from minamiasagaya to everywhere

Hectic Summer

Due to a hectic schedule my last weeks in Tokyo I haven't been, and won't be, able to upgrade the blog for a while. After settling down in Sweden, expect reports on Capsule's release party, Music Inn, the world's fastest rollercoaster, some cafés and some more wicked j-english. It will probably be up at some point in the later half of August.

In the meantime, if you want to feel some Tokyo but happen to be closer to Stockholm or Gothenburg, me and my fellow j-popsters Panache and Neo-Toyota will be throwing our japanese club event oo-e in co-operation with Tokyo Style in Stockholm on August 5 at Södra Teatern, and in co-operation with Tokyo Style in Gothenburg on August 12 at Röda Sten. Yoroshiku!!!

Indiebak vol3 at Edge End 2004-07-17

Again, thanks to everyone who showed up!!! And thanks for another splendid birthday party!!! Especially to Maki for the Lolipop Sonic, Flipper's Guitar, Penny Arcade and Bridge bootlegs!!! Sooo funny to hear Kenji Ozawa's and Keigo Oyamada's awkward "MC-ing" between songs.

Also a special thanks to the tectonic plates in the area which surprised me with a nice jolt of 5,5 on the Richter scale in the afternoon.

30 Minutes Cent Pourcent Francophones
Alain Leprest - Fédérico
Kahimi Karie - Kahimi Au Téléphone
Brigitte Fontaine - Une Fois Mais Pas Deux
Francoise Hardy - Je n'attends Plus Personne
Pierre et Dominique Barouh - La Nuit Des Masques
Katerine - La Joueuse
Alain Leprest - Je Hais Les Gosses
Macdonald Duck Eclair - Ni Le Jazz, Ni Le Kir
Clémentine - Jérémie
Alizée - J'en Ai Marre

日本語での三十分の大体懐かしいミックス
30 minutes of mostly nostalgia in Japanese
Cornelius - Perfect Rainbow
Hideki Kaji - Ivy Ivory Ivy
Hiromix - Cliché
Cymbals - Do You Believe In Magic?
Round Table - Brownie
PICO - I Love You
Sunny Day Service - 恋におちたら
Piana - Voice
Sylvia 55 - World Tour 55
Pictogram Color - Instant Trip

Howdy at Web 2004-07-16

Thanks to everyone who came to Web on Friday!!!
Big shouts to Arai, Gen, Shimada, Yuko, Tomoyo, Kin and that baker guy for an unforgetable birthday party!!! And of course to you who tried to dance to these songs. Most of them don't represent very well what I listen to today, but boy was that fun!

Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
Field Mice - This Love Is Not Wrong
Wannadies - You & Me Song
Popsicle - Sandy
Brainpool - (Let's Get) Lucky In Kentucky
Legends - Make It All Right
Citrus - High Fidelity
Club 8 - People Who Would Go For You
Sonic Coaster Pop - Sunny Side Up!
Macdonald Duck Eclair - Mac Teenage Riot
Blümchen - Heut Ist Mein Tag
Kate Ryan - Désenchantée
ATC - My Heart Beats Like A Drum
Ice MC - Think About The Way
Cappella - Move On Baby
Fun Factory - Take Your Chance
Look Twice - Mr Dance & Mr Groove
Capsule - Idol Fancy
Bad At Bowling - Futari Ha Bowler!
Qypthone - Mission Banana Muffins
Pal@pop - Love Like The Sun

Pictures of quite a remarkable cake later

Cul De Sac 2004-07-10

Thanks everyone who showed up at Udagawa Sweets on Saturday!
The music you heard before, between, and after the concerts was something like this :

Before Vasallo Crab 75 :
Field Mice - Emma's House
Aerospace - A Song For Kenji
Penny Arcade - Blissful Deserted
Mercury Rev - Tonite It Shows
Lambchop - Four Pounds In Two Days
Bonny Billy - Just To See You Smile
Mojave 3 - Prayer For The Paranoid
Arab Strap - Last Orders
Clientele - We Could Walk Together

Before Apila :
Jens Lekman - Do You Remember The Riots?
Magnetic Fields - Busby Berkley Dreams
Tuesday Weld - Anything But Love
Coralie - Oneday Newday
Headphones Remote - Silence In Groove
Plus-Tech Squeeze Box - Hoky-Poky a.la.mode
Two Wheels Good - Bonne Chance
Tahiti 80 - A Love From Outer Space

After Apila :
Orchestra Du Soleil - Spiral
R.E.M. - Airportman
Kahimi Karie - Making Our World
Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry
Piana - Snowbird
Kazumasa Hashimoto - SLD
Ludvig Elblaus - New, yet untitled song
Girls Tape Store - Melt
Embassy - E6
Guitar - Sunkissed
Radio Dept. - Strange Things Will Happen

Hideki Kaji singing on the Grapefruit Moon

Last friday I went to a small café-live by Hideki Kaji together with some friends. Among them Mike and Emi from the funny electronic pop band Mikemi Tablets. I was rather lucky to go there, since the tickets were tricky to come over. You had to sign up on a certain webpage at a certain time and fill in a questionnaire to receive 2 tickets. And somehow both Mike and Emi suceeded. All in all there were probably about 70 people in the Grapfruit Moon Café.

Kaji-kun had troubles with his guitar, so he had to use a substitute for about half the show. I am quite sure that it troubled him more than what it harmed the audience, but even so, he kept apologising for practically anything during the 1h45min long show, and the young girls sitting beside me just kept going "aaahhh!!! kawaiiiii!!!" (kawaii=cute), "nnnnnn!!!" and "mmmmm!!!" with their hands in front of their smiling mouths. Nice to see some real idol worship devoted to a genious like Kaji-kun.

As a Swede, I have to notion Kaji-kun's hysteric Swedophilia. He records most of his material in Sweden together with Swedish musicians, and through putting together compilations with his favourite Swedish artists, he was practically the man who invented the genre "Swedish pops" in Japan in the early 90's. He also puts some of the most Swedish photos I have ever seen on his webpage (apparently he just changed them for some erhmm.. leaves). These leaves lead me up to what I wanted to say. For Kaji-kun, all this putting-Sweden-on-the-Japanese-pop-map was not enough. He even feels he has to give the Japanese popsters a small lesson in the Swedish language. He names his new album, released tomorrow, Löv Songs. Löv, being the Swedish word for leaf, but also with a pronounciation very similar to "Love". You just have to love this man!

Of course he played several songs from the new album, of which I think Holiday In Milan sounded most promising. Further more, the songs from this spring's Good Morning Call Song EP standed very strong beside the older classics like La Boum, Eggstone and My Love, My Milk. And after the show Mike and Emi manage to hand over a demo, actually including a sweet cover of the just mentioned My Love, My Milk, to the man himself. Could it be something new for Felicity?

If you take a look in Hideki's diary on his homepage you'll still see a lot of Sweden.

Pictures from the show later.

Cul de Sac vol.2

Detailed information about the event I'm taking part in on Saturday.
Asobi ni kite kudasai!

CUL DE SAC vol.2
2004.7.10(Sat)at 宇田川SWEETS
Open:19:00. Start:19:30
Tickets:
adv 2300yen(+1drink) door: 2500yen(+1drink)

Live:
Vasallo Crab75,
Apila(guest musician: Jens Ostlund)

DJ: Jens Petersen(from sweden)
Exhibition: Asumi Asama

Information: 宇田川SWEETS　03-3464-4020
http://page.freett.com/apila/

Want to see a map?

Or perhaps a clearer map?

Hoshienglish

Today I woke up to this note on the door to the bathroom in my dormitory (Hoshien).
The prevalence of the boiler that had a frailer will take a week.
Sometimes it's nice to know some Japanese.

Maximum Joy (RIP)

On Sunday, the record store Maximum Joy had its goodbye party, including acoustic lives by Hideki Kaji and Kahimi Karie. An excellent opportunity to see two of the Shibuya-Kei movement's front figures perform in a very tiny place. On Saturday, a certain Oyamada-kun did his VJ-debut at the same place. Unfortunately, I missed out on that...

Nomoto Karia

Two years ago, she served me gin & tonics at Club Oto in Shinjuku.
On Saturday she promoted her debut full lenght album at one of the most chic clubs in Aoyama.

Life could definitely be worse for Nomoto Karia. July 28 is the release date for her album Karly, written and produced by Konishi-san from Pizzicato Five and of course out on his label Readymade International. Her release party is held at the club Orbient's brand new lounge space, Lounge O, but she is not only on its stage. Tonight Nomoto Karia is everywhere. On promotion posters on the walls, on the video projector beside the stage, in the bar when you want to order a drink, and of course on the dance floor when Konishi and Iwamura Manabu DJs after her show.

Her live set includes about six or seven songs, and four different dresses. I am not sure if she is singing live or not, but in either case, there is a peculiar effect on her voice which strikes me somewhere between my stomach and my heart. Please let it sound the same on the cd.

When it's over, Nomoto Karia is touched to tears, but Konishi in the DJ-booth doesn't think it's enough yet. He shouts at her to come back for a re-performance of one of the new songs. And well, if Konishi says something, you'd better obey.

For more thoughts on this event and info about future Nomoto Karia-events, please check out Patrick's blog.

CM In Harajuku

The proof that any foreigner can become a model in Japan.
Come and try Your luck!

Korean TV(I think it's TV)

Korean TV is brilliant!
韓国のテレビは面白そうね！
Watch it here!

Football, Cubismo Grafico Five and Piana

So as what football concerns, last weekend could have shown better results. Alexander Ostlund stopped Robben during the 120 minutes of play, but of course he couldn't do anything when the Dutchman stepped up to score on the last, and decisive, penalty kick.

Then on Sunday, also Denmark was put on the plane back to Scandinavia, this time by a rather boring, but nonetheless effective, Czech team. The Czechs, who in turn was surprisingly eliminated by Greece in the semi-final yesterday. So, probably for the first time ever, one of the two big football tournaments will start and end with the same teams on the pitch. Portugal and Greece. I put all my hopes to the dancing Portugueses.

By the way, after England's loss to Portugal, Japanese TV kept running Beckham's penalty miss on repeat for a looooong time and having people call in to comment on it. It shows quite well who they care about in this country.

Between the set-backs on my tellyscreen, I had some better times in event spaces in Shibuya and Roppongi.

First off, Cubismo Grafico Five played at eggman in Shibuya on last Saturday. I had never seen Chabe's live before, but I knew I shouldn't expect the same feeling as his Cubismo Grafico albums. And yes, Cubismo Grafico Five consists of people from bands like Doping Panda, and CGF is completely different from the music Chabe makes on his own. Chabe has a cold and some symptoms of tinnitus which bothers him, but the band has fun on stage and they rip off covers of Neil&Iraiza's Can I Do It? and Vanessa Paradis' Sunday Mondays, and it's indeed enjoyable.

On Sunday, I got another chance to go to Super Deluxe in Roppongi, where the event Moment was held. The place was filled with people, and it was hot, so I have to thank the nice and spicy ginger ale for the fact that I managed to stay for Piana and Kazumasa Hashimoto.

Piana played the piano, sang with all her body, and was joined by a violin and a cello and it was stunningly beautiful!