Blog - Weekly revue: 2019 weeks #51-52 (December 14 to 27)
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! :)
- 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!
- 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?
- 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"
Posted on December 30, 2019 at 17:40 | Tweet
|