Artists

くるり (Quruli)

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Quruli packs fall release schedule

Source: Bounce.com

Quruli has an ambitious release schedule planned for fall 2005. In addition to the Aug. 24 release of the single “Superstar”, the band will release “Akai Densha” on Sept. 22. “Akai Densha” serves as the theme song for the Tokyo-Yokohama express train. Another single follows in October, titled “Baby I Love You”. Finally in November, Quruli releases its sixth studio album.

Quruli releases new single in August

Source: Bounce.com

Quruli will release a new single, titled “Superstar”, on Aug. 24. The single is the first new work since the release of “Birthday” six months ago. The band’s official website states audiences can expect to hear new songs during Quruli’s summer festival appearances. Quruli will also embark on a one-man live tour starting in Sept. 29. The 34-date tour begins in Kyoto and ends in Osaka on Dec. 27.

Quruli end-of-year concert welcomes special guests

Source: Bounce.com

Quruli’s year-end concert on Dec. 28 at Nakano Sampler has a special guest — Cocco. The concert, dubbed “Quruli, Umi e Kaeru”, finds singer-guitarist Kishida Shigeru and bassist Satoo Seiji joined by drummer Dai Taroo (FEED), guitarist Hirohisa Horie (Neil & Irizia) and Cocco performing under the name Singer Songer. Cocco’s collaboration with Kishida on a remake of her song “Sing a Song ~No Music, No Life” made way for the new band. Tickets for the concert go on sale Dec. 11.

Drummer leaves Quruli

Source: Bounce.com

Drummer Christopher Maguire is leaving Quruli at the end of October, the band announced on its web site. Main songwriter Kishida Shigeru, writing in his online journal, cited creative differences as the reason for Maguire’s departure. Percussionist Dai Taroo, who supported Quruli in 2002 and on its first American tour, takes over as a support musician.

Quruli releases live DVD in September

Source: Bounce.com

Quruli will release a DVD on Sept. 22 documenting its most recent nationwide tour. The 45-date tour, which lasted from March 30 to June 18, saw the band playing 29 different venues, ranging from Zepp Class standing hall to Budokan martial arts arena. Each band member was interviewed along the way. In July, Quruli released a video clip compilation, Kurukuru Sushi, 1998-2004.

Tuned in

Eclecticism has always been an important component to Quruli’s sound, but it’s often gotten in the way of the band’s songwriting as it has helped it.

On Team Rock and Zukan, the band veered between four-on-the-floor beats and rocking guitars. Perhaps the most unwieldy exercise of eclecticism can be found on 2002’s The World Is Mine.

Although dark and experimental, the almost ambient album was ultimately inaccessible.

With Antenna, Quruli has gone the other extreme and focused entirely on songcraft — and it’s succeeded.

Antenna is the most coherent album Quruli has recorded yet. Instead of leaping from quirk to quirk, the band instead hammers out one solid guitar-driven song after another.

If anything, there’s a decidedly Celtic feel to most of the songs. “Race” cleverly manages to find a common ground between lilting Celtic rhtyhms and the pentatonic contours of Japanese melodies.

“Morning Paper” veers between drone-like chords and a rock backbeat.

Other times, the band goes for some blues-styled grit without quite indulging in the blues itself. “Home Town” is pretty rugged, while the marching rhythm of “Hana no Mizudeppou” feels distantly folky.

In fact, a lot of cultural cross-pollenation happens on Antenna — it’s never too clear whether you’re listening to something inherently Japanese or European or American.

“Bandwagon”, though, is pretty blatant about being a folk-rock song.

While Antenna may Quruli’s most clever album, it unfortunately lacks something its previous albums didn’t neglect — strong singles.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll” is pretty much the only real single on the album, although the alternate take of “How to Go” sounds far better than the single version released in 2003.

But don’t expect anything on Antenna to rival “Tokyo”, “Wandervogel” or “World’s End Supernova”.

Still, Antenna is Quruli’s strongest album to date. It may not be the catchiest, but it’s definitely the most focused.

Quruli releases first DVD in July

Source: Bounce.com

Quruli is set to release a promo clips DVD on July 21. The DVD covers all the band’s videos from its debut single, “Tokyo”, to its most recent single, “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. With the addition of fan favorite “Sukeibei no Onna”, the disc includes 15 clips in all. Quruli has currently embarked on a one-man summer tour, which ends in June with a performance at Budokan.

Biidoru releases debut album in July

Source: Bounce.com

Indie band Biidoru is set to release its full-length debut, “Hoshi no Hoo kara ~Shoki Biidoru no Kiseki & Shinkyoku Shoki no Kiseki~”, on July 7. Biidoru consists of multi-instrumentalists Aoyagi Takashi, Itoo Michisuke and Satoo Junichi, with drummer Mori Nobuyuki, who left Quruli in 2002, serving as a support musician. The band has so far released three limited edition singles through Tower Records.

Quruli names new album ‘Antenna’

Source: Bounce.com

The title of Quruli’s fifth original album is Antenna, according to the group’s official site. The album is expected to include the two pre-release singles, “How to Go” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Quruli also revealed the titles of other songs to be included on the 10-track album — “Race”, “Good Morning”, “Hanehane Rock” and “Kuroi Tobira”.

Quruli embarks on one-man tour

Source: Bounce.com

Quruli announced the dates of its one-man tour starting in March on its official web site. The “Quruli One Man Tour 2004 — Anshinshiro, Hianna wa Hazushite Aru” begins with a performance in Kyoto on March 30 and ends with a concert at Budokan in June. The 31-date tour is the first Quruli has embarked since recruiting new drummer Christopher Maguire.

Quruli is also tenatively scheduled to perform at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March, and the band has booked a TV appearance on the music program Factory.

Quruli’s fifth studio album hits the stores on March 10.