Call And Response Records profile picture

Call And Response Records

About Me


Hyacca: "Sashitai"
Eclectic and eccentric post-punk band from punk rock city Fukuoka, drawing on a wide variety of influences and bringing it all together seamlessly with a rush of energy and immediacy.
Mir: "This Tiny World"
Tokyo-based new wave/post-punk trio whose melodic yet darkly twisted pop sound recalls bands such as Joy Division, Young Marble Giants, Neu! and Stereolab.
V/A: "Post Flag"
Post Flag is a compilation album that takes UK post-punk band Wire's debut album, Pink Flag, and gathers 21 underground bands from all across Japan to cover the whole album track by track. Includes songs by Mir and Hyacca, of course, as well as underground luminaries such as Panicsmile, Yolz in the Sky, Totsuzen Danball, Fluid, Ishibashi Eiko and more.
Label history:
The www.clearandrefreshing.jp web site was started in 2003 covering live music in the Tokyo area as well as album and single reviews. This proved boring so a year later we moved onto putting on small, largely genre-free live events that no one came to because they were small and largely genre-free. As a result of this we made lots of friends, met a stackload of great bands and their associated alcoholic hangers-on, and a fabulous time was had by all. In 2005 Clear And Refreshing gave birth to Call And Response records, whose first compilation of Tokyo DIY music is out now. 2006 saw a string of live dates and a short UK tour as well as a radical emptying of C.A.R.'s wallet. In 2007 we released a remastered version of Fukuoka band Hyacca's excellent debut album "Sashitai" as well as Tokyo band MIR's fantastic "This Tiny World" and in 2008 put out "Post Flag", a compilation of Japanese underground artists covering UK post-punk band Wire's debut album "Pink Flag" in its entirity.
C.A.R.'s CDs are available at CD shops throughout Japan.
Bands we've worked with:
Abikyokan, Agolay Culkin, Alan Smithee's Mad Universe, And About Hers, Artificial Lover, Ato (r.i.p.), Audipop, Basement Park Is, Binary Kidd, Bonzo's, Buchibuchi2, Clisms, Cottonioo, Deracine, Do The Boogie (r.i.p.), Drive To The Forest In A Japanese Car, Elevation, emulsion, Eri Makino, Farmer, Folk Enough, Frottage, Guerilla Television, Her, Hyacca, Inkakugoten, Kitsch Hitori Gakudan, Lender, The Meatballs, Miami, Mir, The Mookees, Mosquito, Moth, Motocompo, Non-poli Radical, Pia Pias, Pink Group, Praha Depart, Randy And The Pyramids, Saladabar, Shoot My Disco, Skyfisher, Sooty, The Students, T.V.I.V. (r.i.p.), Tacobonds, Techma!, That's A No No!, Tokyo Pinsalocks, Tropen, Uhnellys, Umibachi, Usagi Spiral A, The Warm, Won?, Worst Taste, Yolz In The Sky

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 13/08/2005
Band Website: www.clearandrefreshing.jp
Influences: Wire, Department S, Monochrome Set, Stereolab, Neu!, Spacemen 3, Julian Cope/Teardrop Explodes, Super Furry Animals, Plastics, 13th Floor Elevators, Ultravox, The Associates, Chocolate Watchband, Limited Express (Has Gone?), Fad Gadget, Silicon Teens, Monks, Music Machine, XTC, Roxy Music, Mighty Lemon Drops, Faust, DAF, Dr. Feelgood, Polysics, The (Hypothetical) Prophets, Josef K, The Fall, Panic Smile, Boredoms, Shonen Knife, Halcali, Natsumen/Boat, Pluxus, Andreas Tilliander, Guided By Voices, Slayer, Young Marble Giants, Yello, Der Plan, Liaisons Dangereuses, Sisters Of Mercy, Incredible Strings Band, Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band, Regular Fries, Earl Brutus, The Creation, 1910 Fruitgum Co., Skyfisher, Kraftwerk, La Dusseldorf, Afrirampo, Raincoats, Television Personalities, Kate Bush, Clearlake, Beach Boys, OMD, P-Model, Juicy Fruits, YMO, Hikashu, Can, Depeche Mode, Big Audio Dynamite, Yamaguchi Momoe, Francoise Hardy, Chantal Goya, France Gall, Serge Gainsbourg, Immediate Records, Stiff Records, Mute Records.
Sounds Like: A bunch of Japanese people with expensive equipment and a lot of time on their hands making uncomfortably synthetic, yet strangely soulful noises.
Record Label: Call And Response Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Telephone Club -- March 19th

The second of Call And Response's new live event "Telephone Club" is nearly upon us. Taking a slightly more melodic path than the last one, it will feature a selection of new wave and indie music from...
Posted by on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:47:00 GMT

27 Feb 2009 Telephone Club event videos

A few videos from some of the bands at Call And Response Records' Telephone Club event at Koenji Roots on 27 Feb 2009.tacobonds: BPM4 tacobonds: Fiction Zibanchinka: Do¨óÉì¹...
Posted by on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:07:00 GMT

Post Flag reviewed in Sweden

There's a review of Post Flag on the web site of Swedish fanzine Lukinzine. It's all in Swedish, natch, but they gave it 8/10 so presumably they like it.I think it can be summarised as something along...
Posted by on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:54:00 GMT

Koenji Pop Festival 2008 Videos

Some videos showcasing a small selection of the bands at the 2008 Koenji Pop Festival. Enjoy!Shiro Polygonum Mir
Posted by on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:33:00 GMT

12/6 Koenji Pop Festival - UPDATE

The Koenji Pop Festival is ready to go. Some changes from the flyer with a couple of new acts added and unfortunately Her had to pull out due to events beyond their control. Instead, Naruse from Audip...
Posted by on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:57:00 GMT

Koenji Pop Festival ’08 UPDATE

Another addition to the line-up of this year's Koenji Pop Festival at Koenji Penguin House on Saturday December 6th will be the lovely Candles (it really is impossible to mention their name without pr...
Posted by on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:03:00 GMT

10/26 Switched On! videos and pictures

Videos of the most recent Switched On! event are up now on C.A.R.'s YouTube channel and photos are up on our Flickr account. Enjoy the new wave and technopop fun retroactively! Hazel Nuts Cho...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 06:14:00 GMT

Koenji Pop Festival 08 -- December 6th!

This year's Koenji Pop Festival is happening a bit later than usual since the Post Flag release events sort of overwhelmed my September schedule, so I decided to put it off until December 6th.As usual...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:35:00 GMT

Post Flag - Wire covers album (Part 6 - Final)

This is the last installment of Call And Response's journey through Post Flag, our album covering Wire's legendary debut album track by track, featuring 21 of the most wonderful underground artists in...
Posted by on Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:52:00 GMT

Post Flag - Wire covers album (Part 5)

Just a week and a bit to go before the Post Flag release party and with one more post on this bog to finish the rundown of tracks on the album. I was at a gig at Koenji 20000V the other week and someo...
Posted by on Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:36:00 GMT