Samurai Punk Rock Girls! ROAR!!

I have a some what serious question/problem. People like punk rock. Let’s be honest, every now and then we all love to hear a song with three chords and pretty simplistic lyrics sung at a fast speed. People also like girls (I’m pretty sure I don’t have to elaborate). So why is it that most people seem to so furiously hate girl punk rock bands (or girl bands in general)? What exactly have women done to merit them such distrust and disgusts when it comes to music that doesn’t fall within the typical women boundaries? Is it that people automatically assume that all women bands are going to try and imitate their male counter parts or just plain suck? Look The Donnas do not speak for every all female band, and not all female fronted punk acts are trying to rip off The Distillers. I agree, those bands are bad, but how come they get to act as a gauge for every other woman in these genres of music? What’s more are we not aware that there are just as many (if not more) crappy all male or male fronted bands as those with females? How is it that a group who are responsible for so many shitty bands gets to so easily pass judgment on a significantly smaller and less exposed group? Seriously this drives me insane.

Yeah, ponder on that for a minute… That was a little off topic, but has long been something that I have wanted to address in a public manner and since I am a coward and wouldn’t say most of this in person I figured the internet was a great place to vent/bitch.

Now onto that music. Incase it wasn’t clear the band I wanted to talk about today is all female and play some mighty fine music (punk rock to be exact). Their name is Akiakane, they hail from Japan, they are self titled samurai punk rock girls (come on, that’s adorable and you know it), and they have got a new CD called Kasumisou coming out next week that is going to rock your face off.
The CD, Kasumisou, is in short, 45 minutes of pure fun. Akiakane have you hooked right from the start and refuse to let go until that last note has completely faded out. The CD starts off with the a fast pop punk ditty called Uncle Sam, that could sound like a thousand other songs except for the fact that the women of Akiakane know just how to dodge the cliche traps of punk rock and put their own spin on things. From there Akiakane kind of down shift gears and slow things down a bit with the bubbly and equally fun song Tepee which features a guitar and bass line that are bound to be stuck in your head for days. The next track is pretty meh in my book as Clover features some pretty yucky yelling, but is quickly made up for with a sweet song called 1945 (guess what it is about) that is longer than most everything else on the CD but still manages to carry that same feel and energy. From there things pretty much set into routine for the rest of the CD as all following tracks are pretty short punk rock “anthem” songs. What I mean by that is you are going to have a hard time not bobbing your head/pumping your fist/shouting lyrics/or doing what ever you typically do when you rock out.
In my book this is a CD with few flaws, but there is one thing that is kind of important to mention. There are a few songs sung entirely in Japanese, and those in English are not always the easiest things in the world to follow. If you are like me, lyrics are usually a pretty big deal when you are listening to a song and I was little annoyed the first time I listened to Kasumisou and could not understand most of what was being said. While this is not an ideal situation, it’s something I’ve gotten used to, and the pure energy and sound of Moe’s voice make up for this short coming in my opinion.
That is all, Kasumisou is available to buy over at Asian Man Records or itunes. If you are not a fan of ordering things off the internet then Kasmuisou will be out in really cool records stores May 9. Take Care!

Akiakane – Uncle Sam [my favorite]
Akiakane – Hanamichi
Akiakane – I’m not Down

-Alex

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