Here he is. He dimmed all the lights so that it was pretty much just his laptop monitor providing the light. Halfway through, he brings in a track to go under his noise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPWZPWnVk4
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Concerts Update
Here's everything that has happened this weekend
First off there was Shugo Tokumaru on Thursday. He was playing at the Liquid Room. I bought the ticket the second I heard about the show, but didn't really know the details of it. It turned out that there were only two acts, and Shugo was the first one. His show was stunning. I got his album earlier this year and just fell in love with his sound. He has the approach of a singer/song writer with his vocals and acoustic guitar as the centerpiece, but he surrounds his simple pieces with every manner of percussion, whistles, chimes, accordions, and toy pianos to create dense soundscapes that are just beautiful. He had four supporting musicians with him: a drummer and 3 multi instrumentalists. They played every small, handheld instrument you could think of, and had to follow sheet music for the entire show because there was so much going on. He also played the most amazing cover of Video Killed the Radio Star on banjo. Unfortunately, there was a security guy watching me like a hawk, so I have no pictures or videos from that night. I will just give some links instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FJ99ju9rfw
http://www.myspace.com/shugotokumaru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubq3a1LScTw
So the real surprise for me was the fact that there was another band at the show who was the headliner. I had no idea who they were, but I realized that a large part of the crowd was there to see them. They were called Kicell (キセフ) and after researching them, they claim to be a post rock duo made up of two brothers. The set they played was more of a straight soft rock set. To be honest I found it a little boring, but their singing was excellent. It was a good thing I stuck around because halfway through the set, the backing drummer and keyboardist left the stage and then they switched to an acoustic guitar and music saw set up. I really enjoyed that part of the show more than the early part, as they accentuated the vocals, which were the best thing they had going on in my opinion. I even managed to understand a couple of their songs with my limited vocabulary (One about an aging lonely man and one love song). I'm going to have to check them out some more.
http://www.nidan-bed.com/english.html
Friday came in two parts. First there was a Alternative show with some other genres thrown in there as well.
The first band was called Highered-girl (above). They had the White Stripes set up with a girl drummer and a male guitarist. They went right into it with a wall of fuzz and furious drum fills (lots of energy in their playing). Some songs had noise aspects to them and were pretty hardcore, while others got very melodic. The vocal lines were well written on top of everything else.
http://www.myspace.com/higheredgirl
Next was You Got a Radio!. They were a new wave/early west-coast punk band. They were very reminiscent of X. The male and female guitarists doubled on vocals for a lot of songs. The bassist was wearing a tie and swaying all over the place. Really danceable stuff, but more than anything I noticed how well rehearsed and tight their whole show was. They also had one song towards the end that was intentionally dissonent which I enjoyed.
http://www.myspace.com/yougotaradio
The third act was called Poetry of Bathroom. This was a weird one. First you have a guitarist/singer, a bassist playing an acoustic bass guitar, and the most unobtrusive drummer I have ever heard. You take these three and you have a lo-fi, Velvet Underground style folk rock band. Now add into the mix a bassist with his strap between his legs, gloves, a German double bass bow, and a slide. This guy steals the show and totally morphs the sound into something noisy and trippy. On the last song, the guitarist joined the crazy bassist in his fun by shredding out some heavy distorted noise of his own.
http://www.myspace.com/poetryofbathroom
The last band I saw (there was actually one more, but I needed to stop by my apartment before the second part of my night) was called Condor44. They were an Alt. rock three piece with an open handed drummer. The best part of their performance was the fluidity. The set was continuous, and every song change and part change within a song was so smooth you couldn't notice it. They got very soft and decently heavy at different points but everything just transitioned perfectly. Their sound sometimes reminded me of Sebadoh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_oo2J433Q
http://jp.myspace.com/condor44
After all of that (I must be insane) I went to another show that started at 12:30. This wasn't a rave like last week, but rather a legitimate show with electronic dance bands and dj in between each set. I took a lot of videos here because everyone seemed cool with it.
Nu Clear Classmate (above) was playing when I walked in. They were an electoclash duo who performed on the floor with the crowd around them. Heavy distorted guitar leads overlayed the electro drums and synth lines. They had balloons drop from the ceiling when they announced they would be releasing an E.P. in the near future. Some of their songs really reminded me of Dan Deacon's stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/nuclearclassmate
The next group was called AAPS. They had an experimental house sound. They would get some jazzy piano every once in a while like in the video above, or sometimes they would rock out (while still having a dance style). The keytarist played the bass lines and jumped out into the audience a few times.
http://www.myspace.com/tuneaaps
Up next was White Scooper. They played hard edged disco house with a lot of vocals and live bass and guitar. The genre was good mix of old and new sounds. I heard 80s and modern influences in the songs.
http://www.myspace.com/whitescooper
This band was the one that was most memorable for me out of the whole night. They are called The New House. I had seen them out on the dance floor and they seemed like cool guys. I didn't realized they were a band. They were like nothing else that evening. Almost entirely rock instrument based, the band was an indie rock/experimental group. The first thing I thought was these guys sound like an American band (all of the lyrics were in English). If you take a look at their myspace influences, you will see was on the money (also I have 80% of their influences on my ipod). Unfortunately their myspace recording do great injustice to what they sounded like live (the video is decent though). Their sound went in some cool directions. The second video is almost like Animal Collective (I think the singer reminded me of Avey Tear somewhat). Cool note: the rack toms of the drummer face outward for the rest of the band to play, he only uses floor tom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF8tD3T8BVU&feature=related
http://www.myspace.com/thenewhousetokyo
Saturday was the Acid Mothers Temple show in Akihabara. The club was cool and pretty crowded. Two guys were operating a liquid light/laser show the entire time. The opener was called Kinski.
They are a Seattle based Psych Rock band doing a tour in Japan right now. A four piece classic rock set up, they had that driving heavy sound, with steady pulsing bass and drums. They used the classic, warm fuzzbox sound on their guitars. They definitely were staying true to the rock aspect of psych rock.
http://www.myspace.com/kinskispace
Acid Mothers Temple, on the other hand, were Psychedelic in the fullest sense of the word. Old synths made spaced out hums and whistles, a variety of acoustic instruments made appearances, and the singer had mastered Tuvan throat singing. Other times, the whole band would just wail out with furious droning noise.
The experience was pretty intense. I forgot where I was from time to time and disappeared in my own thoughts. I caught their last song before the encore on video. This was the softest of their tunes, that ended with them all singing in eastern harmonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUZL6wbxKok
http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple
So didn't think that I could top the musical strangeness of the Acid Mothers Temple show. However, yesterday I was treated to insanity. I attended an Experimental music show featuring a bunch of artist on this collective label called Intervall-audio. It was a night of heavily artistic expression, the kind that reminds you that art has no definition, and music, therefore, does not have a set sound.
I had some trouble finding the place, but when I did get there Scriptones was playing. He was a field recorder/circuit bender. What this means is that he had a recordings from nature and cities that he maniplulated, while also created new connections on open circuit boards to create original sounds of popping static and noise. His music had a random uncontrollable factor to it, and he often would make a face when he stumbled upon a harsh sound he didn't like. I thought that it was awesome that his main way of manipulating the circuits by using his hands to make connections.
http://www.intervall-audio.com/artists/scriptones.html
For anyone unfamiliar with circuit bending here is a short explaination
I don't actually know the name of the next artist. He was not one of the featured names, and I haven't been able to dig him up anywhere yet. He was a guitarist who used the five pedals above to morph his extremely violent and fast guitar techiques to create a sonic spectrum of noise. It was all just so fast paced. The weirdest part was his use of the bass synthesizer pedal (pictured in the middle) which I myself have looked into. Using his guitar as the trigger, it would make random sweeping filter bass notes fall down to ranges outside of the guitar. He even grabbed an ashtray and used it as a slide and pick. Everyone there was blown away.
The big name of the evening was Philippe Chatelain, a Tokyo based French musician. He is the leader of the influential experimental group The Laptop Orchestra. Compared to the other two, his music was much more regular and rhythmic, though complrised almost entirely of white noise waves. He would bring in recorded music that he manipulated extensively. I was able to make out Billie Jean , likely a homage to the recently late artist. I made a video but it is taking way too long to download, so I give up. Maybe I will put it on Youtube.
http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~phhat99/
This was a really long post. I will try to space it out more in the future. If you read this whole thing you are a champ.
First off there was Shugo Tokumaru on Thursday. He was playing at the Liquid Room. I bought the ticket the second I heard about the show, but didn't really know the details of it. It turned out that there were only two acts, and Shugo was the first one. His show was stunning. I got his album earlier this year and just fell in love with his sound. He has the approach of a singer/song writer with his vocals and acoustic guitar as the centerpiece, but he surrounds his simple pieces with every manner of percussion, whistles, chimes, accordions, and toy pianos to create dense soundscapes that are just beautiful. He had four supporting musicians with him: a drummer and 3 multi instrumentalists. They played every small, handheld instrument you could think of, and had to follow sheet music for the entire show because there was so much going on. He also played the most amazing cover of Video Killed the Radio Star on banjo. Unfortunately, there was a security guy watching me like a hawk, so I have no pictures or videos from that night. I will just give some links instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FJ99ju9rfw
http://www.myspace.com/shugotokumaru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubq3a1LScTw
So the real surprise for me was the fact that there was another band at the show who was the headliner. I had no idea who they were, but I realized that a large part of the crowd was there to see them. They were called Kicell (キセフ) and after researching them, they claim to be a post rock duo made up of two brothers. The set they played was more of a straight soft rock set. To be honest I found it a little boring, but their singing was excellent. It was a good thing I stuck around because halfway through the set, the backing drummer and keyboardist left the stage and then they switched to an acoustic guitar and music saw set up. I really enjoyed that part of the show more than the early part, as they accentuated the vocals, which were the best thing they had going on in my opinion. I even managed to understand a couple of their songs with my limited vocabulary (One about an aging lonely man and one love song). I'm going to have to check them out some more.
http://www.nidan-bed.com/english.html
Friday came in two parts. First there was a Alternative show with some other genres thrown in there as well.
The first band was called Highered-girl (above). They had the White Stripes set up with a girl drummer and a male guitarist. They went right into it with a wall of fuzz and furious drum fills (lots of energy in their playing). Some songs had noise aspects to them and were pretty hardcore, while others got very melodic. The vocal lines were well written on top of everything else.
http://www.myspace.com/higheredgirl
Next was You Got a Radio!. They were a new wave/early west-coast punk band. They were very reminiscent of X. The male and female guitarists doubled on vocals for a lot of songs. The bassist was wearing a tie and swaying all over the place. Really danceable stuff, but more than anything I noticed how well rehearsed and tight their whole show was. They also had one song towards the end that was intentionally dissonent which I enjoyed.
http://www.myspace.com/yougotaradio
The third act was called Poetry of Bathroom. This was a weird one. First you have a guitarist/singer, a bassist playing an acoustic bass guitar, and the most unobtrusive drummer I have ever heard. You take these three and you have a lo-fi, Velvet Underground style folk rock band. Now add into the mix a bassist with his strap between his legs, gloves, a German double bass bow, and a slide. This guy steals the show and totally morphs the sound into something noisy and trippy. On the last song, the guitarist joined the crazy bassist in his fun by shredding out some heavy distorted noise of his own.
http://www.myspace.com/poetryofbathroom
The last band I saw (there was actually one more, but I needed to stop by my apartment before the second part of my night) was called Condor44. They were an Alt. rock three piece with an open handed drummer. The best part of their performance was the fluidity. The set was continuous, and every song change and part change within a song was so smooth you couldn't notice it. They got very soft and decently heavy at different points but everything just transitioned perfectly. Their sound sometimes reminded me of Sebadoh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_oo2J433Q
http://jp.myspace.com/condor44
After all of that (I must be insane) I went to another show that started at 12:30. This wasn't a rave like last week, but rather a legitimate show with electronic dance bands and dj in between each set. I took a lot of videos here because everyone seemed cool with it.
Nu Clear Classmate (above) was playing when I walked in. They were an electoclash duo who performed on the floor with the crowd around them. Heavy distorted guitar leads overlayed the electro drums and synth lines. They had balloons drop from the ceiling when they announced they would be releasing an E.P. in the near future. Some of their songs really reminded me of Dan Deacon's stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/nuclearclassmate
The next group was called AAPS. They had an experimental house sound. They would get some jazzy piano every once in a while like in the video above, or sometimes they would rock out (while still having a dance style). The keytarist played the bass lines and jumped out into the audience a few times.
http://www.myspace.com/tuneaaps
Up next was White Scooper. They played hard edged disco house with a lot of vocals and live bass and guitar. The genre was good mix of old and new sounds. I heard 80s and modern influences in the songs.
http://www.myspace.com/whitescooper
This band was the one that was most memorable for me out of the whole night. They are called The New House. I had seen them out on the dance floor and they seemed like cool guys. I didn't realized they were a band. They were like nothing else that evening. Almost entirely rock instrument based, the band was an indie rock/experimental group. The first thing I thought was these guys sound like an American band (all of the lyrics were in English). If you take a look at their myspace influences, you will see was on the money (also I have 80% of their influences on my ipod). Unfortunately their myspace recording do great injustice to what they sounded like live (the video is decent though). Their sound went in some cool directions. The second video is almost like Animal Collective (I think the singer reminded me of Avey Tear somewhat). Cool note: the rack toms of the drummer face outward for the rest of the band to play, he only uses floor tom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF8tD3T8BVU&feature=related
http://www.myspace.com/thenewhousetokyo
Saturday was the Acid Mothers Temple show in Akihabara. The club was cool and pretty crowded. Two guys were operating a liquid light/laser show the entire time. The opener was called Kinski.
They are a Seattle based Psych Rock band doing a tour in Japan right now. A four piece classic rock set up, they had that driving heavy sound, with steady pulsing bass and drums. They used the classic, warm fuzzbox sound on their guitars. They definitely were staying true to the rock aspect of psych rock.
http://www.myspace.com/kinskispace
Acid Mothers Temple, on the other hand, were Psychedelic in the fullest sense of the word. Old synths made spaced out hums and whistles, a variety of acoustic instruments made appearances, and the singer had mastered Tuvan throat singing. Other times, the whole band would just wail out with furious droning noise.
The experience was pretty intense. I forgot where I was from time to time and disappeared in my own thoughts. I caught their last song before the encore on video. This was the softest of their tunes, that ended with them all singing in eastern harmonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUZL6wbxKok
http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple
So didn't think that I could top the musical strangeness of the Acid Mothers Temple show. However, yesterday I was treated to insanity. I attended an Experimental music show featuring a bunch of artist on this collective label called Intervall-audio. It was a night of heavily artistic expression, the kind that reminds you that art has no definition, and music, therefore, does not have a set sound.
I had some trouble finding the place, but when I did get there Scriptones was playing. He was a field recorder/circuit bender. What this means is that he had a recordings from nature and cities that he maniplulated, while also created new connections on open circuit boards to create original sounds of popping static and noise. His music had a random uncontrollable factor to it, and he often would make a face when he stumbled upon a harsh sound he didn't like. I thought that it was awesome that his main way of manipulating the circuits by using his hands to make connections.
http://www.intervall-audio.com/artists/scriptones.html
For anyone unfamiliar with circuit bending here is a short explaination
I don't actually know the name of the next artist. He was not one of the featured names, and I haven't been able to dig him up anywhere yet. He was a guitarist who used the five pedals above to morph his extremely violent and fast guitar techiques to create a sonic spectrum of noise. It was all just so fast paced. The weirdest part was his use of the bass synthesizer pedal (pictured in the middle) which I myself have looked into. Using his guitar as the trigger, it would make random sweeping filter bass notes fall down to ranges outside of the guitar. He even grabbed an ashtray and used it as a slide and pick. Everyone there was blown away.
The big name of the evening was Philippe Chatelain, a Tokyo based French musician. He is the leader of the influential experimental group The Laptop Orchestra. Compared to the other two, his music was much more regular and rhythmic, though complrised almost entirely of white noise waves. He would bring in recorded music that he manipulated extensively. I was able to make out Billie Jean , likely a homage to the recently late artist. I made a video but it is taking way too long to download, so I give up. Maybe I will put it on Youtube.
http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~phhat99/
This was a really long post. I will try to space it out more in the future. If you read this whole thing you are a champ.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Another Crazy Weekend
I saw Shugo Tokumaru at Liquid room yesterday. I just came back from a show in Shimokitazawa. I am going to another all night event tonight, just like last week. Around 10 am tomorrow, I am getting a lesson in Japanese calligraphy/brush painting. At 4 tomorrow I am going to see Acid Mothers Temple. I will then collapse.
This is all I can post for now. The long post will be Sunday morning, just before I go to an all day experimental music show that starts at 2. I am having so much fun that I need a vacation (10 days till my Rail Pass week, the rest of Japan here I come).
This is all I can post for now. The long post will be Sunday morning, just before I go to an all day experimental music show that starts at 2. I am having so much fun that I need a vacation (10 days till my Rail Pass week, the rest of Japan here I come).
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I've been getting lazy with the posting
Time to catch up.
One of my main endeavors the last couple of days was to work out my travel plans. I have had the itching desire to explore more of Japan, and the Osaka/Kyoto region has been highly recommended. On top of that I want to go see all my friends who will be in Sapporo/Hakodate when they are on break for a long weekend starting on Friday the 10th. With that date only a little more than 2 weeks away I needed to figure out how I was going to get there and when I was going to fit in my Osaka/Kyoto visit. I was really bummed because Japan offers one of the greatest deals for tourists in the world: The JR Rail Pass. This only costs around 30,000yen ($300) and you can ride any rail in Japan (including the bullet trains, just not first class) for an entire week. Unfortunately, you can only get the exchange order for this while you are still abroad (you get a ticket mailed to you in America that you take with you to Japan and get the actual ticket with). I was preoccupied with Dead Week, preparing for the trip and seeing friends that I never got around to this. Fortunately, Thanh had an awesome idea, which was to get the thing online, mail it to my house, and then have my parents mail it here. The JR companies will never know...
I had one more snag I had to figure out. If my Rail Pass week had to encompass at least some of the dates that my friends were on break, when should I be doing the rest of my traveling? The deciding factor came in the form of a gift from the gods. The night I was raving, I was waiting around the Shibuya-O clubs for the Loft to open up (when I first went there, two guys waved me off, "Come back....15 minutes"). I started grabbing all the fliers for upcoming shows that were sitting outside. I was going through my enormous pile of these the other day (I collect these things from everywhere I go and the clubs tend to give you another twenty or so when you enter) when I discovered that one of the fliers I grabbed was for J-Wave PLATOn Live. PLATOn is some kind of radio show apparently, but the line up for the show is くるり, サカナクション, and The Pillows...THE PILLOWS! One of the biggest names in Japanese music and one of the few Japanese bands I knew and listened to before I got here. All of their other shows for these two months sold out in a day, but I thought it was worth a shot. Turns out that there were still tickets available and I got one. I am going to see The Pillows (in some sort of capacity). With the show on the 14th, my week long adventures will begin on the 6th.
Yesterday I spent time in both Shibuya and Ginza. I went back to Shibuya because another one of my trusty fliers said that there was an instrument district of shops. I specifically wanted to check out a place called Bass Collection and a place that specialized in synthesizers (I had not been able to find a synth shop in all of Tokyo until then). The Bass Collection was ridiculous. Every high end custom name I had heard of and some that I hadn't. They had Alembics, Ritters, and even a certified 1950 Fender P-bass. Some ran as high as 4,000,000yen ($40,000). I didn't take pictures; I was afraid to. The synth place was the same thing. They had every single high end synth on the market as well as vintage stuff. I messed around on some Minimoogs and threw on some Moogerfooger effects (Moog overload). They also had a Revolution there, which is a 303 knock-off. I love the 303 sound. I wish I could get one, but they go for $1500 on Ebay.
I had never been to Ginza before and I think it was pretty cool. I felt like it had a little more of a Manhatten feel to it, bustling but with a calm sophistication. It isn't like the youthful madness of Shibuya and Harajuku that I have fallen in love with. There I went to the Sony Building and tried out electronics. They had a robot there that I think it's sole purpose was to roll around on the floor in you house, that's it. I also saw this awesome sunset.
Today I checked out Tokyo Dome City for the first time, and went to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku again. The Tokyo Dome City is a shopping/entertainment/amusement park that is right next to the Tokyo Dome. It was raining this morning, so the park was not active. I left without doing too much, but I will be back there to ride the Thunder Dolphin.
The park was much calmer than the first time I went there. I wandered around a bit and then I took this really artsy photo (Um...okay, me).
There was something going on at the stadium by the park.
Dreams Come True is this big pop jazz group in Japan and this is the name of their new album, celebrating their 20th anniversary of their first single. The place was packed, but I checked out the vendors and tailgaters for a little bit.
Speaking of Engrish:
There was some weird stuff this evening. I had a desire for a fruit-tea beverage of some sort, so I went to the convenience store. On the way there was a man passed out on the side walk with a water bottle. Traffic cops who happened to be on the scene were helping him move off of the sidewalk and into a park for children. Speaking of parks for children:
What are you? How do I work you?
Wheeee!
The reason I discovered this park was because Ted Everheart, a class of '09 Sebrugian, told me that visiting a temple or shrine at night is a must while in Japan. I will probably do so again in Kyoto, as that is where the serious shrines are.
The final thing is that today I decided to immerse myself in Japanese youth culture in two ways. First, I finally broke down and went to a McDonald's and had a Teriyaki McBurger. It was delicious. Secondly, this thing caught my eye, and I just had to:
I have bought my first Japanese cellphone strap. I will call him Hitome, a fitting but bad pun. Also I don't think this cereal is sold in the US, so I might have to immerse myself by buying it, and perhaps some Gemnai Flakes.
One of my main endeavors the last couple of days was to work out my travel plans. I have had the itching desire to explore more of Japan, and the Osaka/Kyoto region has been highly recommended. On top of that I want to go see all my friends who will be in Sapporo/Hakodate when they are on break for a long weekend starting on Friday the 10th. With that date only a little more than 2 weeks away I needed to figure out how I was going to get there and when I was going to fit in my Osaka/Kyoto visit. I was really bummed because Japan offers one of the greatest deals for tourists in the world: The JR Rail Pass. This only costs around 30,000yen ($300) and you can ride any rail in Japan (including the bullet trains, just not first class) for an entire week. Unfortunately, you can only get the exchange order for this while you are still abroad (you get a ticket mailed to you in America that you take with you to Japan and get the actual ticket with). I was preoccupied with Dead Week, preparing for the trip and seeing friends that I never got around to this. Fortunately, Thanh had an awesome idea, which was to get the thing online, mail it to my house, and then have my parents mail it here. The JR companies will never know...
I had one more snag I had to figure out. If my Rail Pass week had to encompass at least some of the dates that my friends were on break, when should I be doing the rest of my traveling? The deciding factor came in the form of a gift from the gods. The night I was raving, I was waiting around the Shibuya-O clubs for the Loft to open up (when I first went there, two guys waved me off, "Come back....15 minutes"). I started grabbing all the fliers for upcoming shows that were sitting outside. I was going through my enormous pile of these the other day (I collect these things from everywhere I go and the clubs tend to give you another twenty or so when you enter) when I discovered that one of the fliers I grabbed was for J-Wave PLATOn Live. PLATOn is some kind of radio show apparently, but the line up for the show is くるり, サカナクション, and The Pillows...THE PILLOWS! One of the biggest names in Japanese music and one of the few Japanese bands I knew and listened to before I got here. All of their other shows for these two months sold out in a day, but I thought it was worth a shot. Turns out that there were still tickets available and I got one. I am going to see The Pillows (in some sort of capacity). With the show on the 14th, my week long adventures will begin on the 6th.
Yesterday I spent time in both Shibuya and Ginza. I went back to Shibuya because another one of my trusty fliers said that there was an instrument district of shops. I specifically wanted to check out a place called Bass Collection and a place that specialized in synthesizers (I had not been able to find a synth shop in all of Tokyo until then). The Bass Collection was ridiculous. Every high end custom name I had heard of and some that I hadn't. They had Alembics, Ritters, and even a certified 1950 Fender P-bass. Some ran as high as 4,000,000yen ($40,000). I didn't take pictures; I was afraid to. The synth place was the same thing. They had every single high end synth on the market as well as vintage stuff. I messed around on some Minimoogs and threw on some Moogerfooger effects (Moog overload). They also had a Revolution there, which is a 303 knock-off. I love the 303 sound. I wish I could get one, but they go for $1500 on Ebay.
I had never been to Ginza before and I think it was pretty cool. I felt like it had a little more of a Manhatten feel to it, bustling but with a calm sophistication. It isn't like the youthful madness of Shibuya and Harajuku that I have fallen in love with. There I went to the Sony Building and tried out electronics. They had a robot there that I think it's sole purpose was to roll around on the floor in you house, that's it. I also saw this awesome sunset.
Today I checked out Tokyo Dome City for the first time, and went to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku again. The Tokyo Dome City is a shopping/entertainment/amusement park that is right next to the Tokyo Dome. It was raining this morning, so the park was not active. I left without doing too much, but I will be back there to ride the Thunder Dolphin.
The park was much calmer than the first time I went there. I wandered around a bit and then I took this really artsy photo (Um...okay, me).
There was something going on at the stadium by the park.
Dreams Come True is this big pop jazz group in Japan and this is the name of their new album, celebrating their 20th anniversary of their first single. The place was packed, but I checked out the vendors and tailgaters for a little bit.
Speaking of Engrish:
There was some weird stuff this evening. I had a desire for a fruit-tea beverage of some sort, so I went to the convenience store. On the way there was a man passed out on the side walk with a water bottle. Traffic cops who happened to be on the scene were helping him move off of the sidewalk and into a park for children. Speaking of parks for children:
What are you? How do I work you?
Wheeee!The reason I discovered this park was because Ted Everheart, a class of '09 Sebrugian, told me that visiting a temple or shrine at night is a must while in Japan. I will probably do so again in Kyoto, as that is where the serious shrines are.
The final thing is that today I decided to immerse myself in Japanese youth culture in two ways. First, I finally broke down and went to a McDonald's and had a Teriyaki McBurger. It was delicious. Secondly, this thing caught my eye, and I just had to:
I have bought my first Japanese cellphone strap. I will call him Hitome, a fitting but bad pun. Also I don't think this cereal is sold in the US, so I might have to immerse myself by buying it, and perhaps some Gemnai Flakes.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Let's go have a beach party!
Right off the bat, happy Father's Day dad. It's still Sunday here and it's only close to 11 over there so you probably aren't back from church yet. I tried to find the special dinners commercial again this year, but I couldn't. Instead:
Apparently there aren't many left in the US. The nearest one to us is in Georgia.
So today I actually did go to a beach party in Otadama, by the bay. I was really worried because it was pouring this morning. The venue was called the Otadama Sea Studio, so I wasn't sure if it was an indoor thing or not. I got a little lost and wandered around, but then I found it.
It turns out that the place is a hut right on the beach. The floors inside were sand, so everyone just took off their sandals and danced in their bare feet. If you needed a break, you just went outside and sat by the water.
I came there specifically for two acts. The first was a singer named Hitomi Toi, which in Kanji is 一十三十一, the first Kanji palindrome name I have ever seen. She had a whole band with her and played a pretty good disco set. She definitely had a knack for working the crowd. Some of the songs featured more electronic instruments (bass player switching to a microkorg) and I was a fan of that.
http://www.myspace.com/hitomitoi
The act I was really excited about was De De Mouse, and he did not fail. He came out in some stylish duds and played a seriously dope house set. He was a great performer. He came out and started cracking jokes, and getting the crowd wild. Unlike a lot of DJs, he doesn't stand at the table grooving out by himself. Instead he is dancing, mouthing the lyrics, and being interactive with the audience the whole time. For most of his songs he played synth parts and jumped up on the table a couple of times. The only shame was that his set was a little short.
http://www.myspace.com/dedemouse
A great surprise today was when I figured out I can take videos with my camera. This is all I got before they yelled at me (politely informed me that I can not take photographs). I think this will happen to me a lot in the future.
Apparently there aren't many left in the US. The nearest one to us is in Georgia.So today I actually did go to a beach party in Otadama, by the bay. I was really worried because it was pouring this morning. The venue was called the Otadama Sea Studio, so I wasn't sure if it was an indoor thing or not. I got a little lost and wandered around, but then I found it.
It turns out that the place is a hut right on the beach. The floors inside were sand, so everyone just took off their sandals and danced in their bare feet. If you needed a break, you just went outside and sat by the water.
I came there specifically for two acts. The first was a singer named Hitomi Toi, which in Kanji is 一十三十一, the first Kanji palindrome name I have ever seen. She had a whole band with her and played a pretty good disco set. She definitely had a knack for working the crowd. Some of the songs featured more electronic instruments (bass player switching to a microkorg) and I was a fan of that.
http://www.myspace.com/hitomitoi
The act I was really excited about was De De Mouse, and he did not fail. He came out in some stylish duds and played a seriously dope house set. He was a great performer. He came out and started cracking jokes, and getting the crowd wild. Unlike a lot of DJs, he doesn't stand at the table grooving out by himself. Instead he is dancing, mouthing the lyrics, and being interactive with the audience the whole time. For most of his songs he played synth parts and jumped up on the table a couple of times. The only shame was that his set was a little short.
http://www.myspace.com/dedemouse
A great surprise today was when I figured out I can take videos with my camera. This is all I got before they yelled at me (politely informed me that I can not take photographs). I think this will happen to me a lot in the future.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Last Night
Last night I biked to Shibuya. I had some food and explored a little bit.
At 6 P.M. I went to the Shibuya O-Nest. The opening act was 世武裕子, a pianist singer with modern french composer influences. She even sang in french for a few of the songs. Her compositions were playfully elegant and she had a beautiful voice.
http://www.myspace.com/sebumusique
Next was Mouse on the Keys. I had heard this band in a record store and was very interested to see what they would be like live. They were flawless. Fast and intricate Mathy Jazz with two keyboardist that were never off rhythm (not by a microsecond) and one of the most absurd drummers I have ever seen. They featured Trumpet/Cornet on a bunch of their songs, and the trumpeter was intense as well.
http://www.myspace.com/mouseonthekeys
The headliner was actually an Irish band called Enemies. They were an instrumental post-rock band with a lot of two hand guitar tapping. One of the guitarists would play drums from time to time, and overall they were much more lively than a lot of the bands I have seen here (the bassist jumped into the crowd). The show hit an interesting spot when the other guitarist broke his string, and then frantically changed it while the rest of the band improvised on a vamp.
The show got out around 9:30 P.M.
This gave me just enough time to wander until I found the club called Womb. You see, I had also bought a ticket to see Shadow Dance and a few other DJs. This "show" was actually a rave. It was spectacular. All of the DJs had a different style. First was a DJ called SOBE! who played a lot of modern techno. Second was Poney Poney who played a lot of remixed Hip Hop (my favorite was them pulling out O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature). Then came the featured artist, Shadow Dancer. He was incredible and played a Techno/Trance set but had a lot of break beats, which I love. He also blew me away when he pulled out Blue Monday by New Order. Following Shadow Dancer was Dexpistols, who had a little more of a hardcore edge. At one point they played the intro to Aerodynamic by Daft Punk, slipped into Omen off the new Prodigy album, and then went into Sandstorm. To round out the night was Metal Mouse, who were hard techno. I didn't stick around for their entire set because I knew I had to bike home. When I walked outside, it was light out, but there were still Japanese people strolling about everywhere. The Japanese do not sleep. When I got back I left my previous post.
P.S. If you did not know, the crowds at raves are the friendliest people in the world. People just hug you and want to be your friend.
At 6 P.M. I went to the Shibuya O-Nest. The opening act was 世武裕子, a pianist singer with modern french composer influences. She even sang in french for a few of the songs. Her compositions were playfully elegant and she had a beautiful voice.
http://www.myspace.com/sebumusique
Next was Mouse on the Keys. I had heard this band in a record store and was very interested to see what they would be like live. They were flawless. Fast and intricate Mathy Jazz with two keyboardist that were never off rhythm (not by a microsecond) and one of the most absurd drummers I have ever seen. They featured Trumpet/Cornet on a bunch of their songs, and the trumpeter was intense as well.
http://www.myspace.com/mouseonthekeys
The headliner was actually an Irish band called Enemies. They were an instrumental post-rock band with a lot of two hand guitar tapping. One of the guitarists would play drums from time to time, and overall they were much more lively than a lot of the bands I have seen here (the bassist jumped into the crowd). The show hit an interesting spot when the other guitarist broke his string, and then frantically changed it while the rest of the band improvised on a vamp.
The show got out around 9:30 P.M.
This gave me just enough time to wander until I found the club called Womb. You see, I had also bought a ticket to see Shadow Dance and a few other DJs. This "show" was actually a rave. It was spectacular. All of the DJs had a different style. First was a DJ called SOBE! who played a lot of modern techno. Second was Poney Poney who played a lot of remixed Hip Hop (my favorite was them pulling out O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature). Then came the featured artist, Shadow Dancer. He was incredible and played a Techno/Trance set but had a lot of break beats, which I love. He also blew me away when he pulled out Blue Monday by New Order. Following Shadow Dancer was Dexpistols, who had a little more of a hardcore edge. At one point they played the intro to Aerodynamic by Daft Punk, slipped into Omen off the new Prodigy album, and then went into Sandstorm. To round out the night was Metal Mouse, who were hard techno. I didn't stick around for their entire set because I knew I had to bike home. When I walked outside, it was light out, but there were still Japanese people strolling about everywhere. The Japanese do not sleep. When I got back I left my previous post.
P.S. If you did not know, the crowds at raves are the friendliest people in the world. People just hug you and want to be your friend.
It is 5:52 A.M.
I just walked into my apartment. I am going to sleep now. When I wake up it will be story time.
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