In 2010 Mick Karn, erstwhile bassist with one of my favourite bands of the '80s Japan, released a CD titled The Concrete Twin. In 2020, Blowtorch Records are delighted to welcome Tokyo-based four-piece concrete twin.
Consisting of Okada (vocals, guitar), nenne (vocals), Michael (bass, vocals) and U (drums), concrete twin started out as a solo project from the Hokkaido-born Okada in 2005, turning into a full band by January 2017. Performing live shows mainly in Tokyo, the band changed their sound along with band members in 2018.
And what a sound it is. As Okada himself puts it - 'not only shoegazers and post rock, concrete twin understand various sounds with their own ideas, and make a unique view of the world with their own sounds. Sometimes violent, sometimes like a quiet calm sea. They invite drunkenness, tremendous sound pressure and huge guitar noise. And a group that keeps showing daydreams in ambiguous songs whose meaning is dissolved and melted.'
This brilliant video is for the track TRY which is on the shoegaze compilation Total Feedback2020, released on 21.10.20. There are comparisons with classic shoegazers My Bloody Valentine and like them they deliver a huge Fender squall of sound. However it is backed by funkier hip/trip-hop beats, and with nenne's ethereal melodies and harmonies weaving in and out, it is a sublime listening experience.
Their first mini album “those who are nothing”, a solo effort by Okada, was released in 2015. The first full band release “Re:boots#01” dropped in October of 2018, and their latest “New Blood #2” and "New Heart #3" were released in 2019. #2 and #3 are available on the Blowtorch Records website or on Spotify.
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