…says Kerrang.

Yep that good old English rock music magazine has reviewed MUCC and… apparently it is only worth 2/5. I find this hilarious considering most Japanese music related bloggers and reviewers were overwhelmingly pleased with the album or think it is the best album this year. Kerrang though call it ‘non threatening’ and ‘tuneless’. Not sure when music last had to threaten me… but nonetheless Kerrang started off on a bad foot suggesting that Japan only likes bands like MUCC because they like ‘glittery’ things and calling MUCC ‘lightweight alt-rockers’. All the while they say this, they fawn over genuinely rubbish bands. I probably sound super bitter or something that Kerrang haven’t fallen in love with MUCC but seriously, Shion is far better than a measly 2/5. It is majestic in parts, from the innovative water-drop opening to the sense of doom permeating throughout Game and the track Shion.

Then again, why should I be surprised… it’s not English and that of course qualifies it immediately as ’shit’. I even read in Rock Sound today that MUCC would be popular IF they sung in English. Reality though that may be, can’t people start to look beyond language in English speaking nations. Seriously? It gets right on my wick.

Like many working foreigners in Japan I teach a number of private students in addition to my regular work. As well as being good financially many of the people I meet are very interesting and teach me about Japanese culture as much as I help their English. I recently began lessons with a new private, an adorable lady called Hideco.

Last week Hideco told me she was in a band that she had named after the Oasis song, Little by Little. I wasn’t aware of the band so yesterday she gave me some CDs. It turns out that Little by Little are responsible for a number of anime themes including Naruto and Yakitate Japan and are fairly popular having has adverts screened in Shibuya. ‘Orange Range did the ending theme and we did the opening for Naruto’ she told me beaming. I couldn’t say much more than ‘wow that is quite awesome’ while musing to myself how life in Japan has taken another weird turn.

I listened last night and, any bias aside I really enjoyed it. Hideco’s voice is so very cute! I very much want to help them now, perhaps if they ever wanted to visit the UK I will try to help them.

The style is light indie pop rock; it kinda reminds me of Shakkalabits crossed with Ikimonogakari and a heavy layer of cute. The songs are so bouncy and full of optimism and life it is no wonder they were selected for fun anime themes.

The most recent single is Pray. A sample can be heard on the website. It is a beautiful wistful song that reminds me a little of Otsuka Ai.

Pray contains a further two songs:Re:birth Day and Japanese Compact Girl 148. The latter even has a twinge of Genki Rockets style electro!

Little by Little OHP

I went along to Pia today to get a ticket for An Cafe’s live in January. They are to play to JCB Hall, which is no small fry in the world of live venues. Back when I saw them in May, I don’t think I was in any huge rush to buy a ticket so I didn’t think the same would happen this time. I was wrong, very very wrong. An Cafe went on sale yesterday and have sold out for every venue in the Tokyo area! I honest to God never thought they were that popular; this reminds me more of pop acts than VK. The fast rising re-surge in the popularity of VK continues to surprise me and now I have to figure out a way to get to this An Cafe gig.

Zeal Link Omedetou! The record label/ magazine/ live organisers turned a year old after giving us some great lives with … another great live. This time it was 24 bands, playing at two venues (East and West) at Shibuya O. The lineup was an impressive number of popular indies like Bergerac, CELLT, Ando along with heavyweights like AnCafe and Girugamesh.

I however was in the deeply unhappy position of having to work until 6pm so missed the majority of bands. I apologised to Zeal Link for my work when I picked up my pass, I was simply so happy to have been given the chance to attend. In the end my work schedule ensured I could only see 2 bands. There was a chance to see 3 but the choice between Sex Android and Chiba (from Sendai Kamotsu) left me cold. Nonetheless I finally saw Mix Speaker’s,Inc. and for that alone I am happy.

MSI were at East and boy was East packed! MSI ooze experience with Aya, seek and Miki in the band and from the moment they appear on that stage you can feel their slick professionalism. They put on one awesome show, even if it was only for 20 minutes. The live began with the poppy Go!Go! Bremen. Yuki and Miki – both adorably dapper in black suits and black ties – swapped vocals while the rest of the band danced along and led the audience in the dance. Aya was furthest from me, with his shock of red hair. seek was close though. He walked on stage on stilts in the ‘practical version’ of his official costume. This costume includes a Predator esque mask but today seek just had green hair, black suit and a face painted black. Despite officially being an ‘alien creature’, the outfit yesterday was something like The Hitcher crossed with The Spirit of Jazz from the Boosh.

When they actually picked up their instruments it was to play Junk Story, followed by the new song, one I forgot and finally MONSTIME. Miki and Yuki sounded great, although Miki’s vocals do show more experience. The twin vocal thing works so well in my opinion. Both visually and aurally; they dance with each other, it keeps the sound really fresh and the vocalist gets a buddy to mess about with. Not that the rest of MSI were inactive at all. seek in particular wandered around much and occasionally bellowed the death vocals. I was also overjoyed to hear Miki’s MC. He still whispers as he did when he was in SCISSOR. All in all, MSI were a class act.

My only other band of the night was An Cafe of whom you could have the highest expectations and yet still have them all met. It was a short and sweet setlist but still managed to include Tekesuta Kousen and a fantastic version of Donald Duck no Magical Adventure. This version included BAN and Sou from Lolita23ku. Miku stopped the song – as he does- for the daily An Cafe game, which involved pants. Or rather signed pants that they put on Sou’s and Ban’s head. The Lolita23ku pair ran around the stage with hammers tormenting the various members of AnCafe before throwing the pants into the audience and the waiting hands of fangirls. Sou wandered over to our side with Miku dancing along as Miku sang. Then suddenly Sou grabbed Miku for a kiss; it was not a mere peck but something last a good few seconds and the fangirls went crazy.

Lolita23ku left the stage afterwards, leaving AnCafe to play a new song, Kawaiyu’s Rock and then Snow Scene. The lights in O-East did not go up afterwards though so everyone chanted for an encore. AnCafe returned after a short bit of yelling EN COR RAY and finished up with the ever wonderful and ever popular Smile Ichiban Ii Onna. Band and fans danced away happily, it was a sad moment when I realised the song was coming quickly to an end and thus An Cafe’s set. Even though I had a tough choice tonight between AnCafe and NoGoD, judging by AnCafe’s sparkling and professionally delivered performance it had been the right choice. Unfortunately there are 4 more months until their next Tokyo gig but in the interim there is the cute new single (with cover art of a rabbit with a tommy gun) coming at the end of October.

Ah well… Zeal Link-san. Omedetou!

When X Japan announced their countdown live, it set my thoughts a-whirring. Johnny’s have the Dome with both NEWS and the Johnny’s Countdown. Most of the other large livehouses are occupied so where could X go. I thought the National Stadium near Setagaya would be the ideal choice, even though it is open air and on New Years Eve. Or perhaps the Yoyogi Olympic Stadium, both being huge arenas. Last week the venue was unveiled as….. Akasaka Blitz! Now don’t get me wrong, I love Blitz very much but X at Blitz? X, that tiny band who have played the 67 000 capacity Tokyo Dome 16 times and who earlier this year sold out three nights in a row there playing at Blitz. There were more people at the YOSHIKI fan conference event last week than can be stuffed into Blitz.

According to Yahoo News/Nikkan Sports it is because YOSHIKI wants to return X to their livehouse roots since they started out as such. They had asked the staff if they could do such a live before the Dome concerts in March but it was impossible so instead NYE has been chosen. I can’t help wonder though if the X sound is just too big for Blitz, and they might end up blowing the walls off or turning half the crowd deaf!

During a week of shocking break ups and tumult in the world I would never have expected this one… RENTRER EN SOI are splitting up???? I could have predicted the demise of Lehmans more easily than that shock announcement by Satsuki & co!

The official line is, they seem to have reached the end of their plans for RENTRER EN SOI. From the OHP translations on JaME and “http://www.shattered-tranquility.net” it appears there was no fundamental falling out of musical difference, just simply they felt that they had acheived all they could do and indeed wanted to as RENTRER EN SOI. It was a good 5 years and I’ll miss them a lot. They were just getting really good again too. I can’t feel angry though. It seems sudden yes, and certainly shocking as I felt they were a band with a solid future but sometimes people just want to move on to the next stage in their life and I hope RES will pop up in the music scene very soon.

The final live is on Xmas Day but before that they are embarking on a final tour taking in Meguro Rock May Kan, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka before returning to Tokyo for the Last Live.

Meanwhile in other shocking news, although slightly of the happier kind, Merry are re-releasing Gendai Stoic. They sent it off to London for engineers to play around with resulting in a lovely new remastered version that I cannot wait to hear. According the the Merry site it is being remastered at Metropolis Mastering in the UK by a gentleman named Tim Young. I wonder how the classic crackly tracks will sound…

I feel I want to adopt these guys as my band to pimp, 2008.

Anyway, the frankly awesome Deluhi have a PV that accompanies the new single released back in July. I only just discovered it too. It is a live recording (something many bands do for their first PV) but Juri’s voice sounds wonderful as ever.

Prior to arriving in Japan, I thought Cross Gate was only an annual event, it appears not as tonight I attended my second this year. As before Versailles headlined and Chariots made an appearance, but beyond that it was quite different.

Inugami Circus Dan started the billing and I…. missed it. It was a gamble based on the order given on the ticket but I hoped that by arriving at 5:30 I would miss them. Mission accomplished. I really cannot stand that woman’s voice.

So onto bands I do like.

Tonight was my first time watching Moran, the new band of Hitomi/Sanaka/Kanoma (that one who was in Fatima). I have been admiring their visuals in Cure magazine for a while; they have that dishevelled look that reminds of fairytales, Gormenghast and something rather organic. With Hitomi at the helm I knew that vocally they would sound good and hopefully this would translate to the music too. This was somewhat akin to Fatima, as one might expect but with a slightly more metal edge. Tight melodies prevailed throughout with Hitomi’s clear vocals. I particularly enjoyed their final song, a track tinged in electronica. While Moran were not as mindblowing as I perhaps had hoped (unlike the first time I heard Versailles) but I thoroughly enjoyed them and will actively support them in the future.

Galneryus followed with a full onslaught of ear-obliterating guitars and wailing hair metal vocals. They sounded quite perfect on stage and I quite forgot I was watching a Japanese band! It was great fun and their song, Stardust, from the forthcoming album was rather addictive. One of their members, YU-TO, the bassist is also in my new band-based addiction, Deluhi so to watch him perform a different role in a different band was rather interesting.

I moved forwards after to prepare for my two main bands. Chariots came first. I like Chariots, I like their sound live but unfortunately they are a band I will enjoy watching at an event but afterwards they barely leave an imprint upon my memory. I struggle to remember details beyond how Riku looked. The Chariots sound is very much in the screamo visual kei mould and when they are surrounded, as they were tonight, by bands with much more interesting concepts, Chariots kind of fade into nothingness.

Thankfully the sets at events are quite short so it wasn’t too long before the studs appeared. Daisuke’s new band along with former deadman members might have taken some flak for unoriginality of their music or how much they resemble the members former bands but as one who loved both Kagerou and deadman, I won’t complain. It was fantastic to see Daisuke again. Starting with the Intro track from and hate, Aie, Yukino and Hibiki rocked out over this opening number before Daisuke strolled on stage to his adoring public. They immediately began to play Thursday replete with Daisuke’s growling vocals and Yukino’s pounding basslines. the studs managed to capture the attention of every eye in the room with such awesome stage presence and perfect musicianship.

The whole set consisted of 7 songs, within which rain drop was played. It was lovely to hear a band do a ballad instead of the usual thundering melee of sound. It was a beautiful rendition too and interesting to watch how Daisuke sang it. He acted his words with his eyes and gestures putting heart and soul into the performance. Yukine too, although stood stoically over his guitar the concentration in his eyes was mesmerising. It was a shame their whole set was so short.

I just checked their website and it turns out they have a picture of their setlist attached to the ground, and in full it reads like this:

01 Intro
02 Thursday
03 disclosure
04 raindrop
05 Niji no iro
06 advance insane
07 (kanji are too blurry)

I found it quite amusing that Versailles then followed the studs or that the studs preceded Versailles for the sheer about-face in musical styles. Nagoya-kei to epic gothic metal. Versailles, as before, were stunning. I doubt if they will be as good but as the curtain raised on the five members in their elaborate dress, Yuki’s drumset attired in climbing roses and a giant banner reading Versailles while an ominous classical piece served as introduction I was dragged back into their beautiful world. I even started to doubt my new interior design plans as the beautiful images of gothicism and vampires washed over me while I stood in awe of their beauty. I don’t think any band had such an effect on me.

Kamijo was in a slightly playful mood that night, asking Teru to sing a couple of times and communicating to the crowd on my side with a cheeky set of smiles and gestures. As for the setlist, they began with Aristocrat’s Symphony, a grand and opulent piece of melodic metal fused with classical orchestrated notes that created the feel of an opera house out of O-West. This was followed by two heavier numbers, Red Carpet Day and ZOMBIE. The latter I adore for it’s sinister carnival sound. It is less aristocratic vampirism and more circus sideshow with unique use of guitar to create this effect. The finale was Revenant Choir, starting from the first chorus/bridge part. It is impossible to get bored of that.

Versailles release their new album, Noble, soon. Simply from the sound of the Prelude on the website I know I will love this.

I was admiring the new outfits throughout too. Near to me was a girl in Hizaki cosplay from The Revenant Choir PV and it got me thinking again in that direction. Jasmine You was resplendent in purple with a giant headpiece and Teru near him in hues of indigo and lavender equally so. I would quite like to attempt a Jasmine You piece one day.

Versailles did no encore, like CROSS GATE back in January, so I headed back into the Shibuya night. I noticed then how many foreign faces there were at Versailles… and many foreign faces that all seem to know each other. Maybe there is some big Versailles relation to all this as I never see as many or indeed the same faces at any other VK live. I still lack the confidence to talk to people though, which is strange as one of my best friends here now was made when I asked about the ‘next band’ back at an event at Shibuya BOXX back in March.

It has been a while since I wrote about any lives properly. I have been attending concerts, with less frequency than in March and April perhaps but I have been。Recently my efforts have concentrated less on my own live reports for a bundle of three reports for JaME that I wrote a short note for earlier. For now however some recent live experiences… such as AnCafe, one month (sigh) ago.

AnCafe have been through a few changes since I last saw them almost three years ago in Japan. Bou left to be replaced by Takuya and Yuuki, and the band has made a couple of visits to Europe. Miku`s dream that he relayed to Nia and myself way back when in Sendai has been acheived. “I really want to play in London!” he told us.　In April of this year, they did.

This date at the NHK Hall was a continuation of the tour that had visited the UK. However now AnCafe were back on home ground playing to their largest indoor audience in Tokyo. Any tiredness they may have felt was thrown away for a night of pure fun, sugar coated in bright neon oshare colours and repeated calls of `nyappy!`　(Miku`s word for `happy`)。NHK Hall was surrounded by an eclectic mixture of girls, the usual crowd that populate these gigs who gradually made their way into the hall. The merchandise line inside was long and I had to question the sensibility of opening the doors a mere 45 minutes before the scheduled start. Staff members strode up and down the line bellowing warnings of the approaching start time like wailing sirens. I held my ground in the line although cut it quite fine and scooped up the goods just before the live began. I had a third floor seat – annoying at first but as with all things you eventually become accustomed to misfortune.

Lock on the new sekai provided the thudding instrumental SE as the band assumed their positions to the calls of the audience. This eventually became a proper version of Lock on the new sekai. This song is fun, it is designed for lives but the sound was off. The guitars were woolly and I could barely hear a word Miku sang. A touch disheartened, the realisation dawned that while AnCafe would play excellently the bad acoustics of the NHK Hall would ultimately spoil the experience. I am not a fan of the NHK Hall. Despite hosting the annual Kouhaku Utagassen New Years concert and weekly Shounen Clubs, it is not a venue suited to live music; a rock band sounds more like a moss-covered-stone band. It appears that the technicians agreed with me and gradually the sound became crisper as they battled against the hall. They managed to sort out the problems for a glorious performance of `Naniro crayon de egaku hikari` that stunned the audience into silence as NHK became a starry wonderland. Miku`s vocals were beautiful and as the song came to a close a few audible sniffles came over the reverberating bass.

As AnCafe launched into a medley of oldies, starting with Candyholic and including Ese Uranai, Escapism and Tekesuta Kousen the live came alive. The dancing from the crowd became more enthusiastic as did the singing which steadily increased in volume. I was quite taken with the inclusion of so many old hits and more so that the Tekesuta Kousen furi is much harder than I remember! It was not the only section of oldies either as later Miku brought out the blue Donald Duck puppet for a bit of coordinated `saku` from a couple of thousand people and a host of duck noises filling the NHK.

Music aside, because music is only 75% of the live experience in Japan, AnCafe were rather conversive tonight with a number of short MCs. At the midway point, Miku left the stage with Takuya and Yuuki for a comedy skit from Kanon and Teruki. They began a rhythm game of `Ancafe exercise`.　They took turns in directing the audience in clapping slow at first for the `Antique Cafe no exercise…`　and then fast as they chanted `la la la la` followed by saying something amusing or, as Kanon demonstrated later, putting their heads between each others legs. Takuya was called on stage to join in, and as he came to the end of his chanting both Kanon and Teruki`s heads appeared between his legs. Takuya looked down in shock and shouted `What are you two doing?` Kanon and Teruki could only reply with giggles. Miku`s turn however at the exercise game resulted in the audience shouting `nyappy` together and, naturally, led into Nyappy in the World 3 and some fabulous pom pom dancing from Miku the cheerleader.

The other MCs were more of the conversational type: early on Miku made some comments about the importance of the concert in NHK Hall and rechristened it `Nyappy Happy Keropi` as he pointed to some girls in the audience wearing Keropi Kigurumi. Meanwhile the longer Encore MC was a Teruki story time MC. Teruki is like Nero; an active drummer, however unlike Nero, Teruki is a ball of energy bursting with stories from tours to embarrass his fellow bandmembers with. This time it was a tale about Yuuki and some chocolate ice cream and Miku in a car park.

This encore was preceeded by some newer songs being played; Kakusei Heroism, Cherry Saku Yuuki and Koritsu Hospital all proved themselves to be fan favourites judging by audience reaction. Cherry Saku Yuuki was greeted with a loud cheer and a lightshow of school related symbolism. Throughout the closing segment both vocals and music were perfect; any issue with the acoustics had been solved and AnCafe were able to show their full potential.

The first song of the encore was Orange Dream, a sweet balladic number played semi acoustic for the occasion and then in complete contrast, 3p with all its aggressive power. They drew it out for a while and the fans continually hurled themselves over their seats tirelessly until the final chord and the departure of the band. Finally the band played Bonds ~Kizuna~ for which we rased our orange towels for a bit of whipping the air. A venue like NHK Hall or CC Lemon Hall is good for one thing: whipping ones towel around as there is little fear of being actually whipped by high-speed material.

My hopes were raised for a big announcement as a video projector screen came down before the band re-merged for a second encore. The video showed a history of AnCafe over the past five years with sad sighs emitted as Bou’s image appeared on screen. This is the 5th Anniversary year of AnCafe and as a result they are having a celebration, the AnCafe Summer Festa in Yokohama at an outdoor venue. Sadly it is on a Saturday thus ruling out my chance of attending. I was however filled with pride for the five members who continue to grow as a band. Following a trend I have noticed recently there were many boys in attendance, something that shocked Teruki. This can only bode well for AnCafe if this sugary rock is appreciated by the male populace!

This finale was, as I had expected, Smile Ichiban II Onna and what a finale it proved to be. A pastel neon lightshow, the by now usual silver streamers and a band who couldn`t have been having more fun. As Miku asked the audience to sing the final words, NHK Hall erupted with a triumphant `Taiyo sa!`(for the full lyrics of `You are my sun`) and it certainly felt like those words were meant by both audience and band.

After an initial rocky start the live became supremely memorable and a lot of fun. Fears quashed, AnCafe are still the best oshare/light visual kei act around.

There are many reasons to be happy about the forthcoming months in music terms with crammed full schedules from July to September and (apart from a fast approaching trip to Tokyo Dome) nothing is possibly more exciting than this lineup:

Arc／愛狂います。／アヲイ／12012／vistlip/ ヴィドール／Versailles／Envus／えんそく/ 関西変態系お笑いヴィジュアルバンド HEAR / キス＆ネイト／キャンゼル／KLACK／ClearVeil / Sadie／SIVA／ジゴロ／Sugar
ジュリィー／シンディケイト／the studs / ゾロ／Dali／タロット-tarrot-／Chariots / Dio／Daizy Stripper／DEATHGAZE / Duel Jewel／DELUHI／デンジャー☆ギャング / 東京ミカエル。／Dolly／ドレミ團／ネガ／heidi / Hi:BRiD／バギーボギー／HERO / 176BIZ／姫苺／Fuzylog／boogieman / Black List／BRANCH／VelBet／born / 摩天楼オペラ／ムック／Megaromania／MELLO / Moran／ラッド／RENTRER EN SOI／LiZ / Rosario／他　　　

I spy with my little eye…. MUCC, heidi, 12012, DEATHGAZE, Rentrer en Soi, the studs, Vidoll, Versailles, Awoi…. all superb bands who command such awesome stage presence.

Scuber Dive is essentially a visual kei festival. I can see it now; hundreds of VK gals and guys invade Dogenzaka for a day moving between the various livehouses of the Shibuya-O complex. It should be a fun day and I hope that some stores may make an appearance as it would be a perfect chance to sell clothing although I rather doubt this would happen. AMPM on the other hand must be salivating over the potential sales that day will bring as the only conbini within a 30 seconds walk of the area.

For Tokyo, tickets go on sale on the 5th July priced at 6000.