Sunday, 24 January 2010

Tokyo Gig Guide presents Farm Party #1 on Jan 31st



On Sunday January 31st, Tokyo Gig Guide will hold its first music event.
It will be a bit different than the usual Tokyo gig though.
Tokyo gigs often have heaps of bands playing straight after each other, but at this event there will be three bands spaced out through the evening. Between bands, DJs will be playing some eclectic sets.
Also, it won't be held at a typical livehouse, but at Gamuso, a fun bar/gallery in Asagaya. Gamuso has a bar downstairs and a small live music room upstairs. You can read about it in this Metropolis article.
It will be cheap too, just ¥1000, plus ¥500 for a drink.

The bands playing are Abikyokan, Walkie Talkie In The Cornfield and PSOCASE.


Abikyokan formed around the core trio of Jacob Arntson (Seattle, USA), Grant McGaheran (Sheffield, UK) and Tatsumi Ochiai (Chiba, Japan) in Tokyo in 2004. The band pool a wide variety of influences to create a new avant-pop sound.


Walkie Talkie In The Cornfield is a two-piece Irish/Australian lo-fi experimental electro-pop group which formed last year.


PSOCASE is a Japanese experimental lo-fi duo which combines electronic sounds, guitar, sax, vocals and keyboards. The wonderful Eri Makino will join them for a song.

DJs on the night will be Jake and Grant from Abikyokan, DJ Timebread, and dj craig eee who will also be providing video projections.

The party kicks off at 7pm.

Details here: http://farmparty.tokyogigguide.com

Don't worry by the way, although it's called Farm Party, there won't be any chickens wandering around and there (probably) won't be any barn dancing.

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Thursday, 21 January 2010

You can dance if you want to

by liza

When a show lets out at 9 or 10pm, the excitement is high but the night is still young! What to do then?

When the usual izakaya or bar seems like a buzzkill, there's always getting your dance on. And there are definitely places that play music other than what you'll hear at a Gaspanic horrorshow or Roppongi pick-up joint.

Tokyo Indie
lists these nights in English. (I suppose "indie" is now a genre instead of a way of thinking, but I digress.) I'm not affiliated with this site at all but I'm glad it's there!

This Saturday night, they're throwing a party at Hell's Bar in Sangenjaya. I went to the one in November and had a good time, even though it was really crowded and seems like it will be again. I'm sure the cover charge of "free" has nothing to do with this!

As for other bigger parties -- Hard to Explain is once a month and the location changes sometimes. It's usually good fun with more obscure music toward the beginning of the night and "classics" once everyone is good and liquored up. They used to have bands playing earlier in the evening but I haven't seen any since the night has moved to smaller venues.

Mighty Pop
throws parties in different places. I've been to one at the Chelsea Hotel that had a good opener band and slightly more obscure but good music, but it was quite fashion-y. Lots of people dressed up standing around chain smoking looking bored for awhile. But they loosened up.

Parties listed on Tokyo Dandy seem to be more electro- and fashion-oriented. Haven't been to any yet.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but my late-night standby when all else fails is the Rock no Cocoro bar in Shibuya. The music is not especially "cool" but the people and staff there are usually really nice and like to party. (plus there's no cover!) Stay away from the food though...

Anyway those are the bigger ones, am still sussing out the smaller ones so let's hear it if you know a good one!

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Monday, 18 January 2010

Tweeting from Tokyo Gig Guide

Did you know you can automatically tweet anything from Tokyo Gig Guide including gigs, livehouses and forum posts?
I've moved the icons up to the top left of the page and changed them a bit. You'll see Twitter, Facebook and 'plus' icons.
Click the twitter icon and it will bring you to Twitter with your update already automatically filled out for you tweet.
Click the Facebook icon and it will bring you to Facebook with a post already automatically filled out including a thumbnail.
If you want to use any other social networking, sharing or bookmarking sites, click the plus icon and you will have a choice of over 200 sites.
Speaking of Twitter, if you want to keep track of the latest gigs added to Tokyo Gig Guide, they are automatically tweeted at tgg_latest.

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Saturday, 9 January 2010

New Year's Resolutions & eplus

By Liza

Last year, I made a New Year's resolution I had no trouble keeping!

It was simple -- go to at least one gig a month, be it a major international act, bratty teenage garage band or a non-routine DJ set. And I succeeded in my mission!

I felt good about this because I missed my days of living for shows, before I moved to Tokyo. In my native Florida, gigs are super cheap and start well after work. Plus, there's no language barrier keeping me from discovering new acts (unless you count Spanish!)

However, in Tokyo I found myself working too late for the early-starting shows, and too broke after drinking away my hard-earned yen while lamenting my glorious rock and roll days.

No more! With the help of this site (and a job change!) I'm back on track. Learning a bit of Japanese has also helped, and I discovered the glory of pre-ordering tickets.

As dorky as it feels to buy gig tickets often months in advance (like I did with the Pavement reunion show in April!) it's much better to know I have my tickets to see the bigger international acts and don't have to scramble to a ticket machine on a weekend morning.

Here's a little info on how to use the eplus presale system. You'll need to have a bit of Japanese ability but with the help of a friend or Google translate it's not too difficult.

1. Open up an account with your e-mail address. (it's free)
--Click the "はじめての方" button next to the "Top" button near the top of the screen.
--Scroll down to "会員登録" button on the bottom left and click.
--Hit the yellow button to agree to the terms of service.
--Enter your info. You can pick how you want to pay for tickets. I had trouble getting it to accept my (American) credit card, so I selected the option to pay for and pick up tickets at FamilyMart. (more later)

2. Find the show you want to see. The search bar at the top left of the screen will search by artist, and I find that the names of most foreign artists are in English, not katakana.

3. It will list all the shows for that artist in Japan. Click the yellow button to pick the one you want.

4. Here's the page for an upcoming show of the very excellent Shibusashirazu Orchestra (渋さ知らズオーケストラ). You can see the venue (with venue info button underneath) , then the date, then the info we want: the pre-order period ("プレオーダー" is the magic word), and then the public on-sale date. Looks like this show is available for pre-order Jan. 22-28, and general on-sale from Feb. 13.

5. Now here's where you'll have to take my word on things. Click the yellow button to select this show. You'll only have the option to do the pre-order during the designated period, exactly at the times listed.

6. Click the button to say you want to pre-order, and you'll be prompted to log in (if you haven't already, sometimes it asks you earlier!) Log in, enter the number of tickets you want and confirm.
-- What you're doing now is entering a lottery for a set number of pre-order tickets. You'll get an e-mail confirming this -- make sure you get the e-mail or you haven't entered!
--The e-mail will tell you when you can check the site back to find out if you got the tickets.
--There's a fee of probably 210 yen a ticket when you do the pre-order, along with some "service" fee.

7. You'll get another e-mail telling you if you got the tickets, or you can log back in to eplus at the customer page to see the status of your application. ("会員の方" button at top menu bar, then the ">>申込み状況照会" option.)

8. Pick the show, and you'll see the price info. You'll also get a date when the money is due, if you're paying at FamilyMart like I did. Here's the tricky part: you'll need to click on the bigger yellow button at the end of the show info, and this should go to another screen showing the name of your chosen payment convini chain. Click the yellow button next to it.

9. I recommend printing out this next screen. You will need to enter this number in the convini ticket machine in order to pay for the show. The bottom of it shows the screens to touch on the machine in order to get to your personal payment screen -- you can't just enter the number in the regular ticket lookup number section. The convini clerk can help you.

10. Pay for the show at the convini. The clerk will give you a receipt, but you probably can't print out the tickets just yet -- it seems like you have to wait until the general on-sale to print them out.

11. Bring your magic number back to the convini after the date you're told and you can get a slip for printing out your presale tickets. Don't worry if you lose the printout with your number on it; you can always go back to eplus and access your number.

12. Enjoy your show in like, 6 months' time!

Way uncool I know but better than stressing out the morning the tickets go on-sale! I've seen bigger international acts sell out small venues (like Liquid Room in Ebisu) in a couple of hours.

I hope this info has been helpful! Does anyone else have any gig-related resolutions?

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Monday, 21 December 2009

New Year's Eve Guide 2009-2010

There are plenty of things to do in Tokyo to celebrate the new year. Here are the Tokyo Gig Guide recommended countdown parties

Festival


COUNTDOWN JAPAN 09/10
WHO? capsule, RYUKYUDISKO, POLYSICS, Shugo Tokumaru, GO!GO!7188, Superfly, Elephant Kashimashi, HALCALI, MOGOL800, the telephones, detroit7
On the 28th - Ryuichi Sakamoto and Perfume
WHERE? Makuhari Messe
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2188

Dance



ELECTRONIC TRIBE - YEBISU NEW YEAR'S PARTY 2010
WHO? Laurent Garnier, Mixmaster Morris aka The Irresistable Force, DJ Krush, 80KIDZ, DJ Baku, Daniel Wang, Kenji Takimi (Crue-L), Calm, DJ Kyoko, Ametsub
WHERE? Ebisu Garden Hall
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2197

ageHa COUNTDOWN 2010
WHO? BOOM BOOM SATELLITES, KEN ISHII, DJ EMMA, DEXPISTOLS, DISCO TWINS, The SAMOS, MYSS, more
WHERE? ageHa in Shin-Kiba
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2147



AIR NEW YEAR'S EVE COUNTDOWN TO 2010
WHO? SATOSHI TOMIIE, HECTOR ROMERO, RADIO SLAVE, DJ ENDO, YUMMY, ANRI, more
WHERE? AIR in Daikanyama
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2204



2010 LIQUID
WHO? Takkyu Ishino, Fumiya Tanaka, Tohru Takahashi, DJ WADA, DJ NORI, MOODMAN, more
WHERE? Liquid Room in Ebisu
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2199

BLUE WINDY NIGHT 2009−2010 COUNT DOWN SPECIAL
WHO? DJ NORI, Toshio Matsuura, Shuya Okino, De De Mouse, Yama a.k.a.Sahib, Eiji Takehana, more
WHERE? Mado Lounge & Tokyo City View in Roppongi
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2198

WOMB presents NEW YEAR COUNTDOWN 2010
WHO? JEFF MILLS, AKi, TECHRIDERS, OHNISHI, AKR, RYUSUKE NAKAMURA, Dr.SHINGO, SATOSHI OTSUKI, TAKUYA, more
WHERE? Womb in Shibuya
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2042

Different

COUNTDOWN 2009>2010 @ O-EAST
WHO? Shibusashirazu Orchestra, TURTLE ISLAND, Soul Flower Union, NATSUMEN, DJ KENSEI, more
WHERE? O-East in Shibuya
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2201



ENBAN NO YUKU-TOSHI KURU-TOSHI
WHO? Maruo Maruko (from Kyoto), FREAKOUT FAN CLUB, Shigehiko Matsui, Johnny Okura Daijin (Suichu Sorewa Kurushii), Fumihito Taguchi, ju sei, Kitamura Sakiko, mamimi fouksong, 2コ (eetsuu), TABATA, Suzuki Junzo, JON (THE DOG), Ritsuko Sakata (pagtas) + Saitto Elettrico, purin no tameiki, suppa band nanika, OPQ, MY PAL FOOT FOOT, Takashi Ueno (Tenniscoats)
WHERE? Enban in Koenji
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2106

KAN MIKAMI COUNTDOWN LIVE
WHO? Kan Mikami & guests
WHERE? Muryoku Muzenji in Koenji
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2200

Punk

BURNING SPIRITS 2010 YEAR END EVE
WHO? Tetsu Array, EXTINCT GOVERNMENT, WAR HEAD, 九狼吽 (CLOWN), THE TRASH, SLIP HEAD BUTT, NO PROBLEM, more
WHERE? Antiknock in Shinjuku
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2205



2009/2010 COUNT DOWN LIVE ATOMIC NITE THE FINAL
WHO? FRAGMENTS, ED WOODS, BRAZIL UFO, TOKYO-RYOZANPAKU, mohipuri, GOLGO BUTCH, more
WHERE? Heaven's Door in Sangenjaya
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2203



Beat Happening SPECIAL!~COUNT DOWN TO HAPPENING!
WHO? STRIKERS, NeZuMiHaNaBi, Analogue Jidai, NaLas, Tsubaki, ELECTRIC EEL SHOCK, URBANfeti, the HANGOVERS, asunarou
WHERE? Lush in Shibuya
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2207

Rock



SHIBUYA YANEURA YEAR END SPECIAL 2009→2010
WHO? PLATON, Tsubaki, Sonic Attacks Blaster, UNDER THE COUNTER, Fuzz Picks, POP CHOCOLAT, Sexy Panther, FRESUBT, BAZRA, Bob&Carnivals, Techma!, more
WHERE? Shibuya Yaneura
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2038

SWAN SONG COUNCIL vol.11
WHO? about tess, birds melt sky, Far France, fukurouzu, henrytennis, hinomari, JUGONZ, mothercoat, oak, SuiseiNoboAz, more
2009/12/29 to 31
WHERE? AT SHINJUKU MARZ + Motion
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/1883

COUNT DOWN at Zher the ZOO 1st round ~DELICIOUS BUMP SHOW!!~
WHO? the pillows, noodles, POP CHOCOLAT, monokuro
WHERE? Zher The Zoo in Yoyogi
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2025


We Jam Econo '09
WHO? Mike Watt's (Minutemen) new band brother's sister's daughter, Yuka Honda (cibo Matto) and nels cline's (Wilco) project stadium kitchen, COMBOPIANO, LITE, Qomolangma Tomato, kuruucrew, Samm Bennett, more
WHERE? ERA in Shimokitazawa
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2202

BASEMENT BAR COUNT DOWN PARTY 2009>2010
WHO? SUNN, kingnurarihyong, mop of head, yuguretoronica, DEDESUKE, pocketlife, salsa, Zews, highered-girl, the highest, Creepy pop
WHERE? Basement Bar in Shimokitazawa
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2206

TENSAW COUNTDOWN 2010
WHO? TENSAW (SAYBOW, Take, michiaki, GRICO)
WHERE? Showboat in Koenji
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2184

Jazz


ALL NIGHT CONCERT 2009~2010
WHO? Shun Sakai Group, Takeshi Shibuya Orchestra, EMERGENCY!, Fumio Karashima Quintet, HIROSHI MINAMI Trio+1, Yoichi Murata Orchestra, Fumio Itabashi+4
WHERE? Pit Inn in Shinjuku
http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/2189

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Monday, 30 November 2009

LiveHouse☆Map

I recently discovered a very handy website called LiveHouse☆Map which shows videos of people walking to livehouses from the nearest train stations.
Livehouses are often difficult to find and the maps are hard to decipher, so if you watch one of these videos before you go to a livehouse for the first time, you should feel more familiar with the route. Remember, you can also check Google Street View too.
LiveHouse☆Map is in Japanese but isn't too hard to follow even if you don't understand the language.
It seems to have some connection with the pop band Cosmic Airplane whose music can be heard in the background of the videos. I think the guides are members of the band too.
There are currently guides to 67 livehouses and while that is only a fraction of the venues out there (for example, Tokyo Gig Guide lists 340 venues), it is quite an achievment and includes all the main Tokyo clubs. I have added links to them on the livehouse pages of Tokyo Gig Guide.

Here is my favourite video. It's directions to Fever, which is directly in front of Shindaita station. He just crosses the road!

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Thursday, 19 November 2009

Lightning Bolt

Fever in Shindaita (one stop from Shimokitazawa) is a new and promising livehouse. A decent size, though sold out and jam-packed tonight, with a side bar outside the live area which you can escape to during dull bands. Before the show, lots of gig-goers were hanging around the front and the nearby convenience store drinking beer so let's hope complaints from neighbours don't have any effect on the place.

First up were legendary Japanese masters of noise Incapacitants who I was very excited to finally get the chance to see. Wow. Ever since I first came to Japan, I'd been wanting to see some real live pure noise music, and I have seen a lot of live noise since I've been here, but this, these guys, they are it. Two older guys with side parts, regular workers during the day, who have been making noise since the early eighties. There were loads of odd effects, feedback, sheets of metal, bizarre microphone-things, and the they were encouraged into further craziness by the fans at the front (mostly by Dave). I loved the guy on the right's (Fumio?) T-shirt with a crossed-out musical note printed on the front.



Ten people spread out across the stage for the next band, Surfers of Romantica, and they all looked like a hodge-podge collection of members of skate-punk, funk, rap, hippy, kraut-rock and jam bands. They ended up sounding heavily influenced by the last couple of Boredoms albums, but not quite as interesting. The songs never seemed to actually start and the singer did lots of posing but hardly acually sang. It was time to try some of the beer in the other bar.

DMBQ did their usual hilarious loud psychedelic rock 'n roll freak out with all the best rockstar poses and wah-wah solos. For the last song they managed to get the drummer and his drumkit on top of the crowd and actually play! Madness.



We knew that Lightning Bolt wouldn't be playing on the stage so we tried to position ourselves in a place where we would be able to see them, not knowing where they would set up. Somehow I managed to find myself directly in front of the drummer, spending the whole set struggling to hold the people back behind me and not fall onto the drumkit. All-out loud craziness. Sweat everywhere. They played songs from their new album, some from their old albums and lots I didn't recognise. Loads of energy and noise. Brian Gibson just stood there all nonchalant as he played wild sounds on the bass and banjo strings on his instrument through all those overdrive, octave, wah and effects pedals. Brain Chippendale went wild on his two snare, no high-hats drum setup being held together by the audience members in front of him.











I could hardly hear the next day.

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Wednesday, 28 October 2009

13complex vol.13 on Nov 1st



The 13th 13complex event will be this Sunday. Ooh, two thirteens the day after halloween... Nothing scary at this event though. It will be a great day of quiet original music.

Live musicians:



sheeprint
A quiet delicate pop unit with female vocals.
http://www.myspace.com/sheeprint

Akalcry
Acoustic and electronic trio.
http://www.myspace.com/akalcry

Ware Ware (我々)
Brazilian influenced instrumental pop duo playing classical guitar and bandolim.
http://www.wareware.jp/

Makino Eri
The event organiser, Eri will play her lovely sparse experimental folktronica.
http://www.makinoeri.com/
http://www.myspace.com/erimakino

DJs during the day will be:



DJ Niagara, caolwave, qutti, Mu-tan, DJ craig eee, and tsuma-saki.

Kamishibai artists matocotoshuco will entertain everyone with their paper show.




There will be exhibitions by aion, ham&ex, IOЯI, kaede mira, rib, SAKURAYAMA, 83, シュトーリョー (matocotoshuco), Terajima Daisuke, and more.

It will be held in Jiyugaoka at gallery size #401, a gallery, not a livehouse, so the quiet sounds of the participating artists should suit the space well.
Address: A&D House room #401, Jiyugaoka 2-15-10, Meguro-ku, Tokyo.

For tickets, send your name and the number of tickets required to a.chain.brick.yard@gmail.com
It costs 2000yen which includes a drink and canapes!

It will kick off at 2pm and go until 8pm.

More info:
http://13complex.makinoeri.velvet.jp/

http://www.tokyogigguide.com/gigs/details/1801

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=158422061198

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Monday, 19 October 2009

LITE - Turns Red EP


LITE have gone in a bit of a different direction for their latest release, Turns Red, released on their new label I Want The Moon.

Before, this instrumental math-rock band were all about guitars. Now, it seems they are all about synths. You'll still find their building Mogwai-like songs, but with a bit of Trans Am thrown in.

Turns Red was recorded by J Robbins of Jawbox in Baltimore during LITE's first US tour with Mike Watt and The Missingmen in May 2009.

The cool clear cover was designed by Koonklung Kouputhai aka Klung from B.O.R.E.D. Design. I bought a great B.O.R.E.D. t-shirt when he VJed at Super-Deluxe.

Tracklist:
1. The Sun Sank (video below)
2. Tomato
3. Vermillion



LITE homepage
LITE myspace
Turns Red on Amazon Japan

Upcoming LITE shows:

28 Oct at Club Quattro with tera melos (from US), Adebisi Shank (from Ireland), Overground Acoustic Underground and Natsumen. Details

3 Nov at Alive Kashiwa with lostage, DEEPSLAUTER and WE ARE! Details

23 Nov at ERA with 9dw and rega. Details

24 Nov at ERA with avengers in sci-fi and papier tigre (from France). Details

9 Dec at Chiba Look with VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE and camellia. Details

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Wednesday, 7 October 2009

Girls and boys at Highti

I searched the industrial area along the Arakawa, riding my bike around some rusty buildings stinking of cooking oil until someone finally pointed out the abandoned-looking building Highti was in. No sign, no signs of life. A rickety stairwell lead to a makeshift space on the second floor, lit by a couple of bare lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. I put my 500yen donation in the cup and bought some 200yen cans of happoshu.



First up was legend of the Tokyo underground scene, Samm Bennett, tonight playing some great bluesy American folk on his amazing instrument called the strumstick.



Samm was joined by his wife Haruna Ito next for SKIST. They played experimental drones, rhythms, harmonies and hums with various toys, fans, unusual instruments, bassdrum, walkie-talkies, strumstick, vocals, loops, effects and bits of plastic.



Two girl-boy duos form Brisbane in Australia played next. The first was Do The Robot, sitting across from each other and singing to each other, her on toy keyboard and sampler, and him on shoegazey guitar. Very sweet indie pop. More gorgeous shoegaze guitars were next with The Rational Academy who usually play as a louder band but were performing tonight as a 2 piece. Delicate vocals and music to make you melt, or dance as Samm's daughter was doing.



Just to throw things way back out there and remind us we were in a semi-ruined building in the middle of nowhere, the incredibly odd ju sei played next. Another male-female duo, they both sang and yelped and made great sweet weird incredibly original pop. Where do they come from?



Hard to find and no beer at the bar, but otherwise Highti was a great underground music and art spot I'm keen to visit again. I'd never been to a place quite like it.

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Monday, 28 September 2009

Sound Gardening #3



Arriving at the peaceful Kiyosumi gardens, I couldn't imagine how the Sound Gardening #3 experimental music event could be held here. The old lady at the entrance pointed us to the Kiyosumi-Teien Ryotei Tea Pavillon, a tea-house overlooking the pond at the back of the park. I peaked inside and didn't see any amps or speakers anywhere, but upon entering it all became clear - on cushions on the tatami floor were dozens of headphones!




We made ourselves comfortable on the floor, donned the headphones and enjoyed the first performance by Living Astro. They fiddled with knobs and played samples and beats, as well as playing bass and electric guitar through effects. Why their guitars had no heads, I don't know. Maybe they also play in a metal band? Thankfully they weren't too loud, seeing as we had no volume control on our headphones. I enjoyed their experimental/electronic/sample music which reminded me of Dymaxion.




After a brief orange juice and raisin break, veteran sample-based composer Carl Stone got on his laptop and produced a long minimal piece from a voice sample and various building, droning sounds. I stretched out on the tatami, closed my eyes and the meditative music had me dreaming of carp and clouds and moss. I couldn't imagine a better setting for such music, a piece Carl had composed specifically for the atmosphere of the tea house.

Sound Gardening is a regular event held in the Kiyosumi pavillon about once every two months. Look out for the next one on Tokyo Gig Guide and get tickets early, because seats are limited to 35.

Carl Stone will be playing in a trio with Otomo Yoshihide and Keiichiro Shibuya on October 16th at Super Deluxe. Details.

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Monday, 14 September 2009

Free MP3s: matryoshka


Matryoshka are a beautiful Japanese ambient post-rock band who released an album called Zatracenie in 2007.

All but two of the tracks are available for free download from last.fm:

(right click and "save link as" to download)

1. Sink into the Sin
2. Slow Snow
3. Evening Gleam Between Clouds
4. Viridian
7. Anesthetic
8. Ezekiel
9. Beyond
10. February Lifesaver

Earlier this year they released a great remix album, Coctura with remixes by the likes of aus, world's end girlfriend and tujiko noriko. Highly, highly recommended.
Here is track 10:

10. February Lifesaver (November Version)

They have a new album which is supposed to be released sometime this year.
Demo versions of some of the songs are available for free download:

1.Oblivion
2. Hallucinatory Halo
3. Gentle Afternoon
4. Monotonous Purgatory
5. Niedola

Unfortunately, they don't seem to play live very often. But if they announce any gigs, they'll definitely be listed on Tokyo Gig Guide!

Matryoshka homepage
Myspace

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