Eastern Youth
"What Can You See From Your Place" CD (Five One, Inc.)
Edgy, angular, post-prefix-core from Japan (and sung in Japanese). It has an emo breakdown edge to it and would probably sound really pretty to people who like their emo to have a delicate feel about with something resembling singing ... with appropriate cracking as the vocalist begins to strive for registers which are beyond his range. It's an odd and interesting fusion - there's a definite influence of Japanese pop and traditional music here, particularly in the vocal expression, but the music seems to stem pretty solidly from the D.C. scene in the middle of the 1990s. Regardless, a few interesting stylistic deviances or variances from an already shitty genre norm aren't enough to make a good album.