Blog - De De Mouse release party: report

De De Mouse release party: report

Yesterday evening I went to De De Mouse's release party at Shibuya Womb. In fact I went there almost not knowing De De Mouse at all, but I wanted to see everything else: YMCK, Buffalo Daughter, Halfby and Handsomeboy Technique! That's quite a mixed line-up, and being that the event was organized by MySpace, I wondered if the event planning is done by the same people who do... well, the rest. :) Still they're all artists I love so it sounded like a great event to me.

After losing my way a little bit in some suspicious streets of Shibuya, I arrived at Womb a little bit after start time and missed maybe 5 minutes of YMCK (MySpace). They were then saying that the show started with a special collaboration with De De Mouse, I'd have loved to hear that. But anyway the rest of YMCK's show was awesome! It has been a long time since I had seen them (last time was over 2 years ago and that was just a mini-live at Tower Records!), and their show's level had went way up! (1UP?) They played mostly songs from their latest album "Family Genesis", but they also did a medley of songs from their 2 first albums.

There were live(?) solos and some game playing, disclosing how a song's bass line was "inspired" from a Famicom shooting game. The best part was when they revealed 6 Famicom Robots and had them dance in sync! That was just amazing! For just the ending of another song, they also had some big Famicon-color teddy bear-like mascot come on stage. I have to admit that I didn't quite get that one. :)

After a short DJ set by Handsomeboy Technique, Buffalo Daughter (MySpace) came on stage and despite some technical problems they performed a great set! They played (I think) "Rhythm & Bassment", "Psychic A-Go-Go" and ended with a long "303" jam. Ohno Yumiko's great MiniMoog playing reminded me (once again) how we need more occasions to see some live Moog! Sugar and Mooog were just great too, oh and their drummer too!
Unfortunately they had to waste a good 5 minutes of the show doing sound check to try to get an on-stage monitor to work, because Yumiko couldn't hear a thing. Womb's sound staff didn't seem too good. Later I really wanted to get something from Buffalo Daughter but their merch table was unattended both times I checked...

After that was Halfby's DJ set, which was quite good! De De Mouse was setting up the stage and came to say hi and told everyone to keep enjoying Halfby a little longer. The sound guy had lowered the music's volume so he could speak, but then he forgot to put it back up, for a while the volume remained so that people could just talk normally over Halfby's set..! Quite a fun set anyway!

Last up was of course De De Mouse (MySpace). He was accompanied by pianist Hazama Miho, drummer Jimanica and Tokyo-based Australian VJ Diagram (aka Shannon Winnell). I was really unfamiliar with De De Mouse's music, except for a cover of "Country Road" that appears on the great compilation "kirakira Ghibli", but a few people had recommended him to me, even just the day before. I thought it was good, though perhaps not quite my style. What I found strange is that he has a very wacky personality, often shouting with a high-pitched voice, but his music seems just too pretty to fit with his character. This is just my personal impression of course. :) The songs were quite good, though sometimes a bit repetitive, mostly instrumental but sometimes with lyrics in an unknown language. I thought it was quite enjoyable especially for summertime. The VJ works were also great, with different material for each song.

Unfortunately the sound was very loud and towards the end my ears were getting tired, and I left a little bit before the end. Well it's a huge club's sound-system after all, probably much more powerful than the average live house.

All in all I had quite a good time.

Oh, and there was a brave foreigner who was filming some video of YMCK's robots and Buffalo Daughter. I really hope they'll be posted on YouTube! :)

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YMCK can be caught again live on August 27 and 28 at Shibuya Seco Lounge, sharing the stage with Kaji Hideki, Watanababy, Sexy-Synthesizer and Hally (VORC).

Posted on July 5, 2008 at 00:30 | Tweet |

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