Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

SHOEGAZERS, MAGIC MAKERS

Sunday, just before 6pm at Gypsy Avalon. Actually, 5,50pm to be exact, and not at Gypsy Avalon but somewhere behind it at Atomic Cafe. There I was, drinking some herbal tea (they had run out of coffee – yeah, I couldn’t believe it either!) when suddenly something drew my attention to the Avalon area. Something beautiful. Something magical.

It was at this point I realised Silverbus was on stage and it wasn’t for a sound check. I rushed (well, okay, waded slowly because I was not in the mood for a wipe out) down to the Gypsy stage and prepared to squeeze myself into the crowd.

I arrived and slipped into place at front center, with a perfect view of the stage and no one in front of me. And yet, I was about 4 meters back. I looked behind me and saw people sparsely scattered about. Obviously enjoying the show, but… for what I was witnessing on stage, it seemed wrong, unfair.

Silverbus describe themselves as “indie-pop, post-rock, quiet intensity, shoegazers”. The last one couldn’t be more fitting, and although shoegazers occasionally frustrate me, with their music, it fits. Mellow tunes that vary in strength and intensity, occasionally accompanied by Foo’s tender voice draw you in and keep your attention locked on them until they tell you they’re done.

I’m not usually a big fan of fully instrumental songs because I need a voice to keep me focused, but with Silverbus there was no such feeling. I even kept my iPhone safely stuck in my pocket (I usually take notes on it during the show) because I couldn’t pull myself away from just listening/watching. I was quite honestly blown away.

If you want to know more, then check out their website where they’ve posted their first full length album for you to listen to. May I suggest that you do so wearing headphones and sit in a dark room for full effect

“Hope our music can touch people’s hearts as the process we make it.” – Foo, lead vocals.

They touched mine, I hope they touch yours too.

Photo by: 横山正人

For more Silverbus photos, click here.

Let me tell you how I got into country music. I was at Glastonbury. It was the second night. I went back to crawl into my tent, but some twat had stolen it.

The only place to rest was a giant tent hosted by some Christian group, but you know how Christians are. They offer you a bed, then keep yapping about a chap from donkey’s years ago who got murdered for my benefit, in line with some rules his dad had invented. Sometimes the dad or son will talk to you inside your head, but only in your head. It all sounded a bit fishy to me, and they didn’t let me sleep, so the next night I decided to just go home. Screw the festival and everyone in it.

I was walking to the exit in a foul mood, when suddenly I heard the voice of God. No, just kidding, it was Johnny Cash. It was the greatest voice I’d ever heard. I turned around and listened to the rest of his set. I got so into country music that I went to Nashville and got a job in a cheesy Grand Ol’ Opry theme park. Sadly, in Nashville they only like the rubbish modern country music. If you say you like Hank Williams, they ask which one.

So that’s how I came to skip YMO in favor of the Kensington Hillbillies. I’d also bumped into them earlier and they promised to play “Cocaine Blues”, which is just about the best country music song for a festival. It’s also a good moral lesson for the kids, teaching them that it’s bad to snort cocaine and shoot your girlfriend.

So it’s early Sunday evening and the Hillbillies should have no people at all watching them. Kazuyoshi Saito is on the White Stage, YMO are on the Green Stage, and this is the third set this weekend from the country canucks. But there’s a decent crowd of people.

The Hillbillies come on and play a trio of Hank Williams tunes. Then they play one of their own tunes, and it’s actually better than the first three (to be fair to Mr Williams, they didn’t play the songs his way). Anyway, they prove that a bunch of boys from Toronto can write country every bit as well as some grizzly old sod from Tennessee. There’s a blatant Johnny Cash riff in there, but I think it’s deliberate.

Next they play a tune by that classic country band The Clash. It’s “Straight To Hell”. The singer sounds like Bob Dylan when he sings it. That’s neither a criticism nor a compliment. It’s just an observation.
And then, well, they still aren’t playing Cocaine Blues. Have they forgotten? Did they decide not to let some random pot-bellied white boy help them with their set list?

Time’s moving on.

“We’ve got two more songs for you,” says the singer. Yes? Come ON! “This one’s from our latest album.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. It’s quite good, but it’s not what I ordered.

And so to the last song. All or nothing now. Play Cocaine Blues or I’ll rip you mercilessly in the review.
“Da dong-dong dong-dong dong-dong dong-dong dong dong dong dong, early one morning while makin’ the rounds, I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down…”

Nice. And let’s have more country music at Fuji Rock.

Otuka Hiroyuki getting lost in the music at Gypsy Avalon

I never expected to be covering Otuka Hiroyuki to Madre Tierra at this year’s fest.  A Sunday afternoon meeting with our site’s esteemed head honcho forced me to miss out on one of my assigned reviews.  Looking to pick up another act to write about instead, I noticed that none of our staff was tapped to write about Sunday’s night’s Gypsy Avalon headliner, so off I went to see Otuka Hiroyuki to Madre Tierra.

Continue Reading…

Ya'll stay away from drugs, y'hear?

I thoroughly enjoyed Kensington Hillbillys set on the Gypsy Avalon stage Sunday evening. The group’s mix of country classics and originals just hit the spot, and while the audience was rather spare, everyone clearly had a good time; and it occurred to me: American country music is one of the most popular styles in the world, so why doesn’t Fuji bring more country acts? I mean, this year they brough three top-line African acts, and always invite excellent reggae, blues, and other “niche” forms that connect to rock but aren’t actually “rock.” So why not country? Continue Reading…

LOOKS LIKE HE WAS PARTYING LAST NIGHT TOO

Photo: 横山正人
More photos: http://fujirockexpress.net/11/5142.html

Get a taste with one of their music videos after the break: Continue Reading…

Sweet Home Naeba

And that’s what blues the butcher did this afternoon, was add in a bit of new power as they took to the stage as the first sunshine of FujiRock ‘11 hit the field. There was a full crowd, and it was difficult for me to find a space big enough to both get my mojo boogie on as well as take notes & punch out my review. Continue Reading…

MS. TOKIKO, YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

Kato Tokiko was described to me endearingly as Japan’s most famous hippie lady. When she comes out on stage at the Atomic Café (Gypsy Avalon), the sun may be hidden beneath layers of cloud, but she exudes an elegant vibrance to fill the atmosphere with a bright genuine smile and confidence, even before her first words. Think Joan Baez with a perm, and a little shorter. “Genki?” She asks knowingly. “Subarashii.” Wonderful.

She explains this set is not just about singing songs, she will be talking about important issues, too. She closes her short and sweet intro with something like, “Of course Solar Power is strong and important, but what is even stronger and more important is each and every one of you in the crowd.” Continue Reading…

Maia Maia Maia...and Anders

I’ve already talked about Maia Hirasawa before, and I expected her to be a popular act despite the small stage over at Gypsy Avalon, but I was surprised over the number of guys in the audience. Truly the age of the herbivore boys, I wonder?

Accompanied by Matsui Keiji on bass and Anders Göransson on percussion and keyboard, Maia played a clean but not overly sweet set to an enthusiastic and loving audience.

She had the crowd dancing and singing along to “The Wrong Way” and set off waterworks as she played “Fragile”, dedicated to victims of the Tohoku Earthquake. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions in a 45 minute show. I wasn’t the only one touched, as I looked around and spotted a few tear-stained cheeks – and not just on the girls.

Maia has the power to move her audience because her songs, although they appeal to the clean Scandinavian sound loving crowd, are clearly her own. The way she played on stage also showed an individuality which could be difficult to place into any category if you bothered to try. She wasn’t there as a Swedish artist. She wasn’t there as a half-Japanese singer. She was there as herself and expressed it through her songs, her words and her movement.

She’s half-Swedish, half-Japanese, but on stage she’s just Maia.

Photo by: 直田亨

For more Maia Hirasawa pics, click here.

A Little Post-rock to go with your lunch

One of the three Taiwanese bands playing at FRF, there was a good turnout at Gypsy Avalon for Sugar Plum Ferry’s Saturday lunchtime set.

One guitarist was seated on a chair, the other embraced the classic shoegaze pose of staring at his feet while playing, and the bassist faced the drummer with his backed turned towards the crowd.  Despite the low-key start, the act’s instrumental post-rock music was strong enough to pull in bodies walking from White Stage to Gypsy Avalon.  There were lots of quiet pretty buildups, and the loud distorted bits that followed had many folks nodding their heads in approval.  A handful of people were even dancing on Avalon’s muddy hill. The seated guitarist eventually stood up and did a bit of trashing around during the noisy parts, but not too much … it was pretty early in the day after all.  He’s obviously learned the importance of pacing yourself at multi-day summer music fests.

Photo by 輪千希美
More photos here.

TRIUMPHANT!

“Cho Genki!” translates roughly as “Super Vitality!” And that playful, poppy, what reminds me of a Peter Pan hipster ska version of Michael Jackson; Kaji Hideki’s necktie was a little too short, as were his (and Riddim Saunter members’ shorts), but he really did put on an entertaining show, possibly a little too entertaining for my personal taste, though.

After a few tracks, the Gypsy Avalon lawn was filled to the brim, and the muddy walkways became standing room only as well. There were girls standing in the river, too.  Up front the groupies showed their grins in hopes of catching the boys’ manicured yet tuffled-to-be-just-cute-enough faces for a fleeting moment of 20-year-old crush bliss. There was even a forty-something lady in the front row singing along and having a blast.

Continue Reading…

ETHICALLY CLEAN SOUNDS AND GRASS

Grass. Actual grass. And thanks to all this rain, a small river runs through it. The sound booth is a neat, yet poorly placed geodesic dome, reminds me of Burning Man, as does the environmentally proactive theme and message surrounding this sweet hillside tucked away just enough to give you pleasant reprieve from all the big stage sounds, crowds and mud pits. It is now going past the halfway point of this years festival, so you may be feeling a bit worn out and just want a toned down communal vibe, chill acts (except for Mr. Hideki and the Riddim Saunter earlier), and a place to eat your Tom Yum Ramen from the restaurant stall around the corner. There are also natural products that smell really good for sale. Maybe you should pick up something to disguise that pesky mold growing in your ears and between your toes thanks to Naeba’s constant damp humidity this year. It is also nice be able to sit down on the ground, and not get up looking like you had a terrible chocolate accident in the pants. There are plenty peace signs to cuddle with up the hillside, too.

Reggae riddims

The Gypsy Avalon looked so pretty with its warped heart and rainbow image on the wall and the lining of big sunflowers along the front. I don’t know if there were actually any gypsies there but there certainly were a lot of tent shaped objects around. El Skunk Di Yawadie are two guys, one a very good folkish guitarist and the other a percussionist who uses nothing but his bare hands. Perhaps they saw Lee Perry’s set because they too did an upbeat cover of a classic Bob Marley tune, “Redemption Song.” They also made an effort to get the crowd to think about all the lives lost and the destruction that came with the earthquake and tsunami this year. Following on from that message was one stressing everyone live in the moment because there may be no tomorrow. The reggae riddims continued when the next act, mitsukaze and Green Massive took to the stage. They played a fewvery happy sounding ska tunes with some imitations of ska legend Desmond Dekkers singing style. It is great to hear young Japanese doing such a fine job of doing classic reggae but I couldn’t help laughing to myself thinking about whether they understood the meaning when they started singing “chant down babylon.”

So I’m at the Gypsy Avalon stage. It’s pretty grizzly weather. There are about 50 people standing in their rain gear. Aoya Asuka comes on with her two pals and starts playing… I asked the guy standing next to me what kind of music it might be. We settled on NHK children’s telly singalong. Picture a little cartoon train chugging along, mouthing the lyrics with a big smile. The song even ends with a “bom tiddly bom bom, BOM BOM.”
Then Asuka and her pals leave the stage. Then someone comes on to introduce Asuka and her pals. It seems a bit late, one tune into the set. “Is everyone OK? No problems?” asks the announcer. I think the rain constitutes a problem, but I didn’t say anything.
Then Asuka and her mates come back on and they seem to be a different band. This time they’re playing Gypsy Avalon music, which is dreamy, happy, wavy jazzy folk pop about happy things. It would’ve been better in the sun, but it was what it was.

Photo: 北村勇祐 (Supported by NIKON)

Upendra has been to every Fuji Rock the past three years; I first saw him at Gypsy Avalon in 2009, doing the exact same thing he did this year, which is busy funk jazz bass, wooden flute, some tasty tablas and electric piano (Upendra himself). Just jamming away ten minutes at a time to a sparse crows at Gypsy Avalon (not their fault; 12:30pm on Friday.) I’m a sucker for instrumental prowess in almost any guise, and these four were quite tight and the sound was crisp. The last piece was dedicated to Tohoku.

Sunil Dev & Babu were a harder sell, tabla, flute, and droning sitar on a backing track. It was prayer-like to be sure, but by then the rain had started up in earnest, and I joined the significant portion of the rest of the crowd in their exodus.

-Kern

photo by Kitamura

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A BAND PHOTO!

Japanese fans may have heard of Taiwan’s Sugar Plum Ferry for accompanying Mono on a tour through mainland China in 2009, and any associations with Japan’s top name in post-rock will surely not be mislaid. Both bands helped usher in the genre to their respective countries, both have become more or less the definitive post-rock groups for their national scene, and both started around the same time – Mono in 1999 and Sugar Plum Ferry in 1997. Being in Taiwan, SPF’s avenues for international exposure have been relatively limited, but their home scene in Taipei always knew they were something of a powerhouse waiting to happen. In the last couple years they’ve played New York’s CMJ festival and Canadian Music Week in Toronto, and now they’re making their Japan debut at Fuji Rock!

The lineup has shifted just slightly over the last dozen years, but Fujirockers was happy enough to do an email interview with two members. Xiao-bai, who goes by the stage name Insecteens, is a guitarist and founding member who is responsible in a big way for not just the sound of Sugar Plum Ferry, but also of Taiwanese post-rock, as his side projects have constantly been in the fore of Taipei’s instrumental music scene. Guitarist and synth player Su is a later addition to the band, but no less a key member of the current lineup. The ensemble is rounded out by bass player Leaf Lee and drummer John Wu. Here’s what they had to say about the history of post-rock in Taiwan and what Japanese fans can look forward to in late-July and early August.

Q: I heard your first CD, Lack of Something, sells for a lot of money in online auctions. I have a copy and it is signed by the drummer at that time, Yoz. How much do you think I can I sell it for? Continue Reading…

Blues rearranged into a symetrically aesthetic sound

The other writers on here put me to shame a little, what with their authoritative facts and figures, utter familiarity with albums, readiness to analyse & compare bands at the drop of a hat… I’m looking at you Kern. Myself? Well, I don’t know art, but I know what I like.

And I can tell you this much for free: I love blues.the-butcher-590213. That’s how they write it. Complete with superfluous six digit number, a number which when entered into Google brings up only the odd partial phone number, a plethora of real estate listings in the US, and mentions of this band. And an A4 size Filofax, yours for £90.07, a veritable bargain marked down from the original £91.67. Ask any Englishman, that’s an amount well worth the effort of pocketing.

So, this band, named for a Filofax, or someone’s phone number, or something or other else, are AWESOME! I love a good bit of blues, and in fact this is the second time in as many weeks that I’ve put pen to paper, or at least finger to key, to tell you that the blues are where it’s at this coming final weekend of July. Continue Reading…

Maia Hirasawa may sound like a typically Japanese name to the uninitiated, but those of us from Northern climes know better. Born to a Swedish mother and a Japanese father, Maia grew up in Sweden and started her music career as a back-up singer for famous (famous in Sweden that is) artist Hello Saferide. She soon went out on her own though and achieved great success with the single “And I Found this Boy”, but it wasn’t until she did a cover of The Ark’s “The Worrying Kind” for the Swedish prelude to Eurovision in 2008 that she received serious mainstream attention.

Continue Reading…

LIN USUALLY PLAYS GUITAR, BUT HERE HE STRUMS THE SOUTH-TAIWAN BANJO, OR YUEQIN

Fuji Rock has always been friendly to activists, but it has tended to shy from outright politics. The Fukushima nuclear meltdown however could provide a real rallying cause for Fujirockers, and if a movement is to be had, Taiwanese folk singer Lin Sheng-xiang will most certainly be lending his voice. Lin, who’ll play Gypsy Avalon as “Sheng Xiang & the Band,” is a multiple award-winning musician who has played folk festivals around the world, but he is also a pro-labor, anti-globalization activist who raises pigs in a farming community in southern Taiwan when he’s not off gigging somewhere. Long before Fukushima, he was protesting the construction of Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant (which is by some accounts scheduled to go online by the end of 2011), and he has recently been chanting down nuclear power with Japanese guitarist Ken Ohtake (大竹研), with whom he’s been playing since at least 2006 and will likely be part of “the band.”

Hopefully Ohtake will help interpret a bit. Though Lin speaks passable English, he mostly sings in Hakka, a Chinese dialect of a minority ethnic group of southern China. While the melodies are beautiful, the music unique and the songs often rousing, a few timely introductions will certainly make the tunes more poignant. Continue Reading…

Spencer drew a sparse and tired crowd at the intimate Gypsy Avalon

Everybody and his uncle was watching LCD Soundsystem a hundred meters away at the White Stage, but I reckon they were missing out. And I’m not just saying that because I need a hook for a story. I’m saying that because I don’t really like LCD Soundsystem. I thought with a name like “Spencer” it would just be some dude with an acoustic guitar warbling bedroom love songs in a language I don’t understand (that would be Japanese), but I heard the post-rock drumming and twittery electronics and I was like, damn, now I’ma have to get up out my hammock to see what’s going on over there.

Reverb heavy, Sigur Ros slow, repetitive simple acoustic arpeggios, and moody like 2010, I was feeling well relaxed when I had to get up and go to Atoms For Peace after only ten minutes. And I’ll let you in on a secret: the hammock was a little better than Spencer (sorry guys, but I’m sure you understand: it was a hammock), and Spencer was a lot better than Atoms. Seems I did everything backwards. Le sigh…

-Kern

photo by kouji. more here

(And you know you want to see a picture of me in that hammock: Continue Reading…

Anyango is the stage name of Eriko Mukoyama, a 29-year-old Japanese woman whose incandescent voice and skill at an eight-stringed African lyre called the nyatiti have brought musical renown and an official position as goodwill ambassador between Japan and Kenya. Her set very authentic east African music on Sunday afternoon filled the entire slope above Gypsey Avalon, almost to the very top. And afterwards, the CD-buying crowd turned into a veritable scrum.

The nyatiti has a very twangy, plucked instrument, and Mukoyama plays it sitting down, holding it in place with her feet. The singing is the high-toned chirping of east African song, and no matter the song, it almost can’t help but sound joyous and celebratory. It was far too peppy for sleeping in the grass – a traditional Sunday-at-Avalon ritual – and a considerable number of happy feet were up and dancing. Continue Reading…

Who Is That Masked Woman, Why It's the talented Martina Topley-Bird!

Perhaps taking the “Rock” portion of the fest name too literally, Martina Topley-Bird paused a few tracks into her Gypsy Avalon Sunday evening set and said, “Something tells me I should play a loud song now, but I don’t have any.”  Spectators were more than content with the take of “Overcome” that originally she recorded for Tricky’s 1995 “Maxinquaye” debut that she offered up instead. Continue Reading…

The Real Jam

How many Sunday morning jam sessions (official ones) can there be at Fuji Rock? The answer is: your guess is as good as mine. I mean, Sunday morning is clearly for the keeners and the freshers and those of us that have to do this. Everyone else is ripening in their tents, sleeping off Saturday’s boozy festivities. So Sunday morning jam sessions are, like, soooo not on their radar. But there must be a few, since I ended up at one on the Avalon stage when I should have been at another at Field of Heaven. Continue Reading…

How anticipated was Narasirato Pan Pipers final FRF gig Saturday night at Gypsy Avalon?  People were already dancing before the performance started, eagerly bouncing and clapping along while members of the band ran through their sound check.

And while the Avalon MCs sucked out a bit of the pre-concert energy with their lengthy speech about the act’s history, Narasirato Pan Pipers quickly raised the excitement level again as soon as they bounded on the small stage and a member shouted “Are you ready for our show?”

And what a show it was with lots of traditional clothing, choreographed dance moves, and some way cool instruments.  Stopping between numbers to talk with the crowd, a lot of the banter seemed lost on the predominantly Japanese crowd, but Narasirato Pan Pipers soulful, upbeat playing definitely was not.

Photo report here.

*Photo by 輪千希美

Christian Vander sat at what looked like a Yamaha electric mini-grand in t-shirt sans sleeves, hunched over and haggard like a certain someone from Notre Dame. I admit I was hoping for some drums, but I reckon his band Magma the day before was the place to see that.

Tom Waits would be the go-to Anglophone comparison for anyone who plays weird and moody songs on a piano, but I’d be revealing my ignorance if I settled for that. It was the kind of music you’d imagine an eccentric and lonely rich man playing, alone by candlelight in a dungeon somewhere, periodically laying his head on the keys in despair. (Wasn’t there a Muppet skit like that once?) All very down-tempo and moody, in English, French, and some Mel Torme meets Speaking In Tongues scat.

Continue Reading…