Blog - November 2018 Archives

November 2018 Archives

Index

.24 Weekly revue: 2018 week #47 (November 17 to 23)
.21 Weekly revue: 2018 week #46 (November 10 to 16)
.10 Weekly revue: 2018 week #45 (November 3 to 9)
.09 Weekly revue: 2018 weeks #43-44 (October 20 to November 2)

November 24, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 week #47 (November 17 to 23)

"SakuSaku" Katsumon, the official character of tonkatsu chain Saboten

Food: - Curry lunch at Dhaba★Kunitachi
- Oden at Tapir, Shin-Ōkubo
- Spice Hut's chicken & oyster curries at Bar Hoshio, Shinjuku
- "German pizza" Flammkuchen at Lecker Maul, Gokokuji
- Strawberry and chocolate ice cream at Tomihisa Ice Cream, Shinjuku

Music events: - On Sunday November 18 was event "Guitar Pop Restaurant vol.40 ~Guitar Pop Festival 2018~" at Koenji High! The event featured many great guitar pop and like-minded bands DJs. I got to see shows by Elektel (feat. Cutie Pai), Spaghetti Vabune!, Tsujibayashi Miho, and two DJ sets by Imai Kentaro (Aprils, CTO LAB., VirtualBoys), and a bit of "yes, mama ok?".

For his DJ booth sets, Imai Kentaro was joined by VirtualBoys and CTO LAB. band mates to give mini live shows! It was my first time hearing VirtualBoys (formed of Imai-kun with Taichi from Genius) and they were great! I got their first CD-R ("VirtualBoys I+II") and I've been listening to it a lot already, almost regretting not getting their more recent other CDs at the same time. The other set was with CTO LAB's polymoog (also of Elektel), and they played mostly songs from latest album "Beyond The Box". I was so happy to hear "Nazo No Enban" (for which I wrote the lyrics) performed live! :) Between these two sets was a great show by Spaghetti Vabune!

After catching a bit of Sugimoto Kiyotaka (orangenoise shortcut)'s show, I went to the other venue upstairs (Amp Café) to get ready for Elektel. Elektel played a fun lounge-y set with large visuals projected on the wall. They were joined by Cutie Pai aka Mayu-chan for three songs, including "miss you" from her latest single (a song arranged by polymoog) and also the pop'n'music track "Le depart a L'Alpe-d'Huez" which featured her scats. She stayed for "Better Sound For Better Kindness" for more scat, a vocal style it's rare to hear Mayu-chan sing live! The set also included brand new song "Moon Race". Great show!

Elektel set list: I love pod / Runway Star / Moon Race (Special ver.) / miss you (Cutie Pai) / Le départ à l'Alpe-d'Huez / Better Sound For Better Kindness

After checking out part of Fujino Manami (ex-Parquets) on the main stage, I went back to Amp Café and caught a show by singer-songwriter Tsujibayashi Miho. I didn't know of her except that I remembered seeing her name in credits (she wrote Hoshino Michiru's "One-Time Love"). Turned out that her show was awesome, featuring herself on piano accompanied a string quartet (two violins, viola and cello). Her songs are great pop tunes with a twist, completed by her somewhat particular voice. She reminded me a bit of Frenesi. She was my best discovery of the day, along with VirtualBoys.

After that I was able to catch the end of "yes, mama ok?"'s show on the main stage. I had seen them twice before in small venues, so it was nice to see them on Koenji High's great stage.

- I went to a café event titled "sorezore no Retro" organized by singer-songwriter/producer Yafune Tetsurō. Held at "BAR? CCO" in Shimokitazawa (it was my first time there), the event featured Yume To Cosme, singer Chimoto Rika and singer-songwriter Kanou Emiri. It was great to see Yume To Cosme again after a while, they performed some of their best songs along with self-covers of ones written for Chelip and Nao (Negicco). Next up was Chimoto Rika, a young singer who sings Shōwa-kayo standards just perfectly. For part of her set, she was accompanied on piano Yafune Tetsuro.

Last on stage was Kanou Emiri, a singer-songwriter who takes influence from the 80's despite her young age. She succeeds in smartly borrowing bits of melodies from famous songs but keeping it all very original. Good dancing too! Watch a live clip from this show below. I got her first CD-R titled "EP.1".

Yume To Cosme set list: Yume To Cosme / deai kashira no ichibyō go / korette koi da to omoun da (self-cover of song written for Chelip) / Happy End o chōdai (self-cover of song written for Nao (Negicco)) / matsuge no saki ni Tomorrow / zettai! Love Motion

Chimoto Rika set list: mizuiro no koi (Amachi Mari cover) / Romance (Iwasaki Hiromi cover) / yumesaki annnainin (Yamaguchi Momoe cover) / machibuse (Miki Seiko cover, written by Yuming) / akai Sweet Pea (Matsuda Seiko cover) / hare tokidoki Kill Me (Watanabe Noriko cover)

Yume To Cosme, Chimoto Rika with Yafune Tatsuro, Kanou Emiri

Music release news: Wack Wack Rhythm Band, Urbangarde, Wakita Monari

This week's video: Emiri Kanou "gomen ne" (Live at BAR? CCO)

SOLEIL Live Tour 2018 Digest

November 21, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 week #46 (November 10 to 16)

Food: - Mutton curry at Tapir, Shin-Okubo
- ShackBurger and cheese fries at Shake Shack, Ebisu
- Mac'n'cheese at Good Meals Shop, Shibuya

Music event: - Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys in-store live event at Barneys New York, Ginza. Preceded by a DJ set of Comoesta Yaegashi, they played songs including "Dentaku" (Kraftwerk cover), "Bla Bla ChaChaCha", "Green Onions", "Tequila", "Peter Gunn", and also with singer (and illustrator) Sorimachi Akira they performed "Dynamite Mambo" and some more! They were also joined by burlesque dancer Miss Cabaretta twice in different outfits. There was also free food and drinks! Thanks!! :)

There will be other free events on November 30 at Barneys New York Shinjuku (from 19:00) and on December 7 at Barneys New York Roppongi (from 18:30). All details here.

Music release news: Wack Wack Rhythm Band, SOLEIL, The Collectors, Negicco, The Pen Friend Club, The Scooters

This week's videos:

Haruko Tajima "More Than Human"

The Collectors "Crime Suspense"

November 10, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 week #45 (November 3 to 9)

Food: - Pizza and more at Massimottavio, Eifukuchō
- Runa's Kitchen's Bengladesh curry at Mame Kujira, Kōenji
- Cheeseburger at Teddy's Bigger Burgers, Harajuku

Music events: - On November 3 was "TBS Radio Fes 2018" in Akasaka. I went to see Wakita Monari, Hoshino Michiru and Kaji Hideki perform on an outdoor stage. Monari-chan and Michiru-chan sang karaoke-style, backed by DJ Michelle Sorry, and Kaji-kun did an acoustic set accompanied by guitarist Ushio Kenta (Otogivanashi). They played 6 songs each, and the whole was a lot of fun!

Wakita Monari set list: Callin' You (Nite in the Groove Mix) / Peppermint Rainbow / Est! Est!! Est!!! / aoi yume / yasashii uso / CUTi-BiL

Hoshino Michiru set list: Unstable Girl / watashi ga obasan ni natte mo / natsu nandashi / suteki ni X'mas Night / koi suru Fortune Cookie / nagareboshi Rendez-vous

Kaji Hideki set list: amai koibito / kimi wa chikara / aki no Olive / Suddenly, Sibylla / kimi no Heart no Natural / La Boum ~My Boum Is Me~

Hoshino Michiru

Music release news: Chikada Haruo

November 9, 2018

Weekly revue: 2018 weeks #43-44 (October 20 to November 2)

Travel: From October 25 to 30 was a very nice trip to Thailand, with for main destination the most northern province and city of Chiang Rai. We first did a short stop in Bangkok where we got to do a bit of shopping and enjoyed a great meal at Meatlicious, and also dropped by Studio Lam and enjoyed a DJ set by Kanehbos (ZudRangMa Records). Then we headed to Chiang Rai and did some sightseeing at the white and blue temples (Wat Rong Kun and Wat Rong Suea Ten), and later spent a night in the mountains of Mae Salong, and then went up to cross the border to Tachileik, Myanmar, and came back to Thailand to see the Golden Triangle where Myanmar and Laos can be seen in one spot. A lot more photos are up on Flickr.

Music events: - On the release day of Nomiya Maki's new album "Shibuya-kei Songbook", which happened to be the day of Halloween (and Shibuya streets were full of costumed people), I went to see her in-store event at Tower Records Shibuya. The event was a talk show with for topic the 25th anniversary of "Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji". They played in chronological order bits of most of the versions she has sung since its first release in 1993. The new album includes a brand new version produced by Konishi Yasuharu! Those who bought the album there got a signed postcard handed directly by Maki. Of course I got one! :)

Versions played: 8cm single ver. / 8cm single B-side remix (by Fukutomi Yukihiro) / "Television Workshop e.p." ver. (probably the most heard version) / "Overdose" ver. ("one year after" with different lyrics) / KCRW live ver. from "Great White Wonder" / "R.I.P." ver. / Nomiya Maki's Billboard Live 2013 live performance / Studio ver. from "What the World Needs Now Is Love" / Bon-odori ver.

- Right after that I rushed to HMV record shop also in Shibuya to see another in-store event by Chikada Haruo whose new album "chō jōdan dakara" was also being released that day. It was mainly a talk event, MC'd by Himeno Tama, after which he sang two songs: "gokigen Cabriolet" and "hana to mitsubachi". I got the new album and his autograph!

Music release news: Record Day 2018, Nagisa Yoko, La Veuve Moustachue, Denki Groove, Takahashi Yukihiro, Learners, Haruko Tajima, Hoshino Michiru, Vacation Three

This week's videos:

Vacation Three "New Voyage"

Haruko Tajima "Miracle Controller"

Chikada Haruo "chō jōdan dakara"

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