Fujirockers: The official Fuji Rock Festival blog

reggaelation independance

So much music and so little time. Fuji Rock is just a complete overload of good sounds and trying to the narrow down favorites from the festival is not easy. Here are mine:

1. Reggaelation Independance

2. Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos

3. Mogwai

My top choice definitely goes to the Japanese afrobeat/dub band Reggaelation Independance. Mainly for the fact that there is nothing that I love more than going to see a band or movie that I know absolutely nothing about and then being blown away by it. I stumbled into the Crystal Palace very late on Saturday night not even knowing who was going to be playing there and could not believe how cool these guys were. Looking at their site, I discovered that one of their members is someone they have doing a live dub style mix using echoes and effects on their high energy Fela Kuti style afro funk tunes. What an incredible combination that was.

Photo by 府川展也. More here.

Altz has a hard job tonight. Coming on at 10:30 pm in the Crystal Palace, he’s fighting for a dancey crowd. But that crowd is all watching Chemicals Tom & Ed, doing their headline thing down on Green. At the same time. Man, talk about tough calls.

Fresh from a DayDreaming set this morning where he’s a solid, and longtime regular, I’d say that unfortunately even though he’s made it to a coveted Palace spot, he’s probably playing to less people. I’m counting ten on the floor, and about the same on the periphery.

But you know what? This is great disco, and ridiculously funky tunes that are floating through the speakers. Smooth tunes, that are just perfect for starting an evening, rather than finishing it. I’m loving it. The only thing the Chems have over Altz tonight is that we all know the name of the tunes they’re playing. But now the Chemicals have finished up, there is a quietly growing crowd.

I was at the Chemicals for the first hour, and I can honestly say, I prefer this. Maybe that’s because my working day is almost finished, and party time is starting soon. But maybe, it’s because it’s more interesting. I vote for a pay rise for Altz next year. Because we know he’ll be back.

As I mentioned in the Osaka Monaurail review, Lincoln gave up the first 25 minutes of his set for OM to play on. What a gent.

As you can guess, at 4:25 on a Sunday morning, when the last band leaves and the final DJ starts his set, there’s a stream of people heading for the door. Lincoln’s first tune is a slow-burner, too, so most people don’t know what’s coming. I’ve heard Lincoln DJ dozens of times, and his sets can be jazz, funk, soul or rare groove. Last night it was all of that, and probably the most classics I’ve ever heard him play.

I Know you got Soul, You’re Losing Me, Funky Nassau, Tighten Up, It’s a New Day, the latin version of Wouldn’t Change a Thing, Move on Up… if this were 4 hours earlier, the place would be heaving. But it was late, and I counted around 90 people in the tent. The dancers probably loved it. It seemed Lincoln had brought some of his jazz dance mates and they were putting on a show. Every so often, the DJ would leave his records spinning and come down to boogie too. That man is about 40 years old, but dances like a 16 year old.

After his late start, Lincoln was allowed to run on past his 5am finish time, but my body wouldn’t let me. I crawled to my bed.

photo – 府川展也

The Miniscule of Sound, the world’s smallest nightclub according to the Guinness Book of Records is making its 3d consecutive appearance at Fuji Rock, and has appeared at Glastonbury 13 years. There is no cover charge, but you will have to line up to get into a space that is only 2 square meters, accommodating between 6-8 people at a time, though the record is an incredible 26 people ( 3 were crowd surfing).
Mini Mark, the person featured in this photo fills many roles at this club, often going inside to man the DJ decks which are located slightly above the audience. There are lazers, carpeted walls and music ranging from Nirvana to the latest electro, whatever the DJ feels like playing. A coat check is also around the corner. And to ensure proper turnover, a smoke machine inside goes full blast inside, sending many to the exits and ensuring that no one lingers too long.

If you’ve seen Osaka Monaurail before, you know what they were like here. The songs change, but the sound doesn’t. It’s 1960s funk, razor sharp, note perfect, played by a troupe of musicians in matching uniforms. The J.B.s of Japan. The intro is always heavy and fast. After a couple of tracks, frontman Ryo Nakata (James Brown) comes out in a slightly different uniform and begins yelping like someone who has 12 seconds to explain how to defuse a bomb. The trumpet players spin their horns in unison between notes, they bow together, they don’t seem to need any cues to know what’s next and when to step left or right.

“Can you do the mashed potato?” asks Nakata of the audience. If he means make like a shapeless white blob, then yes. Otherwise, no.

They play Lee Dorsey’s “Ride your Pony”. A song with just 9 words. “Ride your pony, get on your pony and ride!”. I love funk lyrics – they never try to be clever, and rarely contain more than a dozen words in total. Most seem to be lists of things the singer likes to eat. “Mashed potato, popcorn! Mashed potato, popcorn!”, or hints about sex. And really, that’s a much more honest account of our thoughts than anything Bob Dylan ever wrote.

As the set went on, my mind was wandering, thinking about what it must be like to be in this band. When I saw the New Mastersounds, Obrint Pas, Mate Power and Asakusa Jinta, I thought “wish I could play in that band”. But Osaka Monaurail? No way. You probably have 14 hours of rehearsals a day, I bet there’s no talking back to Nakata, and any money they make, after being split 9 ways, goes to the tailor to keep producing new costumes. I wouldn’t do it. Great show though. In fact, it was so good that the next DJ, Lincoln, began clapping for more. He then gave up 25 minutes of his set to hear more Monaurail.

Photo: 府川展也 (more here)

Daisuke Kuroda is the DJ I always wanted to emulate, but couldn’t. He plays very deep, dancefloor funk 45s – last night included JB, the Highlighters Band, and one rendition of Tighten Up, though  I forget which.

Kuroda is the only person I know who can mix funk flawlessly without scratching. And he likes to switch the tracks up quickly. I’ve heard that Keb Darge reckons Kuroda is his favourite DJ. Pretty easy to see why.

I know Kuroda plays original issues, so by my reckoning, the set we heard last night would have cost more than a million yen to compile.

Conventional wisdom says that crowds come to the Palace for bands, and leave for a wee while the DJ plays. But Kuroda had a packed floor – as long as you don’t count the patch that Lincoln (who would DJ later) and his pals had created for their wild jazz dancing.

Daisuke on the decks is like a doctor performing surgery. He doesn’t dance, not even a little, his hands move slowly and deliberately,  and he has a poker face throughout. You’d think he was oblivious to the crowd, except that he played a masterful set that had the place up and dancing.

Photo 府川展也 (more here)

WHEEEEEEEEEE!

Jean Monti – man of motorcycle high-wire riding and swaying pole standing.

I was supposed to watch his show on Friday night, but that session was cancelled due to the rain. I was lucky enough to catch him on Saturday, before I was due for NOKIES! at Rookie A Go-Go.

This guy gets paid to risk his life for your entertainment.

Personally, I always get nervous when I see people doing semi-suicidal things like bungee jumping, sky diving and the like. And although this guy is a pro, I couldn’t help cringing as I saw him climbing up that metal tower of Death and Doom. Well, perhaps that’s a bit overdramatic given that he’s been doing it for like 40 years and, unless zombification and vampire making is not just stuff of movies, then he hasn’t splatted yet.

I have to confess that along with the cringing, I do have a secret desire, wishing people risking their lives like that would topple down. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want anyone hurt, or dead (well, maybe other people, but not them), but perhaps a healthy dose of self-preservation would do some good.

But then again, this is coming from a grade A chicken who will barely jump from the diving board at a public pool. (I might slip and crack my head open! Or worse, my bikini top my slip off! (Actually the latter does actually happen and is thus more of a potential risk that I’d rather not take))

Regardless, Jean Monti climbs poles that sway and he does it well. I assume. I don’t really know what the criteria of a good sway pole climber is. He didn’t drop to his death and received plenty of applause though, so I’m guessing he fulfilled his mission.

Oh dear...

Manu Chao at the Crystal Palace was certainly one of the gigs of the festival, though it was in my opinion no Gogol Bordello. It would appear that Kern and Dave are not in agreement with me though, they found it a shirt raising experience. For disturbing photographic evidence, click the “More” link, but be warned, click at your peril! Continue Reading…

So the Manu Chao set at the Palace of Wonder was pretty wild. There must be some bruised torsos this morning. And just about the only band this year that could reasonably follow that was Obrint Pas. The only problem was, there was an hour of Don Letts DJing in between. Ordinarily that would have been a nice set, but sandwiched between these two manic sets, all it did was thin out the crowd.
By the time Obrint Pas came on, I half wanted to run and tell everyone to come back, and half wanted to crawl into my bed.
For the rest of the set, whenever there was a lull, my legs turned to spaghetti my eyes starting drooping and I shuffled towards the door. Then they’d suddenly rev it up again and I had to come back and dance.
There were an awful lot of people on the stage, including a DJ, though I couldn’t tell what he was contributing to the sound. I’m pretty sure they could leave him at home and split the fee between fewer people. But it’s up to them, I guess.
Anyway, can Obrint Pas recreate anything close to that when they play the Orange Court later today? Only one way to find out.

Photo: Julen Esteban-Pretel (Supported by NIKON)

Manu Spreading his love

On Friday you had two chances to Manu Chao La Ventura. Option 1 was to watch him with thousands of other people as he sang his uplifting songs of revolution and freedom on the Green Stage in the afternoon, or you could have kept your ears open and listened to the rumor that he would be the very special guest at the Crystal Palace Tent at the Palace of Wonder at 1:30 in the morning. The Crystal Palace with its wooden floors, multitude of mirrors and circus like atmosphere was a wonderfully intimate venue to enjoy Manu’s folk, ska and rockabilly anthems and the crowd was simply going wild when his started his signature “Hey” chants.

Photo by 前田博史. More here.

LINCOLN

The first time I saw Osaka Monaurail (and the second, third and fourth times) was at an event called Searching. It was in La Fabrique, hosted by DJs Lincoln and Daisuke Kuroda. Fabrique doesn’t exist any more, and Searching hasn’t happened in a while, which is a shame because it was the best funk event in town.

Saturday night at the Palace of Wonder this year has all three acts, making it a sort of Searching revival. I asked Lincoln what he’s got in store for us.

You play jazz, rare groove, northern soul and deep funk… which can we expect at Fuji?

My little set is in the early morning, after Osaka Monaurail, so I’ll play Funk 45s, a few classics mixed with some rare bits… from the ’60s and ’70s to some of the great new funk band stuff like New Mastersounds, Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, The Bamboos and Speedometer. I’ll also play some northern soul, uptempo stuff, Archie Bell, Jackie Wilson, and from that maybe go into a some classic ’70s soul – Stevie wonder, Isley Brothers, Curtis Mayfield. Just all good, uplifting music that makes you dance with a smile on your face.

You played the same tent in 2007. How was it?

Last time I played was a ball. It was great being in the big tent, although the DJ decks were a bit far from the crowd. I like to play some tunes and dance along with everyone to them, but that didn’t stop me from running back and forth a few times. Good fun. Bring your dance shoes in a plastic bag. It’s great to play this obscure black music to a crowd that may not have heard those sounds before. So long live Fuji Rock.

Lincoln is playing the Palace of Wonder at 4am on Saturday. Osaka Monaurail plays the same stage from 3.15am, with Daisuke Kuroda on before them, at 2.15am.

The New Mastersounds will play the White Stage on Friday at 3.40pm.

“Jean, honey, what do you want to do when you grow up?”

“I want to stand on top of a big wobbly pole, ma.”

“Jean, honey, that’s not a job. How about becoming an accountant?”

“Wobbly pole. Definitely wobbly pole.”

This video shows Monti on his “sway pole”. From the looks of it, he has one foot locked in, so it actually looks like quite a lot of fun. I’d have to find out how much he gets paid, but I’m thinking that might be slightly better than my job.

But the Palace of Wonder wouldn’t be quite the same without someone risking their life for our drunken entertainment, so Monti will also ride a bicycle across a high wire. Come and see whether he survives or pancakes himself.

I told you. Your Song Is Good will be one of the Palace of Wonder acts. At least in DJ form. I got the rest wrong. For a funk fan like me, Saturday night at the Palace looks like a dream. Top of the bill will be Osaka Monaurail – crammed into that tent, this is right at the top of my to-see list, even though I’ve seen them dozens of times before, and they always deliver pretty much the same thing – the tightest funk since James Brown.
Continue Reading…

Every year we all bang on about the Palace of Wonder, and how it’s the highlight of the festival etc etc. The POW is the tiny stage outside the main gate, so if you’re so inclined, you could skip the tickets, sleep all day, and enjoy the best bits for free. And as an added bonus, you’d miss Coldplay.

Anyway, every year the highlight of the POW for me is one of the bands who played the festival proper and then play a second set in the spiegeltent. Gogol Bordello, Rafven and Ozomatli in particular.

So, I’m having a look at this year’s line-up and trying to guess who’ll be putting in a late-night appearance this year.

In my dreams it would be Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Your Song is Good, and Sam Moore. But if I was gambling proper money, I’d guess Shonen Knife and Little Tempo, but I’m stuck after that. Any guesses? Mick Hucknall’s DJ set? Tokiko Kato with Atari Teenage Riot?

If I line up this long, there’d better be an oven-baked pizza at the end of it, not some kid in a Scream mask shouting “boo!”.

Did anyone make it inside? What was it all about?

Bit late in reporting this, but well, you know how festivals are.

Trombone Shorty, ex-Kravitz brass man, followed up his Orange Court main gig with a show at the diminutive Crystal Palace. He played one of those short trombones without the slide; you may know it as a trumpet, but still wheeled through the tracks on his new “Backatown” album. I’ve always liked the sound of the trumpet more, so this was a chance to hear the album with extra wallop.

He’s got a whopping 8 members onstage here. Sure, 8 isn’t whopping for a brass band, but it looks pretty cosy on this stage.

Trumpet Shorty plays a funky version of “Let’s Stay Together”, followed by a storming “On Your Way Down” without the help of Allen Toussaint, who appears on the album, and sings “Something Beautiful”, the track that had Kravitz’s voice on the record. Judging from these performances, Trumpet could have saved himself a few dollars and done the whole thing himself.

About halfway through the set, Angelo Moore of Fishbone pops in to take over vocals, leaving Trumpet to stand at the back. Surprise VIP appearances are fun, but, well, I can’t even remember what the difference was.

Fun ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Funk ★ ★ ★ ★
Palace of Wonderness ★ ★ ★ ★

So Ozomatli played a storming show at the Field of Heaven, and had to do it all again 9 hours later in the much smaller Crystal Palace spiegeltent. Every year the Palace seems to have one act that tears the place to pieces, and it wasn’t hard to guess that Ozomatli would be the one this year. So the two questions were:

* Could they top their first show?
* Could they top Rafven and Gogol Bordello’s madness of previous years

The quick answers: yes, and maybe.

They were more playful than earlier in the afternoon. At one point, Ulises makes a gesture with his finger and thumb to his lips. He then gets a sax solo, so the gesture must have been the reed to his mouth. Then the band join in and it’s “Pass The Duchie”. Probably wasn’t a reed gesture then. In quick succession, “Pass the Duchie” becomes “Top of the World”, “Pass the Duchie” again, “Strawberry Fields” and back to Musical Youth, all with a sound halfway between reggae and traditional Ozomatli.

From the new album, there was “45″, “Elysian Persuasion” and “Malagasy Shock”. The latter is clearly the one that’s set to become an Ozo live favourite.

What’s most amazing about this show is that they steered clear of most of the giant hits and live signatures, but had the crowd revved up as much as ever. With this band it’s not about which songs they play – they know exactly how to whip up an audience and they’ve got 5 strong album’s worth of music to mine.

When the music stopped, we waited for the encore, but it never came. This ain’t Woodstock. Ozo didn’t even get to take their instruments into the crowd, and I suspect it wasn’t their choice.

Would you? No, me neither.

Last night, one of the deadly wheelers dropped his juggling clubs. It strikes me that it’s not good to make mistakes in a job such as his.

Beardyman + Tucker was one of my must-see gigs. Livewire organ grinder Tucker blew the crowd away a couple of years ago in a solo set at Fuji Rock, and Beardyman has already played two acclaimed sets here, both of which I missed. Seeing the two together (how on Earth did that happen) may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It turns out it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because if they play together again, I probably won’t bother going. It’s not that either of them was bad, but Beardyman is the human beatbox for whom the term human beatbox seems a little weak as a description. He turns out jazz, blues, breaks, techno and everything else with his vocal chords. Adding a real musician meant it wasn’t always possible to tell who was doing what (the best way to guess was that Beardyman’s mic was too low, so the loud stuff was probably Tucker). So without the “wow, he’s doing that with his voice?” factor, you have to judge the set purely on musical terms. And it was alright. Not something you’d go out of your way for. Bluesy in places, funky in places, and housey elsewhere, but none of it would stand as great examples of any genre.
NB. I was completely knackered when I caught the gig, with my legs about to buckle and my eyes half shut, so the show may well have been blinding. When all you wanna do is sleep, nothing’s gonna sound great.

This was actually kind of hot

We always tell everyone to go to the Palace of Wonder after hours, that you’ll often have your best time of the festival. It’s probably a blessing that so few listen, because it always seems to be just the right amount of packed. But, once more, I’d like to point out that this is the kind of weird crap you can see there: a lithe long-haired dude in a creepy Jason mask dancing to Upside Down with any and all comers at Vegas In Milk, mostly guys as it happened. (Can’t blame the ladies…that mask just screams ’stranger danger’) The guy had some sick moves, and it all made me feel very very happy.

Those eyes...so dead...like windows to an empty soul...

-Kern

The Human Cannonball

Danger and Rock n’  Roll are practically kissing cousins, so it should come as no surprise that acts of daring fit nicely into the Fujirock setting. This year in the Palace of Wonder area you will find the Human Cannonball.
more pics after the jump.

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I just met Ozomatli for a quick chat, and after hearing about the legendary Gogol Bordello show at the Crystal Palace a few years back, Ulises Bella says “we’re about to blow that out. Now we know that we’ve got to step it up.”

Later on, while a TV screen was playing a feed of another band onstage, Jiro Yamaguchi shakes his head and says “look at all the people they’ve got, and that’s all they’re doing. Man, if we were up there – bam!”

They’ve recently played to 10,000 people in Kathmandu, and 20,000 people in Ulan Bator, so the Crystal Palace is going to be a big change of vibe. I’m expecting the festival’s best show. Be there.

Mustang is a hard act to follow. The started out a little iffy at the pre party. Then they proved their worth at Shokudo. And cemented it in the Palace.

Enter DAD MOM GOD. Capitals cos that’s how they do it. We started with a list of famous musicians from the 60s. Session guys mostly. A hint of things to come? It was to a skewif techno beat. That quickly gave way to said 60s classics. The inevitable exodus was inevitable. But the unanticipated return was anticipated. By some. But it hasn’t taken long to fill the place. Or is that the Palace? Continue Reading…

45' Selector Baby Soul

Dressed in a strapless, power blue party dress, DJ Baby Soul (aka Elinor Fahrman) took the stage after a smoking rockabilly set by Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. The set: old school Rock n’ Roll a la Little Richard (Good Golly Miss Molly) and Ray Charles (Hit the Road Jack). A regular at Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues in London, Miss Soul danced and lindy-hopped between selecting tunes, keeping half of KD&L’s crowd for one more swing.

Classy

more pics after the jump.

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Honky Tonkin'

Ladies & gentlemen, meet the coolest family alive. The Kitty, Daisy and Lewis of this eponymously-titled band leave out two essential members: their parents. Mom plays upright bass, Dad plays guitar, and the three teens switch between drums, guitar, harmonica, banjo, accordion and vocals. The result is a rootsy, honky-tonkin’ rock show that may be my favorite gig so far.

Continue Reading…