Downy - the best japanese band that youve never heard of

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=3B487F221583F3AD

http://www.myspace.com/downyband

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/list_from_code_banner.html?key=27286

Meanwhile, it appears they have broken up, according to this post (wait a minute... Red Ruin... that's you!), but I can't quite follow who's been doing what: the singer has been/is in Eksperimentoj, but also in Dhal, which seems to be a one off project (or is it? and doesn't that description mean Aoki isn't a member of Eksperimentoj?) and the other members have been in other bands as well see here.

(I just get ????'s everywhere, so I can't tell whether downy has actually broken up or not and what happened to them all - can anyone confirm/deny any of this?)

http://www.redruin.com/2006/02/06/eksperimentoj-solaris-japan/

They're recording album 5 btw

oh fuck i love this band

radiohead comparisons always felt off to me. for one the rhythm section of this band is totally nuts

Updates from the studio @ http://twitter.com/#!/aokirobin (in Japanese though)

There was always a nagging feeling that something in the vocals on Mokuren reminded me of something else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wishtr0sfE

and years later, I think I found what it reminds me of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLMoDU9Tl_E

(lo and behold, now I'm google Downy + This Heat, I find out Downy have covered This Heat's Paper Hats on a 2005 compilation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eupxFVKj9QM

http://www.downy-web.com/news/news1.html

Excellent, I love these dudes

yesssssssssssss

So, um, yeah - this is what's on the label's page about the album : http://1fct.net/archives/7298

The Google translation is only slightly less readable than an XGau review: boned entanglement.

"New album of nine years after the long-awaited revival downy ! hiatus period !

Sound hard sharp that tension taut leads .
Acoustic own encapsulating innovation to stimulate the mental scenery is unique .
It is the birth name of the board that carved a new history without compromise .

To fuse it to face . Sound image abstracts with personality comb each , are concocting without waste or tangles vocal and installation of individual sharp texture . Vocals full of originality in the transience pushing which is clad in lyrics ideological abstract . Exchange of guitar phrases and drumming of strange time not even have time to breath are continuous in the thrilling , wall of sound that carved in the complex rhythm and riff -conscious freely regulation is improvisation application ambient basis somewhere . How the interplay goes Une me over and over again in the thread of rhythm rather than boned entanglement , the impression that come from beyond the distant horizon . Sound making a sharp based around rhythm . Minimalist rhythm that is configured dense is speculative , such as reminiscent of the landscape desolate
There is the abyss . In addition , the amplitude of the sound while centric lyricism in lyrical , intense attack also combines the dramatic dynamic . Merged with a novel sense of beat , the configuration of power electronics sound show by drawing a soundscape flexible is the best part .

It is the restart felicity Label the first artist downy, long-awaited ."

(I think I meant slightly more readable, but anyway)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1axFkQlF4o

(the title is "Spring & Carnage" as far as I can find)

The album's out in Japan -> https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/di-wu-zuo-pin-ji-wu-ti/id738416245

ffffff all right

oh excellent i found it

well this is just straight up shooting me in the face out the gate

um, is that a good thing? :-)

Videoclip for track 5+6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydy9xpvA1P8

Does this mean they're releasing a live album or studio album 6 in September? -> http://www.downy-web.com/news/

I think it announces a new album and a release show?

which holy shit

Yes! new album. http://1fct.net/releases/pecf-1140

(not-very-helpful Google translation)

+ albums 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been remastered in 2014

Trailer movie for album 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhGr_R9nEQk

Album is out in two days - videoclip for the first track ( 凍る花 - "flowers freeze" ?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osjxvvuStCQ

The album's out!

Interview Robin Aoki / Taigen Kawabe from Bo Ningen : http://www.brownnoiseunit.com/interviews/downy-x-bo-ningen-the-untitled-6-interview/

whoa the album's on spotify!!!!

well this sure is a downy album. it's great

36 minutes? :(

As usual, it'll probably take me a couple of listens to fully get into (5 only clicked after a couple of months and now I don't understand what I didn't get about it initially)

https://www.last.fm/music/downy/+shoutbox

Their guitarist died in march

and album 6 still hasn't clicked for me yet

oh that's a huge bummer

working on 7th!

downy 7thアルバムのドラムREC終了！
凄まじい曲たちが仕上がって来ています。
身に余る光栄に震えつつも絶対に良い作品にするんだという気合いに満ちております。

ようやく行けたハジメさんのスタジオも素晴らしかったです。
ルームチューニングとATC+Subが本当に良い。
ここでミックスもやりたい… pic.twitter.com/0bomd5Exis

— K C (@KKKKKCCCCC) September 24, 2019

(drums are recorded, it's a great studio, etc) - I only have google translate to go on

they started mixing on New Year's Day btw (

#Repost @aokirobin with @get_repost
・・・
2020年のdownyは
MIX作業からスタート。
元旦からやってましたが
皆で集まると良いアイデアが出て
楽しいですね！

結成20年なんですってよ！
半分休んでたけど。。笑

今年もよろしくお願いします。#downy pic.twitter.com/1jOr4bsdLX

— 青木ロビン (@aokirobin) January 7, 2020

important news on Feb 5th -

今年結成20周年を迎えるdowny。

2月5日（水）正午に大事なお知らせがございます。#downyband pic.twitter.com/Xtr8IKgXPc

— downy (@downy_official) January 31, 2020

Yes!

http://downy-web.com/7/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDtKHzKVl94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZqpXh0lftY

They've been playing it 20 times after each other on Youtube today and it's more immediately accessible than the last one IMO - sounds great.

oh, i'm enjoying this a lot, i haven't kept up with them/didn't realize they were still around (basically i only know them from their cover of This Heat's paperhats)

a track from the live stream you can buy tickets for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUcVqjyJJR0

sometimes I think they just get too complicated for their own good but then other times I hear the exact same song and it all comes together. Weird.

they're selling the live show on a USB stick (order before Jan 9th, probably not shipping outside of Japan) + download - see text below this new clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqdmpoZAt9c

ooh, they ARE shipping outside of Japan (it says 800 yen shipping) - even though the about page of their shop still says they don't

nevermind, no international shipping after all.

you can supposedly buy the download on the official merch store except it doesn't accept my zip code, my phone number format or my credit card (just a regular mastercard that works everywhere else) :(

I complained a bit and now us foreign scum can buy the download!

https://downy.bandcamp.com/album/amazarashi-no-tsuki-wo-miteiru-video-collection

3 singles were released this year - the third link is the EP that compiles all three + two remixes

2022.04.06 https://friendship.lnk.to/Depletion_re
2022.04.27 https://friendship.lnk.to/PassingShower
2022.06.29 https://friendship.lnk.to/wheezing

and Aoki Robin has a new band, zezeco. Debut album Shinsei came out in January:

https://linktr.ee/zezeco

(Sanzen is the album's name, don't know where I got that Shinsei then)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkK3c8ZHHn8

March,2025
8th full album (untitled)

Hm, a little underwhelmed after two listens, it's like a slightly low-energy Zazen Boys, I can't look at that AI business, it is hideous.

I usually get into their new stuff after a while, so I don't know yet. Maybe it's going to make more sense in the context of the whole album. (somehow I have the same experience with autechre - do I even like them anymore if it's this much effort? But then it clicks and I do)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG1ROjXripk

this 2020 concert is still sold on bandcamp but it's now free on youtube as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfplpBX40LE

setlist:

01. コントラポスト - Kontoraposuto
02. 葵 - Aoi
03. guddo nyūzu
04. stand alone
05. 視界不良 - shikai furyō
06. ゼラニウム - zeraniumu
07. 凍る花 - kōru hana
08. 春と修羅 - haru to shura
09. 砂上、燃ユ。残像 - Dune, Scatter. Persistence of Vision
10. 海の静寂 - umi no shijima
11. 左の種 - hidari no tane
12. 㬢ヲ見ヨ！- Asahi wo miyo!
13. 弌 - Yi
14. 猿の手柄 - Saru no tegara
15. 安心 - anshin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD3qdb_9_2A

the 8th album is out: https://friendship.lnk.to/8th_untitled_downy

thanks for the heads up! love these guys but new releases tend to fall off my radar :)