Tokyo Gigs, November 2018

NOV 18 Kan Mikami, Koji Shishido/Makoto Kawabata/&c. UFO Club, Higashi-Koenji ¥2,500
NOV 18 Abstracter, Granule, Friendship, Coffins, &c. Earthdom, Shin-Okubo ¥2,500
NOV 18 NuR, M2M (Mei Zhiyong/Maxime Hänsenberger), Purpura, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
NOV 18 Hataken, Jun Morita, Yasunobu Suzuki, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 door
NOV 18 Peter Hammill Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥10,500
NOV 18 DJ Sotofett feat. Osaruxo/Diskomo, Aonami Pool, Sakuradai ¥1,000
NOV 18 Masters at Work, Muro, Kaoru Inoue, &c. Studio Coast, Shinkiba ¥5,500
NOV 19 Hexis, Melt-Banana, NoLa, &c. Higashi-Koenji 20,000V ¥2,000
NOV 20 Hikashu Star Pine's Cafe, Kichijoji ¥3,900
NOV 21-25 Will Lee's Super Group Cotton Club, Marunouchi ¥8,500-¥10,500
NOV 21 Realistic Monk (Carl Stone/Miki Yui), &c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥2,500
NOV 22 Ash Club Quattro, Shibuya ¥6,500
NOV 22 Antibodies Collective, They Live, &c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,300
NOV 22 The Watts, Canterbury Favourites Club Goodman, Akihabara ¥4,500
NOV 23 Schlippenbach Trio, Schlippenbach/Aki Takase Za-Koenji Public Theatre ¥3,500
NOV 23 Aemong, Shoko, A Taut Line (DJ), &c. Rainbow Soko 3, Shimokitazawa ¥1,000
NOV 23 Marta Forsberg, Christine Ödlund, Terre Thaemlitz SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,300
NOV 23 Omei, Hanaka, Like Weeds, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
NOV 23 Jah Shaka Unit, Daikanyama ¥3,300
NOV 23 Chancha via Circuito, Shhhhh, Ground, &c. Unice, Daikanyama ¥2,500
NOV 24 Amenra, Nadja, Treha Sektori, Vampillia Era, Shimokitazawa ¥6,000
NOV 24 Rovo, De De Mouse, Networks Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,200
NOV 24 Chris Goudreau, Solmania, K2, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
NOV 24 Matana Roberts, O'Rourke/Ishibashi/Talia, &c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,300
NOV 24 DJ Sotofett, Akiram En B2B Diskomo Forestlimit, Hatagaya ¥2,000
NOV 24 Umfang, Mobilegirl, DJ Haram, &c. WWW X, Shibuya ¥2,300
NOV 25 Indi, French Concession, Chiio, Kiddish, &c. Lush, Shibuya ¥2,800
NOV 25 Amenra, Nadja, Treha Sektori, Nadja + Vampillia Era, Shimokitazawa ¥6,000
NOV 25 Sickness, Blackphone666, Toshiji Mikawa/Hiroshi Hasegawa, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
NOV 26 Antisect, Oledickfoggy Fever, Shindaita ¥3,000
NOV 26 Schlippenbach Trio/Aki Takase Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥4,000
NOV 26 Oddisee & Olivier St. Louis w/ Good Compny Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,000
NOV 26 Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥2,800
NOV 27 Jun Togawa High, Koenji ¥5,000
NOV 27 Keiji Haino/Jim O'Rourke/Oren Ambarchi SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,000
NOV 29 Judas Priest Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, Chofu ¥11,000/¥20,000
NOV 29 Con Brio Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥6,500
NOV 30 Elephant Gym, Tricot Unit, Daikanyama ¥5,500
NOV 30 Call Super, Pangaea, Mars89, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, December 2018

DEC 1 Minyo Crusaders, &c. Club Quattro, Shibuya ¥4,000
DEC 1 Funeral Moth, Caassimolar, Necro-E, Deadly Spawn Soup, Ochiai ¥1,500
DEC 1 Dorian Concept, &c. Vision, Shibuya ¥3,000
DEC 1 Kim Laughton/Mechatok, Sugai Ken, Konida, &c. WWW ß, Shibuya ¥1,800
DEC 2 Mermort, Xalu, R(L)N3, Mitsuhisa Sakaguchi/Tatsuhisa Yamamoto Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
DEC 6 Laurel Halo w/Eli Keszler, goat Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,300
DEC 6 Cicala-Mvta Star Pine's Cafe, Kichijoji ¥4,000
DEC 7 Keiichiro Shibuya/Masaya Nakahara/Taichi Nagura Earthdom, Shin-Okubo ¥3,000
DEC 7 DJ Quietstorm, DJ Kiyo, Hidenka, Sauce81, &c. Solfa, Nakameguro ¥2,500 w/flyer
DEC 8 Schneider x Schneider (Kenji Konishi/Tadahiko Yokogawa) Soup, Ochiai ¥3,000
DEC 8 Margaret Dygas, Kabuto, DJ Shibata, &c. Vent, Omotesando ¥2,500
DEC 9 Marginal Consort SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,000
DEC 10 Saba WWW, Shibuya ¥4,500
DEC 11 Masaharu Sato w/ Hikashu/Carmen Maki/&c. Curian, Oimachi ¥6,000
DEC 12 Kiha & The Faces Duo Music Exchange, Shibuya ¥5,500
DEC 13 Louis Cole WWW X, Shibuya ¥5,800
DEC 13 Jun Togawa w/ Vampillia Unit, Daikanyama ¥5,000
DEC 14-15 Ron Carter Trio Cotton Club, Marunouchi ¥8,500-¥10,500
DEC 15 Gauze, Framtid, Jabara Antiknock, Shinjuku ¥1,200
DEC 15 Fit Siegel, Compuma, Kabuto, &c. Solfa, Nakameguro ¥2,500 w/flyer
DEC 16 NF/DT (Atsuhiro Ito/Veltz), NA/DA, Satomimagae Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
DEC 16-17 Ron Carter Trio Blue Note Tokyo, Omotesando ¥8,500
DEC 21 Joaquin "Joe" Claussell, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,300 w/flyer
DEC 19 Jesus Piece, Friendship, Creepout, &c. Antiknock, Shinjuku ¥3,800
DEC 22 World's End Girlfriend, Vampillia, Sione, Bool, &c. WWW, Shibuya ¥3,900
DEC 22 Seiichi Yamamoto/Toshiaki Sudo/Tatsuhisa Yamamoto UFO Club, Higashi-Koenji ¥2,500
DEC 22 Adrena Adrena, The Earth Temple, Concierto de la Familia, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
DEC 22 Legowelt, Knock, Eita, Frankie $, &c. Vent, Omotesando ¥2,500
DEC 23 Hikashu, Polysics, Zombie Chang Unit, Daikanyama ¥5,000
DEC 31 DJ Stingray, DJ Nobu, Synth Sisters, &c. Unit, Daikanyama ¥TBC

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, January 2019

JAN 10 Soccer Mommy WWW, Shibuya ¥4,500
JAN 10 Rich Brian, Joji, Higher Brothers, Niki, &c. Zepp Tokyo, Odaiba ¥8,000/¥10,000
JAN 11-14 Pat Metheny/Linda May Han/Gwilym Simcock Blue Note Tokyo, Omotesando ¥13,500
JAN 12 CRK/LCKS, Melraw, Sirup, Wonk, Mononkul Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,800
JAN 12-15 Robert Glasper Trio w/ DJ Jahi Sundance Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥8,800/¥9,800
JAN 16-20 Pat Metheny/James Francies/Nate Smith Blue Note Tokyo, Omotesando ¥13,500
JAN 22 Superorganism Tsutaya O-East, Shibuya ¥6,000
JAN 23 Deerhunter, Gang Gang Dance, Aldous Harding Tsutaya O-East, Shibuya ¥7,000
JAN 24 Parcels, &c. WWW, Shibuya ¥3,800
JAN 27 Mono Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥4,000
JAN 27-28 10cc Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥8,800/¥9,800
JAN 31 Jungle WWW X, Shibuya ¥6,500

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, February 2019

FEB 12 Mitski WWW X, Shibuya ¥5,800
FEB 16 Neurosis, Converge, Endon, Self Deconstruction Tsutaya O-East, Shibuya ¥9,000

FEB 17 Neurosis, Converge, Palm, Black Ganion Unit, Daikanyama ¥9,000

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...