Blog - June 2018 Archives

June 2018 Archives

Index

.30 Weekly revue: 2018 week #26 (June 23 to 29)
.25 Weekly revue: 2018 weeks #24-25 (June 9 to 22)
.09 Weekly revue: 2018 week #23 (June 2 to 8)
.02 Weekly revue: 2018 week #22 (May 26 to June 1)

June 30, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 week #26 (June 23 to 29)

Events: - Went to see fireflies at the Shibuya Botanical Garden Fureal. For a few days every year, they open the indoors botanical garden afterhours for free and make it dark so that visitors can admire the fireflies in a natural-like environment. It was my first time to go.

- Also went to a pop-up store by zine shop Vermikko Books and found a few nice books. :)

Food: - Curry lunch at Erick South Masala Diner, Shibuya
- Spanish lunch at Piyototochat, Nishi-Ogikubo
- Strawberry & rhubarb pie at Buik, Aoyama
- Cuban sandwich at Cafe Habana, Daikanyama

Music release news: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Hirose Aina, WHY@DOLL, Way Wave

Playlist: Agata Morio, Modern Choki Choikies, kanojo no Serve & kanojo no Receive, Misola

kanojo no Serve & kanojo no Receive "Service Ace"

This week's videos: Way Wave "Summer Girl"

lyrical school "toko Nuts Return"

June 25, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 weeks #24-25 (June 9 to 22)

Travel: Did a nice trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand! :) Photos are up on Flickr.

Music event: - I went to see singer Agata Morio at La.mama in Shibuya, a venue that has been there since 1982 but it was my first time to go. The place was quite packed and seats already full, but I got a nice place standing at the back with the best view.

The show first featured a set by pianist and singer-songwriter Endō Kyōko who sang several of her own songs, including her recent hit "Wild Flower" that gained popularity from being featured in a TV drama episode. Her voice and personality were charming and her songs great! She has been a songwriter for a long time and I realized that she wrote a song that I love, Hamada Mari (ex-Modern Choki Chokies)'s "futsū de ikō", which I often find myself humming.

Endō Kyōko set list: dare datte mahō ga suki / anata wa tsuyoi hito / hitori ga suki / kanashii Dance / Wild Flower

Agata Morio's show followed, and it was separated in two sets with different styles and band members. The first set was more of his usual style where he leads the show with his guitar and singing, with band members closely following his moves. He performed a cover of "Bluelight Yokohama", and then got the audience to sing along quietly to "taiyō ga kureta umi no hibi". He then went to the piano and started by playing "itoshi no dai6 wakusei". This set finished with "Satō Keiko sensei wa zankoku na hito desukedo", a song that takes for theme a teacher he once had.

Agata Morio set list: okukō no iwa de korogeteru / Bluelight Yokohama / machikado La Yunba / seien yakyoku / taiyo ga kureta ume no hibi / itoshi no dai6 wakusei / Sato Keiko sensei wa zankoku na hito desukedo

The 2nd set was actually a new band, called Agata Morio to Takahashi Hyōri band, and featured two members from band Kuroneko Chelsea, two from Owarikara and one from Mitsu. While Agata-san normally leads his shows (from what I've seen so far at least), in this band he adds his vocals to the tight band sound. That in itself felt like quite a big change! Plus it seems that they've been writing original songs, several of which they played. The set ended with favorite "boku wa tenshi janai yo" and his famous debut song "sekishoku Elegy". It seems their next show will be on July 17 at Mame Romantic in Daikanyama.

Agata Morio to Takahashi Hyōri Band set list: Katabiranosuji ni iseijin o matsu / Time Lag ga itooshii / haru no yoi / hito sarai no uta / boku wa tenshi janai yo / sekishoku Elegy

For the encore members of both bands joined, as well as Endō Kyōko, for duets on "saigo no Dance Step" and "Yuri Collection". Wonderful!

Music release news: Crazy Ken Band, Blue Peppers, Charan-Po-Rantan, lyrical school, Denki Groove, Nakano Aya, Manon

Playlist: hitomitoi, SOLEIL, Sunnky Kubota & Old Lucky Boys, Jintana & Emeralds, Dorian, Inoue Mutsumi, Pizzicato Five, Mira Parameter, Ryusenkei, AGATA Morio & Hachimitsu Pie, etc.

This week's video: MANON feat. Kero Kero Bonito "SWIPE"

June 9, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 week #23 (June 2 to 8)

Goats at work, cutting (eating) the grass in Kunitachi, Tokyo

Food: - Fish fry, mutton kurma, eggplant rice & palak kootu at Dhaba Kunitachi
- Dinner at Yangshang Ajibō, Okachimachi
- Chocolate soft ice cream topped with macaron at Hugo & Victor, Ginza

Music event: I went to a café live by Hoshino Michiru at Weekend Garage Tokyo, a place I sometimes go to for their good hamburgers. She was accompanied by keyboards (Inoue Kaoru of Blue Peppers), guitar (Takenouchi Kazuya) and bass (Yamamoto Ren). The absence of drums actually made things interesting, as the other instruments filled in by playing more rhythmically, resulting in arrangements that felt very unique and charming. Michiru was of course great as always! Aside from singing many songs from her recent albums, she also surprised with a cover of Hirosue Ryōko's "Maji de Koi suru 5byō mae".

1st set: Peaberry o mitsuketara / kono michi / Misty Night, Misty Morning / Sweet Memories (Matsuda Seiko cover) / namae sura shiranai (New song) / Wish On A Starry Night
2nd set: kaze o fukasete / ki ga tsukeba Looking for your love / Cobalt Blue (Blue Peppers) / motto motto motto / Maji de Koi suru 5byō mae (Hirosue Ryōko cover) / shūichi Romance / anettai City
Encore: nagareboshi Rendez-vous

New music: I got Konishi Yasuharu's new boxed set compilation "Brilliant Ideas Works Of Yasuharu Konishi 1986-2018" and it's great! Despite that I knew already knew quite a bit of the songs from the 90's and later, having collected a lot of his works, the boxed set contains many tracks that I could never found and also some previously unreleased rarities and unheard demos. Two small books are included, one with all lyrics, and the other with liner notes and interviews, including ones with his four "manipulators" (Sakamoto Shunsuke, Fukutomi Yukihro, Yoshida Tetsuto and Arai Toshiya) and studio engineer Hirose Osamu. Being such a special release I was hoping for a release in-store event where I could get his autograph, but none was announced. But when I opened the box which contains a lot of goodies, I found an included signed photo! Konishi-san had signed photos in advance one by one for each of the boxed sets..! As you can imagine it must be a quite limited release, and I can't recommend it enough to all of his fans.

Music release news: Saito Neonsign, "Brilliant Ideas Works Of Yasuharu Konishi 1986-2018", Shuntaro Okino

Playlist: Nosa Reina, kanojo no Serve & kanojo no Receive, Hoshino Michiru

This week's video: The Lady Spade "RESTINPEACEANDLOVE"

June 2, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 week #22 (May 26 to June 1)

Food: - 3 curries plate at & Beer, Koenji
- Sunday morning ice cream at Sunday Bake Shop, Hatsudai
- Mok gai and bánh mì at "My Bar" event at DDD, Higashi-Nakano

Music event: I went to an event presented by Milli Milli Bar and titled "Mi sueno" at Roppongi Varit. There was first a solo introduction by Mia Nascimento who played a song on acoustic guitar, and then followed shows by Shion Ai, Hinata Seri (aka Seri-pyon), Her Serves (彼女のサーブ = kanojo no Serve) and Milli Milli Bar. All were very good!

I was excited to see Her Serves for the first time! The concept is rather gimmick, with a mic in one hand and a tennis racket in the other, but the songs are really good with a city pop direction. First album "Service Ace"'s lead song "Racket Love" was written by Indonesian band Ikkubaru. Actually this is normally a unit of two, "kanojo no Serve & kanojo no Receive", but Her Serves also performs many shows on her own. Fun show & great songs! I got their first album there and have been listening to it a lot since! Next time I'll need to see them perform as a duo.

Her Serves set list: Racket Love / suki! ~Love Magic~ / Cheerio! / Wondering Girl

Her Serves (彼女のサーブ)

Last to play was Milli Milli Bar, the band of Brazilian singer Mia Nascimento (ex-Especia) and pianist/composer Yafune Tetsuro with bassist Hishikawa Kōtaro. This time they played with support drummer Tanabe Manaka. Last time I had seen them was at their first show last November. Despite already sounded very fine then, this time they were even tighter and had a great sound, and Mia's stage presence was stunning! Two songs are currently available on iTunes Japan.

Milli Milli Bar set list: Miyuki-dōri / mangetsu no Dance / Call me, catch me / Sandalia Dela / My Sweet Seventeen / asobi hanbun / Laugh Again
Encore: Surprise You

Milli Milli Bar