tokyo gig guide blog

Fuji Rock Festival tips

2009-07-07T11:05:00.002+09:00

Check out the Fuji Rock Festival website for the timetable and ticket information.Here are some tips, advice and a packing list for the festival.GETTING THERETake the shinkansen from Tokyo or Ueno to Echigo Yuzawa station. It takes over an hour and costs 6490yen from Ueno one-way. Go to any JR counter of a big station and get tickets in advance if you can. Then get your return tickets when you

múm to play TAICOCLUB festival in Kawasaki

2009-06-18T17:05:00.003+09:00

The enigmatic Icelandic band múm have been confirmed to play at TAICO CLUB 09 in Kawasaki, along with British electronic duo Plaid, microhouse artist Isolée, and Detroit techno DJ Carl Craig.Earlier this month was TAICO CLUB at Nagano Kisomura Kodama No Mori, but this year there will be another festival in Kawasaki.TAICOCLUB '09 KAWASAKI will be held on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of

LITE, Boris, Cro-Magnon, nenem @ LiquidRoom, June 12th

2009-06-14T22:07:00.006+09:00

by colinAfter a rather lengthy walk around the lovely Ebisu gardens and Yebisu beer museum I made my way to the LAUNCHPAD event at the Liquid Room. The Liquid Room is a popular live house in Tokyo and considered to be one of the city’s best. Tonight’s LAUNCHPAD bill included a healthy dose of some of Japans finest trend setters - Nenem, Cro-Magnon and LITE, with Boris headlining the night.As

Fuji Rock Festival 09 per-stage lineup

2009-06-09T19:42:00.008+09:00

The Fuji Rock Festival daily lineup has been announced, including a bunch of new additions and the bands for the Rookie A-Go-Go stage. Here it is, with links to the artists' websites/myspaces:24 July (Friday)GREEN STAGEOASISPAUL WELLER PATTI SMITHLily AllenDOVESWHITE LIESTOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRAWHITE STAGEThe Neville BrothersROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BANDhanaregumiCharaEBONY BONES!GUITAR

DOG and theremin show

2009-06-04T00:59:00.006+09:00

by craigEnban is a Koenji institution. A tiny record store stocking independent music by day and a place to see odd music at night. Random gigs here are likely to be more interesting than what's on at most livehouses. On Monday night it was pretty packed when I entered (about 25 people) so I had to stand between the shelves of 7"s, DVDs and CDs, resting my beer on a stack of homemade CDRs.A huge

Soundroom vol. 32

2009-05-27T21:04:00.005+09:00

by craig One of the only reasons to go to Roppongi is to go to Super Deluxe, one of Tokyo's only venues where you can pretty much guarantee to see something original and interesting on any night. SOUNDROOM is a monthly event held there with "experimental music from Tokyo that defies categorization."Monday night's show certainly did have acts that defied categorisation! Colin and I arrived to find

Funny Band Names

2009-05-08T15:44:00.003+09:00

by craigOver the last few years I've been keeping a list of the band names I've come across which have amused me the most.These have been taken straight from livehouse schedules, so sometimes the random case/spelling/punctuation are mistakes of the livehouse, but more often than not they are parts the bands' real names. Some of these are good bands by the way, though I have never heard most of

Shibusashirazu Orchestra @ Goodman

2009-05-05T12:31:00.008+09:00

by craigDaisuke Fuwa has conducted the Shibusashirazu Orchestra for 20 years, a huge collection of free jazz musicians and dancers. I had heard so much about what an amazing live band they were but never had the chance to see them live. Last night they were playing at Club Goodman in Akihabara so I jumped on my mamachari and pedaled over there. After being distracted by the shiny things in the

FLO Union Spring Special!

2009-04-10T19:10:00.009+09:00

by craigThe next Flo Union on Sunday April 19th will feature an interesting variety of special international guest musicians and artists: *********************************************For this month's dose of analog-electro punk-disco violence we have Syndrome WPW from Switzerland.For French folktronica, there'll be Morel, a project of Will from Selvaluna.And from Australia, catch The Hubble

Summer festivals - 1st lineups announced!

2009-03-06T15:06:00.014+09:00

by craigThe first lineup announcements have been made for Fuji Rock Festival, Summersonic and Taico Festival. Of course more artists will be added in the coming months.Franz Ferdinand, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Röyksopp, Ben Harper, Basement Jaxx, M83, Animal Collective, Simian Mobile Disco, Patti Smith, Bad Brains, Melvins, Diplo, Justin Nozuka, The Higher, Gong, Gang Gang Dance, Polysics, The

An Experimental Evening

2009-02-25T16:31:00.007+09:00

by lizaJust a quick post to tell everyone about some bands I saw a couple of weeks ago!Some Sunday afternoon randomness (drinking may or may not have been involved!) led me to Shibuya's O-Nest on Feb. 8, where Lowborn Soundsystem was playing a gig to celebrate its first album. Since the band billed itself as "post-punk," I was expecting something along the lines of Gang of Four.Was I wrong! The 7

Suishou No Fune & Maher Shalal Hash Baz @ Silver Elephant

2008-11-26T17:24:00.007+09:00

by craigI saw Maher Shalal Hash Baz a few months ago play at Koenji High to a tiny crowd. They were playing with Doronco Gumo. C'mon, Doronco was in Les Rallizes Denudes!! Why wasn't anyone there?Last night MSHB played with another legendary psych band, this time Suishou No Fune, and there were only about 12 people there!! Nevertheless, I still felt I was witnessing something special. Incense was

Kaji-kun!

2008-11-24T11:36:00.009+09:00

by craigHideki Kaji is one of my guilty pleasures. He is unabashedly Pop, but he has taken his cues from Swedish indie-pop and created a very unique style with fast, upbeat songs, big guitars and impossibly catchy vocal melodies.When I came to Japan I was getting into the whole Shibuya-kei thing, so I was so pleased to be able to buy his whole back catalogue from second-hand shops for a few

Where to buy Japanese music online in English

2008-11-04T11:46:00.006+09:00

by craigDigitallyThese days, it is easy to legally purchase and download mp3s. Although the quality is still not usually as good as a CD, it is instant; you don't have to wait for shipping, and it is usually cheaper. For super-convenience, of course there is the iTunes store, but their choice is rather limited when it comes to Japanese stuff. The same can be said for Rhapsody, HearJapan has some

Radiohead Oct 5th @ Saitama Super Arena

2008-10-10T02:51:00.004+09:00

I happened to have a ticket to Radiohead's show on Sunday but wasn't sure whether to go or sell the ticket. I had to think; do I really like Radiohead?I remembered buying the Creep single on cassette when I was in high school and then copying Pablo Honey from the library. My mum is an aerobics instructor and used Creep in her classes! I had a look around and realised I had all of Radiohead's

tenniscoats & secai, d.v.d

2008-10-06T14:57:00.011+09:00

o-nest 29 sept 2008This was a 'two man live' meaning there were only two bands playing, and that meant they could play long sets - a rarity in Japan.I had been to O-Nest on the previous night and seen Jimanica play an amazing set, just him on drums and triggering samples from his kit. Tonight he was joined by Itoken and YMG who make up the unit d.v.d. In d.v.d, Jimanica and Itoken trigger visual

miaou, jimanica, .plot, epic45

2008-10-01T19:01:00.003+09:00

o-nest september 28th 2008 miaou.plotjimanicaepic45

Google Street View - live house view

2008-09-19T00:31:00.003+09:00

Last month Google launched Street View in Japan, receiving criticism about it being an invasion of privacy.Yeah, but you can explore the streets as if you were actually walking there! How cool is that? Not only can I see my house from above, but I can stand in front and see myself watering the garden!Okay, I kinda made that up. Unfortunately my street is way too small to be covered by Street

Renewal Open!

2008-09-12T02:19:00.002+09:00

Massive changes have happened around Tokyo Gig Guide!The site has been completely redesigned and has many new functions such as the ability for anyone to add gigs directly to the site.More info

Free advertising? No thank you!

2008-08-16T23:48:00.009+09:00

I had posted two videos of small Japanese bands playing at Fuji Rock Festival here, but both of the artists' record labels asked me to remove them from Youtube.Having such videos on Youtube and posted in a blog like this seems to me to be a great way for more people around the world to have a chance to hear those labels' artists, and therefore sell more CDs and have more people attend their gigs.

Fuji Rock Festival part one: days one and two

2008-07-31T16:45:00.015+09:00

DAY ONE. THURSDAY JULY 24th 2008.After four hours of annoying people with our massive amounts of luggage on local trains, we finally arrived in Yuzawa. Then came an hour standing in the rain waiting for the bus to the festival. Rain is an unfortunate but unavoidable consequence of holding the festival at a ski resort way up in the mountains of Niigata. Rain is what caused me to get drenched on

My Jero

2008-07-26T18:15:00.006+09:00

While I was slinking to the station after just another day at the office in Shiodome on Wednesday, I stumbled on a free gig by Japan's newest It Boy: Jero the pseudo-hip-hop enka singer.I figured I might as well check it out to distract myself from sulking about being too broke for Fuji Rock this weekend.Certainly most of the ladies seemed enthralled by this American crooner, who says that his

The Battle Continues

2008-07-24T14:58:00.004+09:00

Laptop Battle Tokyo, vol. 37/16, SuperDeluxeCombining the craziness of computer-generated music and the thrill of competition, the sporadic Laptop Battles at SuperDeluxe are becoming some of my more anticipated events in Tokyo. It's a way to see how individual musicians, working in the very solitary medium of computers, can translate their gadgetry to a live performance.The third edition did not

Flo Union Summer special

2008-06-30T16:21:00.011+09:00

Flo Union is a monthly event which has been happening at different venues and with different organisers since 2004. It has morphed from a book exchange to an arts showcase to its current incarnation as a Media Lounge, organised by the VJ, David Roy (Modius Cafe) with the help of Craig Exton (Tokyo Gig Guide).The July Flo Union on July 20th, will focus on live music with some very special

Maher Shalal Hash Baz & Doronco Gumo

2008-05-27T01:07:00.004+09:00

Koenji High May 12thDoronco GumoMaher Shalal Hash Baz