Artrocker Blog 5

14th September - Art Bar Ten, Koenji 

Animone are a two piece band of whom I know sadly too little. Ten is an already small space, but I sit literally 20 centimetres away from what might have been the best show I have seen all year. The pair (one boy, one girl) manage to emit something way bigger than the notes they are playing and singing. Its called feeling - and their performance made the room drip in it. The harmonies they sing are spine-tingling. The pair are seem so shy, it’s as if something amazing has taken over this time and space and they can’t begin to comprehend it or how to explain it. Of course they don’t have to. At its best, that’s what music can be. 

This isn’t their best song, but it’s the best recording I could find of them (playing at Akihabara Goodman, I believe).

   

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/aminome/ 

Slow-Marico are another boy/girl two piece, whom I know very well. Their sound is very electro pop, so long as you are imagining it being played by the Jesus and Mary Chain, and faster. The combination of squealing guitars, drum machine beats, iPhone app noise and distorted vocal makes most people nod, yelp praise and dance – usually in that order. I’ve yet to ascertain quite why, but recently the guy in the band has a habit of pulling my trousers down and taking pictures of my partial bum.

   

http://slow-marico.bandcamp.com/ 

Between these two acts was a guy who made a noise performance using what looked like a science school project and 55 vibrating sex toys. In the uchiage he said he was sad that he couldn’t use the 100 that he had planned to. Well, as the old proverb goes; students can’t be choosers. 



New Vibrations at Shibuya Home, 25th September 

De!nial (I guessed pronounced denial) are a three piece electronic group who wear crazy animal heads and throw glo-sticks into the audience who dance wildly to their shows. Their music is very up-tempo, up-beat and up-front. They remind me a lot of Gay Against You and going to Kashpoint on the boat in the Thames in the 2000 and somethings. This is in no way a bad thing.

   

Opening the night were sl-cisco. Tomo told me despite going for many years, they don’t have any fans. They could count me as one now; I enjoyed them rather very much. I like this random video too.

   

The second band (NATURE DANGER GANG) sort of got a bit naked to techno and jumped on the tables in a highly excitable fashion. It reminded me of a band called Gobsausage I saw a few times in London, except Gobsausage got a lot more naked (when they weren’t wearing bondage gear). Getting naked though is no easy thing, especially on stage. I only managed it once playing a gig in a kitchen in Brighton. It was terrible. The next morning a homeless man recognized us in McDonalds and screamed “Hey! It’s those weirdo’s from last night”.

   

If you want to read Artrocker blog number 4, please head to my blog devil-hand-drink`blogspot.jp. Amongst other things I wrote about Puffyshoes. If you want to read about Puffyshoes as written by a professional, head here where Ian Martin writes about them for the Guardian online. http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/sep/26/puffyshoes-goodbye-to-you-new-music-japan