Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

Chris Keating

Sunday would seem to be the setting for the battle of the hip, white, New York-based, world music-channeling indie bands; or, at least, two of them. With Vampire Weekend setting up camp on the Green Stage in the middle of the afternoon, their contempos over in Brooklyn, Yeasayer, laid siege to the Red Marquee right after lunch. Considering the turnout, their estimable reputation seems to have preceded them, and there was quite a sizable portion that knew the songs, if not the words themselves. 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…

BUFFALO DAUGHTER

As the only extant band from the hallowed Shibuya-kei movement of the early 90s (Flipper’s Guitar, Cibo Matto, Pizzicato Five, etc.), Buffalo Daughter retains a measure of historical cred. The fact that the trio has remained together all this time without tarnishing its lustre of hipness can probably be credited to its slightly below-the-radar image. A cult band in all the better definitions of the term, BD, like the other Shibuya-kei bands, was immediately championed overseas and many of its albums were released by respectable indies in the U.S. like Grand Royal and Emperor Norton. Unlike the other Shibuya-kei bands, however, BD’s particular type of sound collage was not directly pegged to older, quainter styles of pop. They were always a rock band, albeit one that often veered into the avant garde. Their sense of humor was also more pointed, less precious than that of most Shibuya-kei artists, as evidenced by their affection for puns when it comes to naming their CDs: Socks, Drugs and Rock and Roll or Pshychic or their latest, Weapons of Math Destruction. Continue Reading…

Jamaica

Paris Electro-Rock duo Jamaica have made us waiting their debut album for a long time since they were Poney Poney. And we’ve been told for a hundred times that Justice’s Xavier will be their producer. Now with the new Electro-Surfin’Rock track I Think I Like U 2 and a fresh new album edition of the single Cross The Fader coming, I believe that all we have to do in their Fujirock gig is dancing with them and feel like playing on a beach, in Paris, in 1975. Please make sure to check the music video which made by SO ME and you will see.

在日本雖然每天走大約一小時的路，卻都沒有運動。欸，等一下，我在講什麼。 Continue Reading…

We’ll take James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem anyway we can get him when he appears on Sunday. Several years ago he played one of the airplane hangars at Summer Sonic and reportedly the place is still rattling–I know my teeth are. If it were up to us, we’d have him headlining the White Stage, though there’s always the possibility he’ll get stuck at the Red Marquee since he tends to classify himself as a rock act. Actually, it wouldn’t be too bad if he were mistaken for a dance act and scheduled for the the middle of the night at the RM, but the White Stage around 9 with a huge crowd and a starry sky to close out the weekend. What could be better? Continue Reading…

So I was halfway through writing a post on Holy Fuck, but since Dom beat me to it, let me just recommend a great live session they did for Dublab last year.
jinki

I’ve already said this before, but I will mention it again… I am psyched to see artists at Fuji Rock because back home in the US their shows are sold out! The latest commodity coming across the pond is Gang Gang Dance. My last try going to see this band was the opening party for the Nada Art Fair ( a young cousin of the bigger Art Basel Miami Beach event). I, along with 20 well dressed, pin stripe suited, big shots of the art world found ourselves locked out of this party. Nobody was getting in or out, and i had little choice but to console myselve with the indignity of sitting at a bar next door coiffing US$25 whisky drinks.

Continue Reading…

Hipster mags such as The Fader have been championing Buraka Som Sistema and a handful of other African tinged music for the past couple of months. The music is punchy, high energy, booty shaking stuff, and unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.

Continue Reading…

I knew Animal Collective was playing Fuji Rock about 2 months before the official announcement and had a pretty hard time holding my tongue and not blogging about this info. Tell you the truth, I couldn’t be more excited cuz this band is tearing it up on their North American tour, and it is darn hard getting a ticket to their show. As an example, their LA gig at the Fonda Theater was sold out weeks in advance with tix on Craig’s List going for US$150 apiece. Well, I considered paying the price, but unexpectedly ran into them somewhere else…

Continue Reading…