ok city ok and the beauty of secondhand music

Last Fm. has been helpful in making me even more geeky about music - all those charts and numbers are like manna from heaven us poor unfortunate obsessives and our stunted emotional growth. However, part of the marketing blurb was something about Last Fm. being a way to widen your musical horizons - by recording everything you listen to they are able to recommend other artists you'd probably like. Unfortunately, this is utter bollocks. Based on the music I've listened to in the last seven days, Last Fm. was able to recommend such unknown artists as The Beatles, Neil Young, Pink Floyd and Queen. I then noticed the sliding scale that allowed me to change the recommendations from 'popular' to 'obscure'. I duly slid the button over and was pointed in the direction of some singer-songwriter called Paul Simon. Gee, thanks, Last Fm. With all these unusual artists you are really spoiling us.

All is not last, thanks to a message I was sent from another Last Fm. user I was pointed in the direction of ok city ok. They've left a trail all over the internet so I'm not going to list all the various links here - do it yourself, they're worth the effort. Fronted by Kay Grace, an exiled American based in Tokyo, ok city ok will appeal to anyone with an ear for a slightly skewed, crunchy pop song. If you like what you hear they're playing at Kichijoji Silver Elephant this Friday (May 18th), before setting off on a tour of the States (more details on their MySpace page).

Finally, I just want to write a brief note of thanks to the goddess of secondhand record shops for deciding to stick so many of the good ones in Tokyo. In the last two days I've spent about ¥5000 and picked up 10 cds of outrageous quality (and a Deacon Blue album because it reminded me of some painful school discos when I were but a nipper). The best ones so far have to be the two compilations of music released on British independent labels in the 80's/early 90's. They make all the wannabes kicking around these days sound even more pathetic than they already do. I tried to find the albums on the internet so I could put a link in here, but no joy - you'll just need to take my word for how good they are.

1, 2 no 3 de - Mizoguchi Ryoko (download from JapanFiles.com)

One of the main reasons a lot of people get into Japanese music is that it often sounds vastly different to what's being made by Western bands (of course, a lot of people also just get into Japanese music because they think it automatically makes them cool, but that's a rant for another day). Unfortunately though, this sometimes leads to bands who end up sounding the same when trying to be different. For example, thanks to Melt-Banana there are numerous bands who have welded frantic guitar noise, apocalyptic sound effects and tortured chipmunk vocals. Some are good, but a lot of them just plain suck. Fortunately, there are also artists like Mizoguchi Ryoko who strike out on their own path rather than choosing between the two roads signposted 'Polysics wannabe' and 'Shonen Knife wannabe.'

Mizoguchi's mini-album 1, 2 no 3 de is short, but then my five foot two inch tall mother always told me that the best things come in small packages, and after listening to this record over and over for the past few days I'm starting to think she may have been right all along. Armed mainly with a piano and a voice pitched somewhere between Kate Bush and Cerys Matthews, Mizoguchi has crafted a collection of songs that burrow themselves deeply within your subconscious, then keep bringing you back to them even when you know you ought to be listening to other things.

Try staying away from the Kate Bush/Ben Folds sound clash and fantastic 80's style soaring chorus of opening track "Suki ni Nachetta" for a couple of days. See if you can expel the sampled cicada chatter and pitter-pattering piano of "Semi no Isshuukan" or the vocal acrobatics during "Furueru Mune", Mizoguchi's very own torch song – it's nigh on impossible. Even if you do manage to do this, I guarantee you that "Ii Deshou" will be with you long after you first listen to this album. It opens with a loosely-strung bass-line, sparsely played guitar and simple tub-thumping drumbeat that wouldn't be out of place on the first Velvet Underground album. After about twenty seconds Mizoguchi's vocals kick in and the song takes on a hypnotic, almost tribal aspect as she chants rather than sings. Another minute or so later the bass strings seem to get even looser and Mizoguchi's voice, now bathed in static, appears to being beamed in from somewhere just past Pluto. None of this prepares you for the bridge of the song though, which sounds like it was recorded in the studio next door to The Beatles during the Revolver sessions, taking its cues from the swirling instrumentation of "Tomorrow Never Knows". The song briefly dips back into the semi-tribal chants of earlier, before closing with Mizoguchi's multitracked voice ululating over a disintegrating rhythm section.

Paradoxically, the quality of "Ii Deshou" is also this record's only real weakness. To me the song is the obvious choice with which to close the album, but it's stuck in here at track five. This ends up making the final three songs sound a lot more ordinary than they actually are. "Kei no Stage e" might have lived up to its dramatic piano if it had made an appearance earlier on, but after "Ii Deshou" it sounds like it's trying a little too hard. "Birthday Song" fares slightly better, throwing together mariachi style trumpets and a keyboard hook that would probably have Ray Manzarek speed-dialling his lawyers if he was ever to stumble upon this album.

"La La La Song" is the track that does close the album and normally I'd say it was more than worthy of this role. Mizoguchi divests her vocals of any discernible language and sets them adrift over an elegiac piano track that Moby could well steal and use in an advertisement for whichever car company offers him the most cash. As good as it is, I was still left thinking that it had usurped "Ii Deshou" from it's rightful place. Thankfully in this age of iTunes and the like you can resolve this by rearranging the album yourself. Then again, Mizoguchi probably meant the album to run in this order, and who am I to argue?

New Band On JapanFiles

Tokyo Pinsalocks, a three-piece 'electronic rock band' (that's what the press release said anyway) now have a five track E.P available for download on JapanFiles. I'll try and get a review up in the next few days, assuming I can resist the wiles of the Mizoguchi record.

Mrs. Tanaka Album and a blog

It's finally going to hit the shops this Sunday, just in time for Mother's Day. Have a listen to the songs on the good lady's MySpace page and tell me you don't want to buy the album.

Tokyo Gig Guide is probably the best source of info for live music in Tokyo, and they now also have a blog containing reviews of said music. It's well worth a look.

Limited Express (has come back?)

It may just be scurrilous rumour but apparently Limted Express (has gone?) may not have gone at all. Nothing to confirm at the moment but who knows, they may be shreking their way around the livehouses of Tokyo once again in the near future.

Shift presents "applechair&bananadesk", Club Goodman, Akihabara, May 1st

Most of the concerts I go to in Tokyo are fairly sparsely attended. If there are five bands on the bill there will usually be around thirty or forty people there. It seems that each band brings five or six friends and family members who have no choice but to go. Add in the small number of people who are there because they want to see the bands, and the obligatory blog writing gaijin and that's pretty much it.

Tuesday night at Club Goodman was the exception to the vague rule that I just made up. Despite this being Shift's event most of the audience were there to see Tokyo luminaries (or 'it bands' if you wanted to be unkind) nhhmbase and Melt-Banana. First up was CLISMS. Like all the bands on tonight's bill apart from Shift, this was the first time I'd seen them. Taking their on-stage moves from The Who (without the instrument annihilation), they played a lean twenty five minute set that any fan of the Nuggets series would appreciate.

nhhmbase were one of the first bands I heard about when I started this blog - various people told me that I had to check them out. I bought their first mini-album and while it certainly wasn't bad, it didn't seem that special. I was then told that I had to see them live, that the CD hadn't really captured them at their best. I've been told this kind of thing before and sometimes it's little more than a way to cover up the fact that a band aren't actually that great. With nhhmbase it IS true though - played live, their songs are have more space in which to meander and expand without ever drifting off into muso-wank-noodling territory. One downside to the band could be the fact that apparently they've been playing much the same set for the last two years - do they have any more songs in there or have they shot their bolt too quickly? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Sometimes you go to a concert where you only know one or two bands on the bill, but one of the unknown acts turns out to be the best thing you see all night and you spend the next couple of days raving to all your friends about how good they were. Unfortunately ヨルズイノザスカイ (Yolz In The Sky) were away over on the other side of the spectrum. I looked back at my notes under I've underlined the words "utter pish" in the same way a bitter cuckold might highlight his cheating ex-wife's name in the phonebook. Musically, their stew of relentless guitar noise and frantic rhythm works well, but their vocalist fucks the whole thing up. He looks like Bruce Lee and sounds similar too, as he yelps his way through every song like a loop tape of every fight scene in Enter The Dragon. It has me scrambling for the beer machine outside in the hallway for much needed oral and aural respite. One final point before we leave the whole sorry episode behind - to the bloke who stood next to me giving the sign of the beast all the way through their set, this band is not Satanic, just diabolical (before any smart arse goes to write a comment about the meaning of 'diabolical', look here).

According to Wikipedia, Melt-Banana singer Yasuko Onuki's vocal style has been described as "a rabid poodle on speed". After their set (this was the first time I'd actually heard any of their music - am I allowed to write a blog on Japanese music after such a confession?) I was trying to figure out what to say about them when my girlfriend trumped both my half-arsed notes and the anonymous critic cited on Wikipedia - "The music was OK but she sounds like Alvin and The Chipmunks going through teenage angst." 'Nuff said.

Shift were last on and came out to a slightly depleted audience (even if it is your event perhaps playing last after nhhmbase and Melt-Banana isn't the best idea). This was the first time I'd seen them since their show at Shibuya O-nest last year, and they seem to have left behind some of the more melodic parts of their sound. Yuki Funayama's vocals stand out above Alvin and Bruce Lee, but the band's sound wasn't as distinctive as before. Then again, maybe it was just the songs they played that night, or maybe the beer I'd downed deperately during Yolz In The Sky's set was playing havoc with my ears. Either way, Shift remain a band that everyone should see live if they have the chance.

Japanese CDs from JapanFiles

Downloading MP3 files is all well and good in terms of convenience, but personally I'd still rather buy the CD and then bung the tracks onto my PC (I guess I'm showing my age now). For anyone else who feels the same and needs a fix of Japanese music, JapanFiles has just released two new CDs which are available here. One, Fresh Cuts From Japan: Volume 2, is a compilation culled from the JapanFiles archives, including tracks by mothercoat, Budo Grape and my current favourites, advantage Lucy. I guess you could call the other CD a 'Rough Guide to LiN Clover'. Called Slumber, it contains 10 tracks chosen by the band themselves which cover their three Japanese releases. There should be reviews here soon (ah, but you've all heard that before, haven't you?).

Golden Age/Clap Hands

This is just one reason why the DVD/live album I mentioned in my previous post has to be released.

And About Hers Live Event, Shinjuku JAM, April 29th

The title pretty much says it all. Ian Martin (from Call and Response Records) will be one of the DJs, along with Yashiro from Saladabar. And About Hers make the kind of female fronted Japanese indie pop that you either love or loathe - there tends to be no middle ground. The other bands playing are Overleaf (quote - "a fairly straight rock band" - I listened to the songs on their MySpace page and they sounded pretty good), Totos (who also have a MySpace page - they reminded me a little of Pygmy With Bitter Ends) and Pencil Acrobat (who seem to be something of an indie supergroup, with members of Swarm's Arm and Saladabar). Tickets are 1800 yen, doors open at 6.30 and the music starts at 7.

Swinging Popsicle in the States

SWINGING POPSICLE ADDS SHOW IN NYC – JUNE 19

Japanese rock band Swinging Popsicle returns to the USA June 15-17, 2007 for Anime Mid-Atlantic in Richmond, VA.

The trio has just added a special show in New York City on June 19 at The Knitting Factory. The concert is a small, intimate show and is expected to sell out early. This will mark the band's first-ever appearance in New York City.

They will be performing songs from their upcoming CD release "Go On," as well as hits like "I Just Wanna Kiss You" from their best-selling 2004 CD "Transit." They will also be signing autographs for fans after the show.

Show info:

June 19, 2007

Knitting Factory – NYC

74 Leonard St, New York, 10013

Doors 7 PM

$12

All Ages

Tickets for the NYC show are available now at www.myspace.com/swingingpopsicle or at www.knittingfactory.com.

Miaou, Shibuya O-Nest, April 22nd

I've never been to the opera but I occasionally watch the cultural programmes on NHK on a Sunday evening and the music gets me in that place where you can't explain it but the audience inevitably brings me back to Earth and reminds me that I know nothing about this kind of music and that they will take great pleasure in reminding me of this at every possible moment. I love instrumental music - give me Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Tortoise et al and I'm a happy man. Unfortunately, these bands seem to attract a similar audience to those cunts who claim they are opera lovers but go there for no other reason than to lord it over anyone who has the misfortune not to be as well versed in the intricate history of the music being played as they are. People like the bint who told my friend to 'shhh' at the show tonight in Shibuya. He's not the quietest of people but it was a fucking concert. It was between songs, not during one - stop being so fucking precious, get over yourself and accept the fact that people may talk to each other at a concert - it's just what they do.

Right, rant over. Miaou were fantastic. Swirls of blissful music made by people who were lost within what they were doing but never lost control and never allowed themselves to slip into the wankery that so often bedevils concerts of this type. Their music sounds and looks like it's great fun to play. They will never be huge but they deserve the kind of cult following that much more undeserving bands earn. If there is any kind if justice in the world people will get over Shonen Knife, see them for the dull shrieky bores that they are, and swoon at the majestic feet of bands like Miaou. It's not going to happen but we are allowed to dream - isn't that what keeps us going?

miaou - tiger note

Just in case you can't be arsed going to YouTube yourself.

Miaou on YouTube

They are playing Shibuya tonight (O-Nest), but if you can't make it they have their own channel on YouTube with some clips of them playing live. This internet thing can actually be quite useful at times.

Stereo Japan

Stereo, a new venue partly owned by Mani from Primal Scream, recently opened in Roppongi. A friend of mine is DJ-ing there tomorrow night from seven to nine - entry is free and apparently the music will be 'tech/house and a little downbeat'. Going by the pictures on the Stereo website it's a bit more plush than the venues I usually frequent, so it'll either be a welcome change of scenery or a complete shock to the system.

Beck, Budokan, April 16th

I have spent almost a week trying intermittently to write a review of this concert. I have two unfinished drafts in which I waffle on about Live at The Budokan and stuff and in neither of them can I get passed the second paragraph. So, here's the short version - Beck at the Budokan will be the greatest live album/DVD if his record company have the good sense to release it. The Rolling Stones labour under the impression that a hugely elaborate stage set is the only way a band can shake up the concert-goer's experience, but Beck pissed on that theory from a great height in coming up with his own way of doing things. Firstly, put together a backing band of multi-instrumentalist who can flit between guitars, bass, drums, maracas, synthesisers, a bank of Macs and tableware with enviable ease. Secondly, perform the best songs from each record you've released thereby creating the perfect live album set-list. Thirdly, do away with the usual big screen and camera set-up for those fans who can't see what's happening on stage. In its place recreate the band's performance live using puppets and film that instead, making sure that each puppet is wearing exactly the same clothes as its human counterpart. Finally, make the inevitable encore infinitely more interesting than usual by using the time when the band are off-stage to show a short film starring the puppets in which Beck puppet dreams that he is 'Beckzilla' rampaging through the streets of Tokyo.

There you have it, the perfect live DVD and album. Unfortunately the Budokan has the sternest looking security guards I've seen at a Japanese venue, so the only photos I have of the show are the one above that was taken outside before the show, and the ones below of the puppets which my friend took from the programme she bought. Just keep your fingers crossed and hope that the DVD comes out - then it'll all make sense.

Two in a day?

Just remembered, a friend of mine has a couple of tickets for Beck's upcoming Tokyo shows, on for April 6th at Ebisu Liquid Room, and one for April 16th at the Budokan. Both are 7500 yen (the face value) - if anyone's interested email me at toyko.music.blog@gmail.com. Off to lie down now.

Two in a week?

No, it isn't an April Fool, this is my second post in the space of a couple of days. Not much of an accomplishment really, but given my recent form it's got to count for something. Anyway, a couple of updates from JapanFiles - new downloads available on the website and some tour dates that make me wish that getting into the US on my non-machine readable British passport wasn't akin to getting into the inner sanctum of the Vatican.

First up, a bunch of advantage Lucy songs are now available on the JapanFiles website. Click here for an interview with the band, and here to splurge your hard-earned pennies on the songs. Secondly, LiN Clover have added another show to their debut tour of the States. Showing that they don't give a fuck about Western superstition they will be playing the Claron Lounge, Santa Clara, CA on Friday the 13th of April. For more info have a look at the Shibuya Airwaves MySpace page.

I'd better go and sit down - two posts in three days is too much for this hack.

No excuses, and some updates

I'm not even going to try and make an excuse for the lack of posts recently, so here's some information instead. There is an event tonight in Tokyo, organised by Ian Martin:

2007 3/29 (Thu)
Shibuya O-NEST
「マスビーニューニュー(MUST BE NEW-NEW!）Vol.4」
w/ SKOOTER, ゆやゆよん, ウサギスパイラルアー, SHOOT MY DISCO,UMIBACHI
【DJ】IAN MARTIN（Call And Response）
開場18:30／開演19:00
● 前売￥2,000／当日￥2,300 ●ドリンク別

Someone's a Lot Busier Than Me...

Judging by the number of emailed press releases that are pinging up in my inbox, the JapanFiles staff are readying for a major Tet-like offensive. Firstly, songs by "trippy techno pioneers" Deavid Soul are now available for download on the JapanFiles website, as are the "high energy avante-garde pop stylings of Nagoya based Budo Grape. Finally, for anyone lucky enough to be at the South By Southwest festival this week (and if you are you probably won't be reading this poxy blog), Japanese band Mothercoat are playing at the following times:

Mar. 14

SXSW - Latitude 30

512 San Jacinto St.

Austin, TX

11:45 PM

Mar. 18

Sam's Burger Joint (w/Peelander Z)

www.samsburgerjoint.com

San Antonio, TX

6:00 PM

LiN CLOVER live in the US

For any Stateside readers:

JAPANESE ROCK BAND LiN CLOVER TO PLAY ADDITIONAL USA DATES!

Las Vegas, NV – February 28, 2007 – The powerful, dark Japanese rock band LiN CLOVER will make its USA debut at Sakura-Con 2007 in Seattle, WA, April 6-8, 2007.

Now the band has partnered with California-based promoters Shibuya Airwaves to add shows at Slim's in San Francisco (April 11) with additional venues TBA in Las Vegas, NV (April 10) and San Jose, CA (April 12).

Fans of LiN CLOVER and their founding members Ren & Nao (formerly of GacktJOB) will have their first chance to see this amazing, high-energy performance in America. Live performance video has been added to the band's official MySpace page ( www.myspace.com/linclover).

LiN CLOVER received a nomination for Best Japanese Rock Band in this year's Shojo Beat Music Awards.

LiN CLOVER appears courtesy of JapanFiles.com.

Thanks to Dave at JapanFiles for this. You know it makes sense - download the songs, buy the tickets, brighten up your day.

Still Freaky

"Do you want to go and see J Mascis?" my friend asked me. "It's a solo set and it's 2500 yen." J Mascis. The man who was in the band that were responsible for one of my top three mardy teenage anthems. The man who seemed guitar solos seem like a decent idea. J Mascis. In Tokyo. At a tiny venue. For only two thousand five hundred yen. What do you think?

Fast forward to the night of the show and things have changed a little. The demand for tickets has been overwhelming so the show has been moved downstairs to the Liquid Room's main hall. Goodbye intimate venue. Still, it's J Mascis. Maybe he'll play Freak Scene and all of this won't seem so bad.

The lights dim and the MC comes on stage. I get the main gist of what he says: it's eighteen years since the classic Dinosaur Jr line-up separated. Now they've got back together and have recorded a new album of original material which is called Beyond. Tonight, we are going to be the first people in Japan to hear this new album. Suddenly two and half grand seems like an insanely low price for this show. Not only are we going to hear the first new Dinosaur Jr album in almost twenty years (one guy near me tells his friend that he was only two when the band split), we're going to hear played by J Mascis himself. The lights go all the way down, the audience falss silent... and somewhere off stage a CD player clicks on and everything becomes clear. We are indeed going to hear the new Dinosaur Jr album, but on CD.

The new songs sound fantastic - the perfect fusion of both sides of Dinosaur Jr: the SST days of J, Lou and Murph, and the later era of Start Choppin' and Feel The Pain. I barely give a fuck though. Two thousand five hundred yen for this? Where's J Mascis? Is he going to come on at the end and strum a couple of songs before heading back to his hotel? I'm starting to get the feeling that we've all been had and this is nothing more than a glorified in-store appearance.

I need to do something about this. I want the promoters, the venue owners, Mascis himself, to know that they can't get away with this kind of shite. I have two small plastic cups and a half-full bladder. My options are limited but it's better than mute acceptance.

The album comes to an end. Just under an hour ago this venue was buzzing with expectation, but now the audience shuffles around, not able to muster anything like the same level of enthusiasm. The MC comes back on stage and launches into another spiel. "Wasn't the album great?" "Don't the band sound fantastic?" "Let's have a look at what you could have won." OK, I made that last one up but you get the picture. I decide that drastic measures need to be taken and hand the two plastic cups to my girlfriend. As I fumble about in the semi-darkness the MC says something about J Mascis and the crowd seem to be re-energised. The MC buggers off.

Grey haired and looking how a sane Daniel Johnston might, J Mascis shambles onto the stage and proceeds to play one of the best shows I have ever seen. Clouds part, the cups tumble to the floor and all thoughts of starting a riot disappear from my mind. Mascis seems to be a little confused about the running order of the evening, as he tells that he won't be playing anything from the new album since we're going to hear it all soon anyway. It doesn't matter, it just seems like the kind of thing he would say.

About halfway through what is basically a greatest hits set he plays Freak Scene. I am transported back to my teenage years and beyond, into that realm where a song is much more than just chords, melody and lyrics. Instead, it becomes a force that resonates through to the very core of your being and leads you to write overblown and overlong sentences like these in a vain attempt to convey just how good it is. I don't stop smiling for the rest of the evening and the only place I piss is in the toilet.

Freakscene

J Mascis is playing live in Tokyo next Monday and I'm going - I guess February isn't all bad. I have to admit that I don't know that much about his solo stuff but I'm looking forward to it regardless. The most remarkable thing? A Western artist whose show is only costing 2500 yen (inc one drink) - could this be the start of a trend?

Is there another way to say "Better late than never?"

It's over a week since the event, I arrived midway through the third band's performance, and had to leave before the final band had finished. I probably don't have any right to even write about the show but a blog needs posts like a footballer's wife needs Prada, so here we are.

Mir were the band whose set we rudely gatecrashed. A female guitarist in a bunny hat, blasts of Stereolab-esque pop, and orchestrated dance moves - what could possibly go wrong? Their vocalist. One from the 'screaming loudly shows my pain and commitment to the artistic cause' school of singers, he left me thinking they could have a great future as an instrumental group. Then again, I suppose credit should be given for the fact they had chosen that route instead of taking the easy way out and sticking the bunny girl up front and letting her do the best Laetitia Sadier impersonation she can muster.

For all those who now have a huge Limited Express (has gone?) shaped hole in their lives, help is at hand. Praha Depart have all the right elements: a yelpy vocalist; a sound that careers around the venue, bouncing off the walls and drilling into your brain; and a guitarist who dresses like a mujahideen while playing like he ought to be in Rage Against the Machine. It was difficult to tell whether Praha Depart play groups of separate songs welded together, or epic songs that take in a variety of different styles and time signatures. They're a band that'll grate with some people who may just dismiss them as yet another 'wacky Japanese indie band with a shrieker up front', but it'll be their loss.

After the bare bones guitar and drums used by Praha Depart, Skyfisher seemed to fill the stage with guitars, bass guitars, drums, cowbells, and a machine that went ping. To be honest, at this point the 100 yen wine that was on offer kicked in and the rest of the show is a bit of a haze. I know this is hardly professional, but then again, this is a blog and professionalism doesn't really come into it, does it? I also don't want to just make something up because if I do that it'll more than likely be a tirade (those come to me more easily than anything else) and that just doesn't seem fair on the bands. I recall wondering how the final act, Uhnellys, made the freaky looping sounds that are all I can remember from the ten or fifteen minutes I saw of them, but that's about all I can fairly say about them. The review comes to a juddering halt. If you want something proper to read, try this article about Stereolab.

Be there or be square

Call And Response Records presents:
TANZ TANZ TANZ!
高円寺２００００Ｖ
２月１１日（日）
18.00/18.30 Open/Start
￥1800adv / ￥2000door
バンド：
ウーネリーズ
Skyfisher
プラハデパート
Mir
tacobonds
バイナリー・キッド（Ｏｐｅｎｉｎｇ　Ａｃｔ）
ＤＪｓ：
dotdash (Call And Response)
HanaWaza (akacia)

Special Drink Bar: Wine ￥100!

If the bands don't make it sound attractive then surely it's worth it for the 100 yen wine??

Further behind than the slow kid at the back of the class

Just had a look on the Keikaku forums for the first time in a few days and the first thing that catches my eye is the following thread title from February 1st: Limited Express has really gone. Bugger. February has always been my least favourite month and this year is no exception.

Work sucks (and don't let anyone tell you otherwise)

Didn't make it to the SHIFT show last night. Will I ever go to another show again? By the looks of things, not while I'm in this fucking job, so I'll turn this post into a plea for help. If anyone in Tokyo hears of any jobs that are worth checking out (i.e ones that they'd do themselves but they just haven't got time to) feel free to let me know. Not only will you save my sanity, you may even improve the content of this blog (although I make no claims about the quality of it).

The nearest you're going to get to a review of last night is by reading the comment in the last post. Surely that's a sign of how desperate this situation is.

Is it too late for New Year's Resolutions?

If anyone is still checking back here they will have noticed that I have hardly been setting any records for posting since the start of this year. As I've explained the main reason for this has been job problems, but fuck it, that ain't good enough. This should be a labour of love etc etc. So, here we go again and let's see if I can keep it going this time. The same goes for the other blogs.

Anyway, to make this post much more worthwhile, here's some long-awaited good news (for me at least). SHIFT are playing tomorrow night at Lush in Shibuya (click on the link for a map). They are playing with American band Daughters, Saladbar, The Brixton Academy and デラシネ. Doors open at 6, everything kicks off at 6.30, and tickets are two grand in advance or two and a half on the door. If you don't believe me, it's all on the SHIFT website. I'm hoping to make it along for at least part of the show.

More predictions for 2007

Hell, two posts in one day. Whatever next? Reviews? Live news? All the things that I promised to do when I started this blog? Don't hold your breath. Today's Mystic Meg is the scandalously underrated Andrew Scott, Edinburgh based singer-songwriter and alumnus of bands that should have been big, Ellis and Zerzan. If you're in the Edinburgh area and you see his name in a listings magazine, go and see him, especially if Pete Yorn/Neil Young/Matthew Sweet/Gene Clark type stylings yank your crank - you won't be disappointed. According to Mr Scott we should be looking out for the following:

Indie chancers: The View, The Klaxons, Cold War Kids
Band Who Might Very Well Become Enormous: Arcade Fire (note: aren't they already fairly enormous?)
Bands Who Might Do An R.E.M (note: I'm not sure if this means break out from relative indie obscurity and take over arenas everywhere, or go utterly shite - I'll leave that to your discretion): Interpol, Death Cab For Cutie
Obligatory Plug for A Scottish Artist: Malky Middleton, ex-Arab Strap punter.

No shameless self-promotion for Andrew - not sure if that means there's nowt on the go or if he's just being modest. As I said, keep an eye out for him.

Some blogs that actually have updates

These are a couple of blogs written by contributors to the Keikaku site. Go forth and read (because the chances of me writing a post that isn't ripped off from someone else's work are pretty fucking slim):

This Song Is Good
Reptaro

This probably doesn't even belong here`

This is nothing to do with music but it is about Tokyo and I'm not sure what to make of it. Please read it and comment away:

Japan's mouth-watering way to denude workplace of sexual harrassment

Shukan Post (1/26)

Hot among Tokyo's salarymen at the moment is OL Shabu Shabu Shomuni, a restaurant where waitresses dress as regular "office ladies" who'll strip down and change before customers' eyes, according to Shukan Post (1/26).

The restaurant is a Strip Shabu Shabu, where waitresses start decked out like typical OLs and then remove their garments before dressing in a new outfit.

It's the latest in a long line of gimmicks involved in the serving of shabu shabu, a delicacy where meat strips are dragged through boiling water and dipped in a sauce before being eaten.

Most notable among the shabu shabu trends were the "no-pan shabu shabu," establishments where bottomless waitresses served clients made famous in the late '90s because they were the places corrupt Ministry of Finance bureaucrats liked to be taken by devious bankers looking for underhand breaks.

Now, the no-pan (no-pants) shabu shabu have largely gone, but as the Tokyo restaurant suggests, so have all the clothes, too, even if only momentarily.

OL Shabu Shabu Shomuni's waitresses feed customers by hand. Once diners have received a mouthful, they can then cop an eyeful by requesting the waiting staff slowly change clothes. All the dressing and undressing takes place in front of diners.

Meals cost 5,000 yen for 60 minutes, which entitles the diner to eat and drink as much as they can, as well as request garment changes from any of the waiting staff available. Normally, there are about 10 women (with an average age of 21, the weekly says).

The restaurant also supplies customers with hand mirrors and binoculars for those who'd like a closer look at the waiting staff, even if it means they will leer up dresses.

Waiting staff are apparently more than happy to be on display.

"We'd like salarymen who can't normally be dirty with the OLs in their office to come down and enjoy a meal with us," one of the waitresses tells Shukan Post. (By Ryann Connell)

January 19, 2007

2007 Predictions

It's that time of year where you look ahead and wonder who are going to be the movers and shakers of the next 12 months. Which bands are worth watching out for and which ones should be avoided like lecherous middle-aged English teachers attending the New Year's party at the women's university where they work? It is also the time of year when I've been looking for a new job and haven't really had enough time to do much with the blog, so I emailed a bunch of people more knowledgeable than I and asked for their opinions. First up, Ian Martin from Call and Response records and the Clear and Refreshing website.

From Tokyo:
- Worst Taste
- マヒルノ
- タイカップ
- Pink Group
- ウーネリーズ

From Osaka:
- ヨルズインザスカイ

From Fukuoka:
- Moth
- 百蚊

Not one to be content with merely writing about bands and putting on shows (I believe the next one is on February 11th - more info to follow later), the indomitable Martin-san also mentioned a band of his own, Natasha Forrest. In his own words: "We're mostly influenced by the
1910 Fruitgum Company and Einsturzende Neubauten." What else do you need to know?

Oops

Sorry, slight mistake in my earlier post - Beck is on the 16th, not the 14th. My boss is still a wanker though.

Not Quite the Start I was Looking For

Happy New Year and all that pish. Apologies for the lack of posting but since I came back to Tokyo things haven't been going too well. Firstly, after two weeks of eating in Vietnamese and Cambodian restaurants that were sometimes borderline health hazards it was eventually the so-called 'breakfast' on JAL that banjaxed my stomach, and I spent my first few days back getting to know every single line and mark on my toilet wall. Just as that finally got better a whole lot of shit hit a huge fan at work and it now looks like I'm going to be pimping myself around the job market again (there's a rant on the James Blunt blog if you're interested).

One welcome positive though. A friend emailed me this morning to let me know that Beck will be playing at the Budokan on April 14th. The big question is, will I have a job to finance concert going at that point? If anyone hears of any jobs going in the Tokyo area please let me know. Cheers.

I'm buggering off...

In about four hours time I'll be dragging my weary arse into a taxi and heading off on the marathon journey that is inevitable when going to Narita Airport. Our flight is at 10.30 but we're leaving here at 5.40, so that means I have approximately three hours in which to sleep - do you see how devoted I am to this blog?

Anyway, I'll be back in the new year and although I'll be checking this when I'm on holiday, I doubt I'll be posting anything (but if there are comments here I'll respond to them). To the lonely crofters and their dogs who make up this blog's pitiful audience, I wish you all the best - enjoy celebrating whatever it is you celebrate. Cheers.

Burgerlog

Daftness for daftness sake can be a great thing. With this in mind, have a look at the Burgerlog blog (and Burgerlog 2 - The Japan version) - if you don't leave these sites with a smile on your face I'm not sure there's much hope for you at all. You're probably the same kind of person that thinks James Blunt is a profound commentator on the vagaries of human existence rather than a talentless, charmless, ex-military goon with all the depth of a Hallmark card. Bitter? Me?

You Ain't No Picasso

Good site anyway, but elevated to god-like status for having a downloadable mp3 of Intervention, a new song by The Arcade Fire. It sounds as if they're going to continue from exactly where they left off - maybe there is a god after all.

The Psycrons

“Kyoto? That's the old capital of Japan, isn't it? The place with all the temples and shrines and Geisha and stuff? Yeah, a friend of mine went there once and said it was OK, but it got a bit boring after the fourth or fifth temple. Bloody school kids and middle-aged women everywhere too, he said.”

“Kyoto? Amazing city. The temples and shrines are beautiful and three days just wasn't long enough to do justice to the place. The city just absolutely oozes culture – it's in the buildings and the air itself. Remarkable.”

“Kyoto? Isn't that where they signed the environmental agreement that no bugger pays any attention to?

All stereotypical but plausible reactions to the question, “What do you know about Kyoto?” However, stereotypes are there to be shattered and The Psycrons ought to be the band that put Kyoto on the map for something other than its history and a toothless environmental protocol. Looking like extras who have strayed from the set of an Austin Powers film, and sounding like the last forty years of music has passed them by completely, The Psycrons are here to save the world. OK, that's just journailistic exaggeration, but The Psycrons are definitely here to brighten up the world.

The Miracle of The Psycrons is the band's second album and is out now. It careers around the touchstones of 60s music like Tigger on speed, nicking bits and bobs from all over the place: the scuzzy guitars of The Sonics, the vocal harmonies of The Byrds and a rhythm section straight out of the Motor City. The whole thing is powered by the meaty beaty big and bouncy energy of The Who and it sounds great. Standout tracks include Jetter of Love, which opens the album with a blast; and Footprints in the Winter which sounds like the mutant Japanese cousin of The Mamas and Papas backed by the MC5.

It would be easy to dismiss them as mere copyists who wish they'd been born a generation or two earlier, but that would be to miss the point. The Psycrons are a different breed to the current swathe of UK bands who are all desperately trying to be Gang of Four: their songs have a verve and energy about them that lifts them far beyond mere pastiche. Like The White Stripes, The Psycrons' seem to create more than just music. They have built up an alternative reality for themselves which they inhabit at all times. The Psycrons make no bones about their historical roots – this is who they are and that's that, and when the music's this good that's all that matters.

They may be sweaty, but...

... they're worth a look. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Jimmy Pages Trousers.

UFO and The Sunshine Underground

I went to see The Sunshine Underground do a brief in-store appearance in the Tower Records store in Shibuya tonight. A friend of mine gave me a copy of their album recently and I'd only listened to it once, but the tickets were free so it seemed daft not to go (I'd also had a shite day at work so it was a welcome way to wind it up). If you haven't heard them they sound a bit like a British version of The Rapture, although they're more than just copyists. They played an acoustic set which worked surprisingly well - no doubt a sign of the strength of their songs - and then came back for a brief interview with a local radio DJ. Anyone who has seen Lost in Translation will be able to visualise this interview perfectly - the DJ would chunter away for about thirty seconds and then turn to the interpreter, who would then ask the band something as short and simple as "What do you think of Japan?" or "What's your favourite colour?". The band looked fairly relieved when it was all over.

Onto a vastly different kind of music. I recently got an E.P by a Japanese band called 10 from the JapanFiles website. I was intrigued by the description so I downloaded it late one night and promptly forgot all about it. I was making up a CD for a friend tonight and I noticed the two songs from the E.P at the very top of my iTunes list. "Let's give 'em a bash", I thought and off we went. About thirty five minutes later the music stopped and I felt like I'd just been to the dentist. They're an acquired taste, one I'm not sure I'm going to acquire. I'd like to see them live or as an accompaniment to experimental theatre/dance, but for me, the music just didn't work on its own. I'm sure John Peel would've loved them.

How's that for service

In response to young dotdash's comment I had a look at the website and I have only just recovered my socks that were blown off. It's here, it's good, but it's not an excuse for you to never come back to this blog.

I should be writing...

...but I'm not. On the plus side I'm finding some good sites. Have a look at Hideki's site if you get a chance. There's a variety of stuff here - CD reviews, a diary, some articles (including one about his first trip on a train) which are worth checking out.

Another Japanese music site - J-Music Ignited

This one's a bit more wide-ranging than Keikaku, covering more mainstream Japanese music as well as the indie stuff. It's also got info about bands from other parts of Asia and Europe. There's bound to be something here that to float your boat.

Is it just me...

...or does this look like Genesis P Orridge, frontman of industrialists Throbbing Gristle:


It's from an advert for habanero flavoured crisps on a train in Tokyo. Here's the man himself - surely there's more than just a passing resemblance:

If only all coppers ate here...

Saw this yesterday when I was out wandering. I don't know if it's the doughnuts or what but I'm sure the local constabulary avoid the place like the plague, meaning that it's ripe for a bit of armed robbery (not that I'm planning to do any).

The Psycrons and The Golden Loafers

I heard about these two bands from Michael Solo at Solo Records, and the world is a much better place with them in it. The Psycrons (above) are a fantastic blast of Sonics-like 60's psychedelic garage and also have possibly the coolest MySpace page I've seen. Golden Loafers, who at times seem to be fronted by the Japanese James Brown, are funkier than a lonely student's wanking sock (in the best possible sense) and look as if they'd be outstanding live.

I only got the albums today so I haven't had a chance to do a review but I can safely say that on the first listen they both sound superb. Have a look at the bands' MySpace pages for a taster, and if you're in the States I think they're headed their in the spring, so you know what to do. Check back around the weekend by which time I'll hopefully have something more detailed written about both bands.

I'm not the most computer literate of people...

...so I don't know if there's a better way to do this. I just published a review of Miaou's new E.P but because I started writing it a few days ago and saved it is a draft it's stuck back in November's archives. If anyone knows a way to change its position please let me know. In the meantime, if you want to read the review, it's here. Alternatively you can just scroll down the page.

November Top 10

Actually managed to get out and buy/download/listen to a fair amount of stuff last month so I think for once the Top 10 is actually based on merit rather than filling space. Shit, I've said too much. On with the chart.

1) Water & Me - Miaou
2) We Lost It - Miaou
3) Raiku - Mosquito
4) Ame ni mo Makete - Mothercoat
5) Kung Fu Girl - Limited Express (has gone?)
6) Many Many Sweets - Macdonald Duck Eclair
7) Gold Tears, Silver Tears - Camille of the Raspberry Lemonade
8) GT400 - Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
9) Gaikokujin - Mosquito
10) Air - Mothercoat

A few points. Why do so many of the bands start with 'M'? I have no idea. Why is GT4oo in here when it's donkey's years old? Because I hadn't heard it in ages and the clip from YouTube brought back a lot of memories. Why are Miaou at number one and two? Because over the course of the three years that separates the two releases the band changed quite substantially, and even if they hadn't, they're fucking ace and that's that. Hasn't Raiku been here before? Yup, but it's that good.

I've been wanting to write profiles/posts about some of the bands mentioned above, but I haven't had a chance to. The songs by Mothercoat, Mosquito, Camille of the Raspberry Lemonade, Limited Express, and Macdonald Duck Eclair are all available for download at Japan Files. I'm afraid you're going to have to go the old-fashioned way and order the CDs from the bands' websites.

For more info on Macdonald Duck Eclair, read this piece from the Japan Live blog.

Is this how it's supposed to be done?

While checking the Indigenous Beliefs blog that I mentioned before I followed some of the links from the comments and found another decent blog. Is this how you're supposed to do it? I'm not old but I came late to the internet party and I'm still a little like the bloke who stands in the corner nursing his drink and wondering exactly what this music is that everyone else seems to love. Have a look at this blog if you get the chance, the YouTube clip is good, but the rest of the blog is worth reading too.

This doesn't happen too often

Almost every time I'm on blogger I click on the 'next blog' button in the hope of finding a decent blog. It's usually a vain hope as I always seem to find myself in the middle of some whining teenager's misery (yes, I was a whining teenager but I didn't inflict my 'pain' on the wider world - I had a notebook). Either that or I end up reading about a family in Shitsville, Tennesee who have decided to share all their photos of their cabbage headed baby. Finally today I found one that actually makes the 'next blog' button seem like a good idea. It's called Indigenous Beliefs and is basically a bloke ruminating on fairly inconsequential things - the humour's slightly surreal but it made me laugh, and as anyone who knows me will tell you, that's quite an achievement at the best of times, never mind at nine in the morning.

Painted E.P, Miaou, Thomason Sounds

I feel like I've been time travelling when I listen to this E.P. I only picked up the band's 2003 debut album recently (not knowing it was three years old) and I've been playing it to death. Last week while out making wish lists in the record shops of Shibuya I noticed their most recent E.P and decided that it had to be bought. Miaou are still fantastic but they're not the same beast they were three years ago. Usually when you get into a band you can follow their progress release by release. My experience with Miaou has been more akin to time-lapse photography crossed with the kind of wormholes that mess up the space-time continuum in Star Trek.

The deceptively simple instrumentals that drew me to the band in the first place are still in evidence but the crunchy guitars have, for the most part, been left at home and everything just seems to shimmer that bit more. The first track, We Lost It, sees the band move from Mogwai territory to something more like the bucolic sound of Four Tet. An acoustic refrain floats atop burbling electronica that starts out quietly and builds into a track of rare beauty. Any directors looking for an instrumental piece to use in the opening credits of their film should search no further.

The rest of the album follows a fairly similar path, but when it's done this well it doesn't become boring. The record has been sequenced in such a way that it seems as if each song is organic, almost breathing. Scene of the Sunrise sees the pace increased a little and the band allow the song to stretch itself and fill out a very satisfying eight minutes. The gentler Anything Goes gives the band a short breather, but towards the end of its seven minutes they seem to regain some of their energy and things pick up again.

Grasslands (Revised) is a graceful epic, an aural collage of wide vistas that is one of the best ways of lifting you out of the sardine-packed hell that is commuting in Tokyo. The last original track on the E.P, Airship is probably the least arresting of the new songs showcased here. It's by no means terrible, but it's the first song where you find yourself looking at the seconds ticking over and wondering how long there is to go. I think it's a case of the band setting the bar at a dizzying height and paradoxically Airship is the one song that can't get over it. Oh, the humanity.

The final three tracks on the E.P are all remixes. Not having heard the originals I don't know how much the remixers have changed the songs. The Millimetrik Remix of Future Pavilion adds a darker undercurrent to the rest of the album's phosphorescence with it's doom laden atmospherics that sound like Massive Attack at their most paranoid. This paranoia morphs into claustrophobia during the first half of Epic 45's retooling of Dante, where it seems we really are being taken deeper into the inferno, before the usual Miaou sound breaks through the fug. It doesn't last though, as the last minute of the song sees the song engulfed in darkness once more.

The E.P's final track, the Qua Remix of On A Sunday sounds as if it may be the most dramatic reworking of the three. At times it sounds like Gizmo the Gremlin purring along to Tomorrow Never Knows, but then there are moments of cello and acoustic guitar that wouldn't sound out of place on a Nick Drake record. It's an intriguing end to a remarkable E.P.

So, Miaou are still my new favourite band. Their slight change in direction seems to be an inspired one and I'm looking forward to going over their back catalogue and seeing just how they got from Happiness to here.

Note - a slightly edited version of this review has been published on the keikaku website.

GT400

It's worth sitting through the two minutes of inane babble from the programme's hosts. I'm just testing that this video posting works - I've been trying to set this up on YouTube for a while and finally seemed to go OK today.

Happiness, Miaou, Noon Records

This record is over three years old but I read a review of it a couple of weeks ago whilst in a travel agents in Shinjuku - does that make this a genuine case of serendipity? Going by the dictionary definition I'd say so: "the faculty of discovering pleasing or valuable things by chance". See, it's not just a crappy romantic comedy. Anyway, I digress. What makes this album such a serendipitous discovery is the way it distills elements of a whole lot of my favourite groups - Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Seafood, Tortoise, Explosions in the Sky - adds a twist of that magical, mystical Japanese-ness that stops bands like this from being mere copyists, and mixes it together to create a heady cocktail that intoxicates you from the first listen and only becomes more addictive.

muno, the first track starts off sedately but the gentle washes of guitar soon start to fold in on themselves, building up layers of sound that give the song the structure of an exquisitely made samurai sword. boom 0 continues in a similar vein, starting quietly but soon bulking up into a wall of sound that Phil Spector would've been proud of. The seamless segue from one track to the next shouldn't be interpreted as a sign that the songs all sound the same - they dovetail perfectly but each song has its own character. pao 2000 sounds like an updated outtake from the Bitches Brew sessions, and my only complaint about it would be that the band could easily have kept exploring the spaces this song takes them to for longer than the three minutes that it takes up on the album, without it becoming boring. An intro of seagulls or synths (I'm not sure which) signals a change of pace in the next track, the elegiac el nienyo, which eschews the quiet/loud dynamic of the first couple of tracks. It's a change of direction that works, allowing Mayumi Hasegawa's mellifluous bass to move to the forefront of the song.

KIRAMEKI takes us back into quiet/loud territory, with its gentle melody sounding like a calmer, less Glaswegian Mogwai. jet sound wave is where the album stops being merely good and starts to be truly great. It starts out with another nod to Miles Davis - a skittering trumpet line - before settling into a fug of hazy guitars and Tatsuki Hamasaki's gentle vocals. The haze soon gives way to wave after wave of F/X laden guitars (perhaps the 'jet sound wave' of the title) which ultimately consume the song, causing it to collapse in on itself. It's a song Yo La Tengo would be proud of. HALF seems to signal a recovery of sorts - the squalls of feedback that devoured jet sound wave are still there, but this time the band has wrestled them under control.

There's probably a rulebook somewhere that states all albums should end with their most epic track. It may be a cliche but it's true. There's no point putting it at the beginning because then the rest of the album has to live under its shadow. Sticking it in the middle of the album just doesn't make sense either. If you got the best view from the middle of the mountain, why would anyone bother climbing to the top? Miaou have clearly read this book too and they follow the rules to the letter. Closer water & me is the kind of song that would be out of place anywhere else other than the end of an album. It takes its time - lightly brushed drums, bursts of trumpet, dripping water, woozy synthesizers, acoustic guitars, all flitting in and out of the track, seemingly as they please. The effects pedals have been locked up and feedback banished, as the twin chimes of glockenspiel and guitar lead this song and album to a surprisingly quiet finale - it's almost as if the band felt they had proved their adeptness with noise and wanted to show they could do quiet just as well.

Miaou are touring extensively this month. Click on the link to their website for more details.

What do they know?

Found this blog about the info that is dumped from Wikipedia. There's some good stuff there and I'm sure that we're all guilty of Drunk Blogging (looking at some of the comments here and on James Blunt Must Die I'd say that was pretty obvious).

And another one

I've decided to start another blog to cover the iPod challenge, that being the lame name I've given my attempt to listen to every song on my iPod (if you can think of anything better please let me know). I felt that I was spending more time writing about it here rather than Japanese music, so it seemed like a good idea to seperate the two. Hopefully I should be able to keep posting to all three blogs regularly. If your interested in the new one, have a look here. Cheers.

Limited Express live

Limited Express are having a release party in Shimokitazawa Shelter tomorrow night. The info can be found by clicking on the link, but for those of you who are to lazy to even do that, here you go (though you should have a look at the English part of the site - lots of info there):

2006/11/16（Thu)@Tokyo Shimokitazawa SHELTER
YEE!LOOK!!vol,4-Limited Ex release party-
Guest:ﾖﾙｽﾞｲﾝｻﾞｽｶｲ,GODS GUTS

open 18:30 / start 19:00
adv.￥2,000 / door￥2,500

tickets
ぴあ、ローソン、Limited Ex ＨＰ、SHELTERにて発売。

Mogwai, Liquid Room, Nov 12th

Expectation is often a bad thing. We are often told as children not to build our hopes up, but it's something we continue to do well into adulthood. Music is an area in which we're particularly susceptible to unrealistic expectations (although not quite as much as the English press in the run up to a major tournament) - we hope an artist's second album will reach the majestic heights of the first, despite the memory of past dashings like The Second Coming or Room on Fire; we meet musicians we admire and find out they're arseholes whose personalities seem at odds with the music they produce; or we go and see bands we've listened to for years and witness what seems to be a group of people who've haven't been introduced, murdering the songs we'd looked forward to hearing.

So far this year I've seen two bands who I'd wanted to see for years - Belle & Sebastian and Primal Scream. Thankfully they were both as good as I'd hoped they would be. Sunday was the first time that I'd seen Mogwai and before the show my cynical, negative side took over, telling me that the third time was bound to be unlucky and Mogwai were going to be awful. For me, cynicism is a healthy part of any well-rounded personality and I trust it a lot (especially when dealing with politicians, business people, and job interviewers), but this time I was wrong.

As opening duo Ratatat showed, live instrumental music live can be dull, even when the guitarist looks like Alexei Lalas and plays like Richie Sambora. Mogwai, on the other hand, are spectacular. They don't say much, they don't move much, they just come on stage and play their songs. They don't need to any more than that. The quiet/loud dynamic of Mogwai is something of a lazy cliche often used to describe their music, but it's what drives the band and makes them so captivating.

This was their last show of 2006 and according to their website, the band are making a DVD of this and the previous night's concert. Watch it if you get the chance, but go and see them - I get the feeling that regardless of how good the DVD will be, it won't capture the sheer volume and physicality of Mogwai live.

It is the Sabbath...

... so the iPod challenge is having a day of rest. It's bugger all to do with religious belief and everything to do with the fact that I'm going to see Mogwai tonight. Don't expect to see anything else scrobbled over the course of the day. If anyone's going tonight, come and say hello - I'll be the big bastard standing towards the back with a beer, trying surreptitiously to take pictures using my mobile. In that vein, and about two months too late, here's a picture I took at the Primal Scream show at Zepp Tokyo:

... and on (I promise this won't turn into an 80's Ariston advert)

Today's delectables:

Agaetis Byrjun - Sigur Ros
Airportpeople E.P - Ellis
All Shook Down - The Replacements
All The Stuff and More - The Vaselines
Alligator - The National

I'm currently ploughing my way through Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned by the Prodigy, which is looking like being the first album that's bumped from the iPod. Why the hell did Liam Howlett feel the need to do a cover of Love Buzz? Nirvana got there earlier and did it a whole lot better. Music For the Jilted Generation (surely one of the best album titles ever) and The Fat of the Land are two of my favourite albums, but Always Outnumbered sounds like the work of a group that have already split up and reformed - it's like watching a paunchy George Foreman go through the motions.

Today's other stuff hasn't been bad though. Ellis were my friend's band and the E.P of theirs that's on my iPod is one that they released in around 2001/2 (I think). On the day it was released it sold more copies in HMV's Edinburgh branch than the Britney Spears record that came out on the same day. Various members of that band who may be reading this blog are probably composing hate mails to me now but I stand by my opinion that this was a band that ought to have gone much further. Timing and luck were against them but the talent is clearly there.

I was in Shibuya again today and The Vaselines were the ideal soundtrack for my wanderings. Shibuya is a place where there are just too many people trying far too hard to be too cool. Maybe it's inevitable given that it's considered to be the hub of young Japanese fashion. Regardless of that, someone needs to tell the majority of the people there (both male and female) that whatever 'being cool' actually is, it's something that takes a lot more than a pair of huge sunglasses, a scowl, and a strut. In fact, it probably takes a lot less than this - have these folk never heard of 'effortless cool'?

Anyway, as I mentioned, The Vaselines are the perfect antidote to this bastion of laboured attitude. Their crunchy guitars and naively out of tune boy-girl vocals seem to kick against Shibuya's triumvirate of pricks - posing bints, their himbos, and the bling-obsessed, vacuous hip-hop (Japanese and American) that soundtracks their lives. The beautiful people? Bollocks.

P.S...

I meant to add this into the post below but I forgot. This sign belongs to an English school I passed today while wandering in Shibuya (I was listening to Dot Allison at the time - see, still Tokyo Music). Would you trust them to teach you English?

The beat goes on...

Adam Hussain's Truth and Slander - Goldie Lookin Chain
Adore - Smashing Pumpkins
After All (CDS) - The Frank and Walters
After The Goldrush - Neil Young
Afterglow - Dot Allison

Suitable Friday listening? You tell me. Adore is far too long though, I know that much. It followed me around for most of the morning until Billy Corgan's whine started to feel like tinnitus. It's surely no coincidence that a large number of the albums that are consistently considered to be 'classics' are relatively short - Revolver, Rubber Soul, Pet Sounds, Definitely Maybe, Dark Side of the Moon - then again, given that classic status is often conferred by middle-aged white men who think that Cream were a good idea, perhaps I shouldn't pay too much attention to that. Anyway, the point is that when bands were restricted by the forty-odd minutes that two sides of vinyl offered them they got up, made their point, and buggered off. Only when they felt they really had something to say that just couldn't be done in that short space of time did they stray into the territory of the double album.

CDs offer space for 80 minutes of music and too many bands labour under the grossly mistaken idea that they have something so profound, so earth-shattering to communicate to their fellow humans, that they need to utilise every available second to do this. Adore is simply one of many albums that overstays its welcome like a depressed drunk at the end of a party - add to that list Mother Love Bone's eponymous 'opus' (death does wonderful things for a band's reputation), R.E.M's recent releases (especially when compared with the nun's chuff tightness of the albums they put out in their early days), and pretty much most of Pink Floyd's post-Syd output, among many others. The Smashing Pumpkins are a one-band example of diminishing returns through increasing length - Gish was shortish and full of great tunes; admittedly, Siamese Dream is far from being a twenty minute hardcore punk thrash, but at that point they had enough to say and more than enough talent to justify the length of the album - unfortunately the albums got longer and the songs got shiter, reaching the nadir with the sprawling mess of punnery and ego that is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. So, simple advice - unless you've got fourteen or fifteen songs that you really have to get out your system in one go (and have got enough to keep you going through subsequent albums), keep it short unless you want to be one of those bores that keeps droning on when people clearly aren't listening anymore... Oh.

For the umpteenth post people are probably wondering what any of this has to do with 'Tokyo Music'. That's the name of the blog, isn't it? Why aren't you writing about Japanese bands? Why aren't you telling me about the group of four cross-dressing salarymen from Hokkaido called Fish Paste Monkey Stew is Coming Over the Mountain (Soon), who sound like a cross between Tom Waits and Westlife? Firstly, as far as I know, FPMSICOTM(S) haven't been invented yet; and secondly, this is Tokyo Music - this is the music I listen to in Tokyo. Hah. Got you there, haven't I?

The iPod Challenge

Here's the story so far:

• Standing in the shower thinking - wouldn't it be a great idea if I tried to listen to all the songs on my iPod?
• Hang on, wouldn't it be an even better idea if I write about it on the blog? Voice in the back of my mind - but what the fuck has that got to do with Japanese indie music? Bitchslap voice and ignore the feeling that maybe I'm just doing this to fill space on the blog and that I'll probably give up as soon as I get to some of the stuff that I downloaded when drunk - the entire Bob Dylan discography, including the period where his talent upped and left - what was I thinking.
• Bitchslap voice some more until my head hurts. Voice has gone though.
• Try and work out what the best way to do this is. If I do by artist I'm going to have to listen to nothing but Belle and Sebastian for three days straight. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but that's not going to work. It also means that I'll have to huge chunks of certain artists that my other half put on there, but I want us to stay together so that isn't going to work either.
• Go to work and forget about this for a while.
• Have a few beers and suddenly this brainwave comes back to me. Ponder just setting iPod to randomly play all songs but, given some of the stuff that's on there, decide that this might be too much like listening to a radio station where the playlists are made up by a deaf octopus.
• Write the above comment and realise people will probably think that I'm a complete wanker (if they don't already) who is trying to show off just how catholic and cool his music taste is - indie-boys-with-guitars-obsessive? Me? Look, Astrud Gilberto and Throbbing Gristle - I'm eclectic.
• Decide that since only a couple of lonely crofters and other assorted friends and family read this that it really doesn't make that much difference.
• Realise best way to do it is probably by album.
• Press play and promptly bugger off to another room.
• Not true, I'm still here. Honest.
• Realise that this isn't in real time so my half arsed attempt at humour above is as pointless as this whole post.

So there you have it. The above isn't exactly chronologically correct - my thought processes are rarely that logical and coherent - but it's not far from the truth. I've been on the go off and on for a few days and I've got through all the number titles, so I'm now on 'A'. It's all been good stuff so far - I've listened to albums that I put on ages ago and forgot about, I've listened to some stuff that I thought would be shite but has actually turned out to be good, and there's been nothing utterly torturous that has had me trying to rip the headphones off. The only problem has been the slight inappropriateness of certain artists at certain times - Astrud Gilberto's summertime lounge pop on a freezing cold and wet November day; Mark Eitzel's gloomily beautiful acoustic songs on Saturday night after work, when I was on my way out to a party - I'm sure there'll be more incongruities, but that's part of the attraction.

No doubt this has all been done before but that never stopped Oasis becoming the world's biggest band, did it?

Japanese mp3s

For anyone who reads the reviews here, Keikaku, or anywhere else on tinternet, but has problems finding the records written about have a look at the JapanFiles website. They've got a fair pile of mp3s available for you to get your grubby little hands on meaning you get some quality Japanese music without even shifting your carcass out of the seat you probably spend too much time sitting in already (you know it's true). This is what's going to happen to us all:















Then this:

Another devastatingly addictive website

Look at the time of this post and you'll see what I mean. Some of the interpretations are obviously written by people who have an unfortunately (and unjustifiably) high opinion of themselves and their intellect, but there's a fair amount of interesting stuff. I haven't dared look at the Dylan section though.

October Top 10

New record - it's less than a week since the end of October and I'm doing this. Must be something to do with the weather today - I really shocked my boss by getting my monthly report in on time too. So, here it is. The buying binge helped and although I was tempted to just put in ten tracks by Nisennenmondai I resisted and have tried to put in a wider selection.

1) GET ON THE BUS!! - pygmy with bitter ends
2) ALOHA! - Limited Express (has gone?)
3) 黒く塗れ - nhhmbase
4) 不明のトラック 4 - にせんねんもんだい (Nisenenmondai)
5) She Is Nervous - BUGY CRAXONE
6) Dark Star Blues (live) - Acid Mothers Temple
7) I was robot - SHIFT
8) 不明のトラック 1 - にせんねんもんだい (Nisenenmondai)
9) Sweet music on the Beach - Limited Express (has gone?)
10) ニートソース - pygmy with bitter ends

Disclaimer: I don't like using the same bands more than once but those songs by those three groups really stood out above most of the other stuff I heard this month. And anyway, it's my blog, I'll decide.

Info about Japanese bands on MySpace

The blog's mix of stuff about life in Tokyo/Japan and the bands that make it more bearable for all of us. Check it out.

Bitter acoustic &Small songs vol.1, pygmy with bitter ends, ototoi records

One of the best things about shopping for records in Japan is browsing through the bands' names. Go over to the imported section in a Japanese record shop and you'll find a plethora of bands called The ____s – The Strokes, The Datsuns, The Libertines, The Sex Pistols, The White Stripes, The Ugly Talentless Cunts (OK, I made that last one up but surely that's the name Razorlight should be going under). Back in the Japanese indie section you're blessed with Limited Express (has gone?), nhhmbase, Thee Michelle Gun Elephant and the chef cooks me to name just a few. Not only are the names fantastic, but you can spend ages wondering what kind of music the band play and what the hell they were trying to say when they named themselves. pygmy with bitter ends. What does it mean and where did it come from? Are they a group of midgets with bad hair? What kind of music do they make? You can pretty much bet your life savings that any band called The _____s will be a group of four pasty white boys with guitars and skinny ties playing shabby New Wave-lite. pygmy with bitter ends isn't such a give away. Perhaps they take free-jazz and gabba techno, mash them up together and front the ensuing discord with a loungey singer who models himself on Leonard Cohen but ends up sounding like a drunken salaryman karaoke-ing Sinatra to death.

Fortunately (unfortunately? you decide) pygmy with bitter ends are nothing so extreme. Bitter acoustic & Small songs vol.1 is the band's second full album and although it takes in a variety of styles and genres it's basically a collection of shiny pop songs. Cartoon-theme-in-waiting GET ON THE BUS!! throws us straight into the band's technicolour pop world and manages to sound like all the following artists at at least one point; early James, The Chemical Brothers, Isaac Hayes (Shaft soundtrack), Pizzicato Five, Talking Heads, and Cornelius. It's quite an accomplishment for a song that's barely three and a half minutes long. 窓際ススクールガール (Modogiwa Sukuurugaaru) is a slice of indie guitar pop that wouldn't seem out of place on a Wannadies album. This feeling of being back in the mid-90s continues on the next track ニートソース (Niitosousu), which sounds a little like an Oasis B-side back when they were good. The comparison ends there though as the lyrics tackle the social problem of the increasing number of NEETs (people not in employment, education or training) rather than the joys of the white line. マザー (Mazaa) takes us even further back in time, its simple acoustic guitar melody and “na-na-na-na” coda a throwback to The Beatles.

After a strong start things start to go awry in the middle of the album. モモンガのバラード (Momonga no Baraado) is as twee as the title suggests and is the kind of syrupy ballad you'd expect from a bunch of J-Poppers like Chemistry. デンデン ドンドン (Denden Dondon) opens with strident guitars that promise to get things back on track and ends with a great chorus where vocalist Noribooooone pleads for “Just one cup of life”. No, I haven't got the faintest idea what he's banging on about either but it sounds great. Unfortunately this return to form is brief as the minute long ママのギター (Mama no Gitaa) is little more than filler, and the next song 縁側の父 (Engawa no Chichi) drifts back into the schmalz of モモンガのバラード.

The inclusion of a ten-year-old demo track, 冬の落し物 (Fuyu no Otoshimono) seems to be a pointless endeavour. Perhaps the band thought it would demonstrate how far they've come in that time, but it doesn't and it brings very little to the record. Album closer 私は街灯 (Watashi wa Gaitou) restores some of the earlier lustre as the band finally pull out a slow song that doesn't sound like by-the-numbers J-Pop. It's a slow-burner that starts out with just lead vocals and a quietly strummed guitar before blooming into a lush, orchestral ballad that occasionally sounds reminiscent of Automatic For The People-era R.E.M.

Bitter acoustic & Small songs vol.1 starts well but there's too much filler - something you shouldn't be able to say about an album that's only thirty five minutes long. When they do click, pygmy with bitter ends make some fantastic pop songs and I'm sure they've got a truly great album in them. Perhaps vol.1 was just a warm-up. Either way, I'll be keeping an eye out for the next volume and listening to the good half of this album.