Keiko Takamura And The Shebangs

REVIEW: Keiko Takamura and the Shebangs EP

siliconepoison:

By: Julian Zamora

My friend Amy, her alter ego, Keiko and her band has recently released her full length EP! Keiko Takamura and The Shebangs is a local band from San Fransisco, CA, consisting of:

Keiko Takamura- Vox

Julian Contreras- Bass

Jason Sanchez- Rhythm Guitar

Charlie Parker- Lead Guitar

Dana Parker- Drums

of course as soon it was put on their bandcamp profile, i rushed to the computer not only to listen to some familiar songs in studio quality, but check out some others i haven’t heard. Immediately, their album art caught my eye. Erika Bird, the artist of the album art created every little detail so perfectly with bright watercolor style drawings. If you follow Amy on twitter, you would be able see the concepts of the album art. You can see her other works here. 

When i started to play the music, the first song that was on the list was Grayscale. When i first heard this song i said to myself, I HAVE TO OWN THIS. Amy has said that the song has to do with Photoshop, hence the reference to layers in the lyrics, “one down over the other one.” 

The next song was one that has been stuck in my head since the first day i ever heard it, Rice Belly. The song is about having flaws, and when people try to bring you down because you have them, you walk with your head held high! I love the song even more then when i first heard the demo of it! The clapping and guitar riffs pull it all together!

Next on the track list is the song, Hang On. This is one of the songs i have only heard when Amy was having her live SL/Ustream Tour, and hearing it in a finished product makes me want to play this song on loop over and over again. The lyrics are soothing, deep and sultry unlike most of the music i have heard from them.

“I heard your band in a record store, i got so mad, wanna do it all…” Double Bypass is a song i heard along with Rice Belly. For some reason i can see it being on the soundtrack of a Michael Cera movie. The beautiful indie sound… where is it coming from? OH YEAH FROM THIS SONG. YES YES.

Spillin Out The Sides… All I have to say is WOW. This song stuck out to me the most. I can literally imagine hearing this song all over Live 105 and every major alt/rock/indie station out there. The melody and the rhyming lyrics make me DIE (in a good way) every time i hear this song. I can’t get enough of this song! 

So with that said… I can’t say how much i was excited to see the finished product pull itself together, reading Amy’s tweets about her recording shenanigans made me want to just rush over to San Rafael and steal the recordings for myself. I’m not only saying this because this is my friend, its because it is true! I CANT GET ENOUGH OF DIZ EP, OMGAWSH IMA DIE DKDSFJLFSDKJLFDSKJLSDFKLDFKL. 20/10 stars dudes.

Click here to visit their bandcamp profile and buy the EP for only 5 DOLLARS, I suggest you buy it

…or Old Gregg will come and capture you, force you to be his watercolor model, and make you drink Bailey’s with him.