Music

House music turns 25 this year. -kinda

Kaijuu — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 19:19:00 GMT

The track above is regarded as the mother of mainstream house music; the track that spawned the avalanche of dance and house tracks that has come over us in the past 25 years.
Love Can't Turn Around made it into the UK charts and paved the way for a whole new generation of producers and fans of the genre.

On drums again

Kaijuu — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:52:00 GMT

I won two tickets for tomorrow's premiere show of Taiko-group Yamato. Very curious of how it will be.
Probably loud. ;)

Cheers, K.

On drum sticks

Kaijuu — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

I went to see the new show of Osaka Dadadadan Tenko this Wednesday; Tentekomai. I've been to one of their shows a while ago and absolutely loved it.
So when I heard they would be playing at the Theaterhotel (the same location of Anime 2010, mind you), I ordered the tickets right away, therefore I've had tickets for this since June last year. :)

Again, it was a fun and cool show, where they show their prowess on the drums once again during a typically Japanese show with all the trims and dressings, including a performance of actor Isaya Mondori. Very nice.

Pictures were not allowed, but hopefully they are when they play in the Nieuwe Luxor, where I'll be seeing the show again next Monday to celebrate Niels' 37th birthday.
I bought a set of drum sticks and got them signed, and I'll need a new Suica. ;)

Cheers, K.

On white raps

Kaijuu — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:04:00 GMT

I'm not really one for rap music; what you hear on the radio basically sounds the same and bores me out of my skull.
I had one guilty pleasure; The Opposites' record "Broodje Warm Vlees" is something I turn the volume a bit higher for, if only for the hardcore bits.
You won't see me actually buying it, but when it passes on the radio, I won't turn it off. :)

Yesterday, I ran into something else worth seeing another time.
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are having a gargantuous hit with their ode to New York, and I was getting kind of sick of it.

Enter "The Colbert Report". Stephen Colbert had Alicia Keys in the studio the other day, which went like this.

Very nice, and very funny.

Cheers, K.

Enka versus Anime

Kaijuu — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:30:00 GMT

As some of you may know, the Japanese have a few musical events during New Year's Eve, one of them being Kohaku Uta Gassen. In this show, two teams compete against eachother by singing popular songs of the year, both traditional and modern.
This year, an alternate version of KUG is planned for New Year's by BS11; consisting of songs from anime!

I'm kind of in the middle about it; I like anime, but I reckon this will be a little too much for me. :)

Cheers, K.

Blast from the past: Genesis

Kaijuu — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:09:00 GMT

One of my favourite bands of all time is Genesis. Especially the Genesis from the Phil Collins-era floats my boat, which is one of the reasons I grabbed the opportunity to see the final tour back in 2007.
While I'm not very fond of Collins' solo records (well, save for In The Air Tonight; I'd LOVE to have a multi-track SACD-release of that song), the records Genesis made with him as the lead singer are just great.

I recently bought a couple of SACD re-releases of past Genesis albums, of which I like Invisible Touch the best.

First released in 1986, this album kind of marked the passage from the dark, slightly damp seventies they came from, and the more popular songs they were going to make later on.

The remixed versions of the 2007 re-release are very good, particularly Land of Confusion, Domino and Tonight Tonight Tonight. It's an absolute joy to just sit back and listen, and like having the band right here in your living room.
Today, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks are still members of Genesis, but the band's on a permanent hiatus, and given their age and with Phil Collins' back injuries and all, I doubt they will ever play again.
It's been wholesome; thanks guys.

Now, because of EMI's request, I'm unable of embedding a video, so I'll make do with this link to a song that could very well be a song describing today's madness if it wasn't for the '80's Spitting Image clip that accompanies it: Land of Confusion

Cheers, K.

BUMA/STEMRA finally lost their marbles

Kaijuu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:14:00 GMT

OK, this is insane. The Dutch copyright organisation BUMA/STEMRA has issued a new rule, stating that bloggers (whether they are operation on a commercial basis or not) will have to pay a fee when they embed something from YouTube, Viddler or something similar if that something contains music from an artist they represent.
The fee is 130 euro's (VAT excluded) a year, and in return, you are allowed to put 6 video's up on your blog. 12 Video's equals €260,- and so on.

First off, I wonder where this fee is based on: 130 isn't easily divided between 6, even if you take VAT into account. Secondly, I wonder how much longer they will be able to keep on being taken seriously; I know a couple of musicians who have been a member for some years, but have yet to receive anything from them.
They lost millions of euro's on the stock market; money that should have gone to their members, and now this.

They claim that embedding something (that's already freely available, by the way) is actually republishing it, and embedders are thus violating the law.
Bunch of idiots. :(
What's next; BUMA-people running around in the vicinity of concerts, making people buy a ticket because they are hearing parts of the performance? When I'm driving around with an open window while I'm playing a CD in my car, am I publishing music, all of a sudden? And if I do and I have to pay money, will the Japanese street band who made the CD get compensation for it?

Look, I don't mind paying for entertainment, and my extensive collection of media is proof of that. However, I DO mind paying, and paying and paying once again, and also paying for something that's already published and freely available.

I guess regular links will have to do if this makes it through...

Blast from the past: Propaganda

Kaijuu — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:25:00 GMT

With the 35 years I've been on this planet, the happening of thinking "damn, that was a long time ago" occurs more and more frequent, to a point where one starts to think "damn, I'm getting old".
I'm sure my mum has this even more so, but that's another matter. ;)

Anyway, my music collection grew over the past few decades to a point where you don't remember having a certain album until it floats to the surface again for some reason, like this one.

The synth-pop album A Secret Wish by German band Propaganda was the first and most successful album of the group, released in 1985. It spawned two singles ("Duel" and "P-Machinery") in addition to the earlier released "Dr. Mabuse", but that was basically it.
Propaganda got into an argument with record label ZTT and didn't really managed to get the sound that got them in the charts anymore once they got out of their contract.

I hate to say it, but my favourite tracks are "Duel" and "P-Machinery", and that's about it.
One track, "Jewel" is a re-take of Duel, where singer Claudia Brücken more or less shouts the lyrics instead of singing them. While that might be very eighties (Nina Hagen, anyone?), it doesn't do anything for me, nor did it then, which is why I skip it when I hear it.
"Duel" will keep on being a great song for driving though, as will "P-Machinery".

Cheers, K.

a-nation 2009 in Tokyo

Kaijuu — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:39:00 GMT

Yesterday was the second of the two Tokyo editions of a-nation 2009. For those of you not in the know; a-nation is a pop festival with performances of bands and artists signed at the Avex record label, so it's basically one big advertisement for Avex. :)

I arrived later than Niels and Michel, due to the fact that I wanted to stop in Osaka to arrange the lodgings for the rest of the group, but I didn't mind doing that for reasons I'll disclose later on.
After checking into the hotel Niels booked (bless him; he found a hotel within crawling distance from Ajinomoto Stadium, so we'd avoid having to negotiate through the packed trains and stations back to Tokyo. all that, and still at the reasonable rate of about €40 a night), I went to the stadium.
It was quite crowded, but because of the system used, I found the spot designated to me fairly easy, without having to plough through large numbers of people, like I have to when attending a festival back home.

Saw a lot of "produced" acts, enjoyed myself when Every Little Thing came up and was pleasantly surprised with TRF.
Ayumi Hamasaki's act was almost the same she did last year though, including a trip through the stadium on a raised platform in the shape of a boat, this time.

However, fair is fair, she did a few different songs compared to last year.
Since our seats were near the path of that platform, we could see everything quite clearly. :)

After the fireworks, we went back to the hotel to eat something and have some sleep.
Thank you Avex, it's been fun, but probably my last.

My first time attending this festival was in 2006, in Kobe. I liked it very much; the ambience was good, the artists a mixed bunch and food was cheap.
My second was last year in Nagoya, and yesterday was the third time, but most probably my last time as well.

Food is still cheap, ambience was OK, but as my taste in J-pop has been narrowed down to a few artists and bands, I have to say that a-nation has lost some of its magic; I'm only interested in two or three acts, which is why I arrived late to begin with. :)

Another big reason of my diminished interest is that middle men like JTB are nearly the only way us foreigners can obtain tickets for such festivals, and JTB has kind of screwed us over this year by letting us pay €155 for one tickets, which can be bought here at Family Mart for only 7800 yen (about €60 at current rates).

Now, I do realise that JTB needs to get those tickets through resellers as well, making those tickets more expensive than those initial 7800 yen, as the Tokyo and Osaka tickets are quite popular to begin with. However, their exchange rates are unrealistic (more like 100 yen = 1€, instead of say, €0.80), and given the fact that both the Tokyo and Osaka tickets were priced the same way, I can't help but feel we've been had.

And then there's the fact that we have to go just about halfway across the country to attend.
I specifically wanted to go to the August 23 festival because of Every Little Thing, but since we were staying in Hakata on that day, Michel and I had to travel nearly 1200km to Tokyo, which means taking the first train out of there or get a rather expensive flight, which Niels did.

Last year was pretty much the same, only that the trip was slightly shorter; only 800km from Hakata.
I'm kind of fed up with that; this is a holiday, a time for relaxation and doing fun things.

So that's what I'll do; fun things, and if that means giving a festival like that a pass, then so be it. :)
I'll reconsider when the festival is close by and the ticket vendor does not go out of its way to abuse its position.

Cheers, K.

Nirvana & Rick Astley mashup

Kaijuu — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:09:00 GMT

I ran into this on YouTube tonight; a brilliant mashup of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the infamous "Never Gonna Give You Up" by 80's pop icon Rick Astley.
Enjoy

Cheers, K.