Weekly: In Kyoto (Part Two)

Alright ... I'm back at the hotel for a bit, so I thought I would get this second part of my "In Kyoto" thing out of the way.
You've all seen Lost In Translation, right (or at least heard the soundtrack)? Well, you know how Kevin Shields did a sort of disappointing job of making it? I see Volcano The Bear as the group that recorded the alternative (and better) version of that soundtrack. It's like My Bloody Valentine in its shoegaze simplicity, but without the unnecessary amount of distortion and feedback and stuff. Sorry -- I like My Bloody Valentine, but it just doesn't work for a movie like Lost In Translation! They've got Memphis (Remix), Larkrise (Remix), Clasical Erasmus Fusion, Golden Hot Bite (Remix), Where Are All The Bounds, Arc Felt, Uh-Omm, and Inner Arms And Necks all up for grabs on their website.
Listening to Staggering Statistics makes me remember Mission of Burma big time. That same sort of proto-grunge punk style, the same drawn out, overwrought vocals, and the same chaotic drumming. And they're from Cincinnati, man ... that's like, where I grew up (almost)! Listen to stuff at their MySpace page!
Awww ... Twink is too damn cute! A "toy piano band" that has an obsession with sampling, cats, and rabbits. Twink's music has an uncanny resemblance to Japanese Shibuya-kei (or Neo-Shibuya-kei or whatever you want to call it) music, but Twink definitely is not Japanese, making it all the more interesting, I guess. You can hear songs from three of Twink's albums on the website, but here are three from the latest record, The Broken Record, to get you started: Pussycat, Animal Talk, and Boys And Girls.
Writing about Twink reminded me to post a new Yukari Fresh song, Henry House. It is a song that is featured on Escalator Records' latest compilation CD, Henry. Not quite sure why they decided to compile a bunch of songs focused on the cute vacuum sweeper with a face painted on, Henry, but they did. The song is a nice return to Yukari's roots, and I like it. Even if it is strange that she's singing about a vacuum sweeper in it ...