New EP from group_inou. Following their brilliant debut album "FAN" from last year comes another cool cd entitled "ESCORT". It took me a while to really get into "FAN", but I've been loving this one since I first listened to it. I really think their mix of electro and hiphop is quite unique. There are both fun danceable tracks and tracks you can sit down and listen too. My favourites are "ESCORT" and "BOTTLING". I suspect that "SOS" is the song with "the worst lyrics in the world" that they were talking about during their oneman before christmas last year. They have a new oneman coming up at the end of the month, but I'm afraid I can't afford to go...
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 signat 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.
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!!".
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.
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
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.
