Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

Since 1993 this ensemble hailing from Amsterdam has been redefining their own brand of Dutch jazz, and gaining headway in more diverse venues and pop and rock festivals like Fuji Rock as well as Roskilde, Pink Pop, Lowlands, Camden Mix and Aberdeen Alternative.

Tonight as the sun set and the sky went from orange to midnight blue to black, the 8-piece took us on a trip. There was bossa nova, free jazz, Afro-beat, all utterly seamlessly blended to perfection. Then come the solos.

But, these guys don’t solo. Solo does not explain what they do; doesn’t do them justice. What they do is bend and re-adapt instruments both playfully and smart. Take drummer Joost Kroon, who plays so unbelievably fast and can decrescendo to a whisper sustaining that machine gun beat only to bring you back strong and steady maintaining composure and accuracy, leaving you wondering how the hell he is doing that! Seriously one of the best if not the best drum solos I have ever seen.

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So you see this picture and think for sure it is the American rapper Common. Or conversely, you don’t see a picture but only hear the poetic stream flowing atop some sick backing music and automatically assume it is a matured Saul Williams–after a long vacation in the Caribbean. As such, you would both be sadly mistaken.

Hailing from Trinidad, Anthony Joseph has honed his word crafting artistry in the UK since 1989. He has published volumes of poetry, novels and numerous academic essays, and is now working towards a Ph.D. This guy seriously has something to say. Taking to the stage, he is likened to Gil Scott Heron or the Last Poets in his methods, conveying dense searing commentary and thought-provoking dialogue about diaspora and native ways alongside free jazz, funk, calypso, etc.

Lucky for us, Birkbeck College where he lectures will be out on summer vacation when Fuji Rock ensues! That means a special appearance by this fresh and invigorating collaboration of Anthony Joseph rhyming betwixt the diverse musical styling of The Spasm Band (not to be confused with these guys from Wales). Continue Reading…

In the film Lost in Translation there’s a moment when a cheesy lounge singer introduces her band.  “We’re Sausalito,” she coos; I myself shouted at the screen, “Of course you are!”  It was the perfect name for some westerners living in Japan playing limp jazz standards.  As a westerner living in Japan, I’d seen my share of limp jazz standards. 

Japanese jazz – real modern Japanese jazz – is at the opposite end of the spectrum.  Brash, energetic, sometimes hyperkinetic, it has an energy that belies the virtuosity of the players.  They haven’t had the spirit trained out of them, and they capture the spirit of jazz and jack it full of an energy that’s almost punk rock.

Such a description describes Quasimode, the Tokyo four-piece who return to FujiRock for their second time this summer.  Taking cues from ‘60s and ’70s, Quasimode have a sound that is at once classic and forward-thinking. 

Pianist Yusuke Hirado recognizes that Japanese and European jazz artists have reinvigorated the jazz scene on a global scale – that those who think jazz is Sausalito are sorely mistaken.

“In Japan, Sleep Walker, Soil & “Pimp” Sessions and Quasimode still play around the world,” says Hirado.  “We gain popularity little by little – I can see it myself.”

A Quasimoto show makes a strong case for the viability and energy of today’s jazz scene, but Quasimode aren’t just for the heads.  Hirado says that the spirit of rock’n’roll, for the most part, isn’t so far from the attitude of jazz.

“I think we believe jazz is totally dance music,” says Hirado, “and jazz is not a difficult music. 

So I think we fit in very well with rock audiences – and I am sure our attitude delivers to non-jazz fans.”

As for this summer’s appearance at FujiRock, Hirado looks forward to the festival for many of the same reasons we do.

“I can check out lots of artists or bands in same day,” he says.  “That’s the main point for me.  Of course I am looking forward to chillin’ with band members, staff and friends!!”

You can see more about the band at http://quasimode.jp

Photo by 直田亨 courtesy of Smashing Mag.

The band mouse on the keys (they prefer a mouse-like lowercase spelling) emerged out of a hardcore scene, forming in Tokyo in 2006. But the group is based around jazz-type instrumentation, namely two keyboard players, Atsushi Kiyota and Daisuke Niitome, and a rock-kit drummer, Akira Kawasaki. For the past two years, their sets have regularly included jazz trumpet player Daisuke Sasaki and saxophonist Jun Nemoto, who also plays in the groups Z and Hununhum. The sound is definitely feels a lot more like jazz than hardcore, but there remain strong connections – both in the emotional tone of the music and of in terms of friendships and collaborations – with genres more based around guitars and distortion pedals. mouse on the keys has so far released its music through Machu Picchu record label, which is run by their friends in the post-rock/hardcore band Toe. They’ve also played on multiple bills with the emo, screamo band Envy.

Recently, mouse on the keys came to my home turf of Taipei, where they played at The Wall on May 25. They may have been the first jazz band to play there, and they were certainly the first jazz band to crowd surf. I ended up snapping a bunch of photos, and after the show caught up with Daisuke Niitome for a quick interview.
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Despite garnering high praise internationally, Quasimode drew only a few hundred fans to Orange Court for their Sunday evening performance. Unfortunately, the gents were slotted at the exact same time as LCD Soundsystem (White Stage) and Hot Chip (Red Marquee) and a mere 50 minutes before the local debut of Atoms For Peace on the Green Stage. All of which likely deterred many from making the long hike to Orange Court.
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Christian Vander has been doing this for a long time. The 62-year-old French drummer brought his legendary prog rock band Magma to the Orange Court Friday night for a set of compositional jams that were majestic, spacey and heavily atmospheric. This was music from an era when it was still cool to say you were channeling sounds from outer space, when the promised land lay somewhere beyond Pluto, and when aliens were supposed to be wise, magnanimous beings. Vander, who’s classically trained, has in fact gotten in to some of that, but he’s also gotten into a huge range of music from 20th century classical to all sorts of jazz and rock. This night he was as usual at his rock drum kit at center stage, and seven others surrounded him, including female backup singers, electric organs, one male singer and a very eerie xylophone. (I actually expecting them to pull out a theramin or a real space music instrument, but no one ever did.) The singers would occasionally come to the front of the stage when they had featured parts, and when they were done, they’d return to the wings. It was wonderfully democratic, and also very Age of Aquarius. Vander had a big smile on his face the whole time, and I have to say he seems like a man who knows how to enjoy life, and his music – notwithstanding the galactic overtones – surely reflects that.

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…

After witnessing Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro’s FRF debut in the spectacular Crystal Palace Tent in 2008, our own Don Coglione proclaimed, “This is a band on the rise and you’ll see them back on a bigger stage before too long.” Proving Mr. Coglione right, this year the Saitama sextet will be tearing things up in the Field Of Heaven with funky instrumental cuts from their 2008 eponymous effort and this January’s excellent “Uhuru Peak.”

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Summer Sonic has A-ha, Fuji Rock has Jaga Jazzist. It’s enough to give a Norweigan wood.
Fuji Rock’s Norweigans claim on their website that they “have in one way or another contributed to almost every significant recording to come out of that part of the world (Norway) in the last few years”, which we should take as a huge diss to A-ha’s “Foot of the Mountain” LP.
But the Ninja Tune artists are certainly the best thing to come out of Vikingland except for Röyksopp and possibly the Kings of Convenience. Feel free to list in the comments all the great Norwegian acts I’m ignoring.
People compare Jaga Jazzist to Soft Machine, but that’s a bit unfair. They’re much jazzier, not nearly as indulgent and they have more than twice as many members. This nine-piece incorporates the trombone, bass, tuba and vibraphone among many other instruments.
Jaga Jazzist have been lined up for late afternoon on the White Stage, which ordinarily might be a tough spot for them, but it looks like Smash are going for a gentle Friday afternoon there, and with The Cribs and Ogre You Asshole looking like they’ll fill similar spots on other major stages, this will be the chill-out field.