Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

Is it possible to slice 6 highlights from 4 days of fun? Yes. Here they are:

The Sun. Ten years from now, long after we’ve forgotten who played this year, 2012 will be known as the year it didn’t rain. The weather was so good that it’s already ruined Fuji Rock 2013, which will see us all turn up with suntan lotion and flip-flops, and spend the weekend sloshing around in mud.

The Stone Roses. Half the audience thought they were awful, half the audience thought they were brilliant. I thought they were brilliant. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. They seemed to be getting along. They played the hits. They didn’t tinker with them too much. They didn’t play Elephant Stone, but otherwise, it was just what we fans were hoping for.

The South Americans. I’d never heard of Onda Vaga or Che Sudaka three months ago. Now I can’t stop listening to their albums. Fuji Rock wouldn’t be Fuji Rock without a discovery or two. These were my two. Incidentally, Che Sudaka are a group of South Americans living in Barcelona. Their name means something like “Hey, South Americans”, which is how their hosts would address them.

No lines. What happened to the lines this year? It was sold out on two of the days, but there were tiny lines for the loos and the pizzas. Were there more loos? Better food options? I’ve no idea, but let’s hope it’s a change that sticks. The only insane line was for the wristband exchange on the Friday night. That can’t be too hard to solve for next year, can it?

Charan Po Lantan. The only show in which the audience spent more time laughing than singing. Check the review.

Echigo Beer. Heineken has their megadeal to bore our tastebuds to death, but a few stalls make the effort to offer something with a bit more body. This year we had Sun Sun, Old Speckled Hen, Tokyo Ale, some Spanish thing… but the winner was Echigo beer at the Naeba Shokudo. Malty, fruity and with real body. Anyone care to raise the stakes next year with some of Niigata’s Swan Lake?

As I was watching The Dekits, I was wondering what the band thought of their vocalist. Without question he’s brought attention to their act, but he also takes the spotlight off their musicianship. It’s a great band with a cartoon frontman. As he jumps around screaming, all hairy, belly out and builder’s bum inching from his shorts, the crowd’s going wild, but I wonder if it even matters what the music is. What if the same band had a more regular singer?

Wait…. no, sorry, I’m confusing The Dekits with Fucked Up.

The Dekits are four clean-cut boys with guitars. If you took any one of them home to meet your parents, they’d be delighted. Imagine Jack Johnson, times four, stripped of his angst. You think he doesn’t have any angst, but he does compared to The Dekits.

The first, brief, song has the lyrics “hello, hello, hello”.

The second song’s chorus includes the words “super duper”.

The third contains the refrain “La la la la la la la.”

I wonder how the Dekits play if they’re in a bad mood. Theirs is a world of eternal sunshine. In fact, they play “You are my sunshine.”

They also cover “Lean On Me”, “God Only Knows”, and W.A.S.P.’s “Fuck Like A Beast”. Just teasing… only two of those three.

There are four of them, and they play incredibly tightly, but the one in the grey T-shirt clearly has the voice. He sings a lot in English too. I wonder why I heard so much English from Japanese bands this weekend. Is it like French and restaurant menus? Either way, The Dekits were the last band I saw at Fuji Rock 2012, and it was a happy way to wrap things up.

Photo Julen Esteban-Pretel
Mpre pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/15790.html

This was easily the barmiest thing I’ve ever seen on a stage. It made Shibusa Shirazu look like shoegazers.

Charan Po Lantan are two young Japanese sisters, one playing the accordion and the other singing with some over-the-top facial contortions. They’ve got a drummer too, but she’s clearly just there out of necessity (aren’t they all?).

They’re dressed like dolls you’d take home as souvenirs from Austria. Singer Momo is clutching a toy stuffed pig.

They play a song, and then talk about the music drifting through the trees. “It’s so noisy. What is that racket?” asks Haru the accordion player. The racket is Radiohead, and I’m one of about 150 people that has chosen to see Charan Po Lantan instead of the superstars 500 meters away.

For the second song, the girls play this track:

The crowd goes crazy. Speaking of the crowd, it’s 90% male. That could be because Charan Po Lantan’s brand of cartoon klezmer is ideally suited to men. Bwaa ha ha, no it’s not. It’s because the Lantans are ridiculously cute.

When Momo sings, she pulls the most dramatic overacting faces you’ve ever seen on a performer. And it’s very funny. Sometimes she hyperventilates into the mic, sometimes she breaks into hysterics.

And then she disappears. Haru then announces a special guest. “Wait, where are Radiohead from?” she asks. The crowd yells the answer.

“Announcing a special guest from England… Radiohead!”

And in walks Momo with a cardboard cutout radio stuck to her forehead. Haru interviews Momo, who answers in English as Radiohead.

And then the play Paranoid Android with Momo singing the lyrics in perfect English. Then Haru launches into a rant, at about 5 words per second, concerning the reservation situation at the Naeba Shokudo. “What’s the meaning of this empty seat? Someone reserved and didn’t come? I can’t understand that at all. What’s this reservation system for? Excuse me… you… sit there!”

Later in the set, Momo reads an email they received criticizing their act. They play a musical riposte. It sounds like classic klezmer, but the lyrics draw from the e-mail (“I hope you die! You’re so ugly!).

One of their songs apparently has the lyrics “Oh Radiohead, why do we have to play at the same time as you?” But it doesn’t make much sense in this context, because they’ve packed the Naeba Shokudo stage.

And when it’s all over, they start selling CDs for cash from the stage. And when that’s over and they’ve run out of CDs, fans start throwing cash at them. I’ve never seen anything remotely like it, but I sure hope I see it again.

Photo: Julen Esteban-Pretel
More pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/15774.html

Well, the thing is, I was watching New Cool Collective at the Cafe de Paris. When it was over, I had the choice of trekking all the way to the other end of the festival to catch M.Ward, who I’d asked to write about… or sitting in my plastic chair drinking mango juice in the sunshine for another hour.

That’s no choice at all, is it? So I missed M. Ward, but I did find a young Japanese girl who saw him and asked her to review it. Here’s Chie’s take:

“I thought ‘he’s so short!’ I was surprised. His voice is husky like a country singer so I thought he had to be tall. Like the singer from The Flaming Lips. But even though he’s short, he plays so emotionally and powerfully. In terms of emotions and timing, he combines nicely with the other musicians. Very cool.

M.Ward was obviously the leader. He brought the other musicians in. His CD was happy, indie, country and rock, but the live show was more powerful. It’s not blues-rock, but… it’s not country-rock, but… anyway, it was great how they veered away from the sound of the CD.

The Marquee was only about 30% full. Probably because Yosui Inoue was playing at the same time.”

Photo: 熊沢 泉
More pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/14632.html

Ah, the little Naeba Shokudo stage. The tiniest stage at the festival. The dance floor is about 3 square feet of dirt. And the artists often play as BGM for the tired folks sitting in the plastic chairs nearby.

And then sometimes you get Kimioreitaro and Little Swing, with what I roughly counted as about 500 people watching. I don’t think Ian Brown got that many people last time he played here on the White Stage (he got more interest this time, playing with his old mates). For the first time ever at this stage, I couldn’t get close to the musicians. I had to view them through some trees.

The audience wasn’t just passers-by with nothing better to do – it’s obvious that a lot of people had heard Kimioreitaro and Little Swing before. Or maybe just Kimioreitaro. Or just Little Swing. Whichever it is, they know the songs.

Call it pop carnival jazz. Lots of hands waving and happy feet. Brilliant for right here, right now.

At one point the crowd goes really silly. The band is playing a song about the Champs Elysee. The girl next to me says it’s a tune everyone in Japan knows. “Oh, Champs Elysee. Ohhhh Champs Elysee.” It’s a testament to the French that such a simple lyric sounds alright. “Oh, Oxford Street. Ohhhhh Oxford Street” wouldn’t have worked so well.

They’ve got audience hands waving in sync and a monster crowd. Job well done.

This was one of my favourite shows of the festival.

The South Americans might not be household names over here, but the photographer tells me they’re well known in Spain, where they reside. They’ve been at this game for ten years, playing 2 or 3 times a week, and they’ve mastered the art of a show.

The members come onstage one at a time, playing as they arrive, building the sound until the final member joins in and we’re away. From that point, there’s no lull.

It’s hard not to think about Ozomatli. The two bands blend a ridiculous number of genres without every sounding contrived. Che Sudaka have a bit more rumba and reggae in them, and a bit less hip-hop, but I’d wager that those two bands would enjoy each others’ sets. They also share an ethos about audiences, shows, and getting feet moving.

They have a massive crowd for the Orange Stage at this time of day. It’s not even sunset and the field is 60% full. It might be thanks to their show last night at the Crystal Palace. I was asleep by the time they played, and I’m kicking myself now. Bet it was memorable.

They play a rumba-style cover of Englishman in New York, then their own song which today has the lyrics “onaka suita, shiawase de aritai” (I’m hungry, I want to be happy). You can probably imagine how the crowd reacted to a song sung in Japanese.

The band’s website says one of the Fuji Rock shows will be their 1,000th show. If it was this one, it was worthy of the milestone.

And if you want to hear their album, they’re giving it away free here.

Photo: Julen Esteban-Pretel
More photos: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/14057.html

I’d never heard of Electric Guest and didn’t bother finding out much about them before I came to Fuji Rock because, I figured, if they can’t be bothered to make up an interesting name, what chance they’ve done anything interested with music? If you know of some brilliant backstory to the name, it doesn’t make any difference – it’s still not a good name.

I did ask a proper music writer on Gchat for a one-line summary of various acts, and he told me Electric Guest were “hip wankers resuscitating 80s AOR tropes”. But I didn’t know what that meant, so I came to the festival with no clue.

They were playing in the Red Marquee when I was buying a pizza nearby, and the sound drew me in. It’s sort of like Vampire Weekend playing Soft Cell covers, at least some of the time.
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Remember when Primal Scream played twice at this festival? There were more than a few grumbles about getting ripped off. It’s funny that we feel stung when some megastars play twice, but don’t mind a band we’ve hardly heard of playing 7 or 8 times.

Two theories:

(1) Headlining slots are more valuable. The “special guest” teaser always makes us think they’re going to book Prince or U2. Instead we get someone we’ve just seen.

(2) The bands that play 7 times are always more fun than Primal Scream. You just can’t get tired of watching Rafven, Ska Cubano or Obrint Pas.

It’s the end of the first day and Onda Vaga are already on their third show. I heard snippets of the second through the trees and it was obvious these boys were going to smash this festival.

The Crystal Palace, as you may know, is a place for legendary performances. And Onda Vaga are brilliant. There are Japanese kids singing along to the Spanish, which is impressive and surprising.

“It’s our first time in Japan, but maybe we stay forever,” says one of the Vagas.

They’ve got two tunes that sound so much better live than on CD: “Cartagena” and “Continente de Perlas”. I bet they play both at every show they do this weekend. You can’t possibly sit still while they’re playing either of those.

My only gripe is that there was too much silence between the songs. When we’re all revved up, we want non-stop music.

Pic: 中島たくみ
More pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/12319.html

I had breakfast with some of the Bir Khalsa Dal crew this morning and asked how they come up with their stunts. The answer was a surprise: they just make them up on the spot, using whatever’s near.

“We never rehearse,” said the group’s leader. He told me they sent a wish list of objects to Smash, and got turned down. They wanted a collection of fluorescent strip light bulbs for one of the members to leap onto. Fuji’s organizers thought that was too dangerous.

He explained his philosophy that your lifespan is predetermined and nothing you do can extend it or shorten it by a single day. I guess that’s a good philosophy if your part-time job is to perform dangerous stunts without practicing.

Pic:前田博史

Elvis Costello has a whopping 32 proper studio albums to draw on for tonight’s set. I wonder how he chooses what to play.

He’s with The Imposters today, which is basically The Attractions with a different name. From a branding point of view, I bet he’d earn more if he just called them The Attractions. But I don’t get the impression Elvis is in it for the money.

If we’re honest, we all want to hear tracks from the first four albums. And he plays some (“I Don’t Want to go to Chelsea” and “Radio Radio” from This Year’s Model, “Less Than Zero” from My Aim is True), but this show wasn’t so much about songs as about watching four guys who’ve mastered their instruments and their trade. The tracks all blend into each other, nothing sounds as it does on the records, and you forget to worry about whether or not they’re playing a tune you know. It’s just pure, effortless musicianship.

He slowed it way, way down for I Want You, but the rest of the show was uptempo and good jolly fun.

Steve Nieve has his stack of keyboards, a theremin and a melodica. Elvis has an assortment of guitars and a siren. Elvis showed just how great he is on the guitar, but never once getting into audience-boring musician wankery. They’re all as old as the hills but they still clearly find it immensely fun to make sounds, and the songs that they’re famous for are just rough templates to build the show around. Ah, that’s not a good explanation. You just had to be there. It was ace. And jolly good fun before Radiohead comes on and brings us all down.

Still would’ve like to have heard “Oliver’s Army” though.

Pic: Julen Esteban-Pretel
More pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/15101.html

There’s a guy on stage dressed like Captain Sensible, a girl who must have been styled by George Clinton, a guy in African garb and a handful of others.

The show kicks off just as I’d expected, with some Afrobeat inspired fun. But it quickly becomes evident that this is a unique band with a unique sound, mashing together funk, jazz, afrobeat and rock. It’s heavy, raucous and tons of fun. The trumpeter is especially good.

Near the climax to the show, Mrs George Clinton climbs onto the speaker and wigs out. She’s doing what we all would if we could. It’s a party on the stage and on the floor. Can’t wait to see them again.

Photo: 北村勇祐
More pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/14153.html

DJ Kentaro was one of the people that inspired me to become a scratch DJ (a career that was cut short when, shortly after buying the Technics 1200s, Vestax scratch-friendly mixer, a wodge of hip-hop tunes and some scratch sample albums, I found out it was hard to scratch, and in line with my philosophy that if something’s difficult, it’s not worth doing, I quit).

I grew up on hip-hop and was wild about scratch artists. So I flagged DJ Kentaro as a must-see act. DJs get a bad rap at Fuji Rock (does anyone think Fatboy Slim’s headline slot was unforgettable?), but I love scratching.

So it was a bit of a disappointment when Kentaro came on and began playing techno.

It went Pa Pa Pa Pa “Bass, kick it”. Pa P-P-P-P Pa “Bass, kick it”. Pa Pa Pa Pa “Bass, kick it”. Pa P-P-P-P Pa “Bass, kick it”.

Wa wa waa waaaa waaaaaa waaaaaaaa w-w-w-w-waaaaaaaaaaaa. Woooo Wooooo Wah Wah Wooooh. Fllpllplllpllpllp fllpllplllpllpllp.

Then the camera zoomed in on his hand and I realised it was him that was scratching the P-P-P-P bit of the P-P-P-P Pa, which is brilliant, difficult, brave, extraordinary and boring.

Then I remembered that The Stone Roses were playing nearby, so I went to watch them. They were great.

Pic: 深野輝美
More pics: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/11792.html

Bir Khalsa Dal are India’s Susan Boyle. They were hot tips to win India’s Got Talent, but came in second.

Other than that, it’s hard to draw parallels. As far as I know, Bir Khalsa Dal have never been on Oprah or met Elaine Paige. And Susan Boyle doesn’t hold the Guinness World Record for cracking coconuts on her head. Three months ago they smashed 59 coconuts open in one minute. Since coconuts and human skulls seems about evenly matched for crackability, this is quite impressive. Pointless, too, but impressive.

The bit between the Rookie stage and the Crystal Palace is traditionally devoted to people doing things that might kill them. People that monkey around with chainsaws, stand on top of spinning hamster cage things, or shoot themselves from cannons. But Bir Khalsa Dal are a notch crazier than the usual death defiers. Their show only lasts about 10 minutes, but in that time they smash coke cans with their hands, spin swords and sticks and other things that could lop a man’s head off. It all happens so fast that it’s not always easy to tell exactly what’s happening, but it always looks difficult and frequently dangerous.

One of them lays on the ground and lets another one ride a mini motorbike over him. Then they repeat it with the bike riding over his head. So they’re not so much the Indian Susan Boyle as the Indian Jackass with actual skills. Fun to watch, but I can’t help worrying about their heads.

Photo: 前田博史
More photos: http://fujirockexpress.net/12/14513.html

Bugs Group has been playing around Tokyo for year, usually at one of the funk club events. But they’ve never put out a record, so they’re still virtually unknown outside of funk circles. That might have changed a bit last night.

They’d barely begun performing when I saw a guy turn round and mouth the words “fuck yeah” to his friend.

The 7-piece began with some really hard, pounding funk — just what the crowd was hoping for. But they took it in all sorts of directions – rolling funk, slow-burning jazz funk, wah wah coming in and out, and even some middle eastern sounds.

They were switching styles in an instant, and they paused just once in the set, for about 3 seconds. For my money, this was the best funk performance of Fuji Rock. Fuck yeah.

Alright then, here we go… Fuji Rock ‘12 kicks off for me in the Field of Heaven listening to ska. It’s an annual ritual now. Heineken, cucumber and ska to put me in the festival mood.

It’s Cool Wise Man with Humbert Humbert. It’s clearly CWM’s music, but we’ve got Yuho Sano from Humbert Humbert on vocals.

Everyone’s getting into the sunshine and good vibes, the ska sounds right for the weather, and the rays haven’t sapped all our strength yet.

After a few jolly romps through some Cool Wise Man tracks, Sano pauses, pulls a “what’s coming next?” face, and they roll out a cover of “Runaway” by Rats and Star, the crazy popular Japanese pop track from the ‘80s. This revs the audience up about 5 notches, and from then on they can’t go wrong.
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The rookies – they’re the bands you can hear when you’re lining up to get into the Crystal Palace. Their mates are dancing, unless it’s raining, but when’s the last time you stopped and checked out a full set?

But these aren’t beginner bands, and some look like they’ll put on a great show. Not all of them. But definitely some of them. Here’s a handful of clips from this year’s first-timers:

Yasei Collective

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Pop quiz: Which of this year’s acts turned down the chance to work with Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour?

(a) Radiohead
(b) Ray Davies
(c ) Charan Po Lantan

Answer: For all I know, they all did. But the only one that makes that claim in their official bio is Charan Po Lantan. And their reason was great: they told him the song was too hard.

Charan Po Lantan is a sort of candy-coloured pop klezmer sister duo. If two J-pop idols were cloned and sent to live in Russia with Katy Perry for 20 years, they’d come out looking and sounding like Charan Po Lantan, but twice as old.
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Remember Rafven from Fuji Rock 2009?

They came unknown, played every stage they could get their feet on, and left as arguably the festival’s highlight. This year, labelmates Onda Vaga will attempt the same feat. They’re scheduled for 6 shows, from the Orange Court to the tiny Naeba Shokudo. Chances are you’ll see them whether you want to or not.

They hail from Argentina, but they formed on a beach in Uruguay in 2007. The official story is that they grabbed whatever instruments were lying around, started jamming, and never really stopped. When a venue boss asked the boys their name, they made one up on the spot and kept it. It translates literally as vague wave, but I believe it means something more like free-and-easy style. Or it might not.

I emailed the band’s trumpeter, Marcelo Blanco, last week to pick his mind. Here’s what he said:

Most people string together half a dozen genres when they try to define your sound. How would you describe it?

Pop acoustic coral psycho party rumba reggae.
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So Toots & the Maytals are this year’s Booker T/John Fogerty/old farts that are still on top form.

Recentclips show them still putting on a great show, which is amazing for a group that’s been together for nearly 50 years. Even more amazingly, though they’ve released 28 studio albums, they only have 5 songs: Pressure Drop, Funky Kingston, 54-46 Was My Number, Sweet & Dandy and wasn’t there another one?

For those of you who only know Toots and the Maytals as the people who made a fifth of one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, here’s ten other things you should know:

1) The band holds the record for number one hits in Jamaica.

2) They were the undisputed superstars of Jamaica’s music scene from the mid ‘60s until Bob Marley.

3) The band became famous in Jamaica by winning the inaugural Jamaica Song Festival in 1966 with “Bam Bam”. They won the next year, too, with the now much more famous “Sweet & Dandy”. After winning the third year, they decided not to enter again.

4) Toots is really Fred Hibbert, the youngest of 14 children. Both his parents were dead by the time he was 14.

5) The band won a Grammy in 2006 for an album of collaborations with some of the greatest musicians of all time, plus Shaggy.

6) Toots is a Jamaican country bumpkin and used to walk 5 miles to school each day. His cover of John Denver’s “Country Road” switched West Virginia for West Jamaica.

7) A lot of ska is about dancing, shooting or pleasuring ladies, but early Maytals ska includes some tunes about the Bible, including one that gives shout outs to the various books of the Old Testament. “You have Genesis, and Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Deutoronomy and Joshua, Judges and Ruth.”

8 ) One of Toots’ producers asked him to write a song about how ugly his brother is. So he wrote “Monkey Man”.

9) Toots & The Maytals were the original Diana Ross and the Supremes. Mr Hibbert wasn’t the frontman until Island Records boss Chris Blackwell told him he was. The rest of them (name one) couldn’t have been too miffed because they’ve been playing as his band for five decades since then. The ones you’ll see at Fuji Rock are the ones you heard on The Harder They Come.

10) Chris Blackwell was also sort-of responsible for the track Funky Kingston. After Funky Nassau went huge, Blackwell figured that it was the combination of Funky + City Name in the title that made it such a hit, so he asked Toots to make another one. And because apparently Mr Hibbert will write a song about anything you like, he obliged. It never became the phenomenon that Funky Nassau still is, but it’s a bloody great record.

So check them out at Fuji Rock. And if you catch Toots wandering around, why not ask him to write a song about an ugly relative or whatever else you like? He seems pretty open to ideas.

www.tootsandthemaytals.com

Phil wrote a while back about some creative collaborations that Smash could use to fill the gaping orifice that is the Saturday night headline slot. Here’s another one: Elvis Costello and the Specials.

Costello produced the Two-Toners’ debut album back in 1979. That’s the one with “Too Much, Too Young”, and “A Message to You Rudy” on it. It would be pretty great to have them reunite 33 years later on the other side of the planet. (Phil also suggested The Specials with Toots, who are connected through that same album, which contained a cover of Toots & the Maytals’ “Too Hot”).
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So another festival has come and gone. Five days later, here’s what I can remember:

Best act: I’m gonna give this one to EKD, though Manu Chao made a good case. There’s something so original about the EKD sound, and so perfect for the last night of a festival. Review here.

Best visuals: The Chemical Brothers’ VJ proved worthy of the Green Field headline slot. And without him, what would that show have been?

Wish I’d seen: Tinariwen. At the time, a 10-minute walk to see Tinariwen seemed like an awful lot to ask. In retrospect it probably wasn’t.

Biggest disappointment: Walking into the Field of Heaven and realising the pizza joint wasn’t there this year.

Best drink: Yona Yona ale

Best blog comment: “Kern, you wouldn’t know a good time if it was riding your mustache.” by Darkstar1st

Best food: Don’t ask me, I’m vegetarian and there was almost nothing to eat. Fuji Rock could be ten times more eco-friendly if it threw all its garbage in one bin, powered everything with powdered rhino horns, but swapped all those meat stands for falafel stands. Or just one of them. Alright, I’ll shut up now.

(photo: EKD by Julen Esteban-Pretel)

Earlier today I gave myself a hernia. That may seem an unusual introduction to a music review, but it’s pertinent. I skipped a couple of shows today because I couldn’t walk that far to see them. It’s only music, right?
But EKD was one band I really couldn’t miss. They’re the most underrated band I know. I’m sure that you could stick them on the White Stage, not tell anyone what you were doing, and the band would look right at home.
Instead, they’re playing the Naeba Shokudo. The smallest stage at the festival, but also one of the liveliest. It’s a good fit.
As I wrote before, one Fujirocker once described them as Manu Chao meets Dick Dale. That’s bang on. EKD worked the crowd up just as much as Mr Chao did. And here’s where we get to my hernia. Even in my crippled state, I was bouncing in the mud pit, arms around other fans, grinning like an idiot, and I though it was painful as hell, it was fun as hell too. It’s the biggest FRF party I’ve been to since Gogol Bordello played the Crystal Palace. There was a man wrapped in toilet paper climbing a tree to see the show. They outdid the wild Asakusa Jinta party at the same stage on Friday. It’s a shame that tens of thousands of people paid for a ticket but didn’t catch this show.
If FRF 2011 is remembered for anything, it should be that the Naeba Shokudo produced some of the most memorable moments, and EKD’s show was one of them.

Photo by Julen Esteban-Pretel. More here.

The running joke on the Fujirocker bus home was that the Chemical Brothers were checking their emails on stage. It seemed pretty likely that the set was programmed into their laptops and they were just tweaking here and there.

In the old days, we knew what a DJ was. They put records on record players and fiddled with faders. These days it’s not so clear.

DJ-Numark had his decks, but he was using them just for scratching as far as I could tell. He had some samplers, but the majority of his set was just playing of its own accord. Even legendary turntablists have given up on the old style of six decks and lightning fast cueing. Somewhere in the world there must be kids that mastered the old-school art of turntablism just as it became redundant. Future DMC World Championships will consist of people sending in MP3 files and receiving pass or fail notifications six weeks later.

So the next question is: does it matter? People were clearly enjoying the Chemical Brothers’ set. And Nu-Mark’s show was, as the Americans say, pretty awesome.

It went from Adele to Stevie Wonder via Japanese rap trio Schaddarappa, all backed by quick switching modern hip-hop beats and topped with the man’s first-rate scratching.

He’d come on after Soil & “Pimp” Sessions, and saw his set begin with the predictable exodus that marks any changeover from live band to DJ. About 20 minutes later the Marquee was heaving again. Presumably his tunes had wafted out from the Red Marquee and persuaded people to stop stuffing their gobs with kebabs and come in for a dance.

But was it DJing? I think Nu-Mark’s style is, but perhaps the Chemical Brothers’ style isn’t. If you’re performing in front of me, I’d like you to work a bit. For Nu-Mark, it’s about scratching, switching beats and adding effects that really work (not just banging your funble fingers on a Kaoss pad).

The guy standing next to me was a DJ Shadow fanatic who would cut off one of his hands to spend 5 minutes with the guy. He turned to me and said “this is better than Brainfreeze.” I thought so too.

Pic by 近澤幸司 more here

Soil & “Pimp” Sessions are arguably the best thing that’s happened to jazz music in the last 10 years. I say “arguably” but I’ll brook no arguments. Their debut album “Pimpin” showed that jazz didn’t have to be played in musty clubs to ponderous wankers. You could turn up at the Fuji Rock Festival and blow people’s minds.

The first time they Soils played Fuji Rock they were unsigned. That’s not that long ago, but it seems like forever.

“Shacho”, the “agitator”, still looks like pimping genuinely might be his other job, and he’s owning the stage as though he’s been at this for decades. This is a once in a lifetime event, he tells us.

There’s a drum solo. Ordinarily I’m not a fan of drum solos. You’re the pulse, not the mouth, but drummer Midorin launched into an insane beat crescendo that didn’t seem possible with only two hands and two feet. And thenit popped straight into pure party jazz. They call it “death jazz”. I think that means there’s some rock in their jazz.

Last time, the Pimps played the Orange Court in the early evening. It worked a lot better this time, with the roof on and a hard dance floor. Hundreds of hands were in the air. This was one big dance party to finish the festival.

Photos by 近澤幸司 more here

The Tokyo Fashion blog has some great pics from Fuji Rock Festival ‘11.

Click here to have a look