Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
New Songs, Old Bands - Tsubaki, The Novembers, Lunkhead
So.... THE NOVEMBERS will be releasing their new album soon!!!
SOOOOO SUPER STOKED!!!
Well, actually, I'm a little scared they'd disappoint. But.... Yesterday, I went for their shows and it was the first time they played quite a few number off their new album, they were really good!! (I wouldn't say FANTASTICALLY AWESOME OUT OF THIS WORLD though). The first song they played was really, REALLY, REALLY amazing... The other two songs that had a lot of the usual The Novembers screaming, I thought, were not as powerful as their previous angry screaming songs (oh but I oh so love Kobayashi-san). The customary slow track was, not as melodious as their previous customary slow song track (Like "Mer" off last year's album) BUTTTTTTTT it was a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better, well crafted song.
ANYWAY, that aside.
Was just thinking about all the bands (Japanese) that I like and their new songs. I often listen to the new songs and think "Hmm... How good is this?"
And I gotta say that of all the new songs/new albums I've heard, it's very sad to say but Lunkhead had the WEAKEST release.
Weakest, in the sense that... the one that attracted me the least.
I went for Lunkhead's Tour Final one man live show for their latest album on Sunday...
Actually, AS ALWAYS, Lunkhead's songs are incredibly MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more amazing live than the album versions.
So actually, live, the songs off their newest albums are actually REALLY quite good.
But for the album itself, it is... VERY WEAK, compared to the other bands.
SOOOOO SUPER STOKED!!!
Well, actually, I'm a little scared they'd disappoint. But.... Yesterday, I went for their shows and it was the first time they played quite a few number off their new album, they were really good!! (I wouldn't say FANTASTICALLY AWESOME OUT OF THIS WORLD though). The first song they played was really, REALLY, REALLY amazing... The other two songs that had a lot of the usual The Novembers screaming, I thought, were not as powerful as their previous angry screaming songs (oh but I oh so love Kobayashi-san). The customary slow track was, not as melodious as their previous customary slow song track (Like "Mer" off last year's album) BUTTTTTTTT it was a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better, well crafted song.
ANYWAY, that aside.
Was just thinking about all the bands (Japanese) that I like and their new songs. I often listen to the new songs and think "Hmm... How good is this?"
And I gotta say that of all the new songs/new albums I've heard, it's very sad to say but Lunkhead had the WEAKEST release.
Weakest, in the sense that... the one that attracted me the least.
I went for Lunkhead's Tour Final one man live show for their latest album on Sunday...
Actually, AS ALWAYS, Lunkhead's songs are incredibly MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more amazing live than the album versions.
So actually, live, the songs off their newest albums are actually REALLY quite good.
But for the album itself, it is... VERY WEAK, compared to the other bands.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Kobayashi Yusuke (The Novembers) Solo - 07/12/11
hmmmm...... I think................................................ I've chosen my loyalties!..... and I think NOVEMBERS is beginning to win my heart more and more..... Or well, at least, their brilliance is!
So...... this show COMPLETELY TOTALLY clashed with not just LUNKHEAD but also Sekaiichi's performance together at Studio Coast. I really couldn't decide which one I wanted to go for... I mean, DUDE!! it's Mr. Angel's band AND LUNKHEAD playing together man!!! It's sure to be a once in a lifetime thing!!!!
But dammit!! It's also Kobayashi's solo!! And I have NEVER seen his solo!!! Dudeeee okay... well maybe I am secretly in love with him haha!
So...... this show COMPLETELY TOTALLY clashed with not just LUNKHEAD but also Sekaiichi's performance together at Studio Coast. I really couldn't decide which one I wanted to go for... I mean, DUDE!! it's Mr. Angel's band AND LUNKHEAD playing together man!!! It's sure to be a once in a lifetime thing!!!!
But dammit!! It's also Kobayashi's solo!! And I have NEVER seen his solo!!! Dudeeee okay... well maybe I am secretly in love with him haha!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Riki Kinoshita (木下理樹) / the chef cooks me - Shibuya O-Nest (07/09/11)
This was my first time going to O-Nest.
Shibuya O is a whole massive block of 6 or 7 venues meshed into a corner of a blackalley in Dogenzaka. There's O-East, O-West, O-Crest, O-West, O-Nest, Duo Music Exchange and Shibuya 7th Floor (I think there's one more venue there, but I'm not sure and I only found out yesterday that Shibuya 7th Floor was on the 7th Floor, one floor above O-Nest... CONFUSING! )
So it was my first time going to O-Nest.
O-Nest is split into two.
On the 6th floor is the bar and lounge space, where you wait to line up to get into the live house. The live house is one floor below, on the 6th Floor.
It's actually really nicely set up. I really like the atmosphere of the bar, and I also like that the live house is downstairs. The live house floor itself also has a really nice atmosphere. However, not a good one for viewing if you're standing behind. The stage is totally not that high. There's no barricade between the floor and the stage. At the back there is an elevated platform, which is good to stand for short people lol.
So anyway, today, I wasn't too sure which side of the stage to stand. My ticket number was quite a nice one "12". So I knew I could get in front. But Kinoshita changes sides.
I think with Art-School the takes the middle of the stage and killing boy he usually takes the left side of the stage, when he does acoustic shows with Toddy, he takes the left, a little in the middle.
So I was thinking, the best place to plant myself was perhaps somewhere between the left and the middle.
When I got in, there was a gap in the front row down in the middle, but I was too shy to stand there... So I stood in the second row, selfishly occupying a biggggg space so that I could either move further left or further middle, depending on where Riki set up (he was the second to play).
When he DID set up, he took the middle of the stage, and was WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too close!
For some reason, the two girls in front of me left quite a gap in the middle, so on the second row, i filled in that gap and it was RIGHT IN FRONT of Riki.
DUDEEEEEEEE
TOO DAMN CLOSE FOR COMFORT!!!
And I was thinking to myself, "sooooooooooooo incredibly close but I couldn't be more worlds apart."
SO ANYWAY, it was ONLY Riki on an acoustic guitar. Not even an acoustic electric... It was just an acoustic guitar.
Hmmm thankfully I am a fan, otherwise I'd have been bored!
BUT IT WAS REALLY GREAT!!!
Surprisingly, Riki played A LOT of songs... He kept shuffling through his song sheets trying to find a song. It was funny. He was so disorganized, couldn't find the song he wanted, the sheets were falling all over. lol.
The live house was REALLY silent.
So after the first song he cracked some jokes and asked us if we were sleepy.
Then after the second song, he said that he was expecting to be the first one to open and was shocked that he was slotted for second, after the chef cooks me, and the chef cooks me was DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN crazy.. So he said the atmosphere has plundged. And everyone laughed.
It was really cool though, Riki talked a lot more... Maybe coz he's the only one on stage and he has to defuse the silent atmosphere!!! So he cracked a lot of jokes. He said his fingers was hurting... WTH!!!!!! You're a guitarist!!!! But his fingers were hurting from playing the acoustic!! Which means... HMMM! He's not played the acoustic in years!! (I think since he was 24 or 26)...!! Wth!!!
Anyway he was joking with the people. He said his fingers REALLY hurt. And he told the audience to please write in the blog that he had tried hard that night. LOL.
And because the vocalist of the chef cooks me was there and he was screaming things to Riki.
After Riki said he was trying hard, the vocalist screamed back "gambatte ne!"
and Riki was like, "Omae dare da?!" (Who the heck are you?!")
Then the vocalist responded, "Fan desu." (I'm a fan)
Then there was a pause, then Riki replied, "O, arigatou"
ahahahahaha!
Then after a few songs Riki asked for the time and how long he had.... A LOT MORE... haha..
Then he asked for requests.
Then the vocalist of the chef cooks me screamed "Skirt".
And Riki replied "Muri!" (Impossible!)
Then Riki said it was really difficult to play the song because it's an electric song and it really requires a lot of strength and energy on the guitars. Lol! So with his fingers and errrr... the acoustic guitar it was MURI!
Then another fan requested another song, to which Riki took a few moments, thinking, looking at his song sheets before concluding... "Muri!"
lol.
Anyway, the vocalist of the chef cooks me asked him about his trip to Berlin and Riki went on to talk a lot about it. He was talking mostly about the nuclear energy and the energy conservation work being done there that made him really not want the kind of life over here in Japan. But he spoke really long, for like at least 3 minutes... I guess Riki talks after all :)
Shibuya O is a whole massive block of 6 or 7 venues meshed into a corner of a blackalley in Dogenzaka. There's O-East, O-West, O-Crest, O-West, O-Nest, Duo Music Exchange and Shibuya 7th Floor (I think there's one more venue there, but I'm not sure and I only found out yesterday that Shibuya 7th Floor was on the 7th Floor, one floor above O-Nest... CONFUSING! )
So it was my first time going to O-Nest.
O-Nest is split into two.
On the 6th floor is the bar and lounge space, where you wait to line up to get into the live house. The live house is one floor below, on the 6th Floor.
It's actually really nicely set up. I really like the atmosphere of the bar, and I also like that the live house is downstairs. The live house floor itself also has a really nice atmosphere. However, not a good one for viewing if you're standing behind. The stage is totally not that high. There's no barricade between the floor and the stage. At the back there is an elevated platform, which is good to stand for short people lol.
So anyway, today, I wasn't too sure which side of the stage to stand. My ticket number was quite a nice one "12". So I knew I could get in front. But Kinoshita changes sides.
I think with Art-School the takes the middle of the stage and killing boy he usually takes the left side of the stage, when he does acoustic shows with Toddy, he takes the left, a little in the middle.
So I was thinking, the best place to plant myself was perhaps somewhere between the left and the middle.
When I got in, there was a gap in the front row down in the middle, but I was too shy to stand there... So I stood in the second row, selfishly occupying a biggggg space so that I could either move further left or further middle, depending on where Riki set up (he was the second to play).
When he DID set up, he took the middle of the stage, and was WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too close!
For some reason, the two girls in front of me left quite a gap in the middle, so on the second row, i filled in that gap and it was RIGHT IN FRONT of Riki.
DUDEEEEEEEE
TOO DAMN CLOSE FOR COMFORT!!!
And I was thinking to myself, "sooooooooooooo incredibly close but I couldn't be more worlds apart."
SO ANYWAY, it was ONLY Riki on an acoustic guitar. Not even an acoustic electric... It was just an acoustic guitar.
Hmmm thankfully I am a fan, otherwise I'd have been bored!
BUT IT WAS REALLY GREAT!!!
Surprisingly, Riki played A LOT of songs... He kept shuffling through his song sheets trying to find a song. It was funny. He was so disorganized, couldn't find the song he wanted, the sheets were falling all over. lol.
The live house was REALLY silent.
So after the first song he cracked some jokes and asked us if we were sleepy.
Then after the second song, he said that he was expecting to be the first one to open and was shocked that he was slotted for second, after the chef cooks me, and the chef cooks me was DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN crazy.. So he said the atmosphere has plundged. And everyone laughed.
It was really cool though, Riki talked a lot more... Maybe coz he's the only one on stage and he has to defuse the silent atmosphere!!! So he cracked a lot of jokes. He said his fingers was hurting... WTH!!!!!! You're a guitarist!!!! But his fingers were hurting from playing the acoustic!! Which means... HMMM! He's not played the acoustic in years!! (I think since he was 24 or 26)...!! Wth!!!
Anyway he was joking with the people. He said his fingers REALLY hurt. And he told the audience to please write in the blog that he had tried hard that night. LOL.
And because the vocalist of the chef cooks me was there and he was screaming things to Riki.
After Riki said he was trying hard, the vocalist screamed back "gambatte ne!"
and Riki was like, "Omae dare da?!" (Who the heck are you?!")
Then the vocalist responded, "Fan desu." (I'm a fan)
Then there was a pause, then Riki replied, "O, arigatou"
ahahahahaha!
Then after a few songs Riki asked for the time and how long he had.... A LOT MORE... haha..
Then he asked for requests.
Then the vocalist of the chef cooks me screamed "Skirt".
And Riki replied "Muri!" (Impossible!)
Then Riki said it was really difficult to play the song because it's an electric song and it really requires a lot of strength and energy on the guitars. Lol! So with his fingers and errrr... the acoustic guitar it was MURI!
Then another fan requested another song, to which Riki took a few moments, thinking, looking at his song sheets before concluding... "Muri!"
lol.
Anyway, the vocalist of the chef cooks me asked him about his trip to Berlin and Riki went on to talk a lot about it. He was talking mostly about the nuclear energy and the energy conservation work being done there that made him really not want the kind of life over here in Japan. But he spoke really long, for like at least 3 minutes... I guess Riki talks after all :)
Thursday, July 7, 2011
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