Most hardcore records from the turn of the century are hard to find. They were pressed in small numbers, sold at shows, and never reissued. For a long time the first album by Birthplace was one of them.

The Record

bless the birthplace which humanized us was released in 2000. The title, all in lower case, plays on the band’s own name. It came out on the label OUT TA BOMB, as a CD and as an LP.

It was the band’s first album, and it made its reputation. When the record was reissued, the announcement described it as metallic and lyrical, and as a work that had a great influence on the scene that followed.

Those two words, metallic and lyrical, are the heart of the Tokyo new school style. The guitars come from metal. The feeling comes from the more emotional end of hardcore.

”RAIN OR SHINE”

One song from the album had a second life. In 2004, when the band returned from a three-year gap between releases, it put out a two-song single. One track was new. The other was a fresh recording of “RAIN OR SHINE,” from this album.

Re-recording a song four years on suggests it had become a favourite.

Out of Print

Like most records of its kind, the album eventually became unavailable. The CD went out of print.

2023

In August 2023 the album came back. It was remastered overseas and released digitally under the title bless the birthplace which humanized us (Remastered 2023). A listener outside Japan could now simply press play.

The remaster did not arrive alone. That same year two members of Birthplace, the bassist Koba and the guitarist GV, launched a new band, Indication, which set out to revive the new school sound. We trace that line here.

Where It Sits

The album belongs beside State Craft’s To Celebrate the Forlorn Seasons, which came out the same year. The two bands were neighbours in the same scene. Between them, those two records are a fair picture of what Tokyo hardcore sounded like in 2000.

Why It Matters

A remaster is a vote of confidence. Somebody decided, twenty-three years on, that this record should be heard properly by people who were not there.

Play “RAIN OR SHINE” first.