Seventh Tarz Armstrong - The Tokyo City Big Nights (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

July 31, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“Japan’s punk/rock music artist Seven Tarz Armstrong is back with another impressive album featuring multiple rock collaborations and more!”

ARTIST: Seventh Tarz Armstrong

ALBUM: The Tokyo City Big Night

LABEL: Cutting Edge

CATALOG #: CTCM 65102/B

DURATION: 35:56

RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

around the night, in NewJK.
t.o.a.s.t Under-Northlake
SiNaGanalWaharf.
i know… [ver. 2, For6.words]
serial numbers of SBvalley.
still life fractal [ver. Hi-CircleTemple.]
en-dless f/River2ChildBall. t/SixTrees.
IKBKR.owl tells westexitpark-syndro-me
goodnight war at 3Cafes.
my feeling feared [ver. Back of FieldsCamp.]
passport, imagination takes offrom Mt.Blue.

DVD: Region 2, DURATION: 5:23

around the night, in NewJK (Music Video)
still life fractal [ver. Hi-CircleTemple.] (Music Video)

Last year’s album debut of Seventh Tarz Armstrong’s “The World is Mine” became my summer album of 2007.

The music featured a more Western rock style that can be comparable to an Avril Lavigne and several other female rockers.

And last year, it wasn’t a surprise since according to the official website and bio of Seventh Tarz Armstrong attended Cal State Bakersfield and learned English in California.

Enjoying the music so much, I researched more and more to find out that Seventh Tarz Armstrong is actually Girl’s Box pop idol Hoshii Nanase’s other identity (common with some solo female artists in Japan most notably Tomosaka Rie, who had another artist identity as Sakamoto Eri).

So, the whole bio of Seventh Tarz Armstrong, not sure if its just a story set around her this persona but nevertheless, both Hoshii Nanase and Seventh Tarz Armstrong are like apples and oranges when comparing both their image and musical styles.

Nevertheless, I would come to think that this identity as Seventh Tarz Armstrong is what Hoshii is comfortable with since she is more of a fan of Shiina Ringo, Radio Head, T.Rex, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Maroon 5 fan and her transition to this new persona fits her much better image-wise and musically.

Personally, it’s cooler, it’s a bit dark, vibrant and just overall kick ass!

So far, Seventh Tarz Armstrong releases have been very cool and I have given each positive reviews and the accompanying DVD’s for her first two mini-EP’s featured an actual two-part film and her last EP titled “7 Shortracks” was interesting because it was mostly tracks primarily songs 1-3 minutes long.

This latest album features multiple musical collaborations with talent from the US, UK and Japan and overall, the music for this album just surpasses the first album in a many ways.

Vocals by Armstrong are more confident and just works overall with the music. Again, the music is very Western in a rock n’ roll sense but manages to keep the Japanese side with Armstrong’s high-pitched vocals.

Similar to previous albums, the majority of the words were written by THE COWBOY BLASTERS and this new album is supported by Fender USA.

As for the titles of the songs, for this album, it appears the titles of the songs came from experiences and in a blog-like style, the CD insert booklet features a diary/blog like style with the title of the song and experiences of that day and its relation to the songs.

The music for the majority of the tracks are upbeat, fast rock-based with a strong emphasis in electric guitar and

The first track “around the night, in NewJK.” features music written by Tim Pagnotta of the California-based rock band SUGARCULT (known for their rock hits “Memory” and “Pretty Girl (The Way)” and Brooke Heller. Pagnotta plays the electric guitar in this track.

The second track “t.o.a.s.t Under-Northlake.” features music written by Fujino Hiroyuki (of clip.). Fujino contributes to electric guitar in this track.

The third track “SiNaGanalWaharf.” features music written by Jez Ashurst (of FARRAH), Richie Wermerling and Ryan Shaw. Jez Ashurst is a singer/songwriter/musician who has done work for Ryan Cabrera and Kimura Kaela. Ashurst contributes musically via electric guitar and bass.

The fourth track “i know….[ver. 2, For6.words]” features music written by MY SUMMER PLAN. This song was originally featured in her last ep “7 Shortracks” but this is version 2. For this track, Yasushi Ishi of My Summer Plan contributes musically via playing the electric guitar, bass and pianoforte.

The fifth track “serial numbers of SBvalley.” features music written by SUGGY (of STRIPE EFFECT and MR. ORANGE). SUGGY contributes musically via electric bass, electric and acoustic guitar.

The sixth track “still life fractal [ver. Hi-CircleTemple.] features music written by Dan Likacinsky (from THE ONE THOUGHT MOMENT). This song is very unique that it’s sung by STA and the band members of The One Thought Moment and also THE COWBOY BLASTERS.

The seventh track “en-diess f/River2ChildBall. t/SixTrees.) featuring music written by Kevin Ridel. This song is probably the most different compared to the other tracks. Where the others are very electric guitar and fast-paced, this track is a bit more mellow and casual.

The eighth track “IKBKR.owl tells westexitpark-syndro-me” featuring music written by Duncan Redmonds (of SNUFF, THE TOY DOLLS, BILLY NO MATES). Duncan Redmonds contributes musically via the drums, electric bass and keyboard. The song is probably my favorite musically and arrangement-wise. The music is just hard hitting and wonderful!

The ninth track “goodnight war at 3Cafes.” features music written by Scott Murphy (of ALLISTER, THE GET GO). Another awesome rockin’ track! Scott Murphy performs all music for this track.

The tenth track “my felling feared [ver. Back of FieldsCamp.]” features music written by Joe (of VIBEDRED).

The eleventh track “passport, imagination takes offrom Mt. Blue.” featuring music written by SIMON. The track is relaxing and mostly acoustic guitar-based in its first half and transitions to a much faster upbeat song during its second half.

The DVD features two music videos for “Around the night, in NewJK.” and “still life fractal [ver. Hi-CircleTemple.]. both music videos are similar with the group performing in a room and frenetic filming, quick transitions on the musicians and vocalist.

The CD insert features the production credits and instead of the lyrics, each song is written in like a diary style of setting but with photos and the title and time in a blog-like style.

I really enjoyed the first album by Seventh Tarz Armstrong immensely. The second album is very good and the multiple collaborations with established with American and UK-based musicians definitely lends a fresh sound that you may hear from several bands such as ELLEGARDEN, FAT PROP, MY SUMMER PLAN and others who have adopted that Western style of rock music.

With the release of the first album, I wasn’t too sure if this persona of Hoshii Nanase was long-term. Especially since there are Girl’s Box activities that are still going on but from what I’ve seen, both persona’s have been kept separate and I have to admit that Seventh Tarz Armstrong is just exciting overall and because of the style, the dark clothing, the jet black hair and how it just works in conjuction with the hard hitting music, guitar thrashing sounds.

Now how this style of music is appreciated in Japan, I have no idea. What I do know is that I hope that STA gets more visibility not just in Japan but also outside of Japan (note: There has been interest in having Seventh Tarz Amstrong perform in the USA) and that people support the music.

As for “The Tokyo City Big Nights”, the multiple collaborations have helped in STA’s favor by bringing in awesome music and a style that you don’t get from Japan from other female rock artists.

It is of course staying on path with the goal of Language Destruction Sounds (L-D-S) that was set for the first album and that is not focusing so much on the language but focusing on the sound and how it can be appreciated worldwide. The second continues that with a good blend of musical styles from the USA, UK and Japan.

Again, another wonderful album and I hope more and more people open up to the music of Seventh Tarz Armstrong.

BUY THIS ALBUM: