Tokyo Gigs, May 2018

MAY 21 Konono No.1, Oki Unit, Daikanyama ¥5,300
MAY 22 Ilan Volkov/Jim O'Rourke/Samuel Dunscombe/&c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,000
MAY 22 Konono No.1, Soi48 Unit, Daikanyama ¥5,300
MAY 22 Se So Neon, Paellas, Group Action Aoyama Moonromantic ¥2,800
MAY 23 Nils Frahm Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥7,500
MAY 23 Sepultura, United Duo Music Exchange, Shibuya ¥7,500
MAY 23 Rainer Maria, Osrum, Uhnellys, Peelingwards Tsutaya O-Nest, Shibuya ¥4,500
MAY 23 Evanturetime, &c. Aoyama Moonromantic ¥2,500
MAY 24 Composium 2018: The Music of Unsuk Chin Tokyo Opera City, Hatsudai ¥3,000
MAY 24 Prep, Paellas Unit, Daikanyama ¥4,500
MAY 25 Jimmy Cliff Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥7,000
MAY 25 Parasol, Kensuke Ide with His Mothership, &c. 7th Floor, Shibuya ¥2,500
MAY 25 The Messthetics, &c. Fever, Shindaita ¥3,900
MAY 25 Naduve, You Forgot, Mustache X, &c. Solfa, Nakameguro ¥2,000 w/flyer
MAY 25 DJ Nobu/So, Wata Igarashi/Haruka, &c. Vent, Omotesando ¥2,500
MAY 26 Weekend Guitar Trio, Olli Hirvonen New Helsinki, &c. Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥4,000
MAY 26 KOM_I, Gotch, Dengaryu, Awich, Yellow Fang, &c. WWW/WWW X, Shibuya ¥TBC
MAY 26 Min, Fusigi, Miaou, Jackieee (DJ) Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
MAY 26 Jimmy Edgar, Atsu, Frankie $, &c. Circus Tokyo, Shibuya ¥3,000
MAY 26 Fiedel, Marcus L, Cleymoore, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
MAY 26 Henrik Schwarz, Toshiya Kawasaki, &c. Vent, Omotesando ¥2,500
MAY 27 ACT Trio (Ben Wendel/Harish Raghavan/Nate Wood) Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥5,000
MAY 27 Yasuaki Shimizu/Ray Kunimoto, Jun Morita, &c. Forestlimit, Hatagaya ¥2,800 door
MAY 27 Duellist, wk[es], Distra, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥1,500
MAY 28 K-Hand, Punkadelix, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥2,000
MAY 28 The Album Leaf WWW, Shibuya ¥6,000
MAY 29 The Bilinda Butchers, Lamp Tsutaya O-Nest, Shibuya ¥4,500
MAY 29 Sleep Party People Fever, Shindaita ¥4,800
MAY 29 Altered States Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,000
MAY 30 Astral Swans, Johnnivan, Chaild, The Pink Elephants Tsutaya O-Nest, Shibuya ¥2,000
MAY 30 Tim Dahl & Tatsuya Yoshida, Chosokkyo UFO Club, Higashi-Koenji ¥2,800

Prices are for advance tickets, unless otherwise stated

Tokyo Gigs, June 2018

JUN 1 Falsettos, Skillkills Fever, Shindaita ¥2,800
JUN 2 Akira Sakata/T. Mikawa/Kentaro Nakao Bar Ishee, Sendagi ¥500 plus tip
JUN 2 dip, Tawings Showboat, Koenji ¥3,500
JUN 2 Ceremony (US), Boys Age, The Taupe, &c. Forestlimit, Hatagaya ¥3,000
JUN 2 Anisakis, Publics, Compact Club, Demon Altar Soup, Ochiai ¥1,800
JUN 2 Bruce, Djrum, Akiram En, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUN 3 Aki Takase/Akira Sakata Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,500
JUN 3 Atsushi Tadokoro, Bluebefore, HydrKlank, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥1,500
JUN 3 Ceremony (US), Luby Sparks, Egw Eimi Club Que, Shimokitazawa ¥3,500
JUN 4 Metz Fever, Shindaita ¥4,500
JUN 4 Hair Stylistics, Keiichi Sokabe, Moodman (DJ), &c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥2,000
JUN 4 The Messthetics, &c. Tsutaya O-Nest, Shibuya ¥3,900
JUN 4 Frode Gjerstad Trio w/ Michiyo Yagi Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥4,000
JUN 5 Metz Fever, Shindaita ¥4,500
JUN 5 Frode Gjerstad Trio w/ Akira Sakata Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥4,000
JUN 7-8 Pinkshinyultrablast, &c. Tsutaya O-Nest, Shibuya ¥5,000
JUN 8 Hazy Montagne Mystique/Anette Zénith, Masahiro Takahashi, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
JUN 9 Gainsbourg Night: Tenma Matsunaga/Kei Okubo, &c. SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,500
JUN 9 Haruyuki Suzuki, Reizen, Maki Soup, Ochiai ¥1,500
JUN 9 Dive, KK Null, Sino Re-Build Projects, &c. Kagurane, Kagurazaka ¥TBC
JUN 9 Cio D'Or, Nao, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUN 11 Bonjintan (Sakata/O'Rourke/Di Domenico/Yamamoto) SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥2,800
JUN 11 Saburo Toyozumi/Mats Gustafsson Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,500
JUN 12 Shigeru Suzuki x Hidefumi Ino Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥5,400/¥6,900
JUN 12 Giant Claw, Seth Graham, Foodman, CVN, &c. WWW, Shibuya ¥2,500
JUN 13 Autechre, Andy Maddocks (DJ) Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥6,000
JUN 13 Kukangendai, Ramza, Yosuke Yukimatsu (DJ) WWW X, Shibuya ¥2,500
JUN 14 Yosuke Yamashita/Takahiro Tomatsu/Yuji Ueno Mameromantic, Daikanyama ¥4,000
JUN 15 Moses Sumney Shinagawa Gloria Chapel ¥4,900
JUN 15 John Raymond & Real Feels Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥5,000
JUN 16 Hajikiya, Compact Club, Anisakis Bonobo, Harajuku ¥1,500
JUN 16 Hernear, Soloist/Nemoto Jun, Noiseconcrete x 3chi5, &c. Soup, Ochiai ¥2,000
JUN 16 Tal Cohen, Yogg, Pharaoh, Wata Igarashi, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥3,000 w/flyer
JUN 17 Merzbow/Mats Gustafsson/Balázs Pándi, Atsuo (solo) SuperDeluxe, Roppongi ¥3,000
JUN 18 Suuns Fever, Shindaita ¥4,300
JUN 19 Andy Vaz, K, Okdtsk, Yumoto, &c. Contact, Shibuya ¥2,000
JUN 21 Tomasz Dabrowski Ad Hoc w/ Hiroshi Minami Pit Inn, Shinjuku ¥3,500
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 28 Goat Girl WWW, Shibuya ¥5,500
JUN 29 TOC Band feat. Keiichi Tomita, Melraw, &c. Club Quattro, Shibuya ¥5,000
JUN 30 Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO Club Goodman, Akihabara ¥3,000

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 3 Public Image Ltd. EX Theater Roppongi ¥9,000/¥10,000
JUL 6 Jan and Naomi, Wonk, Eye (DJ), &c. Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥3,000
JUL 7 Shonen Knife Fever, Shindaita ¥3,500
JUL 8 Envy, Mono Liquidroom, Ebisu ¥3,500
JUL 10 Dubforce Club Quattro, Shibuya ¥4,000
JUL 20 Jun Togawa Loft, Shinjuku ¥4,000
JUL 22 Computer Magic Circus Tokyo, Shibuya ¥5,400
JUL 24 Computer Magic WWW, Shibuya ¥5,400
JUL 26 Jon Hopkins WWW X, Shibuya ¥5,000
JUL 28-29 Soft Machine Billboard Live, Roppongi ¥8,000/¥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...