Thursday, 18 June 2009

múm to play TAICOCLUB festival in Kawasaki


The enigmatic Icelandic band múm have been confirmed to play at TAICO CLUB 09 in Kawasaki, along with British electronic duo Plaid, microhouse artist Isolée, and Detroit techno DJ Carl Craig.


Earlier this month was TAICO CLUB at Nagano Kisomura Kodama No Mori, but this year there will be another festival in Kawasaki.

TAICOCLUB '09 KAWASAKI will be held on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of September at Kawasaki Higashi Ogishima East Park.

Ticket information and the full lineup is yet to be announced, but so far the announced lineup is:

múm, SOUTAISEIRIRON, Carl Craig, Theo Parrish (Sound Signature), Plaid (Warp), JAMES HOLDEN, DJ KRUSH & Kazunori Kumagai, isolée, Omar S, PARA, sleeparchive, Sascha Dive, INO hidefumi, LUKE ABBOTT, DJ NOBU (Future Terror)

More info

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Sunday, 14 June 2009

LITE, Boris, Cro-Magnon, nenem @ LiquidRoom, June 12th

by colin


After a rather lengthy walk around the lovely Ebisu gardens and Yebisu beer museum I made my way to the LAUNCHPAD event at the Liquid Room. The Liquid Room is a popular live house in Tokyo and considered to be one of the city’s best. Tonight’s LAUNCHPAD bill included a healthy dose of some of Japans finest trend setters - Nenem, Cro-Magnon and LITE, with Boris headlining the night.

As usual, the gig started on time with the first band of the night walking onto the stage to zero applause or acknowledgement. It was early and sunny outside, so they probably had expected a small crowd.

Nenem are a 5 piece that make some incredibly well crafted songs with bizarre noise samples and guitar rhythms that would grab anyone’s attention. People seemed immediately engaged in their set with songs blending into one another and lots of surprises thrown in randomly for good measure. A really great sound to the whole set I thought. An incredibly skillful guitarist armed with an large selection of effects lead the band and seemed to orchestrate the other members with his nodding head. The performance and sound were both absolutely flawless. The keyboardist positioned himself centre-stage and rightly so; superb talent like his just can't be ignored.

Next up was the brilliantly trendy Cro-Magnon. A Tortoise meets New Order type mash-up which the smallish crowd completely lapped up. The trio appeared quite confident throwing ominous stares out to the crowd. They had the crowd in the palm of their hand and moulded us into their dancing puppets with ease. The addition of a cowbell, drum pads, some pitch shifting tools and a guy busy tweaking knobs on his Korgs really made this more memorable than your average gig. Really enjoyed this even if it leaned a little on the eighties side.

It was time for LITE and I was genuinely pumped for it. I knew LITE quite well and I like their stuff a lot. They were one of few Japanese bands I was quite crazy about before I left for Japan, so I was very excited seeing them play on their native soil. I caught them on their last Irish tour in Dublin’s intimate Whelans venue where they played to about 80 people, mostly people who went by themselves and had nothing better to do on a Monday night, and the average age was 25. Tonight was much different. They were playing on their home turf to the most diverse crowd I had ever seen at a gig. Some people were as young at 18 and I saw some borderline granddads floating around too. Marshall stacks and an impressive drum kit were wheeled onto the stage, which was quite the contrast to the ram-shackled setup they had when I saw them in Dublin where they had presumably rented the gear or borrowed it. Even with that gear they performed one of my favourite Whelans gigs to date. Again, taking to the stage to not even the slightest clap or a "woo!!," LITE broke into a killer rendition of "Ef". Probably my favourite LITE song and they were in top form. The crowd started to roar and it was obvious that most people were here to see them, including a spattering of foreigners. LITE have travelled the world quite a bit now and I am not surprised they have foreigners coming back for seconds. What I like about LITE is that they are not about costumes, gimmicks, fake moustaches, fancy back drops or dry ice. They are the real deal. A scarily talented bunch of guys who play complicated guitar compositions with ease and I'm pretty sure every guitarist that was present tonight felt a little inadequate after LITE's set. I certainly did. The small banter with the crowd was completely not understood by me but they sounded incredibly grateful to be playing the gig and to be acknowledged in a scene that is saturated with rock music. The crowd applauded politely and the crowd pleaser "Human Gift" got a well-deserved airing, transforming the crowd into a flailing limb frenzy. A brilliant band and I cannot wait to see them play with Adebisi Shank on the 15th July in Super Deluxe. The set was over after about 7 songs and I contemplated giving Boris a miss as I was on a high. But I stuck around and I really regret it.

Quite the contrast to LITE's incredibly accomplished and engaging set, Boris performed very loud (I have heard nothing like this since My Bloody Valentine at last years Electric Picnic; I was genuinely scared) drone, psychedelic, stoner rock. They have the long hair, double neck guitars, a sweaty bare-chested drummer, reverby vocals and an overused dry ice machine to go with it all. Their equipment set up was beyond ridiculous and it was just not needed for a 900 capacity venue that was only half-full (many left after LITE's set). It's acceptable to see this at a stadium but not in a venue this small. Enormous Orange PAs dominated the back of the stage towering over the band. The drummer sat on a podium with a huge gong glimmering behind him. I was waiting for heads to spontaneously explode around me during some of their over-the-top self indulgent "wall of sound" efforts. The skill is certainly there. I have no doubt about that but for me Boris's set is 100% style over substance unfortunately.

More photos of LITE:

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Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Fuji Rock Festival 09 per-stage lineup

The Fuji Rock Festival daily lineup has been announced, including a bunch of new additions and the bands for the Rookie A-Go-Go stage. Here it is, with links to the artists' websites/myspaces:

24 July (Friday)

GREEN STAGE
OASIS
PAUL WELLER
PATTI SMITH
Lily Allen
DOVES
WHITE LIES
TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA

WHITE STAGE
The Neville Brothers
ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND
hanaregumi
Chara
EBONY BONES!
GUITAR WOLF

RED MARQUEE
SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO
PEACHES
THE VIRGINS
LOW IQ & THE BEAT BREAKER
M83
CAGE THE ELEPHANT
LONGWAVE

PLANET GROOVE
EYE (BOREDOMS)
GANG GANG DANCE
DIPLO
BURAKA SOM SISTEMA
CRAZE & KLEVER

FIELD OF HEAVEN
clammbon
TORTOISE
JEFF LANG
SAKEROCK
Curly Giraffe
ASA-CHANG & JUNRAY

ORANGE COURT
SYSTEM 7
GONG
orquesta de la luz
Räfven
esne beltza
BOIKOT

ALL NIGHT FUJI
DJ TEI TOWA
KEN ISHII
YOJI (ex. YOJI-BIOMEHANIKA)
DJ TASAKA
NEWDEAL X TAMAKI ROY

CRYSTAL PALACE TENT
Sim Cass / jimbo limbo
WILKO JOHNSON
Baby Soul (Gaz's Rockin' Blues)
icchie SPECIAL SESSION BAND
PRINCE NAOKI (Dun Store Records)
Eli "Paperboy" Reed & The True Loves
Lilly Allen

PALACE ARENA
State Circus of Mongolia

ROOKIE A GO GO
uchikubi gokumon doukoukai
Jaribu Afrobeat Arkestra
SuiseiNoboAz
reito
Harp on mouth sextet

DAY DREAMING
Hiyoshi
uminekosounds (acoustic set)
Predawn
arupachikabuto
haiiro de rossi

25th July (Sat)

GREEN STAGE
FRANZ FERDINAND
BEN HARPER & RELENTLESS 7
JET
UA
SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80
THE BIRTHDAY

WHITE STAGE
PUBLIC ENEMY
BAD BRAINS
ZAZEN BOYS
MELVINS
Kinniku Shoujotai
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
9mm Parabellum Bullet


RED MARQUEE
DINOSAUR JR.
TRASHCAN SINATRAS
COMEBACK MY DAUGHTERS
THE HIGHER
IDA MARIA
FUNERAL PARTY
a flood of circle

TRIBAL CIRCUS
CROOKERS
80kidz
THE SHOES
THE BLOODY BEETROOTS
FAKE BLOOD

FIELD OF HEAVEN
funky METERS
EASY STAR ALL STARS
TheSkaFlames
THE AGGROLITES
COOL WISE MEN
HAYLEY SALES
TOM FREUND

ORANGE COURT
BOOKER T.
SOIL & "PIMP" SESSIONS
PRISCILLA AHN
JUSTIN NOZUKA
Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves
THE INSPECTOR CLUZO

CRYSTAL PALACE TENT
mori masaki (Ego Wrappin')
azuma mitsuyoshi trio +1
TAKKYU ISHINO
Altan Urag
RADICAL MUSIC NETWORK (MESTIZO FIESTA PARTY)
EKD
DIPLO

PALACE ARENA
State Circus of Mongolia

ROOKIE A GO GO
bouzumans
kowarekakeno tape recorders
THE DESCRIPTIONS
KATE SIKORA
nenem

DAY DREAMING
Takuya & Raymond (the samos)
MYSS
orokamonopotechi
Eccy
tamaki ROY
Cypress Ueno & Robert Yoshino
DJ BAKU

26th July (Sun)

GREEN STAGE
WEEZER
FALL OUT BOY
BRAHMAN
JIMMY EAT WORLD
asai kenichi
COBRA STARSHIP
BASEMENT JAXX

WHITE STAGE
RÖYKSOPP
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH
DE DE MOUSE
THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT
HOLY FUCK
POLYSICS

RED MARQUEE
MAXIMO PARK
FRICTION
ROWLAND HOWARD
HiGE
TWISTED WHEEL
CRYING NUT
MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS

SUNDAY SESSION
WILKO JOHNSON
TAKKYU ISHINO
SONNY J
THE JAPANESE POPSTARS
DJ TIM HEALEY

FIELD OF HEAVEN
DISCO BISCUITS
ROVO
sunnyday service
Dachambo
Steve Nieve Band featuring Glenn Tibrook
nakamura mari

ORANGE COURT
SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80
Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra
SOUL FLOWER UNION
zunoukeisatsu
JUANA MOLINA
Altan Urag

CRYSTAL PALACE TENT
watanabe toshimi (TOKYO No.1 SOUL SET/THE ZOO 16)
ASAKUSA JINTA
jimbo limbo
Big Willie's Burlesque
SHACHO (SOIL & "PIMP" SESSIONS)
Räfven
CABARET CATS with JVC FORCE TYO

PALACE ARENA
State Circus of Mongolia

ROOKIE A GO GO
Mahiruno
Gekitetsu
animanimus
THE CENTERHITS
taizan ni asobu

DAY DREAMING
SEINOIZE
MATSUSAKA DAISUKE
ALTZ
YODA


I wonder who else will be added?

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Thursday, 4 June 2009

DOG and theremin show

by craig

Enban is a Koenji institution. A tiny record store stocking independent music by day and a place to see odd music at night. Random gigs here are likely to be more interesting than what's on at most livehouses.

On Monday night it was pretty packed when I entered (about 25 people) so I had to stand between the shelves of 7"s, DVDs and CDs, resting my beer on a stack of homemade CDRs.

A huge dog entered because first up was Inuhiko. Inuhiko is a duo, the Inu half being JON(犬) or in English JON (THE DOG) and the hiko half is well, HIKO. JON(犬) plays pump organ and sings in a child-like voice dressed in an amazing dog costume. HIKO is the drummer from legendary hardcore punk band GAUZE formed in 1981. So it was pump organ, squeaky vocals and muted crazy hardcore drumming complete with double bass pedal! Awesome!

Next, Hayato Tsuji started playing piano while doing some eerie breathing/singing. He was joined by psychedelic guitar shredder Tansch (from ginen tsubame). Hayato could really sing, sometimes sounding like Sigur Rós and other times doing his breathing thing or possessed screaming. Just to make sure it didn't go all Radiohead, Tansch, skinny and pouty with huge hair just as a psych rock guitarist should be, did lots of solos with his amp turned down to 2.

Those who weren't there to see a dog play organ were there to see two Okinawans play theremin and piano. Nori Ubutaka had a cool old Moog theremin which he managed to tame amazingly well and played his original compositions with vocals and piano by the extraordinarily unique Emi Eleonola, diva from the bizarre avant-prog group DEMI SEMI QUAVER. They spent half the set chatting, reminiscing and answering questions from the audience about theremins (How many volts does it run on?).


(from Colin)

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