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God of Shamisen – Smoke Monster Attack
God of Shamisen, led by shamisen master Kevin Kmetz, is putting out their second album – Smoke Monster Attack.
Teaming up with producer Billy Anderson, God of Shamisen returns with Smoke Monster Attack, their second album. Featuring some new tunes along with some interesting video game cover songs, the band is back to its genre-bending ways. Featuring Kevin Kmetz on the Japanese shamisen, Karl Schnaitter on guitar, Mark Thornton on bass, and Lee Smith from the band Estradasphere on drums. The band goes all over the place, from an aggressive new arrangement of the traditional “Jongara Bushi,” to the Indian-inspired mellow breakdowns of “Last Shamisen Master Attack,” to a wild metal cover of the “Star Wars” theme. The album is only available digitally, and features guest musicians Rick Walker (percussion), Rich Doucette (sarangi) and Takemi Hirohara (shamisen on “Tiger Feint Attack”). http://www.godofshamisen.com/
- Metal-Jongara Attack
- Dragon Quest Attack
- Last Shamisen Master Attack
- Tar Bomb Attack
- Sandcastle Attack
- Final Fantasy Attack 2010
- Tiger Feint Attack
- Star Wars Attack
- Dragon String Attack (Super Short Version)
Much of this material is actually from their sessions for EMI Japan, which never surfaced outside of Japan. They’re also releasing it in lossless FLAC format on LobeFood (not available yet).
Release date: November 23, 2010
~Dan – np: Ikue Mori – Painted Desert
There is no free mp3 download or flac torrent for this album on this blog (nor will there ever be). If you like music, support the artists. Buy it!!
REVIEW: Fishtank Ensemble @ House Show (Eugene, OR – 3/5/10)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
Fishtank Ensemble hit the scene in 2005 with Super Raoul. The first record hit my radar with members from bandmembers from bands I was already into: Kevin Kmetz (from God of Shamisen/Estradasphere/Secret Chiefs 3 on occasion), Doug & Tim Smolens (El Douje’s record & Estradasphere), and Adam Stacey (Estradasphere). Only Doug “El Douje” Smolens remains from that first group of guys who got me into the band, but the other members definitely kept me around…
The band is Fabrice Martinez (pictured above – violin), Ursula Knudson (pictured above – vocals, saw, violin, etc), El Douje (guitar) and Djordje Stijepovic (Bass). They play a mix of Eastern European “gypsy” music mixed with a heavy dose of Django Reinhardt influenced French jazz (dominated by guitars & violins). Think… Hot Club de Baltic States. On their records thus far, they also add in some Japanese music (from former member Kevin Kmetz’s shamisen work).
This was my first time to one of their shows. Last time they came through Eugene, I was up in Portland for another band, but my wife gave a rousing thumbs up (she ended up going to see Fishtank at Cozmic Pizza).
The band played about two hours, split up with a nice intermission / snack time in the middle. The band was red hot, and the intimate living room setting made this concert very special. I’ll admit, I’m not usually a fan of vocals as of late, especially in world music. However, Ursula nails it. Seeing her perform in concert 4 feet in front of me was quite stunning. Besides the stunning dress (!!!), her vocals were utterly fantastic! She did a lot of vocal acrobatics, which worked amazingly well with violin, bass and guitar acrobatics that the rest of the band was giving us as well.
They played a lot of material I recognized from their second album, Samurai over Serbia, as well as some new and/or traditional tunes. Here’s what I scribbled down (fixed by bassist Djordje – – Thanks!)…
Setlist:
- Espagnolette
- Saraiman
- Arabo Andaluz
- After You’ve Gone
- Fraima
- Woman in Sin
- Swing 2003
- Hopa di Bida
- Am Furat de la Haidouks (Romanian Sirba dance medley)
<<intermission>> - O’Dewel
- Kolo Suite (Serbian/Transylvanian Medley)
- Tchiki Tchiki
- Djordje’s Rachenitza
- Coucou
- Opa Opa
- Samurai Over Serbia
- Encore: Ursula’s high school song
- Ciocarlia
They’ve got a new record coming out soon, called Woman in Sin. Keep an eye out for it on their webpage, MySpace, et cetera. Thank you to Michael & Carolyn for putting on a great house show! I look forward to the next Rolling & Tumble house show — Tuvan throat singers!!
many more photos below
The Appropriate Linkage:
~Dan – np: Bill Frisell – Rambler
FISHTANK ENSEMBLE PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2010 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
Higher Resolution (4 pics)
Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (26 pics)
GOS Tour -and- MMW+Z
Japanese world-metal band God of Shamisen are making a run through the West Coast. I’ll be at the Eugene gig, fo’sheezy.
Sun Sept 7 – Seattle WA – Kevin Kmetz solo traditional performance @ ENMA 2008 Aki Matsuri
Mon Sept 8 – Seattle WA @ the Funhouse (with Diminished Men)
Tues Sept 9 – Portland OR @ Dunes (with SHAT)
Wed Sept 10 – Medford OR @ Johnny B’s
Thurs Sept 11 – Eugene OR @ Samurai Duck *yay*
Sat Sept 13 – Oakland CA @ the Fishtank
Sun Sept 14 – Glendale CA @ The Scene (with Foxycock)
Tues Sept 16 – Fresno CA @ Audie’s Olympic (with Foxycock & Brian Kenney Fresno)
Wed Sept 17 – Santa Cruz CA @ Blue Lagoon
Thurs Sept 18 – Mountain View CA Free in-store performance @ Rasputins Records
Fri Sept 19 – San Francisco CA @ Bottom of the Hill
http://godofshamisen.com/
http://www.myspace.com/gos
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Three-degrees of separation (GOS’s Kevin Kmetz > Estradasphere > Secret Chiefs 3 > John Zorn), the Medeski Martin & Wood album of John Zorn’s Masada Book Two songs is now out on Tzadik Records. It’s called Zaebos (album cover & tracklist below). I haven’t had a chance to hear it yet (and probably won’t order it yet, as I’m moving in two weeks). But, I tell you what, once I’m moved, DMG‘s gettin’ a big order from me…
1. Zagzagel
2. Sefrial
3. Agmatia
4. Rifion
5. Chafriel
6. Ahaij
7. Asaliah
8. Vianuel
9. Jeduthun
10. Malach ha-Sopher
11. Tutrusa’i
Billy Martin: Drums
John Medeski: Keyboards
Chris Wood: Bass
all songs written by John Zorn
arranged by MMW
59″ of aural pleasure
Some words on some recent vinyl added to my collection…
God of Shamisen The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack! 7″ (God of Shamisen)
From the Secret Chiefs 3 / Estradasphere connection, I first heard God of Shamisen on the MySpaces (http://www.myspace.com/gos). This white vinyl with red label in white sleeve should clue you in to its Japanese influence. The shamisen is a 3-stringed instrument that’s played with a big ice scraper-like pic (called a Bachi)and has a somewhat banjo-like quality. I saw Kevin Kmetz (aka the “God of Shamisen”) play with Estradasphere, and it melded well with their sound as well. If you’ve seen a recent Nintendo Wii commercial… well, you know what a shamisen sounds like.
This 7″ includes “The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack!” and “Strange Relationship Attack!,” both of which can only be heard here on the vinyl or at their MySpace. IMO, “Ray Bradbury” is worth the price alone. Their full-length debut CD should be out sometime later this year. Info about the band and the vinyl is here: http://www.godofshamisen.com/
Radiohead Jigsaw Falling Into Place 7″ (XL)
This 7″ includes “Videotape (Live from the Basement),” as opposed to the CD single version that includes “Down is the New Up” and “Last Flowers” (both also “Live from the Basement”). It can be gotten at Amazon.
Puscifer V is for Vagina 12″ -and- Queen B 7″ -and- Dozo 7″ (Puscifer Entertainment)
I got these mainly because I’m a Maynard fan. Most of what’s on them (ie- the remixes) can be found on iTunes (except for the Queen B Trip E Mix). If you do search out the vinyl… I’d recommend Amazon and not Puscifer HQ, though. Puscifer’s shipping charges are ludicrous… like more ludicrous than the Pope at a truck rally. Prior Puscifer limited editions weren’t available on Amazon; so this is a move in the right direction (IMO). I also got the Dozo DVD along with this shipment… warning: it’s got a damn annoying menu (it’s hard to find what you’re looking for… like the commentary… which may be Maynard, may be David Cross, may be my mailman).
Holy Fuck Lovely Allen 7″ -and- 12″ (Young Turks)
These were available a few months ago directly from Young Turks (a UK label), but again, horrid shipping and USD-to-GBP conversion. They became available stateside earlier in May from Beggars Group USA for a waaaay reasonable price (only $7 for all 19″ of thick, black… vinyl).
The 7″ includes “Super Inuit (studio)” along with the title track. The 12″ includes “Riton Rerub,” “Minotaur Shock (Broadmead Redevelopment Version),” and “No Age Remix” along with the title track. All of these are available on iTunes as well (check ’em out… or at least the first 30 seconds).
Oh snap… I just saw that the “Lovely Allen” and “Milkshake” videos are on iTunes. Click. Click. Rock.
That’s all for now… again, if you’re not a vinyl dweeb, check out the shiz on iTunes or whathaveyou…
It’s not how big you make it spin, it’s how you spin it…
~Dan – np: ethan winogrand w/ steven bernstein – tangled tango
PS- I forgot about the Lovage (Dan the Automator, Mike Patton, Jennifer Charles from Elysian Fields) Songs to Make Love to Your Old Lady By (Instrumentals) 12″ I got on Saturday at CD World here in town (they had a big 25% off all vinyl sale last wknd… woot)… so, I guess my new title should be 71″ of aural pleasure… eh… too late.