Blog - March 2012 Archives

March 2012 Archives

Index

.25 Weekly revue: 2012 week #12 (March 17 to 23)
.17 Weekly revue: 2012 week #11 (March 10 to 16)
.10 Weekly revue: 2012 week #10 (March 3 to 9)
.03 Weekly revue: 2012 week #09 (February 25 to March 2)

March 25, 2012

Weekly revue: 2012 week #12 (March 17 to 23)

Food: Tuesday was a national holiday, and we went to have a picnic with Sunday Bake Shop and friends! We were lucky to have very good spring weather! Some 20 people turned up and there was so much good food! :)

New music:
- I bought Portable Rock's new album "Lost & Found" at Maki's show. This contains 10 live tracks, and 2 new songs that have lyrics written by Konishi-san. I had the chance to be in the audience of the 2006 show at Shinjuku Loft, of which 4 songs are included here. It's a pleasure to hear this again!
- Not quite new music, but I found a Zin-säy 7" titled "Love" at Mecano, full of some of my favorite songs, and with a bonus sonosheet! Happy!
- Not quite new music either, but The Suzan have a new fun video for song "Ha Ha Ha"! Watch it below.

Music events:
- On Monday March 19 was Nomiya Maki's 30th anniversary concert! See my detailed report here.
- On Saturday March 17, I went to see Vanilla Beans' in-store mini-live at Tsutaya in Nakano! The new outfits (as seen in the latest video) are very cute! It was a rainy day but the small space was quite packed. Set list: "Yes? No?" / "kimagure na Palette Type" / "Nicola" / "Choco Mint Flavor Time". I plan to go see them again on release day at Tower Records Shibuya!

Playlist: Portable Rock, Pizzicato Five, dahlia, "Crue-L Future",...

Music release news: Some Aprils collaboration works: Lo-Fi-Pnk and "Bell to issho." (DVD)

The Suzan "Ha Ha Ha"

March 17, 2012

Weekly revue: 2012 week #11 (March 10 to 16)

Exhibition: Irie Saya's eraser art at Shiseido Gallery (Ginza)

Food: - Curry lunch set at Tapir (Ōkubo)
- White day cookies & more from Steka & Mjol (Kōenji), Zuckerbäckerei Kayanuma (Akasaka), and K-B Keiji (Akasaka).

New music: Necozawa Emi & Sphinx "Pyramidia". I've been a fan of Necozawa Emi for a long time and she hadn't released any album for some 10 years. Now she has started a new jazz band called Sphinx in which she sings and plays percussions. This first album was recorded live over two days at Saravah Tokyo, though the clear recording leaves no traces of the audience. Love it! Watch the video below.

Playlist: Aside from Necozawa Emi, I listened to Takanami K-tarō, Aira Mitsuki, capsule, Harvard, Vanilla Beans, FPM, early Denki Groove...

Music release news: Perfume, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (ordered!), "Crue-L Café" (want!), m-flo

Necozawa Emi & Sphinx "Syncopation":

March 10, 2012

Weekly revue: 2012 week #10 (March 3 to 9)

Exhibition: Last Saturday, we went to Gallery Maki in Kayabachō for an exhibition titled "Crude I" of photos of dance company Dairakudakan by photographer Shibata Shōko. Dancer Mukai Kumotarō did a performance for the small audience.
"Crude I" goes on until March 17 (Tokyo Art Beat). Also from March 13 to April 1st is held exhibition "Crude II" by the same photographer (also photos of Dairakudakan) at Gallery Shuhari in Yotsuya 3-chōme (Tokyo Art Beat).

Music event: Yesterday I went to Aoyama Oath with a friend at work. I had been curious about the place for a long time and there happened to be an event with Ikeda Masanori (ex-Mansfield) spinning. Unfortunately it was raining that day so there was almost nobody at the early time we went. He's been a long way since his Mansfield idol days, and I'm ashamed that I couldn't recognize him after all the years. His music style also changed a lot towards Balearic house which I don't know much about, but still his set was sharp and kept us grooving!

New music: capsule "STEREO WORXXX"! Again a very techno album, with no rap stock vocals this time. There are a few quite Daft Punk-ish tracks, and there are a few really good pop tracks too: "Step on The Floor" (theme from movie "Liar Game"), "Transparent", ... In all it's a fun album, but I do always miss a little bit the older lounge-y capsule. Those who prefer pop tracks may be better with Perfume's latest, which is now available on iTunes worldwide! Check out Perfume's recently open global website.

Playlist: Aside from capsule, I had a techno and dance-y week with some Dorian, FPM, Fantastic Explosion, Towa Tei. Yesterday I was in a slightly more rock mood and enjoyed Buffalo Daughter and Groove Unchant's latest.

Food: Bread from a-ne café in Higashi-Kōenji.

Tech: I made a user script that creates a "." (dot) keyboard shortcut on the mixi timeline, taking you back to the top and loading any new entries. mixi users please give this a try! This mimics Twitter's "." shortcut that I love. Get it here. (Firefox users need the Greasemonkey add-on first.)

March 3, 2012

Weekly revue: 2012 week #09 (February 25 to March 2)

Music event: Last Saturday I went to the "Girl Pop Crazy & Future-Pop Lounge" event at Shinjuku Be-Wave. It was a lot of fun, and I could see mini-shows by The Aprils and The Lady Spade, and also see DJs milch of source, Fukuta Takeshi, The Lady Spade's Tiffany and more. I posted more photos on Flickr

Food:
- South indian curry, safran rice and onion pakora at Cochin Nivas, Shinjuku
- Strawberry & rhubarb almond cake, lemon cake & triple-chocolate brownie from Sunday Bake Shop

New music: Great new videos by Vanilla Beans and Recoride.
- By the way, Perfume have moved to Universal Music and are going global! The new site seems to be asking for more tweets in order to open!

Playlist:
- capsule's "Player". I really like the more pop songs from "Player" ("Stay with You", "Love or Lies",..) and the trip-hop-ish "I was wrong". I can't wait for new album "Stereo Worxxx" next week!
- I watched a good show on NHK where Crazy Ken Band played 4 songs and Yokoyama Ken showed his cars and studio. I was surprised that he records all his vocals in the engineer room, with the music entering his mic, he said it's his recording style. This prompted me to listen to a good CKB album, "Soul Punch".
- Also "Motley Crue-L House", "The Chocolate Factory" (Nakatsuka Takeshi & friends), p&art sasanoooha, Harvard, groovin vox, Stereolab...

Music release news: erectricmole, (((sssurrounddd))), "Liar Game" (Nakata Yasutaka), Tommy february6 & Tommy heavenly6

« February 2012 | Back to main page | April 2012 »