Aprils, Hazel Nuts Chocolate, Aira Mitsuki, Furil @ Basement Bar 26 April

Deciding I needed a dose of happy-happy pop, I went down a Shimokitazawa basement to Basement Bar. Surprisingly, the place was chock-a-block with an odd mix of folks.

First up was Furil, who I didn't know anything about and who didn't really help with my need for happy-happy pop. They were a squeaky synthetic karaoke act who took themselves too seriously, but seemed to go down well with the otaku I noticed congregating at the front of the stage.



The otaku didn't quite know how to react to the next performance, Hazel Nuts Chocolate.
Yuppa made a hilarious entry and danced about singing a bunch of Hazel Nuts classics. Although she was singing to a backing track, she also played synth and was joined by Dr Usui from Motocompo on guitar. They were loud, eccentric, danceable and put a smile on my face as they always do.



When Henachoco finished, there was sudden excitement on the otaku front. Patrick, who I ran into at the show, was perfectly correct in guessing they were all there to see Aira Mitsuki, the idoru who was up next. She was an idoru of the Perfume type, and like Perfume, she was actually blessed with some interesting songs, produced by Yasutaka Nakata worshipper, Oonishi Terukado. At first I was admittedly a bit afraid though; a singer who looked like a doll wearing a maid-like dress, her management wearing suits, choreographed dancers, nerds enthusiastically copying the moves.. Was this Shimokitazawa or Akihabara? Well, perhaps Akihabara via Shibuya. Well, via the post-Shibuya-kei techno-pop of the likes of Capsule.
She even did a cover of Cornelius' Star Fruits Surf Rider and even pressed a couple of keys on a synth. Bonus points.
Everything she sang was through a vocoder and she not only sounded, but also looked like a robot. However, this artificiality was indeed intentional and part of what made her interesting.
Quite enjoyable actually. Though those otaku were scary.. But they made a mad dash to the merchandise table after Aira finished, leaving a bit more room for us to enjoy Aprils.



I pulled out the light stick Aprils gave out for free (Oh no! Otaku behaviour! I'm becoming one of them!) and watched Aprils enthusiastically belt out some of their happy-happy pop classics. As usual, they filled the stage with supporting members, lights, smoke, pico-pico-flipper's-guitar-pop and monitors synched up to their songs. No appearance by the giant blue panda this time though. But they did play Pan・da:



Check out the Chipple report of this show.

hazel nuts chocolate, harco, golf at que

by craig

On Friday night I went down to Club Que in Shimokitazawa to see Hazel Nuts Chocolate, Harco and Golf.

Hazel Nuts Chocolate put on a bit of a different show than usual. The singer, Yuppa, was looking a lot more serious than usual and the band seemed to have decided they were a rock band. Still incredibly cute of course, but it seems as if cuteness is becoming less of a part of their style. Their last album, 'Cute', apart from having the most fitting title of all time, had some great silly ditties and crazy Plus-Tech Squeeze Box-like moments. One of my favourite things is how Yuppa tries to fit too many words in a line in her sped-up child-like voice. Anyway, on Friday night it seemed to be all about the guitars and funny rock poses. Definitely the band of the evening. I was grinning like an over-supportive mother throughout the whole performance.



All the young girls who were up the front worshipping Yuppa during Hazel Nuts Chocolate moved back to let the older ladies move up to grin at handsome Harco. I have one of his CDs around somewhere that I bought years ago and liked during my late-90s preppy Japanese pop phase. I've also been listing his shows on Tokyo Gig Guide since it started but had never actually seen him play live. On Friday night he sounded like Hideki Kaji if Hideki Kaji were a kinda boring keyboard-playing singer. Funnily, the best song was one that Harco co-wrote with Kaji. I know Harco is an important Tokyo indie-pop scene veteran but I wasn't really in the mood on Friday night. Not cute enough.

I had been really looking forward to seeing Golf. I really liked their mini-album 'The Gift.' Interesting, quiet, experimental pop. I wanted to see how they would be live, however since they recorded 'The Gift' it seems like they've become more.. just pop. Live, and with their latest mini-album, 'Yellow', the singer has become more confident and his great voice is what leads the band and what could actually make them popular commercially. Seriously, his voice is quite beautiful. But for me, the best thing about them are the sublime moments with trumpets and melodica, or when they incorporate electronic sounds and beats. The rest of the time it's fairly standard guitar pop/rock. They were a tight live band and a friendly-looking bunch of guys and girls. They seemed to be good friends plus a bit nervous so were always looking at each other and smiling and giggling. cute!