Barrington and I went to see the Editors a few weeks back at the Melkweg here in Amsterdam. Always ones to check the support act, we arrived early and were hit by a wall of melodic feedback from the moment we entered the main room. We looked up on stage to find that most of the noise was coming from not only a frantic lead guitar (James Hanna), but also a diminutive Japanese lead singer (Yuki Chikudate) bashing away at her synth while seductively cooing into her microphone in a mixture of Japanese and English. We lit up a spliff and sipped on our beers and let Asobi Seksu (Japanese for Sex Play) take us into their ethereal dreamscape daubed across a shoegazer canvas. It is a truly beautiful noise.
It was the first gig of their first European tour as they do the rounds to promote their excellent album 'Citrus'. Full disclosure - I am an avid shoegazer fan. But Asobi Seksu and their new album amount to more to more than just the shoegazer tag. Sure there is My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive references but there's some Stone Roses and Sonic Youth in there to spice it up - and Yuki's dreamy vocals really make their offering something else entirely. James Hanna's axe work is also incredible (check the seriously intense Red Sea for unadulterated guitar abuse).
Below is the clip to their single 'Thursday' directed by So Yong Kim & Bradley Rust Gray. Buy their album or if you can - see them live.
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