andymori - s/t

I had some problems getting into this band in the beginning. I mean, can you take a band whose songs are titled "Life Is Party" and "boku ga hakujin dattara" ("if I was a white guy") seriously? The answer is you can. The more I've listened to them the more I've come to like them. I've seen them live twice, but I think they lack that little extra to be a solid live band. Anyways, this album is awesome.

They remind me a lot about British rock a la The Libertines, The Fratellis etc. I used to be a huge fan of British music a couple of years ago. Recently I've haven't been up to date on music coming out of Britain, but I still enjoy a lot of the bands I used to like. andymori seems to be greatly influenced by this scene, and I think they're doing a good job incorporating into their own thing. They have catchy up-tempo tracks like "FOLLOW ME" and "everything is my guitar" with humorous lyrics about everyday life and situations. Slower tracks like "aoi sora" and "happy end" that could easily be written off as shallow attempts to be sensitive, but I must say I like their naivety. I think that's what Andymori wins on. Simpleness. Simple and catchy, but more important they're able to create a good atmosphere throughout the album which makes it perfect for a warm, sunny day.

I also believe they have a good portion of self-irony. They have t-shirts that say: "WE ARE THE GROUPIES". 'nough said.

http://www.myspace.com/andymori

andymori - everything is my guitar
andymori - mongoloid blues
andymori - bengal tora to whiskey
andymori - sugoi hayasa



(notice the video budget rise from the first video to the other...)

The Novembers, Sister Jet

I decided that I wanted to see The Novembers a couple of extra times before I left Japan which resulted in seeing them four times in a month. If you ask me it was totally worth it.

part 1.

June 30th, Shimokitazawa Basement Bar
Andymori's event. I found it odd that the Novembers had been invited to play at this event as the other band's playing this show were musically completely different. First up was actually a DJ from the club event Getting Better that played mostly brit-rock. That was unusual too as I believe a lot of people who listen to Japanese music don't listen that much to foreign music and vice versa. It was even stranger because the audience were standing completely still, waiting in front of the stage as they usually do before a concert, while loud club music was blasted out of the speakers. The DJ must have noticed, and towards the end of his set he apologized(!) for keeping people waiting: "The concert will start soon. It's not my fault." Poor guy.

First band Sister Jet looked like your average amateur high school band or something. I got the impression that they were inspired by music from the 60's, but they had problems recreating the good, old magic in their own music. In fact they didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Their songs were just ridiculously one-sided, taking the easy way out musically, "dance dance dance baby"-choruses and overall equally stupid lyrics. The funny thing though, they did some sort of cover of The Monkees - "Daydream Believer". I can't say that it was a great cover.

www.myspace.com/sisterjet

Apparently a lot of people had reserved tickets through the bands, but as I knew from previous experiences Basement Bar let reservations in last and tickets in first. I bought my tickets beforehand and got nr 8 and 9 which resulted in a front row spot. Sweet. I can't press enough how much getting a good view during a concert affects my impression of it. Good sound is of course important, but the combination of sound and visual is what keeps me going to gigs. The sound was in fact quite bad this time during The Novembers. We were almost unable to hear the vocals most of the time, although it became a little bit better towards the end. The guitar noise was perfect though. The sound tends to get noisy and grainy in small venues, but it fits the Novembers’ sound.

To me, the Novembers are a perfect live band. I know I’ll most likely sound like an infatuated fangirl, but their appearance on stage is so different from other bands. The atmosphere and the tension when they deliver those songs on stage is incredible. They say very little and although they come off as introverted there's something compelling about that. This is the first time I've been that close to the stage and I was amazed.

Lately the setlist has opened with “para” and ended with “hakuchi”. They also always include “dnim” and “philia”, so there are a lot of tracks from the latest mini album. I don’t mind considering it’s probably my favourite record of theirs. Whenever I hear the intro to “philia” my body starts tingling with excitement. I LOVE that song.

THE NOVEMBERS - philia

The Novembers - she lab luck

www.myspace.com/thenovembers11

After the Novembers we went outside for a while, and only saw about ten minutes of Andymori afterwards. The venue was packed and it was impossible to see anything from behind. Similar to the first time I saw them I wasn't too impressed with their live performance contrary to their CD which isn't half bad at all (I will write a review later on). We heard them play their 大-hit "Everything Is My Guitar", and then we left.

Space Shower 列伝

February 26th, Shinjuku LOFT

Space Shower is a music tv channel I sort of wish I had, but unfortunately. They host an event called "Space Shower retsuden". The bands performed on two separate stages at LOFT, the bar stage was so small that it was hard to get a good view of the stage, let alone be able to enter the room because it was packed with people. Fortunately they had set up a big screen and a couple of tv screens where all the performances from the bar stage were shown. Both bands I wanted to see performed at the main stage, so I was happy that I didn't have to run back and forth between stages. The bad part was that the bands only played for 25-30 minutes each.

おとぎ話. Otogi banashi opened. The band name literally means "fairy tale", and they're incredibly charming and sweet. I think their dream would be to play during the 60's with lots of screaming girls in the front rows. Arima is the sweet and funny vocalist, while Ushio is the cool guitarist. They're all super genki and a bit quirky too. I love the song "Neon Boys". Whenever I hear it it's impossible not to become in a good mood. They played a couple of new songs as well, which were also really nice.


andymori. Andymori is a young and energetic band, but it seemed like they still have a little while to go. The vocals are really quick, and sounds interesting on record, but a bit messy when done live. I'm not sure about the lyrical content either. One song had the theme "if I was a white guy...". They had a lot of energy, but in the end it became a bit frenetic and I lost interest.
Ogre You Asshole. Ogre probably did the shortest set of all the bands today:

Coinlaundry
Flag
Pinhole -new single-
Advantage
Lambda Lambda Lambda
hitori nori

They played their new single "Pinhole". It was pretty up-tempo, but melodious, and kind of had the same feel to it as "shiranai aizu shiraseru ko", but more playful. With the release of the new single they're switching to a major label. I'm not sure how much change is involved with that (other than their income), but here's hoping there won't be any big changes.

It disappointed me that they didn't play any other songs from the latest mini album other than "hitorinori". Instead they played it safe by doing "Coinlaundry", "Flag" and "Advantage", songs they almost always do. I have a feeling that "hitori nori" has become part of that group of songs too. When you play at an event where there's many people who's unfamiliar with your music it's of course safer to do that, but personally I'd like to hear all kinds of different songs from their discography.

Manabu didn't say much today, but I could tell that he tried to be a bit more open towards the audience. No hiding behind his hair anymore. I read in an interview that they now wanted to improve their live performances and connect more with the audience. I guess that's a good thing, but personally I've never had any problems with their past live shows. I'd like to see the crowd wake up for once though.

つしまみれ。tsushimamire is a band who frankly I don't get at all. People were going crazy in front of the bar stage, so I watched the show at the screens in the other room instead. What annoyed me the most was the leadsingers whiny, shrill voice who sounded awful, both when singing and talking/screaming. 「準備はよろしいでしょうか？！」And when she first started talking she went on and on forever. When they finally started playing again it didn't sound any better, and I was glad when it was over.

www.myspace.com/otgbanashi
www.myspace.com/andymori
www.myspace.com/ogreyouassholemusic
www.myspace.com/tsushimamirejp

I didn't see the last band, The Bawdies, because I left to catch the last train instead, but they're featured on Myx this month.