is a Japanese pop band from Chiba

Chiba, Chiba

is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 km east of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. Its population as of 2008 is approximately 960,000....

. Formed in 2007, the band consists of Noko (lead vocal, guitar, keyboard, razor), Mono (bandleader, keyboard, guitar, tambourine), Misako (drums), and Chibagin (bass, chorus).

History

The band have grown an organic fanbase via online videos and so on, which is unusual in Japan. They released their debut album, Tomodachi Wo Koroshite Made (友だちを殺してまで, lit. "To Kill A Friend"), on 10 March 2010 on the indie label Perfect Music, which is run by their management company of the same name.

They later gained a deal with major label Warner Music Japan, with the album Tsumanne (つまんね, lit. "Boring") following on that label on 22 December 2010. On the same day, they also released Minna Shine (みんな死ね, lit. "Everyone Die") on Perfect Music.

On the 31st of August 2011, they released their fourth studio album, 8 Gatsu 32 Nichi e (８月３２日へ, lit. "to August 32nd").

Their music is a strange blend of pop melodies and piano with dark lyrics and punk sensibilities. Most of their songs are digitally altered by frontman Noko, who also uses heavy delay and pitchshifting effects on his vocals.

Media attention

Shinsei Kamattechan have received a lot of media attention in Japan, although Noko rarely does interviews.

They have also attracted attention from English-language media. They were interviewed (without Noko) in a video on the website of British magazine NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

at Summer Sonic 2010, and by The Japan Times

The Japan Times

The Japan Times is an English language newspaper published in Japan. Unlike its competitors, the Daily Yomiuri and the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, it is not affiliated with a Japanese language media organization...

newspaper, and their debut album, Tomodachi Wo Koroshite Made, was reviewed by Metropolis magazine. They have also been mentioned in various blogs.

Broadcasts

The band are well known for broadcasting their activity on live-steaming video sites such as stickam

Stickam

Stickam is a website devoted to live-streaming video, featuring both professional and user-generated content. The site launched in 2005. Stickam features user-submitted pictures, audio, video, and most prominently, live streaming video chat...

, peercast

Peercast

Peercast may refer to:*Peercasting, multicasting a data stream using peer-to-peer technology*PeerCast, a particular open source implementation of this idea...

, and Japanese popular video sharing

Video sharing

Video hosting services refers to websites or software where users can distribute their video clips. Other sites such as file hosting services image hosting services and social network services might support video sharing as an enhancement to their primary mission, but in general, they are not...

 website Nico Nico Douga

Nico Nico Douga

is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...

. The member of the band, Noko is particularly notorious for his eccentric broadcasting methods.

Albums

• Tomodachi Wo Koroshite Made (友だちを殺してまで, lit. "To Kill A Friend"), 10 March 2010 (label: Perfect Music)
• Tsumanne (つまんね, lit. "Boring"), 22 December 2010 (label: Warner Music Japan)
• Minna Shine (みんな死ね, lit. "Everyone Die"), 22 December 2010 (label: Perfect Music)
• 8 Gatsu 32 Nichi e (８月３２日へ, lit. "to August 32nd"), 31 August 2011 (label: Warner Music Japan)

External links