The Music of Shinjuku

Hey dudes. Last night was extremely awesome, and if you continue reading, I will explain why!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Radio Activity over the internet, chillin', doing some homework, whatever. Then, for some reason or another, I show Steve from Oregon the music that Miles and Chris were playin', and turns out Steve has a pretty cool taste in music as well. He tells me about this guy named Tatsuya Yoshida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsuya_Yoshida) that was going to be playing live in Shinjuku and asked if I was game. I was like YEAH DUDE LETS DO IT!

Now, fastword to last night. After getting out of class at 6PM ON A FRIDAY NIGHT, Steve and I hauled ass to Mukogaoka-Yuen. Actually, I lied, we didn't haul ass; we stopped at Family Mart and got a pint of Strong Zero and a corn dog, respectively. Now, before I continue, you might be asking yourself (what is Strong Zero?) My friend, Strong Zero is the drink of choice in Japan. Check it: you're with your homeboys, just chillin', walking around and see a combini, and everyone's like YO STRONG ZERO TIME? Here is a review of the drink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWlIgUiSp5o

So, we get to the train station, and then he and I, fearing taking these on the super-packed train, each down it like champs. After that, we headed towards Shinjuku!

Just to make things clear for people who have never been to Japan, Tokyo is pretty big. So big, in fact, that if you were to tell someone HEY I LIVE IN TOKYO, that wouldn't really mean much of anything. It would be like saying, "Hey, I'm from Nebraska!", "Cool, which city?", "Uhhh...I don't know, Nebraska?". Anyways, Shinjuku is one of the biggest wards in Tokyo, and Shinjuku station is, in terms of passengers, the busiest train station in the world. Here, you can check out what Shinjuku looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku,_Tokyo

So, a little less sober than when we entered the train, we left the station and started looking for this place. He knew the general direction of the place, knew it was between a McDonalds and a Combini, but other than that, we were just kind of following a road that looked like the one he saw on Google Maps. And we had about ten-fifteen minutes till the show started.

But, having faith in The Steve proved to be a good thing, because we found the building, went to the fifth floor, paid ¥2500 (about $25), and went into the floor. The place was pretty small, but for Steve, that made it all the better, because he was as excited as a ten-year old on Christmas morning. The place was not packed at all, either, probably around ten to fifteen people, including us.

The first guys came on. It was the smallest group of the acts that night, which was a singer, bass player, and drummer. This guy was freaking sweet; he started off singing (his melody was in the mixolydian mode), and this dude was unbelievably expressive, including contorting his face often and singing in a creepy voice. Then, after his first song, he pretty much went into singspiel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singspiel). The bass repeated it's phrases often (ala rap music), but the real textural changes were in the drum set and the singer. In fact, I remembered being pretty impressed with the use of the drum set not for being used to give just a beat, but to be used as an instrument to help paint a picture. These guys did about four to five songs, then were finished. I remembered thinking to myself, "Who the hell can follow after these three dudes?".

Then, the next group came on, and they were bigger. My memory is pretty shitty, but I believe it was a bass, two guitars, drums, and a singer. When their first song began, Steve and I were a little disappointing at first, because the song wasn't bad, but it seemed like these guys were more of a standard band. However, their next song was amazing. I feel like with these guys, it was hard to understand their music when they first played. Then, around half-way through the song, the music became less of something that I was listening to and more of something that penetrated my body, making me subconsciously move around not to the beat and music they were playing, but to my own interpretation of their music that started playing around in my head. This is how they were able to hook me in: around half way through the song is when the band finds the "sweet" part of the song they are playing. Then, they repeat, repeat, and repeat. The effect it had, at least on me, was reminiscent to listening to the music of Philip Glass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalist_music).

The third band was of a similar size, but the singer was a petite girl. She looked sweet, but never said a word on stage. Rather, it was the tall, scrawny bass player that was talking to the audience or staff about setting levels. The real noteworthy thing about this band was the vocals of this chick. Their first song started off with random synth-like noise, and the band started playing randomly to build up to the song. Then, we she started singing, it seemed like I was witnessing a soul being possessed by Lucifer himself. She was EVIL! And man, I have never seen anyone scream so melodically before in my life.

After their band ended, Tatsuya Yoshida came on, the guy Steve came here to see. By this time, the crowd here grew pretty big. In fact, it wasn't just Yoshida playing, but another drum set player as well. Basically, this set included two drum sets. I had never seen such energy in music making before in my life. These guys could be mind-blowingly musical with just drums. Their communication with each other was also interesting to hear. For some reasons or another, these two guys were on the same plane, and knew just how use their instruments to convey a story, emotions. It was sick. Twice, while they were playing, they got up off their drumsets, started hitting the other, and then sat down, fulling swapping battle-stations without missing a single beat or loss of energy. There were times where Yoshida would play the drums with one hand, and used the other to play some synth. The timing for this seemed perfect, and did not seem gimmicky at all. Also, there was a time where he started singing into the mic in his own made-up language, and just like the synth, the timing was natural and perfect. They played for a half-hour, and half-way through, they were sweating. I can't even begin to imagine how exhausting it would be to put all of your physical strength and mental focus into one thing, and funneling it together to make a unique piece of artistic expression. I feel nothing less than honored to have been there in person to witness that.

The last band was three chicks (ala Shonen Knife), and they were pretty sweet! After their set, they had to play three more songs for encores. They seemed to be pretty famous or something, because the crowd was yelling a lot of stuff at them when they finished, which I think were the names of songs that they wanted to hear. I don't remember too much of this band, because by this point, I was pretty tired from standing and having my mind constantly be blown. Dare I say, I grew a bit jaded with exhaustion?

Also, we became sober, so Steve and I set out to change that! We left the building, but took a wrong turn and accidentally went into the red light district. Now, Steve and Justin had a pretty bad experience here a couple of weeks ago, and they were right: Shinjuku gets pretty creepy at night. There were all these guys in suits on the streets, accosting tourist-looking people for "free pussy, free pussy". Could they have been Yakuza? Maybe. So, Steve and I went into a Family Mart, got some drinks, and got out of there pretty fast (mostly at my digression).

Night was really good after that. Steve and I talked a lot about stuff, I got to walk around one of the biggest cities in the world, and afterwards, managed to make it safely back to the dorms with him where I fell asleep on a desk for a bit.

I really enjoyed seeing the music scene in Tokyo. It was nights like those that remind me why I came here in the first place. Before I finish, I would also just like to give a shout out to Radio Activity. Thanks for the chill music, guys!

Timmeh