Yuu Nakashima--vocal & guitar
Akko Hamada--vocal & bass
Taakii--drums
GO!GO!7188 will be releasing their sixth album, 569 (Go Rock), on October 24th!
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Dasoku Houkou (Crawl Like A Snake) -- (52:33) -- (2000) -- Toshiba/EMI -- TOCT-24505
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| It’s tough to write this. I keep wanting to get up and dance! It’s retro, but not like we know it. They’re copping Asian rock of the ‘60s, with just a nod to the punks. The songwriting is brilliant! I swear I’ve heard some of these songs before, but ten are originals. Neither the vocals nor the musicianship is great, but it’s all surprisingly strong! I take it back--Some of these vocals kick ass! All but one of the songs rock hard, but there are wonderful pop hooks hanging everywhere like paisley scarves, plus a subtly-sweet, punk edge. More! Gimme more! | |
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Aa Seishun (Oh Youthful Exuberance) -- (12:12) -- (2001) -- Toshiba/EMI -- TOCT-22158
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| The first two tracks are good strong GO!GO!7188 songs, which both appear on Gyotaku. ‘Aa Seishun’ features a nice surf guitar slide, and a catchy pop structure. ‘A.M. 7:30’ stomps along with hypnotic vocals weaving like snakes. You’ve surrendered long before the hook strikes home. It’s ‘Kaminari Ga Natte Takusan Ame Ga Furu Yoru’ that’s the special prize, though. It’s GO!GO!7188 unplugged (almost). They sound like they’re sitting around a mic, or maybe a campfire. There’s some playful kidding before and after the song, and even a slide whistle. It’s charming, beautiful, and fun, too! | |
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Gyotaku (Print Of A Fish) -- (45:50) -- (2001) -- Toshiba/EMI -- TOCT-24688
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| Some songs here rock as hard as the first disc, and a few are as catchy as those on Dasoku Houkou, but these tunes seem more interested in expanding GO!GO!7188’s range. They achieve that aim by slowing the pace, and varying the arrangements. The rich vocals are used to a fuller effect, and the band supports them in provocative and innovative ways. The songwriting continues to shine, and that, combined with the expansion of their sound, promises a rich future. Pop music this charming has no business rocking this hard, or being this beautiful, but I’m not complaining. | |
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Tora No Ana (The Tiger’s Hole) -- (29:16) -- (2002) -- Toshiba/EMI -- TOCT-24824
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| In 2002, a Japanese acquaintance, who, like myself, is a GO!GO!7188 fan, told me this was his favorite of their releases. It’s a collection of cover songs of old pop hits and TV themes. I think his familiarity with the original material made the difference. For me, the songs don’t stand up to the band’s original material, but they’re played well, and the wide variety of material allows the band to dress up a bit. After all, new costumes are always fun. Occasionally, the joy is obvious enough, but more often they seem to be putting their hearts into making their versions worthy of the original songs. | |
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Tategami (Mane) -- (55:30) -- (2003) --Toshiba/EMI -- TOCT-24980 |
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12. Tane (Seed) 35. (untitled) |
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| This release has a stunning range, from hard rock to moments of great beauty. There is even inspiration from traditional Japanese music, though not as much as the cover implies. Yumi’s vocals are now a powerful instrument, and when Akko joins in, they can do no wrong! Their current version of pop music has a maturity that’s gonna take them right out of the genre. Their songwriting and artistry is at work creating a unique musical playground, that I expect they’ll have to themselves for a while. If they continue to grow like this, who knows what they might achieve? Yes, and they rock! | ||
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Kyu Ni Ichi Jiken (September 21st Incident) -- (77:59) -- (2003) -- Toshiba-EMI Limited -- TOCT-25222 | |
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DVD: |
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| This concert was recorded on September 21, 2003. It rocks! The songs are played well, and momentum builds as the set unfolds. The loud bass occasionally muddies the sound, and the playing isn’t always as energetic as the material deserves, but fans will be pleased. Nearly half the selections are from Tategami. Also included are a recent single, a nice selection of older material, and ‘Ore Wa Drummer’ where Taakii sings and does a drum solo--Yes, it’s too long, but the audience seems entertained. The DVD isn’t great, but contains three more songs, and isn’t much extra. | ||
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Ryuzetsuran (Agave)--(48:53)--(2004)--Toshiba-EMI--TOCT-25489 | |
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| The edginess and experimentation are in retreat, but there’s plenty of the rock and pop to make this a fulfilling offering. Though it’s more mainstream than anything we’ve heard from them previously, it’s very much their own sound, and at times there’s even a spooky kind of darkness lurking inside some of these songs. The vocals still charm. The guitar occasionally edges into psychedelia. The bass can churn things up, and the drums measure out the increasingly small spaces between hooks. The band continues to widen their range, and their power continues to grow in exciting ways. | ||
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Gonbuto Tour Nihon Budokan~Kanzen Ban (Super Thick Japan Tour~Complete Budokan Show) -- (108:55) -- (2005) -- Toshiba-EMI -- TOCT-25650~1 | |
| Disc 1: 1. Opening SE (Stage Entrance) 2. Akai Tsuki Ni Hoeru Yoru (Howling At The Red Moon) 3. Umashika Mono (Tasty Things) 4. Violet No Sora (Violet Sky) 5. Sen Nichi Kou (A Thousand Crimson Days) 6. Otona No Kusuri (Adult Medicine) 7. Koi No Dokuyaku (Poisonous Drug Of Love) 8. Yukue Fumei (Missing Person) 9. Na Nashi (No Name) 10. Thunder Girl 11. Aoi Keretsu (Blue Crack) 12. C7 |
Disc 2 1. Tokyo 2. Nifu No Ashioto (Two People’s Footsteps) 3. Umi No Uma (Seahorse) 4. Kangae Goto (Contemplative) 5. Shoshuu (Early Autumn) 6. Koi No Uta (Love Song) 7. Rock 8. Taxi 9. Ukifune (Floating Boat) 10. Otona No Himitsu (Adult Secrets) 11. Kunoichi (Female Ninja) 12. Bungu (Stationery) 13. Tokage 3-gou (Lizard #3) |
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| Why another live CD so soon after the last one? Forget Kyu Ni Ichi Jiken. This one trumps it completely. It claims to be an unedited concert from Tokyo’s Budokan auditorium. The first disc rocks wonderfully. The second disc opens with five expansive songs from Ryuzetsuran and one in the same realm from Dasoku Houkou, it’s a very sweet change of pace, then they get back to the rocking. There are moments when individual members slip slightly out of rhythm, and even those moments enrich the performance. Everyone in the band does a great job, but then, it’s a great band! Bravo! | ||
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Best Of Go!Go! -- (76:29) -- (2006) -- Toshiba-EMI -- TOCT-25913 | |
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| A great band’s best of collection--Yes, it’s great, and at over an hour and a quarter, it just keeps going! It shows their range. It shows their talent, and then it tops it off with a new song, which may be their most beautiful yet. Even if you have all these songs already, this is as good a mix as any you could come up with. The sound keeps growing as you listen! Whatever kind of a GO!GO!7188 fan you are, this is gonna be one of your favorite GO!GO!7188 CDs! If you’re just testing the waters, though, watch out! Best Of Go!Go! will sail you away and leave you floating with no land in sight! | ||
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Kinkyori Renai (Short Distance Love) -- (8:07) -- (2006) -- Toshiba-EMI -- TOCT-40031
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| Both of these songs are spunky pop songs. ‘Kinyori Renai’ sticks to a good clip, and stays sweet, with a nice rhythmic break, and a warm vocal crescendo that returns us to the beginning. ‘Denwa O Toritakunai Hi’ rocks harder, slows its pace once or twice, amidst a variety of breaks, and finally sputters to an exhausted close. Both songs deliver the GO!GO!7188 sound with a rich pop clarity. Though they’re not taking us to any new places here, they seem to have returned to their former pop glory with an energy and desire to make it as crisp, new, and shiny as they possibly can. | |
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Parade -- (46:32) -- (2006) -- Toshiba/EMI -- TOCT-26080
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| The experimentation seems to have stopped. Parade is firmly staking out the ground they know is theirs. They’re doing this by enriching their arrangements. For a three-piece band to have the fullness of sound they have here is brilliant. The songwriting remains strikingly original. Technically, the band just keeps getting better. Akko’s bass regularly slips in sweet maneuvers, and once or twice Yuu’s guitar gets edgier than we’ve heard from her before. Their trademark vocals top it all off. Parade is a strong showing by a band whose constant growth continues to surprise and delight. | |
Pistol Valve/Go!Go!7188/The Emeralds/50 Kaitenz/Asakusa Jinta--Empty Bottle
(Chicago, IL)--3/14/07
I missed Japan Nite in New York.
(I was out of town.) So, here I was catching it in Chicago. It was not the easiest
journey, but, once again, Audrey Kimura had put together one hell of a show!
I sure didn’t want to totally miss it! With help from my friend Paul Yamada,
I rode the trains, busses, and taxis, negotiated Chicago’s byways, and
eventually entered the Empty Bottle. Paul had referred to it as a dive, but
I don’t mind a good dive, and found it quite roomy. The almost completely
wooden and brick interior gave it a down-home bar-room feel, and tonight it
was the place to be for Japanese rock ‘n’ roll.
GO!GO!7188 are masters! I’ve
been a fan of their music for years now. Their songcraft is regularly surprising,
and their generosity with hooks is startling. I’ve often told friends that
a normal band could get three good songs out of the hooks they crowd into one
song. So, I knew they’d be good, and I had heard wonderful things about
their set a few days ago in New York, and yet they still surprised me. Yuu’s
vocals sounded stronger and more vibrant than I’ve ever heard them sound
on record. The band was unbelievably tight. They rocked through their set, playing
a wide range of their classic numbers, with their feet firmly placed on the
accelerator. They were stunning! Not only could they do it live, they sounded
better live! I never realized what a guitar technician Yuu is. She never smiled.
She never made any particularly showy moves. She was like a surgeon. She concentrated
on her work, and she delivered in spades. More and more lately, I’ve realized
how good a bassist Akko is. She easily holds up her end of the tune, and repeatedly
throws in unexpected runs that surprise and delight. Her vocals add not only
support for Yuu, but, often, a wonderfully sweet counterpoint. She also tended
to handle the audience. Her comments, leading questions, and encouragement to
the audience were offered offhandedly, and whatever the reaction, cheers or
blank stares, she seemed delighted. I enjoyed watching her pump her head as
she pumped out the basslines. Taakii was another surprise. He, too, sounded
better than I’ve ever heard him sound on record. He rocked, and he rocked
it hard, pounding his kit effortlessly and firmly. Live, he is truly an integral
part of their sound. I don’t know if it was just not a very long set, or
if I was transported into such a state of bliss that I just was not noticing
its passage, but I was shocked when they announced their last song.
photo
by John Li of Genki Shock
Go!Go!7188/Peelander-Z--Knitting Factory--8/7/07
It was a wonderful night,
but then I knew it would be. I was a little afraid that PEELANDER-Z was going
to just upstage GO!GO!7188, which they certainly did, but GO!GO!7188 came out
and played an hour and a half plus of their wonderful material, and the more
they played, the better it got. Audrey Kimura was there, too, promoting an exhibition
of work by Tokyo Alice, a Japanese “Punk Fairy Tale” illustrator.
The downside? I’ve been out of action for a while, and forgot to bring
my camera. Perhaps we can get a picture anyway.
It was a good show, and PEELANDER-Z
certainly did rev the crowd up for GO!GO!7188.
GO!GO!7188 are an amazing band. They
didn’t wait for the excitement of PEELANDER-Z’s set to cool, but came
out as soon as PEELANDER-Z broke down their equipment, set up their own, and
then left the stage. FLAMENCO A GO GO’s ‘Make Me Stinked’ began
playing a few minutes later. GO!GO!7188 emerged once more and opened up with
‘Jet Ninjin’. They followed that with song after song of their marvelously
creative and intricately structured material, often launching into the next
song directly after finishing up the previous one. The band is incredibly tight.
With all the dramatic changes in their material, I noticed only one sloppy transition.
Yuu’s beautiful vocals stretch the material to new heights. More than once
I noticed Akko singing along with her, though she wasn’t anywhere near
the microphone. It’s not hard to imagine. She writes all the lyrics, so
she knows them all, too. Early in the set each of the bandmembers introduced
themselves. Akko showed us some KISS tumbler dolls she had bought at an East
Village toy shop. Yuu confessed that she loved Krispy Kremes. They’re not
adding any pounds to her trim figure. Taakii introduced himself, and explained
his lack of further information by saying, “I’m a shy boy.” Then
it was back to more of their wonderful material. Yuu writes the difficult, but
bewitching, song structures, and their intricasies give her a chance to shine
on the guitar. Tonight she even stepped out front a few times to give the audience
a better view of her guitar solos, which are played live exactly as on record.
My friend Dan marveled at her guitar, an orange metal flake Telecaster with
three pick-ups, the middle one a Stratocaster. It also had a whammy bar, a contoured
back, and star fret inlays. He’d never seen one like it, and imagined it
was either a custom job, or a model sold only in Japan. I wouldn’t have
noticed any of that, as any regular reader would realize, however, he totally
agreed with me that she was a very good guitarist, and liked her guitar sound.
Her approach to playing changed regularly as she played, sometimes showing a
shyness, sometimes a delicate touch, sometimes an agressive attack, and she
always possesed a true finesse. She is supported by Taakii’s textured,
but strong drumming, and Akko’s fluid bass playing that filled holes in
the sound before they even developed. It’s an amazingly full and rich sound
for a trio. Akko also handled the crowd, regularly expressing her love of New
York, and thanking PEELANDER-Z, Genki Shock, and all of us for coming to see
them. In the middle of the set they slowed things down with ‘Ame Nochi
Ame Nochi Ame’ which raves up at the end, and got things back to the rocking.
To regular shouts of “I love you!” from the audience, they politely
replied, “Thank you.” and they kept their wonderfully rich material
coming. It was a full house, and the longer they played, the better they seemed
to get, and the more the audience fell under their spell. Toward the end of
the set they actually opened up a song, departing from the recording and adding
a short but spirited jam, closing the song down in a thunderous roar. A couple
songs later they left the stage, but the crowd wasn’t ready to let them
go yet. The applause and shouts continued unabated for several minutes, and
it brought them back. Akko thanked everyone again, and they launched into ‘C7’.
A gentle mosh-pit started. The next song got a real mosh-pit going, finally,
and one more finished off the evening. They had entertained us thoroughly for
over an hour and a half and everyone was well satisfied. GO!GO!7188 weren’t
done yet, though, they joined the fans in the bar and pleasantly talked, signed
autographs, and took photographs with anyone who asked.
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| Akko Hamada | ||
| Akko Hamada--vocal, bass & percussion | ||
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Kirari (Sparkle) -- (59:23) -- (2003) -- BM Tunes -- bmcd-1006 | |
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| HEATWAVE support her on half the tracks here, but she gets help from members of more well known bands, and Taakii, from GO!GO!7188, appears on three tracks. The music ranges from pop to rock with some jazz influence thrown in for spice. It’s a good range of material, some of it quite beautiful, and all of it done very professionally. The comparison to GO!GO!7188 must be made, and it’s a more standard pop oriented sound than that band. Her vocals are fine, and as long as this does not foretell a split in GO!GO!7188, then more power to her. There are some fine tracks here. | ||
| Yuu Nakashima | |
| Yuu Nakashima--vocal, guitar & shamisen | |
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Ten No Mikaku (Ten Tastes) -- (49:58) -- (2004) -- EMI -- TOCT-25298
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| The rock is largely replaced by an everchanging stream of influences from post-rock, to jazz, and classical; and the instruments come from rock, classical (strings), Japanese traditional music, and even sampling. It’s a wonderfully wide range, and it all blends together smoothly, because Yuu’s vocals find the beauty inherent in all forms of music. A friend hears Kate Bush. I hear some Chara and some Ringo Shiina, but it’s such a fabulous concoction, Yuu deserves the credit for pulling all these musics together, and creating a truly intoxicating stew, so big and rich, one might just be swept away. | |
| CHIRINURUWOWAKA | |
| Yuu Nakashima--vocal & guitar Eikichi Iwai--bass & theremin Kosaku Abe--drums Haruhito Miyashita--guitar & bg vocal |
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Iroha (an old Japanese equivalent of ABC) -- (51:01) -- (2005) -- Toshiba-EMI -- TOCT-25739
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| Yuu’s new band rocks! The second guitarist is rawer than her. In comparison to GO!GO!7188, all that’s missing is Akko’s vocals and a dash of humor. It’s an impressive debut! Yuu, as we all know, is a wonder, and this band takes her to some new rocking extremes without sacrificing any of the beauty and subtlety she has always possessed. The range here is incredible. The songs are powerful and beautiful, and the depth of the band grows as the songs roll off the disc. I miss Akko’s vocals, but this is excellent, and I’m hoping it’s not just a one-shot thing. I want more CHIRINURUWOWAKA! I say yay! | |
GO!GO!7188's Official site:
Lots of info in English:
