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February 20, 2010
MIM exhibition at Bar SiSi
This week we went to Bar SiSi in Tsukiji to see a solo exhibition by MIM, a street artist of the RDK (緑道會 = Ryokudōkai) crew. This is of the same series as the ESOW exhibition we saw at Tri Gallery last month. We were lucky as a good Flickr friend was in town, and this made for the perfect meet-up place!
MIM's artwork mostly involves intriguing characters drawn in his characteristic style, and many of their eyes. I liked that he used gold color in a few pieces. Some pieces on cardboard and some lantern-like ones hanging from the ceiling were low-priced for anyone who wants to take something home, while larger pieces on wood make the best of the show.
After a while we had been there, the artist went to add to an ongoing piece in the corner.
The exhibition goes on until February 27. From March 6 to 20 will be an exhibition by SKEM (also RDK). We were also told that ESOW will be exhibiting again also at Bar SiSi around May.
By the way, Bar SiSi has a master who definitely cares about quality. We had some of the best french fries ever, and my cappuccino was top class stuff. Plus everything is priced at ¥420 (hmm)!
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on February 20, 2010 at 23:22 | Permalink | Tweet | Trackback (0) | Comments (1)
February 7, 2010
The Aprils "Back To The Future Music" release party: report
This week was the release party for The Aprils' 4th album, "Back To The Future Music", out last month. Buying the album gave you right to go to a free show, and even 3 of your friends! What a deal! They did one in Tokyo last Wednesday, and I think today is another in Osaka. Anyone who bought the album could even go to both (if they could make it). :)
Being a "one man show" (only one band playing), they played a full 2 hour show, probably their longest ever!! That's over 20 songs! The band was accompanied most of the time by guitarist Wakky (of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box) and Hase Yasuhiro (of unit Yume to Cosme, previously called Solange et Delphine).
Before going into details, here's the full set list which I got to glimpse at once the show was over.
1st set: Drive My Carpet / Wow! / Back To The Future Music / Play'N Loud / kirameki Moon Diver / ginga tetsudō 999 (Galaxy Express 999) / toki o kakeru shōjo / New Yma Sumac / P.S. Boy Meets Girl / Shine×Shine×Shine×Shine
2nd set: Stainless Girl / Cosmo '80 / LOVE sarigenaku / Metropolitan Museum / Net Surf Music / Time After Time / Santos dōri de koi o shiyō / kaede New Town
1st encore: boku uchū / Pan·da
2nd encore: Astro
The first set was full of songs from the latest album, and also anime covers from the limited edition bonus CD. For "Back To The Future Music" they were joined by special guest Marino who raps on the song, and later by Chee of Spaghetti Vabune for chorus on "Shine×Shine×Shine×Shine". I had actually managed to remember all of the 1st set, but my memory wouldn't last much longer...
During the break there was an announcement that "Cosmo '80" was coming, the song where the audience gets to use their flashing LED sticks, and that those were being sold at the booth. I had brought my old one as I always do for their shows, although this time it had been a while since I had heard this song played live.
The 2nd set started with "Stainless Girl" with another special guest, a laptop computer showed an animated Hatsune Miku (Wikipedia) who was held to a microphone to sing her parts. :) Later for "LOVE sarigenaku" (Creamy Mami ending theme song cover), singer Iguchi Miho seemed to transform into an 80's techno kayō idol. It had also been a long time since I heard "Metropolitan Museum" (a great cover of Ōnuki Taeko)... This is about when I was blown away and forgot everything about the set list.
For the first encore, Imai Kentarō showed up alone with a strange instrument called Omnichord, which he described as an electronic harp. It had a built-in cheap beatbox, and he used it alone to perform "boku uchū" just as heard on the album. Then he was joined by all members and guests (Miku included) plus the giant Gloomy panda, of course for the song "Pan·da"! The song was made longer to fit parts for each of the guests.
They were called back on stage again, and they performed what Imai-kun said was the first song he wrote, "Astro", this one again making me feel very nostalgic!
So yes, we got to hear all of the latest album plus the limited edition bonus CD!! And also many favorites from their previous albums.
I was sad to hear the news that it was the last time my friend Hase-san was playing with them on stage. Imai-kun referred to him as "aka-pen sensei" ("red pen teacher") as when he sends him the chords for a new song, they're often sent back to him with corrections :) and he said that he'll keep asking for his help even if they don't perform together.
Sincere thanks to The Aprils for their great generosity holding this truly awesome show for free!
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
The Aprils' latest video, "Shine×Shine×Shine×Shine"
Posted on February 7, 2010 at 00:23 | Permalink | Tweet | Trackback (0) | Comments (1)
January 26, 2010
Full Swing "Our Song" release party: report
On Sunday was a release party for indies instrumental band Full Swing (MySpace), who released a new (mini-)album "Our Song" earlier this month. This was held at Shimokitazawa's 440, a place I was happy to go back to, with memories of seeing dahlia with the fascinations three years ago.
Full Swing is actually formed of two, Yamaguchi Yukinori on Hammond organ and Yamamachi Kazumi on electric bass, although they seem to usually play accompanied with drums and guitar. Well this time we were treated to a full band of 9 members(!)!
The guest musicians were: Sugata Noriyuki (drums), Kōno Haiji (guitar), Nakamoto Kōichirō (sax., of Bonjour), Tanaka Yūji (sax., of La Turbo), Hattori Yasuhiko (tromb., of Your Song Is Good), Matsuyama Suzuko (tromb., of suzumiki), and Ukawa Tomohiro (pedal steel, of Frisco).
The band's main feature is the Hammond organ that leads all the songs. While many sound like they must be classics from the 60's, just so groovy and catchy, what they played was mostly originals from their 3 albums. Lots of great music! Towards the end of the 2-hour show, they played their arrangement of Disney's "Some Day My Prince Will Come" from the "Mosh Pit On Disney" compilation (2004).
One band that came to mind hearing Full Swing is Wack Wack Rhythm Band, although where Wack Wack is mainly brass, Full Swing is fully organ-powered! At this show I was also really happy to see pedal steel guitar played live, maybe for the first time, a really nice instrument that always intrigued me (ever since hearing Leo LeBlanc on Beck's "Stereopathetic Soul Manure"). Here it had nothing to do with country music though.
Check out this live clip from a show last year, song "Express Train". There's more over at their MySpace.
The band can next be seen for free next Sunday (January 31) at the 5th floor of Shibuya's Tower Records, starting at 15:00. Those who buy album "Our Song" at Tower Shibuya can get a free eco-bag (while supplies last).
They also announced other upcoming shows, including one where they'll be accompanied with vibraphone. I'll keep my eyes open for more from this cool band!
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on January 26, 2010 at 23:55 | Permalink | Tweet | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
January 24, 2010
ESOW solo exhibition
Today we went to catch an exhibition by street artist ESOW, held at Tri Gallery in Ochanomizu. His works are often easily recognizable by the caricaturesque characters. This solo exhibition is titled 「大人のESOW展」 ("otona no ESOW ten", or "adult ESOW exhibition"), as it features slightly more serious works and also his drawings on pottery.
We bought a painting showing ESOW's main character standing over Asakusa with his finger on the top of the upcoming world's tallest tower Tokyo Sky Tree. It can be seen on the Tri Gallery site. This has to be one of the first appearance of the Sky Tree in art? :) ESOW's crew seems heavily focused around the Asakusa area.
As soon as we said we wanted to buy the artwork, he pulled out blank stickers and started drawing. We were very happy to leave with these great gifts:
ESOW's solo exhibition ends this Sunday January 24. Tri Gallery is open from 12:00 to 19:00.
Soon will follow exhibitions by other members of the RDK crew (緑道會 = Ryokudoukai) he's part of. MIM exhibits from February 13 to 27, and SKEM from March 6 to 20, both at Bar SiSi in Tsukiji, from 12:00 to 23:00.
See more photos of ESOW's works in my Flickr gallery.
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on January 24, 2010 at 02:04 | Permalink | Tweet | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
December 26, 2009
Vanilla Beans one-man live: report
On Wednesday I went to see Vanilla Beans who were giving their first "one-man" show at Unit in Daikanyama. Usually that would mean that there's only one band playing, although they ended up having Kinoco Hotel play an opening act, and that turned out to be a decent full set. I had seen both bands together before at an event headlined by Les 5-4-3-2-1 last July (report).
Kinoco Hotel played a full set similar to what I saw in July. They were quite energetic again and announced that their first major album would be coming on February 3rd. They ended up on the same label as Vanilla Beans (Tokuma Japan) which is why they were invited to play here.
Next and last were of course Vanilla Beans. Aside from the instrumental opening for which a guitarist played live, the stage was all Rena and Lisa's. They gave about twice the content of their usual shows, changing outfits twice, and also for the 2nd part they were accompanied by VJ team Enlightenment.
The show was pretty much straight-forward karaoke with the nice choreographies, and just a little bit of talk occasionally (not as much as I expected, which is good). At one point they brought out Tirol chocolates with a Vanilla Beans design and threw many at the audience. I wasn't lucky enough to catch one but my friend Miwa did.
The set lists went like this:
Part 1: ("Nicola" outfits)
Opening~Instrumental~ / sakasaka Circus / Afternoon a Go-Go / ashita wa ashita no natsu ga kuru / Shopping Kirari / happy merry-go-round / a little crying / koi no Theory
Part 2: ("Love & Hate" outfits)
Gamla stan / Love & Hate / kimagure na Palette Type / Tic-Tac / Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji / Nicola
Encore: ("U ♥ Me" outfits)
Nostalgy / U ♥ Me
What I was most happy about was the cover of Pizzicato Five's "Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji" ("the night is still young")!! This song —as well as two other Shibuya-kei covers (Original Love and Kaji Hideki)— was released for download on mobile phone only, and it was the first time I heard it. Won't they finally release these on CD or at least iTunes?
I was hoping for any sort of upcoming release announcement, but nothing. I really hope for more fun releases in 2010.
Watch the digest clip below that was put up on YouTube by the label.
Larger size flower photos at Flickr
Posted on December 26, 2009 at 11:50 | Permalink | Tweet | Trackback (0) | Comments (5)
December 12, 2009
Yoshimori Makoto: live report
On Wednesday I went to Monnaka Tenjō Hall to see a solo piano concert by Yoshimori Makoto, original member of Modern Choki Chokies. I had seen him for the first time in September, opening for Hasebe Novko (report).
Yoshimori Makoto was actually planning to make this show to celebrate the release of his new album, but for some reason the album was delayed until January, so instead of his original plans he decided to give a solo show. This was quite similar to his style I had really liked last time, although the program was quite different. It lasted for about an hour and a half, many songs paced with the right amount of funny talk.
Divided into two sets, the first had a theme of "foreign songs", either from or inspired from other countries. He played instrumental pieces, one from England, about which he recounted a trip to the the UK where he found an ad for a Van Morrison show, and not knowing what he was getting into he traveled 3 hours by train and couldn't even enter because it was sold out. He also played originals that he wrote thinking of Indonesia and Ireland, places he's never been to.
The 2nd set consisted of more songs usually accompanied with vocals. It started with a song with chords that sound like "The Entertainer" but at some points it turns into something different, I remembered hearing this the last time. Then there was a cover of Modern Choki Chokies' "hatsukoi no oka", actually a cover of a song written by jazz pianist and composer Shibuya Takeshi in 1971 and originally sung by Yuki Saori (hear the original here).
He told about when he lived in Osaka in the 80's and was doing a job where he and a singer were like a delivery band, they would be hired to go to homes around Christmas time and play music at parties of people they didn't know. At first they played Christmas songs but soon they got bored and started playing jazz, guessing that if they said "Merry Christmas" at the end of songs nobody would notice. No one ever complained. :) He did a Ray Charles song that he used to play in those days.
The show closed with an encore of Michael Jackson's "Ben".
Yoshimori Makoto will play another show at the same place on January 15, that time truly celebrating the album release. The show will be a bit different featuring 4 different guests.
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on December 12, 2009 at 01:13 | Permalink | Tweet | Trackback (0) | Comments (0)
Continue reading in the December 2009 Archives.
Next entry: "Korg DS-10 Expo 2009 in Tokyo: report" (December 9, 2009 at 00:15)
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