Call And Response

Bio:

Hyacca: "Hanazono"
Ultra-tight follow-up to Sashitai, which takes the sound of its predecessor, cranks up the speed and intensity, and zaps it with post-punk electricity.


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.


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.


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.

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

Member Since:

August 13, 2005

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