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May 13, 2008
joli maniaque*: report
Last Saturday I headed to Shimokitazawa near midnight to go to a new event at Altoto, called joli maniaque*. I went there with Alessandro (Italian/German unit Micropupazzo of the radiodd family), and his friends Lynn and Ming.
When we got there we caught the last 2 songs of Marino's mini-live set, which had started a bit early, but I was happy to finally see her. Then, young DJs played electro-pop, techno-pop and Akishibu-kei (Akiba-kei + Shibuya-kei), sometimes in schoolgirl outfits.
Some of them were pretty good, others still need a bit of practice. If I was to criticize, I thought there was maybe a little bit too much Nakata Yasutaka produced stuff (but who can complain as he's all over the place), not enough Shibuya-kei (despite all the good records that they had put on display), and too much anisong (anime songs) for me. Also the volume was perhaps a bit low sometimes. No big deal though. It sure was a fun night! It looks like it will be a regular, with a 2nd edition coming in August.
Here are a few photos of the evening.
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
After the jump are YouTube clips of songs from the event...
Posted on May 13, 2008 at 22:37 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
May 12, 2008
Enban Jamboree day 3: report
Over Golden Week was held Enban Jamboree, the annual(?) festival by Koenji CD shop/live space Enban, which was also celebrating its 5th anniversary. Enban has an important place in Tokyo's indies music scene. Being very small though, the festival isn't held at Enban but at O-Nest, a larger club in Shibuya that spans on two floors. This year the festival was 5-day long (from May 1 to 5), and we went to check out the 3rd day.
The event began at 17:00, and playing very first was electronic musician Hosaka Akane. She performed a very special set, as while she usually plays on her own with her laptop computer and a few synths, this time most of the music was performed live. She played 3 different Casios, a Roland TR-505 and some effects. Her friend DJ Peaky was there to help, playing a Korg and a turntable. The set of about 6 songs was a lot of fun, and ended with a brand new song featuring a squeaky blue bird puppet, that one will appear on her album "Niko Niko Denki Muzic" (remastered with bonus tracks) out next month on Sonore! Stay tuned.
Then we went to have a look downstairs, where is located the larger stage, but on the way there we found two large boxes of free 7"'s! That was going to be the place where to spend a few moments between shows. No great finds (as expected), but I ended up picking up some Hayami Yū, Paul Mauriat, and then some. Above was an exhibition of 7" sleeves with pandas, several songs that I recognized from the panda CD-R I had picked up at Enban a long time ago.
The stage downstairs wasn't yet ready, so we went back up and caught the end of a set by ホライズン山下宅配便 (Horaizun Yamashita takkyūbin), a really weird band with sometimes recorder or oboe, better played under an umbrella. The singer would take off his shoes and smell them. They were quite amazing though in that they sounded really tight and good! Fun stuff!
Back downstairs, we caught a performance by 久下恵生＋ユダヤジャズ (Kuge Yoshio w/ Yudaya Jazz), who sampled live drums on video and mix it all up on the spot with a bit of hip-hop flavor. Quite impressive!
Then was a really fun intermission by an old man named Hata Akio who showed reels of trains that he filmed in the mid 70's in Austria, all in color and the quality was quite good. He said that it was the first time in about 10 years that he watched them, and his tales were quite funny. Lots of bare-chested train conductors!
Next up on stage was Doravideo with Jon the Dog. Jon played her organ and sang while Doravideo played drums and projected old videos of Jon. I think that I saw in a caption that one was from 1993! Jon didn't have the amazing dog costume back then but instead a cheap cow outfit! On a TV interview the inevitable confrontation came: "That's not a dog, it's a cow!" to which she replied "No it's a white and black dog." Hilarious! The set ended with a p0rn video mix-up leaving everyone speechless.
In this segment artists were relaying, doing collaborations with each other, and Doravideo was replaced by a shamisen player, Yanagiya Koharu. They performed one of Jon's songs ("otoko no sekai, kawakudari"), and then a song where there shamisen lady sang while Jon danced. That was quite good and funny!
The relaying went on, but we left to go back upstairs and caught the end of a set by zuppa di pesce (whose CD we bought at the shop), and then a short theremin and Matryomin (a theremin inside of a Russian matryoshka doll) concert by Satō Sae. That was quite nice, and I especially liked a Russian song used in Tetris performed on the Matryomin, with an 8-bit backtrack! Nice touch!
Then I was getting a little bit hungry and had the good idea to order a hot dog, which took about 20 minutes to prepare...!? Meanwhile we watched a bit of Lake's show which was alright. Girl drummer Kitayama Yūko was great, it seems like she's active in a bunch of bands and I felt like I had seen her somewhere before although I couldn't figure out where.
Back downstairs we got a bit bored by a solo guitar player doing a hour-long set, and waited around there while checking the free 7"'s some more, until ヒゲの未亡人 (hige no mibōjin = La veuve moustachue). The set was part of what we had seen last December in Shimokitazawa, with video background and piano by Miura Yōko. Only some adlib bits and talk parts between the songs were different. La veuve moustachue is touring Europe very soon (May 15 in Rotterdam, 16 in Brussels, 21 in Paris), don't miss this fantastic one-man mustached widow musical!
I leave you with a rehearsal shot of "Les vacances de la veuve moustachue" as featured in this show.
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on May 12, 2008 at 22:53 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
May 5, 2008
Manbonsai in Nihonbashi
Yesterday we headed to the Nihonbashi area, our main destination being Paradise Yamamoto's manbonsai exhibition at Takashimaya.
We walked from Tokyo station, and on our way we found really a lot of new QP tags, most of a type we hadn't seen before, cut with round corners and no yellow frame. It was a lot of fun to look at all power boxes and find these stuck everywhere!
We then first went to Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi where we had some great gelatto at Gelateria Canoviano. I had espresso and gianduja, quite typical choices of mine as I love chocolate and coffee flavors, and they were both delicious!
Then it was time for some manbonsai appreciation, so we headed to Nihonbashi Takashimaya. It's an old department store with an interesting architecture, and it has old large elevators still operated by elevator girls.
We took a ride to the 8th floor, at one end of which was the event space where were exhibited a bunch of people's collections and hobbies. There were turtle sculptures made of onion peel only, collections of Expo 70 goods, vintage medicament packaging, shogi pieces made of all materials imaginable, etc.
Paradise's manbonsai collection was fantastic. Over 50 pieces were on display. Many were quite funny too. I especially liked ones with UFOs and aliens, Kitarō, Kim Jong Il, rokurokubi (long-necked lady, a traditional Japanese monster), a man cutting a tree, and Paradise himself. Too bad photos weren't allowed, as I'd have loved using my camera's macro mode there.
Then we stopped at a Espressamente Illy café around the corner. The ambiance didn't really fit the neighborhood, with a lounge-y interior and playing new wave music.
Later we headed to Shibuya and I found this space invader nearby 109.
Left: no flash, right: flash
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Paradise Yamamoto's manbonsai exhibition is going on until tomorrow Tuesday May 6.
Find all details here on my agenda.
Posted on May 5, 2008 at 17:25 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
C-Ya Doopees?
Last week I picked up Yann Tomita's new release, "Music Meme 4 Variations", who's is a thick DVD-sized box containing a CD, a DVD, and a book. Also striking my attention was a "Doopee Time 2" sticker! Surely it meant good things to come... or so I first thought.
What I decided to enjoy first was the CD, on my train commute (the place where I listen to music the most). I found it to be very much along the album's title, as a series of 4 chords finds its way into all of the songs, no matter if they're pop (Kahimi Karie, Koizumi Kyōko (1988!), Yamamoto Linda (1991)) or hip-hop (Naives) or electronic tracks. The whole makes for a very nice compilation of his various works, not going too much into his abstract side. The new Doopees track ("C-Ya! C-Ya!") is short and with some Hawaiian feel, fun!
I must say that I appreciate and feel sympathy for Yann's obsession with a sequence of chords, as I've mostly been playing the same 3 or 4 chords (not the same as Yann's) on my keyboards for the last 5 years.
Later I checked out the DVD, which is a recording of a concert at a temple in Kamakura, featuring Ohno Yumiko (Doopees, Buffalo Daughter), Takagi Kan, Itō Seikō and Mokuren. The 3 songs are stringed together. Yann sits at a large table of electronic stuff that only he can understand. The video quality is amateur, the cameraman even coughing at some point, but it feels like sitting in the grass and watching Yann's concert in the nature which is quite nice.
While watching the DVD I was leafing through the book and reading bits, and a chapter towards the end caught my attention, titled something like "Why Doopee Time 2 was canceled twice"... Written by Yann, he explains that he had worked on the album for about half a year everyday without seeing the end of it, and he realized that he wouldn't make it for the original release date (July 2006). Around then he became sick, perhaps from working too much, and he was hospitalized for 2 months. This and other events made him decide to cancel the release altogether, even though it seems like it was pretty much completed, even down to artwork and liners.
That Doopee Time 2 sticker is not an announcement for an album, it IS Doopee Time 2, in the only form Yann is planning to release... I would sure like to hear the nice music too, but he apologizes and asks for his fans to understand his decision.
So I just hope that Yann keeps well, and that he will keep making nice music, whether Doopees or not, as I've really been enjoying his releases of the past few years.
元気 de yanns!
Posted on April 29, 2008 at 00:47 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (4)
April 27, 2008
Pure Pop Fes vol.1: report
Tonight was Pure Pop Fes vol.1 at Basement Bar in Shimokitazawa, a fun event focusing on pico-pico and techno-pop. I went there on my own but ended up meeting friends Craig, Hase-san (who played keys for Aprils) and Yumi-chan, Akiko-chan, and even making a new friend who seems to be a big fan of Arcorhyme.
The place was really packed from start to finish! A bigger venue would have been better, but it was a good time though.
First on stage was Furil, a girl-boy "dreamy pop" unit who I saw for the first time. They sang and he played guitar over a backtrack. The girl was cute and I liked her voice, but overall it wasn't quite my thing.
Next up was Hazel Nuts Chocolate with a very energetic set! Yuppa looked younger than I remembered her, perhaps because she changed her hairstyle. She was accompanied with Motocompo's Dr.Usui who played distorted guitar, that really rocked! Yuppa no only sang but she also played keyboards over her backtrack. She opened with "Love + Piece + Icecream", and also sang "Hello", "koi wa kyurukyuru", and some 3 or 4 others. Awesome set! Maybe there was one song that I didn't remember hearing before, so perhaps that was a new one. When someone in the audience asked when her album would be released, she said "it's a secret!"... Let's hope it will be soon.
Next on stage was relatively new techno-pop vocoder idol Aira Mitsuki, who I was really looking forward to. I hadn't really heard her songs yet, but I knew her style was very much like capsule and Perfume who she says she loves. She was a pro, the robot dances and the smile. For most songs she was accompanied by two cute girl dancers. The 2nd song was her latest single "China Discotica", and during that segment the dancers wore red Chinese-style dresses, with those rectangle sunglasses like on the single jacket.
Then there was a part with Aira (...still can't figure out which is her first name) alone on stage, standing behind a Korg synth where she sang her cover of Cornelius' "Star Fruits Surf Rider", that was good! She deserves some credit for actually playing some of her vocoder chords on the synth live (not all of it though). She then sat on a chair and sang the calmer "Darling Wondering Staring", both songs will be released on a Tower Records-only single limited to 2000 copies.
The two dancers then came back on stage, this time wearing different long dresses and holding huge lollipops, again very cute. Aira sang "Candy Light Mode" (from first single "Colorful Tokyo Sounds No.9") and another song, and that was it.
Unfortunately I couldn't take photos of her set, I was getting cold looks from some people around me when I was going to grab my camera and I chickened out... I hope Craig will post his!
Last up were Aprils, always giving a great show! I have seen them a few times meanwhile, but it had been almost 2 years since I saw a full show with their full band. They played a full set with their regulars, and also the theme song from "kaede New Town". The big surprise this time was their Perfume parody song "Stainless Girl" that appeared on the web site for April Fool's! The show was complete with an encore (Yano Akiko's "Metropolitan Museum").
On my way out, I couldn't resist buying Aira's two first singles, and I got a free signed poster! Yay! Here's her clip for "China Discotica".
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Update (2008/5/2): Craig has posted his review of the show, with some good photos!
Posted on April 27, 2008 at 02:30 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (4)
April 25, 2008
Bonsai Girl
Last night we went to Lumine the Yoshimoto in Shinjuku to catch "Bonsai Girl", a 30-minute film directed by Paradise Yamamoto (Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys), part of a series of 100 short films directed by various comedians. It was our first time going there, and the place was full of hundreds of people coming out of the previous comedy show. The film screening was delayed a bit, and we entered the large room that felt very empty with only about 8 spectators.
The movie was very nicely done. Sure, the story line isn't deep, but Paradise's love for manbonsai (his art of putting miniature figures of people around a bonsai to make it look like a large tree) and mambo shined throughout, as well as his desire to tell the whole world about it. Indeed the movie even had English subtitles!
The story is about a girl who likes flowers and discovers accidentally about manbonsai, of which she buys a book randomly. At first she doesn't quite get what it's about, but a nice foreign guy (very fluent in Japanese) explains her what's so great about manbonsai, and soon they're making their own. The film had some funny twists and was entertaining to the end. A very nice introduction to the world of manbonsai.
This was presented together with a strange and funny film by comedian Takewaka Motohiro (of Buffalo Gorō), titled "Golden Atmosphere" about a guy who wanders around his neighborhood and sees little things in unbelievable ways.
The last screenings in Shinjuku and Shibuya are tonight (in just 2 hours or so), so... make it if you can(?). Hopefully "Bonsai Girl" will get shown elsewhere in the world too, or released in DVD for more people to see it.
Posted on April 25, 2008 at 19:08 | Permalink | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
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