djgizmoe's Last.fm Journal

Night of Untold Depauchery Pt. 9 - Caution at Noon 6/09

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:39:14 +0000

Alright, don't ask me where the hell I got the energy, but recently I've been excited with the possibilities of 'sneakng' out to see shows. But my recent attempts at late night revelry have all involved me tired and drunk circa 2 AM, skulking back to a capsule hotel, licking my wounds and vowing never again to stay out late.

Well, it's a good thing I didn't learn, because last night was a memorable one, if not 100% funtastic. After class in Umeda, I dropped into Canopy for a beer with my grad school classmates, but soon after headed to Noon for their Caution event. I'd never been to Noon before, but I knew the venue, right under the tracks, 'round the corner from Cafe Caliente and the Loft on the Hankyu side of the Umeda world. Turns out on time is early (as I sorta suspected) so with 15 minutes or so to kill, I headed for the convenience store down the block for a snack.

Who should I bump into but OVe-NaXx (and his pregnant gaijin wife/girlfriend?!? - I didn't pry) along with Ka4u. Ovie was just there to drop off some flyers for his new event, and KA4U was there to play at the event. After a brief buttsniffing where I praised his YouTube video and he made fun of my Front 242 t-shirt, I said good-bye and headed for the store. Turns out I didn't buy anything, but headed back to Noon anyway. It was open.

The inside of Noon has a few tables near the exit, with windows looking out to the street and sort of a cafe feel. You then head around the corner and there's a bar with lockers and finally the event space, which they had set u with a stage on one side and a DJ booth on the other, a smart set up to maximize play time without interruption. There was an upstairs as well, but it seemed to be mostly VIP. I sat down and read some conversation analysis crap for homework.

After awhile this BNSBW (*Name's Momo...") comes up and sits down next to me and starts chatting me up. She's already hammered ("I just drank a bottle of vodka out on the street -glug,glug,glug!*) and before I know it she's dragging me to the dancefloor and saying (the Japanese equivalent of) "lesh dance all night long!". The first DJ is tolerable, and then the first band comes on. It's Damage, a band whose CD I wasn't really that impressed with when I previewed it at Tower. Certainly an excited female fan base (wtf?), but seriously they were just a low-rent The Presets. Predictably, Momo was groovin', but for me it was a bit of a yawn.

It's when KA4U comes on when chubby fugly turns to me and basically sticks her tongue down my throat. Hey, I admit, I enjoyed the attention. And macking out on random strangers is something I'll hope I'll be able to enjoy way into my dotage. But KA4U spied me later at the bar and was like, "Wow you were really making out with that chick there...", and I must admit I was surprisingly embarassed. Reality check. I was a little standoffish with Momo-chan after that which proved to be more difficult than I anticipated...

So rewind. Here comes the man of the hour, Kid606 to take a picture of the organ playing, X'mas light hatted, self-DJing KA4U (pronounced "kashu", btw). I follow him to his CD table, introduce myself, give him a complementary Japanzine and tell him the story I had come to tell:

"Around 1999, I bought "Don't Sweat the Technics" (Kid606's first full length) at a small record store near Nagoya. When I opened the case, there was an extra CD inside with the word "Congratulations" (I believe) and a phone number. So I call the number, and its like the record pressing place for the indie label that released the CD. There's this stoner guy on the other end saying, "No man, somebody in the factory must have pulled a prank or something. What CD was it again??" When I told him, he said, "Ah man, that one sucks..."

Kid laughed and then told me the guy who he thought had probably been responsible for the 'hoax'. Then he reached into his suitcase full of junk and gave me THREE of his (and his label's) CDs! Class act! I bought a 200 yen set of stickers and thanks, and then it was back to the floor.

Next up was Eerectionn. I'd reviewed their CD for Japanzine and thought they were okay, if a bit too much classic EBM posing with little of the actual flavor. Well, this drum and vocals duo started off very promisingly, the leader coming off like Nitzer Ebb, the music sounding like Revolting Cocks and the two pole-climbing go-go dancers (Juicypam (Cherry & Berry)) hotter than anything I've seen in awhile. About 4 songs in, though, and even the sexy girls climbing on the ceiling had started to get old. Didn't stop this one obviously VERY high girl in a Stooges t-shirt from going ape, though. B-

We then had some lame-ass DJ, but I continued dancing so I wouldn't have to deal with Momo's increasingly drunken advances. Luckily the DJ was over soon enough, and it was time for the 606 set. Pretty intense shit, non-stop hardcore/acid/drill n' bass/jungle/gabba mash-up. Nothing much to be said about the quality; he had some toys to manipulate his laptop with delays, so it was relatively dynamic. The crowd had thinned out a bit by then, though (it was pushing 3 AM).

So Kid finishes his set but apparently Cycheouts Ghost weren't even behind the decks yet, so he ended up playing an encore. Then they got on and played their remix of Mr. Wobble's Nightmare, and played a decent set of their retro/dub-step/electro nonsense. Kid swooped into the crowd mid-set to jump about, giving me a sip of his Zima - in a can! Momo had thankfully given up, though I was getting pretty tired.

Finally, Crossbred were up, two diminutive girls with synths, samplers and sequencers. Sort of noisy ambient with minimal electro beats, it immediately started draining my energy, despite the fact they were just fine. As I headed to my locker, I saw Momo chatting up some other slightly uncomfortable looking guy on the couch in front of the bar. I said my good-night's to her and Noon, and headed for a little conveyor belt sushi and a rest at the local internet cafe...

NISEOU at Saiin Ooh-la-la, 6/6/09

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 01:06:40 +0000

Prelude: So after an epic 4-hour journey into stats class at Umeda Temple University, I felt I deserved a little entertainment. Luckily, Boredoms sideshow Omoide Hatoba was slated to play at Shangri-La nearby. So after trekking for more than a half-hour to the other side of JR Osaka Station (great fucking route map, Shangri-la, but it would've been ten times easier if you'd just wrote that it was across the street from the goddamn Sky Building), I get there around 6:40 - and there's a HUGE freakin' group of people waiting outside. Eye roll. Round comes 7, then 7:15, and they still haven't let us in (open at 6, concert slated to start at 7, btw). Shit, I didn't feel like dropping 4000 yen anyway (and having seen Yamamoto Seiichi and Atsushi Tsuyama in like 10 other bands, maybe this wasn't the time or place to see these guys. So I gave up.

Umeda Hub was right there, basically, and I wanted a drink to console my wounded...whatever, I wanted a drink, okay? Unfortunately the mix of salarymen, OLs, loudmouth exchange students and an aging gaijin fat cat with his hot mistress was uber-crap. I got some reading done, luckily, and then decided to hit somewhere random for once. Let's hit Juso.

I haven't been to that sleazy, working-class entertainment / red light district in awhile, and I'd never attempted to go drinking there, but there's a first time for everything. Anyway, I headed towards the general direction of Fandango, passing it without noticing (but finding Club Water in the process) and ending up at a darts bar under the railroad tracks whose name I can't recall, but was quite homey. The bar guys were all friendly, little kids were running around among the few patrons, it was nice (I'll link the name when I remember it). One of the guys there suggested I hit a place called ES down the road, as gaijin often go there. So after two black-and-tans, I found it, a little second floor bar (also with darts) sort of round the corner from the Toyo Hotel. The bar dudes there, equally friendly (though no ex-pats there at the time), and after a XXXX I was feeling a bit woozy (no dinner can do that to you). So someone mentions takoyaki, and I find out there's a rather famous place just around the corner. I say my good-byes and find the place immediately. Ridiculously good takoyaki. Then I stumble back to the station and get home before even the last train. I'm thinking slumming in Juso is just my style...

Anyway, yesterday I played family man, going to the Arashiyama Monkey Park, playing with my son all day, letting the wife konk out on the couch - letting all pretension of getting any homework done that day drift away. Then in the evening, I decided I needed to get at least a little work done, and it wasn't going to get done at home. So with permission from the wife, I headed down to Saiin, ostensibley to study at Starbucks. The reality, however, was I thought I'd get a little reading done between sets at a cheap concert down at Ooh-La-La.

So, I get there, and it's about half-empty. I sit down at the bar and order a highball (for some reason there's a highball "boom" in Japan right now), and then start getting down and dirty with my Scaling Procedures textbook. Suddenly the first band came on, Niseuo Cosmic-Chang Mothership Progress; I'd heard about them from their MySpace, but I always assumed this 6-piece was just sort of a low rent AMT. Wrong. The lead singer comes out looking like a gypsy-fied Jambi the Genie from Pee-Wee's Playhouse. He was in charge of some mini-trumpet, gravelly vocals and an effects table linked to the other musicians. They started out like swing jazz, but then mutated into something John Zorn-ish, waves of echo and feedback literally sending cockroaches fleeing in terror from in front of the stage. They then shifted to Black Rider-esque dark burlesque, including some of the most outrageous stage-props I've seen on stage in Japan (details when I have time later). Suffice to say, I love that kind of shit, bought two of their CDs, got permission to upload them here, and you'll be able to hear for yourself soon.

The lead singer from NISEUO sat down nearby, and we did the usual musical buttsniffing. We talked mostly about his influences and my impressions (Captain Beefheart, The Slits The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo - the usual hipster name-dropping), and he seems quite the nice guy.

Then, we get Iris from Nagoya, a noisy post-rock/jazz unit with an amazingly aggressive (female) keyboardist, but a bit too much in the improvisational twiddling between 'real' songs. Hemlen were up next, sort of combination Ruins and Stereolab, and they were definitely pros (one look at their CD table and you could tell, pricey albums, collaborations with Otomo Yoshihide). A three piece (bass guitar, drums and vibes), they used sheet music, and split their set between self-indulgent drum soloing (exact as Tatsuya Yoshida, but not as creative, and some ass-kicking bass-driven tunes. Not bad, not bad.

Finally, the skronky, nerdy headliner Astro Love came on, and I left before they got halfway through ('nuff said). Said my farewells to the NISEUO lead leader and headed home, having gotten not a lot of homework done, it must be admitted. Well, that's what today's for.

伊藤ユッキ×trish, Viva Sherry and Now at Kyoto Urbanguild, 5/31/09

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 12:00:28 +0000

Trouble concentrating? Work got you down? School driving you crazy? Procrastinate! Better yet, waste a little cash and head down to UrBANGUILD. After my academic weekend worshipping at the foot of SLA maestro Rod Ellis fell apart (on account of WORK), I felt I deserved a little fun. Time to head down to UrBANGUILD for a night of mellow music.

Chiaki from Ultra Bide was there with his MILFy date, and so was that nice bald guy whose name I can never remember. Oh and the master from Galaxie 5000 was there, working the CD table for Now - small world, Kyoto. I read a little on conversation analysis before the first band, 伊藤ユッキ×trish.

It was just a guy with a stand up bass and a girl with an acoustic guitar and a golden voice, but that was enough. Sorta reminded me of Yoko Kanno's more minimal acoustic stuff (though I probably had her on the brain, after just buying her epic 3-CD best of). The barefoot base player later brought out a guitar and a shitload of pedals, but he played the effects for subtlety, not bang. The singer looked a bit nervous. "I've never played in such a big place before," she confided. "It's strange..." I grabbed their 500 yen demo, asked for permission to upload, and it's there in all it's glory for your listening pleasure.

Then it was viva sherry. First impression: keyboard pop duet trying way too hard to be quirky. The fact that they're somehow related to JapanFIles was also a bad sign in my book. By the end, though, they sort of won me over, though their intense concentration during their set made it seem like they were trying their damndest just to play the notes (which they did just fine)>

Finally, a 3-person version of British alterna-hippie-krautrockers You. Quite good, though I can imagine a much larger version of their group having tons more impact. The final number (including members of Viva Sherry and others) had its heart in the right place, but went on just a bit too long. Still, glad I went.

The accidental concert goer

Tue, 26 May 2009 02:58:23 +0000

What a strange and stressful weekend. After an epic 4 hour stats class (in which I discovered I might have to retake last semester's class (groan)), I tried to come to grips with reality by heading to Kanadian with a Temple pal for a little curry. Turns out they had a live show that evening, an art and music tribute to someone who had recently died. It was one girl with a steel drum and a KAOS pad, with two arty friends playing with slide projectors providing the BGV. Quite nice actually; she has a lovely voice and an at times minimalist, at times jazzy aesthetic. Her name wasn't posted on the website, but once I know who she was, I'll post the name.

The next day was basically spent doing a little work and playing a few video games while the wife and son spent some time at the in-laws. Checking my own Japanzine concert schedule, I found that Ultra Bide had a concert that evening at Saiin Ooh-La-La. Around 3, though, I got a call from my Cell 63 mate Nick that Tim Olive (from Supernatural Hot Rug And Not Used) was having a show, also at Saiin at this Cafe Taikai place. Sigh, so now two concerts, but it couldn't be helped...;)

So I hopped on my grannie bike and pedaled on down to Taikai around 6. Tim was there out in front, and we dropped by the Lawson 100 Yen convenience store where Tim bought some cheap chocolate with funny English on the wrapper, and I bought a coffee. We went upstairs to Taikai, and it's a nice cafe space. Like the old Nintendo game they had on the table, though someone was already using it. Tim ordered a salmon udon thing that he said was way to salty, so I opted for the chicken curry, which was just fine. Tim's friend Akiko (who he had met 10 years before on the street in Mexico!) rolled in, and then the first band (much lauded by Tim) took the stage.

They were called Mokemoke, and were actually quite sweet, jangly indie pop-rock with girls dressed in grandma chic save for the drummer in a big blue bear costume. Her bear head would sort of twist around while she was playing, blocking her view (much to everone's amusement).

Then Tim was up, just as Nick walked in the door. He started by pulling magnetic cassette tape through his guitar strings, creating quite a nice drone. Then it was the usual unsettling soundtrack to a robot torture flick. I think some in the back thought they were going to die, but I think the majority loved it (myself included).

Right after that little show, Nick and I split for Ooh-La-La. By the time we got there, we'd already missed the first two bands, and were well into the third band, CAPTION. The whole band was rocking pretty hard, and the lead singer was singing in what sounded like decent English as well, but the vocals were too low to hear properly, so the impact was less than it could've been.
"Sorta Sonic Youthy," I said to Nick.
"Really? I was thinking early Talking Heads," says Nick.
Thinks. "Yeah, like...a cross between Sonic Youth and early Talking Heads."

After their set, I hopped over to the CD table to see what was what. After talking with Cain (a regular Bide fan like myself) he recommended I pick up the 摩擦原因 album (they'd been the #2 band I'd missed). The guys at the table were uber-friendly cowpunks, and their attitude (and their 1500 yen CD price) sealed the deal.

Finally, Nick and I sat down for Ultra Bide. Not enough superlatives in the world to extort their awesomeness that night. They had some driving new tunes and were tighter than fuck; I kept thinking that these guys deserved a Fuji Rock audience, not 20 goofballs at the edge of Kyoto. Hide's encore was a Japanese punk rant, him dropping the bass to spit some intense vocal venom before tossing the mike down, and tromping off stage. Bad-ass.

Afterwards, we surprisingly ended up hanging out with the lead singer from CAPTION and his friends. He'd actually spent 4 years in the U.S. as a kid (thus the decent English lyrics) and we chewed the cud about favorite bands, foods, anime, etc. I asked him if he knew Last.FM, and he said he'd already uploaded some stuff. He also said some American guy in Arashiyama had blogged about him, but it hadn't been a good review. Uh-oh...

Anyway, we shared some beers, Nick got nicely toasted, and I hopped on my bike and headed home. Sure enough, when I checked my old journal, there it was, I HAD scene CAPTION before, saying something like I'd taken a bathroom break during their "4th rate Queens of the Stone Age" styled-show...:( Well, how can you believe a reviewer who says that on one day, and "Sonic Youth meets Talking Heads" the next? Never trust a music critic, son. Grain of salt, grain of salt...

Japanzine Reviews March 09

Tue, 5 May 2009 08:59:14 +0000

Just realized that some of my older reviews aren't accessible anymore. So I'm putting them up here now.

Nanashoku Hazumu Makkuro Sekai
DeliciouSweets
Chaam Records
Ah yes, this is what I expect from the Japanese underground, a batshit insane psychedelic phantasmagorical all-girl retro cabaret. Here’s a band that will make Tarentino and Japsploitation soundtrack otaku drool from the first note on, a late 60’s parody/tribute performance troupe that owes as much to The Fugs and Zappa as it does to enka and Wada Akiko style rhythm and blues. So what does this mean besides bizarre pics of women in white face and false eyelashes performing in fishnet stockings, babushkas and vaudevillian clown pants? Well, there’s also tons of sexy, goofy, genki amateurish singing, occasional gargling, guitar freak-outs, Buddhist prayer drums and an ever present Hammond organ (good God…) – I think you’re starting to get the picture. Oh yes, and what crazy cultural artifact would be complete without a cover of “Tequila”? Though the album is perfect wake and bake BGM, the satirical specifics will admittedly be lost on even the most hardcore J-ongaku geeks. Fear not, you probably don’t need to get all the references to join in on the bizarre fun. I’d give your left nut to see these wildcats in the sweaty flesh, and if I were you, I’d start counting the days till their next show: your starting point is probably their English page at http://www.derisya.com/english_page.htm. Quote: “Due to their visceral performances the group also refers to itself as ‘The Human Smell Cabaret’”. And did I mention they’ve performed at Yasukuni Shrine? Outstandingly odd.

LondonYMO
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Avex
Considering Takahashi, Sakamoto and Hosono have been at that the whole musical thing since the beginning of the 70’s, you’d think they’d be sucking pretty bad right now. Surprise, they still rule. Perhaps their break up in the mid-80’s had something to do with it, but these three guys have managed to stay relevant far longer than anyone could’ve expected. I could only guess it was their synchronous appreciation for glitch-hop that got them working together again, but whatever the impetus, they are now performing again, and LondonYMO is one of the two 2-CD live sets celebrating their reunion. It’s a hardcore YMO fans dream, at least half of the tracks reworked versions of some of their rare solo material. Hosono’s “Sportsman” is pure electro-pop cuteness, “Mars”, “Chronograph”,“Flakes” from Sketch Show are hauntingly beautiful and Sakamoto’s spoken word “War and Peace” is given a nice tweaking as well. Sakamoto standard “Riot in Lagos” has a funky, early 70’s Herbie Hancock flavor and a new version of their classic “Rydeen” is total class. The only possible complaint: the convergence of catalogued influences from each member sometimes overloads the tracks with ideas. Where once was simple Kraftwerk-esque simplicity, we now find jazz, world music, ambient techno, new age and new wave influences all battling for attention. But despite this (and a few “adult contemporary” moments), YMO still continue to shame the musical world with their continued greatness.

Independent Social Power
The Watanabes
Bicycler Records
When “Getting Over Yuka” made its way onto last year’s Gaijin Sounds CD, I can’t say I was jumping up and down with excitement. I prefer my rock down and dirty or pretentious and proggy; acoustic ballads about old girlfriends (“You promised me we’d got to the Tokyo Towwwwwwwwwwer!”) make me want to get out my plastic clown hammer and start banging some coconuts. So it was with some trepidation that I threw Independent Social Power into the old iTunes. The verdict: better than I expected, I guess. The revamped version of that aforementioned track is definitely less annoying in its latest incarnation, and the rest of the album isn’t terrible either. Frankly, I feel our esteemed previous editors’ Smiths references are off base, though; despite the regional references, offhand delivery and the general melancholic bent of the lyrics, The Watanabes are not flamboyant and gay in early 80’s London, they are slightly spoiled and nostalgic in 21st Century Tokyo. Ignore the lyrical gloom, though, and the album is musically a surprisingly pleasant ride, and I can imagine throwing this on during a Sunday morning house cleaning (in fact, I’ve done just that). And though I can’t but make a face at the multiple layers of whiney irony in “Nice Guy”, I admit to thoroughly enjoying the rocking “This Year”. So thumbs up on balance, gentleman, but for the record I’d prefer more screaming, distortion and 30 minute solos next time.

The Watanabes
DELICIOUSWEETS
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Sakamoto Ryuichi
Haruomi Hosono

Miserable at Metro - Torihada 5/09

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:17:26 +0000

I think my instincts have been misfiring lately. I was all up for seeing some dubstep a few weeks back, but that night only ended in me leaving the club before the artists even reached the stage (granted it was nearly 2 fucking AM, start the show already...). Why I thought things would be any different last weekend, I'll never know. Anyway, after a few drinks with classmates and friends in Osaka, I took the train back to Kawaramachi and scootered down to Metro around 10 PM. The place was ridiculously crowded, and unsurprisingly the 2800 yen cover charge didn't cover the 500 yen they also force you to buy (grumble, grumble). I dumped my bag in a locker and pushed my way towards the front of the room.

I slew of artists I liked were slated to perform (including Ultra Bide and OVe-NaXx, and DJing by 真保☆タイディスコ (whose new CD I had just bought). Still, something about the crowd disturbed me, probably the whole Kyoto University hipster vibe I was getting from many of their impassive faces. The mediocre techno from the warm up DJ wasn't helping much either.
Two guys doing on stage. Ah, a good omen, it's shabushabu and OORUTAICHI, two of my favorite Kyoto scene pranksters. Oorutaichi just released "Jurasy human", my favorite DJ mix so far this year, and soon-to-be-MD Shabushabu was a blast solo last time I saw him - he still has his signature Asahi Super Dry in hand. Sure enough, they rocked, basically novelty electro-pop songs about ghosts, frogs and beer snacks, right up my alley. Only about 1/3 of the crowd was getting into it predictably. Then I found out what most people were actually therefore. I pushed my way near the front to see...

A freaking hour and a half of Japanese stand-up comedy...:( Granted, this was Torihada, and his schtick was patently over-the-top. First we were treated to an ancient looking film of the man dressed up like Tojo stepping out of a miniature version of those black nationalist/yakuza buses that periodically disturb the peace here in Japan. He enters what looks to be Meiji Jingu in Tokyo and tries to shake hands with kids, who run the fuck away. :) Then we see him posing with a sword in front of the shrine ala Mishima Yukio, before the man himself takes the stage wearing a parody of the black suits right-wing hate-mongerers so often wear here, covered in a ridiculous amount of kanji messages (none of which I could read, unfortunately). The crowd pushed forward, making escape for me a difficult proposition. Okay, this guy better be fucking funny.
Actually, he wasn't bad, from the few jokes I COULD get. The basic gag that nationalists are uptight, out of touch and sexually-repressed was clear enough, and some of his riffs (including the hilarious, "Dad, stop using keigo (honorific lanuage) while you're having sex with mom" bit) had me smiling. I also like appreciate that he took his "nationalists have small dicks" theme to extreme lengths, going so far as to strip down to his bare ass and playing with himself on-stage to demonstrate his own impotence (don't think we'll be seeing Don Rickles doing the same bit anytime soon, and thank God for that).
However, the Q&A part (which could've been the best part) went on for too long, and inspiration from this Kyoto crowd was small. About an hour into this, the place was starting to get painfully stifling, the smoke from those in the back settling over us like the Smog Monster's acid mist, and I pushed my way sideways to the bar to at least have something to lean on. How long was this going to go on? I was hoping to get to bed around 3. Suddenly, the girl next to me collapsed, overwhelmed by the heat. Her friend helped her to her feet, and I gave her a sip of my bottled water. This was getting ridiculous.
Finally, Torihada leaves the stage, and the aforementioned 真保☆タイディスコ (Maho☆Thai Disco) got behind the decks, but the enka she was playing wasn't what I really needed. The crowd did not sufficiently disperse to get anything resembling breathing room; in fact, everyone and their sister lit up their cigarettes, turning the place even more intolerable. Finally, I just fucking called it night, grabbed my shit and headed home on the scooter. The moral: no more late night shit (at least by myself) and no more Metro for awhile. Which shouldn't be hard seeing how busy and poor I've become recently...

When the cat's away...

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:05:19 +0000

Alone. So...alone. Well, for 5 days anyway. The wife and son gone for a few days back to the in-laws', you would think I'd try my best to live it up. Well, I'd try not to have fun, honestly; I had a whole line-up of statistics assignments to work on and narry a plan to go out. Narry a...

But it twas not to be. My Cell 63 co-dude Nick (Fucked 76) gave me a call and told me that our mutual friend Hide (amazon saliva/ULTRA Jr., etc.) was promoting an event with (gasp) NoMeansNo that very night, and Hide was apparently letting friends in on the guest list price of 1500 yen (most normal folks had to pay a whopping 5500! (more than $50)). So I called up Hide to confirm, and then cancelled my study plans for the evening.

About an hour later, Hide calls me back. "So, J.P., how early can you get here?" Uh-oh, here it comes. Turns out he needed a before/between bands DJ, and I must admit I was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, knowing that UrBANGUILD lacks CDJs, I didn't have enough 'appropriate' vinyl and the threat of rain loomed loomingly sorta put a dark cloud over the situation. To make a long story short, after throwing some CDs in my bag, I rushed over to Joshin to pick up another cheap CD walkman (so now I had blue AND pink ones), and I rushed over. After some frustration with the UrBANGUILD mixer (my god is that a piece of shit), I settled into a night of fun.

The first 'unit' of the evening was a duet with a guy from Suspiria moaning and playing with effects pedals and piano and Watchman, (ex-melt banana). The Suspiria guy made the funniest faces while he was sort of wailing into the mic, and Watchman pounded the drums brilliantly, but it was all just a fuck-about, really. Luckily, they were only on for about 20 minutes.

Then it was time for Hide's main band, Ultra Bide. As usual they were fiddling with sound check for WAY too long...and they STILL had technical difficulties during their set. Still, they played some cool new tunes and overall it was another solid performance. The geezers from NoMeansNo and their crew looked on from the sidelines approvingly (they were once upon a time all on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles), and two or three particularly genki people moshed a bit in front. Ex-coworker Beate and I looked on from the DJ booth with approval.

Nick rolled in right before NoMeansNo came on, lucky for him. "Imagine that it's not three 80 year-olds but three 20 year olds up here," the leader joked self-deprecatingly. If you closed your eyes, you can imagine it pretty easily, actually. Their half-spoken word style (very similar to Dead Kennedys), can be pulled off convincingly regardless of age, so they sounded pretty damn good, actually. A few rambunctious punk types started doing the whole running in circles thing (very Three Stooges Curly, now that I think of it), and one goofball tried stage-diving (FAIL), but overall the crowd was excited but respectful.

NoMeansNo played two encores, and then that was that. Having never really listened to much of their stuff, I was impressed and picked up The People's Choice, which is pretty awesome. I DJed until about 12:30, then Nick and I headed to ING for a drink before scootering home in the cold. At least it wasn't raining...

Friday night was a bit of a disappointment. After class, I made a swing by my Osaka pal Yukari's b-day bash to drop off her present (Greatest Fits), and the local watering hole where she had her last birthday party was still playing Atari Teenage Riot non-stop. Then I thought I'd be adventurous and head down to see some of my favorite J-dubstep artists down in Amemura. Big mistake.

After I dropped my otaku-sized backpack of at a capsule hotel locker, I headed down to Triangle to check out Numb, Saidrum and Goth-Trad. It was already past midnight, so I was a little bit worried I'd missed Numb, but the warm-up DJ was still playing. In fact the warm-up DJs never seemed to stop playing and they really weren't very good. As I reclined nearly horizontally on a bed up in the nearly empty chill room upstairs, I tried to recall if I'd ever seen Goth-Trad before. I remember a venue quite clearly and just arriving to see the tail end of their show, but the mists of time have shrouded its location; my memory doesn't really match anywhere I now know (best guess: somewhere in Namba circa 1997). Getting...old...losing...mind...

And stamina. Come 1:30 AM, and the music was still shitty techno and the first artist had STILL not come on. I gave it till nearly 2 and then realized I didn't really want to stay up ALL night, so I tromped off and headed to Fore Play for a nightcap. The owner Yoko was just closing up...actually for good. The following night was to be Fore Play's closing party. Too bad, I really liked the place (and it's predecessor, the Dragonfly Cafe). That location must be poison.

Junkroom Vol. 8

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 03:57:08 +0000

With all the end of the semester nonsense going on and ridiculous amounts of graduate school homework, I was a little swamped. But Sean Roe's Junkroom cavalcade of weirdness was coming, so I forced myself to get something together to perform. Having some ancient Groove Jigoku V Playstation Beats leftover from 10 years ago, I figured I could use my Nanolooped DS to noodle over that, and I programmed a few loops for that. Then I scribbled out a quick faux-pretentious spoken word ode to the event and recorded that as the opening. After a sound check at home, I was good to go.

Friday I first headed over to Nick's place (see Fucked 76) to play a bit of GTA IV and drink diet happoshu. Then a scooter down Kiyamachi way, where I dropped my stuff off and cruised down to Starbucks for a fortifying Americano and scone.

When I returned to UrBANGUILD, Sean was there talking with the REAL headliner, Aussie screamo-experimentalist Kusum Normoyle. She was cool, as one might expect, and I kept her entertained with stupid scene-referential banter like "Is it true what they say about Passenger of Shit?" She had a REALLY long soundcheck wherein the sound guy seemed seriously worried she was going to blow out the speakers by accident (she live-samples her screams, so the potential for feedback explosions is ever-present).

Anyway, I was a bit hungry around 5:30, so I bopped down to The Gael for a drink and salad. Michael's wife (damn, I can't remember her name) was there tending a very quiet bar, and she seemed to be holding up admirably (Michael had a stroke a few months back and most likely is still less than entirely 'genki' at the moment). We had a chat about Whynot!? parties (they had just had one), and then I headed back to the venue.

The place was filling up nicely when Baku came on. They were a decent beatnik trio, trumpet, bongos and a beatboxer, though I was a bit worried when the drummer pulled a slip of paper to read a poem (it was painfully close to my own spoken-word parody - except done straight). That was followed by an initially intriguing but eventually rather dreary laptop and piano duet by Tadashi Yonago, some projected art and musique concrete from Mariko Tajimi and some goofy Butoh dance and screechy violin from Igaki Akiko and Yangjeh. Then, holy Mary mother of McQuarrie, a college-glee club style gospel mini-choir from Doshisha University!?! I thought it was delightfully wonky, but perhaps a few of the foreigners present might have thought it...inappropriate. Screw them, I thought it was a great sorbet to cleanse the palette before Tim Olive's excellent guitar foley show. Very short but fun and funny as usual, Tim's certainly my favorite sound artist of the moment.

Finally, Kusum was on, and did her looped shreiking and gurgling schtick, which had the audience reaching to cover their ears, but I certainly enjoyed. Then I (J.P. DuQuette) was on. It was fun, no technical difficulties, but I could've noodled a bit more effectively in the 2nd third of the show, so I felt it lacked a bit of 'oomph'. Still, I think it was a decent end to the event, and I think those still in attendance at that late hour weren't overly bored or traumatized.

Nick left early, and I went over to Cafe Siesta for a coffee and talk to DJ MasterKOHTA. Actually another DJ was spinning there (to an empty cafe, unfortunately. He was surprised a recognized the Yoko Kanno he was playing (Mushroom Hunting from the Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack), and Kohta burned me a few live chiptune mixes before I left. Gud times.
Sun 1 Feb – JUNKROOM Vol. 8 Photos here

Top Ten of 2008

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 12:49:35 +0000

Certainly filled with as many guilty pleasures as 'hipster' recommendations, so please, no raspberries.

1. Janelle Monáe - Metropolis (The Chase Suite) - Not a clue why this isn't platinum via every Top 40 station in the world yet (and that video for Many Moons - good lord!). Sure it sounds a little like the best of Outkast, Shirley Bassey and Lauren Hill, but is that really a bad thing? And the girl can dance.

2. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles - Yeah, the chiptuners are still sore at a ridiculous amount of uncredited samples, but the off-kilter electro-art-punk arrangements elevate most of their stuff beyond their source material.

3. Capsule - More! More! More! - No surprise to most of my friends, as Capsule have been a guilty pleasure of mine since Fruits Clipper, but MMM has more juice than any Capsule album so far. Face it, when even inane Brit-chav-rap can't sink a track, you know you're doing something right. Oh, and JUMPER is hands down the catchiest slab of dance-floor filler this year.

4. Squarepusher - Souvenir - Less of the Amen Break and more bass noodling pays off for a light and goofy album that got heavy rotation on my walkman this year.

5. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip - First, it's free. Second, it's got Head Down, my favorite NIN track in a dog's age. Finally, it's short and unpretentious. Sure it's no Year Zero, but then again nothing is...

6. 夢中夢 - Ilya - "You've got your operatic chamber music stuck in my avant garde death metal!" "Me? You've go your avant garde death metal stuck in my operatic chamber music!" Subtle it is not, but you're not likely to hear a weirder, wilder and more beautiful outfit out of Kansai this year.

7. Sigur Ros - - I popped this in my walkman on a scooter ride back to Arashiyama, riding into the sunset, the tears streaming down my face at the beauty and wonder of existence.

8. Ladytron - Velocifero - This didn't appeal to me half as much as their last album when I first heard it, but the gothic / new wave overtones have finally won me over. And Black Cat gets the award for best album opener of the year.

9. LITE - Phantasia - Okay, yeah, they sound like Battles. But why the hell do I love these guys, but Battles doesn't do shit for me? Mathematical, dude.

10. Boredoms - Boardrums - Okay, if it wasn't for the ridiculous price tag, this epic CD/DVD drum event (how many kits, 77 was it?) would be higher up, I'm sure. Anyway, sure to go down in history as one of the coolest musical "happenings" of the decade.

With an honorable mention to the new Children of Bodom, Ultra Bide,Momus, Yellow Magic Orchestra Live CDs (awesome stuff!) and others I'm sure I'll write here later when they come to mind. And I have yet to seriously sit down with the new Deerhoof, so there's that, too.

オシリペンペンズ at Kyoto Ooh La La, 12/26/08.

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:37:32 +0000

Okay, I've never been that big a fan of オシリペンペンズ (see Oshiri Pen-Pens, Oshiri Pen-Penz, etc.). I mean I've seen them 2 or 3 times, (including the ファンタジー仲間 side-project with Doddodo), and there was only one time the drunken antics of their long-haired lead singer Motako Ishii didn't totally scuttle their skronky shows. But strangely enough, Beate (the German teacher whose two desks border me on either side of my cubicle at work) wanted to introduce me to her German radio DJ friend who was going to see their show at Ooh La La the day after X'mas. Hmmm, this would require strategy; how do I broach the subject to the perennially evil ball & chain? Well, thanks to a stroke of luck, her acquaintance (and her young daughter) were over to make some X'mas cookies on the 24th, so I took the opportunity to ask her all casual like while her friend was there. Of course she couldn't say no to my request in front of her friend (heh, heh), so the deal was sealed. So last night I hopped on my grandma bike and headed down into the freezing night to Saiin.

First stop IN, the little stand-up bar I used to frequent when I first came to Japan. Since the friendly manager left, it's lost a bit of it's charm, and when I got there for a quickie beer, there was only one other old guy there and the staff were...adequate, but not exactly chatty would be the way to describe them. Not going back there for awhile...

Not that big a problem, as I didn't have time to ponder the service. Rushing to the live house around 6:45, I guessed that the doors had already opened. A hapless girl was taking tickets just inside the door. I popped my head in, and the girl seemed a bit out of sorts.

Me: (You open) from 6:30?
Her: {blank stare} Huh?
Me: {slowly, clearly} ARE YOU OPEN FROM 6:30?
Her: Um, let me...let me check...
Me: {losing patience} So are you open from 6:30 or 7?
Her: {nervously} Um, um, 6:30.
Me: {peering inside to see people already filling the place} Yeah, I thought so. Today I don't have a 'reservation'. I'm just a regular walk-in kinda guy.
Her: Are you (a gaijin name on her guest list)?
Me: {exasperated} No, I just told you. I'm not on the list. I'm paying the normal 'door' price.

UGH! After that little Abbott and Costello routine, I got into find the place already filling up. I dumped my coat, cap and scarf in the space underneath the left speaker at the front of the stage and sat down with a Heartland.

SEX+Y were up first, and they were good old fashioned girlie garage rock. Not quite as genki a show as when I saw them open for Ultra Bide; the pleasantly plump and wonky lead guitarist broke a string and the audience waited a bit too long for a replacement guitar and strap, which sort of took the momentum out of their set. But they were charming in that Shonen Knife kinda way, and I enjoyed them. I chatted with the young Japanese guy sitting on my right who was a friend of the band. He pointed to my New Picnic t-shirt and we talked a bit about the ups and downs of that amazing festival until the next band broke into our conversation.

からっぽ宇宙 were up next, and they were sort of noisy psych-post rock. The fetchingly sensitive-looking lead singer stood in front of a table full of pedals and effects, twiddling away for the length of their set and singing only occasionally. It was then that Beate and her friend arrived and hovered around in the back. I waved them over, but only Beate deigned to join me at the front. The band was a bit bland, but acceptable, and they knew exactly when to end their set. Beate dumped her purse on my jacket and we both went back to say hello to her friend. Predictably, our seats in the front were instantly snagged (it turns out, by members of SEX+Y).

After the obligatory intros I noticed another familiar looking lifer gaijin chilling in the back. He came up to me and said, "You're JP right?" Ah, my infamy had preceded me. Turns out he was one of Nick's (Fucked 76/Cell 63) friends, John, and I bet I'd met him a few times at our UrBANGUILD shows. I also noticed too surprisingly good-looking caucasian college girl types at the bar, whom I immediately (and admittedly groundlessly) dubbed the "lipstick lesbians". Beate hit me on the shoulder for that one, saying, "In Germany, lesbians don't wear lipstick. I was on my school's handball team, I should know..." Ho, ho, ho. I also spotted the Penpenz drummer over by the bar and sauntered over them to tell him how much I enjoyed his work on last week's Drumandara thing at Bears; when I asked him how much he had practiced, he just said they had dicked about once right before the show. Amazing improv then, that show.

Anyway, 三文からす were on next, and despite a somewhat non-distinctive sound (in the general THE BLUE HEARTS neighborhood), they brought a lot of energy and fearlessness to their show (especially considering the almost comically fugly lead singer). They had the crowd revved up (as much as a sit-down dinner-theater style joint like Ooh La La is used to, anyway - with some exceptions), and it was with high expectations that the Penpenz took the stage.

Beate's friend had actually just interviewed them earlier today and he was recording them from the back with a handheld mic. Maybe because they knew they were being recorded, they seemed exceptionally sober, and it was hands down a different band. What seemed like sloppy punk at earlier shows was now on the order of progressive avant-garde blues, and the Captain Beefheart references I'd heard finally clicked hardcore. The crowd was totally into it, girls yelling "Kakko ii" like it was a SMAP concert or something, very odd. No piss or vomit this time around, which was all for the good.

Well, the crowd amazingly stuck around for a bit longer than usual, which gave everyone time to schmooze with the band. I talked with members of most of the bands, bought 三文からす's CD-R (and uploaded onto LMD - enjoy!) and bumped into LSD March who I barely recognized and whom apparently is heading to Europe for a tour early next year. He also said the new album was almost ready; when I asked him whether they new stuff was going to be rockier or folkier, he said the former, which is good news for me (as I really don't care for his atonal strummed dark folk). They all turned out to be really nice and I had a really good time.

Beate and I left her friend to head home, while we went to Hafa, the cafe down the street where I'd ended up at that wedding third-party last year, and enjoyed chatting a bit while Pizzicato Five played ceaselessly in the background. And suddenly (fuck!) it was already 12:30 and time to head back into the night, KMFDM on my CD walkman giving me the requisite energy I needed for the half-hour ride home.