AURAL VAMPIRE: ELECTRO SYNTHPOP BAND ON TOKYO LOLITA STYLE LABEL.
I find myself at clubs that play electro house (Justice, MSTRKRFT) and it’s the same thing over and over, and I can’t help but wonder – what would happen if the DJ suddenly blasted Malice Mizer’s “Illuminati”? I can only imagine a roomful of club kids wiping their oversized glasses in confusion. But if the DJ were to spin Aural Vampire’s “Innsmouth”… now that would turn the room into Dracula’s ball.
Aural Vampire (yes, it’s a play on “oral”) is a Tokyo duo that churns out the most scrumptious Electropop/Darkwave. Think 80s-influenced female-fronted synth (Ladytron, Metric) with a bite of dark/glam industrial (Rammstein).
The band is on an indie record label called “Tokyo Lolita Style” – three words that can also describe their stage image. With her long, blonde princess hair and cat eyes, singer/lyricist Exo-Chika looks as innocent as Dracula’s Mina Harker. But ask her to say “ahhh” and she’ll bare her blood-sucking canines (like in the video above). Her style is more Gothic than Lolita, as she avoids the frills and girlish silhouettes. Exo-Chika often performs in black armbands, corsets, and garters; her partner Raveman lurks in the back, his face covered by a blood red Jason-esque mask.
Here’s some mandatory listening: nine tracks from Aural Vampire’s 2004 album, “Vampire Ecstasy.” Pump up the jam, switch on the disco ball, bounce around… I know I am!
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VIZ MEDIA TO OPEN GOSURORI J-POP CENTER IN SAN FRANCISCO.
American Gothic Lolita buzz tends to gravitate towards San Francisco, possibly because of the city’s large Japanese population. For a while, there were rumors that Baby, the Stars Shine Bright would be opening a store. Nothing’s come to fruition – but perhaps something grander is on the horizon. A year from now, Viz Media (the Japanese entertainment company that released Kamikaze Girls) will be opening a three-story complex in San Fran’s Japantown. And in a nod to Shinjuku’s Marui Young department store, the second floor will be dedicated to selling Gothic Lolita clothing by your favorite designers.
Behind this venture is Seiji Horibuchi, who founded the Japanese entertainment company Viz Media in 1986. Two years ago, he launched Viz Pictures, which releases live-action features to complement the manga, anime, toys, and related merchandise the parent company already handles.
Horibuchi revealed his plans to open a “J-Pop Center” in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown. The three-story complex will house an expansive café and a 150-seat art house theater specializing in Japanese films. Visitors can buy household goods, food, fashion, toys, magazines, manga, you name it. “We might even have high-tech robots.”
Most exciting for us? The second floor will be dominated by fashion boutiques, just like the ones found in Japan’s Marui department stores (pictured above), with a particular emphasis on Gothic Lolita designs. Horibuchi cites gosurori’s worldwide appeal and calls it “a 21st-century phenomenon.”
No word as to which Lolita brands will be crossing the ocean in 2009-10. But we may as well start saving up for a mega shopping spree in San Fran…
LA CARMINA
