Blog - (Not-so-)weekly revue: 2015 weeks #27-29 (June 27 to July 17)

(Not-so-)weekly revue: 2015 weeks #27-29 (June 27 to July 17)

So much good food and so many fun times, and so little time to blog about it! I'm being kept busy all weekends this summer, so updates have been sparse. Here's what I can recall of what has been up!

Food: - "Grandma's meat loaf", homemade sausage w/ homemade crisps, etc. at Bespoque
- A birthday dinner at New York Style restaurant Hoff, Hatsudai
- Sakaki Lab 10th anniversary at Lab and Kitchen, Jinbōchō
- Experimental gelato at Snow Picnic, Nakano
- Japanese Ice Ouca, Ebisu

Music events: - July 1st: "torimatorimae 2015 feat. Kit Cat" at Chelsea Hotel. This was a fun free event celebrating the release of Kit Cat's first CD, "Scratch You!", which is so far only sold at their events. This CD is great and I've had it on repeat a lot the last few weeks! The event also featured The Lady Spade, who played a short but great set. Also I got to see techno-pop idol unit Cupitron (produced by Tobeta Bajune) who I had been curious about, their songs were very good. DJ YounaP! (of Yurumerumo) and early-teen idol group sora tob sakana were also rather fun.

Cupitron set list: denshi keisanki / Battery / Unicorn Parade / Robot Boy Robot Girl

The Lady Spade set list: Black Magic / (E)na / are tabetai na / End of the World / Hungry Army

Kit Cat set list: oshaberi majo (Wordy Rappinhood) / Lily Lies / Space Cat Walk / Fairytale Twin Tale / Hang Around

- July 11: Isetan x Keita Maruyama "oshare bon-odori" on the roof of Isetan in Shinjuku. I went there to see an appearance by Nomiya Maki, without quite knowing what to expect. The event was hosted by fashion designer Keita Maruyama who was there thoughout the evening, dancing, singing and greeting guests. The event's music was part DJ, with DJ Peli who did some good "ondo"-oriented mixes, and also there was some live ondo music performed by Shinjuku Roman-za. Maki showed up twice during their set, each time singing a specially arranged ondo version of "Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji (the night is still young)", which including encores she sang a total of 4 times! Of course that's not too much considering that it can't be heard anywhere else. For me this evening really felt like the start of Japanese summer.

- July 12: YMCK "Family Dancing" release party at Shibuya WWW. At one of my favorite venues, YMCK played this one-man live featuring all songs from their new album "Family Dancing" and also many other favorites, often rearranged in a more dance-y way to fit the event's theme. This evening I was also happy to meet my good P5ML friend Mai from Thailand again!

Set list: Los Colores De La Vida / Neo Identity / Floor 99 / Darling / John Coltrane wa kaiten mokuba no yume o miru ka / Pixel Voyage / Danba Danba Din Dan / Perfect Device / Time Bomb / Disco Kitsch / Colorful Number / neko ni kakomarete kurashitai / 52 Futures / Unity / You Can Be a Star
Encore: sasetsu shite usetsu shite / Magical 8bit Tour

- July 14: Nakatsuka Takeshi x Batica presents "Delica Lab". Again I got to meet up with my friends from Thailand, and after a quick stop by cat café Nyafé Mélangé we went to Batica. This event was a great opportunity to catch Nakatsuka Takeshi, Ookawara Izumi (both of Qypthone) and also Somethiing New and the Mami Ōnishi Trio. All were great jazzy sets! We also had a good time chatting with the performers thanks to the cozy venue.

Music release news: Sally Soul Stew, The Scooters, "Yaba-kayo 3", Negicco, Recoride

Playlist: "odoru Punch kayo! Showa Girls Garage Party ~ Bazazz tengoku", dip in the pool, Jintana & Emeralds, Pizzicato One, hitomitoi, Kit Cat, Negicco, Duck Sauce, The Scooters, the hair, YMCK, Hoshino Michiru