Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

Don't try this at home

I finally got to see the act that everybody’s been talking about. The Narasirato Pan Pipers of the Solomon Islands did their “formal” show at the Orange Court during lunchtime on Saturday under an overcast sky and in front of lively, good-sized crowd. By formal we mean they wore their native duds, which nevertheless looked improvised for modesty’s sake. Very happy to be here, they danced and piped and sang with enough energy to light the festival ground, though they still seem to have a way to go before they master stage protocol. Continue Reading…

As soon as the roadies started tuning up I knew this would be a great show. I’d never heard of the band(s) before, but you know how an odd name can grab your attention (and vice versa – it took me a very long time before I checked out Vampire Weekend simply because they sounded like a Rocky Horror tribute act).
Anyway Conguero Whatnot’s roadies were so enthusiastic about their job that I genuinely thought the main show had started. In fact, I’d noted that the band should learn to make more of an entrance, since the show just seemed to peter in. There was a guy dancing on what appeared to be a board of wood with mics, and half a dozen others, putting together a tight soul-jazz sound. Then they took off and I thought “cheeky bastards – that was only about 20 minutes”.
The Conguero Etc came on. I’m not sure if they knew it or not, but their first tune was Stairway to Heaven, only nu-jazz style, with Japanese lyrics.
The second tune was a soul-jazz groove that very nearly had me out of my chair.
The third began with some wah wah funk and I was up dancing.
The real band also had a guy jumping about on a plank. Possibly the same guy that the roadies had. He was dancing furiously, but each time his feet landed, he made a beat. To keep this going, even doing breakbeats by jumping, is mind-boggling and very cool to watch. It reminded me of those A-Seed guys near the entrance pedaling bicycles to power a speaker – only much better, obviously.

Roadies ★ ★ ★ ★
Band ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Seatability ★ ★ ★

Dweezil Brings The Zappa Joie De Vivre...

Zappa is the other end of virtuosity from toe. Or maybe that’s Yes I’m thinking of. Or maybe they form a triangulation. I don’t know.

From afar Dweezil and his band can fool you into thinking they’re just laconically going through the motions. But step into the sweet spot and you can feel the giant shit-eating smirk in every note they play and sing. Ben Thomas sings Frank’s ridonkulous lyrics with total dedication. Give him a line like “guacamole green”, which he had to repeat twice, slowly and clearly, during a lull in the music, and he’ll point at a general location in the audience (takes too much commitment to pick out one person) and give a wink and a nod like, “Yeah, I just said that. I did.”

Even the way drummer Joe Travers was hitting his toms made me laugh. Dweezil is doing exactly the right thing with his life right now: the spirit of Frank is present wherever they go, even if they couldn’t project his image on a screen at this show.

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Well the others have summed it up pretty succinctly, I think. Not much more to say, other than don’t listen to anyone on what you should like.

But we don’t go for the music. Nope. If it were the music we went to see, then we’d shell out like the rest of you do. Then we could actually relax and enjoy said music. I remember a few years beck, our esteemed leader commented that he was having a near perfect weekend, catching up with old friends, and if only the bands would shut the fuck up and give them some peace it would have been truly perfect! Continue Reading…

Go Zen

It goes without saying Fuji Rock presents some serious logistical challenges to those people that want to see all their favorite bands, but my first recommendation for folks is something like this: go zen. Continue Reading…

Viva Vinyl

Whether it’s late night at the Orange Court or regular Red Marquee revelry, Fujirock has you covered for DJs. Headliners like Rusko, Z-Trip, Ken Ishii and Riva Star will deliver the goods like they always do, but dig a little deeper into the lineup and you’ll find even more choice selectors.

This year has quite a handful of DJs plucked from bands in the lineup: Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip and James Murphy from LCD Sound System play back-to-back sets at the Red Marquee Sunday night. Both should be stellar, but Murphy’s will be a must-see. Check out his label’s mix series for a primer.

Now dig even deeper and we arrive at the Palace of Wonder, where some of the best spinning takes place every year…

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→PIA-NO-JAC← ROCKING OUT AT FRF '09

Admittedly, when deciding what “new” (for me, at least) local acts to check out I usually make my decision based solely on their name.  If I come across a Japanese band with a really cool or interesting moniker, I try to see what they are all about.  More often than not, this system yields pretty good results.  At FRF’ 09 it led me to Gypsy Avalon to watch the highly entertaining →Pia-no-jaC←.  The duo’s set turned out to be one of the best performances I caught all weekend long. Continue Reading…

Green Velvet aka Curtus Jones

Like a lot of house (and other dance music) producers, a lot more of you will know Green Velvet’s music more than those of you who will know his name. Alter ego of Curtis Jones, who has been DJing and producing tracks since the early 90s, Green Velvet’s earlier music had a definite 1980s flavour to it. Big on beats, but far from big beat, the sounds here hark back to Kraftwerk for me. These were tracks that had us on the dancefloor throughout the 90s, sloshing drinks around to the displeasure of all present. Continue Reading…

Dweezil Zappa and Frank Zappa

A few weeks ago, apropos of nothing at all, I got an email from my friend Sarah in Chicago: “I volunteered at Summer Camp Music Festival last weekend. Dweezil plays Frank was soooooooooooo good. Best show that I saw.”

Me and Sars have been discussing and sharing music for nigh unto two decades now, and neither of us has ever ventured much into Zappa territory. She’s a musician who’s always had a keen ear for performance and composition, so I asked her what she liked so much about it, both because I wanted some fresh insight into Zappa from a trusted source and because I thought I could trick her into writing a blog post for me. Boy, did I ever! This is what she said about the show:

“I had heard through my Frank Zappa aficionado friend that the music of Zappa Plays Zappa shows is Continue Reading…

ITO FUMIO ON THE GREEN STAGE AT FRF '07

Ito Fumio is no stranger to Fuji Rock. Formerly the frontman for Tokyo ska punks Kemuri, together he and the band performed at the festival six times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007) before going their separate ways at the end of 2007.

Fumio issued his debut solo release, “Midage Riot,” last October.  Poking fun at his elder statesman stature in the Japanese punk scene with its title, the disc mixes elements of ska, swing, and pop.  A pretty laidback affair, Fumio’s new tunes should be well suited for the Sunday afternoon Orange Court crowd.

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SANDII @ ASAGIRI JAM 2005

We like to think that the Orange Court was so named because of all the Fuji stages it complements the sunset to the best effect. Of course, you can’t always guarantee clear skies at Fuji, but when there are, dusk doesn’t get any nicer than at that end of Naeba. So we were quite pleased to see that Sandii Suzuki is in the penultimate slot at the Orange Court Sunday evening. In the 80s, after all, she was the leader of a rock band called Sandii and the Sunsetz.

With albums produced by YMO’s Haruomi Hosono, a cult following in Europe and even a top ten single in Australia, the Sunsetz were one of those rare Japanese bands that made it on their own terms outside of the archipelago, thanks mainly to Sandii’s cosmopolitanism. She spent her teen years in Hawaii, where she not only absorbed American rock but studied hula dancing. After she disbanded the Sunsetz in the early 90s she became Japan’s leading world music maven, recording reggae and Polynesian songs, an album of Malaysian music, and dabbled convincingly in dancehall, Singapore hip-hop, Indonesian pop and Japanese-style chanson. Continue Reading…

The Narasirato Pan Pipers

Their instruments are made of bamboo and tree bark. They save the teeth of their ancestors. They still use shells for money. The Narasirato Pan Pipers are not your typical Fujirock band, to be sure, and certainly the easiest act to spot in a crowd, but when they take to the stage at Orange Court next month, the promoters at Smash can proudly check off the “World Music” box from their to-do list. Dressed in traditional clothing and body paint, the Pipers will certainly draw a crowd, and when they play, feet will definitely start moving. But hopefully those in attendance will also be reminded of what the word “tribal” truly meant before it was co-opted by the club scene and tattoo parlors.

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After the washout that turned Orange Court into a quagmire on the first day of Fuji Rock last year, All Night Fuji was unfortunately cancelled. Get in early this year to be sure you don’t miss out!

In the wake of that washout, which saw us miss out on Ken Ishii and Towa Tei amongst others, DJ Bryan Burton-Lewis (pictured) organised the smoking party “All Night Fuji Revenge” at ageHa the following September, seeing many of the original lineup and a bevvy more perform at the superclub. This year, they’re getting in early, you know, just in case, and have organised Road To Fuji Rock 10 All Night Fuji Pre Party for about a month before FRF10, June 26th to be exact. This pre party, again at ageHa, will feature a host of FRF performers past and present, both live performers and DJs, including the ever popular Dexpistols slated to play this year on the Saturday, De De Mouse (who was a popular choice on the White Stage for the staff here at Fujirock.com in 2009), Ryukyudisco, Germany’s Pitchtuner, organiser Bryan Burton-Lewis will play a set, and more. Continue Reading…

Though I admired the Dirty Projectors’ much-lauded latest album, Bitte Orca, more than I enjoyed it, I decided to check out their first-ever show in Tokyo last March at Club Quattro. I was surprised at the turnout. Despite the hefty amount of press the band had received overseas, the place was hardly sold out, but it was a healthier crowd than what I had been led to believe it would be from the promoter. Continue Reading…

There’s a good chance that many people attending this year’s festival have never heard about the 6-person French group, Moriarity.

I could count myself as one of those people if not for being assigned to write a a feature article about the band ahead of their Taipei area appearance  last June.

After doing some initial research like visiting their Myspace site and watching some videos on Youtube, I was quite suspicious that Moriarty had borrowed a page (musically and stylistically) from Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs and to some extent, Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. And, I wasn’t sure that what had been cool vibe in the early 80’s originating in upstate New York, a scene that may be described as “American Gothic” would still be compelling  30 years later. Continue Reading…

We’re now live from the fest at: http://www.fujirockexpress.net/09e/

follow us on twitter, as well.

Flickr and Vids to come.

jinki

Ok, so I’ll admit it. I didn’t even know Booker T was still ALIVE until the Fujirock lineup announcement. But then I find out that his new album is fantastic and NOT a retread (!) and that his backing band is the Drive By Truckers (!!)
Links and more after the jump…

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Juana Molina was a TV star in Buenos Aires. Then she dropped out and recorded music for years. Her backing band in Naeba this year includes at least 30 or 40 backing vocalists…all her.
I will be there.

Yes, Juana tried other musicians, but instead decided to work mostly with herself. Packing at least 2 sequencers, keys and percussion, the dizzying columns she builds simply by looping her voice and guitar. It’s easy to imagine a studio filled beyond fire standards on some of the tracks from “Una Dia.”

Yes, it’s all/mostly her, but as we heard last year , you can do a lot with one voice. Her lyrics (Spanish), come last, she says, mainly because the sound/song structures themselves are the goal. She’s not trying to tell a story in words, but you can certainly write your own over her soundtrack.
Get the song/watch the film on her SITE:
Fantastic intro/interview from the awesome RADIOLAB
Live on KCRW HERE (click “Watch”)

The children of legends have a hard time breaking into their own. That goes double for Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeat revolutionary, Fela Kuti.

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