Fuji Rock Festival part two: shugo tokumaru

saturday july 26th 2008



shugo tokumaru plays the gypsy avalon stage

click the video and go to youtube to watch it in higher quality.

(i was asked by group_inou's label to take down their video)

Fuji Rock Festival part one: days one and two

DAY ONE. THURSDAY JULY 24th 2008.

After four hours of annoying people with our massive amounts of luggage on local trains, we finally arrived in Yuzawa. Then came an hour standing in the rain waiting for the bus to the festival. Rain is an unfortunate but unavoidable consequence of holding the festival at a ski resort way up in the mountains of Niigata. Rain is what caused me to get drenched on Sunday, the only day I forgot to bring my poncho, and probably why I now have a cold.



Getting there on Thursday is definitely the way to go. We managed to find an ideal camping spot near some toilets, a stream and not on too much of an angle. In the next couple of days we witnessed people pitching tents all kinds of wacky places like the side of hills, in swamps and in the trees.



The atmosphere on Thursday night was amazing. There were fireworks and surprise bands and thousands of grinning fujirockers. We mixed up some drinks at the campsite and went in to the festival. Takkyu Ishino got us dancing, and soon we were drinking more and more and making friends with almost everyone who passed, people who we kept running into and hanging out with throughout the festival. A bunch of 20-year-olds we met happened to be our campsite next-door neighbours. Despite the language differences, they had a great time with Pete drinking at their campsite until they started vomiting in their tents. Who taught Pete "iki iki"?

DAY TWO. FRIDAY JULY 25th 2008.



As it did every day, the bright morning sun woke us up way too early and turned our tents into saunas, causing us to seek alternative places to sleep. Fellow Melburnians, Midnight Juggernauts kicked off Saturday in the Red Marquee with a solid dancable set that got us in the right mood for the rest of the day.



Then it was time to explore the festival site and make ourselves familar with the location of all the stages. It is an incredibly huge place! Walking over to Orange Court took about 40 minutes and on the way we had to endure a couple of The Presidents of The United States Of America songs. Who invited them? Once at Orange Court, we only got to see a couple of songs by French hip-hop group, Hocus Pocus before it was time to turn around and start heading back to Red Marquee again to see Spoon.



On the way back we watched a couple of Quruli's songs. Well-polished Japanese indie-rock. Spoon gave us more indie-rock and I was happy that they played lots of songs from their last two albums (their best, in my opinion), and the big Spoon fans would have been happy that they played lots of oldies too. It started raining when I wandered over to get food and I heard Travis from the Green Stage very appropriately playing 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me?'

The Gossip were up next in the Red Marquee and Beth put on an amazing show that was definitely one of the highlights of the festival. She howled, sweated and announced, "Japan is so hot!", taking off a layer of clothing. The crowd loved her and went absolutely wild, especially when she came down from the stage to sing among them. They included a very punk cover of 'Like a Virgin' as well as their hits like 'Jealous Girls' and 'Standing In The Way Of Control.'

Unfortunately, the main role of the security guards was to stop people from taking photos, so it was hard to get any decent band shots.

Maybe it was partly because of Gossip's amazing performance just before, maybe it was partly because of the rain, or maybe it was because I had such high expectations, but whatever it was, although I did enjoy them, Bloc Party failed to impress me all that much.



My Bloody Valentine were everything I wanted them to be. Incredible. They played my favourites from Loveless and Isn't Anything and even some from their EPs. They even did 20 minutes of delicious noise in the middle of the last song! The fans absolutely loved them, and Pete, Meri and I were speechless for a long while after they finished. The rest of our group didn't dig them much though.



Wandering over to Orange Court, we caught a bit of The New Mastersounds who sounded as good live as they do on record. Unfortunately, Orange Court was ridiculously crowded making it impossible to properly appreciate Dexpistols and Denki Groove. We had to sit right up the back on the side of a hill trying to balance our drinks. Should have just stayed and watched The New Mastersounds.

It was time for late night hip-hop back way back at the Red Marquee. I've been really loving Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip's debut album lately so I had been looking forward to seeing them play live. This duo from England ended up being one of my highlights of the weekend. For their song, 'Thou Shalt Always Kill,' Scroobius Pip changed the words to include Fuji Rock bands.

Grandmaster Flash reminded us that he is the DJ who first made the turntable an instrument and that he is the first hip-hop artist to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame countless times, told us to put our hands in the air countless times, and continually ranted about a Japan Times interviewer who he thought had dissed him (in fact, all he did was ask why many Japanese people didn't know who he was). But he also played a fun selection of old and new songs that got us dancing, and we all loved him because, well, he is Grandmaster Flash! At one hilarious point, after referring to the Japan Times reporter yet again and boasting about how Japanese people loved him, he played 'Smells Like Teen Spirit!'
I heard that song three times throughout the festival...

My Jero

While I was slinking to the station after just another day at the office in Shiodome on Wednesday, I stumbled on a free gig by Japan's newest It Boy: Jero the pseudo-hip-hop enka singer.

I figured I might as well check it out to distract myself from sulking about being too broke for Fuji Rock this weekend.

Certainly most of the ladies seemed enthralled by this American crooner, who says that his Japanese maternal grandmother introduced him to enka and the Japanese language.

I was more enthralled with his jarring image. Jero eschews kimono for gear straight from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but still performs traditionally: standing in one place, overusing facial expressions and randomly grabbing at the air as his diamond earrings glitter in the light.

Behind him, Jero promotional videos rolled on a screen, instead of, say, cherry blossoms and oceans like in the usual enka videos. His voice was a bit deeper than I expected, and while quite pleasant, I'd like to hear it again in a few more years when he's got a bit more polish and power.

Because his image is so jarring, I was expecting him to add his own touch to the music, but the arrangements he sings over are starkly traditional -- no beats, samples, skits, or other accouterments of modern hip-hop.

During the post-performance harassment -- err, questioning -- by Nippon Television flunkies, Jero remained soft-spoken and gracious. He must really be a publicist's dream: a novelty, but not enough to alienate anyone, and seemingly tireless, as shown by his endless number of TV appearances, gigs and coffee advertisements.

What do you think, is Jero nothing but shtick or is he the real thing?

(photo is from Jero's official blog)

The Battle Continues

Laptop Battle Tokyo, vol. 3
7/16, SuperDeluxe

Combining the craziness of computer-generated music and the thrill of competition, the sporadic Laptop Battles at SuperDeluxe are becoming some of my more anticipated events in Tokyo. It's a way to see how individual musicians, working in the very solitary medium of computers, can translate their gadgetry to a live performance.

The third edition did not disappoint. The music is always the focus, but this time I feel like the competitors upped their showmanship. While some may dismiss crazy masks, wigs and dancing as gimmicks, I figure that if you already know you can throw down, you might as well go for entertainment value as well -- something the judges seemed to take into account.

The battle featured eight musicians in a bracket-style tournament, competing for software and gear. It was off to a strong start in the first round, when Hiroaki Oba's mix of disco-y influences rightly won out over Azop Corp's more technically proficient but rather standard beats.

I won't go into detail of each round, but highlights for me included lots of samples from old-school Nintendo games, and the stage antics of Lastboss (who went on to the final) and Naotoxin, a competitor from the first laptop battle who unfortunately was eliminated.

Technical problems terminated competitor T3 from the running, but perhaps his dark, expansive music wasn't cut out for the competition.

The final paired ambient DJ Yuko Ono with the spastic stylings of Mancunian mixer Lastboss. It was a tough call because the two are so different stylistically. The crowd seemed to favor Ono, but Lastboss' supporters definitely knew how to be vocal.

Ono started out strong and I was sure she had it, but her second offering wasn't as sure. Lastboss was consistent in his seizure-inducing glitches and samples, and maybe it was his technical prowess and showmanship that won him the title.

Even though I thought the decision should've gone the other way, I don't think that Ono lost out, and I hope to see her again soon.

Check out the Laptop Battle website for lots of info. And anywhere else for pics better than mine.

Flo Union Summer special

Flo Union is a monthly event which has been happening at different venues and with different organisers since 2004. It has morphed from a book exchange to an arts showcase to its current incarnation as a Media Lounge, organised by the VJ, David Roy (Modius Cafe) with the help of Craig Exton (Tokyo Gig Guide).

The July Flo Union on July 20th, will focus on live music with some very special international guests: Mixtune For Cully, visiting from Denmark, Cigarettes For Ping Pong from Australia, as well as local, Eri Makino.

Like every month, there will also be VJs and artists showing their work.
In fact, any kind of artist is free to perform or show their work. Live painting, short films, DJs, VJs, performance art, dance, poetry, live projection, animation, design, photography... Just let us know in advance if you can. flounion@gmail.com

Between performances, DJs Mr Craig e, Bamboozled, Stick Close Like Dogs, Dolly and more will play DJ tennis.

It will be held on Sunday, July 20th at The Pink Cow, a cool loungeroom-like event space/restaurant/bar in Shibuya.

Entry is free and it starts at 8:30pm.



Mixtune For Cully
Aage Hedensted; the man behind the previous Danish indierock successes such as Yellowish and Slowburn is back on track with his most ambitious project so far, Mixtune For Cully. A singer/songwriter with a preference for the traditional shoegazer scene, Hedensted, with his beautiful and piercing voice, masters to muster a fragile thoughtfulness in his lyrics. The noise of the guitar has been tuned down and replaced by insisting, acoustic elements. We Know Where The Aircrafts Hide is released in Denmark the 6th of October by GoodTape Records in collaboration with Playground Music. Aage will bring the new album with him to Japan and play some of the songs from it live.

Cigarettes For Ping Pong
From Melbourne, Australia, Carol Micallef's (Cartwheel, Like Chandeliers) new project Cigarettes For Ping Pong play music which conveys both tenderness and charm like that of a new foal attempting to stand on it’s own. We hope you will be fond of it.

Eri Makino
Eri Makino is “Piano and vocal and something” style musician, with snare drum, with many toy, with laptop, with impromptu, with sampler, with orchestra, with band, with idol unit, with i-pod, with a teddy, with my friends, etc.

Eri Makino and Cigarettes For Ping Pong will also play on the afternoon of Saturday, July 19th at Stax Fred in Koenji for a special lunchtime live show with electronic duo lotusloop. Details here.

Maher Shalal Hash Baz & Doronco Gumo

Koenji High May 12th





Doronco Gumo





Maher Shalal Hash Baz

Aprils, Hazel Nuts Chocolate, Aira Mitsuki, Furil @ Basement Bar 26 April

Deciding I needed a dose of happy-happy pop, I went down a Shimokitazawa basement to Basement Bar. Surprisingly, the place was chock-a-block with an odd mix of folks.

First up was Furil, who I didn't know anything about and who didn't really help with my need for happy-happy pop. They were a squeaky synthetic karaoke act who took themselves too seriously, but seemed to go down well with the otaku I noticed congregating at the front of the stage.



The otaku didn't quite know how to react to the next performance, Hazel Nuts Chocolate.
Yuppa made a hilarious entry and danced about singing a bunch of Hazel Nuts classics. Although she was singing to a backing track, she also played synth and was joined by Dr Usui from Motocompo on guitar. They were loud, eccentric, danceable and put a smile on my face as they always do.



When Henachoco finished, there was sudden excitement on the otaku front. Patrick, who I ran into at the show, was perfectly correct in guessing they were all there to see Aira Mitsuki, the idoru who was up next. She was an idoru of the Perfume type, and like Perfume, she was actually blessed with some interesting songs, produced by Yasutaka Nakata worshipper, Oonishi Terukado. At first I was admittedly a bit afraid though; a singer who looked like a doll wearing a maid-like dress, her management wearing suits, choreographed dancers, nerds enthusiastically copying the moves.. Was this Shimokitazawa or Akihabara? Well, perhaps Akihabara via Shibuya. Well, via the post-Shibuya-kei techno-pop of the likes of Capsule.
She even did a cover of Cornelius' Star Fruits Surf Rider and even pressed a couple of keys on a synth. Bonus points.
Everything she sang was through a vocoder and she not only sounded, but also looked like a robot. However, this artificiality was indeed intentional and part of what made her interesting.
Quite enjoyable actually. Though those otaku were scary.. But they made a mad dash to the merchandise table after Aira finished, leaving a bit more room for us to enjoy Aprils.



I pulled out the light stick Aprils gave out for free (Oh no! Otaku behaviour! I'm becoming one of them!) and watched Aprils enthusiastically belt out some of their happy-happy pop classics. As usual, they filled the stage with supporting members, lights, smoke, pico-pico-flipper's-guitar-pop and monitors synched up to their songs. No appearance by the giant blue panda this time though. But they did play Pan・da:



Check out the Chipple report of this show.

Fuji Rock Lineup

Lots more artists have been announced for Fuji Rock.

Some friends are coming over from Australia for it so I'm going to go too.
Want to join the TGG cohort?

ASPARAGUS, BEAT CRUSADERS, BEN FOLDS, BETTYE LAVETTE, Bill Laswell presents Method of Defiance, BLACKMARKET, Bootsy Collins Tribute to the Godfather of Soul, THE BREEDERS, THE CRIBS, CSS, DatA, THE DEATH SET, DOBERMAN, eastern youth, ELLEGARDEN, FEEDER, FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND, FreeTEMPO, GALACTIC featuring Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5) and Boots Riley (of The Coup), THE GO!TEAM, GOGOL BORDELLO, GOSSIP, GOTYE, HARD-FI, IAN BROWN, KIYOSHIRO IMAWANO & NICE MIDDLE with NEW BLUE DAY HORNS plus NAKAIDO "CHABO" REICHI, JANET KLEIN, JASON FALKNER, JASON MRAZ, KASABIAN, KATE NASH, Kicell, LETTUCE, M!NK, MELEE, MICHAEL FRANTI AND SPEARHEAD, THE MUSIC, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, MYSTERY JETS, NARUYOSHI KIKUCHI DUB SEXTET, ONE NIGHT ONLY, OZOMATLI, PRIMAL SCREAM, PRINCESS SUPERSTAR, QURULI, THE RASCALS, Riddim Saunter, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA, ROGER JOSEPH MANNING JR., RYUKYUDISKO, SEASICK STEVE, SHERBETS, SPECIAL OTHERS, SPOON, SWITCH, Tomobe Masato, TRAVIS, UNDERWORLD, WHITE LIES

Tokyo Gig Guide in Best Of The Web '08

Tokyo Gig Guide was included on Japanzine's Best Of The Web '08 article about Japan websites.
It's in the 'Tragically Hip' section, along with some good music sites like Japan Onchi and Improvised Music From Japan.

Dancing to a Japanese Beatles cover band by the tandoor

Last night, a coworker had been invited to play bass in a band in Chiba, so I decided to go along.
After getting totally lost, we finally managed to get to the venue which was an Indian restaurant hidden under a huge apartment building in the middle of nowhere in Higashi-Chiba.
Inside, it was a British rock-themed izakaya-like place jam-packed with an odd collection of middle-aged locals. I tucked into a super-spicy North Indian curry and some pints of Bass.
The band set up and earnestly played Beatles songs. A few people got up and danced at first, and later after more songs, beer and samosas, chairs were pushed aside and half the place was getting on down. An Indian chef showed off some Bollywood moves and a lady in a strange dance outfit very enthusiastically tried to make me dance with her, while an old guy with overalls and a combover cheered and took photos. We were offered some home-brewed ale.
Next, just to make things even more surreal, an old guy in an orange shirt got on stage and started singing opera.
It was great to see some real, unpretentious culture. If only I'd brought along my camera.