Tokyo Live, January 2009

By Jon Wilks | Saturday, Dec 27, 2008

And so we come to the final Tokyo Live in its current incarnation. It's been a thrilling 6 months, full of joy (Tenniscoats), pain (Lenny Kravitz), mirth (The Watanabes) and experimentation (anything involving Cal Lyall). So, before we brace ourselves for this month's aural frenzy, allow me a few words.

I've had great fun teasing The Watanabes in these pages, but the truth is they're a hard-working band giving it their best shot on a notoriously tough music scene. It takes some guts to do what they're doing, and I think they deserve all the help they can get. The same can be said for any number of artists that have cropped up in Tokyo Live. Sunset Drive, Kev Gray, Nanbanjin, Tenniscoats, The Loyal We, Nhhmbase, Lost in Found, 4 Bonjour's Parties, Cut Flowers, Decentred, The Grizzly Folk, Night Town Service, DJ Zelda, Tetragrammaton - all great independent acts, doing their best to be heard in a country that refuses to recognize talent unless it's boy-banded up and given a mullet. So, I dedicate this month's ramblings to the mavericks out there who have made this column such a pleasure to write. May the indie gods smile upon you always. 

And so to the 6th, when Late of the Pier take the stage at O-East. Thanks to the ever-wonderful Last.fm website (come and join the Japanzine Music group, you slothy baboons), I can tell you that their debut single, "Space and the Woods", falls into the New Rave category of recent British indie, meaning that it sounds like it was made in about 1979. More precisely, it sounds like it was made by Gary Newman in about 1979. I can, and will, go further... It sounds like "Cars", made by Gary Newman in about 1979. Still, the opening line's about suicide, and that's indie enough to get them into Tokyo Live, eh, kids? Happy times. 

On the 10th, we're all about Rei Harakami at Unit. El Rei makes electronica for the masses, and he's about to go KABOOM and get all household-name on yo' ass. Catch him while you can, but expect atmospherics rather than aerobics. This one's a sit down and sway gig. 

The 11th at Studio Coast hosts an event for all you post-rockers out there, with genre veterans Mogwai doing a couple of nights in the capital (catch them on the 10th at Liquidroom in Ebisu). Their latest album The Hawk is Howling has fans divided - apparently there's only so far post-rock can go before you have to start adding more posts - but they're a great band to see live, especially if you're not into singing along. Alternatively, you might plump for the free Ogre You Asshole gig over at Tower Records in Shibuya - but that would be a name-related decision, surely. Send me a t-shirt, if they have any on sale. 

On the morning Kurt Cobain shot himself, I was sitting amongst the wreckage of my parents' sitting room, trying to decide whether to start cleaning up after the previous night's party, or to light up another joint. They were away on holiday, and about 50 of my school buddies had turned up to celebrate my good fortune. To top the weekend off, we had tickets to see Nirvana when they hit UK soil a few days later. As I sat there in my pot-fuelled stupor (I had, after all, made the right decision), the shocking news filtered through. Not that I was all that upset. Within hours, the 6 tickets I was clutching had quadrupled in value. In schoolboy terms, I was sitting on a small fortune. All of which is vaguely connected to the Mudhoney gig on the 14th at O-Nest. They're grungers from Seattle, after-all. 

On the 17th, you could do far worse than hanging out with Tenniscoats at Grapefruit Room. I spent a week of December pestering them on their Kyushu tour, and - while the restraining order bites a little - I don't regret any of it. Incidentally, their new collaboration with The Pastels is due out in spring. It's called Two Sunsets, and according to reports, it, "sounds like two sunsets." Hearing is believing, people. In the meantime, content yourself with any of the umpteen other releases they put out in '08 - Tenniscoats & Secai was especially lovely, and the 2 bands will be performing it together on the 25th at O-Nest. 

French rockers JFK will be bringing their mascara and guitars to O-Nest on the 20th, Wakoshi on the 25th, and The Nine Spices on the 28th. It's difficult to know what to do with this mob. YouTube reveals a band that passes over sleeve-worn influences, preferring to tattoo Queens of the Stone Age up and down both arms. That said, they rock pretty hard (until they start broadcasting John F Kennedy newsflashes over their backing tracks, at which point it all becomes a little too earnest) and if you like Queens, you won't find a better price. 

What with The Pastels, Mogwai, and now Glasvegas making it into this month's column, things are starting to go a bit haggis-shaped. The 'Vegas claim to be inspired by Phil Spector, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain. All well and good, but for some reason I can't get Marc Almond out of my head whenever I encounter them. Marc Almond, had he been blessed with a thick, Glaswegian burr. Why is that, do you think? Answers on a postcard to the usual... oh, wait. I won't be here, and I doubt the next guy gives a shit. Catch Glasvegas at Liquidroom on the 20th (where, according to their Last.fm page, a whole 3 people will be in attendance).

Spiritualized will be sprinkling some old-school magic on the indie hordes this month, hitting the Liquidroom on the 22nd, and Duo Music Exchange on the 23rd. Seems like no time since he last dropped by. Time flies when you're whacked out of your gourde, listening to Jason Pierce's back-catalogue.

Tokyo Live wouldn't be Tokyo Live without at least 1 Watanabes listing. So, for the final time, I urge you to go along to Marz on the 27th and hurl your skiddy Y-fronts at Tokyo's most Smiths-esque indie foursome. And if that doesn't get you smiling, buy a copy of their debut album and feed it to your goat. Mine died after 5 mouthfuls, but boy did we have fun for the first 4.

If you like your rock'n'roll old and hoary, check out Primal Scream at Zepp Tokyo on the 28th and 29th. If not, you might want to try for Deerhoof tickets - February 1st, Liquidroom. Hipsters don't come more fresh and frothy than the 'Hoof. 

And that, my friends, is that. If you've time to spare, Last.fm is my particular choice of SMS. If not, treat yourselves to a hand-shandy. You've earned it. 

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