Wednesday 27 May 2009

Soundroom vol. 32

by craig


One of the only reasons to go to Roppongi is to go to Super Deluxe, one of Tokyo's only venues where you can pretty much guarantee to see something original and interesting on any night. SOUNDROOM is a monthly event held there with "experimental music from Tokyo that defies categorization."

Monday night's show certainly did have acts that defied categorisation! Colin and I arrived to find a huge area in the centre dedicated to numerous toy and homemade instruments, casio keyboards, synths, radios, lamps and all sorts of toys and unidentifiable stuff. We couldn't wait to hear and see how they were going to be used.


(Photo by Colin)

First up were naph + Tetsuro Yasunaga + aen.
Playing bass in a very nontraditional way was naph who also plays with mondii in RdL, makes music for games and commercials, and has worked with many artists from Tujiko Noriko to Kool Keith.
Tetsuro Yasunaga is from the experimental band helll. He left his bag hanging on his shoulder and played pulsating sounds and sinewaves on what looked like a synth.
Looking like a bicycle courier while twiddling knobs and working from CDs was aen aka Yasufumi Suzuki who runs the Commune Disc label. He is also the organiser of this event.
Together they played strangely engaging improvised noise and ambient sounds.


The all-star (well, experimental music stars) guest band All The Frogs Are Our Weekend started soon after.
Chihei Hatakeyama played noise and ambient guitar sounds with his flying V through a laptop and various pedals.
Eriko Takahashi (elly) from experimental synth unit neohachi sat up front and waved her hands over the synths in her unique style.
naph joined them on bass, and on drums was Tomoyasu Takanishi aka Flower Triangle, keeping things together.
Their songs had some structure but allowed lots of improvisation and trance-inducing spacey drones.

Next, those responsible for the odd objects appeared; OPQ (Takafumi Suzaki) with aritan-bo (Mayumi Arita) and Shibata. First they just played a radio half-tuned to a French language program and picked up random toys here and there, making sounds in a very twee way. But soon it all came together as aritan-bo played guitar under Takafumi who made amazing sounds and melodies on plastic wind instruments and keyboards with Shibata processing tape loops. Together they made some delicate folktronic noise with plastic toy piano tingles, ringing bells, balloon squawking and tossing, distorted voices and plenty of sounds from instruments and things I couldn't name. Loads of fun!

Last was Flower Triangle. Looking like a skinny elf puppet, Tomoyasu jumped from laptop to drums to melodica, playing cool glitchy electronica that everybody seemed to be too tired to concentrate on properly.

I'd definitely recommend Soundroom if you're looking for something different. It's on the last Monday of every month and is only 1000yen.

Also highly recommended and at Super Deluxe is another monthly experimental music event called Test Tone, held on every second or third Tuesday.

The next SOUNDROOM is June 29th. Details.

The next Test Tone is June 9th. Details.


Neohachi uploaded the All The Frogs Are Our Weekend performance. Here's the end:


Here's the end of OPQ:

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Friday 8 May 2009

Funny Band Names

by craig

Over the last few years I've been keeping a list of the band names I've come across which have amused me the most.
These have been taken straight from livehouse schedules, so sometimes the random case/spelling/punctuation are mistakes of the livehouse, but more often than not they are parts the bands' real names. Some of these are good bands by the way, though I have never heard most of them!

Almond toe schooters
Amicable NIKI reservation
ANGRY PENGUIN ROBO
APPLE PANDA KICK
ASIAN BEAUTY MUDER
asphalt frustration
ASSHOLE UNITE
AWESOME DUDE
BABY SHITTER
BAD LOOKING GIRL
Balls Of The DRAGON
Bankrobber Mamma
BARBIE ATTACK DOLL(S)
BATHTUB SHITTER
BEE! BANG! BOO!
BEEF COW KARMA
Before Christ Butterfly
BEN thinks little of sneakers
The Big Machine Bazooka Rocks
Bitch Lunch Box
BITCH ON THE BEACH
the blah,blah,blah
BLAND PEPPER SAUCE
BLOODY CUNT
THE BLUEBLACK PINHEAD ROLL
BOTH CHEESE
BRASSIERE HOOK
Bulldog In Twister
Bunny Girl Piss
BURSTED BOOB
BURST HEAD LOLLIPOP
Bus Stop Mouse
THE BUTTERFLY FROM VENUS
butterfly in the stomach
Camel Vain Ballet
Camille Of The Raspberry Juice
THE CAT FANCLUB
thee catfish Paddy field
Cathy lost one's apricot yesterday
the cement pets
the chef cooks me
CLEAVAGE
contagious orgasm
continuous connoodling
CRAMP THE LADYBUG
CUTTER ACID TACKLE
DARGI SUICIDE MAD PINK
Deadman's Chorizo
DEEP FREEZE MANIA
DELETE YOU PSYCHO
die!!die!!color!!!
DIE YOU BASTARD!
The Dilemma of Hedgehog
DISEASED KIDS
DISTURD
Dizzy up the girls
DJ:Duck Soup Family Club
DJ FUCK RYU
DJ Shhhhh
DREADLOCKFELLOW
Dr.Margarine and his crazy pants
DRUNK GIRLS
dumpy Macho Wife
THE Dust Fellows
Egg Murder
ELECTRIC BAZOOKA
ELECTRIC SLIMY BABIES
enamel the evening calls
Face under cork killers
FAT or DIE
F?C large selection'
fisherman's rubber boots
FRAIL HEAD SQUEEZE
The Freddie Mercury
FREEZE HUDDLE FORMATION
Fuck'n Windows united 101
FUCK THE LOTS OF YOU
The Fuddy Duddie's
Funny-RAT
GAS BILL ASIA
Generation Sex Soda
gentlemen underwear
GODHAND of 3minutes
GOD'S GUTS
golden tampon
GOODBYE ME,HAVE A NICEDAY
Good Dog Happy Men
GO ROCK SEVERAL HATES
GREEN HERB STRAIGHT TEA TIME
GREENPEAS YOUNG
grow a fool
GUILLOTINE TERROR
THE HACKED RABBIT HOUSE
HANDS CLAP GANG
HARD CORE DUDE
HARD?GAY?POLICE
Head Job
HEMP COACHING JUICER
HIGH SCHOOL ORANGE BUS 300%
hippo's pig band
Horny Busted
HOT BITCH'S MARIE
hot hip trampoline school
Impotence Trichomonad
Independent Fuck For Girl
Intelligent minni vanilli
ILL SPAGHETTI
In197666
JACK BLOODY NO SMOKER
jerk eggplant
Jisatsushitaikedoashitashigotoda
Kicking Asshole
kill the poltergeist urban security
THE KITCHEN GIRL UNDERMINE
Large House Satisfaction
Lick a man when he is down
LIFE IS JUST LIKE A CHRISTMAS
Little fats & Swingin' hotshot Party
Little sadistic doors
THE LOONY SAGE GARGOYLE
TheLovinGRAND-DAD
Macbeth the Imprish club
Male Goat
MAY FRY PARASHUTE
melancholy kindergarten
Millions of Jesus
minimal hug
mocidade vagabunda batteria nota 1000
MONGOOSE HELL LAZER
Monky T Ace from Cool Running
monogram gain the mode age
MOP OF HEAD
mush the room
music is good
My Cobra and her heads
THE MY BABY IS A HEADFUCK
my plastic JonBenet doll
The NAF in the SweLL
NAPALM DEATH IS DEAD
Natural Ambient Psychedelic Sex
NICO Touches the Walls
NISEUO cosmic-chang mothership progress
NO FORE PLAY
no-side-whiskers
NO SPEAK ENGLISH
oh my God,you've gone
ONION HEAD CUBE
OPPAI?KIDS
the Oriental bus stop
the oriental mosh pit
PIECE OF BREAD
PINK PARTY POODLES
Poor Midnight Grandma
the powerful banana
PSYCHO FOOD EATERS
Pudding paranoia
pygmy with bitter ends
Quinka, with a Yawn
RED BACTERIA VACUUM
Rice Riot
ruin close reptile
Salmon mousse papa
S AND THE NICOLE KIDMEN(ex.PANICSMILE)
Sanitation Facilities
SATAN'S WC
Sausage Butterfly Pasta Festa
school food punishment
SCORNFUL RAT
screw that comming off
SEX INSTRUCTORS
SEX~VirginKiller~
SHEEEEPS
she might be swimmer
Shit
Shit in the park
Sibelian Hair Madness
SILLY BILLY
SLAPPIN' JAPS
slob
Solid Afro
SORRY FOR A FROG
speedy dark and frozen bitch
SPICY SOCKS
stamp one's feet
still…you turn me on
STUPID BABIES GO MAD
Subway School DISK position
SUPER BAD DUDE
SUPER BEER
SUPER GET GET TWO
Taichi ueno & THE FAMILY VEGETABLE
TANGY BURP
TASMANIAN BABY
TEDDYBEAR UNDEAD
Teenagers Bloody KillinG
that's a no no!
Thousands Birdies'Legs
three weeks old lovesick puppy
TRASH MUFF
THE UNCLE OF GREEN CAR
Uncute
UNSNAPED BRANCH
untitled smells things
up wife
VIBRATE TWO FINGERS
wash?
WET THE BED
WHITE LOSER
WHO SHIT
Who the Bitch
Willing to be CURE
THE WORLD APARTMENT HORROR
Yakisoba Eater With No Chopsticks
YOGURT-pooh
Yum!Yum!ORANGE
1000s of cats
6x9=54
767 not threeseven
←↑Zigzag→↓

Which are your favourites?

More:
Funny Band Names 2
Funny Band Names 3

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Tuesday 5 May 2009

Shibusashirazu Orchestra @ Goodman

by craig

shibusashirazu orchestra 11
Daisuke Fuwa has conducted the Shibusashirazu Orchestra for 20 years, a huge collection of free jazz musicians and dancers. I had heard so much about what an amazing live band they were but never had the chance to see them live. Last night they were playing at Club Goodman in Akihabara so I jumped on my mamachari and pedaled over there. After being distracted by the shiny things in the guitar shop above, we descended the stairs to the tiny livehouse in the basement. It soon filled up with enthusiastic fans and the stage filled up with over 20 musicians and performers; drums, saxophones, trumpets, guitars, bass, keyboards, tuba, dancers, singers, girl waving giant bananas....
shibusashirazu orchestra 5
shibusashirazu orchestra 1 shibusashirazu orchestra 13
The crowd pumped their fists as Shibusashirazu started their first song, a 30 minute half-improvised jazz/ska/rock explosion with long crazy guitar and sax solos. Butoh dancers appeared from nowhere on the platform beside us scaring the girls behind me. Later they played a Kiyoshiro Imawano song as a tribute to the legendary rock singer who recently died of cancer. The sound and energy was amazing coming from the middle aged guys on the stage as they played over 3 hours of fast wild rock-influenced jazz causing even the shyest audience members to dance and wave their hands in the air. I was exhausted.
shibusashirazu orchestra 6 shibusashirazu orchestra 8

There is nothing like a Shibusashirazu Orchestra show. You have to experience it at least once.

They are playing on Sunday May 10 (as Shibusashirazu) at O-Nest supporting moools and nhhmbase. Details.

The Orchestra is also playing at Club Quattro in Shibuya on May 28th. Details.

Shibusashirazu Orchestra are regulars at Fuji Rock Festival and will be playing again this year on day 3 (July 26th). Details.

You can sometimes catch members of the orchestra playing at places like Airegin in Yokohama.

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