search
more stories
 

Spooky Fingers: Asiatic Spike

print   email   RSS
 April 12 2010 at 04:18:52 AM



Banzai!

Finding weird shit in Japan is as easy as finding good food. Just around the corner from my hotel are pachinko parlors full of gruff, old motherfuckers, a fat man with hello kitty backpack playing virtual drums outside the SEGA game center, sex shops stocked with big-gummed jigaboo and fuzzy zebra fuck masks, earthworm porn and a vast collection of plugs and rubber holes soundtracked by The Omen score.

Finding good music, however, requires a bit more effort. Sometimes, the two go hand in hand.

Disk Heaven is located in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi district. Though only a few subway stops away from where I’m staying, the shop is hidden within a 3rd floor studio nestled in quite possibly the city’s most fascinating oddball community.

They call it “America Town,” a large, youth-centered shopping area dating back to the 1970s, but today looks like a perverted mental projection of my sophomore year in high-school.

Baggy pants, baseball caps and Hip-Hop blasting from every corner. Pipe shops and pot leaf Tees lining each side of the street. Shiftless teens, a few black dudes and lots of pink, polka-dot Santa skirts, frilled cuffs and purses with little blue bows on the side.

Everything around me screams, "out of control!"

One American-styled diner serves spamburgers with white rice and cabbage salad. Interior born of some squatters conception of TGI Friday’s, wallpapered with ancient Audrey Hepburn portraits and rusty coke signs. Across the restaurant from me sits exactly one bleached-blonde Japanese woman applying layers upon layers of touch up before she finally tops off her milkshake and swaggers assless out the door.



“Who the Begrand is buying Metal here?” I walk out thinking. And I finally find something of an answer when it’s just me and some Japanese guy in a suit with the new Overkill record in his hands at the record store.

Disc Heaven is small, but its sizeable collection does not disappoint. One shelf is lined only with videos and bootleg DVDs from Uriah Heep, AC/DC, Kiss and Scorpions. Another stocked with every Black Metal band I’ve ever hated. And not just the shelves but aisles full of discs and vinyl boxed neatly along the floor. Glam, Grind, Death and every subgenre any twot ever thought to market. But only one Sabbat album.

The store is quiet today but its walls and counter tops plastered with flyers for upcoming shows, local zines and new releases are a reminder that somewhere kids are still playing, writing, thrashing, and obsessing.




Only a short walk from Disc Heaven and almost triple its size is Timebomb Records. Primarily a Punk, fuzz and Rockabilly establishment, Timebomb also houses a tremendous selection of vintage 45s and well-stocked CD section of Blues and Rock and Roll collections from Howlin’ Wolf to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. The store’s Metal section is not as comprehensive or easy to navigate but still a good place to fill up on reissues and imports. After half an hour of milling around unable to find anything harsher or more obscure than Lipcream or Gallhammer, I walk up to the clerk, gesture toward a group of black and white flyers depicting skulls, studs, the usual hard to decipher band names and say the magic word.

“Discharge.”

Osakan hardcore outfit Fortitude ain’t never heard of the fade out. Their album Resist Till Death and Resisting After Death flashes by in minute-long intervals that heap Heavy Metal, Death and Grind into the mix. Blast beats and Creepshow vox are the norm here, as is booklet of dying African children hunched beside waiting vulture and thank you list full of bands never heard of before. Among them, Osaka’s own Framtid.

Heralded by some as Japan’s most important hardcore band, Framtid’s debut Under The Ashes was re-released in 2008 for the second time on CD. Pedal-chocked guitar, D-beaten drum and DT'd bass thumping bring on uncompromising portrait of modern day extinction event. Bombed out images. Broken English. Diehard sound. Only later did I find out that Framtid drummer Shin Takayama operates yet another Osaka institution, Punk and Destroy record shop.

Best not to regret not going broke twice over.

[Todd DePalma]




Related

- Spooky Fingers: Reflect the Filth

Comments (3)

  • 2 comments
    Jake
    6:42 PM on Apr 12, 2010 // reply »
    I've been to the Disk Heaven in Shinjuku and it was much the same affair. It's refreshing to see metal on display in an unlikely environment.
  • 24 comments
    Dennis Dread
    9:22 PM on Apr 13, 2010 // reply »
    I see stars on those titties. DISTORT EVERYTHING.
  • 374 comments
    VOEGTLIN
    8:32 AM on Apr 14, 2010 // reply »
    You, too, huh? I thought it was just moi.
 

Leave Feedback


Name


Email
Email will not be displayed. Gravatars? The LeftHandPath.com uses Gravatars which are the pictures that you see next to each comment. If you haven't already, register your email address and picture with Gravatar.com

Website
( Optional )

Feedback

Post your feedback, HTML will not be rendered, only plain text.


Subscribe
Receive emails when others submit comments

 

Leave this field empty

 
TWITTER RSS FEEDS
categories
138 1970s 33 ac/dc ajna ambient amon another bad idea apocalypse art asia ass cheeks atl atlanta is burning away azagthoth baby warrior drama bazillion points beer ben vierling black metal black metal sublet black sabbath blasphemy blood blue cheer bon scott bone sickness bones books booze boredom brooklyn bros bukkake bullet belts canada canadian mexican food cargo chains chips & beer chips n beer chuck schuldiner cliches codpiece comics conan cooking corpse paint cowbell cross-chatter crust cry babies cycles d&d d.c. danzig david vincent death death metal deceased dei carnifex demo demos denim desecrate devil devilock dffd metal dicks dio dirty south disgruntled dodgy doom dragons dread drinkin drone drugs drunk again dvd ec comics elvis emotions eschatology euronymous's dildo fake fangoria farts feelings fetish film films filth fire florida death metal folk foodster free publicity fulci georgia german germans germans glen benton goats gore grind groupies gygax halloween hard rock hardcore headbanging heat heathen metal heavy heavy metal hell awaits hollywood homeless looking dudes make good music horror horror punk hotlanta ink interview jazz jerseys judas priest kali kenneth anger kill posers king cobra king diamond label profile latin leather lemmy lhp001 lhp002 lhp003 lhp005 lhp006 lhp007 lhp008 lhp009 lhp010 lhp011 lhp012 lhp013 lhp014 lhp015 lhp016 lhp017 lhp018 lhp019 lhp020 lhp021 lhp022 lhp023 lhp024 lhp025 lhp026 lhp027 lhp028 lhp029 lhp030 lhp031 lhp032 lhp033 lhp034 lhp035 lhp036 lhp037 lhp038 lhp039 lhp040 lhp041 lhp042 lhp043 lhp044 lhp046 lhp047 lhp048 lost lucifer lulz magick manilla road marcus garvey master mephistopheles mercyful fate metal metal chef meth mgd misfits morbus chron motorhead mutilation nature nazi gaga necronomicon new york no shit noise norway not black metal not good nwobhm nyc oakleys obama 08 oh death one from the grave pain pentagram philthy pony girl power metal power trio primer problematic production pulp punk pussy putrid real men listen to thin lizzy rednecks repka reunion riffs motherfucker riot ritual robert e howard rock rush salad days samhain satan savage sword scorpions seagrave shit show report sin nanna skanks slayer sleaze sleeveless slim pickens sludge sluts soulless space cadet speed speed metal spikes spooky fingers steel stranger in a strange land studs summer summoning swamp sweatpants sweden swords tanya roberts teethofskull texas thirsty and miserable thrash thrash metal tits tldr tna tombstones tour dates tremelo tuesday you tube vanguard vans varg vhs vinyl vomit weird woods year end blah year-end list you tube tuesday youth zines zinka zombies