Kansai Calling, January 2009

By JP DuQuette | Saturday, Dec 27, 2008

For most of us gaijin, the first week of January is about as exciting as watching paint dry in slo-mo. Sure, New Year’s Eve’s a blast; be it countdown parties, traditional nocturnal temple-hopping or just sitting around the old boob tube watching the ridiculous torture comedy on Downtown’s yearly epic Gaki no Tsukai special, there are ways to pass the time amicably enough. But then what? I mean, you have the days off, but with all the stores closed, how’s a guy/ gal to keep him/ herself amused? Chances are, you’re reading this after the 5th anyway, so it’s a moot point, but if anyone has a post-oshogatsu entertainment strategy not involving ‘self-medication’ drop me a line, and I’ll do my best to make you famous.

At least things aren’t as crap as they could’ve been on the concert front. Predictably, there’re few shows, but in January, ya takes what ya gets. For a start, Club Quattro Shinsaibashi’s got a stellar line-up of big names, both foreign and domestic. On the 9th, for example, there’s Stars, about as indie as, say, The O.C. these days., but these Canadian pop-rockers are actually pretty good. Then on the 15th,  it’s Something Corporate indie-emo dude Jack’s Mannequin (blech), followed by Mudhoney on the 16th. Wait a minute, are we talking more grunge-cred-than-Nirvana Mudhoney here!? Yep, apparently.

Still, all said and done, I’d wait until some local talent hits the Quat on the 19th, a new rave/digi-rock shocker of an event featuring Metalchicks (Buffalo Daughter side-project), Osaka industrialites Damage, nutter-butter NANI and his Bogulta unit and electro-hotties Crossbred. Quality entertainment on all fronts.

Jack Johnson more your style? Well shit-out-of-luck, he ain’t coming, but you can see one of his surf-roots-folk bodhisattva in the person of Donavon Frankenreiter on the 20th. Damn, the guy looks old on his Last.Fm page, but he’s actually ‘just’ my age (36). Maybe there’s actually something to that old Japanese saying that only the stupid stay young.

Rather see a Don with more balls? Well, chances are even the reconstituted remains of Pittsburgh’s original math-rockers Don Caballero will be able to do more than a little sonic damage. That ship sales (with more than adequate support from Yamamoto Seiichi’s Para) on the 21st.

It’s hard to know what to think of UK’s Razorlight. Sort of an unexpectedly bland amalgam of The Strokes and Talking Heads, I guess, and if that’s up your alley, have at ‘em on the 26th.  Me, I’d wait till the 27th for Spiritualized, and their stoner-rock with strings, or –good lord, even better- avant-geek rock from Japanzine fave Deerhoof (with support from the equally bizzaro Woolitchpangoon). Or, for those of us still stuck in the 90’s, The Presidents of the United States of America will be bringing their poor man’s TMBG schtick to the Quat. Okay, okay, the derision is only half-deserved; I’m sure they’ll rock just fine come the 31st.

To Bears, which gets the award for first noise event of the new year (on the usually quiet 4th, no less), and it’s Alchemy Records guitar molester Jojo Hiroshige playing with Yamamoto-san and others. Then it’s a night of side projects on the 15th with scene veteran Tabata’s 20 Guilders and Bogulta drummer NANI’s Human Shower unit. The 16th brings regular new-rave whacksters BLOND newHALF, and on the 23rd – woohoo!- it’s Acid Mothers Temple SWR (Tsuyama, Kawabata and Tsuyama, the terrible trio) with special guests saxophonist Umezu Kazutoki and Afrirampo’s Pikachu. SWR is always a pleasure, though expect a little more jazz-prog wankery than you would at a ‘normal’ AMT face-melter. Finally, enjoy a 31st of unusual entertainment with the original Ultra Bide line-up (apparently featuring Jojo Hiroshige on guitar). As if Hide doesn’t have enough on his plate without having to play with his OLD bands…

Shangri-la’s got the best show this month. No, not the new wave skronk of Neconemuru on the 12th (with admittedly fantastic support from the unforgettable wacky mutant ska-rock of Outdoor Homeless and a DJ set from creative electronicist Oorutaichi). I’m talking the gorgeous indie-electro-ambient-chamber pop of World’s End Girlfriend with support from hot, hot, HOT Mutyumu (pronounced “Muchuumu”). I really can’t say enough about the gorgeous operatic female vocals, neoclassical string and jazz-rock arrangements – plus the occasional death metal vocals and drums - on Ilya, Mutyuumu’s latest, but for fans of Miranda Sex Garden, Coaltar of the Deepers and other gothic genre-benders, for Pete’s sake, just go! I’ll be the gangly guy with the beer belly and the Kikaida hat up in front.

What about ole Namba Hatch, you may ask? Well, they’ve got upbeat Brit-rock from The Kooks on the 10th (yawn) along with…Talking Heads legend and wannabe ethnomusicologist David Byrne on the 23rd?! Maybe an arm and a leg to get in, but it’s freakin’ David Byrne, and you just know the show’s going to be beyond spectacular. Now, if we could only get Peter Gabriel over here for a weekend…

Big Cat’s got two good bets as well. Post-rock Scotsmen Mogwai are likely to put on an assthrasher of a show on the 14th, and for all you older-timers, Chris Duarte & Bluestone Company is Jake & Elwood with a dash of country sass and damn fine guitar work.  Certainly nothing the Penguin would disapprove of, and that’s on the 29th.

Then it’s a bit of this and that in Osaka. Noon’s got industrial breakbeats ala Boom Boom Satellites from local laptop heroes Goddo OD on the 13th. Socio’s got Ultra Bide (in it’s current incarnation, assumedly) on the 17th. Clapper has the surprisingly spud-whumping Devo/ Polysics-esque “mutant-science-punk-rock” of Glasgow’s We Are the Physics on the 21st, and finally Sound Channel as an extra long DJ set from J-techno standard Tanaka Fumiya on the 31st.

Kyoto’s pretty sleepy this month. Metro has new wave/ breakcore crazies Hosome along with new ravers Out at Bero on the 12th (man, how nuts is that going to be?), along with ambient-indie pop from the excellent Spangle Call Lilli Line and Audio Safari on the 17th.  Yaso’s got, yes you guessed it, yet another Ultra Bide Presents show on the 11th, along with Watchman (ex-Melt Banana) on the 17th. UrBANGUILD hasn’t posted their schedule yet (grumble, grumble), so you’re going to have to check that out yourself. And that’s just about…

Holy-retro-mother-of-electro, there is late breaking news tonight that Capsule will be playing a late night show on January 23rd! Their newest, More! More! More!, is hands down the most balls-to-the-walls electro-house-cheese producer Nakata Yasutaka has ever vomited forth, and it’s technically the best J-pop release of the last few years. If guilty pleasure techno dance-pop is your bag, baby, better sling it over your shoulder with all speed and bring it with you, cause this thing will be HUGE. Throw some glow sticks in there while you’re at it.

And I’m afraid that’s all I have to give this month, gentle readers. Tune in next month when I suggest a slew of shows certain to scare off your Valentine’s Day dates, and find out what Stereolab actually experiments on in that underground bunker of theirs below the streets of Paris.  

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