Fujirockers: The official fansite of the Fuji Rock Festival

LIGHT RAIN DID INDEED DUST THE FESTIVAL AFTER KUGATSU HAS COME'S SET

Kugatsu Has Come (September Has Come) featured an impish woman who delivered haunting folk vocals to a decent crowd at the Mokudo Tei Stage, located along the boardwalk between the White Stage and the Field of Heaven. MONO and the Holy Ground Orchestra could be heard wafting through the leafy foliage in the distance, adding a surreal atmospheric touch to the mid-afternoon performance amongst the trees.

Kugatsu Has Come’s vocals were soft, never strained. Think songs for church, only backed up with some of the purest folk guitar you’ve probably ever heard. She held the attention of the watching crowd perfectly, allowing notes to hang in the air for what seemed like eternity before continuing with the song as if nothing had ever changed. Continue Reading…

NIGHTMARE DREAM POP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON?

Purity Ring probably has to be one of the unluckiest outfits to appear at Fuji Rock this year. First, there is the question of timing: two o’clock in the Red Marquee on a roasting hot Saturday afternoon and playing at the same time as the illustrious Seun Kuti next door? Ouch, that has to hurt.

Second, the location. The idiosyncrasies of the Red Marquee can really make or break the fundamental sound behind any given electronic outfit, and even traditional four-piece guitar bands are not completely free of its wrath. But the Red Marquee at that time of day offered the worst possible acoustics in which to hear the haunted electronic duo at their finest.

Starting the set off with “Cartography,” the duo’s darkest tune by far, the thundering bassline rippled through the audience in waves and offered a hint at what we could expect to hear if we were sitting in a smaller, more intimate environment. It was perhaps the best of what they reproduced from their debut album, “Shrines” (recently released on 4AD), which not surprisingly pretty much covered the entire set. Continue Reading…

THATS FOUR HANDS SHREDDING ON A SINGLE NECK AXE, MAN

Los Lonely Boys had quite an act to follow Thursday night after the romping rambunctious septet from Argentina Onda Vaga. But, with the back-in-black cock rock confidence the power trio exudes, shredding from start to finish, asking “Ya’ll ready for some Texican Rock n’ Roll!” clad in superstar sunglasses and strutting in unison to the crowds rising bemuse, Los Lonely Boys were anything but lonely as they made a shitload of new friends tonight headlining the special Thursday opener. It might not be my favorite kind of music, but these Texas boys know how to put on an excellent show. Watching the slap bass solo seemingly in fast-forward and the four-hand axe attack. Watching these guys work together virtuoso and complement each other so well, I got tingles.

They only let up for one song, their Top 40 Super-hit “How far is Heaven?” This 40-something white dude freaking out at the opening hook spilled his freakin’ beer all over the place. Hilarious.

After an unrelenting engagement, the dueling bass and guitar duo drop humbly to their knees and pay homage, “Muchas Gracias!” and are sure to shout out their main event, tomorrow at seven, the Field of Heaven, it is sure to be a showdown at sundown like the Blues Brothers versus Mad Max on crack version all up in some dusty Texas saloon.  Get some veggie tacos from the Field of Heaven for dinner while you listen from the delicious fry bread place; equipped with red beans it’s likely the closest thing to Tex-Mex you can get around.

Photo courtesy Smashing Mag from 平川 けいこ. See more photos here.

CLOCKING IN JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY AT THE RED MARQUEE

This preview comes with a warning: Factory Floor is not for the faint-hearted.

The London-based trio are renowned for delivering live performances of such abrasive intensity that they’ve been known to cause power outages to entire streets during the feedback crescendos at the end of their set. And while this is unlikely to happen at Fuji Rock, I certainly wouldn’t blame the crew on the sound desk for casting a nervous eye over the levels during their Friday night Planet Groove set at the Red Marquee.

Much of Factory Floor’s material is typically described as post-industrial but it’s much more complicated than that. The trio strips down melodies produced on analogue synths, sequencers, drums, guitars and vocals to their bare essentials, mixing them together gradually in the same way that full-cream milk is added to a simple cheese sauce. The end result is a sound that is reminiscent of something you’d likely hear at an underground disco for zombies: It’s predominantly beat heavy, but comes peppered with droning harmonies the undead can certainly fling their arms around to. Continue Reading…

AXEL WILLNER GOES ALL LOOPY AT ASAGIRI JAM IN 2009

Axel Willner, a.k.a. The Field, comes across as a man who is never happy with his own work.

The Swedish electronic artist first debuted on Kompakt with the EP “Things Keep Falling Down” in 2005, after the uber cool Cologne label plucked his demo out of a pile of young techno hopefuls from all over Europe.

Another 12-inch and a string of remixes later, he dazzled the musical powers that be with “From Here We Go Sublime,” a hypnotic fusion of 4/4 beats heavily layered with dozens of fragmented nanosamples that are chopped up, looped and twisted in every direction imaginable. Lionel Richie’s “Hello” forms the base element of one track, as do songs by Coldplay and Fleetwood Mac. The album is in many ways the perfect marriage of techno and ambient, and, understandably, tour requests came thick and fast.

But Willner wasn’t satisfied.

The isolation of touring by himself frustrated him and so he brought in two live musicians – bassist Dan Enqvist and multi-instrumentalist Andreas Soderstrom, who has since been replaced by drummer Jesper Skarin – to join him, a decision that ultimately spawned 2009’s “Yesterday & Today.” Although the album certainly didn’t generate the same sort of unconditional love that gushed from fans after Willner’s debut, reviewers were quick to highlight its crossover potential, with elements of Krautrock and shoegaze adding to the vintage trance-tinged sounds he was able to manipulate on his laptop in his earlier body of work.

Japan was even fortunate enough to host The Field later that year, when Willner & Co. delivered a stonking set on the Moon Shine stage at Asagiri Jam.

But Willner still wasn’t satisfied Continue Reading…

BROOKLYN ROCKERS: MY BEST FIEND

We communicated by Facebook over shared interests like, art, film, and well you guessed it, music.

My Best Fiend is a 5-piece band named after a 1999 Warner Herzog documentary featuring the late actor Klaus Kinski who veers into madness into madness in the Peruvian jungle. Musically, the band take cues from Gram Parsons and the free flowing jam of Brian Jonestown Massacre.

So here’s my conversation with My Best Fiend’s lead singer, Fred Coldwell. He asked me to correct for any grammatical errors because the Facebook format was throwing him off (there weren’t any), and some replies were edited for concision.

Q) Does Klaus Kinski’s madness inspire you, or Warner Herzog’s calm?
A) I have to say, I find Herzog’s calm to be rather unattainable, so in that sense, I guess it is rather inspirational. I couldn’t imagine having that overwhelming presence. Have you seen the video where he gets shot with a pellet gun during an interview? Even then, he never loses his cool. That’s not to diminish Kinski’s madness of course. But I think I prefer taking a backseat on that ride.

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AGORIA'S AWESOME OTAKU STYLE!

“…With Sébastien Devaud, aka Agoria, who entered the world of electronic dance music at a peculiar moment in time.” (I had to rip straight from Heiko Hoffman’s words on Agoria’s French label InFiné; he just said it too perfectly.)

Growing up in rural France (Lyons environs) you may wonder how this young fellow got hold of the means to hear, consume, succumb to and eventually fabricate his own alluring deep house techno beats as a now well-sought-after world-renowned DJ and producer. Well, he started washing cars for the neighbors, that’s how. (Just for comparison, how many cars would you have to wash for a 3-day ticket to Fuji Rock nowadays? Depends on the cars, I guess.)

From those humble beginnings, listening to Kevin Saunderson on the radio back in 1988, Agoria has evolved his musically abilities to include mastering modern house and even foraying into the amorphous ambient realm (hear the soundtrack he crafted for the movie “Go Fast”). Continue Reading…

THE CANADIAN DUO ARE MAKING THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE AT FUJI ROCK

If the announcement last week that Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will fill the vacant headline spot on Saturday ultimately proved to be one of Fuji Rock’s worst-kept secrets, electro-pop fans were salivating at news that Canada’s up-and-coming Purity Ring has also been added to the lineup.

Indeed, it’s hard to believe a duo with the sum total of four singles to date could have attracted so much attention online over the past 18 months. Much of that buzz comes from glowing reviews posted on music websites such as Pitchfork, which incidentally listed Purity Ring’s debut single, “Ungirthed,” at No. 38 on the best 100 singles of 2011, just behind Jamie xx’s “Far Nearer” and Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky’s “Peso.” It’s illustrious company to be included in for sure, and we all remember Jamie xx’s performance at the Red Marquee last year, don’t we?

Like a mosquito circling at shoulder height in summer, the buzz surrounding Purity Ring is a buzz that refuses to go away. Storied independent label 4AD has since added to the hype, signing the duo in April and announcing a release date for their debut full-length album, “Shrines” – July 24, just five days before their inaugural Fuji Rock performance. This in of itself is sure to inspire a show I’m sure the pair will want fans in Japan to remember.

Like so many young artists these days, it’s hard to pin a tag on the duo that really sticks. In earlier interviews, they seemed to be trying to stake a claim on a genre they called “future pop.” However, this label fails to account for the unearthly atmospherics that typically pervade their recordings. So what exactly can we expect? Continue Reading…

STANDING ON A BASS DRUM FOR BREAKFAST

Three guys from Sapporo walk into a bar… no really though, front row fans of 8otto, three guys all the way from the road up north Hokkaido, Japan, can tell me they love 8otto, but don’t remember any song titles. They like the ensemble for their energy and stage presence. And, for the opening show at the Red Marquee at 11:30, that better be the case…And it was!

Drummer/vocalist Maenosono Masaki, clad in a bright red “Dubstep is DEAD” T-shirt started the morning off right with screams of “NAEBA!!!” that might have actually been heard about 8 hours south in Osaka where 8otto hails from. His Rasta-style red/yellow/green snare drum may have had you thinking these guys would start in with reggae beats, but actually 8otto sound is more like The Strokes or Pixies, with a bit of disco/punk edge thrown in the mix.

The power ensemble had at least half the crowd clapping along with the first song, and by the end of the show the entire red tent had succumb to the multi-genre barrage. With the dyed-blonde, dark-rimmed glasses wearing bassist, all of 5 feet 5 inches jumping off the bass drum, and the archetypal lead guitarist, black clad, tight pants, jet black hair holding his guitar overhead, the stage tricks where present for breakfast in the Red Marquee.  Only at Fuji Rock will you get guys jumping off bass drums before noon. Continue Reading…

Ra Ra Riot Provide A Rich Romp Through "The Orchard"

Music festivals are popping up everywhere and one of the newest, the Music to Know Festival, set in the glimmering summer resort of East Hampton NY, where my sister lives incidentally, is more of a VIP fashion catwalk rather than a  rock show. The NY Times has written about the pop-up boutiques appearing at the festival  (read here) and top end tickets offer parking privileges, air-conditioned restrooms, a curated food service and plenty of delicious cocktails.  While all of the creature needs will be met, organizers still face the vexing question of  what type of music do these super rich people wanna see?

Vampire Weekend are an obvious choice, and they indeed headline the festival on  Saturday, and also appearing is Ra Ra Riot who are frequently compared to this better known,  gold- selling artist.  Both bands play  upbeat music led by a high pitched male vocalist.  Musically, however, Ra Ra Riot tend to experiment more than Vampire Weekend, with compositions performed more like a classical chamber quintet, Continue Reading…

DJ NOBU @ FRF '10

I was talking to a minimal sausage the other week at Freaks Fes, an unassuming little outdoor party that turned out to be one of the best events I have attended so far this year. A great lineup that saw on what I came to call the “downstairs stage” the likes of Daniel Bell and Eye from V∞rdoms who packed out the Red Marquee in 2009 for a late night DJ slot at which our fellow FujiRockers Kern & Dave cemented a relationship that has led to steamy late night discoveries of musical loves shared. On the list was Nobu, due to follow on from Radio Slave lead in to Function closing the party out.

Anyway, as Mr Sausage was saying, and he should know, Nobu is about the best Japanese techno DJ around at the moment, though Nobu doesn’t like to limit himself with labels. The exact term used (amongst many others) by Mr Sausage was “relevant” techno. Now, your guess is as good as mine there, but suffice to say, there aren’t that many Japanese DJs about that can deliver a minimal techno set with quite the ability, the technique, dare I say it, the relevance, that Nobu can. Continue Reading…

Wu Lyf anonymously chart a new direction in Britpop

Brits support bands much like their favorite football clubs, bringing a fervor and passion that few other nationalities can muster. They also put up a unified front when it comes to acts at the top of the table such as Radiohead, Muse, Coldplay, and recently, Artic Monkeys.  Seeing the latter 2 on Friday at the Green Stage ensures the Union Jack will be flying.

The Britpop passion even extends to bands facing relegation like The Music who are calling it quits after this tour, and the Kaiser Chiefs who are back after a 3-year break.  A friend of mine who DJs the UK Beat Show here in Taiwan has been chirping their praises for weeks, quipping their new album as “a return to form,” and an “epic”  gig  recently at Isle of Wight.

Honestly, I never drank from Britpop’s technicolored kool-aid, preferring the deeper, muddier depths of grunge.  Many music critics have asserted Britpop is a direct reaction to grunge, though few thought it would continue with so many permutations and with such longevity.

I was prepared to write the genre off entirely until I came across Wu Lyf, a Manchester, not Madchester, band which embraces the messy politics of grunge, and its counter culture G8 hating, World Bank bashing radicalism. Musically, Wu Lyf may be little more than a radical, hipper version of The XX, but they are starting fires and converting a fans such as myself which have otherwise been put off by the Britpop establishment.

It’s been a long weekend. It’s rained a lot. I’m sunburnt. I’ve eaten more than my dietician recommends. Of course, to deal with all of this, I’ve had to drink a lot. For my health, you understand. Keep my fluids up, so to speak.

So, we’ve reached the last set if the night. I’ve exchanged my gumboots for dancing sandals. Mistake? Yet to be proven. But after four (yes, four) long days, my feet are singing a song of praise. And that means, Faber has the sole advantage of finding me with my feet unbound. Not even the superb Horse Meat Disco had that honour. Continue Reading…

Horse Meat Disco tearing it up

Usually Sundays here at the Red comprise of two types: The hardcore, and the stragglers. The stragglers pop in from time to time to see what’s going on as they float between the bars of the Oasis area and the Palace complex. The hardcore are in the thick of it.

That was my plan tonight. Float between the two. I had it all planned. Ozomatli at the Palace. Horse Meat Disco at Red. Back to Willie Martinez at the Palace. Then back to red for Rasmus Faber. Plenty of space and totally doable if experience has taught me anything. But then it started to piss down during Ozomatli, and everything went pear shaped. Continue Reading…

Alberta Cross - Petter

I’ve stayed opening to closing note at only two shows at this year’s Fuji Rock festival–the absolutely phenomenal Them Crooked Vultures on Friday night, and the golden great John Fogerty on Saturday night. This afternoon I added Alberta Cross to to what will probably be my final full set viewing of the fest. Continue Reading…

I usually arrange my schedule to avoid two things at FRF. One, the Red Marquee. Two, British bands. These guys slipped past my radar because they’re more Scottish than British. And I quite liked the idea of their “retro sound” as Jeff made note in his preview.

I usually avoid the Red because it’s the only stage that gets uncomfortably crowded. That’s fine if you want to mosh, but a right pain for taking notes and paying attention if you need to review. Not so this afternoon, we’re only about a quarter full for today’s CVC show. Continue Reading…

The xx

I made it from Taylor Hawkins at the Field of Heaven to The xx at the Red Marquee on Friday afternoon in record time – in no small part due to the panel van driver with a case and a half of warm lemon chu-hi strewn across the dashboard and bench seat of his truck. Sometimes getting to the gig on time means taking your life in your hands. Thanks Dom – for flagging this dude down.

ANYWAY, The xx. I busted a move and risked my neck to see their set and honestly I have to look back and say, “Why?” Don’t get me wrong, I quite like The xx with their valiumy Cure bass lines and their telling-you-a-secret-in-the-middle-of-the-night singing, but at 6:30 on Friday night it’s a fucking downer. The sun is down, the moon is up, it’s time to get your cocktail on and reach for the stars (or at least the blinking lights) and this was more like falling asleep in your car and slowly succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. With a couple thousand other people. Who started ahead of you.

It’s not the band’s fault. This what they do. I could have chosen any other band playing at that moment at the festival, but I chose them. So really, I only have myself to blame. Oh, and the schedule organizers. Like, WTF?

Sorry Double X’ers. I don’t mean to be harsh. I like your music, but that set was just wrong venue, wrong time. You need a late, late set in a much more intimate venue.

The xx at Red Marquee

So it started with an argument. A simple statement from the Professor. A learned man. Check his credentials. He’s a frickin professor fer fooks sake.

But no. Sean wasn’t having that. Dubstep is dub, said he. Michael Jackson might disagree. What’s he got to do with it? Well, t’was he who was remixed into dub in the early stages of the set.

Cutting up the classics in a way that Jackson might just approve now that he’s chilling. That’s the professor’s specialty tonight. It’s all there. Of course the reggae classics make an appearance. Bob Marley gets a look in with Single Bed. Continue Reading…

My all-purpose recommendation

The one bit of advice that I give to those attending Fuji Rock for the first time (or those coming back after a long hiatus) is to figure out your footwear!

Going back to your hotel room or pup tent in between sets is probably impossible as you should be prepared to mosh around in one pair of shoes the whole time. That said, you better decide what it’s gonna be, and trust me, there are a million good choices out there such as Tevas, Keens, Wellies, Saucony (Kern’s pick), Blundstone, Crocs.

Personally, if I were to buy a pair of shoes for the festival today, I would take my friend Dave’s advice (a fellow blog writer) and get a pair of Gore-Tex lined, ankle high Nike ACG. This half-boot provides enough wet weather protection to muck your way around every footpath at the festival. It also has enough bounce to keep your knees happy on the Red Marquee’s concrete floor. And more importantly, it will give you enough traction to stay upright on the slippery slope near hilltop Heineken tent at the Green Stage.
Continue Reading…

GOOD 4 NOTHING

Osaka punks Good 4 Nothing will be opening up Sunday’s festivities with a 10:20 a.m. set at the Red Marquee.  I’m not going to lie to you – after a big Saturday night getting up early enough to make it to their set will be tough.  However, pogoing near the stage for 40 minutes to the act’s melodic, high energy skate anthems is likely to quickly clear the cobwebs in your head and keep you fired up for the final 19 hours of Fuji Rock ‘10 goodness.

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…

Diplo prepares for intvu with Taipei's ICRT

We were hanging out with Diplo yesterday, taking a trip to Taipei County for some late-afternoon cliff diving. As was expected, this international DJ/producer  “kept it going higher” climbing well beyond where even locals dare to go, clutching vines and moss covered rocks to a height of 20 meters. He even did a back-flip from one jump off spot, coming perilously close to the rocks below which elicited a “not-cool” remark from his tour manager.

After returning to the city, we played a game of lazer tag, both the free-for-all and team play round won handily  Major Lazer MC, Skerrit Bwoy.  Later, it was off to the local radio station, ICRT, to promote Wednesday’s show which gave us some time to  reminisce about last year’s Fuji performance. Continue Reading…

Codeine Velvet Club

You might know Jon Lawler, the songwriter and founder of Codeine Velvet Club,  better as “Jon Fratelli”  the singer, songwriter, and guitar player for Scottish band The Fratellis.

I liked The Fratellis for about five minutes in 2006. For those five minutes though, I really liked them. The Glaswegian styled drawl and dark humour on “indie” rock tunes like “Henrietta” and “Chelsea Dagger” of that first album Costello Music was good train riding music, as I skulked my way around the ¥250 生ビール (draft beer) oyaji salaryman joints with my cheap friends in Kanda and Ueno where I was working at the time. It got old real quick, though, as yet another rash of similar styled UK indie guitar rock broke out yet again on the arms of Japan that year.

Unfortunately, their second album, 2008’s derivative Here We Stand didn’t even make it my to iPod. I don’t think it even made to a shuffle list.

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More of The xx

Everytime I listen to The XX, I just can’t figure out what composes them. Soulful female vocal and casual male vocal? Crystal guitar riff and bassline? Old minimal drum beat? Technically, yes; emotionally, I will say it’s made by romance, simply. Perhaps it just because of the lonely summer in Tokyo, I will need The XX’s live to keep me alive.

隻身在日本，少不了的煩惱絕對是戀人間的距離這件事；而不少次的自我消化，都是搭配The XX服用來緩解一下。請不要看到這邊就幹譙，我現在真的要開始講The XX了。 Continue Reading…

YEASAYER

Vampire Weekend may be Fuji’s big indie breakthrough act this summer, but some fellow indoids from Brooklyn provide welcome counterpoint on a similar exotic tip; a kind of Middle Eastern cognate to VW’s college-town highlife.

Success for both VW and Yeasayer seems to mean never having to say out loud that you’re global, because both bands’ sophomore efforts are cleaner and poppier than their debuts, whose respective multicultural vibes mostly distracted from how original sounding they were. Which isn’t to say Yeasayer, at least, has abandoned its infamous experimental predilections. Some of the sonic ideas on Odd Blood could be considered unnecessarily wonky, but the songs are pure dance pop and the singing by Chris Keating and Anand Wilder winningly exuberant and often quite soulful. Continue Reading…