Opening for Anamanaguchi and Starscream

NES under Xray. Pretty Tight

So Anamanaguchi and Starscream came last night to play a show at Oberlin and fucking killed it. I was really honored to get to open for them and really had a great time. Turned out to be more people there then I expected and Anamanaguchi seemed to have really liked my set. Hopefully I'll get to chill with them in New York when I'm there in January. And brunch with them afterward was really fun. Some really cool guys, definitely don't miss any of their shows.

-J

Anamanaguchi are an 8-bit band from New York city composed of Peter Berkman - Guitar/NES, James DeVito - Bass, Luke Silas - Drums, Ary Warnaar - Guitar/GameBoy, all going to New York University if I'm not mistaken (at least some of them definitely do). They basically combine traditional rock band instruments with I guess what you could call a hacked NES and Gameboy (though from what I was told the gameboy just has a cartridge that does it). So it's got those great 8 bit sounds.

Their show was fucking crazy, people were going nuts. I mean if you just go their myspace and listen to their music you'll understand. Just really up beat stuff, really fun, and the band definitely embodies that light hearted feeling. I was dancing like crazy the whole time.

Helix Nebula - Anamanaguchi, their most famous song, or at least the most played on Myspace. They are supposed to be releasing a new album in the near future and are going on a summer tour, so look out for shows near you.

Get their Album here for free.

Anamanaguchi on Myspace
Anamanaguchi Blog (I stole the top picture from their blog)


Before Anamanaguchi was Starscream another New York based 8 bit band. Unlike Anamanaguchi, Starscream only has a gameboy and a drummer. In some ways this makes their music so much more raw. The band consists of Damon Hardjowirogo and George Stroud, both really cool guys ( I got to really get to know them at brunch when I saw with them).

Their live show was just fucking crazy (though a bit short). I stood on the side next to Pete from Anamanguchi and just marveled at them. Damon has such an amazing stage prescence and he just gets so into it. I just turned to Pete and was like (remember everybody I was sober) they're incredible. He smiled and was like "yeah" and proceeded to tell me the whole story of how they met and started making this music.

These guys are gonna blow up soon, so watch out.

Starscream Myspace

Get the starscream EP for free here.