this is my first blog post so I thought I'd start out with a report on the Next Music from Tokyo event that I attended last Friday at the Rivoli in Toronto. The Next Music from Tokyo mini-festival is an event created by a Toronto-based anesthesiologist who scouts out bands in Japan and then brings them over to Canada at great personal expense. The only criteria for his choices are that the acts resonate with him and deliver an exceptional live experience. These acts typically play musical styles that transcend national boundaries and bring powerful stage presences. Japanese bands are also known for female musicians having a much larger presence, compared to the more male-dominated North American indie rock scene. 2013 sees the fifth iteration of this event and the second that I've attended. Shows in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are scheduled for this year. Last year had several excellent acts: an enthusiastic all-girl klezmer group dressed up in sailor outfits, a two-man electro hip-hop act, an avant-garde hard rock group, and my favorite, a heavy but melodic Sonic Youth inspired group named Praha Depart.
After last year's experience, I was excited to see what this year would have to offer. I went into the show having done quite a bit less research than I usually would before a concert so that I could enjoy the experience without preconceptions. The Rivoli, which has a fairly small capacity, was already packed when we arrived.
The first band was Harafromhell, an energetic pop-punk band that reminded me of a female-fronted fusion of early Weezer and the Specials. Their level of enthusiasm was very high and their songs were catchy with strong melodies. They proved to be an excellent opener for the evening.
The second band was Kinoko Teikoku, who were my personal favourite of the night, as well as the audience's, judging by their response to the performance. They played a heavy variety of shoegaze which evoked impressions of Slowdive and Luna. They differentiated themselves from those acts through their level of intensity, attention to melody and powerful singing. The singer had a strong and distinctive voice and may possibly be a Japanese actress of some renown.
The third band was Chi-na, a classically-inclined pop group. As they had violin, double bass and a piano, I was expecting a subdued chamber pop act in the vein of Belle and Sebastian or Sufjan Stevens. This was partially the case but many of their songs were both enthusiastic and danceable. Their violinist had a particularly dynamic presence as she swayed back and forth aggressively and danced around while playing.
The final group was Mouse on the Keys, a percussive jazz group heavy on aggressive drums and piano. They had a unique and interesting sound but were overall the least engaging of the four acts due to their less accessible style of music and slightly-too-loud sound mixing. They did have an impressive visual presentation, playing in total darkness with stars and other cosmic phenomena projected behind them.
The show overall was very strong, comparable in quality and perhaps slightly superior to last year's edition. The crowd was very enthusiastic with a few people crowd surfing and a group of seemingly drunk guys heavily rocking out during the first two acts. All of the acts made an attempt to communicate with the English-speaking members of the audience, attempting to overcome the, at times, considerable language barriers as well as making a few comments in Japanese that the Japanese-speaking members of the audience generally found hilarious I felt that the sequencing of the event could have been better, since the night was front loaded with the two best acts. I did enjoy all four acts though. Next Music from Tokyo is a completely unique experience that I could not recommend more highly.
No comments:
Post a Comment