Concerts of 2008

Including festivals, clubs, a couple of instores etc.
A total of 140 different bands.
My favourites are outlined.

6955
6 eyes
9 Goats Black Out
Advantage Lucy
aikuru
Ametsub
Ando
Aquarium
Assembler
B Club
Beach House
Beck
Black Kids
Black Lips
Black:List
Blonde Redhead
Blood Red Shoes
Boris
Brian Jonestown Massacre
the Brunettes
chariots x3
Crystal Castles
Custom Noise
Cut Copy
Dead by April
Death Cab for Cutie
Devastations
Dio
the Dodos
Doktor Kosmos
Dosh
Duffy
Duné
d.v.d
E’m
Efterklang
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
envy
Familjen
Foals
furukawa miki
the Go! Team
Goldfrapp
Grand Island
Adam Green
group_inou x4
Growing
Hariss
hasunuma shuta
the Hellacopters
Hercules & Love Affair
Hot Chip
Håkan Hellstrøm
I am Robot and Proud x2
In Flames
Interpol
Jaguar Love
Jay-Z
Jordan
kaji hideki
kashiwa daisuke x2
Kaya
Kent
Kicell
the Kiddie
the Kissaway Trail
kojima mayumi
the Kooks x2
Les Savy Fav
Like Absolute Myself
Lukestar
Luminous Orange
Lupe Fiasco
Mahiruno
Maps
Masquerade
matenro Opera x3
matsu & take
Matt & Kim
Midnight Juggernauts
MGMT
miyauchi yuri
My Brightest Diamond
Kate Nash
the National
the National Bank
Nega
Silje Nes
nhhmbase x2
nisennenmondai
the Novembers x2
Now We’ve Got Members
O’Death
Ogre You Asshole x4
Okkervil River
Overground Acoustic Underground
ôya yuusuke session
-OZ-
Pacific!
Panic at the Disco
Pop-a-long Cassidy
PPP x2
Psysalia Psysalis Psyche
the Raconteurs
Rentrer en Soi
Riddim Saunter
Robyn
Rumble In Rhodos
Sel’m
shibusa shirazu seven
Shing02
Sigur Rós
Slagsmålsklubben
sokif
sokabe keiichi band x3
sokabe keiichi rendevouz band
Sonic Youth
sôtai seiriron
Sparta Locals
St Vincent
Stars
Sufjan Stevens
Sugar
Takuma
the Ting Tings
Tingsek
toe
toddle
tokumaru shugo x4
Tommy Tokyo & Starving for My Gravy
Truls & the Trees x2
Vampire Weekend
John Vanderslice
Versailles x3
the Wombats
Woodhands
World’s End Girlfriend & Poltergeist Ensemble
Yeasayer
YO-MA
the Young Knives

Best of 2008

And so it's that time of the year again. For some reason I found it a lot easier to choose my japanese favourites than the non-japanese ones. There's been many good non-japanese records, but recently I've found myself almost only listening to japanese artists. I think one of the reasons is that I get to see a lot of the japanese bands live all the time here. Also, I think it's more difficult to stay updated on new western music here. Another interesting thing is that I had to listen to most of the non-japanese albums so many times before I started liking them whereas for the japanese ones I almost instantly liked them. Anyways, here goes..

Best japanese albums

• sokabe keiichi BAND - キラキラ！
• group_inou - FAN
• YO-MA - Sparks In Winter
• the Novembers - picnic
• Ogre You Asshole - しらないあいずしらせる子 (mini-album)
• kaji hideki - Lollipop
• PERFUME - GAME
• キセル - Magic Hour

Best non-jap. albums

• Wolf Parade - At Mt. Zoomer
• Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
• Okkervil River - the Stand-Ins
• Of Montreal - Skeletal Lampin
• Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams
• Foals - Antidotes
• Conor Oberst - s/t
• Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
• Beach House - Devotion
• Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell

"PR vol. 3" group_inou oneman!

Dec. 7th, Daikanyama UNIT

This day started out with nothing less than the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2. I think it went okay, but I was pretty tired afterwards. It was more tempting to go home and get some sleep than going to a concert. A Quarter Ponder and a coffe cup later though, I was good to go.

I had been worried about the number system for this gig, because mine was G-71. Usually when they have letters before the ticket number it means that A 1~100 goes first then B 1~100 etc. Luckily that wasn't the case this time. Actually G-tickets were the first to be let in! I'm guessing they just put the G there for group_inou. At the door I got a nice sticker too. They had new t-shirts with the egg from the flyer. Limited to a 100 shirts, each one numbered bla bla bla. To me it was just an egg. I can however imagine how comic it would be if two people with the other group_inou tees were standing on each side of an egg shirt. Breakfast, yum.

Special guest was Matsu & Take. In spite of the name it was only one guy. He played this cool electronica that, if played at a club, I would be dancing. In this setting however, it became a bit onesided and for some reason (JLPT) I became incredibly tired and sleepy during his set.

group_inou are like the nerdy guys at school who didn't have any friends, but who stayed at home making music in their bedroom. And now even though their first album has sold lots of copies and their fan base has grown, they're still the nerdy guys. Imai commented at the beginning of the show that they had gone to a kombini as people were being let in, but even though they walked past the entire queue no one noticed them. Also, this event wasn't supposed to be a oneman, but they didn't have any friends that would play with them. Imai told this story about how he went all alone to Kyoto because he didn't have any friends, and there he met Matsu & Take, which became his only friend, and thus the only guest tonight. Hilarious. I didn't mind it being a oneman though as it meant that I could watch the entire show and still take the last train home.

The bands usually play longer sets as well at onemans. That wasn't the case with group_inou though. After 6-7 tracks, imai announces that they only have three songs left! I guess the main reason is that CP becomes incredibly tired when he's performing. The guy's literally ghasping for air between the songs. No wonder when he's as active as he is on stage, but I'd rather see him pace it down a bit and do a longer set. Or maybe not. It's too fun to watch him dance and walk in circles on stage.

They did play many of their best songs though, including "Coming Out", "Ship", "PR", "Maybe". People are always going crazy on the last one. When I think about it they were going crazy from the very beginning this time. I think it's uncomfortable when you can't move freely because people are pushing so much. Before I used to bear up with it, but I think I'e been to so many concerts now that I don't think it's worth it. Another thing I've noticed at japanese gigs is that people in the first 5 rows or something, sway simultanously from side to side. Like you would when the sing-a-long pop-ballad comes on and everyone grabs their lighter and throw their arms up in the air. It's strange to see that at a hiphop/electro gig.

Before a new track Imai announced that this song had the worst lyrics in the world. I think CP writes all of them though. "Nude" was also introduced as a song with crap lyrics. Hmm..「NUDEに持っていくMOOD」

They had a really impressive stage show. A screen in the background showing these crazy videoes (provided by VJ Heart Bomb) and laser lights (by Yama-Chang). Yep, you read right, lasers. If I didn't know these guys beforehand I'd say it was some kind of trance/rave party going on. Just to top it off they also had a neon sign at the side of stage (the one in the pic above). More eggs.

The only bad part about the show was the sound. It was actually kind of terrible. Good sound is usually kind of crucial, but I guess the lasers made up for it...

For the encore they did the 'System Kitchen' (remixes of 'Foods' their 1st EP) version of "Status" together with Matsu & Take. Best part of the the entire show.

曽我部恵一BAND「カントー的!」

nov 21st, Chiba Look
nov 30th, Shibuya Quattro

Because the last sokabe keiichi band gig was so fun I decided to see them twice on their Kanto tour. First at the local club (well 30min away by train, but at least a lot closer than Tokyo) in Chiba, and later the tour final in Shibuya.

[pic from http://d.hatena.ne.jp/live-sokabe/20081121)

「ヤバイヤバイヤバイ！」

sokabe was really impressed by the crowd in Chiba. Basically because everyone was crazy and so much into it. It was sokabe keiichi band's first time in Chiba, so that explains a lot. Although I don't really see that people in Chiba would have much trouble going to Tokyo. Nonetheless it was fun to be at a gig where everyone were so excited. Sokabe also said that he wanted to live in Chiba. Ahahaha. haha....ha..(why would anyone live here rather than Tokyo?)

I've never been to Look before, and it turned out to be a tiny club with a capacity of maybe no more than 200 people. The "bar" was really just the other end of the merch table, and instead of lockers they had a shelf where everyone would put their stuff. I love small venues, so this place was pretty sweet. The only bad thing was the washiki ie a Japanese toilet ie a toilet in the floor. I really hate those things.

Anyways, the gig was so much fun. The entire band really give it all, and they're always in a good mood. Happy and so energetic. They're btw also one of the few Japanese bands I've seen who drink alcohol (beer) on stage. I guess most japanese people would get drunk in an instant and be unable to play, hehe.

They played a long set, 24 songs. The entire setlist and more pics can be seen at their live blog: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/live-sokabe/20081121
They played four new songs, all which where pretty good. Tomo, the guitarist, has written and sings on one of the new songs as he does on 「海の向こうで」 (umi no mukou de). If I'm not mistaken they're currently recording new songs. At least a new single will be released in February.

They played a few Sunny Day Service songs to, and I was really glad that they played「恋におちたら」(koi ni ochitara). Before "Telephone Love" sokabe told this long story about falling in love and eating peanuts. Apparently Chiba is famous for peanuts. I've never seen any Chiba-peanuts though... After "mellow mind" everyone thought that the gig was over, but suddenly the band came back out and did another song! I like to believe that it was because they thought the crowd in Chiba were awesome.

They had new t-shirts this time with artwork from the tour flyer. It's cute. I got a purple one. And after deliberating over it a long time I bought a sokabe keiichi rendevouz band vinyl. The reason I was hesitating a bit is because my record player is in Norway, so I won't be able to listen to it here in Japan. That, and the fact that I'm always incredibly slow at making up my mind. By the time I'd finally bought the thing though, the entire band had come out and were packing their gear on the stage. I got sokabe to sign my vinyl.

(pic from http://d.hatena.ne.jp/live-sokabe/20081130)

The gig in Shibuya was more or less the same, but I mean it in the sense that it was great too. In the beginning I was standing in the front, but people were pushing so much that it became so uncomfortable that I moved further to the back. The stage was bigger this time though so I had a perfect view. They played a couple of other new songs. Sokabe failed a bit at the story before "Telephone Love" this time. I think he was running out of ideas, but it was still funny. Setlist and pics in sokabe keiichi's live blog here:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/live-sokabe/20081130


Sokabe keiichi is currently doing a solo acoustic tour around the country. The show in Chiba was unfortunately sold out under less than two hours(!). I'd love to see him solo sometime. Apparently he's playing 「あじさい」(ajisai, another Sunny Day Service song). Would've been great to hear live.