Blog - August 2019 Archives

August 2019 Archives

Index

.21 Weekly revue: 2019 weeks #33-34 (August 10 to 23)
.10 Weekly revue: 2019 week #32 (August 3 to 9)
.06 Weekly revue: 2019 week #31 (July 27 to August 2)

August 21, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 weeks #33-34 (August 10 to 23)

Food: - Unagi (grilled eel) again :)
- Triangle Curry, Shibuya
- Curry at Cochin Nivas, Shinjuku

Music event: - On Sunday August 18 was the annual "Shibuya no Natsu-matsuri", organized by Mixi Group. Held in Yoyogi Park, this year it featured live shows by Tajima Takao (Original Love) and Scha Dara Parr, all for free! :) The shows were great! I went wearing a yukata, the second time of the season, and I ended up dancing along to Shibuya's official bon-odori song "You Make Shibuya" (written by Kaji Hideki and sung by Nomiya Maki, hear it on YouTube), twice, before calling it a day. It was announced that next year the festival will be held at Miyashita Park (which has been closed for a year or two for renovations).

- Then the next Wednesday, I went to see Maika Loubté's solo show at Shibuya WWW! Although she has played tons of shows, it was her first real big solo show, and it was sold out! WWW is a venue that I really like, reusing a movie theater, so I was very excited to see her on that stage. This show also celebrated the release of her new album "Closer" which is great! At the show the album was sold as a vinyl edition which I got of course (beautiful and on clear vinyl!).

The show featured Maika, with a manipulator (backtrack, etc.) and a drummer! There were live drums throughout the entire show, which was a great addition. Maika normally plays synthesizers heavily in her shows, making much of her sounds live and from scratch, but this time was different. While she did play solos and some bits, she was mostly singing, and spending a good time with her audience more than ever. It was great! I was also happy to see that the fluffy singing puppet she uses in "Violet's green eyes" made it to the big stage. I love it! :) Completing the performance was special lighting and VJing.

Félicitations Maika pour cet excellent spectacle et album!

- This year again I dropped by Mitsui Building for the annual karaoke contest, held outside of the building. Employees of the tenant companies of the building compete by giving an extravagant show of karaoke, dance and then some! This event is very popular and the place was so crowded that it was hard to find a good spot to watch from. It was a lot of fun to see those performances which often use some originality to provoke some laughter. :)

Exhibition: - Went to see modeling artist and illustrator Kow Yokoyama's exhibition "Kow Yokoyama Maschinen Krieger. The Imagination World to Show by Molding" at the Yume Art Museum (aka Yumebi) in Hachiōji. The vast exhibition features countless of his beautiful and detailed workpieces, mainly of characters and machines that come from his very own sci-fi imaginary world. It was very impressive! I knew Kow for his artwork in CTO LAB's CD artwork (latest album "Beyond The Box" and also mini-album "3 Cycles"). CTO LAB also wrote the theme song of Maschinen Krieger, "The Theme of Ma.K.", which is included on the "Beyond The Box".

On my way out I couldn't resist getting a random toy capsule (for ¥500), without really checking what it might contain, and I was surprised that it was a full plastic model kit of one of his creations! I ran to buy a cutter knife and made it right away. :) Being really well done, the pieces fitting perfectly together, it didn't even require glue.

The exhibition goes on until September 1st.

- I also dropped by another exhibition, titled "Best Friend ~jinken Max~" by electro artist Haruko Tajima and painter Amenoichi. I've been liking Haruko's music for a while, and also the fun music videos she creates herself, ever since seeing her live as "Francis avec Haruko" (her unit with Ori Makoto).

The main pieces of her exhibition were mirrorballs that she made by cutting up her own original CDs into small square pieces (saying she has too much dead stock...). Her stuff was quite cool, very pink and at a glance Harajuku-esque, though she has a punk attitude and knows to criticize what should be (I like her song "Tik Tok Angels" that pokes fun at the Tik Tok "trend"). There I bought her new album "kawaiiresist", which I had been listening to digitally, and also a previous one titled "Harukonium" (2017). Oh, and she was there, and she signed me an autograph! Yay!

Music release news: Nomoto Karia, Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys, chelmico, "Toki Asako Remixies Weekend Shuffle", Takahashi Yukihiro, "Carole & Tuesday" (Cornelius), Nuback

This week's video: Haruko Tajima "lipstic"

August 10, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 week #32 (August 3 to 9)

Food: - Curry @ Negura, Kōenji
- Korma curry @ Bombay, Ebisu

Music events: - On August 3rd, I went to the 5th edition of fashion designer Keita Maruyama's annual "oshare bon odori" event, which always features Nomiya Maki! This year it was held on the rooftop of Tokyu Plaza Ginza. The venue was quite beautiful, and it also offered a great view of the city.

Nomiya Maki appeared twice on stage during the evening, and both times she sang her bon odori versions of Pizzicato Five's hit songs "Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji" and "Sweet Soul Revue", accompanied by live accordion and also dancers Jinko and Keiko, with also the event organizer dancing along on stage. That was great! :) The rest of the evening featured DJing, with Okino Shuya (Kyoto Jazz Massive), Mademoiselle Yulia, Peli,...

It was the first time that I went wearing a yukata. I did dance bon-style along to traditional songs quite a bit and it was a lot of fun! I hope to do a few more yukata outings before the season ends. :)

- On Sunday August 4 was an in-store event with SOLEIL at Tower Records Shinjuku, promoting new album "Lollipop Sixteen". It was also bassist/producer Sally Kubota's birthday! Sally and singer Soleil performed 4 songs from the album, including the ones written by Tweedees ("Le Cœur Qui Fuzz"), Frenesi ("Anachronic GIrl") and Microstar ("Red Balloon"). Soleil did her ribbon gymnastics feat while singing "Anachronic Girl", and then played the Andes pianica solo in "Red Balloon". Having bought the album at this store, I took part in the photo session after the show. :) I also found a fellow zombie from the "Mellotron Girl" video, Soleil's costume designer WIKA, and we ended up posing doing zombie poses.

Set list: Le Cœur Qui Fuzz / Anachronic Girl / Red Balloon / High School Lullaby (Imo-kin Trio cover)

- Then on Thursday I dropped by Tower Records Shibuya for an in-store event of Wakita Monari, whose excellent 3rd album "Right Here" was just released the week before. She sang a generous set of 5 songs from the album: opening track "fūsen" (of which she wrote the lyrics, with music and production by Arai Toshiya), "Love Timeline" (written by Suzuki Momoko and Sasaki Jun, both ex-Cosa Nostra), a cover of Quruli's "Highway" (arranged by Arai Toshiya), lead single "Espadrille de tsukamaete" (lyrics by Hitomitoi and music/production by Dorian), and "Thinkin' about U" (written by Saitō Shinya of Onigawara).

Set list: fūsen / LOVE TIMELINE / Highway (Quruli Cover) / Espadrille de tsukamaete / Thinkin' about U

While at Tower Records Shibuya I also checked out the "Cornelius Shop" corner on the 3rd floor. It has some impact, as it's quite bigger than I thought! Sold there are T-shirts and the new releases (re-issues of "Point" and "The First Question Award", and a Blu-ray of "Mellow Waves Visuals" (info)).

Movie: "Sir" (India)

This week's videos:

Nomiya Maki "Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji ~bon odori Version~"

Nomiya Maki "Sweet Soul Revue ~bon odori Version~"

August 6, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 week #31 (July 27 to August 2)

Random sights: 1. Sony Walkman at Ginza Sony Park, 2. Cargo train passing in Shinjuku station, 3. Nishi-Shinjuku street art, 4. Akabane reien, 5. Sekine in Akabane

Food: - Unagi (grilled eel) at Unagi no Takewaka, Shimokitazawa
- Curry thali at Bangera's Kitchen, Ginza
- Sushi at Miyako bunten, Akabane
- Gelato at Glacier Chocolatier Chant d'oiseau, Kawaguchi

Music events: - On Saturday July 27, I dropped by DAIBON (Dai-bonodori) at Yamato-chō, Nakano. Organized by Kishino You-ichi, it's quite a bit different from traditional matsuri events, this one has DJs and artists performing live. The audience is a nice mix of people from the neighborhood and music/subculture fans, and the atmosphere is very nice. While I was there people were dancing bon odori-style but along songs like "YMCA" or Denki Groove's "Shangri-La", with dance instructions given by troup Kekenoko-zoku. There was also food stalls, with collaboration curry by Indo Fujiko and Negura.

- On Wednesday was an in-store event by SOLEIL at Tower Records Shibuya, in promotion of 3rd album "Lollipop Sixteen"! Singer Soleil and bassist/producer Sally Kubota performed four songs over a backtrack. The set started with album opening track "Le Cœur Qui Jazz" (written by Tweedees), for which Soleil played tambourine while singing, even playing it windmill style! This was followed by "Anachronic Girl" (written by Frenesi) during which she does a performance of ribbon gymnastics all while singing. The set ended with single "Mellotron Girl" (YouTube) and their cover of Imo-kin Trio's hit song "High School Lullaby" (YouTube). Fun show! :)

Set list: Le Coeur Qui Fuzz / Anachronic Girl / Mellotron Girl / High School Lullaby

- After watching SOLEIL, I went to another in-store event almost just across the street, Wakita Monari at HMV&BOOKS Shibuya. It was release day for her new 3rd album "Right Here"! She sang four songs from the album, including "yasashii uso" that she had been performing in her live shows for a long time, and also previously released single "Espadrille de tsukamaete" (produced by Dorian with lyrics by Hitomitoi). "koi o suru nara" (written by Microstar) became a favorite instantly! During the show she took time totalk about her feelings of being able to pursue her career up to a 3rd album, and that she was so thankful to her supportive fans, and suddenly she was all in tears. I was happy to be able to congratulate her on the release at the autograph session that followed. The album is excellent! By the way, the artwork is by Sally Kubota!

Set list: koi o suru nara / yasashii uso / fūsen / Espadrille de tsukamaete

WAKITA Monari "Right Here" signed

Music release news: Negicco, Haruko Tajima, Crazy Ken Band, Pizzicato Five

This week's videos:

Crazy Ken Band "Tampopo"

Haruko Tajima "Chifure Gang"
(New album "kawaiiresist" out now!)

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