Blog - arcorhyme live and workshop: report
arcorhyme live and workshop: report
Tonight was arcorhyme's live show at Go Slow café in Ikejiri Institute of Design. IID is an old junior high school that has been transformed in design-related offices and spaces of all kinds. For that reason, arcorhyme took the opportinity to give a slight workshop theme to the event, explaining one of their songs and some of Takanami K-tarō's songwriting techniques.
The event being held in a café, there were drinks and some food. I had some great chicken curry for ¥500, and then I ordered a cocktail produced by arcorhyme, named "tsukiyo no hōseki" after the song that was going to be explained, containing some calpis ("calpico"), vodka and Blue Curacao (I think).
The first set was quite straightforward, and contained 4 songs from arcorhyme's albums and also a song from K-taro's solo years. The songs were performed with a backtrack played on CD (using a really cool helicopter-shaped CD player!), over which K-taro played guitar, and Iku played saxophone on a few songs too.
1st set: tsukiyo no hōseki ~Les Bijoutiers du Clair de Lune~ / aoi neko / charade / Takanami K-tarō's kaiten tobira / amai hibi
Then there was a little break, where people from the audience were invited to come speak with K-taro about their own songwriting. Two people had brought a CD-R of their own music, which they listened to on the helicopter player.
This is when I noticed the sound guy... it was Sally Kubota (Les 5-4-3-2-1, Sally Soul Stew)!! I was sitting just nearby so I couldn't resist but to go say hi and that I'm a big fan. I've seen him live last year at his release party. He asked me where I was from, and then told me that he stayed in Vancouver for one month a long time ago!
Then was the 2nd set. This one had more talk, first explaining the parts of the song "tsukiyo no hōseki", and that they cut part of the song for the album because it was too long. They played the longer version with just guitar and vocals. He also said that this song was written some 20 years ago, and that after writing it he had a feeling that he had been influenced by an existing song. He then played The Association's "Goodbye, Columbus" on the CD player. It's a must-check. :)
Next was a big surprise, Pizzicato Five's "Magical Connection" (opening track of album "Couples")!! I'd never have thought I'd ever hear this song live, it was great! K-taro showed his "John B. Sebastian" record which contains the original song, and his "Couples" 12" (a real rarity in record form). He explained that he likes songs that bring a brand new part/melody right at the end.
2nd set: tsukiyo no hōseki (reprise) / tsukiyo no hōseki (ABCDABCDCD version) / Pizzicato Five's Magical Connection / Never Fall In Love Again
Well that was a great show, fun and relaxed! I'm already looking forward to see them live again, maybe in a few weeks when they'll play an afternoon set at Café Après-midi. Oh, and there should be another workshop at the same place in 3 months on June 7. You know I'll be there. :)
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on March 2, 2008 at 00:32 | Tweet
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wow, that sounds wonderful. i'm shocked that they did "magical connection". i'm going to have to dig out couples again. it's one of my favourite albums by p5...
Posted by william on March 2, 2008 at 01:46
Yeah, same here about Couples!! :) I just couldn't believe they were going to do that song, and it was all in duet just like on Couples. They played that one with no backtrack, just guitar. Wonderful!
It was also K-taro who sang it 20 years ago on that album.
Posted by Patrick on March 2, 2008 at 01:59
I see that you go to lots of cool shows in Japan, but I was getting the impression that you're a musician as well. Now that I see what I assume is your notebook in the first picture there, I am sure you are a musician. Which brings me to my question: I see in your notebook that your chords are written in our common "C - D - E - F" alphabetical manner. In the past, particularly with Japanese piano players, I learned that they go by the "Do - Re - Mi - Fa" system when they talk about notes. How does it work, when you're collaborating with Japanese musicains? Do people use "do re mi" or "c d e"?
Does my question make any sense? If not, apologies ;-)
Posted by Shaun on March 3, 2008 at 02:09
Good question! I believe Japanese people use both. When talking about notes they say Do - Re - Mi, but for chord notation in popular music they will most likely use C - D - E.
Also, to mix things up further, classical music titles (e.g. "... in C major") seem to use Japanese notation (ハ ニ ホ ヘ ト イ ロ).
I'm not so much of a musician myself. I've played percussions (timpani, marimba, etc.) in high school, and nowadays I make some lo-fi electronic music.
http://www.chipple.net/glad/
Posted by Patrick on March 3, 2008 at 10:27
Lovely report as usula, Patrick!!
I'd kill to go to Japan and see one of these shows!!!
Posted by Damian on March 3, 2008 at 18:12
You'll be due to come to Japan sooner or later. :)
Posted by Patrick on March 3, 2008 at 19:51
Also, nice to see he played one song from his solo albums... I think it's time for us, P5 maniacs, to reivindicate the 3 excellent solo albums from K-Taro (So So..., Everybody's out Of Town, Life-Size Rock) and other excellent works he's done, like the Chobits OST, the Out Of tune Generation various projects...
K-Taro is amazing!!!!
Posted by Damian on March 3, 2008 at 21:32