As Yet Untitled Mortality

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As many of you may have noticed, there's a lot of mortality going around Buck-Tickistan these days. Luckily, it's the kind we can get behind! For those of you who don't read Japanese, an update on all the news:

I.

As Yet Untitled Album is still untitled as yet, but the release date has now been officially scheduled for November 11th, also known in Japan as Pocky Day, due to the date 11/11 greatly resembling a pack of sticks of Pocky. (Peter Pecker snacked a pack of sticks of Pocky, say it ten times fast!) The album will contain twelve tracks, including "Yume" and "Pain Drop."

As usual, the album will come in two editions. The limited edition will come housed in "rich and magnificent" packaging, and will include a DVD which, according to the announcements, will contain "special film contents," so from now until the time of release you can feel free to speculate that "special" in katakana means "all your fangirl dreams come true." Yume yume you may dream, as they say. Perhaps the pain drop is what happens to the dream upon waking. The limited edition of the album will cost 5400 yen including tax, so start saving your yennies!

The regular edition of the album will not include any special bonus features, just a case with the CD in it, so if you're more of the minimalist type who's totally over it, this is probably the edition for you. The regular edition will cost 3240 yen including tax.

If you are still interested in applying for my Mortal Offer (see this post) for the purchase of Spirit and As Yet Untitled Album, send me an email to themadaristocrat at gmail right away!

II.

The Mortal will be featured on the cover of the November editions of two major music magazines, Massive and Ongaku to Hito. The November edition of Ongaku to Hito will be released on October 5th and cost 750 yen, while the November edition of Massive will be released on October 13th, and cost 1350 yen. If you would like to order either magazine through Cayce, please email me at themadaristocrat at gmail.

III.

While we were led to believe back in July that The Mortal would only be playing three shows during their inaugural November tour, they have now announced that they will be playing two additional gigs, as below:

Monday, November 16th at Namba Hatch in Osaka

Thursday, November 19th at Shinkiba Studio Coast in Tokyo

Furthermore, unlike the previously announced gigs at Orix Theater and NHK Hall, which are seated gigs, the gigs at Namba Hatch and Studio Coast will be STANDING gigs (see our Japanese Concert Guide for more info on seated vs. standing gigs.) Amp up the excitement accordingly!

Tickets for the standing gigs will cost 6300 yen (including tax, excluding fees), and will go on general sale on Saturday, November 7th at 10AM through all major ticket outlets including Ticket Pia, Lawson Ticket and eplus.

Update: according to Fish Tank's latest email bulletin, there will in fact be a Fish Tank presale for these tickets after all. So rest easy, Fish Tankers!

However, there will be no Fish Tank presales for tickets to these additional performances. Instead, to enter the presale lottery for tickets to these two shows, fans must purchase a copy of the Spirit mini-album. Each copy of Spirit will contain an application ticket for the presale lottery. The lottery closes at 2PM on October 20th, so be sure to get your copy of Spirit as fast as you can!

For those of you who ordered copies of Spirit via The Mortal Offer and would like us to apply for tickets to the standing gigs on your behalf, please contact us directly for details.

For those of you who did not purchase copies of Spirit through us but would still like our help in ordering tickets through general admission sales, again, contact us directly for details.

IV.

As part of their very nearly annoyingly too-savvy marketing campaign, The Mortal will be offering various free goodies to fans who purchase copies of their debut mini album Spirit. Fan who purchase copies of Spirit from Tower Records will receive a limited edition bonus sticker, while fans who purchase copies of Spirit from other outlets will receive a free limited edition poster. Regardless of purchase outlet, all copies of Spirit will contain application tickets for the standing gigs. However, only copies of Spirit purchased at designated Tower Records stores will contain application tickets for the Tower Records in-store event.

Therefore, if you ordered a copy of Spirit via The Mortal Offer but would like to receive the bonus poster as well, you will need to order a second copy of the album. If you are interested, contact us asap.

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And that's all for now, folks. But expect more soon.

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Oh Your Spirit Lies in Dust...

So, for those of you who hadn't heard, our crystal ball voodoo fortune teller prediction for the three cover songs on The Mortal's debut EP were as follows:

1) A cover of "Spirit," by Bauhaus.

2) A cover of a song originally sung by a female vocalist.

3) A cover of a song nobody thought Mr. Sakurai would cover.

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And now, friends, the track list has been announced, as follows:

01. Pain Drop

02. Spirit (Bauhaus cover)

03. Shadow of Love (The Damned cover)

04. Cities in Dust (Siouxsie and the Banshees cover)

05. Yume

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Interestingly, the covers of "Shadow of Love" and "Cities in Dust" will have lyrics in Japanese, written by Mr. Sakurai, possibly with the help of a translator...or then again, possibly not, since the man speaks English surprisingly well.

Unless you thought it likely that Mr. Sakurai would cover a song by The Damned, we believe our prediction gets full marks here!

If you would like us to read your tea leaves or tarot, please queue to the left. The cost of a reading starts at 3000 yen plus a shot of whiskey. The whiskey only makes our readings more accurate, so have no fear of drunken miscalculations.

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Now, to move on to the educational section of our program!

For those of you who never graduated from goth school (I'm looking at YOU, Anonymous Genesis-Snogger) - 

THIS IS BAUHAUS.



BAUHAUS ARE VERY IMPORTANT. (They will also be on the test, so take notes!)

Why are Bauhaus important? For one thing, they are band who more or less started the goth movement. And for another, their vocalist, Peter Murphy, is one of the main figures who inspired Mr. Sakurai to wander down the dark and spooky road less traveled that he has since traveled almost constantly since that fateful day.

Let's not mention the part where Hamlet Machine (otherwise known as one of those other bands that Batman I mean Issay started while Der Zibet were busy having ego-measuring contests with each other and going on a thirteen-year hiatus) already covered the song "Spirit" for the Japanese Bauhaus tribute album entitled Satori - A Tribute to Bauhaus, which was released in 1998, when many of you were not even born yet. Let's also not mention the part where Issay was basically the other guy who inspired Mr. Sakurai to follow the dark and spooky road to Gothdom via Transylvania (to pick up some custom spider-spun clothes along the way). Actually, never mind, we might as well mention it, since this album is clearly a major tour of Sakurai's gnarly, twisted old Black Forest tree roots, and at age almost-fifty, he's certainly earned it.

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And this is The Damned, who are also indisputably one of the major acts of the early goth movement. Fangirls, if you thought Mr. Sakurai was a vampire prince, this ought to be all the proof you need that you're wrong.

THIS is what a vampire prince looks like, my friends. Pay close attention, this will also be on the test!



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But for us, the most significant choice of song in this list is the third one: "Cities In Dust," possibly the greatest hit ever of Siouxsie and the Banshees, off the album Tinderbox, of which Sakurai has long admitted to being a fan. The band themselves dismissed this album as far from their best work - founding members Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin never stopped ragging on the guitar work of John Valentine Carruthers, who played guitar on this album - but for anyone who likes the sound of hollow, jangly chords and tight arpeggios, every minute is pure beauty. Echoes of this album can be heard all over Buck-Tick's work, not least of which in "Not Found" (check out the Banshees' "Cannons" to see what I mean!) so if you've never heard it before, I strongly urge you to give Tinderbox a listen.

But that's beside the point.

The point is, Mr. Sakurai has done it again: he's decided yet again to cover a song originally sung by a female vocalist...and what a female vocalist she is, too!

Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is Siouxsie Sioux, also known as the Ice Queen (long before Elsa!) and the Godmother of Goth (forevermore!)

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She's androgynous...

She has great taste in hats and ties...

She gives exactly zero fucks about your fear of nipples...

She is sensual...

She could probably keep up with Mr. Sakurai in a drinking contest...

She's in ur country, appropriatin' ur culture...

She was probably the model for the model in the background visuals for "Yasou" on the Yumemiru Uchuu hall tour...(courtesy of the The Night Porter...)

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Plus, she is so fabulous, she has ALL the waffles.

Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot touch Siouxsie Sioux. You simply cannot touch her. 

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And THIS is Cities in Dust. If you haven't seen it already, watch it. And if you've already seen it, watch it again. And if you've already watched it again, watch it again and and again and again.

And if you think Mr. Sakurai can seriously manage to pull of a sexier version of this song than the original, well then...you have a lot of faith in Mr. Sakurai. But I will stand by what I've said before: the two of them should really be doing it as a duet. If any lady vocalist can keep up with Mr. Sakurai, it's Siouxsie Sioux. Though in all likelihood, he would be on the floor at her feet, begging to be stepped on.

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In conclusion: we called it...so what are you waiting for? Call us up for your next prediction!

In fact, we called it so hard that we're now seriously regretting we didn't bother to predict that Sakurai would write another song with "Yume" in the title...after "Yumeji," "Yumemiru Uchuu," "Mugen" and "Muma," we ought to all be amazed that this is actually the first song he's ever written that's simply titled "Yume."

So bravo, Mr. Sakurai. The great thing about dreams is, they're free, and they're different every night so you don't have to worry about self-plagiarism...

...or maybe not.

Perhaps every single night, Mr. Sakurai dreams of Ms. Sioux stepping on him with her shiny bootheels. The other song is called "Pain Drop," after all.

Even so, if so, we can't say we blame him.

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This is Cayce squeeing my friends.

Take a good long hard look right now because you'll probably never see it again...unless, that is, Siouxsie herself turns up as a guest on the tour.

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Oh yeah, and if you want to hear several seconds of random screechy incomprehensible noise that baby Siouxsie in the 70's would have been proud of, then watch the Spirit trailer, below.

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Aaaand...the album artwork.