Nest Fest' part 2

It disappointed me a little bit that Ogre You Asshole didn’t play the title track from their upcoming EP 「しらないあいずしらせる子」(shiranai aizu shiraseru ko). However they opened with another new song 「ひとり乗り」(hitori nori). It’s rather slow-paced, but I like it a lot. I think the new tracks lean a lot more towards pop than before, and it sounds more polished maybe? I like catchy songs, but I also like some good guitar noise. Here’s hoping the new EP has both. It has actually been released in the iTunes Music store, but I’m waiting patiently for the cd. I’ve realized that if you hear albums in advance it takes away some the excitement when you finally have the physical cd in your hands. Anyways, their performance was good. I think they played a rather short set, and I’m looking forward to their oneman in November.

Ogre You Asshole - ひとり乗り live


Although the audience didn’t seem that into Ogre You Asshole it felt as if everyone left the stage area after they had finished. They sold merch, cd’s and tickets in the hallway and food on the second floor. I got my ticket for group_inou’s oneman in December. My ticket number was 71, but after a closer inspection I realized it was G-71. Usually it means that they call the A 1-100 tickets first then B 1-100 etc. In other words I’m like nr 700? Oh man.

Nisennenmondai was next in the lineup, but after half a song I came to the conclusion that I have very little interest in them. They’ve played in Norway at least twice this year, and I’ve read that they’re a noise band which is supposed to be influenced by Sonic Youth and similar bands. They were totally different than my expectations though. They didn’t really have any structure in their songs, no apparent melodies and it sort of dragged on forever and yeah, we went to eat some curry instead. I don’t like Japanese curry.

The stage area was packed during Shing02 set. Again, hip hop is not my thing, and in contrast to group_inou this was more mainstream hip hop which I found it really hard to get anything out of.

Next followed I AM ROBOT AND PROUD, an electronic act from Canada. I’ve seen him before at O-Nest. His music is likeable, but a little one-sided in the long run. I think his sound is a lot more organic compared regular electro music and I like that a lot.

We saw toe and dosh from the second floor. About that time I was extremely tired, and seeing many other people sitting against the wall sleeping, I say I wasn’t the only one. Toe mostly have instrumental songs, but I believe they had vocals on a song they played towards the end of their set? I’m afraid I was half asleep at that point. Sorry. Dosh was kind of cool though. They were the second foreign act of the day, and they had some interesting tunes. Not that I remember them very well. Sorry again.

Finally it was Shugo Tokumaru’s turn to perform. Tonight he performed together with the Magic Band and they were 8 people on stage on percussion, synth, contrabass, toy instruments etc. They played a variety of songs from all three albums and a couple of new ones as well. The songs from his first two albums, f ex “the Mop” and “Mist” sounded a lot bigger when performed with the band. Tokumaru’s voice is kind of light and timid and in the beginning it drowned a little bit in the music, but it soon became better. They new songs sounded pretty similar in sound with the songs from EXIT – playful and beautiful at the same time. I was really hoping that they would play “La La Radio” from Exit because it sounds amazing when performed with the Magic Band, but unfortunately.

All Japanese bands usually say thanks for coming, next live is then and then, thank you again etc during their live set. Last time I saw Tokumaru with the Magic Band he started talking after the first song and the man went on forever talking about everything and nothing. It was interesting the first five minutes. Tonight however, probably aware of his tendency to talk way too much, he did a little speed talk. Funny. The set ended with a great version of “Green Rain”. I wished they had played longer though, but it appeared that they weren’t the last act of the day after all.

Shugo Tokumaru – Green Rain


Secret act!
マヒルノ(mahiruno) played one song at the little side stage. Hardrock with pretty cool guitar sounds. The vocals and lyrics were a bit crap though. But it was a good ending to a long day.

Nest Festival part 1

Last Sunday (10/19) was an event presented by O-Nest which didn’t take place at O-Nest, but O-East which is a bigger venue. The line-up however was entirely made up of typical O-Nest bands.

First up was d.v.d which apparently means “drums visual drums”. One drum set on each side of the stage and a big screen in the middle. There was also a third guy who made electronic sounds, but mostly it was just drums AND one hell of a cool visual animation on the screen which responded to the drum sounds. Very cool.

Website: http://www.dvd-3.com/

Newt up was 相対性理論 (soutaiseiriron) which means “relativity”. I’ve never heard them before, and I became suspicious when the female vocalist walked on stage seemingly against her will with the sulkiest face ever. She sat down on a chair and didn’t move an inch or say much through almost the entire set. No wait, she did stand up towards the end. It was probably an image thing, but at the same time as it was more interesting than other plain bands, it was kind of distracting. The music itself wasn’t too bad at all. Pretty catchy indiehooks, and charming quirkyness. I however spent most of my time wondering what was up with the singer. Did her boyfriend ditch her? Was she recently told that she only had one month to live, and as much as she wanted to go travelling around the world, the band forced her to finish the tour? Did the band originally kidnap some random woman off the streets and forced her to be their vocalist? Was she only allowed to come out from the basement when they were doing liveshows? Ahem. Anyways. They have an EP out. I think I need to get that one.

相対性理論 - LOVEずっきゅん


The two first acts played on the main stage, and I had no idea there was another, but suddenly the curtains went up on the right side of the stage and nhhmbase appeared. 「こんにちわ。サイドステージです」Funny. I was only able to see nhhmbase for a short while last time, but this time I really got to see how great they can be. After a couple of songs they became so energetic and crazy. Loved the vocalist. He was awesome. Performing after miss non-karisma didn’t hurt them either I suppose… Although they released their first full album this year it was the old songs like “ANA”, “PL” and “9/8” that made the audience and the band really go off.

9/8 live


Next performers were 渋さ知らズセブン (shibusa shirazu seven). I had no idea who they were either, so I was really surprised when they turned out to be an impro-band. I’m not into that kind of music at all, so after a few moments I quickly lost interest. By all means, they were talented musicians and every one of them had a solo. Except for the white guy who played the tuba. I wanted to see a tuba solo. The funny thing with impro though is that it seems that you can take a break whenever you want to, because there’s no fixed structure in the songs. The band also had some scary-looking dancers on stage. One was wearing a gigantic skull mask, which was creepy as hell.

After that group_inou performed at the side stage. Hip hop is another thing that doesn’t interest me much at all, but group_inou’s mix of hip hop and electro works perfectly. Their live shows in particular are amazingly energetic and so much fun. I think they were the act that made the audience dance the most this day. “Coming Out” and “Ship” are my favourites from their album, but all songs work well when they play live.

group_inou – COMING OUT


To be continued...

nhhmbase + sokabe keiichi band

The day after YO-MA, and a long night out in Tokyo, I came back to O-Nest Sept 21. to see nhhmbase and sokabe keiichi (曽我部恵一)band.


I had seen sokabe keiichi once before, but that was sokabe keiichi rendevouz band, which is a different band, and that performance was more mellow and soul-ish. Sokabe keiichi band however was all about rock'n'roll. From the second they came on stage to the very end it was a riot. In a very happy, super optimistic kind of way. I've never talked to the man, but I'm convinced that sokabe keiichi is one of the nicest people in the world. He's always smiling and his songs gives the term feel-good a whole new meaning. At times the songs are almost too cheezy, but you have to have a heart of stone not to be charmed by those pop-hooks and sweet lyrics. You know you're good when you can get away with song titles like "telephone love", "let's get married" and "let's ride the magic bus". I think it had a lot to do with their energy and presence on stage though, 'cause damn, they were awesome. Besides that one other gig I was completely unfamiliar with his songs, but I was immediately taken in by their performance. They were jumping all over the stage, and at one point the bassist and guitarist went out in the audience, while the drummer was hanging fom the ceiling. Fun! I also loved the new version of "seishunkyousoukyoku" (青春狂走曲), and old Sunny Day Service song, which is sokabe keiichi's old band.

I wanted to buy some cd's after the gig, but I had no idea what would be the best record to start with. I looked clueless at the merch stand, and so the guy standing there recomended me their new live record "tokimeki LIVE!". It really captures the essence in their live shows. "Okay," I said, "can you recommend one more?"."You want one more?!" The guy was shocked. Funny. Needless to say that I'm going to see them again, twice in fact, when their doing their Kanto tour in November.

myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sokabe
website: http://www.sokabekeiichi.com/

I had heard that nhhmbase was an awesome live band, and I wanted to see them live for some time. Especially after watching the youtube video they have on their myspace site were one of the band members ends up in an ambulance. Unfortunately though I had to leave early to catch the last train home, so I only got to see the first 15-20 minutes. It was 15-20 good minutes though. nhhmbase released their first album "hamon cross" (波紋クロス) this year, which I bought before I left the venue, but similarly to the self-titled ep I think they're interesting to listen to, but I rarely listen to the cd for some reason. They have a really interesting and slightly strange sound. At the gig they played a lot of songs from the first record, and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm seeing them again on Sunday. They'e playing at Nest Fest where lots of bands I like are playing. Hopefully I get to see their whole set this time around.

myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nhhmbase

website: http://www.nhhmbase.com/ja/

YO-MA ~Sparks In Winter~ release tour of 1st album

YO-MA is a new band from Nagoya that are signed to Ogre You Asshole's label OYA. I could try to describe their sound - or I could just call them the Arcade Fire of Japan. 'Nuff said?

I discovered this band through Ogre You Asshole's myspace site, and because mp3's were slightly impossible to get hold of, I've been listening to the three tracks they had on their myspace site all summer. I wasn't kidding when I said that they sound like Arcade Fire. At least I get the same good feeling when I listen to them as when I hear Arcade Fire's most up-beat songs. Basically it's beautiful, melodic indiepop with enthusiastic vocals, glockenspiel, piano and handclaps. It's impossible not to be happy when I hear their songs. My favorite tracks are "Rumin", "Flower King" and "宇宙環状線", but honestly, all tracks on the album are great.

YO-MA's debut album "Sparks In Winter" was released in September, and I went to see their show at Shibuya O-Nest September 20th. O-Nest is a small venue, and I love going to liveshows there. The smaller shows the better, I think, because you get to connect more with the bands.

Opening acts were Ogre You Asshole and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Emperor Tomato Ketchup are a pretty straight-forward indie post-punk band. They were pretty good, but somehow they failed to leave a great impression on me. Maybe it was simply because the other two bands were so incredibly good in comparison?

I've seen Ogre You Asshole a couple of times before and they never disappoint me. They have a new record coming up in November "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", and I was excited that they played a couple of their new songs. More about them later on though.

YO-MA turned out to be an amazing live band. They were five people on stage, and all of them were in good spirits. They were so energetic and enthusiastic on stage that they totally blew me away. The vocalist was jumping all over the stage. I think they played about all of the songs on the album, and maybe a couple more? "Rumin" was one of my favorites. I definitely have to see them live again.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/yomajp
Website: http://music-space.ddo.jp/~yoma/top.shtml