Posts Tagged ‘live report’
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 by Victoria Goldenberg
Dance music usually evokes an image of communality—people shaking and grinding in a club to a recognizable pop song, possibly remixed. Miho Hatori’s take with her band New Optimism is about dance as an individual, cathartic expression. Alternately swaying gracefully and thrusting her fists to surreal music with tribal-sounding rhythms, the ex-Cibo Matto singer turned the personal into performance at New York City’s Santos Party House on Oct. 16. Even when audience members joined Hatori onstage at her request, each displayed an idiosyncratic dance style instead of moshing collectively. (Costumed musician-designer Bad Brilliance stole the show, headbanging with the giant, yellow balloon atop his outfit.)
Hatori is a fascinating person—creative, opinionated, quirky and direct. She’s also self-aware and considers her New York City residence a good match for her personality. I began the interview by asking how she felt about performing later that night, a throwaway question that usually nets a canned response about being excited but works well as a lead-in. Hatori repeated the question with a chuckle, shrugged and said casually, “I don’t know.”
She grew up in Tokyo, where her early experiences with music included a DJ gig and working at a record store. She moved to New York City in 1993 and got involved with its thriving local music scene. She met Yuka Honda and formed the legendary duo Cibo Matto, a satellite band for Japan’s burgeoning pastiche music scene, Shibuya-kei. Their music combined hip-hop, bossa nova, swing and more with food-fixated lyrics, such as those of 1995 single “Know Your Chicken.” (more…)
Tags: bad brilliance, barack obama, bossa nova, brazilian girls, cibo matto, dance, ecdysis, food, hip-hop, interview, jesse murphy, know your chicken, live report, miho hatori, new optimism, new still life, New York City, one of one, santos party house, shibuya-kei, swing, the killing of a chinese cookie, Tokyo, victoria goldenberg, yuka honda
Posted in Electronic, interview, pop | 6 Comments »
Monday, October 5th, 2009 by Victoria Goldenberg
When pop group AKB48 ran across the stage waving at their fans during their debut American concert, the members were in perfect sync. When Fujishima Mineko of Swinging Popsicle ran across the stage high-fiving the audience at the Far East to East Showcase, she nearly hit her head on a speaker.
The New York Anime Festival closed with two polar opposite Japanese concerts at Webster Hall on Sept. 27. Pop fans could enjoy AKB48’s slick choreography and endearing adorableness. But two flights down at The Studio, the music was totally underground. The second annual Showcase, presented by Superglorious and NYAF, covered punk, ambient, indie pop and cabaret in four distinctive bands. It was an intimate affair all about the originality, raw energy and spontaneity that make small club gigs so appealing.
Gelatine conveyed a simultaneously dark and comical mood through the two-prong thrust of its frenetic punk music and menacing stage presence. This New York City band formed in 2001 to play both original music and that of singer Seiko’s old band, 10Yen Ana-kinoko. Its first record, the murky Gie Ji Gaii, finally came out this year. Gelatine’s chief draw is Seiko, who has the confidence and twisted humor to perform in a diaper and act like nothing’s strange about it. This time she wore a bra and bondage leash, which seemed almost tame in comparison. Though leashed, Seiko behaved more like id unfettered: swinging around from the mic stand, stomping in place, and moving from cute shrieks to aggressive snarls within seconds. The rest of the band was ready to meet Seiko at every capricious turn, and they complemented her bizarreness with their own. Guitarist Takeshita Jun literally growled his MCs about glamorous topics like the sweat in his eyes. Rock ‘n’ roll, indeed.
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Tags: AKB48, ambient, Björk, blood, cabaret, carmen, chocolate soul music, classical, concert, Echostream, Far East To East Showcase, fra-foa, fujishima mineko, Gelatine, gie ji gaii, go on, habanera, hirata hironobu, indie, j-rock, japan girls nite, japan nite, jpunk, junketsu wa aka, Kokusyoku Sumire, live report, lolita, loud cut, mikami chisako, new york, New York Anime Fest, New York Anime Festival, New York City, obama, perfect loop, punk, rainbounds, ryoko, sachi, seiko, shimada osamu, snow-ism, Superglorious, Swinging Popsicle, takeshita jun, the studio, tomo, tony, victoria goldenberg, violin, visual kei, way forward, Webster Hall, yuka
Posted in Electronic, Photo, indie, pop, review, rock | No Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Sarah
Photos by Toshikazu Oguruma
Ok, here’s the deal. Normally, I would stall with some sort of quip about a band’s name, or the song titles, or their hair, or any other low-blow filler that seems to be the only way I can start an article. But not this time. No, boys and girls, that would be an insult to the concert I recently attended, perhaps even bordering on offensive to a band comprised of Jrock royalty. Who is this band that has left this sarcastic, cynical bastard speechless? Why, Creature Creature.
Creature Creature stepped foot on Tokyo’s Shibuya O-East stage on June 20 with an eerie calm. The name of their two-stop tour is Simone and the Imperial Wrath. A befitting title for the sense of awe that befell the audience. There was a hush over the crowd as several figures dressed in black emerged from the shadows. It wasn’t long before the audience began to buzz with fits of excitement, screaming the names of musicians I never thought I’d ever get to see live.
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Tags: Creature Creature, Hiro, Hitoki, Kuroyume, La'cryma Christi, live report, Morrie, Shibuya O-East, Shinobu, Toshikazu Oguruma, visual kei
Posted in Press Release, rock, visual kei | 6 Comments »
Friday, June 19th, 2009 by Victoria Goldenberg
As he approached the front of the stage, Ken Lloyd blew a kiss to the cheering audience—then grimaced.
That expression gave away Lloyd’s nervousness about playing an unusual show—his first U.S. performance as Fake (typeset Fake?), at a convention for the anime culture foreign to him. It also punctuated his gesture by showing the gap between his confident rock ‘n’ roll stage presence and his true feelings. The question mark at the end of his band’s name doubts whether it’s fake, but Lloyd’s grimace doubted whether his act is real.
It was hard to tell once the music started, because Lloyd completely became his sexy persona. Clad in leather pants with an undone belt and a shirt that exposed his left shoulder, Lloyd wagged his hands and tongue at the audience, rolled his eyes up and vibrated manically, and danced like a white boy in front of his drummer. (Hey, he’s half.)
Lloyd’s electric presence helped make up for the disappointingly muddy sound system. While portable equipment in a convention center doesn’t lend itself to spectacular sound, the mix was so unclear that the songs were barely recognizable and Lloyd sounded shrieky.
You couldn’t fault the band. The support members supplemented Lloyd’s performance by playing well and enthusiastically. Guitarist Mine seemed most into it, sometimes smiling proudly and beckoning the audience for approval during his solos. He also sweated massively all over the press members standing at stage right.
Compared to previous bands at Anime Next, such as 12012, Fake drew a small crowd. From where I was standing, I could see at least the right third of the seats was empty. It’s understandable—Fake doesn’t have the large fan following 12012 has here, and their one, obscure anime tie-in doesn’t generate much name-recognition among anime fans. Aside from the hardcore fans up front, chanting along to “Disco,” the audience was probably as unfamiliar with Fake as Lloyd was with their anime culture.
But the unfamiliarity gave way to comfort during the concert. The audience moshed to the cathartic rock ‘n’ roll performance, and the band enjoyed their cosplaying audience. “You guys are the coolest-looking audience we’ve played for,” Lloyd remarked.
And even through that rock ‘n’ roll act, some of the relatable Lloyd came through. He promised to get an album out in the U.S. by next year, but said until then it was fine to download his music illegally. Now there’s a way to win over your audience—perhaps the new fans will do just that.
SETLIST:
1. Automatic
2. Everglow
3. Pulse
4. Color Don’t Change
5. In Vertigo
6. New Skin
7. Redemption
8. Bit of Life
9. Just Like Billy
10. Disco
11. nibiru
12. All My Reasons
13. Used to be a Bad Thing
14. Taste Maximum
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Tags: anime convention, animenext, bad sound, belt, concert, cosplayers, disco, downloading, english, event report, fake?, j-rock, ken lloyd, live, live report, mine, new jersey, us album, us debut, victoria goldenberg
Posted in Photo, indie, rock | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 by Victoria Goldenberg
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s annual two-day Sakura Matsuri celebrates a wide range of Japanese culture in the breathtaking setting of 220 blooming cherry blossom trees. For the price of one admission ticket, you can watch classical dances, make origami, model for a cosplay photoshoot and participate in the Japanese tradition of cherry blossom viewing.
For the music-minded, the Matsuri is also a great way to sample a cross-section of Japanese music, from traditional to modern and from obscure to famous. The May 2 pop performances on the Cherry Esplanade Stage ranged from the local gypsy rock of Kagero to the chart-topping pop hits of Kawashima Ai.
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Tags: amao yoshi, brooklyn botanic garden, concert, gypsy rock, j-pop, j-rock, jesus, kagero, kagoshima, kawashima ai, kizuki minami, live, live report, new york, sakura matsuri, samurai sword soul, shimauta, throat, victoria goldenberg
Posted in pop | 1 Comment »
Sunday, March 29th, 2009 by Victoria Goldenberg
At the start of “Riff Man,” Peelander Yellow, who was watching the concert with his bandmates from Peelander-Z, spit his drink into the audience. Sure, that’s usually what the band onstage does, but it was a gesture appropriate for the mood of the show—wild, edgy and totally rock ‘n’ roll. Besides, Zazen Boys were too busy torturing their instruments to do it themselves.
Rules don’t apply at a Zazen Boys show. You may call it a mic stand, but band leader Mukai Shutoku thinks it makes a great guitar slide. That bottle of water may look thirst-quenching, but guitarist Yoshikane Sou would rather use it like a maraca.
Mukai opened the Pianos concert, Zazen Boys’ sixth in the U.S. thus far, by acknowledging his lyrics were in Japanese. He told his American audience, “I want you to…please feel!” And feel the audience did. The show opened with the danceable stop-start rhythms of rocker “Himitsu Girl’s Top Secret,” followed by the aggressive “Honnoji,” both of which sounded more raw and intense live. Later songs displayed Zazen Boys’ synth prowess, with Mukai bent over his keyboard and manipulating it like a mad scientist while Yoshikane added his water-bottle percussion.
When playing, Mukai bobbed his head to the music, and sometimes smiled in a way that seemed to say, “Yeah, I know we’re good.” His between-song MCs were often cute: After “I Don’t Wanna Be With You,” he said, “I don’t wanna be with you but…I wanna be with you.”
Compared to the last time I saw them, at a multi-band concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Zazen Boys seemed more comfortable, perhaps because they were in an intimate environment with a higher concentration of fans. And while the Willamsburg venue’s sound was so distorted that Mukai sounded like a chipmunk, Pianos retained the right pitch and sounded clear. The one downside was that “I Don’t Wanna Be With You” sounded less energetic than the last time.
Between “Cold Beat” and “Riff Man,” Mukai promised Zazen Boys would return in September. Be there.
Setlist:
1. HIMITSU GIRL’S TOP SECRET
2. Honnoji
3. Weekend
4. Asobi
5. I Don’t Wanna Be With You
6. COLD BEAT
7. RIFF MAN
~ENCORE~
1.KIMOCHI
Photos by Leisl Schrader
Tags: concert, indie, j-rock, live report, new york, victoria goldenberg, zazen boys
Posted in indie, rock | 1 Comment »
