Froggy Friends

[PV] Veni Vidi Vicious - Sekai ha Kaeru

This quirky/wacky stop-motion video is of one of the newer Veni Vidi Vicious songs off their recently released first mini-album "I Like Beethoven. Especially His Lyrics." As you can easily tell from the band's name and their music, one of their major influences is The Hives. Continuing in the garage punk stylings of that famous Swedish band, this band has been making some noise lately in the Japanese indie rock world.

The past week has been pretty normal. Been working a bit at the restaurant, filling in for my mom while she's been visiting family in Hong Kong. Some of the highlights include the send-off party for Jimmy. There was also a little birthday party held for me by some of the restaurant staff.

Jimmy's send-off party/concert was pretty fun. After work that day, I met up with Jimmy beforehand to catch up and show him all the stuff I was giving him for his trip. Soon after that, we met up with a bunch of the other people who were going and we headed off to the Middle East. It was the first time I had been in the Middle East Downstairs and I have to admit, I was a bit surprised as to the size of the space. It was pretty enormous. Soon after getting a few drinks at the bar, the first band headed up on stage. It was the all-girl band Bad Girlfriend. And boy, were they bad. We're talking, insanely simple 2-3 chord, same lyrics over and over, and no lead guitar bad. I have a feeling the only reasons they were on the tour is their looks and their relationship with the frontman of We Are Scientists. He actually filled in as their drummer during their set.

After Bad Girlfriend finished their way-too-long set, Bear Hands got on. And I have to say, I really liked them. Had a real post-punk/Modest Mouse feel to their sound at times. Real interesting to listen to. It wasn't until almost midnight that We Are Scientists hit the stage, so unfortunately, we had to cut it a bit early, as I had to drive a few people places before heading home. But, definitely a great way to send off Jimmy to Japan. I really hope he has a great time during his orientation in Shinjuku and ultimately his placement in JET. Hopefully, I'll be able to do something similar when my school time is over come this December.

Oh, and as for the other notable event, a bunch of people at work threw my a mini-birthday party. All that pretty much happened was me coming in, getting a cake made out of sushi created for me (AWWWEESOMEE), getting a real cake, and getting a few drinks while I was at in. Cool stuff. It was a nice relaxing birthday for me. Oh, and I got a nice call from Michelle. (WHICH WAS AWESOME.)

-REG

Go to the Ghost of Nonfiction

[PV] susquatch - Ghost

A song off the relatively recently released full-length album "In This World" by the indie rock band susquatch. It's their first full-length, but the band already shows an incredible amount of depth in their music. Blending the musicality of post-rock/shoegaze and the airy and reflective tone in their vocals ultimately creates a sound that reminds me of other post-emo bands such as the defunct Bluebeard. So, if that tips your fancy, I recommend checking them out.

Yeah, a bunch has happened since my last entry. So much so, that I'm not fully confident that I can tell all of it properly in the limited amount of time I have to make this entry. (Technically, I'm supposed to be working on my final papers/midterm I still haven't handed in yet. But you know how that went obviously.) Anyways, I've gone to two different concerts since the last post. I'll start with seeing lostage on the finale of their tour for the recently released album "GO".

I'm not going to lie, lostage was pretty average to me. CLUB QUATTRO was a pretty nifty venue. The sound was pretty nicely set-up. The only complaint I have in regard to the venue is that the drink menu leaves something to be desired. I ended up going with a couple of kids from my program and, don't get me wrong, a good time was had by all. But, even though lostage played a lot of the songs that I liked from their recent releases such as "SUNDAY" and "Bonyuu", something felt missing from the performance. Then, I realized what it was.

Most of the songs that lostage ended up playing were from "DRAMA" onwards. I spend a good portion of the show, waiting/hoping for the band to push back a little further and perhaps play a song like "TELEVISION CITY" or to even a song like "DIG", which would be quite fun and energy-filled. But, it never happened. This ended up making the whole performance sound really..."same"-y. I mean, there were cool moments like bassist/vocalist Gomi Takahisa doing some stage diving. But, overall, the hard-hitting energy that drew me to lostage in the first place seemed absent. I mean, I guess I should have seen it coming, seeing as even though "GO" had some really nice tunes, it wasn't really all that hard-hitting either. Oh, by the way, I totally witnessed other gaijin besides me and my friends at this particular show. And, one of them totally took pictures of the band on stage with her cellphone. (In Japan, in most cases, you're not allowed to take pictures at live shows.) Needless to say, I was pretty peeved that she was doing it, getting away with it, and that I had no chance in hell to get away with it if I tried. Being Asian in a predominately Asian country can really suck sometimes.

Okay, onto Base Ball Bear at their show dubbed "Hibiya Nonfiction". I actually was kind of really late to this show, just making it in time before it started. But, I have to say that even though I didn't really have time to enjoy the view of the park so much as I was running to the venue, Hibiya Park is really nice. If you didn't know, the live took place at the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall, which is in the middle of Hibiya Park. Well, I eventually made it and I have to say it was ridiculously packed. This shouldn't have come to that much of a surprise, seeing as how Base Ball Bear is the most famous band (at least in Japan) that I've seen during my time here. But, I kind of wish I had made it there earlier so I could have gotten a better view. Either way, I've definitely never seen so many Japanese people doing the whole "synchronized pointing" thing at once. The band went through most of their hit songs and some older ones such as "YUME is VISION". They also played some new songs. (As in unreleased songs.) It was definitely fun to see them live. I was also able to get a view gifts for friends back home. Unfortunately, I decided to leave just a little early, so as to make it back at a reasonable time. So, I only was able to catch up to the second encore, which was pretty cool. Ended with "Matsuri no Ato".

Anyways, thus ends my experience with concerts in Japan. It has definitely been a pretty cool experience going to shows here. It should make for a good final paper for my Popular Culture class. (That's right, I'm writing about all this stuff for an academic paper. Kickass.) Hard to believe I only have about 2 weeks left here. But, it should be a fun time, at least after all my work is done. God only knows when that is going to happen.

-REG

Curly Ecstasy in the Mashed Machine

[PV] mothercoat - Curly Mash

Newest song from the indie rock band mothercoat off their first full-length album "Patchwork Shiki". The only other song that I've listened to from them was "galileo" off of the album "interphone", so I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to hear this one. It is much more of a playful and quirky indie pop song that borders on experimental/post-rock. It really reminds me of the song "STROBOLIGHTS" by SUPERCAR. The tone of the music carries through into the video as well, which is nice.

Apologies for the lateness in updating. It's been tough finding new things to post on. Plus, it's been getting kind of crazy busy with all the midterms and the upcoming finals. Ugh. Anyways, I'm sure some of you are wondering how my "ECSTACY IN THE MACHINE" show went. It went, um, swimmingly? Yeah, even though I had a paper and a presentation to do the following day, it's probably the most at ease I've felt at the Japanese concerts I've been going to. And by at ease, I mean not feeling totally awkward while desperately trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing.

In any case, LIQUIDROOM was nice as usual. A funny moment in the beginning was when Ahito Inazawa (the frontman of VOLA) made his way to the DJ booth to run it for a bit and, when people noticed it was him, all of girls got crazy excited and practically bum-rushed the booth. It was kind of funny to see how even Inazawa has rabid fangirls. It really seemed less of actual DJing though, and more of "Inazawa picks random songs he likes and he dances to them. If you like them, you can dance too". But, yeah, eventually, the opening band you're gold, i'm pink made their way to the stage. Can't say I really liked them at all. It was cool that the band had a bit of variety in their instruments. But, they had too much of a unrefined pop sound that ended up reminding me of a Hanson-type band that depends far too much on their looks and their soft and whiny harmonies.

After you're gold, i'm pink finished their short set, Riki Kinoshita from ART-SCHOOL had his turn on the DJ booth while VOLA set up. It was pretty much the same thing as when Inazawa ran the booth. But, I thought it was pretty awesome that Kinoshita picked both "SUNDAY" by lostage and "Coin Laundry" by OGRE YOU ASSHOLE during his DJ session. I was pretty into those two songs. Anyways, eventually, VOLA started their set. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed. I know this is going to sound bad, but I really dislike it when bands just play new songs and don't play any of the songs that they are known for. It leaves me trying to listen to the new songs and not getting into it as much. It didn't help that I wasn't really liking the way the new songs were sounding. There was way too much of Inazawa just dancing and not enough of the delicious twin guitar licks of the past. The one saving grace was that the set was started with "self-defense" moving into "An imitation's superstar". The closing of the set with "Mexico Pub" was pretty awesome too. But, seriously, no "A communication refusal desire" and no "Principle of machine" made me sad.

As I had that long paper and presentation due the following day, I decided that it would be best if I had left after VOLA. My sincere apologies to those who were interested in seeing how ART-SCHOOL was. But, anways, onto the crazy concert week that includes Base Ball Bear, lostage, and possibly even more. Yay. (Also, onto finals. Boo.)

-REG

Young Version OH OH

[PV] POLYSICS - Young OH! OH!

PV for the upcoming single "Young OH! OH!" from Japanese new-wave stalwarts POLYSICS. It's definitely pretty standard affairs from them, which, in this case, isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. The song has everything people have come to expect from POLYSICS: high-energy and infectious tunes. The video is also pretty standard POLYSICS with absolute fun randomness. I actually saw POLYSICS perform this song live at Hibiki Rock Festival last month and I have to say it was pretty awesome.

Last night was version 21.1. And now is the review. It was pretty different than what I was expecting. First of all was the absolute size of it. I've been to STUDIO COAST a couple of times now. Not only were there three separate waiting sections, but I also have to say that the stage floor and the upper decks have never seemed that packed to me before. It was definitely comparable to Hibiki Rock Festival in terms of size, and that show had at least eight bands. This one had only the three and a DJ, which leads me to the other difference. This was my first show where a DJ was present. When I finally got in, I really was surprised to find there was already music playing in the stage area. DJ HIROAKI MAEDA ultimately got to do his thing in between bands, which was awesome in filling up the break-down and set-up time.

The first band that went on was Sakanaction. I really have to say that, after experiencing them live, I have come to the conclusion that their music has to have been strongly influenced from the club scene in Japan. There were many times where I felt like I was in a Shibuya techno club. The opening with the song "Ame(B)" really hammered that point home for me. The crowd was definitely into as well. I've never seen that many people doing the seemingly everyplace synchronized jumping. It seemed like the entire crowd floor was jumping. This really surprised me, seeing as how I had thought Sakanaction was the least well-known out of all the bands on the lineup. The band really ended up impressing me, both in terms of crowd appeal and stage presence.

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE was up next, and I have to say it was a bit disappointing. Before giving people the wrong idea, getting the chance to finally see this band live was definitely awesome. The band brought a lot of their hit songs, kicking their set off with "Coin Laundry" and playing others such as "Flag", "Shiranai Aizu Shiraseru Ko", and "Pinhole". So, I can't say I was disappointed in this regard, although I was kind of hoping for other songs like "Mata Ashita" and "Omajinai". But, maybe because their music isn't very dance-friendly, the energy of the crowd seemed to have died down a bit. I do have to say though that the announcement that they were in the middle of recording seemed to have gotten a good response from OYA fans, including myself.

the telephones ended up closing out the show. And I have to say they couldn't have done a better job with that. Starting off with the infectious and VERY dance-friendly "Love&DISCO", it quickly turned into a ridiculously fun and very interactive set. My personal favorites were "DaDaDa" and the closing with "urban disco". Keyboardist (and cowbell player) Okamoto Nobuaki really stood out as well for his extremely manic onstage dancing. The band apparently also had an encore after their set, but, to be honest, I was just way too drained to stick around for it.

So, yes, version 21.1 definitely ranks as the best show I've gone to in Japan so far. Not only did I get to see three awesome bands and have a great time, I also got an awesome free sticker out of it as well.

-REG

HEART ROCK of NO EVIL

[PV] monokuro - HARD ROCK,HEART ROCK

One could find this catchy little alt-rock number off monokuro's recently released album "CLASSIC". When watching this video, I can't really help but be reminded of (the pillows') Sawao Yamanaka's side-project THE PREDATORS. Stylistically speaking, both in terms of music and even visually, there are definitely some comparisons to be made. Makes sense, seeing as how monokuro is signed onto Sawao's DELICIOUS LABEL. Sawao was also responsible for producing monokuro's new album. Oh well, take it as you will and feel free to check them out if you like.

Let's see, yesterday was pretty eventful. Ended up going to Akihabara with Griffin and picking up a brand spankin' new DSi and a few games to go along with it. I ended up going with Ouendan 2 and the very necessary Kanji Sono Mama Rakubiki Jiten. Also had the chance to go to Mos Burger for the first time ever. At the time, they were promoting donut burgers. Yeah, weird I know. But, nonetheless, it was pretty delicious (albeit expensive as hell). Griffin decided to head back after that, and I ended up heading into Shibuya to do some extra research at Tower Records (AWESOME, right?) for a paper I have to write (and am currently procrastinating on) for my Japanese Popular Culture class. After spending about an hour or so there, I made my way over to Ebisu LIQUIDROOM for NO EVIL NIGHT.

I have to say NO EVIL NIGHT was pretty damn awesome and a great way to end the day. Firstly, I was pleasantly surprised by the set-up of LIQUIDROOM. The actual space itself was a bit bigger than O-NEST, but not up to the same size as STUDIO COAST so it still felt pretty cozy. MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS opened the show with about an hour-long set. Kicking it off with "She is inside,He is outside", the band pretty much went through most of the songs off both their self-titled and "WORLD IS YOURS". One thing I want to mention about this band is that bassist/vocalist Natsuko Miyamoto really looked like a Japanese Karen O (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs) at times, except with the demeanor of a cute Japanese schoolgirl. My only complaint at all about their performance was that the back half of the audience was pretty dead, which is a trend I'm starting to notice with more indie bands here.

Headliners MO'SOME TONEBENDER headed out about 10 mins after MOTFD finished up. Opening the show with "TIGER" (SO AWESOME), quickly followed by "You are Rock'n Roll" and "Unhappy New Age", it was pretty awesome and the entire crowd was definitely into it. The overall swagger that MO'SOME had the entire show definitely added to the fun factor. The band did break up the action with a couple slower songs, but, to be terribly honest, all they ended up doing was breaking up the pace of the show. All in all, it was a pretty fun experience though. Overall, I do have to say that it was one of the louder shows I've been to here though.

Alright, back to that paper that I should be writing.

-REG

Cloudy Skies on the Sound Festival

[PV] DOES - Donten (+ Shura + Subterranean Baby Blues)

The three-piece hard-rock/blues-rock band DOES is featured in this PV/live compilation that was put together on YouTube. The first song, "Donten" (which can be translated to "Cloudy Skies"), serves as a pretty good example of the type of music they generally put out. Almost minimalist in nature, the band serves up ridiculously simple yet catchy rock ballads, depending largely on the vocal stylings of vocalist/guitarist Ujihara Wataru to pull listeners in. I almost want to make comparisons to Nirvana in that regard. So depending on your opinion of the vocals, it will probably be very hit or miss. Also, before anybody bothers to point it out, yes, DOES has become pretty famous for their contributions to the hit anime Gintama.

Okay, time to go into my experience with the highly-anticipated Hibiki Rock Festival 2009 last Wednesday. I have to say for my first actual rock festival, it went pretty well. I also have to say that it went pretty differently than the other shows I've been to so far. The first difference, obviously, was the fact that it rained most of the day, which kinda sucked. It was also packed as the concert sold out (which prevented one of my friends from coming along unfortunately). It was weird seeing STUDIO COAST set up the way it was with food stands, a make-shift second stage outside, and all the people milling about. But, overall, it was definitely a blast.

I got to watch the entire set of te', THE BACK HORN, SPARTA LOCALS, and POLYSICS. Also caught a bit of sleepy.ab on the second stage. POLYSICS was definitely the highlight of the night, as the band always manages to bring out the energy in the crowd. They also manage to always bring out hardcore POLYSICS fans who cosplay in homemade POLYSICS outfits and start mini-mosh pits through a ring-around-the-rosey type move. Needless to say, it was really fun to take part in that. My only complaint was that the bands had way too short sets (~45mins or anywhere from 5-6 songs). I know this is probably because the event was only 6 hours long for 12 bands. But, it still left me wanting more by the end of it, even though I was exhausted.

Also, ended up spending tons of money. A warning for people going to lives in Japan, band t-shirts/merch are usually really expensive. I bought a POLYSICS tee, a SPARTA LOCALS tee, and a 9mm Parabellum Bullet baseball tee, which led to me spending around $70. I know I can justify it in my head, by saying I wouldn't have any other chance of getting those shirts without spending even more on shipping and what not. Either way, not spending that much on band merch again anytime soon...I hope.

-REG

Perfect Garden of AMAZINGNESS

[PV] People In The Box - Kanpekina Niwa

A song from People In The Box's latest mini-album "Bird Hotel", "Kanpekina Niwa" or "Perfect Garden" is an ironic choice for this post. (Details for that coming later.) I was able to get my hands on the album People In The Box released before this one, "Frog Queen", and, judging from that, I have to say that this song is very similar to their other works. Overall, People In the Box generally manage to find a suitable balance between creating a sound pleasant to the ear and a sound that can be interesting from a musical standpoint.

Now onto the irony. Just got back from the trip to Ashinoko Camp Mura. If you don't see the connection between a perfect garden and my trip, just Google image search it and you'll see what I mean. The area around the camp is just amazing to witness. The trip to and from the campsite was a bit long (~3 hours), but it just as amazing as the campsite itself as we got to ride a freakin gondola over the mountains and get the most amazing view of Mt. Fuji. I really have to stop saying amazing now, but that's how fun the trip was. Did I mention that the campsite was right next to a lake(?) and that there were "pirate ships" doing cruises?

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go on said pirate ship because I headed back a little earlier than the others on the trip. The reason for this was so that I could catch the VELTPUNCH/condor44 show in Shibuya. One of my classmates from IES, Brian, managed to catch the show with me, and I have to say a lot of things about the show caught me off guard:
1. In smaller venues, the bands strut in and out the main entrance like it's no big deal. I guess it's because they are more unknown. Either that or Japanese people are really good at holding in their rabid fan behavior.
2. The crowd was even deader than the band apart show. Me and a few others were the only people really getting into it when VELTPUNCH was playing. And even then it was only collective head-bobbing and/or slight movement.
3. VELTPUNCH played for only about an hour. And I didn't stay for condor44 due to my nonchalant feelings towards them and my desire to get back to the dorm at a reasonable time.
4. I totally forgot that there was a drink ticket charge. Thankfully, I didn't put my change pouch in the coinlocker at the time. But, I ended up looking like a concert noob. Awesome. [/sarcasm]
5. VELTPUNCH's Hidenori Naganuma (vocals/guitar) pulled an awesome stage antic move on the last song. ("Your corolla" for interested VELTPUNCH fans.) First, he jumped into the crowd. Then, he jammed out for a bit. Then, he handed his Stratocaster to a random fan who proceeded to jam out on it while Naganuma did his vocals for a good portion. Then, Naganuma took his guitar back and played the rest of the song up until the outro in the crowd. All I have to say is amazing.

Really looking forward to the rest of Golden Week now. Firefly + Serenity marathon with friends, reviewing my Japanese, maybe meeting up with Sabbanban, and, last but certainly not least, going to Hibiki Rock Festival. FUN.

-REG

Concert Ozis

[PV] mudy on the Sakuban - Ozis

PV of the song "Ozis" from the post-rock/instrumental band mudy on the Sakuban. On the first listen, I actually felt that mudy was ridiculously similar to their Japanese post-rock peers te'. But, after listening to them a bit more, there can be similarities in terms of the pace of their music. But the aesthetic feel of the bands is certainly different. Oh, and I particularly got a kick out of this video due to the fact that, unlike in America, those photo booths are EVERYWHERE. I mean, they are almost as common as vending machines over here.

Okay, now onto the (highly?) anticipated report on the concert I went to yesterday. First of all, I have to say that going to a show in Japan definitely feels different from shows in America. I showed up at the venue about an hour before the doors opened like most fans do in America. It's a good thing I did, not because there was a line of people (I'll get to that in a bit), but because they started selling band merch like t-shirts right outside the venue almost a few minutes after I got there. And then they stopped like half an hour later. Another thing that is pretty different that some of you might know about already is the fact that there is no line when it comes to getting into the venue. When you buy your ticket, you are assigned a number. The venue staff will then call you up by number when the doors open. (Hooray for practicing my Japanese numbers.) Also, this might not be the same for everyplace, but the venue I went to forced you to purchase a 500 yen drink ticket upon entering, which you could use at the bar for practically anything on the menu.

As for STUDIO COAST, it looked really nice on the outside, but it really wasn't as big as I expected. The actual size of the stage/floor was about the same as House of Blues (the last venue I went to in the States), but the neat thing is they had what seemed like metal separators (to prevent moshing perhaps?) in the floor. I ended up choosing a spot in the back, as I didn't want to get sucked up in the mosh pit that I was expecting to appear. But, when the show started, it really wasn't as bad as I thought at all. I almost regretted choosing a spot in the back, because all the people in the back were barely moving at all. Everyone seemed to have their own personal space for rocking out. The actual "moshing" seemed more like synchronized jumping and finger pointing. Now, I don't want to generalize the entire Japanese crowd as tame. It might have been because the band I was seeing wasn't a real punk/metal/"rock out" band. Either way, it was really fun, especially for someone like me who gets sick of dealing with the shovers and pushers of a normal American concert.

Oh, and for fans of the band apart, being able to see them live was amazing. When I got to see/hear the transition from "higher" to "amplified my sign" for the first time live, I really couldn't hide the smile on my face at all. Plus, now I totally understand the reason why bassist Hara Osakazu is such a fan favorite with his antics and sense of humor during his running dialogue with the crowd between songs. Getting cheered on for chugging water bottles sums it up pretty nicely. The ending of the first set was pretty cool too. Hara and drummer Kogure Eiichi did a fun little switcheroo during the outro of "beautiful vanity". The final encore of "K. and his bike" was also a nice touch.

Needless to say, I can't wait for the next show I get to go to. (Which is apparently VELTPUNCH and condor44. Nice.)

-REG

P.S. Doing much better in Japanese class now. Yay.