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MUSICREVAMPING THEVASELINESIndie legends bring a new albumand new lineup to JapanBY LESLIE LEE IIIIt was a foggy morning in Glasgow when Metropolistalked to Eugene Kelly of The Vaselines.But he had every reason to be cheery:V for Vaselines, the band’s new album, justcame out.The band, comprising Kelly and FrancesMcKee, had split just after releasing their firstalbum, Dum-Dum, in 1989. A copy found its wayto Kurt Cobain, prompting Nirvana to coverthree Vaselines songs; the defunct band wasthen elevated to cult status.Kelly and McKee found themselves playingtogether again—and enjoying it. They toured,re-released their old work and recorded theirsecond album, 2010’s Sex with an X.When asked how a third album came about,Kelly replies, “We just kept touring. As songwriters,we felt we had at least one more album in us.”The product, V, is a rowdy 35 minutes filledwith the band’s signature happy melodies andPhoto Courtesy of Sub Pop Recordsdark humor. “We just want to make short popsongs,” the Vaselines frontman states. “We’vegot short attention spans and we want to getit over with quickly.”And the new release has been garneringpositive responses. “I think people like therecord,” says Kelly. “It’s going to make themwant to come see us live.”The Vaselines will be returning to Japan inNovember, where longtime fans will hear newsongs and a new, more aggressive lineup.Read the full article athttp://meturl.com/vaselines● Nov 2-3, ¥7,900 (1 day) / ¥13,900 (2 days),Shin-Kiba Studio Coast. Shin-Kiba. Tel:03-5534-2525. http://ynos.tv/hostessclub/● V for Vaselines is available digitally onAmazon and iTunes. Signed copies areavailable at www.thevaselines.co.uk.POP LIFETHE LOVEBEHIND ANIMEPatrick Galbraith’s The Moé ManifestoBY DAN GRUNEBAUMWhen it comes to Japan’s image in the global eye, kawaii—the “cuteification”of just about everyone and everything—is a staple. However,lesser known is moe, an emphasis on the emotional response to fictionalcharacters, as opposed to the characters themselves.The moe phenomenon has been misrepresented and stigmatized asbizarre overseas. But Patrick Galbraith, author of The Moé Manifesto,the world’s first English book on the attraction, sets the record straight.“Moe—which is the noun form of the verb moeru (which can mean‘to sprout’ or ‘to burn’)—is a response to fictional characters,” explainsthe American author. “It has the connotation of something that gets yourmotor running.”“There’s a lot of misunderstanding,” he says regarding fans of manga,anime and game. “It’s easy to look at images of Japanese men embracingpillows with their favorite characters and say, ‘Man, those guys are weird!’It’s a joke; we laugh and move on.”“The Moé Manifesto is an attempt to talk with people on the inside—creators, fans and critics of manga, anime and games in Japan—and gettheir perspective. It’s a manifesto in the sense that it’s a political statement:let’s take people and their lives seriously. Rather than point, laughand dismiss, let’s listen to them and respect that wemight not understand it immediately.”The moe style is characterized by exaggeratedfeatures, such as unnaturally huge eyes and nonexistentmouths and noses. First used in girls’s comics,these elements were introduced to emphasizecharacters’s emotional responses, and were lateradopted in men’s manga and anime, through whichthey became a standard.“One interesting result is … ‘anti-realism.’ Cutegirl characters don’t exactly look like real women.You can have characters that are attractive withoutany comparison to or connection to the ‘real’ thing.”But exactly how important is sexual fantasy to moe? “I posed thatquestion to Honda Toru,” Galbraith says of the moe guru. “He marrieda character from a PC game. He was attracted to her sexually, sure,but there’s something more to it. Honda describes that ‘somethingmore’ as love.”What surprised the author, though, was how robust the discourseon moe is in Japan. “Many of us can regonize the allure of comic bookand cartoon characters, but how often do you hear people talk aboutmarrying them—and what that might mean socially and economically?Or advocating [a] sexual orientation toward fictional characters?“What surprised me most was how serious people took their relationshipswith fictional characters, which were described to me as life-saving—a reason for living, or an alternative way of life.”http://meturl.com/moemanifesto23