Tokyo Gigs, June 2018

JUN 20 HMT/Kazuo Imai, Groundcover, Halbach, Huh Higashi-Koenji 20,000V ¥1,500
JUN 21 Tomasz Dabrowski Ad Hoc w/ Hiroshi Minami Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,500
JUN 22 Jailbird Y, P-iple, Limited Express (has gone?), &c. Higashi-Koenji 20,000V ¥2,000
JUN 22 Ena, Ryo Murakami Kagurane, Kagurazaka ¥2,800
JUN 22 Efdemin, Haruka, Iori, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUN 22 Baltra, DJ Bowlcut, N.O.S, &c. Circus Tokyo, Shibuya ¥2,000
JUN 23 Utah Kawasaki/Yousuke Fuyama, Jun Morita, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥1,500
JUN 23 Tohji, Fuji Taito, Sleet Mage, &c. WWWß, Shibuya ¥1,500
JUN 23 François K, Yoshinori Hayashi, Tadashi Yabe, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,300 w/flyer
JUN 24 Cruyff in the Bedroom, Plastic Girl in Closet, For Tracy Hyde, &c. High, Koenji ¥3,000
JUN 24 Non Band, Hoppy Koyama, Mark Sorvari, &c. UFO Club, Higashi-Koenji ¥3,000
JUN 24 Silent Poets Special Dub Band WWW, Shibuya ¥4,000
JUN 27 H Mountains, OWKMJ, Lagitagida, &c. Club Goodman, Akihabara ¥2,000
JUN 27 Hakobune, RNST, Koba, Tentenko, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥2,000
JUN 28 Goat Girl WWW, Shibuya ¥5,500
JUN 29 TOC Band feat. Keiichi Tomita, Melraw, &c. Club Quattro, Shibuya ¥5,000
JUN 29 Boris with Merzbow Unit, Daikanyama ¥3,500
JUN 29 Kaytranada, Lou Phelps Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥6,500
JUN 30 Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO Club Goodman, Akihabara ¥3,000
JUN 30 Kindness (DJ), DJ Na, Sapphire Slows, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, July 2018

JUL 1 Kink Gong (live), Riyo Mountains, Kunio Teramoto, Soi48 Be-Wave, Shinjuku ¥2,000
JUL 1 Open Reel Ensemble w/ Tavito Nanao, Satoko Shibata in Fire WWW, Shibuya ¥3,500
JUL 1 Lone Ranger & Carlton Livingston, Naoki Ienaga, &c. Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,000
JUL 3 Public Image Ltd. EX Theater Roppongi ¥9,000/¥10,000
JUL 3 Loolowningen & The Far East Idiots, Nanorisk Akatsuki, &c. Forestlimit, Hatagaya ¥1,500
JUL 3 Otomo Yoshihide New Jazz Quintet Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,000
JUL 5 Kirin J Callinan, Daniel Stricker (DJ) Ground, Omotesando ¥5,500
JUL 5 Pedro Miranda w/ Grupo Cadencia Mameromantic, Daikanyama ¥4,500
JUL 6 Jan and Naomi, Wonk, Eye (DJ), &c. Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥3,000
JUL 6 Keiji Haino/Tamio Shiraishi, Gaiamamoo, &c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,000
JUL 7 Yasumune Morishige, Makoto Oshiro, Veltz, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
JUL 7 Shonen Knife Fever, Shindaita ¥3,500
JUL 7 Ploy, Asusu, Akey, Yogic, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUL 8 Envy, Mono Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥3,500
JUL 8 Yuji Kubota, Artefact, Masa, Kyotaro Katsuragi, &c. WWW X, Shibuya ¥4,500
JUL 8 Tamio Shiraishi, Taketeru Kudo, Yoshio Kuge, &c. Forestlimit, Hatagaya ¥2,500
JUL 8 Soloist APT, Wotzit, 2UP, MikaTen, AKBK Bushbash, Koiwa ¥2,000
JUL 8 Gonno x Masumura, Triple Fire Unit, Daikanyama ¥3,300
JUL 9 Shortstraw, Sawagi, Denims Fever, Shindaita ¥3,900
JUL 9 Alice Phoebe Lou, Mei Ehara Mameromantic, Daikanyama ¥3,500
JUL 9 Vincent Herring & Eric Alexander Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥6,500
JUL 10 Dubforce Club Quattro, Shibuya ¥4,000
JUL 10 Alice Phoebe Lou, Ichiko Aoba Aoyama Moonromantic ¥3,500
JUL 12 Skip Skip Ben Ben feat. Be Bo Kids Aoyama Moonromantic ¥2,800
JUL 13 Kohh, Yahyel Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥4,500
JUL 14 Unsustainable Social Condition, K2, T. Mikawa, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
JUL 14 Derrick May, Mr. G, Hiroshi Watanabe aka Kaito, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000
JUL 15 Toshimaru Nakamura/Jun Numata/Kazuo Imai Pit Inn, Shinjuku (day) ¥2,500
JUL 15 Altered States/Akira Sakata/Kazutoki Umezu/Jin Harada Pit Inn, Shinjuku (evening) ¥3,000
JUL 15 Unsustainable Social Condition/Napalm Death is Dead, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
JUL 15 Shing02, Sauce81, Liberal aka Toshiki Iwaki, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUL 20 Jun Togawa Loft, Shinjuku ¥4,000
JUL 20 Isao Suzuki/Kazumasa Akiyama/Takumi Nakayama/&c. Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,500
JUL 21 Emma147, Solvent Cobalt, Blackphone666, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥1,500
JUL 21 Isao Suzuki/Dairo Suga/Raiga Hayashi/Takumi Nakayama Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,500
JUL 22 Computer Magic Circus Tokyo, Shibuya ¥5,400
JUL 24 Computer Magic WWW, Shibuya ¥5,400
JUL 24-25 Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog Blue Note Tokyo, Minami-Aoyama ¥8,500
JUL 26 Jon Hopkins WWW X, Shibuya ¥5,000
JUL 27 The Noup, In The Sun, Kuruucrew, Moz Bushbash, Koiwa ¥TBC
JUL 27 Derrick L. Carter, Remi, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,500 w/flyer
JUL 28 Music is My Spirit Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,000
JUL 28 The Hacker, Baroque x Shun, Hoshina Anniversary, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUL 28-29 Soft Machine Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥8,000/¥9,000
JUL 29 Struggle for Pride, Moonscape, Payback Boys Bushbash, Koiwa ¥TBC
JUL 30-31 Carla Thomas Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥9,800/¥10,800
JUL 31 Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals Toyosu Pit ¥7,000

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, August 2018

AUG 10 Dennis Bovell & Sandii Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,800
AUG 19-20 Kamasi Washington Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥10,000/¥11,000
AUG 25 Omoide Hatoba WWW, Shibuya ¥3,000
AUG 28 R+R=NOW Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥11,000/¥12,000

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, September 2018

SEP 3 Enslaved, Vampillia, &c. Duo Music Exchange, Shibuya ¥6,000
SEP 15 Power Trip, Coffins, G.A.T.E.S Earthdom, Shin-Okubo ¥TBC
SEP 18 Power Trip, Endon, Saigan Terror, Meaning Fever, Shindaita ¥4,200
SEP 23 Unknown Mortal Orchestra WWW X, Shibuya ¥TBC

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Best of 2017

Or... a not-top-10 of Japanese music I’ve enjoyed this year

In a break from regular programming, I thought I’d cobble together a list of the Japanese music I particularly enjoyed this year (an apparently simple task that’s ended up taking nearly a month). For the sake of argument, I’ve limited this to musicians who are based in Japan or actively involved in the music scene here. That means that Ryuichi Sakamoto and Jim O’Rourke made the cut, but some exceptionally talented Japanese musicians based overseas didn’t (to whit: Iku Sakan, WaqWaq Kingdom and Masaya Ozaki & Kaito Nakahori). Every year-end listicle I’ve read has alluded to the contrast between the outpouring of great music during 2017 and the otherwise dire state of world affairs, so I won’t dwell on that here, except to say thanks to everyone featured on this list for making life a little sweeter...