Shh! I'm searching for the rather elusive Soil & Pimp Session album...

...and it's relative the Ego-Wrappin' album.  These animals are very rare in this area of the world but some have reported encountering them here in the US.

But seriously.  So yesterday I was in the city and I checked out two music stores (one of which proclaimed it had hard to get CDs and records) and BOTH of them didn't have either.  I've checked kinokuniya (a Japanese bookstore chain) before and you would think they would have them.  But no, apparently the music is even obscure to Japanese-Americans.  So, last night as I was browsing for a sweet sixteen present at the local Barnes and Nobles, I learned, through one of those nifty item search machines found in all big bookstore chains, that Barnes and Nobles DID actually sell, not one, but TWO albums from Soil & Pimp Session (and additionally, as I've just confirmed two ego-wrappin' CDs. well 1 1/2 because one of them is currently unavailable).  However, when I asked a sales clerk (who was talking about an early Adam Sandler show and how bad it sucked with his sales clerk buddy earlier. or listening to his friend talk about the show.  I'm sorry but I was looking for Gray's Anatomy DVDs.  But not for me for god's sake!) if the CD was in stock, with a perplexed expression on his face (which was understandable because the album is called 'Planet Pimp' and sounds like some ridiculously explicit rap album and I'm a strange Asian girl wearing pants with a snake-skin print.  I mean I should've been used to this sort of reaction, after asking two other clerks at the other stores if they had "Soil & Pimp Sessions".  I bet the first clerk was probably asking "why are you asking for rap in a mostly rock store?") he typed in my request into the all-knowing inventory search engine and no result came up.  With just the two-letter word "n-o" my hopes and dreams were crushed.  Of course I could have requested an order but I decline, half the reason was not to make his job any more annoying (damn you submissive asian upbringings!) and the other half was because I wasn't even sure if my mom would allow it (again i repeat...damn you submissive asian upbringings!).

Sorry for this horribly long rant.  Please do not misinterpret; all of the stores I've mentioned are not terrible.  Both of the stores in the city (one was called Rebel Rebel...i forgot the other one...) have large varieties of music and Rebel Rebel DOES have rare, hard-to-get, albums.  I mean the small cramped space is just a paradise of vinyl records...it just didn't have the albums i was looking for....And  the other store had the most awesome fat cat in the world (I'll try to post my camera picture of it.).  And Kinokuniya delivers nostalgia to any Japanese immigrant and tickles the fancy of any Japanphile (me included) with it's selection of Japanese books, stationary, magazines and novelties. And Barnes and noble is good in its own large bookstore chain way (although I prefer Borders). So thank you, whoever you are, for sitting through this crazy rant.  If there is anyone XD

~Zeeta

Spotted in Helsinki's lower east side...

NO! I'm not gonna talk like Gossip Girl (confession: I used to watch Gossip Girl. But then its drama went way beyond my limit. it was getting way too ridiculous).

Since yesterday I posted about ganguro, here is a picture of manba style (a form of ganguro), found, guess where....

(c) hel-looks

HELSINKI! actually i believe that the two cities (Helsinki and Tokyo) have some stylistic similarities.  Maybe that's because both cities (if not countries) have large range of styles and many individuals that aren't scared shitless of expressing themselves.  

HOLY MOLEY! boy you better brush up on your amateur japanese

and it took me this long to figure out....
Ganguro, for those who don't know, is/was (i'm not sure about its popularity now) a fashion trend in Japan in which girls overly tan their faces (probably with some really heavy bronzer), dye their hair orange or blonde (though multicolored hair seems to be catching on) and (usually) wear extremely noticeable white eye (and sometimes lip) makeup.  Outfit-wise, there are different types of ganguro (for example plush animal footsie pajamas/ kirugumi ) but mostly they wear loud, colorful clothes with cutesy accessories (and apparently sarongs?)

                                                         

 first (c) alis-anime's blog, second and third (c) widelec.

Excuse me if some of my information is incorrect.  Y'see, although my brain stored some information on ganguro (due to my japanese street fashion obsession.  another story for another day) I'm not extremely knowledgeable in this specific subculture (I confess I had to do some google-ing...).  This is not gonna be some post explaining to Westerners some asian fad (there's a bunch of these posts all over the web), just an observation/revelation that was made during my US History class.  Ironic huh?

So how does this exactly connect with US History?  Well, during our discussion of 1920's culture (by the way, BEST ERA IN AMERICAN HISTORY EVER!), the topic of blackface came up.  Well more like one kid asked if some black guy was used 'blackface' (well, although it was mostly white actors that used the method, black actors had their skin darkened with tar to look blacker), then my teacher went into a brief history of blackface and then ended up with the japanese subculture.  Then my mind stopped abruptly for a second and rewinded a little.  Was she talking about....GANGURO???  GANGURO WAS A MODERN FORM OF BLACKFACE? (which became obvious when I just recently researched the topic.  gan= face [apparently], kuro= black. gan+ kuro= ganguro) And that's when I went into a rambling spitfire of my limited knowledge of the topic (aka shouting something along the lines of "You mean the ones that have the really tan faces? And really white makeup?" sounding like some geek).

Before you go on saying "Hold on a sec! Are these asians a bunch of racists?!" this form of 'blackface' (unlike the original's blatant political incorrectness) is actually a form of flattery.  How? The Japanese have an uncanny affinity towards America.  Or things that seem 'American'.  And for some reason (according to my history teacher), these chicks somehow related African Americans to being "Americans" (in the words of my history teacher they even wore "ghetto clothing").  Since an ethnically Japanese person isn't usually born with dark skin they did the next best thing: imitate it by buying mass consumption of bronzer and integrating heavy tanning to their routines.  And Voila!  A trend is born!

~zeeta

p.s. how do you like them apples?  a little bit of (rather amateur-ish) sociology go along with your healthy breakfast of apple jacks!

p.p.s. did I ever tell you I'm interested in sociology?

p.p.p.s. and did I tell you my sense of humor is a bit strange?

not your grandpa's jazz

I know, cliche title right?
This post is probably five months late, since I only found this out on Sunday, but I'm going to do it anyway! Soil & "Pimp" Sessions' latest album, 6, came out 9/16 last year (two days before my birthday!). From what I found on their album 6 youtube channel I've only heard two songs. Here's one of them:




Pop Korn, like many of their other 'works' (note my proper usage of jazz lingo =9) is mostly instrumental. I like how they focus on the virtuosity of the musician rather than a vocalist. The saxophone sounds very raw but suprisingly not out of tone which complements perfectly with the trumpet's slightly brighter timbre. The piano in the work is used as both a member of the rhythm section and a 'soloist', showing the listen the piano player's mastery. The drumming is a tad bit heavy, but no way oaflike, which gives the song a more edgy feel. However, the work is overall upbeat and makes you want to jump up dance. It kind of reminds you of one of those montages of some chic and whimsical spy chase, like a mr. fox-like character escaping from the police and vivacious, neon-lighted downtown area. I can imagine some cool cat artsy individuals dancing like they do in Charlie Brown specials (in a cool way, not like dorks) ushering some modern Jazz Age (haha I've been reading too much F. Scott Fitzgerald. and we're learning about the roaring twenties in US history right now). I mean you just look at them (the musicians), they're even dancing, jamming out, having an awesome time. I hear that their lives are AMAZIIIIIING!!! I wanna go to one. My only criticism is that I can't hear the bass. It sort blends in with the piano and the way the bass players enthusiastically sways to the beat, it seems like it would sound interesting.


So overall? This song: fun, whimsical, upbeat, addicting, AWESOME! I should know; I was listening to this nonstop while bs-ing my anton chekhov essay! HOORAY!
~zeeta
p.s. btw aren't these guys a bunch of cool cats? they got style (if i do say so myself), they got swag (check out motoharu's [the sax player] moves) and their pvs are pretty awesome.