Tokyo Scum Brigade: No Time Like Wasted Time

Where can you go to see vampresses on the warpath, self-made women, noisy mimes, belly dancers, and camels on saxophone? Why, Wasted Time's 7th year anniversary party, of course.

Suzumiki

Singer and trombonist Suzuyakko plays a demon maid let loose from the darkest bowels of Akihabara who embraces the saccharine despair of modern idol culture. Any traces of Moe you feel from her absolute territory or coquettish charm will be washed away in a torrent of backwash as she empties the trombone's spit valve onto the stage. Mikitie, the silent guitarist, keeps his fedora down over his face as if embarrassed, content to let his instrument's popping and slapping do the talking for him.

Their sugarcoated tales of cheating boyfriends, STDs, and murder in cold blood promise to take you to hell with them. Makibishi Around Highway 7, as far as I can tell, is about scattering your ex-lover's dismembered body parts from a speeding car onto the burning asphalt. Boys beware-their final rallying call of B-I-K-I-N-I will whip riot grrls everywhere into a frenzy, ready to stomp your days of heartbreaking into the dirt.

Noro

If the first step towards success is to convince other people of your greatness, then Noro is heading in the right direction. A self produced solo artist, her confident aura commands the stage and her smile has what it takes to sell her homebrewed beats.

Her soundscape guides you through an emotional journey, starting on a phantom train that takes you away from your lover and into upbeat cosmopolitan streets, to watching the stars come out at dusk, and finally to dreams beyond the night sky.

Shoshinz

Why do mimes need microphones? That's the first trick of many that Shoshinz play on your preconceptions. Their entire performance revolves around the bait-and-switch, setting up an obvious gag only to take it in increasingly absurd directions with manic results.

Speechless but not soundless, they communicate in grunts, hiccups, tick-tocks and sneezes. Renegade marionettes escaped from the Three Stooges' toy box, their use of classic slapstick and onstage antics makes you feel like you're watching a lost relic from entertainment's past.

Yasmin

A gypsy peacock in black, Yasmin set the crowd ablaze with her smoldering gaze and fanned the flames with her deliberate, sensuous movements. Her lithe frame vibrated with the violin strings and rippled with every strike upon the drum as she displayed complete mastery over her body, sinking slowly onto the stage like a cobra ready to strike.

There was so much hip shaking that we weren't able to catch any decent shots of this sinuous sidewinder.

Pyramidos

Denizens of the desert took over the stage and turned the club into a Middle Eastern zoo! Arabic raiders and animals spilled over onto the floor, pillaging the audience and kidnapping the womenfolk. It took divine intervention from Safi (Asakusa's full-breasted Kanon) to quell their rampage. And when a belly dancer is the most subdued part of your show, you know you've got a good thing going.

Pyramidos deliver wild stage comedy between casaba-crashing tunes. Ever see someone build a pyramid with a saxophone? Or stop a bullet with band merch? The bassist is normally at the bottom of a band's hierarchy, but even the bassist gets to kick around the tambourine player! Everyone performs their part with a brash, devil-may-care attitude that only youth can afford.

At the end of their set, a trio of special guest percussionists brought down the house with hand drums and castanets. The girls rushed the stage and the audience became a whirlwind of clapping hands and stomping feet moving to the beat. These guys need to put out a CD ASAP, but for the time being you'll have to make do with the recordings on their Myspace.