OGRE YOU ASSHOLE oneman!

nov. 20th, Club Quattro, Shibuya

Ogre You Asshole did like three onemans for the release of their latest EP "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", and of course I had to go to one of them. I was still bummed out that I missed their oneman in January. It was their first oneman ever, and I could've gone but it was at a little club in shimokitazawa and it sold out way too fast. According to an interview I read the other day though, the audience in Tokyo were pretty lame. The audience this time was no different, but more about that later. They played at Shibuya Quattro which is quite small, but still pretty big for a band of their size I suppose. I've seen the likes of Sufjan Stevens and the Shins there before, and they definitely would've played at a bigger venue in Norway. The show was sold out this time as well, but not until like one day before or something. Nonetheless it got pretty packed in there.


The new record is great. I guess I like them too much to be objective though, but even so. The new songs are more pop-inspired and they sound a lot more lush and melodious. At the same time they still have their trademark guitars (or more precisely Built to Spill/Modest Mouse trademark guitars - which is exactly why I like this band so much). The lyrics are also, as far as my japanese knowledge goes, pretty good. My favorite tracks are "katappo", "nadaraka nanda" and the title track.

This is probably really insignificant, but I'll go ahead and write it anyhow: Before the gig they always play music over the speakers right? The day before I had the pleasure of hearing the same four Bowerbirds songs played on repeat for the entire evening, and at Crystal Castles it was the latest Cut Copy album on repeat. I don't mind those bands at all, but hearing the same songs over and over again makes waiting even more boring. This time someone had made a playlist and it was really good. Modest Mouse, Death Cab, Wolf Parade, Built to Spill, Band of Horses etc. More or less, it sounded like something Ogre would've picked it out, but do bands usually do that?

Anyhow..

Deto said that they were planning to play the longest set they'd ever done and they played around 20 songs. Which isn't bad for a band who has a total of maybe 30 tracks. The setlist went a little bit like this (after my memory so it's not entirely correct):

ひとり乗り
しらない合図しらせる子
なだらかなんだ
どっちかの角
カポ
J.N
ロボトミー
フラッグ
バックシート
コインランドリー
おまじない
サカサマ
かたっぽ
アドバンテージ
ラムダ・ラムダ・ラムダ

En.1
マスク
ドーナツ

En.2
辺りはここ
また明日

I love how "nadarakananda" builds from the bridge and out. The same with "sakasama". I guess it was during the first that I realized that the five rows in front of us weren't moving an inch. Not even nodding their heads, nothing. The people behind us were a little bit better, but all in all not much enthusiasm to spot. I'm not the one to say that everyone in the crowd should jump around like crazy, and I honestly think that people have different ways of enjoying music. Just because your not moshing doesn't mean that you're not having fun. But I did find the crowd here a bit strange. And ultimately, boring.

Also, in Norway you clap when the song is done, even if you don't know the band/liked the song you can always muster up a halfhearted applause. In Japan, the land where they give applause all the time in any other situation they don't clap after the songs - unless the band says "thanks" in the mic right after the song is finished. Maybe it's just me who is unacustomed to this, but it becomes these unbearable silences between the songs. Are people being too polite, or what's the deal here?Shouldn't the crowd give the band some kind of response? No wonder they always have anquete's at gigs, when it's impossible to get a hint of what's going on inside people's heads. It's usually better when it comes to more popular bands, or at onemans because everyone's there to see the same band, and they all like the music - one would assume. But no, not at Ogre apparently. There were some clapping at the beginning, but it gradually stopped. If I were the one playing I'd think "great, they're already tired of us. Let's get off this stage". In fact, upon commenting on their first oneman Ogre thought the audience was so quiet that they were almost wondering if people had really come to see them or not...

Not that Ogre You Asshole make a lot of themselves either. They're pretty much just doing their own thing up on the stage. Not everyone can be B-Club, I guess (and thank God for that). Deto was actually a bit more talkative than usual, although he claimed to be the opposite. The entire show was broadcasted live on tv, so apparently there were "lots of things he wanted to say, but couldn't". He did however manage to talk about meeting an old friend at the super market, changing wheels on the van etc, and don't think he has said that much before ever.

They did two encores. "mask" is probably my favorite song on their second album, but they haven't played it live recently so I was happy to hear it. "doughnuts" is the b-side from the tanishi-single. 7 minutes long, perhaps a bit more experimental, and very awesome. For the second encore they played two fairly mellow songs "atari wa koko" and "mata ashita". I was disapapointed that they didn't play more songs from the first EP. "pullring" is one of their best songs, but apparently they've only done it live once. I'm really curious to know why they don't play it. "mata ashita", the first track off the first album, a great opening track and also a great ending to this show.

Ogre You Asshole definitely deserves all the attention they can get, but I have to admit that I like to be able to see them play small venues like this, or even smaller (O-nest ftw). I already have a ticket for a show in January where they will play together with The Novembers. That should be awesome.

I found a live clip from the concert on youtube:

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - カポ (live)


Ogre You Asshole - しらない合図しらせる子 (PV)

"Melting Pot Special" - kaji hideki, group_inou ++

november 19th Club Quattro

I originally wanted to go to this concert just to see group_inou, but after checking out Kaji Hideki I discovered that his sweet shibuya kei influenced popsongs are great and I became excited to see him as well. The first band to perform tonight however were unexpected and, uh, interesting.

My first thought when B Club entered the stage: "The reason why men in hotpants and pink tights does NOT look good." The three members all wore matching outfits which included denim shorts (vocalist in hotpants), colorful tights and sunglasses. I'd wear sunglasses too if I ever wanted to show myself in public again. Basically their show was a bit like this: Simple electropop tunes, stupid lyrics (「東も、西も、北も、南も」with appropriate handmovements of course) and ridiculous dance moves. I find it hard not to just write them off as a comedy band, but at least they were entertaining. At the end they did a coordinated dance and encouraged the audience to join in. The interesting thing is that the vocalist has a solo project where he also plays electric cello, but in a lot more serious setting.

B Club - "beauty butterfly" the guy on the bike (the only one watching, is kind of hilarious)


group_inou are always incredible live. CP seemed a bit tired maybe, but he was still jumping around on stage dancing like insane as he always does. Highlights were "Coming Out", "PR" and everyone went crazy on "MAYBE". During the MC they started talking about their forthcoming oneman live at Unit. Apparently thay had invited lots of bands but no one said yes. Imai was all like "We know it's because they don't want to play with us!!".

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/groupinou
Website: http://g-a-l.jp/group_inou/

group_inou - PR (u.u.o. mix)


Next up was Riddim Saunter. I wasn't familiar with their music before to the gig, and they seemed fair enough at first. Super feel goody pop songs, and they were really popular among the crowd. The girls around me all started acting like 14-year old screaming teeny boppers. Yayness. After a while I got tired of them, but they just went on and on... Kudos for cowbell though.

Kaji Hideki came on stage wearing shorts, knee socks, a shirt and tie. He looked like a little school boy despite the fact that the man is 41 years old, and on top of that the teeny boppers were screaming "kawaiii!!!!!111". He had a band, and they opened with "amai koibito" from his latest album, Lollipop. Before the gig I actually only had that album, but I bought his first(?) album Miniskirt afterwards. That one's also great. Kaji certainly has a talent for making incredibly sweet and lovely popmelodies. When the song was finished Kaji turned to the amp where he had a comb to fix his hair. Kawaii indeed. I think he only did two other songs from the new album, "Holy Night" and "Too Much Too Young". I always skip the last one when I listen to the album.. It's a sort of very straight-forward post-punk(?) song, and Kaji Hideki sounds ten times more interesting when he has lots of samples and fun instrumentation in his songs. He lacked that in his live performance as well and I though it was a bit disappointing. Nonetheless he has good songs and lots of charm. Og sjarm er alt vettu.

myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hidekikajiofficial
website: http://www.hidekikaji.net/

kaji hideki - "amai koibito"


カジヒデキ - ラ・ブーム～だってMY BOOM IS ME

~future butterfly~ Elliott Smith tribute show

I love Elliott Smith and I had been looking forward to this concert a long time, because I also love both Shugo Tokumaru and Kicell, who were the ones playing tonight. It all went down in a small cinema in Hiroshima called Yokogawa Cinema on November 1st. There were about a hundred seats, but it quickly became packed so people were sitting in the stairs on the sides as well. Before the show started they showed pictures of Elliott on the screen and played his music which was nice, but I was more than anything looking forward to hearing the other artists play his songs. Unfortunately I realized that that wasn't going to be the case. A woman came up on stage and introduced the event, she seemed shit-nervous, and she said something about difficulty with doing covers, and sure enough they didn't play a single one. I've never been to an Elliott tribute show before, but as for those I've heard of, they only do covers. Even if it were crappy covers, I would have preferred that.

Elliott Smith official website: http://www.sweetadeline.net/
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/elliottsmithnewmoon

For the first half og Shugo Tokumaru's performance I was too disappointed too really pay attention to him. He didn't mention a single word about the tribute show either. As I started to accept the facts however I tried to enjoy it as a regular concert. Tokumaru had a girl with him tonight who played the harmonica and toys. Yes, she had a box with lots and lots of little toys that made funny sounds. That was pretty funny to watch. There was a chicken, that you can wind up and then it jumps forward while making this clicking sound. I have that one in the penguin version. Tokumaru said that he just came home from his US tour and that it felt like playing a live show at 7am in the morning. He played good as always though. This was his first ever gig in Hiroshima, but it was my 5th time seeing him. Again he played a variety from all albums, but in this small setting when there was only two people om stage it was a lot more intimate and nice.

website: http://www.shugotokumaru.com/

myspace: http://www.myspace.com/shugotokumaru

Kicell are two brothers (Takefumi and Tomoharu Tsujimura) from Kyoto who play sort of folkpop-ish music, which has a really nice vibe and lovely atmosphere to it. They released a new album early this year "magic hour", and at this show they sold a new EP only called "kicell EP". The highlight of their set tonight was definitely「君の犬昆」(kimi no inu). I love that song. Acoustic and simple, and so beautiful. In the middle of the show Takefumi said that he had thought about doing an Elliott cover, but he thought that it was probably impossible, and sort of gave up. Ironically they ended their set with a cover by another artist, whose name I couldn't quite grasp. Tomoharu played on a saw though. That was cool. They were called out again by the audience for two encore's. When they came out afterwards I said that it would have been great if they did an Elliott cover, and Takefumi answered surprised "oh, you like Elliott Smith?". Yeah, that's sort of why I came in the first place...

website: http://www.nidan-bed.com/index.html

キセル / 君の犬（LIVE）