Blog - December 2019 Archives

December 2019 Archives

Index

.30 Weekly revue: 2019 weeks #51-52 (December 14 to 27)
.15 Weekly revue: 2019 week #50 (December 7 to 13)
.08 Weekly revue: 2019 week #49 (November 30 to December 6)
.03 Weekly revue: 2019 week #48 (November 23 to November 29)

December 30, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 weeks #51-52 (December 14 to 27)

Whoa, there's been so much going on! So here's a 2-week summary!

Food: - Lunch at Wineshop & Diner Fujimaru
- Curry at Tapir, at Snark Liquidworks
- Chou à la crème with chestnut at Tomihisa Ice Cream
- Bûche de Noël "Atoca" by Ladurée in collaboration with Patrice Demers (Patrice Pâtissier de Montréal)

Music events: So much stuff! In chronological order:

- On Saturday December 14 was Emiri Kanou's first one-man live, held at Moon Romantic, a venue that I love (partly for the huge moon above the stage). Emiri did her official debut this year, and her first album "GREENPOP" was just released shortly before this show. I had bought my ticket back in June when she still only had two singles out (and a CD-R EP), so it feels like she has been a long way since then! Now having released her album, Emiri has already a much bigger repertory than back then.

The show was backed by a full band part of which was drummer Tanabe Manaka (who I had previously seen playing with Milli Milli Bar, Yume to Cosme and several times with SOLEIL!), as well as two guitarists and a bassist. They played over a backing track but added plenty of live instruments which gave a very cool result! Emiri stood in the front and sung while doing her usual very entertaining dances. They performed a generous set of the whole album plus a few B-sides ("Lucky" and "Been With You"). That's like all of her songs I've heard so far (I think only missing other B-side "Becuase Of You"). The show was a lot of fun and went by so quickly!

On the way out I bought Manaka's instrumental piano + drums duo SHiROi_PAReT's first CD-R EP (also on iTunes).

Set list: renai Claimer / Lucky / Just a feeling / Heartbreak / Moonlight / futari no Philosophy / 1988 / Been With You / Friday Night / Next Town
Encore: koi seyo otome / gomen ne

- Then that same day, after Emiri's show, I rushed from Gaienmae to UFO Club in Higashi-Koenji to see The Arts, a recently formed band led by The Pen Friend Club's Hirakawa Yūichi, and also featuring bassist Iwabuchi Hisashi (Sloppy Joe)! It was my first time seeing them and their sound was great even though they've only been active for about half a year. I already look forward to seeing them again!

Mellow Fellow who played next were also great! Too bad I missed The Geno London who had played earlier. That's a band that I'll need to catch next year. It was also announced around that day that The Scooters and Hicksville will play a show at UFO Club on February 24, 2020.

- Then the next day, I dropped by DJ event "Butti Giri Night" at Boys Town Cafe in Fudōmae, a event organized every three months by Iwabuchi Hisashi (The Arts, Sloppy Joe) and also featuring Sally Kubota (SOLEIL), Fujii Yōichi (Luxury Kayō) and Satō Seiki (Microstar). This time the guest DJ was Okii Reiji (Tweedees). All the music was excellent, and I was really happy to see Sally-san spinning and several people of the scene, and also Vanilla Beans ("sakasaka Circus") and Manon ("xxFANCYPOOLxx")! This party was really a lot of fun with a very friendly ambiance, and I stayed almost until the end. I had the chance to take a photo with Hoshino Michiru! :)

w/ HOSHINO Michiru

- Then, on Tuesday December 17, I dropped by an in-store event at HMV record shop Shinjuku Alta featuring two acts from Trash-Up Records: Kai and SAKA-SAMA. It was my first time seeing both, and I was already a fan of Kai for her first EP "Moonlight Tokyo", but this mini-live of hers was almost like of a revelation as it felt like I was watching some really top quality techno kayō, like a time warp to the 80's. Her new EP "Paper Diamond" is produced by Suzuki Keiichi (Moonriders), and it even includes a cover of Nomiya Maki's debut single "onna tomodachi" (1981, originally produced by Keiichi), which had me thinking that the situation could have been similar to when Maki debuted. Kai's voice is particular in that it sounds rather quiet, although not a so-called "whisper voice" and she has very good pitch, which all goes very well on techno-kayō. Anyway, that new EP is just awesome (like the previous)!

SAKA-SAMA was also fun! I hadn't heard them before, but it turns out that their sound is sort of like indie rock, sometimes a little bit noisy to me, but they sure caught my interest.

- Then Wednesday was the release day of "SOLEIL in STEREO", SOLEIL's stereo remix album! Until then all of SOLEIL's recordings and releases were done strictly in mono, aiming for a sound of early Beatles era. The stereo album isn't of a stereo sound like we're used to hear everywhere, but one that mimics early stereo mixes of the Beatles' mono recordings, with weird balance like having instruments or vocals panned to either channel. Could things get any more maniac?! Haha! I love it!

So I went to Tower Records Shinjuku that day for the in-store live event! I had already picked up the album and its promo poster the day before. The two of SOLEIL (Soleil-chan and Sally-san) performed a set of 4 songs, using the new stereo mix. Since Sally's bass would have been a bit tricky to mix into that, he played the tambourine instead. They did a rare performance of "Hong Kong Chang" (written by Yokoyama Ken (Crazy Ken Band)), which they said they had never played live before. I thought I remembered hearing Sally's imitation of Bruce Lee's shout in the song, but that must have been a dream I guess..!? Anyway his mic happened to be a bit loud, and him a bit too close to the mic, and that shout was so loud that it resonated in the store, and had everyone laughing. That was very funny but very cool too!

At that time, there were already just 4 days to go until SOLEIL's last concert. After the show there was a very long line of fans who waited to take a photo with the singer. (The event was on the 7th floor, but the line went up the staircase close to the 10th floor I believe.)

Set list: Do You Believe in Magic? / Fruits Who Dream / Hong Kong Chang / Apple Princess Go Go!

w/ Soleil

- Then two days later on Friday, there was an in-store event Tweedees at hat shop CA4LA in Omotesandō! I went there with a good friend who had just arrived in Japan. :) The show was held on the shop's smallish mezzanine, which quickly got quite packed! It was an acoustic kind of show, with Okii Reiji playing guitar (instead of his usual bass), and also with Blue Peppers' Inoue Kaoru accompanying on keyboards. They played 6 songs over a backing track, including "Me and My Beret", one of the two songs they wrote to accompany their original berets made in collaboration with CA4LA.

Set list: Boop Boop bee Doop! / Strikers / A Beautiful Melody's Always Sad Melody / A Boring Game / The Eve / Me & My Béret

- On Sunday December 22 was SOLEIL's last show, titled "SOLEIL Last Christmas Concert". After some 2½ years of rather intense activity (with the release of 3 albums!), it was already time to say goodbye to this very unique band that kept me entertained the whole time. So this last show was held in a new venue opened this year by Victor Entertainment, Veats Shibuya, located right in the middle of Shibuya's Center-gai area. It was my first time to go, and being so new and ran by a record label, and also not so big nor small, I think this is quite as good as it gets! The stage lighting was also very beautiful!

One big difference with the recent shows was that former guitarist Nakamori Yasuhiro (Hicksville), the one who did all guitars in SOLEIL's recordings, was back on stage for this one last time! On drums was also main drummer Shirane Kenichi (GREAT3), and on chorus Moeka (Machida Girls Choir) who had been singing in the band's shows for some time. This formation made the show feel very much at home, so much that it almost didn't feel like it was the last show..! Between the songs it felt like there were more MC times than usual, but the members not having pre-discussed what to say, it was much

In terms of the songs performed, it was very much like a best selection of SOLEIL's great repertory, with a rare (first?) band performance of "Hong Kong Chang" (written by Yokoyama Ken (Crazy Ken Band)) for which Sally Kubota brought a gong on stage (hitting it in the intro, and also repeatedly as the song ended), and also an instrumental of "Fruits Who Dream" (a song with music written by drummer Shirane Kenichi) while Soleil went to change outfits. There was also an absence of covers, with I think the exception of just "High School Lullaby".

It was also announced that the show will be released on DVD at the end of February! That will be SOLEIL's first live DVD, and I'm really happy that their stage will remain in that form to be watched again and again. This last show, which of course had a somewhat emotional feeling, ended without any tears (even despite Sally teasing Soleil asking if she was going to cry) and therefore didn't feel so much like it was the last show. Probably by the time the DVD gets released it will hit everyone that SOLEIL has gone.

Many thanks for such wonderful music, times and memories!

Set list: Do You Believe in Magic? / Sweet Boy / Anachronic Girl / Emo-Colored Corazon / High School Lullaby / Pieces of Candy / Baby Boo / Hong Kong Chang / Red Balloon / Fruits Who Dream (inst.) / Twinkle Heart / So Long My Fourteen / Bittersweet Graduation / Mellotron Girl / Marine I Love You / Sweet Fifteen / 5-4-3-2-1 / School's Out / Le Cœur Qui Fuzz
1st encore: Apple Princess Go Go! / Guitar in Love / Pinky Fluffy
2nd encore: Good Bye, Teddy Bear / Are you happy?

w/ Soleil

- On Christmas day, I dropped by a free concert of Nosa Reina outside of Roppongi Hills in the Arena space. Part of a set by Tawoyame Special Combo, formed of four members of Tawoyame Orchestra (a 17-piece girl-only big band who were to play later) who played saxophone, keyboards, bass and drums, Reina appeared on stage to sing "Fly Me to the Moon", "Santa Baby" and "White Christmas" (all three in English), and then her new song "City Blue Carnival" from upcoming album "Sports and Distractions" (to be released in 2020). That was a very pleasant show, and it gave a special touch to an otherwise kind of busy day. "City Blue Carnival" is now out on iTunes and Spotify, etc.

Radio: I started a radio program on La Face B, an Internet radio based in Montréal (Québec, Canada), where I present music from Japan that I like! Because that's quite related to what I post on my site Tokyo's Coolest Sound, I gave it the same name (which is originally taken from a song by my favorite band ever: Pizzicato Five).

My first official show of 1-hour was aired on December 25 (EST = Montréal time), and a bit before then I also did a 30-minute Christmas mix that was aired on December 13 and then December 24.

- "Tokyo's Coolest Sound" vol.1 (December 25, 2019): Listen on Mixcloud and read more here

- "Noël Nippon" (December 13, 2019): Listen on Mixcloud and read more here

Music release news: SOLEIL, Wakita Monari, Agata Morio

This week's video: YMCK "PaPaPaPa X'mas for You"

December 15, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 week #50 (December 7 to 13)

Food: - Curry at chichica, Tachikawa
- Pizza at Pizza Slice, Daikanyama
- Enchilada and chicken at bokkoku kaiten tori, Shibuya

Radio: I started a radio show on Montréal-based Internet radio La Face B (Facebook page)! My first episode was aired on Friday December 13 (EST), and it's a Christmas special titled "Noêl Nippon" of original songs by some favorite Japanese artists. It can be heard at any time on Mixcloud where it's archived. I wrote more info and details about each song here.

Music events: - On Monday I went to Emiri Kanou's in-store event at Tower Records Shinjuku, in promotion of the release of her first album "GREENPOP"! Emiri is a self-produced artist who writes all songs, sings and even creates the fun dance moves to go along with them. Her music style takes a lot from '80s new wave, with many tricks that make it sound sort of nostalgic despite being all very new and cool! This first album is packed with all songs she has been performing live since she debuted. For this event, she had made a special dancefloor-oriented mix which was great!

Set list: Just a feeling / Next Town / Friday Night / koi seyo otome / gomenne (Extended Ver.)

w/ Emiri KANOU

- Then on Wednesday I went to a talk event at Daikanyama Tsutaya featuring Konishi Yasuharu (Pizzicato One) and Samuzora Hadaka, in promotion of Konishi-san's new album as Konishi Yasuharu & Playboys, "Inoue Jun no Playboy kōza 12 shō". The album has background music over which Inoue Jun (ex-The Spiders) recites a narrative with a theme of "how to become a playboy". The text was written by Samuzora Hadaka, and it's actually a witty and charming tour of 12 places in Tokyo, each matched with a different girl, a month of the year, and a type of food. The music is of course very good too, making this a very nice album!

The talk went about how the album got to be made, and it was revealed that each fictive girl is named after a classic Japanese actress. Also there was talk about the recording, done just two or three months ago, for which Inoue Jun sat in the vocal recording booth for some 8 hours straight without even eating anything. Konishi-san said that he gave direction to retake a lot of phrases, mainly for small pronunciation tweaks, and that the narrator was a true professional and gentleman in complying with all requests.

Music release news: Glue Scissors / Mermaid, Kai, Dé Dé Mouse

This week's video: DÉ DÉ MOUSE "Heartbeat"

December 8, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 week #49 (November 30 to December 6)

Food: - Affogato at the brand new Sunday Bake Shop in Hatagaya!
- So much poutine at Poutinerie by Air Canada, Roppongi Hills (temporary event until December 7 only)

Music events: - I went to see Nomiya Maki's new show, "Miss Maki Nomiya sings Pizzicato Five" at Billboard Live Tokyo! As the title says, it was a dream-come-true show of nothing but Pizzicato Five songs! The musical director was Nakatsuka Takeshi (Qypthone), and the band also featured guitarist Ishigaki Kentarō (Qypthone), trumpet, sax and trombone, bass and drums! As any Qypthone fan would expect, the sound was as groovy as can be, and full of great respect and love for Pizzicato Five. A total time warp! Many times I couldn't resist getting up and dancing! Now I really wish that this show gets released somehow (CD or DVD)!

Set list: I / Tout va bien / Happy Sad / Baby Love Child / I Hear a Symphony / My Baby Portable Player Sound / Baby Portable Rock / Such a Beautiful Girl Like You / A Message Song / Triste / Magic Carpet Ride
1st encore: The night is still young / Sweet Soul Revue / It's a Beautiful Day / La règle du jeu / Playboy, Playgirl / Twiggy Twiggy
2nd encore: On the sunny side of the street

- Then on Friday I went to see Neil and Iraiza at Weekend Garage Tokyo in Shibuya. Matsuda "Chabe" Gakuji and Horie Hirohisa played accompanied by trumpeter Kunimi Tomoko (of Wack Wack Rhythm Band), guitarist Hamada Masamichi (of Learners) and drummer Hara "Gen" Hideki. This café venue was a great and rare opportunity to see Horie-kun (also of The Cornelius Group, Dots+Borders) play acoustic piano, and that throughout pretty much the whole show! Chabe played synths, guitar and percussions. Got to hear many excellent songs old and new!

Partial set list: Supreme Day / Magic Hour Melodies / Cowboy Kate / Timeless Melodies / Love Is Navy Blue

December 3, 2019

Weekly revue: 2019 week #48 (November 23 to November 29)

Food: - Japanese sweets from Kantan na Yume, Shibuya

Music events: - On Saturday November 23 was "Rule vol.4" at Ichibee in Kichijoji. The event featured BANK, Francis and h-shallows, and also DJs Fujii Yōichi (Luxury kayō) and Kei Nakamura (disques blue-very). All bands were great! I was happy to see BANK and Francis again, who I hadn't seen in a little while. Also Koide Asako of Beikoku Ongaku dropped in for B2B, and the event ended dancing along to Wack Wack Rhythm Band's new single "Finish feat. Lemon"! A great evening!

Francis set list (partial): S'il vous plaît / Alexandre / Dandy Warhol / Hanpatsu / Zero Gravity Love / kawaii omocha / Delaware / Copacabana

BANK set list (partial): Himitsu / 7 days / Number 3 / Vision / Vivre

- Then on Monday was event "Drive To 2020: Moon Jam" at Shinjuku Loft feat. CTO LAB., Genius, Jollits (Saeki Kenzō), for instance (Shirai Ryōmei), and more! Two of the bands were those of members of Moonriders, therefore the event title! Genius' set also featured Virtual Boys bandmate Imai Kentarō (Aprils, CTO LAB.) and a cajón player. CTO LAB.'s set included some rarities such as a self-cover of the theme song of "Docomodake" (written by Okada Tohru), and also some Moonriders covers. Band for instance were also great, with a fusion vibe, lots of syncopation, and twin drums! The show ended with everyone playing Moonriders' "9 gatsu no umi wa kurage no umi", sung by Saeki-san. Last but not least, DJ Mayutan played between all sets throughout the show, lots of rare and intriguing records! The whole was a lot of fun, and a very busy event too as there was so much to see on two stages!

Genius set list (partial): Polygon Lovers / Love Catch / Geni shussan (born to die) / On November / yusha o sagashi ni

CTO LAB. set list: 2001: A Space Odyssey / M.I.J. / Pack up my sorrow / Nazo No Enban / Docomodake no uta / The Elements / Crash Bandicoot / hitsuji no Triangle / aozora no Mari

- On Wednesday I went to see Dots+Borders, the band of Kaji Hideki and Horie Hirohisa (Neil and Iraiza, The Cornelius Group)! They were the guest band of an event series hosted by Otogivanashi, a band that very often plays as the backband of Kaji. Held at Shimokitazawa 440, it was a seated show and sold out too! Dots+Borders played first, and they were surprisingly quite loud! Formed in the 90's, I think they said that it had been 6 years since they played a show. Otogivanashi played next. It was my first time to see hear their own songs, and it was all very good! At the end of the show they welcomed Kaji back on stage to play his song "Sunday Baby" from latest album "Goth Romance". Then Horie also joined too for one more song.

Music release news: Record Store Day Black Friday 2019, Reina Nosa, The Sunrays / The Turtles (Readymade Oldays)

This week's video: YMCK "Wild Wild Caravan"

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