of course while i’m away in malaysia for one month, hoss and dear joel silbersher have to tour in perth for the first time in 16 years. i’m fuming, goddamn.
naturally the fear everytime i come over here for extended periods of time (visit the rest of my family and some sort of break inbetween) is that life goes on as normal in perth and i gradually fade from the memory of people i know and when i come back, even for that short time, everything has changed and i feel like a stupid fool.
more likely that nothing changes, though.
still two more weeks.
there’s always a certain pedanticness about making music on your own. outside influences shape you but whatever comes of it musically is your own determination. shiina ringo is the artist i most admire (75% music; 25% mysteriousness and general mind fuckery). as a solo artist she is insurmountable, but as a member of a band (tokyo jihen, where she still is the front and centre, however), there is no getting past just being a band, namely drums, bass, and guitar.
three years later after stopping her solo career to form tokyo jihen, she announces a new single and album to be released next year, in addition to a soundtrack for photographer ninagawa mika’s first film, sakuran (more information from the tokyo incidents). i voiced some disatisfaction with her “band” career, hopeing she’d one day change her mind. there are few things i really hold my breath for, but after her last album, karuki zamen no kuri no hana (awkwardly translated as chlorine, semen, chestnut flower)…
i was starting to wonder when i’d get my next issue of hyphen, and when i get home, it’s hiding behind the gate. “the music issue”, huh? a quick flick through because i’m saving it for the train trip to work tomorrow (it’s a long saturday), i notice most of the artists covered could be described as hip hop. i understand the devotion young asian-americans have for this musical form, but nowhere do i see a profile on someone in a band. i know rock music is unfashionable and possibly even cliche, but surely, surely they could overcome their office bias and look for somebody who’s got the spirit, only that they happen to play guitar. this is probably exacerbated by my predilection for writing in the forms of music more than forty years old, but still. you don’t have to cover asobi seksu or similar again, surely there’s someone who’s lower profile but just as deserving!
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