of it seems tongue-in-cheek, but the countless influences starting in rock and pop and reaching into the past and future, make this a charming collection of tracks, which often surprise and usually delight. | |
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New Rock -- (51:37) -- (1998) -- Grand Royal Records -- GR052 -- (U.S. release) | |
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| New Rock has a lot more of a groove to it. There seems to have been a conscious effort to curb the odder directions and instead work those ideas/experiments into existing songs. It doesn’t have as many odd changes of pace as Captain Vapour Athletes, but on the whole I find it more satisfying. All the odd bleeps, and recorded voices are still there, but the songs and the groove are now more central, less likely to be lost in off-beat experiments. Their face is the odd effects and electronics, but their strength is the subtle beauty of their tunes and grooves. | ||
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I -- (56:49) -- (2001) -- EMI -- TOCP-65914 (Released in U.S.) |
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| It feels like we missed the transition CD between this and New Rock. I introduces us to a more mature sound, with a strong femininity at its core. The humor and quirkiness have receded. The range has expanded. There are two rockers, one of which uses SEAGULL SCREAMING KISS HER KISS HER, but most of the songs take a softer approach, and all seem relatively simple, though often subtle, statements. The “bonus track” is co-written with CIBO MATTO, a possible influence, along with CORNELIUS. I’m warming to this CD slowly. BUFFALO DAUGHTER fans will enjoy I’s richness and challenges. | ||
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A Long Life Story Of Miss Cro-Magnon -- (30:43) -- (2002) -- Toshiba/EMI -- TOCP-61069
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| In a way, this CD fleshes out the ground between New Rock and I. The instrumental space is luxurious, incorporating New Rock’s extended jams with I’s beauty. ‘Son Of Altair’ begins with a repeated vocal quirk that slips into a sweet spacy jam. The lyrics begin some five plus minutes later. It sets up track two (an instrumental mix) as another extended intro into I’s ‘Dicothèque Du Paradis’. The unedited version of ‘Volcanic Girl’ may be slightly improved in its simpler state than I’s version, but the differences are small. DMBQ’s hard rock version mostly shows off BUFFALO DAUGHTER’s subtlety. | |
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Pshychic -- (51:09) -- (2003) -- V2 Records Japan Inc. -- V2CL 10001
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| BUFFALO DAUGHTER’s groove is a big easy chair. Curl up in it. Quirkiness is back, too. In both ‘Cyclic’ (10:56) and ‘Pshychic A-Go-Go’ (8:54) I hear LED ZEPPELIN’s ‘Immigrant Song’, though they’re both wonderfully crafted technopop. Each time ‘Chihuahua Punk’ (3:59) begins, it’s derailed. ‘S.O.I.D.’ (7:06) is a ballad to an unrevealed doppelganger, that floats in an I realm. ‘303 Live’ (20:04) takes too long to start, and at nine minutes goes kaput. It’s another two minutes till a groove returns. Problems exist, but Pshychic is a warm release that brings back a unique, and familiar BUFFALO DAUGHTER sound. | |
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Euphorica -- (55:41) -- (2006) -- V2 Records Japan Inc. -- V2CL 10002
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| MoOog now has an equal vocal role in the band, which adds to the variety. There are serious points being made, but there’s also a return to the early BUFFALO DAUGHTER humor, in the lyrics, the sound effects, and the music. It’s a welcome return, and worth smiling about. Euphorica is not as challenging a work as we’re used to from BUFFALO DAUGHTER, as if they’ve decided we/they were thinking too much, and should just relax and enjoy the music. They may have taken it too far on tracks 7 through 9, which are basically repetitive jams, but even they provide a certain amount of atmospheric fun. | |
---LIVE---
Buffalo Daughter/Josephine Wiggs Experience--Mercury
Lounge--12/1/96
I didn’t know much about
BUFFALO DAUGHTER, but they made another outing alone in the rock clubs worthwhile.
They were made up of a DJ, and a drummer, both male, a woman who switched
between an early moog and bass, and an impish woman guitarist who occasionally
picked up some kind of pre-programmed box. The description I had read that
the guitarist, named suGar, looked like a small boy, was not off-base. She
did most of the talking, several times chiding the audience for being “gentle
and quiet.” It was a strange audience. I stood about six feet from the
stage and was the closest standing member of that body. Only a few people
were sitting up in front of me. I looked back and the room had filled up,
but none had moved up in front of me. The music was a collection of odd pieces
of moog squawkings and short DJ joke-bits adding a unique perspective to otherwise
sweet rocking and straight vocals. They use just enough noise-style bits to
give it an edge. suGar was the highlight of the show for me. With her dyed
blonde-hair, she reminded me of an old friend of mine, moved like she couldn’t
help it, and she and the drummer rocked. I was impressed enough to pick up
their debut CD from them after the show. I just played it and liked it, but
it doesn’t rock the way they do on stage.
Buffalo Daughter/Ray Wonder--Brownies--3/16/98
RAY WONDER were fine as a
non-challenging intro for BUFFALO DAUGHTER.
BUFFALO DAUGHTER surprised
me. They are growing. I’m not sure the direction has changed any, the
instrumentation hasn’t, but they’re bigger. In fact, their sound
is “huge”, which is how suGar referred to America. suGar got in
a few good lines, but for the most part she was much more somber this time
out. Almost every song involved long, trance-like jamming, with suGar leading
the way, but occasionally leaving spaces for mini-moog solos, or moOog’s
off-the-wall DJ strangeness. I decided, while watching the band this time,
that Yumiko has become responsible for the structure of the band. For the
most part she let’s the groove go whatever way it will, but she sometimes
seemed to be trying to reign suGar in. suGar obviously wants to rock. The
drummer wants to pound. That’s what they do. There’s almost always
a funk-groove behind the trance-jams, but when it disappears, there’s
no telling what kind of noise they’re gonna assault you with. suGar’s
definitely taken some tips from SONIC YOUTH, and Yumiko and moOog are always
prepared to try out new sounds. A bit more joy in the playing would help,
but otherwise, this band is doing a good job of taking rock into some new
territories.
Girls Against Boys/Buffalo Daughter/Stanford
Prison Experiment--Bowery Ballroom--7/7/98
BUFFALO DAUGHTER came on and
set up rather quickly. moOog was not with ‘em, but on the other hand,
I didn’t really miss him. Yumiko and suGar handled the tapes they needed,
and when they weren’t having equipment problems (feedback and amp hum)
they sounded just fine. The drummer, who really deserves to be let into the
official group, played wonderfully--pounding when it was time to rock, and
playing subtly when that was needed. suGar seemed to be a bit more in control
this time, so it may very well be a true partnership between her and Yumiko.
She has become quite a bit less talkative than the first time I saw them,
though. They impressively played most of New Rock and closed with a beautiful
version of ‘Jellyfish Blues’, where the vocals sound like a computer
is singing. They were good enough to make this a worthwhile show to see. I
was disappointed how short their set was, though. It seemed like they played
less than STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT.
The club was a decent place
to see bands and the sound was good.
--Other Projects--
| TAKAKO MINEKAWA | ||
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Roomic Cube -- (42:00) -- (1997) -- March Records -- MAR028 (U.S. release) | |
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| BUFFALO DAUGHTER play a large role in this release, producing it, writing two songs, and co-writing six. Basically, they’re backing Minekawa up here, and they do a good job. There is a distinct BUFFALO DAUGHTER flavor, and occasionally Minekawa seems to be singing lead for them, but largely they remain in the background, and help to present her as the unique, and pleasantly eccentric artist she is. The music and songs are a bit too odd to be pop, but too sweet not to be. | ||
| TOMOE SHINOHARA | |
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Dream & Machine -- (43:08) -- (1999) -- Warner Artists Inc. -- HDCA-10002
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| This is quirky pop music, but not as energetic as I had expected from reports of Tomoe Shinohara’s earlier recordings. Different artists wrote and recorded the music for each track, resulting in a surprisingly wide-ranging collection. I find most of this too happy poppy, but it sounds like everyone had a good time, and Tomoe did a fine job stretching to fit the various styles. My favorite track is Yuka Honda’s, but BUFFALO DAUGHTER take Tomoe on the strangest trip! | |
| METALCHICKS | |
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| Yuka Yoshimura--drums & vocal suGar Yoshinaga--guitar, vocal & sequencer |
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Metalchicks -- (30:10) -- (2005) -- Music Mine -- IDCF-1001
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| Not misnamed, METALCHICKS’ first full-length does rock, and rocks with a metallic thrust. There’s more than a hint of techno to their sound, too, but the rock vibe is heavy. Vocals, when they occur at all, are always buried beneath the stomp of the riffs. It’s not shiny enough to be enamored by, but it is monolithic enough to surrender to without reservations. Yumiko Ohno joins them on one song, and MoOog Yamamoto designed the logo, but this is Sugar’s chance to wield her metal chops, and that’s just what she does with the heavy stomp help of Yuka Yoshimura (DMBQ & OOIOO). | |
| Yuka Yoshimura--drums & vocal suGar Yoshinaga--guitar, bass, keyboards, sequencer & vocal |
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St. Wonder -- (51:43) -- (2006) -- Heat Cartel -- Heat 4
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| There is occasional heavy metal flavoring to the sound, but the classical elements orchestrate the proceedings. Mix in spacy synthesizer effects and a rock foundation, and there’s no way to ignore the overall prog rock feel. The sparsity of vocals continues. This time Yumiko Ohno sings on three songs. The metal returns now and again, just enough to keep shaking things up, but except for the gentle, classical keyboard break that is ‘The Banquet Over Memory Of My Mother’, this feels like one huge piece. It’s really quite magnificent, and unlike anything I’ve heard before. Bravo! | |
--Live--
Metalchicks/The IV Thieves--Knitting Factory--10/31/06
I was very excited to
have the chance to see METALCHICKS. I loved the new CD, St. Wonder.
Nicholas D. Kent was there, and informed me that St. Wonder was actually
the soundtrack for a movie. Sae Sugiyama, who manned METALCHICKS’ merchandise
table, explained that it was a live action movie about schoolgirls which used
computer generated backgrounds. Yuka Yoshimura, who formerly drummed with
DMBQ, set her drums up near the front of the stage facing suGar Yoshinaga,
who also plays with BUFFALO DAUGHTER. SuGar placed a synthesizer on a small
table in front of her, her guitar hung around her neck, and she had two microphones,
one of them running through the synthesizer to provide effects on her vocals.
She was angled so that she could see both the audience and Yuka Yoshimura.
After they set up, suGar tested her microphones, and they launched into their
first song. It was great to see suGar cranking away on her Les Paul, happily
freed from the servitude of a band, and crank she did. It was beautiful to
watch, and wonderful to hear. I spent half the show with one of my earplugs
pulled out, convinced that with both my earplugs in I’d miss some of
the beauty of her sound. SuGar also used keyboard tapes that she and Yuka
would play along with, and at times suGar would stop playing, and allow Yuka
to hold our attention with her powerful drumming. It was quickly apparent
what a talented drummer she is. When she got a chance to shine, she did. She
pounded those drums for us, and the longer the show went on, the more fun
she seemed to be having. Sometimes Yuka and suGar would exchange a look, and
they’d both smile. Many of the songs seemed to largely be long minimal
jams. It was almost as if the momentum kept things rolling. SuGar was working
hard at keeping things together, doing the occasional lead vocals, which Yuka
supported with her own vocals, and adjusting the synthesizer, the tapes, and
the effects, all in between her spirited attacks on the guitar, but she was
obviously enjoying herself, too. She announced at one point that this was
their first appearance in the U.S.A. The audience cheered, happy to be the
first Americans to experience METALCHICKS’ rockin’ joy. SuGar didn’t
use the effects microphone until very late in the set. The first time she
used it, it made her sound like an ‘Ironman’ style monster with
a throat condition, but when she used it in the next song, it seemed to turn
her voice into piano chords. When I talked with Sae Sugiyama after the show--she
had quickly sold almost all of the merchandise they had brought with them--she
announced that it had been a good show, and that Knitting Factory had done
a good job with the sound. The audience obviously enjoyed it, as did I.
--Linkage--
Official Buffalo Daughter site:
Buffalo Daughter’s MySpace page:
suGar’s side project’s official site:
A blog on suGar’s side project:
Metalchicks’ MySpace page:
