The LITE EP
Saturday, 18 July 2009 22:58 | 
Author: The Grouch | 
A while back some guys from Tokyo emailed me and asked me to listen to their EP. At first I thought "Oh no - is this going to be a load of J-POP crap?" J-POP, if you don't know tends to be overproduced with image counting more than the music. One staple of any J-POP song worth its salt is the insertion of a random English phrase that may or may not have anything to do with the lyrical content of the song.
Having said that, there are some really good musicians in Japan. Personally I dig the Blue Hearts a lot. Their song Yume (夢) or Dream in English is quite good despite the fact that it was used in a beer commercial. Another band I dig from Japan is called The Sex Machine Guns - I think they are taking a poke at the Pistols. They have a really cool metal song all about the pleasures of a simple life and eating Mikans (Oranges or Tangerines) while sitting at a little table called a Kotatsu . You can hear the Mikan no Uta on my MP3 page.
But I digress - Back to LITE - LITE is NOT J-POP
Technically these guys are really good. As an old drummer I'm impressed with their drummer - the guy rocks. They play well and have obviously put a lot of work into their music.
Of the three songs LITE sent me I think they are most proud of the song Ghost Dance since they sent me a link to the video for that track (See the video below.)
Ghost Dance is typical of the three tracks they sent..
If you like ELP or maybe RUSH you might dig these guys. Personally I wish that they had vocals on at least some of the tracks.
So what is the bottom line? Grouch rating of 2 and 1/2 scowls out of 5 - they are good players. Would I go see them in concert? Perhaps if they were playing just up the street I'd check them out. Would I buy their album? Based on what I've heard so far. No. They are good, its just not really my type of music. (I don't own any Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums either.)
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Last Updated (Saturday, 18 July 2009 23:31)