It was just over a week ago when we learned of the existence of THE DEVIL’S KILLING MERRY-GO-ROUND (officially abbreviated as “DEVIKIR”), the new unit featuring Michelle Noir (ex. Michelle of NECRONOMIDOL) and Ragna Roku (ex. Roku Rokuroku of LAST IN MY CULT). While their official debut live is not until June 17th, they have wasted no time in dropping their first MV, “DIABOROS.”
Month: May 2022
Your Homicidols Weekender #288
The big news this week, (other than RAY’s sudden suspension of activities) is that Japan will be opening it’s borders to overseas visitors again. The catch is that only tourists attached to an approved, organized tour group with fixed itineraries will be allowed in. These tour groups will be heavily monitored and things like slipping away to a livehouse in order to catch a chika idol taiban will apparently be heavily discouraged.
In light of these developments, we are now frantically scrambling to launch Homicidols International Travel Agency, with sanctioned tour packages that consist of nothing but visits to record stores, purveyors of second-hand merch and underground livehouses. Unfortunately, we are encountering a few difficulties scraping together the capital to launch our new venture since most of our assets are tied up backing our cryptocurrency token, The Homicidollar, which has apparently collapsed to a level beneath any measurable value. Our other revenue generating venture, issuing THE BANANA MONKEYS NFTs, never really went anywhere either. We seemed to have really misjudged the market for those things.
While we work out the kinks in our latest endeavor, here’s some other stuff that happened this week: Continue reading
RAY to Suspend Activities
Mere days after dropping one of the best albums of 2022, RAY have announced that they will be ending their current system and suspending activities.
【現体制終了・活動休止のお知らせ】
7/23 or 24予定の現体制ラストワンマンをもってRAYは活動休止期間に入る事をお知らせ致します。5/28からは月日が活動復帰、甲斐の復帰は調整中です。また並行して新メンバーオーディションを開催し、9〜10月に新体制お披露目予定です。詳細は画像を一読下さい。 pic.twitter.com/qhdXOHr7pm— RAY 5/25 2ndアルバムリリース (@_RAY_world) May 27, 2022
Emerging Units to Keep an Eye On: New and New to Us #04
We have mentioned before how 2022 has seen an explosion of new indie and underground idol units with many showing signs of exceptional promise. That trend has continued over the past month, so we have again collected several of the new groups we’ll be watching most closely here.
We also have to commend these new idol units for coming up with much better names this year. It got so bad last year that we felt compelled to create a Questionable Name category for the 2021 year-end awards (won in a landslide by Anal Sex Penis, of course; STAiNY and C.LiTZ really dodged a bullet there). Other than a couple of notable exceptions (I’m looking at you, Makenai Bokura wa, Ame no Furu Sekai de Neko to Odoru.), new unit names have been much improved in 2022. Case in point:
THE DEVIL’S KILLING MERRY-GO-ROUND
Unveiled just this past weekend, the announcement of this new unit surprised us all with a couple of very familiar faces.
👿デビキル👿
THE DEVIL’S KILLING MERRY-GO-ROUND
メンバー2人目
ミシェルノワール@nekozenanokamo
NEXT 05/29 21:00…MV解禁 pic.twitter.com/WlGYuubAFs
— THE DEVIL’S KILLING M-G-R official👿1ヶ月ジャージライブ (@devilskillingM) May 22, 2022
Your Homicidols Weekender #287
So, I’ve been catching up all week after my quick trip out to LA last weekend for the inaugural edition of Cruel World. It was a great festival. Bauhaus especially was pretty mind-blowing, even after all these years. The other big standout for me was DEVO who still come off as remarkably relevant in these dystopian times. The only set that didn’t quite work for me was the Violent Femmes. Songs about how you can’t get a date to the prom don’t really quite work when you’re old enough to be a great-grandpa.
Still, I love traveling and I love live music, but I especially love traveling to see live music. My next trip is a long, hot summer away when, in early September, I’ll be driving up to a certain con in Phoenix to see a certain punkabilly idol unit. Speaking of:
SIPP Power Up their Punk Party with “SPIN4CH”
Fresh off their one-year anniversary, SIPP are celebrating with some EDM on their second single since rebranding from “Super Idol Pops Punk” to “Super Idol Punk Party”. Featuring lyrics created by founding member, Ui, and a retro MV channeling the Y2K, here’s “SPIN4CH”:
Your Homicidols Weekender #286
Happy weekend !! I’m in LA for Cruel World festival whose lineup includes Bauhaus, DEVO, The Damned, Christian Death, Blondie and a number other legendary groups whose influences help shape the music we talk about here today. Coupled with the very exciting news from earlier this week that MELON BATAKE A GO GO are visiting the US at Saboten Con, it’s becoming more and more clear that festivals and cons are very much back on. Another case in point:
📢event announcement@HYPERJAPANevent + Orion Live = HYPER LIVE
2 dedicated nights of live music in HJ's 1st ever mini fest.Hyper PARTY: @FEMM____ @DOUBLE_AND @3cro_mika @blank_paper_jp
Hyper ALTERNATIVE: @NECRONOMIDOL @Ayme_official @GARUDA_info https://t.co/lDriGYKO4J pic.twitter.com/aBEG9nZ15R
— Orion Live International (@_OrionLive) May 12, 2022
The Contenders: Team Homicidols Best of 2022 (So Far)
We lost so many veteran and A-list talents last year that there were thoughts that 2022 would have a dearth of compelling new chika idol releases. To our surprise, the first several months of this new year have instead seen veteran idols producing some of their best ever work while new units have been dropping captivating releases from the word, “Go!” We usually wait until much later in the year to start tossing around contenders for “Best of the Year” nods, but Team Homicidols is finding ourselves so overwhelmed by the volume, diversity and quality of new music that we felt it was important to make some mid-year citations for posterity.
From Outer Space to Arizona: MELON BATAKE A GO GO to Make their US Debut
For those of us who can’t currently get into Japan to see idols, we just got the best possible news: the idols are coming to us!! Chaotic Harmony have just announced that rockabilly idols from outer space, MELON BATAKE A GO GO will be making their US debut at Saboten Con in Phoenix, Arizona this coming Labor Day weekend.
GO GO @sabotencon !! https://t.co/TqPXchnk1P
— めろん畑a go go (@MELONBATAKEAGO2) May 9, 2022
Your Homicidols Weekender #285
I’ve been traveling most of this week for work so please forgive the lack of substantive updates. It’s the first extended trip I’ve taken since COVID started and, after being cooped up with my cat for over two years, I kept seeing her out of the corner of my eye in the hotel. It’s nice to be home, but it seems I missed her more than she missed me. That’s probably for the best since I’m hitting the road again later this week to LA for the Cruel World Festival with lots of 80s icons like Bauhaus, The Damned and Christian Death. That will be fun.
But first, let’s chat about music that was released this century:
Mani Mamiya of Yanakoto Sotto Mute dropped a solo single on her birthday. Perhaps it’s a preview of her future following Yanamute’s imminent disbandment.
