Blog - Soundmatic Circle of Friends vol.4: KAJI Hideki & Arcorhyme live report

Soundmatic Circle of Friends vol.4: Kaji Hideki & Arcorhyme live report

Yesterday was the 4th of Arcorhyme's event series "Soundmatic Circle of Friends", held at Mona Records in Shimokitazawa. Even though I often see them, I couldn't manage to make it to the first 3 of the series for a reason or another. They always invite very interesting artists with a certain similarity in sound or influences, and this time the main guest was Kaji Hideki!

It was my first time to see Kaji-kun live, and I even got to briefly meet him, he was a very friendly and nice guy! He told me that he had been living in England for 5 years but just recently moved back to Tokyo this year.

First things first, the opening act was Everyday People from Osaka, a band that I hadn't heard about before, but it turns out they've been active for 15 years! They had a good soft rock sound with male vocals, and at times reminded me of Original Love. Good show!

Next Kaji Hideki got on stage on his own with just his guitar, and proceeded to perform a greatest hits set, and also two songs that he wrote for the movie "Detroit Metal City" (a manga-inspired film that's full of Shibuya-kei references, just out in theatres). The opening song was actually one he wrote for Chocolat, and he played that one on ukulele. His whole set was very lively and full of laughs, he's really a great entertainer!

Set list: Blue de Happy ga ii (Chocolat) / natsu monogatari / The Heart of the Saturday Night Live / amai koibito (from "Detroit Metal City") / Sally My Love (from "DMC") / August of P. / My Boom Is Me / atarashii Sabot

Next up was Arcorhyme, this time accompanied by Nakayama Tsutomu (a Sony-era Pizzicato Five support musician, who later also played with Original Love) on keyboards. Nakayama-san's piano and organ sounds gave a brand new flavor to Arcorhyme that was really nice. The set focused on songs from album "Soundmatic Brain". Takanami-san played guitar, and singer Ikuyo also played percussions and flute.

Set list: Do you believe in magic / tsukiyo no hōseki / Shadow tail / You really got me / Strawberry decandence / aoi neko / Don't you believe in magic? / amai hibi

Throughout the event they had been screening old foreign movies that have yet to be released in Japan, and at the end of Arcorhyme's set Kaji-kun came back on stage for some talk about movies and also to play two songs from his latest album and mostly instrumental side-project "Hideki Spaghetti" (album out on Spanish label Siesta) that took inspiration from spaghetti western soundtracks. It was the first time he performed songs from this album live, and I really hope he'll consider doing a full Hideki Spaghetti show sometime, because that was really great!

Set list: the pretty young girls from polto / spaghetti men's club

Upon leaving, I bought the Hideki Spaghetti album, and since Kaji-kun was nearby I asked him if he'd give me an autograph, but I'd never have thought this would create a big line-up of about 15 girls all wanting autographs too! I just hope I didn't cause trouble. :)

Kaji Hideki can be caught on stage with YMCK next Wednesday at Shibuya Seco Lounge (details at Tokyo Gig Guide). Arcorhyme will be back at Café Après-midi for monthly free evening sets on September 16 (Tuesday) and October 20 (Monday), it starts at 20:00.

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Posted on August 24, 2008 at 14:51 | Tweet |

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