tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15121642037580995482024-03-05T09:50:50.355-08:00Sea of SoundChris/Hidekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10797067734638444932noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-20947506231498045432020-03-31T09:20:00.001-07:002020-03-31T09:20:37.459-07:00Why do I suddenly like Techno? The Transonic LabelElectronic Music isn't something I've ever delved into too deeply. The seemingly endless labels for every sub-genre of a sub-genre of club music has maybe contributed to this. So if I come off kind of naive in this post, well, I have to admit that I am. I know nothing about this stuff.<br />
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My tidbit of knowledge about break-beats, goa-trance, psy-trance, gabba, trip-hop, etc. is from beatmania. The dudes in charge at Konami threw in a dictionaries worth of genres(seriously, who came up with these specifics??) to accompany every song by the impressive array of musicians featured in their DJ Simulation game that reflected the sort of happenings in the underground club scene of the day (or at least, I'd like to think you can kind of sense the year some of these games were released based on the styles of music). Even if I never understood all these crazy genres attached to the title of the songs I was still listening to just about all of it while playing the game--and enjoying it, too. I didn't understand the entire context of what made the way these songs sounded line up with the genres but to hell with whatever broken beats or symphonic jazz was, I just remembered what songs were good and played them. A lot. But again this about how far I went into music like this but I did still have a pretty good idea of it. And I didn't hate it, that's for sure.<br />
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By coincidence, I happened upon a CD by the artist Fuzita Blender and it struck a chord--he was an artist in earlier Beatmania IIDX games. None that really floored me, mind you, but looking him up again put me in touch with his label mates, Mind Design, after a random youtube recommendation (let's face it, alright, these sure as hell aren't random):<br />
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Mind Design really dealt out an atmospheric kind of electronic happening with these tracks, something that really got me interested. It was spacey, in that groovy neofuturistic spacey, the kind that had curvy Dutch looking chairs and orange and white colors. Something easy to put into perspective if you were fond of some playstation-era video game music. Have to admit that maybe what really seals the deal is the excellent cover art of relics from the iconic Expo '70 fair in Osaka, complete with gnarly saturated colors, that adorns the jackets of this entire series of compilations from the Transonic label.<br />
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All of which, so far, has proved really interesting to listen to. I'd of course like to get my hands on some of these CDs for their jackets alone but that's been a much more difficult task. However, I have been able to get a few of the many compilations they dished out every year or so. And interestingly enough, the more experimental ambient duo Inoyamaland, <a href="https://wrwtfww.com/album/danzindan-pojidon">who as been getting a lot of attention lately with reissues and such</a>, were on Transonic at one point in time with their album <i>Music for Myxomycetes</i>--listeners of the trending environmental Japanese ambient music should take note--and appearing in a few comps. That should attest to the good taste of the label, if genres like techno or trance turn you off. They shouldn't, though. Really.<br />
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Maybe in time we can get a retrospective of the Transonic label when that electronic music revival finally hits. In the meantime, Mind Design is a well kept secret.<br />
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-26220611493963524442019-09-14T21:58:00.001-07:002019-09-15T07:23:41.327-07:00Aichi Triennale presents Tamaki Roy @ Endoji 2019/9/13Even if you don't like contemporary art, the Aichi Triennale has a expertly curated lineup of artists performing as part of its music program a few times a week <i>for free </i>at the Endoji temple and Shotengai not far from Nagoya station.<br />
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I went to check out hip-hop artist Tamaki Roy this past Friday after missing nearly a month of great artists because I was home for the holidays.<br />
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The stage is set against a large mural painting on the side of a building in the mall with a parking in front of the structure providing space for a hundred or so audience members. Tamaki Roy had garnered quite a crowd when I arrived; the space was full and onlookers spilled out into the center street and off to the side. He had just belted out a free style rhyme sans any backing track but resumed his set with some of his popular tracks. The gig lasted about an hour, from 7PM to 8PM.<br />
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Later in the program there are a slew of other artists who are due to perform solo or acoustic on the small stage throughout the month. It seems that bands werent allowed and I can imagine the noise complaints from the neighborhood already, not to mention the inconvenience to those who use the street where the mall is as a way to get around. Seeing as the gigs are free, it's a great way to check out some new artists and get a look at a really cool looking mall and the preserved traditional architecture that dots the areas back streets. The public seemed to enjoy it too, with more than one passerby stopping their commute to listen to Tamaki rhyme over his beats.<br />
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You can check out the <a href="https://aichitriennale.jp/">Aichi Triennale's website</a> for more info, their <a href="https://aichitriennale.jp/search.html?offset=0&limit=1000&search=&artwork_category_bn=mp&venue_category_bn=">music program</a> category for info on all the music related work for the triennale, and <a href="https://aichitriennale.jp/artwork/S51.html">the page dedicated to these Endoji Day Concerts</a> that are taking place every Thursday to Sunday until October 11th.<br />
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ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-30563194045222094592019-06-21T02:20:00.001-07:002019-07-04T22:32:12.825-07:00Konami's music production powerhouse show off their chops on self-titled album, "Kukeiha Club"<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1512164203758099548" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1512164203758099548" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Most musicians composing video game music were not known by name, and instead eclipsed by both the companies they worked for and the now-timeless gaming franchises they worked on.Thanks to the wave of vinyl reissues of video game soundtracks, this trend has been shifting slightly as the focus on the music itself has naturally come with a recognition of the once unknown musicians responsible for the work. Konami's in-house band Kukeiha Club has in particular been prolific, and the group has finally been gaining some well deserved credit for their work on some of the gaming giant's most prolific melodies and memorable background tracks, from the medieval anthems of <i>Castlevania</i> to the 8-bit galactic space tunes that set the backdrop for the otherworldly adventures of <i>Gradius'</i> Vic Viper spaceship and its legacy.<br />
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Aside from these nostalgic compositions that became as synonymous as the characters and their respective games, the group also released a few albums sans the "Konami" prefix--just as Kukeiha Club--that often go under the radar. These were minor side-projects of sorts for the band to showcase some original music outside of the game franchises they were usually attached to. With a heavy focus on the style of jazz fusion, these releases are definitely worth a listen for both fans of the genre and those curious about the musicians outside of the context of video game compositions.<br />
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After their debut album <i>Hope, </i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhBwBLsIlZ4">which you can still listen to it in its blue-baby goodness here</a>, Kukeiha Club released their self-titled sophomore release, an album I became particularly interested in after hearing sample online. The usual trio of musicians in Kukeiha Club are joined by the likes of a number of guest players for this outing, which included musicians from some of the most prolific names in Japanese fusion music: members of Casiopea, The Square/T-Square, and Yoko Kanno's The Seatbelts, all make an appearance, plus an interesting cameo by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Lm2aGnAzc">Chizuko Yoshihiro</a>, a composer who worked on the soundtracks of many SNK games.<br />
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If you play rhythm games like me, Kukeiha Club guitarist and track arranger Motoaki Furukawa will probably already be familiar to you as will the style of tracks on this album, which recall his work in the Guitar Freaks and drummania series: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aMMBru18O4">Captain's Voyage,</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Juf1Lz6qtc">Dance to the Future,</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsXdDY-bfGs">Get Ready</a> just to name a few of the tracks he is famous for in those games. But glossing over the musicians who appear on the guest list will give those unacquainted with rhythm game soundtracks a pretty good idea of what to expect: that 80s Jazz/Fusion style that recalls of images of tropical beaches, sunsets, and cruising around an island on a sunny day, immortalized by the reevaluation of Japanese 80s music and vinyl culture and its re-appropriation by artists in future funk and vaporwave. If <i>Mint Jams </i>is your, well, <i>jam</i>, then Kukeiha Club will be too.<br />
But that's not to say that fusion fans are the only ones who will enjoy the album. The famous style of Kukeiha Club is at full force here, and all the professional musicianship and tight, melodious compositions that made Konami's music so memorable is everywhere to be found. And of course, video game fans will be in for a treat the instant they hear the electronic organs that begin "Shuffle in the Dark," a track that is an obvious nod to the staple <i>Castlevania </i>track, "Bloody Tears."<br />
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Top notch musicianship is everywhere on the album, as can be expected by the virtuoso players who make an appearance. Look no further than the dueling rhythm section solos at the end of "Return to Departure" for some of the best jamming on the album. Arranger and guitarist Motoaki Furukawa really shows his chops on here, shredding away with his signature licks on top the tightest rhythm sections on the planet, showcasing some unbelievably solid drumming by the likes of virtuoso Akira Jimbo, and bassists who were also part of Casiopea.<br />
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Whereas its easy to write off the strength of the record as resting entirely on the collaborations with bigger name musicians, I'd like to think that the amazing work Kukeiha Club has done for video games and rhythm games speaks for itself. Unfortunately, the tracks in which collaborators are absent and feature guitarist Motoaki Furukawa performing solo, are some of dull moments in the otherwise interesting collection of tracks. Tracks like "Good Night Pony" or "Twinkling Star" feel like forced attempts to round out an otherwise solid album with a variety of moods even if the formula for the rest of the album works fine as is. There's definitely no reason to dial down the instrumental work on here when its as interesting as this.<br />
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Kukeiha Club is definitely worth tracking down to complete your collection of Konami video game music or just to engage with a great package of tracks that feature some brilliant musicians in the genre. </div>
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-17701982908984161082019-06-20T02:37:00.000-07:002019-06-20T02:37:02.578-07:00To City Pop, with Love: Ryusenkei's Tokyo Sniper<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Although most references to the City Pop genre call upon musicians active in the 70s and 80s, a lot of <i>modern </i>City Pop, that is, artists who were influenced by the genre and make music in the same vein during the last few decades, largely go ignored. And while there are plenty of recent musicians that seem to carry the City Pop genre into the 2000s and beyond--the bittersweet soulful melodies of <a href="https://botanicalhouse.bandcamp.com/">Lamp</a> that summon the sounds of 70s and 80s AOR or the group <a href="http://ovall.net/">Ovall</a> and their chill instrumental hiphop--none seems to profess their love of the genre quite like Ryusenkei, a project headed by Cunimodo Takiguchi. The band is far from cryptic in their nods to the 80s genre; the name is derived from the 1980 album by the queen of City Pop, Yumi Matsutoya (or Yumi Arai, Yuming, depending on the time in her career). It wouldn't be far off to say they wear their influence on their sleeve: quite literally, when you look at the cover of <i>Tokyo Sniper, </i>their second album, and how it relays the vibes of the cool, nighttime grooves. Ryusenkei's music is both a love letter to city pop fans and a retrospective of the genre that both retains and transforms the groove of 80s Japan into a modern sound all its own.<br />
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<i>Tokyo Sniper </i>was released in 2006 as the group's only proper album after their aptly titled debut EP <i>City Music </i>in 2003. This was about a decade before the "Plastic Love" boom and thankfully, fans today--myself included--can have a better understanding of the group thanks to the resurgence of knowledge now available to contextualize their influences, and youtube, of course, filling in for crate digging. Early innovators in the genre who started the funky and down tempo sound it became known for are the source of inspiration here, with obvious nods to Tatsuro Yamashita and Minako Yoshida injected throughout the album: the refrain from the mind-blowing opening track to Yoshida's <i>Flapper, </i>"Ai no Kanata, "is replicated on "Over the Heliotrope" and the percussive lead up to the sax solo in "Petal" screams Tatsuro. There's also the title track, that seems like it was pulled from a Rajie song called, "The Tokyo Taste," off one of my own City Pop introductory records, <i>Heart to Heart.</i> (and one I cannot recommend enough)<br />
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But this isn't just a who's-who name-dropping spree that will amuse a small niche of careful listeners to early City Pop gems. <i>Tokyo Sniper </i>is far from exclusive in its musical language and welcomes those unfamiliar with the genre with a smooth ride through its short nine tracks that can serve both as an introduction to city music and as an excellent standalone record that distills bossa nova, funk, and smooth jazz. It's an original piece of work--hardly a ripoff of the genre--and perhaps this is why, years after its release it has become a mainstay in discussions about the genre of music it emulates, its iconic cover joining the patchwork of albums that comprise City Pop's music canon.<br />
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<a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4dSqIQl3wHFHLOCyml3IvU?autoplay=true&v=L"><i>Tokyo Sniper </i>is also on Spotify.</a><br />
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<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-30100414731792975522019-04-29T22:34:00.002-07:002019-04-29T22:34:26.001-07:00Sachiko Kanenobu's "Misora" - A folk masterpiece<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's hard to imagine what Japanese music sounded like before the recent gratification of the 1980s era of City Pop but, believe it or not, Japanese musicians were making waves across the country in plenty of other ways prior to this explosion. The Japanese folk scene, for example, was alive and brimming with talent well before folks like Tatsuro Yamashita and Taeko Ohnuki came on the scene, with a great number of bands and solo musicians strumming away at guitars whilst reforming the conceptions of Japanese pop music at large. There's a lot to go through, and thankfully the compilation "Even a Tree Can Shed Tears" released last year by Light in the Attic records, offers a breather from the City Pop and YouTube algorithm chart toppers with a look at the country's diverse scene of folk music, with the album featuring an expertly curated role call of the scene's most important and overlooked musicians. Household names like Japanese pop music founders Happy End and its prolific bassist Haruomi Hosono are listed among dozens of other musicians I would have otherwise never known about. From bands to singer songwriters, there's a little bit of everything here whether its a certain vocal style, lyrical content, or musical prowess you seek.<br />
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Female vocalists are on of my recent obsessions, and the album doesn't disappoint in its offerings of talented women in the scene. Women were not as active in the folk scene as men (unfortunately) but theres definitely a quality over quantity on here with the female vocalists being particularly wonderful. Sachiko Kanenobu steals the show here, heralded as the first female singer-songwriter in Japan and one of the first women to pick up a guitar in the flurry of folk music in the 70s. But this isn't novelty alone, and Kanenobu easily eclipses her male contemporaries on LITA's compilation. Her voice can be heard at the beginning and end of the compilation: first, a track off her solo album <i>Misora</i> and then as a vocalist of the mysterious band Gu. Her gentle voice really stuck with me as I gave the album repeated listens, but it wasn't just her vocal quality that had caught my attention--surely, Kanenobu's talent extended to her songwriting skills, her penchant for pairing her alluring voice with delicate guitar arrangements that was what really drew me in. What's impressive is that her work has aged so well it's eerie. If you didn't know the date of its release, any of the tracks on <i>Misora</i> sound like they could come from a release in the last year, resounding with SSWs like Ayano Kaneko or Satoko Shibata with ease. Perhaps there is some ephemeral quality to something as simple as vocals and guitar strewn together with only talented melodies and songwriting ability.<br />
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And it seems like others seem to think so, too. At the beginning of this year, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/t-magazine/steve-gunn-sachiko-kanenobu.html"><i>The New York Times</i> ran an article about her and musician Steve Gunn</a>. Kanenobu made such a profound impression on him that she was invited to open for shows on his tour. She also recounts the warm reception she received in Japan for performing the album for the first time in front of a live audience. I was surprised that she had been quite close to the late author Philip K. Dick--the Light in the Attic compilation mentions that she moved to the US and did not release much music after her eponymous <i>Misora. </i>Decades after releasing this little gem of an album, Kanenobu seems to finally be recognized for her talent.<br />
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Speaking of <i>Misora, </i><a href="https://lightintheattic.net/releases/4903-misora">the album is finally getting a reissue on vinyl and CD by none other than the record label responsible for the aforementioned compilation.</a> Lite in the Attic will, hopefully, press enough copies to go around so people all over the world can enjoy Kanenobu's timeless masterpiece.<br />
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Chris </div>
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-60448443337756135292019-04-27T01:46:00.001-07:002019-05-12T09:15:58.384-07:00Goodbye to P-Can Fudge - pt.1In a few days one of my most frequented record stores in Nagoya, P-Can Fudge in the always lively neighborhood of Imaike, will close its doors after decades of operation--perhaps the oldest record store in Imaike still going strong. Here, I would like outline some cool finds I've had here over the nearly three years I've been in Nagoya to pay tribute to its legacy, to say thank you, and to immortalize the memory of such a cool little place for music aficionados in Nagoya. As the first record store I went to when I arrived, it has a certain special place in my heart.<br />
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Braving the wild windstorm today, I trecked over to the Imaike neighborhood via the Imaike waterworks path that stretches from the back of Kakuozan station to the area right across the Shin-Imaike building housing P-Can Fudge.<br />
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A stray kitten waited for me on the stairs leading down to the path.<br />
Given the shop is on its last leg, most of the vinyl has been picked clean and the stacks were noticeably slim. There is perhaps little left for them to offer in that regard but I found myself instead purchasing a bundle of discount 300yen CDs.<br />
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The CDs on the left have been on their shelves since I got to Nagoya so I decided to finally bring them to the counter. This Pizzicato Five album in particular is interesting for its utilization of less electronic sounds and more studio band-style arrangements. A lot of the tracks can be heard in a more familiar, shibuya-kei club fashion on other albums, and it was a treat to be able to listen to them here with more emphasis on drums, bass, and guitar. That the group worked so well even in this form makes me wonder how they could have sounded if Konishi stuck with this style -- it certainly fits the mold of other acts in the shibuya-kei collective, instead of reducing pizzicato five to a duo with him as the conductor, the one-man-band behind the gig alongside the chic and beautiful Maki Nomiya. Below <i>Freedom</i> is an album by Lullatone, a husband and wife duo that creates delicate jingles for commercials with soft piano and toy instruments. Finding it in a Nagoya record store seemed only appropriate, given Lullatone is(or at least was?) based here.<br />
The right side pickings: a compilation of tracks from the always groovy reggae outfit Fishmans, and an album by the internationally famous rambunctious girl power trio Shonen Knife that was completely necessary for the cool cover art by Yoshitomo Nara. How could I say no?<br />
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Lastly, I picked a rather embarrassing album from the shelf: The debut album by Japanese indie rock legends, Number Girl. Who, by the way, will be smashing their way across Japan in a reunion tour this summer. This blog used to be named after this exact album so I'm a bit ashamed to say that I never owned a physical copy. Listening to it again brought back fond memories of blasting select tracks on repeat, the shortest ones were all i could download on a dial-up connection with Soulseek, and being completely mesmerized by them in high school. It all sounded so familiar even if it's been a really long time since I've heard anything off of here.<br />
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That said, my pickings speak for my early days of Japanese music discovery, and here, again, I have this neat little corner record store to thank for putting me in touch with compact discs that have jogged some really warm memories of sitting in front of my PC monitor at home after school digging through P2P user lists for new and exciting music from Japan, in a time before YouTube and Spotify.<br />
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Chris<br />
<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-61011377265745885802018-12-29T18:37:00.002-08:002018-12-29T18:37:34.970-08:00Ryuichi Sakamoto - Life in Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After I was introduced to Ryuichi Sakamoto's music by his 2017 album <i>async</i>, a somber collection of soundscapes that has always haunted me, I cranked the time machine back a few decades to listen to some of the older works in his extensive catalogue like <i>Ongaku Zukan/Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia</i>, an 80s album of refined, instrumental dance pop and Coda, a collection of piano arrangements containing his hit, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" from the Nagisa Oshima film of the same name starring David Bowie and Beat Takeshi. It was difficult to plot my next point of approach into Sakamoto's seemingly endless ouvre--I dabbled in an interesting ambient album for an art installation called Plankton for a bit and then purchased an LP of his on a whim after coming across it at the record store. The record, Life in Japan, turned out to be, however, not an album but a promotional single. </div>
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The iconic jacket features (most likely) Sakamoto with his eyes shut as he gets a shave--whether he is enjoying or loathing the process I still wonder. <i>Life in Japan</i> was given away to customers of Nippon Life Insurance in 1983. The A-side contains a single track probably used in the company's commercial. The B-side features two instrumental tracks, both of which recall the style of the electronica tracks from <i>Ongaku Zukan, </i>which makes sense since <i>Life in Japan </i>was released shortly before this album<i>.</i> While a lot of synth-based instrumental music at the time--say, tracks used as background music for anime and video games--really put the "synth" in synthesizer, that is, making stuff sound really plastic and contrived sometimes, Sakamoto's instrumental tracks have a lot of character and life to them. His attention to detail really shines through, and both tracks are brimming with smart melodies and layers of interesting sound bits and clips.<br />
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B-1 "Yoru no Gasuparu (Gaspard of the Night)," <a href="http://www.kennedy-center.org/artist/composition/2631">based on either the book, the piano piece, or both</a>, is particularly catchy and maintains a nice boogie throughout while remaining alive and interesting. B-2 "Ao-penki no Naka no Boku no Namida (My tears, in the blue paint)" is a couple notches down in tempo and layers some relaxing melodies over heavy synth bass. The track is healing almost, and wouldn't sound out of place in the background of a hospital area in a video game, or else a location that emphasized rejuvenation and relaxation--I think it would be a fantastic track in the <i>Mother</i> series and, for some reason, a great accompaniment to the sounds of the Ape Escape soundtrack. Speaking of <i>Mother, </i>the lyrics to the A-side track "Kimi ni Tsuite (About You)" were written by its creator, Shigesato Itoi. What a collaboration!<br />
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<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-18181677232313237242018-11-15T00:28:00.001-08:002018-12-29T18:38:43.806-08:00Jazz & Anime Records, Friction's AkurekiThis weekend I finally went to one of my favorite record stores in Nagoya after missing just about every opportunity to stop by in the last week or two and going to just about every other record store instead. The stopover yielded a lot of cool finds and reminded me why I love coming here in the first place. Actually, it was so exciting that I ended up going back the next day to pick up the records I had been mulling over the previous day in the back of my mind...and then I <i>still</i> managed to find some new things I had missed.<br />
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The first day I picked through a bunch of anime soundtracks in the bargain bin and noticed a ton of Urusei Yatsura LPs, most of which I already had (and spent way more money on before!), and Macross ones, some of which I need but aren't particularly excited about. One of the standouts of the selection was this compilation of music from the series <i>Crusher Joe</i>, a space/mecha anime that I haven't watched before but I've seen around. At 300~yen I had to pick it up, if not just for the cover art by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, whose iconic style is sure to be familiar to fans of the Mobile Suit Gundam series. He did the character designs for this OVA.</div>
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Usually I never find anything by prolific Jazz musicians in the bargain bin, but this time I took home two pretty neat LPs I was eager to listen to. One was what looked to be an old Japanese pressing of Miles Davis' <i>Birth of the Cool</i> and the other Herbie Hancock's <i>Sextant.</i> Davis' record has this cool Japanese record design that's a lot more sleek and glossy than usual cardboard printed ones and came complete with liner notes in Japanese. I usually try to opt for the imported Jazz LPs or the ones from Japan that at least retain the English liner notes and print but again, it was about 300yen so I can't complain. <i>Sextant </i>is pretty beat up but I've been eager to listen to more of Herbie Hancock and didn't mind the condition. I've read that this album is a little less accessible than Hancock's other work--arguably more avant-garde and free jazz--but I didn't find it so difficult or academic. It's become a favorite of mine, an LP I frequently go to if I hover around the jazz area of my shelf.</div>
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The highlight of this visit was finding <i>Akureki</i> by Japanese punk pioneers Friction, a record that had been on my want list for a while. The jacket is obviously one of the biggest reasons why I wanted it but its also because the band is one of the pioneers of punk in Japan. <a href="http://www.awaimedia.com/quit_your_band.html">Ian Martin mentioned them a lot in his book <i>Quit Your Band!</i></a> as being pretty instrumental in early punk movements and the record lives up to the hype: it's fast, powerful, and aggressive. According to some unnamed sources I read in Japanese, it wasn't fast enough, however, and the band just couldn't really get a studio recording to match the kind of noise and ferocity they exhibited during their live shows, so much so that the record was dubbed a kind of watered down, slow motion version of their concerts. Still, it holds up pretty well and was noted for being produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto even if the band themselves don't really dwell too much on this prolific musician's involvement as the defining force behind it's reputation.<br />
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Here's to more finds and more adventures in sound.<br />
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Chris</div>
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-19982167852234892162018-11-13T22:20:00.000-08:002018-11-15T00:17:52.657-08:00Katsu lunch and O.S.T.pickups at Book Off<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My mom and sister planned to visit me in Nagoya for a few days and my sister ended up arriving a day before my mom, to which she suggested that we use the one free day without our mother around to do all the nerdy stuff we could possibly do--and <i>I guess</i> have some rare sibling bonding in the process. I brainstormed some ideas and decided we had to have some <i>katsu (</i>preferably the Nagoya variety drenched in a dark miso sauce) since my mom is vegetarian. Since my usual hole-in-the-wall haunt was closed on Sundays we opted for a more well-known restaurant not far from my house called <a href="http://nagoya-hirono.com/">Hirono</a>. The restaurant has four different buildings all along the same street, each with its own culinary theme: Nagoya specialties Kishimen(a wide, thin noodle soup) and Tenmusu (rice balls with fried shrimp) in one, Katsu of all kinds in another, one serving sandwiches and coffee, and one serving Japanese style eel dishes. Each is in a chic, old style building with a wooden interior that gave it a really cozy, retro atmosphere. While it still doesn't beat the greasy little cutlet eatery I wanted to go to, the portion was huge and well worth the trip. It's probably not a big tourist stop because of its location in an otherwise quiet student neighborhood near Kawana station, but it's definitely great to get good quality Nagoya local food in a neat little corner of the city that isn't overrun by tourists. Definitely a neat trip off the beaten path.<br />
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We walked off the big lunch and had to stop by the Book-Off on the way back to my house where--my sister promised to buy me a CD or two as a present. In every record store, there is always that <i>one </i>CD or record in a store that I've had my eye on for months, that I want but for some reason never purchase, a disc that has been there for as long as I can remember and when I visit the store I always pay it a visit to see if it's still there waiting for me. Now was the time to finally take home the treasure that I had checked up on so often at this particular Book Off.<br />
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In the aisles of J-Pop CDs, nestled in between the sparsely populated rows dedicated to game music was the soundtrack to to the shooter <i>Metal Black. </i>The CD suddenly appeared in the video game soundtracks section one day and immediately caught my eye. Not only do I love this shooter but the cover art made it hard to put down when I first spotted it. Yet somehow it still ended up waiting there for me for months on the shelf and each time I passed by this location I contemplating whether or not I should finally take it home.<br />
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If you aren't already familiar with <i>Metal Black, </i>it's a shmup that feels like a dark, depressing version of <i>Darius </i>if the creators favorite film was <i>2001: A Space Odyssey. </i>Copies of the Saturn version, an excellent port of the arcade version, are a little pricey, but if you're in the US you can play the game on the Taito Legends 2 compilation for the PS2 and Xbox. The game itself is often lauded for its visuals, delivering some of the most impressive animations you will see on a shmup from this era, and is a pretty immersive shmup that emphasizes stage design and graphics over complicated scoring and play styles. Still, it poses quite a challenge towards the end and things can get quite frantic. But even if you aren't a fan of shmups and aren't up to the challenge (see: frustration) of grinding through the seemingly undodgeable bullet storms at the ending of the game, <i>Metal Black </i>has an ending sequence so bizarre and surreal that I recommend anyone try at least once to see the end. It's a cinematic-level tour de force I won't soon forget.<br />
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The music for the game is definitely part of the immersive experience and fits the stages nicely. The post apocalyptic wasteland that you are first transported to in the first stage really pairs well with the equally eerie and sort of unsettling sounds. As the Metal Black travels deeper into the nether regions of the cosmos, the music takes on a darker tone just as the enemies and environments become more outer worldly and foreign. The tracks for the first few stages are infectious and really stick, and I found myself going back to the themes for Level 2 quite often.<br />
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Unfortunately, outside the two gorgeous illustrations on the front and back of the CD there really isn't much more in the package. They do, however, give you the musical score to the first stage music just in case you wanted to recreate it on your own. How thoughtful!<br />
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The soundtrack to <i>Metal Black </i>hasn't seen a release on vinyl yet, but the song "Area 26-10" from stage 3, <a href="https://hyperdub.bandcamp.com/album/diggin-in-the-carts">was included on the compilation </a><i><a href="https://hyperdub.bandcamp.com/album/diggin-in-the-carts">Diggin' In The Carts</a>, </i>to accompany <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/10/diggin-in-the-carts-series">the documentary film of the same name.</a> It's one of my favorite tracks from the OST, too. In the meantime, it's the only way to listen to a piece of <i>Metal Black </i>on wax but let's hope for a rendering of this beautiful cover art on a finely printed vinyl jacket sometime in the not-so-distant future.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bij_L83H5WC/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">My recent OST obsession #cowboybebop</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/matakondone/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Chris/クリス</a>さん(@matakondone)がシェアした投稿 - <time datetime="2018-05-09T15:49:12+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">2018年 5月月9日午前8時49分PDT</time></div>
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My other pickup needs little introduction: the first Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. I thought twice about picking it up because there wasn't an obi but couldn't complain about the price. I seldom see any of them in stores and always try to pick them up when I have the chance. If only I could find <i>Blue </i>for a good price--I used to own a pirated copy of it way back when.<br />
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Long live book-off<br />
-<br />
Chris<br />
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<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-82241882256705849122018-09-29T08:33:00.000-07:002018-12-29T18:38:07.382-08:00On the Beach with Hosono, Ohnuki, Shigeru / Questlove and Reiko KashiwagiI've been toning down my record shop excursions but this week I decided to go back to a store in Osu called Hi-Fi-do to get a record I've been looking for <i>forever. </i><br />
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Everyone knows Questlove, drummer for The Roots, and I really enjoy his seemingly endless amount of knowledge on all things music that he brings to his social media accounts...not to mention his unparalleled drumming talent. Some time ago he shuffled through tons of records in his collection via Instagram's story feature and one of them caught my eye because it seemed to be from a Japanese artist. This was Reiko Kashiwagi's "Dream of Dream," and I took a screen shot to look up the album later; I liked what I heard, and so did Questlove. Tracking it down was way too difficult though and ironically, this Japanese album was pretty hard to find here (discogs, for example, has a dozen copies but none are from Japan!) and the album never appeared in online searches. I had given up until I saw it at Hi-Fi-do last month but passed it up at the time, only to regret it when someone linked a track from the album and I heard it again and fell in love. </div>
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Thankfully, it was still there when I returned. The LP is in beautiful shape and didn't cost too much, but I generally try to wait things out since prices at Hi-Fi-do tend to be on the high side for <i>some </i>records, especially more common ones. On the other hand, they are usually pretty immaculate and come in one of those sleeves I like without the sticky adhesive stuff. </div>
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The album is pretty neat and features both originals and covers by Kashiwagi on this behemoth looking "home"(really???) use organ by Yamaha called the Electone. These things were apparently powerhouses at making music at the time, and you can tell that some of this stuff was probably state of the art at the time by listening to some of the tracks, all done by Kashiwagi herself with minimal participation by other musicians. She was somewhat of a virtuoso at this thing and won a few of the worldwide contests held for it in Japan, and her work on this album is just one of many that has her working with this amazing instrument.<br />
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The focus of the record is primarily to show off the synth sounds of the Electone and they are presented with a smooth jazz accompaniment. Think of those background tracks that play while wandering around a city or into a clinic during your favorite Playstation 1 RPG. If that's the stuff you live for then this is just your thing. </div>
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On the other hand, this might not be your thing if you can't really groove with the Electone's overall sound. I myself sometimes get a kind of dated vibe from it that sounds vaguely reminds me of the slapped together MIDI compositions that play at the supermarket. I mean, not <i>that </i>bad. But I imagine if you worked at a supermarket and heard this kind of music everyday during your 6-hour shift you would probably want to avoid Ms. Kashiwagi's records at all cost. </div>
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My intent was to be in and out with "Dream of Dream," and if it had already been bought then <i>maybe </i>I would pick up something in exchange, but I couldn't help but walk up with a second LP in my hands. Just as I was ready to leave I leafed through the last stack of V/A records and was shocked to see "On the Beach," a compilation album I never thought I'd ever see in my collection. </div>
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Actually, I almost picked this up before and was sad I didn't. A local record shop in Okinawa posted a photo that declared they had stocked a copy for <i>650yen</i> while I was visiting the island but I never made it up to the store to check. I hadn't seen it show up online for a reasonable price either, so I thought this was the last I'd seen it...but Hi-Fi-do is always full of surprises, making it worth a stop in once in a while. Even if the copy was a rental record, I thought that paying 900yen was a steal. </div>
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The names on the A-side of the record should make it an easy sell: Taeko Ohnuki, Haruomi Hosono, and Shigeru Suzuki are powerhouses in 70s and 80s Japanese music. Unfortunately, this album itself isn't really an amazing masterpiece in itself and is really just a mixtape with a really well designed cover that features some great tracks with waves in between each of them. That's really all there is to it, so I wouldn't really suggest paying an outrageous price for this one even if it does look great on display. </div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-13458484340197229602018-09-28T04:31:00.000-07:002018-09-28T04:32:24.345-07:00大浪漫演出 Big Romantic Live in Nagoya w/ Hosovoso, 台風クラブ, 雀斑樂團 Freckles 2018/09/24<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHboLAnZC5/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control" data-instgrm-version="9" style="background: #fff; border-radius: 3px; border: 0; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.5) , 0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: 99.375%;">
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/matakondone/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Chris/クリス</a> (@matakondone) on <time datetime="2018-09-24T16:48:07+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 24, 2018 at 9:48am PDT</time></div>
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A few months ago I made a post gushing about a band from Taiwan called Freckles (<span style="font-family: inherit;">雀斑樂團 Freckles<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: #fefdfa;">) so I probably should avoid introducing the band again and just say that I really fell in love with their easy-going, retro kind of vibe and couldn't believe that they decided to stop by Nagoya for their upcoming Japan tour. </span></span></span><br />
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I had never heard of the venue, Lounge Vio before, but it was located in the same neighborhood as plenty of other live houses that I had been to before in the down town Shin-Sakaemachi area. I recently discovered that the neighborhood is also home to a handful of record stores so I arrived early to peruse the crates before hobbling a few blocks over to the massive building that housed Vio in its basement. The venue looked a lot like a spacious venue for hip parties and seemed kind of cozy which was perfect for all the laid back bands on the roster: Hosovoso, a singer/songwriter from Mie, Typhoon Club whose folk/rock/punk actually isn't <i>that</i> laid back but lots of fun, and of course Freckles who were coming from Matsumoto-city in the north having just played Ringo Music Festival. Sandwhiched between the acts were a few DJs who spun wax at the back of the room along with a few food vendors. The gig started about an hour after the 6PM start time.<br />
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Hosovoso usually performs on his own as an acoustic act but today he showed up with a full band, thankfully, that probably made his sound a lot more full, exciting, and more palpable for me; I can't really imagine myself enjoying his music without the extra punch of the backing musicians, who were all quite talented. Something about his sound didn't quite convince me and he felt way too soft as a musician, something that would be quickly remedied by the next act, Typhoon Club.<br />
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This post marks the third time I've seen/written about Kyoto's Typhoon Club so I will probably risk saying the same thing again, but really, these guys are just a lot of fun. Bouncy, rock'nroll hooks with just the right amount of attitude and fun was the perfect response to the lukewarm opening act. The guy on the right was holding his little son up in the front--no worries, the little dude had ample ear protection.<br />
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Freckles was fantastic on stage and played many of my favorite songs. I had seen a live performance of theirs once and felt that their sound was a little too stripped down live when compared to recordings, but here it was brilliant and I had no complaints. BenBen kept my attention doing all of her MCs in English so I didn't feel too lost at the gig. While none of the members wowed me with a really revolutionary set of chops, impressive solos, or impromptu free-jazz level jamming, they were chill, laid back, and a lot of fun to listen to and that's all there is to it. I never thought they would be performing the songs off "Imperfect Love" right in front of me any time this year and coming to Nagoya has sure saved me from going out on a limb to travel to Taiwan just to see them.<br />
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ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-29871363771362572362018-09-23T09:34:00.003-07:002018-09-23T10:38:58.538-07:00Tadao Ando Exhibitions 2017: 21_21 Construction Site - A Hard Fought Process & Endeavors @ the National Art Center, Tokyo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Even if architecture isn't your forte, no formal training is necessary to stand in awe of one of Tadao Ando's structures. Ando has made architecture an increasingly fascinating field to me, opening a gateway full of ways to think of our interaction with light, nature, space, and people through buildings. Since two of his exhibitions were in Tokyo the day I was going to be there--one being the <i>largest </i>curated display of his oeuvre yet to be produced--I knew I had to try and see both.<br />
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I left Roppongi station and made my way to the smaller of the two: the newly opened 21_21 building designed by Ando. Inside was a small exhibition documenting the process of the construction of the<br />
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It's quite a stunning piece of work located in a quiet corner of Roppongi.<br />
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The next exhibit was the large showcase of Ando's entire career entitled "Endeavors" held at the National Art Center of Tokyo. It was a short walk from the 21_21 site but the building was much, much larger than I had thought it would be.<br />
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The exhibit chronicled Ando's life as a kickboxer and into his first forays into design. Interesting too was the scale model of the office of Ando, itself a fairly well known structure. Scale models of just about every piece of work he has designed so far were on display in intricate detail. Of interest to me were the comments from the clients themselves, or at least those that still chose to live in Ando's abodes. Many gave some honest comments about the difficulty of living in one of the master's structures--most of which were forgiving and understanding of his dedication to the art (and the sacrifices it entailed for a home, like being able to stay warm in the winter). It's refreshing to think of architecture in the practical sense--are these homes, with all their frills and thought provoking facades, <i>really livable spaces? </i><br />
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The line through Ando's residential spaces proceeded at a snail's pace but finally a breath of fresh air and no doubt the main attraction: an exact replica of his lauded "Church of Light" structure, built right on the grounds of the National Art Center. Photos were allowed, so you can imagine the amount of phones that shot out to disturb what I expected to be a relatively solemn experience. </div>
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Still, inside and out the building was amazing. </div>
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Back inside was a tour of some of his most recent work, consisting of larger projects like museums that occupied a large space in the exhibition hall. It was less claustrophobic and more free moving here, and definitely defined just how far Ando had come from his humble beginnings as an architect for home owners to an international celebrity booked for projects of unbelievable scale.<br />
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At the shop, I nearly grabbed a neat reinforced concrete T-shirt but opted instead for some post cards and a copy of the exhibition's book. </div>
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The art center itself was immense and after seeing an exhibit all about architecture, I couldn't help but look at its walls and windows with a renowned appreciation for its form. Walking around with an overpriced cup of coffee to fend off my lack of sleep, walking about the museum itself, sitting down for a sip of my drink, leafing through the pages, and watching the people bask in the lights and shadows of the windows was more rewarding than entering another exhibition hall. </div>
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-50176996508389081182018-07-15T23:13:00.001-07:002018-07-15T23:14:17.385-07:00All Japan Records & CD Summer Carnival in Nagoya<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't usually make any memos on my calendar, but thankfully I did this week for another one of those rotating record bazaars that would be making its way through Nagoya. These weekend events are a collaborative effort between record shops across Japan, with each bringing a bunch of boxes of records and setting up in a single location. I usually find some things out of the ordinary and for a good price that I wouldn't otherwise dig up at the usual spots in town. It's a lot of fun being able to go through so many records all in one place without the hassle of going on a trek of all the local ones. It's a fun way to peruse a selection of records from multiple record stores all in one convenient location and I always make sure to stop by at least once to see what I can find.<br />
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Each store prices their records differently so it becomes a kind of game after a while to try and find the best price for a certain record. I've been reading one of Taeko Ohnuki's books lately and listening to a lot of her past work, like the long awaited re-issue of her album <i>Mignonne, </i>so I picked up <i>Signifie </i>and <i>Cliche, </i>two of the albums I'm missing form her catalog, without hesitation. I found a copy of <i>Signifie </i>not long after I arrived on site, but as I continued to dig I kept pulling it up again at a cheaper price from the next vendor's crates. In the end, I opted for a 540yen copy that was pretty similar in condition to the others but half the price. Both albums are more of her delving into synth pop, with the production and arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto of YMO fame. Sometimes it's hit or miss, and definitely different than than jazz/fusion of the now eternal <i>Sunshower</i>, but Sakamoto's compositions and Ohnuki's signature vocals make them both worth a listen. </div>
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Meiko Nakahara's <i>mint </i>was also something I swapped out down the line for a better priced copy. I was surprised when I found her work is pretty popular in city pop circles and I have to admit I'm a bit late in discovering her: the albums are both pretty groovy. Initially I had only listened to her because of her contribution to the anime <i>Dirty Pair.</i></div>
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If you subtract the forgettable ballads and more cliche pop compositions, Kaori Momoi's <i>Watashi </i>is not half bad. I picked it up for the track <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x58u3iq">Doshaburi Neko</a>. I'm not such a big fan of her voice; its a little bit on the lower side but fits well with some of the styles on the album (why it's labeled as a ragtime record on discogs is beyond me...). Apparently Momoi is also an actress, and has been more active in the film industry than in the recording industry: she has starred in many flicks since the 70s and even in Hollywood productions a few times. Interesting!</div>
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She looks pretty cool in the inserts.<br />
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Sadly, I had gone to the record sale in the first place in hopes of finding a few records and came back with none of the ones I was searching for. And to make matters worse I had only an hour or so to look through everything so I actually went back once more to check out the stock again, finds for another post. </div>
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-24753804830376924342018-07-05T09:48:00.000-07:002018-07-05T09:56:52.276-07:00Fragments of the everyday in Haruomi Hosono's soundtrack to Shoplifters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda has consistently churned out films that have wowed audiences on the international film festival circuit and is now in the spotlight once again both in Japan and abroad for his latest film <i>Shoplifters</i>' win at Cannes. I'm a big fan of Koreeda myself and his first feature film <i>Maboroshi</i> has left a lasting impression on me for its slow, affecting portrait of a woman who abruptly loses her husband to suicide and starts a new life. The story is told slowly, with little dialogue, but my favorite thing about the film is the grainy film texture and its portrayal of little pockets of urban Japan and the later scenes by the rural town by the sea.<br />
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The music in his films has never been <i>bad</i>, so to say, but I can't say its ever left a big impression on me. Then again, it seems that many of his recent films that I haven't seen contain music composed by some artists I'm familiar with. Nevertheless, music is usually not one of the things I look forward to in a Koreeda film until I saw<i> Shoplifters. </i>The compositions were great and when I eagerly waited for the music portion of the credits to roll by I was shocked to see none other than Haruomi Hosono's name appear in the credits, especially since Hosono's film scores have been something I've been really interested in lately, as evident in my last post.<br />
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In some ways it was a surprise but at the same time I nodded my head in agreement. There was something about the ways in which the music was composed that drew masterfully upon the imagery in the film. It melded so well, and the electronic sounds used were very particular and distinct; the style had character and a personality all its own. It was not on accident that these particular tones and sonic textures were used--they seemed to be the result of careful deliberation by a musical expert that had searched for just the right way to craft the delicate moods of the visuals into sound form.<br />
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It's no wonder that someone with the talent to search out instruments and tones from all different corners of the sound spectrum and fuse them into pieces so intimate and embracing would pair with a director that has a similar talent for searching out the beautiful yet intricate details of daily life that we naturally take for granted. Hosono's score also sounds as if the composer dove deep into the human conscious to tease out arrangements that complimented and represented these simple moments and the emotions they carried in the film. The choice of Hosono's style of minimalist electronic sounds versus a full scale orchestra matches perfectly with a film that focuses on a marginalized group of individuals in Japanese society living a meager but happy lifestyle. It highlights the small joys of daily live that are rooted in the bonds we share with other people, "family," whether this word implies blood relations or not. Orchestrated compositions would have felt too moody for the film, too grand for its subtle depictions of the mundane. A score placed at the wrong moments or simply used too liberally in the film would, too, have felt out of place as well for injecting way too much forced emotions through sound. The almost atonal air of Hosono's work feels strangely distant and chained to the film, in a way that never tries to frame the scenes, to suggest a certain mood. That's the beauty of Koreeda's film, one that I remember vividly from <i>Like Father, Like Son: </i>he is a director that depicts the trivial but exponentially complex tangles of human emotions that are never easy to convey. We feel many things in a Koreeda film, and Hosono only helps the director by adding a fantastic score that echoes his efforts. I would like to think that besides the hard work of all those behind the scenes, the director, and the talented cast, that Hosono's memorable soundtrack for <i>Shoplifters </i>was also instrumental in the film's win at Cannes.<br />
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The soundtrack is available on CD in Japan, and streaming worldwide via Spotify.<br />
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ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-24308540994299243932018-05-25T02:02:00.001-07:002018-05-25T02:05:43.144-07:00Paradise View: Haruomi Hosono's imagined Okinawan soundscapes for a forgotten film<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Haruomi Hosono is a legend in the world of Japanese music who needs little introduction. He became well known as part of one of the country's earliest groups to embrace the now worldwide moniker of J-pop, Happy End, but is even better known for his role in the trio Yellow Magic Orchestra, pioneers of electronic and new wave music with a reputation across the globe. Hosono has been a part of numerous other groups as well, not to mention all of his song writing credits and participation as a session musician or in backing bands for any number of famous solo acts: Yumi Arai and the eclectic Akiko Yano just to name a few of the favorites, and a comprehensive list of all his credits could easily fill a dictionary sized manuscript. It's hard not to randomly dip your hand into the sea of Japanese music and pull something out that hasn't been directly handled by Hosono, or at least in some way or the other influenced by his music in some way.<br />
Hosono resounds in just about every corner of the Japanese music scene and navigating the amount of work he has put out can be a daunting task--where do you even start? I would suggest his solo career, an equally expansive catalog, in terms of quantity, quality, and genre diversity, but perhaps an easier to traverse library of albums that captures all the twists and turns his musical interests have taken, from the early folk sounds of his debut <i>Hosono House, </i>to the more experimental, electronic urban landscapes that emerged parallel to his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra in the 1980s.<br />
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The year 1985 was a particularly busy year for Hosono, putting out four albums in his solo catalog alone: <i>Coincidental Music, Mercuric Dance, Thinking like Talking, </i>and the film score for a little known film called <i>Paradise View. </i>The latter is probably the least well known, being a film score, and as such, sort of existing on the periphery of his body of solo work, not quite qualifying itself to be heralded among the aforementioned three albums. Still, <i>Paradise View </i>is an interesting entry into Hosono's work that provides a mystical sonic exploration of Japan's southern island Okinawa, the basis of the film. Hosono's take is less of the airy acoustic guitars and ukelele found in every travel commercial and instead paints with sounds that evoke a mystical air, using his synthesizer to traverse the exotic jungles rather than the shorelines. The 30 minute compilation feels a lot like it could be parallel to the acclaimed soundtracks for the early Donkey Kong games, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.<br />
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While it may seem like a small, insignificant little drop in the bucket of Hosono's endless stream of sound production, the soundtrack to <i>Paradise View </i>is quite important because it is one of the few traces of the little known film it is attached to. A hallmark of 'Okinawan cinema'--the film was noteworthy for employing the island's traditional language in its script, making it a Japanese film that no Japanese could actually understand without subtitles--<i>Paradise View</i> only saw a home release on VHS and in recent years has been screened in limited numbers through festivals and retrospectives of its director, Go Takamine. <i>Listening </i>to the film through its soundtrack is much easier than seeing it, giving added weight to music here since it serves both as score and accompaniment and also as a springboard to fantasize about what the film looked like. Noone else could have been a better choice for transposing the mood and images of the film into sound, and I feel confident that the soundscapes by Hosono are reminiscent of an equally rich and complex images that the film will contain. So perhaps not having the film conveniently at one's disposable to form the images that pair with the words makes this soundtrack especially unique. The film seems to be garnering some cult attention however, and according to a Twitter, it has been screened in Blu-Ray at recent exhibitions...which could signal a future home release.<br />
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If the film didn't need another reason to be sought out by Hosono lovers other than the man's musical involvement it would be for his role in the film itself: he turned down initial offers from the director to be cast as the lead and instead opted to star in the film with a supporting role.<br />
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Speaking of the cast, the female lead is none other than the 80s anti-idol Jun Togawa, a cult figure in her own right that still holds a huge following in the Japanese underground. I can't fathom how the film remains so obscure and unobtainable with stars like Hosono and Togawa attached to it.<br />
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For now, however, a fanciful piece of the soundtrack and low-res bonus footage of the film is on Youtube that can be used as a kind of referent for piecing together the pieces of Hosono's score with images of Okinawa. Let's hope for a home release soon so more people can see this wonderful(???) film.<br />
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ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-70151530317173696612018-04-15T23:55:00.002-07:002018-05-25T02:05:54.717-07:00 one+one - snazzy female/male duos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I noticed that this week I happened to pick up music belonging to groups with a single, female vocalist and a male producer, namely Capsule and dip in the pool. I don't really want to argue for an integrated connection between them besides this basic observation on their personnel--my purchases were not intentional, seemingly unconsciously, and happened by chance--but they nevertheless make really cool music, which is fundamentally why I picked these up ini the first place.<br />
The first is the now well known project of Yasutaka Nakata of Perfume and Kyary Pamyu-Pamyu fame, Capsule. I was first introduced to Nakata's post-Shibuya-kei sound via Capsule's albums during his early days on his own self produced label Contemode that gave rise to a number of other interesting projects he produced, my other favorite being the short lived Coltemonhika. I've always had a soft spot for Nakata's early work with Capsule that was electro-pop, bossa-nova, and a bunch of other genres cleverly fused together to serve as the perfect soundtrack to boutique shopping in Tokyo before he gravitated to the more electronic based club music he is now associated with. A few 12" records came out to accompany Capsule's early albums but I was never the biggest capsule fan back in the day and neither was I in possession of a record player. A few years ago I purchased <i>portable Airport </i>at Disk Union in Ikebukuro but haven't seen another record from this period of capsule since; I did, however, get the 12" for their more recent club track <i>Musixxx/I'm Feeling You</i>. The other day someone seemed to have traded in a bunch of the early releases to Banana Records' main store in Sakae, so I picked up the two I didn't have and could actually afford: <i>Idol Fancy</i> and <i>Space Station no.9 (</i><i>Cutie Cinema Pre-Play's </i>12" was just way too expensive). The latter is a collection of four tracks from the album of the same name, which is a bulk of the short LP anyway, and the tracks on Idol Fancy can be found on <i>Phony Phonic</i> save for the extended remix of Weekend in My Room on its B-side. Even if early Capsule isn't everyone's cup of tea, I for one really appreciate the album art as well for its minimalist design that was also a product of the previous generation of Shibuya-kei artist and their love for European easy listening records and design. They look really cool on the shelf.<br />
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A few weeks ago in Okinawa I picked up a CD by dip in the pool, a sparse, melancholy electro pop group from the 80s with the same sort of member roster as capsule. A smartly dressed male/female duo, the group was recently brought to my attention because a foreign label released a 7" of one of their older songs, "On Retinae." It's quite good, and definitely part of the YouTube fueled mining of 80's gems from Japan. The CD is a pretty lengthy collection of their songs and some bonus tracks and B-sides.<br />
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Even before these two releases, I found on my shelf the pickings from a previous record store excursion: a 100yen copy of a Pizzicato Five <i>a television's workshop e.p.</i> You can probably guess that Pizzicatto Five is also a male/female, producer/vocalist combination, and one that has more connection to Capsule than dip in the pool. I think Capsule was widely regarded as the sort of second coming of Pizzicato Five and its quite evident in both the sounds and aesthetics of their early releases. PF are, however, one of those bands I don't really know about despite them being really important, so I'm sure leaving them out of this blurb is fine: sources are probably everywhere about them and they even officially released a bunch of their music here in the US and abroad--my sister knew about them when their song was featured in an episode of <i>Futurama, </i>and she also bought me one of their albums when she saw it at a used CD shop back in Guam.<br />
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I'm sure a ton of other memorable and more popular duos are out there--not many come to mind, however, and not many compare to how cool both dip in the pool and Capsule look on the covers of their albums. It's quite brazen how both members of dip in the pool appear on their cover but, while not completely invisible, Nakata was usually not as prominently featured on capsule releases until a little later. He barely makes an appearance on these records I have but then again the packaging is pretty sparse to begin with...<br />
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ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-83955363119559378732018-03-22T07:40:00.000-07:002018-03-22T09:47:26.040-07:00Chill, catchy, tunes make 雀斑樂團 Freckles' latest album the perfect drug for melancholy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last summer I jumped over a number of language hurdles to get my hands on <span style="background-color: white; color: #545454;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">不標準情人 Imperfect lover, </span></i></span>an album by a band called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/frecklesarethebest/">雀斑樂團 Freckles</a> who hail from Taiwan.<br />
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/matakondone/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Chris/クリス</a> (@matakondone) on <time datetime="2017-07-16T12:08:35+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 16, 2017 at 5:08am PDT</time></div>
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Japan had just reached the peak of its treacherously hot and humid summer months and the neon colors of the minimalist, 80s-esque cover art seemed to fit perfectly. The album arrived promptly at my dormitory but it seemed to fly over my head at the time; maybe there was a lot going on for me both personally and musically. Nothing really left a lasting impression on me with the exception of the title track that led me to the band in the first place.<br />
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This groovy little track never left me and trust me, I didn't want it to. I couldn't get over how soulful it was, so light and fun, and that infectious little chorus was so catchy I caught myself singing along a couple of times. Sure, they were shuffled into the dreaded city-pop genre of stuff but I couldn't help but feel like that was a little too convenient, too simple a denomination, and just a way to lazily group them into the collective of bands they had shared the bill during gigs in Japan. In the coming months I had no choice but to return to the album whenever I wanted to get my fix of "Imperfect Lover" and that I did, quite often. In between endless loops of the single were the occasional breaths of fresh air I dedicated to ingesting the rest of the album and gradually it came to mean a lot more to me than a single song. It always happens like this, I know.<br />
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I came to the realization that I could never remain sad after listening to Freckles. When I took long walks by the river or wandered through residential streets I had never seen before, they were blasting through my little headphones and washing out any negativity welling up inside me. There's something about vocalist voice, something sweet, sincere, and endearing, that serenaded me but also gave me some hope in a lot of tough times. The band didn't have that pretentious air to them that some of this music does (citypop, hi). It was fun and this genuine love for their craft resonated with me, but it's not like it's hard to hear. Listen to this beautiful track that comes at the end of the album, one of the finer ones that offsets the uplifting happy melodies I linked above.<br />
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Of course, this makes it seems like the band reinvented music with this album but I admit that they're far from perfection. The gorgeous melodies and the laid back vibe sometimes make the tracks drag a bit and not all the songs make me want to dance. Rather, the album has evolved into something personal for me. No longer just a record, a unique little time capsule of emotions that have been floating around in my head the past few months. Perhaps this is why I shouldn't recommend it to anyone: clearly, I have a bias. But maybe someone else will let their infectious little numbers grow on them, too. Go ahead, let some magic happen.<br />
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Chris<br />
<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-71348120288325270092018-03-12T01:56:00.000-07:002018-03-12T01:56:04.347-07:00#Me 門小雷 Little Thunder solo exhibition @ art&books petitame Kyoto <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hong Kong based illustrator and comic artist Little Thunder has just released a new book entitled #me, a collection of her latest artwork that consists of intricately drawn portraits of beautiful women with an accompanying, often humorous, comic. They all flaunt a gorgeous outer appearance, honing a keen sense of color and fashion that is paired with something revealing, playful, and unique about their interior, explained via single page comics that both tell a lot about their characters through actions and interactions with their environment. Without words, Little Thunder captures emotions, actions, exclusively through images, telling short, single page compositions into works of art that transcend the need for language.<br />
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popotame in Tokyo hosted a gallery to commemorate the release of #me, and the artwork recently moved to its smaller satellite in Kyoto--a lot closer to me and well worth a short day trip.<br />
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petitame came up on my map as being located in a "Gozu Mall." I assumed, but thought it strange, it was a shop in a large building in the busier shopping district of Kyoto but I couldn't have been more wrong. The bus passed the crowds of pedestrians and let me off at a quiet little neighborhood with a riving running on its side and with no people in sight. I weaved through streets of old-style Japanese architecture--this is the <i>real</i> Kyoto, I thought--until I was convinced I had made a mistake. But sure enough, the two-story house in front of me was Gozu Mall indeed. I heard recently that it was a trend to have small art galleries and popup shops in refurbished architecture, and this was a very cool example.<br />
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I had to take my shoes off in the doorway. There was a room directory, but it seemed like 201 was the only one open at the moment. </div>
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Once a house, the kitchen was still intact although it now functioned as a space for promoting upcoming events.<br />
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A placard on the narrow wooden stairway to the second floor.<br />
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The gallery space itself was probably once a bedroom and therefore it wasn't very large at all. It was far from an art museum but the space itself lent a really down-to-earth quality to Little Thunder's artwork. In some ways it felt like this intimate space, this <i>bedroom, </i>almost, was like her own intimate work place, a place she could proudly hang up her artwork on the wall. I read that popotame was quite surprised that she insisted that no frames be used and her drawings hung up as they were and in this environment, that too gave it a real air of authenticity and intimacy. I felt like I was in a friend's room, looking at her work.<br />
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The exhibition runs until April 15th but is only opened on Saturday and Sunday and has some instances where it isn't open. You can check <a href="http://5jm.jp/">the petitame website</a> for more details and they urge anyone interested <a href="https://twitter.com/petitame_shop">to check twitter</a> before making the trek in case they may close at the last minute. If you're in the area, its only a few minutes by bus from Kyoto station--walking is possible too--so it's definitely a great opportunity to see her artwork and pick up a copy of #me. </div>
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Chris</div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-86232479874758230622018-03-12T01:21:00.000-07:002018-03-12T01:21:00.475-07:00Chinese Football Japan Tour '18 in Kyoto Negaposi 2018/03/11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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I get handed a lot of fliers after shows by eager band members waiting outside the concert hall but I remember one in particular that I held on to after seeing toe and Into It, Over It in Tokyo. The art was cool but who the hell was Chinese Football, and did they have anything to do with <i>American</i> Football--the band, not the sport?</div>
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And of course, they do. Hailing from the city of Wuhan in China, Chinese Football is heralded as the quintessential indie act from the country, selling out huge venues at home who have come to adore their blending of the mid-west emo made famous by their idols. Chinese Football wear their influences on their sleeve but sometimes I think you need that kind of unabashed honesty to create something that, while not experimental or genre bending, has its charm in its giving listeners something familiar, nostalgic, and kind of comforting. And of course, the band do a lot that isn't exactly American Football sounding anyway. </div>
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They've made some waves in Japan too, not just because of China's geographical proximity gives them the opportunity to tour here quite often but because a few years ago vocalist/guitarist Joha took up residence in Kyoto. And it's in this city that I would first see them years after I got the flier from that toe/Into It, Over It gig. Sometimes, things just turn out that way. </div>
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Negaposi was, thankfully, in a quiet district of Kyoto away from the tourist attractions. It was also a lot earlier than I anticipated and featured seven, yes <i>seven</i> bands, playing from 4:30 PM until who knows when. By the time I got to the venue after totally losing my way on the myriad of the city bus system, I just saw pile of hex play their last song. </div>
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by the end of summer seemed to be the crowd favorite that night and they were indeed one of the better bands on the roster. They were young but reminded me a lot of the pop punk and emo bands I listened to in high school, and seeing a bunch of kids packed in a tiny closet of a live house brought me back to all the small shows people would host in their garages. I can't say they would wow any music critics for what they do, but it was a nostalgic kind of sound that I admit was catchy and fun. </div>
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Nengu was another noteworthy band on the roster, a three-piece who I had heard of before and knew were going to completely destroy the stage. The three of them were fierce and for some reason they felt a lot louder than all the other bands, playing with composure but frequently diving into bouts of pure abrasive chaos. I loved the little GameBoy SP music device the drummer used to trigger some frantic electronic samples that were the intros to some of their songs. </div>
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And of course, Chinese Football. The band put on a great show playing most of the songs off their latest EP which I've had on repeat for months. They were a little nervous even if it was a small crowd but they had everything down tight, their jamming was sublime. Of course the mid-west/math rock guitar sound is beautiful and one of the most appealing parts of this genre, but the bassist was really impressive too, as was the cute drummer who looked like she was took sick to play and wanted to leave immediately. I don't blame here--it's been a while since I was at a live house too and the smoke killed me. </div>
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Here's hoping they come to Nagoya on their next tour so I don't have to go all the way up to Kyoto again...not that I mind. </div>
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Chris</div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-76467155683336570492018-02-27T08:08:00.003-08:002018-02-27T08:08:49.969-08:00Yasashii Tomodachi: ばけばけばー / 台風クラブ / MILK / my ex @ K.D. Japon 2018//01/20I can clearly remember putting on headphones at the listening booth in the indie section of Tower Records Shinjuku, pressing play next to the first disc because in between all the scribbled Japanese characters was SUPERCHUNK, a band that I had just listened to--and liked--a few days before. The opening guitar riff of a song called unlucky by a band with a pretty unforgettable name: my ex.<br />
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There's just something about that moment when the opening chords dissolve and the entire band comes in that I can't describe. Such impact, such emotion...maybe it was just a pretty sad part of my life that made me so vulnerable to something so emo, but from that moment I felt like I had dived in head first and the song had engulfed me. Naturally, I walked out of the store with their homework EP in hand and listened to it like crazy for the next few months, but my ex(the band, just to be clear) just kind of faded from my memory after that. I didn't know what they were up to and they never really made a big splash despite the EP being on constant repeat during my commutes. Then again, such is the state of a lot of smaller bands in Japan no matter how great they are. Life gets in the way and they fade off the planet. </div>
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But here I was in 2018, years after I first put on those tattered headphones to listen to this completely unknown band, getting in line to finally see their show. And not just any show, it was with another three bands that included the excellent Typhoon Club and was hosted at my favorite venue K.D. Japon. </div>
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The event was sold out, packed wall to wall with bodies, and since the bands set up on the floor in front of the audience there was barely any room to see. K.D. Japon serves up some really great curry at the bar that I was looking forward to, but it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to get a plate anytime soon. </div>
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The first band was a mystery to me but with a name like bake-bake-baa it's pretty easy to tell that they played some quirky guitar rock that jumped around to all kinds of strange, noisy, and angular territories. I got quite a kick out of the female bassist who was always shredding her parts with a twisted smile half hidden under her hair that was already eating into her face. </div>
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Besides my ex, I was familiar with a pretty cool band who didn't come to Nagoya so often called Typhoon Club. I saw them last year in Okayama with Kaneko Ayano and they've been picking up some speed and fame since then, releasing an album not so long ago that I truthfully haven't heard yet. Still, I love their brand of music: a mix of folk, rock, and punk that's a welcome breath of fresh air from all the other stuff I tend to listen to. </div>
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It was anyone's guess what a band called MILK would sound like--I obviously didn't even make an effort to try and look up the band. When they finally got done soundchecking they rolled out fast, mean, hardcore punk that hit you right in the face and didn't really fit the rest of the bands on the bill nor the ambiance of the live house. Still, their energy was great, infectious, and woke me up quite a bit. Unfortunately they were a little too energetic and I didn't get any photos because of all the chaos. </div>
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my ex were the hosts of the event so they played last to the full house at K.D. Japon. The singer seemed kind of down and the crowd wasn't too responsive to his downer MCs(save for one enthusiastic and probably really drunk patron), but their music was great as usual. Emo, sure. Getting to finally hear unlucky after all these years was pretty phenomenal, and I hope that more than a few people that night came out as in awe of the band as I was that day I stood in Tower Records listening to their EP. </div>
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Chris</div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-83838895040921974302018-01-29T20:01:00.002-08:002018-01-30T21:01:52.116-08:00Daydream '17 Nagoya Extra @ Tsurumai Day Trip 12/09/2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Japanese bands love their shoegaze and dream pop, and the genre has been worked into the sound of numerous indie bands over the last decades, even spawning Japan their own series of expertly assembled tribute albums to My Bloody Valentine.<br />
Fans overseas making the trek to Japan to dive into the sea of loud and distorted guitars, however, should remember that the genre is still a rather niche one and shows with all your favorite bands won't happen to often. High in Tokyo's Koenji neighborhood has been heralded as the live house paying host to the most shoegaze shows featuring the most exciting bands coming out of Japan, but that's <i>if </i>you happen to stop by on a night hosting these kinds of bands. For people in Japan but outside of Tokyo like me, it's even more of a drag because all the most well known bands, even from outside the capital, usually play shows in Tokyo. Thankfully for me the Daydream'17 event brought about by <a href="http://kyoto-shoegazer.com/">Kyoto shoegazer </a>came early this year with a fantastic lineup of the best bands active in the scene today, a dream come true for shoegaze fans in Nagoya.<br />
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Right across the street from a venue I talk about too much, <a href="http://www2.odn.ne.jp/kdjapon/">K.D. Japon</a>, is <a href="http://day-trip.info/">Day Trip</a>, a cozy basement venue that might have been chosen for its name's synergy with the event title more than anything else. Jokes aside, Day Trip was an excellent little venue that felt intimate, cool, just a little bit scuzzy, and with none of the deadpan glam of a corporate live house. The stage was close even if you were hugging the walls or retreated to the back of the room, which is ideal for the kind of music on the bill for tonight.<br />
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Daydream's lineup featured a few bands I already knew. I purchased For Tracy Hyde's album last year and have fond memories of Tokenai Namae's early demo work...but many of the bands I had never heard before, like Call and Response's much talked about Looprider. There were also a bunch of bands that were totally new to me, but most importantly I had <i>never</i> seen any of these bands live before. A balanced roster like this is just what I like about a gig, the potential to discover something new and the anticipation for something already well loved. </div>
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Perhaps the only problem was that the show had a massive roster and was forced to start earlier than most gigs, not such a problem for it being on a weekend but a major discrepancy for a night owl like myself who makes up in the P.M. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that I missed the opening act, <a href="https://cookieromancenonsugar.jimdo.com/">Cookie Romance Nonsugar</a>, who I was told sound just as adorable as their name. </div>
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<a href="https://meingrasshopper.jimdo.com/">me in grasshopper</a> was the first act I saw on the bill, a band whose name came up frequently on fliers I saw for gigs in Nagoya but none that piqued my interest enough to actually attend (<a href="http://www.yuckband.com/">Yuck's</a> Japan tour, to be specific). They leaned more to the indie pop genre of things with just a little bit of dream pop and shoegaze mixed in. Very pleasant, easy going stuff and nothing too arresting, angular, or overly droning. </div>
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But the latter set of adjectives would probably work for the next band, <a href="https://looprider.com/">Looprider</a>, who shook up the audience after they delivered their setlist. Being the loudest and heaviest band on the roster, they were a mix of a variety of genres, choosing the loud, noisy guitars of shoegaze as a more prominent influence than the breezy, easygoing dreampop side that most of the bands on the night's roster would pull from. Their albums are on the excellent Call and Response label which is enough reason to check them out, and their latest is <a href="https://callandresponse.jimdo.com/releases/looprider-umi/">a kind of concept album with just one long track</a>. They also yielded my favorite photo of the night, which I used as the header to this article.<br />
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<a href="http://applelight.net/">Apple Light</a> toned things down a bit with their set, erring on the softer side of the indie pop spectrum. Out of all the bands they felt the least experienced and youngest, lacking the impact and distortion that a lot of the other acts that night brought to the table, but nonetheless enjoyable. </div>
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The only artist of the night that I had given a thorough listen to was <a href="http://fortracyhyde.com/">For Tracy Hyde</a>, one of the last band's to take the stage. They just released <a href="http://aramajapan.com/aramaexclusive/opinionpiece/tracy-hydes-herart-trip-tokyos-vibrant-life-worth-taking/82706/">their second album</a> and played a lot of songs from that, so I was treated to a lot of new material I had not heard before. Their music has been described as a mix of anime-pop, indie pop, and shoegaze, and I think that works quite well. It's accessible, their vocalist is cute, but their sound still gets distorted and fuzzy so it doesn't sound as polished and lifeless as one might think.<br />
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There was a shy, quiet guy who had staked a spot at the front of the stage for nearly the entire show and when the last band of the night, <a href="http://tokenainamae.tumblr.com/">tokenai namae</a>, started setting up, I noticed him crawl silently on stage as their guitarist. They hadn't performed in some time--they never do with much frequency--and the vocalist quivered as she delivered the MCs. They all seemed a little tense, at least to me, and noted they were quite nervous, but none of this meant that they played poorly. On the contrary, I felt there was no question that the organizers had saved the best for last. There was something about that fuzzy droning guitars, sweet synths, the dual male/female vocals, and the onslaught of a really solid rhythm section that made the band stand out from all the others that night. Their rhythm section in particular had some really powerful drumming and crunchy bass lines, something not everyone would think would typify a group going for a shoegaze/dreampop sound, but tokenai namae proved that there is a lot more than a fancy guitar and a myriad of effects that gives a band in these genres some footing. As I left the gig, just about everyone was talking about how blown away they were by the band, and with good reason: they did everything right and felt like the best band of the night. They don't gig often but I hope the warm response from the crowd persuades them to get back into the rhythm.<br />
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Before leaving the show, I paid a visit to the merch table to pick up one of tokenai namae's albums and stumbled upon a colorful array of album covers from distributor <a href="https://sangorecords.thebase.in/">Sango Records</a> set up at the exit. Run by the frontman of the most talked about indie band from China, Chinese Football, the label has a mix of releases from all sorts of genres(shoegaze, emo, alternative) and has bands from China and some from Japan on board. I picked up the compilation of Chinese Football and Friends, featuring a ton of really great bands from China. Also, their mascot is a snorkeling dog. Cool. Check out their stuff on their official site, linked above or <a href="https://sangorecords.bandcamp.com/">on their bandcamp.</a><br />
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Chris<br />
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<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-87060878898691378822017-10-14T06:45:00.005-07:002017-10-14T06:45:47.127-07:00Social Tower Market 2017 @ Nagoya TV Tower<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As much as I dig going to shows in Japan, it can hit the wallet pretty hard after awhile: buying a ticket, getting a CD or shirt after...it all adds up. That said, I can't say no to a <i>free</i> live performance featuring some bands that I was curious about. <a href="http://socialtower.jp/">Social Tower Market</a> is an annual event held in the large park area near the Nagoya TV Tower down town and had more than just free music. Both days were host to some awesome vendors selling a plethora of used goods, homemade curios, and other oddities. A variety of food and drink stalls catered to every taste and had a surprising variety of craft beer and select sake, to gourmet french fries and tacos. Count me in.<br />
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I only managed to see the last act of each day and on Saturday it was the band Tempalay. They played a quirky indie rock that was just as eclectic as their sense of fashion. It was interesting, though perhaps not quite my cup of tea.<br />
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The festivities continued after the last band finished at around 5PM, with music resuming under the TV Tower not far from where the stage was. I walked in on a little jam session these three talented musicians were having that totally blew my mind. Raw, open air music is really something.<br />
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After getting some refreshments, a different group had set up in the same spot as before. Quite psychedelic, airy, and avantgarde. It was a four piece with a bongo player...and I never caught their name. The drums sounded fantastic without any fancy microphones or acoustics altering the sound.<br />
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I didn't get a chance to arrive early on the second day either but made it just in time to see the one act I had been looking forward to the entire weekend: singer songwriter Satoko Shibata.<br />
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I didn't get too close but the cool acoustic tunes she played reverberated around the entire park and were perfect to relax to.<br />
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Pictured is poutine I got from a stand selling New York style french fries, basically fried potatoes with all sorts of topping. These french fries were so good I had to go again on the second day.<br />
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ChrisChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-17454990300726184482017-10-14T05:52:00.001-07:002017-10-14T05:52:09.082-07:00Yoshitomo Nara - For Better or Worse @ Toyota Municipal Museum of Art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've already become accustomed to people bashing Nagoya for never getting events as good as Tokyo to the east or Osaka to the west, and even southern city Fukuoka having a better turn out when it comes to things to do. But it's not like Nagoya has <i>nothing</i>, and this summer I attended a few art exhibitions that actually boasted some exclusivity to my city, proving that maybe it's not always left in the dust. One of those was <i>For Better or Worse</i>, an exhibition of artist Yoshitomo Nara's work held at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art. <br />
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There is actually some neat trivia for why Nara may have chose this spot to showcase his work: although he is from northern Japan, he went to college here in Aichi prefecture, at an art school out in the sticks, and returned regularly after his sojourn in Europe to meet with friends and mentors He even made special note to mention that it was, indeed, not Tokyo where he found himself but right here in Aichi prefecture, an often passed over, boring old city. It was inspiring to read his words and to know that one of my favorite artists spent time here where I am now. Where I live now seemed not to matter, or rather, it seemed <i>more </i>meaningful now that I knew Nara had been here, too. <br />
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The exhibit itself didn't allow pictures of course, but it was an extensive exploration of just about everything Nara has done in his career, from early unpolished works, sculptures, and a large selection of his latest works. It was interesting to see how his signature character styles have changed and evolved over time. The first exhibit was a giant wall of records, extending from the floor to the ceiling, that inspired Nara and acted as his early "art collection," mostly 60s-80s era Western rock classics. On the other side were memorabilia and books arranged on wooden shelves that were also inspiring to the artist...it's good to know he was also a fan of the 80s starlet Tomoyo Harada. I was also impressed by the numerous installations. The fountain was bizarre, placed in a well lit room with only the sound of flowing water audible, but the cabin you could enter and observe was the most intriguing. I entered just as the stereo inside started to play "California Dreamin," a track fresh in my mind from watching <i>Chungking Express</i> a few weeks earlier. The guitar case on the floor beneath a particular painting didn't seem to pique anyone's interest but it was a bit hard to swallow for me: this belonged to the late vocalist of bloodthirsty butchers, a band Nara had drawn the album covers for. Honestly, I hadn't expected there to be this much of his work on display and I was thoroughly satisfied with the sheer amount of content available. <br />
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I had lunch at the museum's restaurant which wasn't bad at all. It was a fair price, too, at about 1500yen and included a great view of the architecture on the second floor of the museum. </div>
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Exploring the exterior of the museum and observing the architecture is something not to miss at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, especially on a day with clear weather like when I went. After wandering the galleries of paintings inside its refreshing and just as interesting to take a stroll around the building to see the care taken into its creation and the placement of art work on the grounds, as well. </div>
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At the side of the museum was a separate complex that sat in a field of green. There were some interesting pieces laid out here as well. </div>
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The walk back to the Toyota train station was pleasant. The inner city has no space for trains and instead ops for the invisible subways that run underneath. Trains still weave behind the buildings in Toyota city and pass by the road by the museum often. </div>
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Chris C.</div>
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-59254917426371225902017-08-23T05:06:00.002-07:002017-08-23T05:06:38.608-07:00Guitar Pop Restaurant vol.35 ~It's a Shiny Day~ @ K.D. Japon 2017/05/20<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Shibuya-kei sound, enshrined by leading groups like Flipper's Guitar and Pizzicato Five, hasn't quite been making as much noise in recent years. Once the second wave of artists sprang up, spearheaded by the now renowned producer <br />
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Yasutaka Nakata and his group capsule(plus soon to be super stars Perfume), things looked like they were making a second wave and third wave of artists...but then Nakata started hitting the house and club music scene and the rest of scene seemed to fall by the wayside. Shibuya-kei was...dead, so to say, but an underdog was secretly keeping the flame burning in the most unexpected places: video game arcades.<br />
Konami's Bemani line of rhythm games are mainstays in arcades and the pop'n music installment has since its earliest inceptions had its roots in the sort of shibuya-kei style music (as well as just about every genre given its focus on slapping buttons, no relation to actual instrument, allowing the producers more freedom. A core of artists made music for these games and remained active outside too, while other groups who were well known in music circles would occasionally loan their tracks to the game. Nakata himself lent a song at one point under his polyphonic room pseudonym, and bands like three berry ice cream collaborated often, comprised of members of the core shibuya kei group "Bridge". Meanwhile bands like risette released regular CDs while putting out songs for Konami periodically, and . Cymbals licenses<br />
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It's not wonder that a love of rhythm games, shibuya-kei, and the artists within would eventually come together to assemble an event called Guitar Pop Restaurant, now in its 35th installment and going strong. The event puts together groups of the shibuya kei genre and groups from rhythm games, often groups that rarely if ever play live shows nowadays. Its a real treat if you're a fan of both, but a real hassle given that the events only happen a few times a year and my trips to Japan never really match up. Last time I made a reservation to an all-day installment, an extra special Guitar Pop Restaurant featuring the likes of Hideki Kaji, a big name for sure, but couldn't make it in the end because of schedule conflicts (I spent the entire day packing for my trip home and making multiple trips to the post office near my hostel in the rain). I gave up on the idea given the event's central location of Tokyo, but was astounded when they announced a gig scheduled here in Nagoya, a rare occurrences for sure, and one in my favorite venue K.D. Japon.<br />
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This special event was host to a plethora of young vocalists and the talented composers attached to the latest versions of the pop'n music series. The songlists for these games are hard to keep up with and I confess to not being familiar with most of this fresh talent that Konami has picked up, so I made multiple trips to my local arcade to brush up on some of the names I saw on the roster while brusing my hands trying to get used to smashing those big round buttons again. ]</div>
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The real treat, especially for someone more keen on older music from the Bemani series, was the finale: Kiyotaka Sugimoto, a name that might not be familiar with too many music game aficianados but whose music is surely familiar to all. Sugimoto has composed and remixed dozens of tracks across Konami's rhythm game series <a href="https://remywiki.com/Kiyotaka_Sugimoto">under all sorts of pseudonymns</a>(DJ Simon, Doctor S, etc.) rarely using his real name. He has also performed as a part of the aforementioned second wave of Shibuya-kei guitar pop acts with his band orangenoise shortcut(another name familiar to rhythm game nerds) for a number of years before disbanding. I grew up his Beatmania 5-key remix work, the most challenging in the game, as well as his guitar pop compositions in the older pop'n music entries, and this would be the first time I could hear him perform live. </div>
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The night's performances took the form of a pairing of a vocalist with a composer accompanying them on piano, although the show saw a few occasions of crossovers and collaborations. After a short DJ set by Toranosuke, consiting of guitar pop/shibuya-kei tunes, the first act took the stage. </div>
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mami is a regular contributor to the new pop'n music series and she was backed on the keyboards by Yuuji Yoshizawa, a composer and keyboardist who often goes by the moniker red glasses. When he switched over to the pianica, m@ sumi took over the keys, another talented young woman who has contributed compositions to the pop'n music games and collaborated with various other vocalist on the bill. </div>
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Besides the finale, vocalist Akinari was the only other male vocalist on the set last night. His vocals appear on a number of pop'n music tracks composed by red glasses, and Yuuji is shown here accompanying his vocals with piano, probably when he sang a version of the hit by Hoshino Gen. <br />
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NU-KO had a bubbly personality and a cute idol voice to match and I enjoy a lot of the bubbelgum J-pop she does for the pop'n music games. Out of all the artists at the event, I think she is one of the more well known.<br />
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Before transitioning to <a href="mailto:m@sumi's">m@sumi's</a> projects, the two composers paired up for an instrumental duet on the keyboards, playing some Bemani classics to the delight of the audience. </div>
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After this, <a href="mailto:m@sumi">m</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">@sumi</a> got behind the keyboards with vocalist rino, performing as a duet under the moniker plastic penguin. <br />
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Finally, the headliner Kiyotaka Sugimoto from orangenoise shortcut and percussionist Kouji Yamada. Sugimoto performed a lot of new compositions he has been releasing under his solo moniker, but he squeezed in a particularly catchy song from orangenoise shortcut's <i>Bubblelights </i>album, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_8CkggJFC0">"Truth."</a><br />
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After Sugimoto performed, the organizers presented a cake to the two wonderful composers who both celebrated their birthdays the week of this event. </div>
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The finale was a gathering of the entire cast on K.D. Japon's tiny stage, performing some encore songs like rhythm game idol group <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zYKTEgzvP4">HinaBita Bitter Sweets' "Chocolate Smile,"</a> with vocal duties shared among the entire vocals cast, much to the chagrin of the reluctant Sugimoto who was a little put off by the idol songs demands on his vocals.</div>
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Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1512164203758099548.post-67790123558048960972017-07-15T11:37:00.001-07:002017-07-15T11:37:37.109-07:00LAMP Acoustic Live in Nagoya K.D. Japon 2017/07/09<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://thevinylfactory.com/news/midori-takada-through-looking-glass-vinyl-reissue/">I was just reading a wonderful article about the resurgence of interest and subsequent repressing of Midori Takada's masterpiece </a><i><a href="https://thevinylfactory.com/news/midori-takada-through-looking-glass-vinyl-reissue/">Through the Looking Glass</a> </i>, which exemplifies how file sharing and streaming websites aren't as evil as they seem and can actually come full circle to benefit the artist. </div>
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The Japanese band Lamp has garnered a following outside their home country in the same way, through file sharing and outlets like Youtube spreading their chill, wistful 70s infused light pop music to eager listeners around the globe. Its hard for me to categorize Lamp's music by genre; there are touches of bossa nova, tinges of the infamous "city pop" genre, and 70s AOR, but whatever nomenclature you fancy their popularity rests on the interplay of male and whispery female vocals over pleasant light indie pop music. When I listen to Lamp I always think of a sunny summer afternoon, a girl wearing a one piece dress with an umbrella over her, and rain falling down on a window. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meF_vnE_uAw">The video for "Sachiko"</a> off the band's latest album is the exact imagery that comes to mind: the beach, a cafe, scenes presented with muted hues of blue and green on grainy film from a 16mm video camera.While the band wasn't too happy about the fact that their music was being pirated and streamed for free on the web, they took the opportunity to capitalize on their namesake by offering their music for purchase digitally, repressing their out of print discography on CD, giving the vinyl treatment to some albums, and even taking to the road for a recent tour of Asian cities. </div>
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The latter is exceptional in that Lamp has never quite been a touring band (consequently, this may be why they were so opposed to piracy: unlike most bands, they had no revenue from merchandise or concerts) and preferred to take their time in the studio, releasing an album or EP once every few years. When they did perform live it was a big deal, not just because of the rarity of the event (I read somewhere they were all quite shy, too) but because of the ensemble needed to recreate their music onstage. Lamp consists of only three musicians at its core: Nagai on lead male vocals, Sakakibara on lead female vocals, and Someya, so their stage lineup demanded the group to organize an outfit for the stage that consisted of members to cover all of the other instruments. Skipping the hassle, the band recently embarked on a mini "acoustic" tour, with just its core members and one support member on stage to render some of the band's older material for the first time as a minimal live outfit. Given the chance, I could care less how the band decided to perform. I just wanted to <i>finally</i> see Lamp and since the tour took them to Nagoya this time I jumped on board and looked forward to spending another night at my favorite venue, K.D. Japon in Tsurumai.</div>
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The smaller personnel might have suggested a sound not as full or at its best but it actually suits the quiet tones of Lamp's brand of pop music quite well. The four musicians on stage crafted a sound that was quite close to the source material but was also unique in itself. Sakakibara and Nagai traded vocal duties while Someya remained on guitar, and the members frequently rotated on bass, acoustic guitar, and keyboard duties. Sakakibara also played the flute and the synthesizer keyboards, while others also contributed various percussion(shakers, triangle, etc.) throughout the songs. I never realized there was this much going on in their music but it all came together quite well and defined the band's attention to detail in their music and the care that went into rehearsing for this small show. <br />
Sakakibara's voice resonated quite well and was beautiful to hear in person, even moreso since I had a seat in front of her. Someya had some stage fright but got rid of it after a few tracks, and Nagai, who provides the lead male vocals, soon expressed his frustration at some of the song choices for the night. Someya explained that only having songs with vocals by Sakakibara would not make for a well rounded presentation to the audience, but Nagai retorted that he particularly hated the song "Tsumetai Yoru no Hikari" (Light of a cold evening) and was convinced he would never sing it again in his career, despite cheers and laughs from the audience. I'm quite fond of the song myself but after hearing Nagai sing it live I can understand his resentment for the track: it's a strain for the vocal chords for sure. For those interested its the seventh track of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL49ePbbQa8&t=1701s">one of my favorite Lamp albums</a>. <br />
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The wonderful venue of choice is one that I've already said quite a little about in this blog before, but it really warrants another mention in the context of this gig in particular. K.D. Japon looks more like an old fashioned cafe than a live house. Its wooden structure made it feel like a cabin and its decor of unmatched little chairs with handmade cushions complimented the look. The second floor loft is accessible via a rickety winding staircase, and the entire place, situated under a high ceiling, was bathed in a warm orange light. The perfect atmosphere for framing the band's light acoustic sound, much more intimate and picturesque than a typical live house would be. <br />
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The show ended in a flash with only about 13 songs plus an impromptu encore the band was reluctant to perform--I forget which song, too. After the gig the band offered numerous CDs for sale, the latest repressing of their vinyl of the album <i>Zanzou </i>out later in the week, and a chord book, plus they offered to sign anything for fans patient enough to get in line. This would take a while, so I decided to have a plate of the venue's curry and took it up to the second floor loft. Tasty as always, priced well(650yen is cheaper than the thieving chain restaurants), and highly recommended--but maybe not during a full house.<br />
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The band was nice enough to sign my copy of one of their older CDs, <i>Zankou</i>, which I explained to them was the only one of their albums I had yet to own, making it even more special to me. I regret not bringing all their other CDs from home...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhgNW7o3yAH64_ifla_EE_Fn2Yed5ZBzwTI9K7tvaqJwHlyOL08tDAieb6ohG90dbyR9h0fSnLJcJ93Tnxqzf26XYdI5-f3xeyFcHjqO8NJgK_uVAGmrQLbvWI0kxFzW_E9ZU1C2w-BXS/s1600/1DSC_6832.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhgNW7o3yAH64_ifla_EE_Fn2Yed5ZBzwTI9K7tvaqJwHlyOL08tDAieb6ohG90dbyR9h0fSnLJcJ93Tnxqzf26XYdI5-f3xeyFcHjqO8NJgK_uVAGmrQLbvWI0kxFzW_E9ZU1C2w-BXS/s400/1DSC_6832.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Afterwards I completely forgot to get a picture with the band and ran back to the venue to get one. The band isn't particularly outgoing, but they were nice enough pose for a picture and chat. Given the odds of Lamp doing another gig I can actually attend, even if this ends up being the only time I see them live the occasion was unforgettable. <br />
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Chris Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01494719350927329821noreply@blogger.com0