Back Drop Bomb - Micromaximum

Outside of a few appearances on split EPs and compilations, there wasn't much material from Back Drop Bomb other than yesterday's covered mini-album before their transition to Toy's Factory in 1998. They quickly released an EP called Rough Introduction For The Next (which I don't have yet, unfortunately) in January of 1999, and then dropped Micromaximum, their first full-length album, a few months afterward. Containing two re-recorded tracks from Rough Introduction ("Flow (It's Like That)" and "Turn On The Light"), a song from their early split EP Back Drop Bomb Vs. Echo ("That's The Way We Unite"), and a bunch of altogether new material, it's the perfect transition piece between New South Hand Blows... and their later albums.

Since it's an album on a somewhat major label (granted, one that regularly signs hardcore punk bands, but still), it stands to be expected that their sound would pop up a bit, and indeed you can hear traces of their earlier hardcore punk sound dissipate as the production value rises. In spite of this, their other influences rise in prominence, so the music doesn't feel watered down or anything. From what I've heard of their later albums so far, this reigns supreme as my favorite BDB release, since it's a perfect fusion of the elements of their sound... however, that could of course change at any given moment. Check out the samples below and you'll see what I mean.

The track listing is as follows:

1. Intro

2. Bounce It

3. Blazin'

4. Clap

5. That's The Way We Unite

6. Never Seem To Last

7. Turn On The Light

8. Live And Direct

9. You Up Around

10. R.O.C.K.S.

11. When The Man Have Realized The Sound

12. Flow (It's Like That)

Back Drop Bomb - The New South Hand Blows And North Kick Blows

I found out when I was doing my initial research on AA= for the blog that the main vocalist, Takayoshi Shirakawa, was the vocalist of a band called Back Drop Bomb, but I didn't think much to include it in my articles from back then. Later on, however, I discovered that Back Drop Bomb were not only quite eclectic and hard to categorize, but that they also did pretty damn well on the Oricon charts, and have a massive discography that just continues to grow. (Granted, some of the singles I'd heard from Nipsong, Breakdawn and Venometeoric sound a bit too eclectic for their own good, but I'll leave that judgment to when I get my copies of all three later today.)

This mini-album, which is both their first release and their only release on Sweet Honey Record (which seems to be a sublabel of... Megaforce Corporation? Is that like Megaforce Records?), is probably the most conventional of their stuff that I've heard so far, in that it's the easiest to describe: hardcore punk fused with elements of ska, reggae and hip-hop. It's an interesting, fun mix that sets the tone for their first full-lengther Micromaximum, which heavily tones down the hardcore punk element and replaces it with elements of rap-rock and a slightly increased emphasis on reggae. It's usually cheap enough to find online, especially on Yahoo Auctions Japan, so go for it if you want a good place to start collecting BDB's discography.

The track listing is as follows:

1. Back Drop Bomb

2. Bad News Come

3. Black Sky Above

4. Another Way, On My Way

5. Check Y'All Fake

6. Don't Wangle

7. Words... (feat. DJ Hasebe)

Up Hold - Engine

The second album by Up Hold, their first full album on Hell Hornet/Limited Records, has the band setting more comfortably in their nu metal direction, while still having the intensity their older work contained. While the instrumentalism was simpling town a little more, Tatsuya Igarashi's English lyrics were getting stronger, still maintaining that "writing music in your second or third language" abstractness but thematically becoming as uplifting as the band's name might have implied. While I haven't heard anything from their final album Deepness Of Disorder yet, to say that this is the crowning achievement of the band at this point in their career is an understatement.

As with Water, this album was simultaneously released in 12" vinyl format, but since I generally don't collect vinyls of stuff I can't get on CD, I don't have that version in my collection. There is also a digipak version of this release, and I have one coming from the lot I purchased my second copy of The Unbleached in, but it doesn't look like it has an obi. For all I know, it never had one to begin with. No matter what format you find it in, though, do get this album. I doubt you'll be disappointed with it, especially if you've followed the band this far.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Sight

2. Creep

3. D

4. To Be Myself

5. Thorny Path

6. Fork

7. Hue

8. The Risk

9. Rise By

10. Inside

Up Hold - Fork

As we carry on to the second section of covering Up Hold's discography, I should mention that in none of that time did I grab the missing pieces of their collection (those being the snap-pack single/VHS combo pack of their single for Sight, the single/EP to Intersect Of Light & Dark, or their final album Deepness Of Disorder)...yet, but in that time, I did get another CD copy of The Unbleached that actually comes with the obi. As a result, it'll be a while after tomorrow's coverage of Engine that I'll be able to finish covering Up Hold, but I guarantee that it will be done eventually.

Anyway, onto this release... this is Up Hold's first release under Hell Hornet Records, a sublabel of now-defunct Japanese label Limited Records. It was issued on June 3rd, 1999, a good eleven months before the release of their sophomore album Engine, although the titular track would become the only one to actually make the final cut of that album. The 12" release of this features an alternate version of the cover that is similar in intent, but far, far different in execution.

As such, the material here is the first indication that Up Hold's sound had spectacularly changed after changing record labels. They were adopting a more nu-metal sound than they had when they were still on Slam Records, the new inclusion of clean vocals being one major indicator. To their credit, they still had enough hardcore punk essence and melodic integrity to make their brand of nu metal stand far above a lot of the newer blood the nu metal scene was taking in at the time. The second track on this EP, Out Of The Way, features guest vocals from Cocobat vocalist Hideki, and I can't help but wonder why this song didn't make the final cut of Engine.

I can see how older fans of them would be apprehensive about the different direction the band was taking, but on its own terms, it's a nice little collection of hardcore punk-infused nu metal, and in the grand scheme of the band's sound, it's a great harbinger of what is to come with Engine.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Fork

2. Out Of The Way

3. Recollect

4. Answer (a newly re-recorded version)

Up Hold - Water

This next piece of Up Hold's discography is not only their first full album, but their last release on Slam Records, before switching to Hell Hornet Records for their subsequent releases. Despite being considered an album, this release only clocks in at about 16 minutes, a feat that is actually shared by the single/EP to Fork, the disc that immediately follows this one. However, that is mainly because their songs got longer after the record label switch, whereas the longest track on here is only three minutes and eighteen seconds long.

This is the album where their nu metal influences started creeping in (it was, after all, 1997), as the musicianship got a little simpler, but on the flipside, their English songwriting got a little stronger, and they also experimented with writing a song in Spanish; the result, Mi Cuarto, is linked below. If you really got into their previous releases, you may note the simpler technical prowess on display, but it doesn't actually lose any of the intensity of Answer in the process. It is also one of the cheaper and easier Up Hold albums to find online, I've noticed, so if you want the tracks that I didn't link below, go track it down.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. [iksploud]

2. One Choice

3. A Man Shaped Box

4. Bartleby

5. Cliff Of Essence

6. Mi Cuarto

7. A Word*

8. Grounds Of The Way

*misspelled everywhere but the liner notes booklet as "A ward"

Up Hold - Answer

This debut EP from Up Hold was also released on 7" vinyl on August 25th, 1996, although I can't say for sure when this CD reissue came out; there isn't a copyright year later than 1996 anywhere in the liner notes that I've been able to track down, although since it makes a reference to Water, their first album, being "now on sale", I'm gonna assume that the CD reissue to this and The Unbleached dropped around the same time, if not at the same time.

Since Water is when I actually noticed nu metal influences starting to trickle in, this is a disc to judge their earlier, "purer" hardcore punk sound on. I also have to say that this has my favorite cover of anything Up Hold has released; it may not scream "hardcore punk" like The Unbleached's cover does, but there is something very aesthetically appealing about it.

Also of note, the title track to this EP was re-recorded for the single/EP to Fork, from their album Engine. It ain't updated all that much, but it still sounds as good as the version here.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Answer

2. Break My Wall

3. Day By Day

4. Emptiness

Up Hold - The Unbleached

Note: The original version of this article mistakenly listed this as the debut EP of Up Hold, since it's difficult to find solid information on these Slam Records releases.

Now it's time to start exploring the Japanese bits of that recent Christmas haul! Here, we begin with The Unbleached, the second EP from hardcore J-punk band Up Hold, released in 1998 by Slam Records. It was difficult to find proper release info for this disc, since Slam Records is one of those Japanese labels that doesn't print specific dates on their back covers or obi strips. (While I don't have the obi for this CD, unfortunately, I do have the obis for Up Hold's other discs from Slam Records, and those don't list specific release dates either.) According to Up Hold's website, this was released on April 25th, 1998.

As this band went on, their hardcore punk had nu metal influences slowly trickle in (while I can't vouch for the sound of Deepness Of Disorder or its corresponding single for Intersect Of Light & Dark, I'm gonna bet it sounds quite a bit like the more melodic, watered down nu metal of about 2002 to 2003), but as far as their Slam Records material is concerned, this is their most refined and hardcore material. It's a bit slower than the songs on Answer, but it is more complex than the material on Water, and it meets a happy medium that works extraordinarily for the band.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. TAT

2. Curves

3. Bosom

4. Acting

My entire music haul over this Christmas break

I hope you guys have had an excellent Christmas break, mine's been pretty dope as you can see. On the 21st, I started driving back home to the East Coast from Minnesota, and throughout the two days it took to get home, I took a couple stops at used bookstores and record stores. This post will detail every release I either picked up or received in the mail from the 21st to now, the beginning of the new year. I'll also list things that are still coming, but I won't be able to have in my hands until I go back to Minnesota, because Buyee is on break until the 5th, and I begin the trip back on the 8th.

IN-PERSON PICKUPS (aka my stuff from America)

Primus
Green Naugahyde
Primus & The Chocolate Factory
(I meant to grab Green Naugahyde back when it first came out, but never got around to it. Better late than never.)

De La Soul
Buhloone Mindstate
Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump
(It's insane how hard it is to find De La Soul CDs around here. I was especially bummed that I couldn't find a copy of my favorite DLS album Stakes Is High, but that's life.)

Wu-Tang Clan
A Better Tomorrow
(Jesus fuck, that chorus on Miracle... whyyyy, RZA? WHYYYY?)

Das EFX
Dead Serious
(LOVED this album when I first heard it, glad I finally have it.)

The Roots
Phrenology (CD/DVD Special Edition)
(Didn't top Things Fall Apart or Illadelph Halflife for me, personally, but still really cool.)

Mos Def
Black On Both Sides
(This would have been a much better introductory album to Mos Def than The New Danger, it's much more musically consistent. I mean, I still like The New Danger fine enough, but this is objectively better.)

Miles Davis
Kind Of Blue
(It's kind of a necessity to own this album in some form if you're a music collector, so here we go with that. Amazing stuff.)

Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Journey Of Dreams
(Easily my most out of left field pickup during this trip... it's quite soothing to listen to, actually!)

A Flock Of Seagulls
A Flock Of Seagulls (US Tracklisting)
(It was a ridiculous challenge finding any new wave anywhere here... and I didn't learn until it was too late that this is actually a screwed-around-with tracklisting. Oh well. I'll track down the remastered edition later.)

MAIL PICKUPS (aka my stuff from Japan)

Up Hold
The Unbleached
Answer
Water
Fork
Engine
(As usual with my Japanese stuff, expect more in-depth articles on these soon.)

Back Drop Bomb
The New South Hand Blows And North Kick Blows
Micromaximum
(Ditto for this, especially with the AA= connection.)

STILL INCOMING IN THE MAIL

To Be Continued
Bitter Sweet Love
Beyond The Light...

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
Chicken Zombies
Rodeo Tandem Beat Specter

In addition to all this, I found a Record Store Day cassette edition of Awesome Mix Vol. 1, of course better known as the soundtrack to Guardians Of The Galaxy. Since Guardians was one of my favorite movies of the year, I was really stoked to grab this for the price I grabbed it at.

It's very unlikely that I'll be doing any articles about most of my in-person pickups, because outside of doing a review of the album, I wouldn't really have that much to talk about/space out the pictures. I've been in the process of uploading a bunch of Up Hold's stuff to YouTube, so I can fill the upcoming articles on those with music links, so check those out as I get ready to begin this new year with a buttload of fresh writeups.