Thursday, January 28, 2016

Live Picks: Weekend of January 29, 2016

Featured

Saturday


HERE IS MY NUMBER
Kichijoji's Young Soul Rebels shop put on yet another great event, with bands from indie to garage, including the always amazing Minnesota Voodoo Men, plus star DJs including yours truly! And best of all, it's all free!

Sunday


VICTOR VECTOR at Hatagay Heavy Sick with bands including Candy Ditches, girl garage punkers Mellvins, and deep soul from Winstons.

Wednesday


PSYCHOTIC YOUTH JAPANESE TOUR
The Swedish surf punkers finally come to Japan! First Tokyo show will feature Tokyo Deep/Got To Have Pop's Lars as DJ. Cowabunga!

Even more gigs!

Thursday


COME ON CHILDREN 


BURLESQUE RESTAURANT with The Tassels and guests

Friday


MYSTERY MEAT VOL. 34


NERVOUS FREAK

Saturday


ZERO ZERO UFO with Eddie Legend, Fadeaways, Bait Ones and more!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

New movie: Garage Rockin' Craze

For five years, documentary filmmaker Mario Cuzic has been documenting the Tokyo garage rock scene, in particular the Back From The Grave events. Here is the trailer for the upcoming movie!



Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Live Picks: Weekend of January 22, 2016

Featured: DJ events

If the pace of gigs gets to exhausting, or just plain too loud, DJ events are a nice way to enjoy music in a more relaxed atmosphere. While in Europe and the US you may be used to one or two DJs playing an entire night of background music at your local bar, in Tokyo, DJ events are more focused. They generally go on from around 19.30 to 23.00 and feature a range of guest DJs, who play short sets according to a strict time table. Some events carry a small charge (usually 1000 yen, which includes a drink of your choice). Often events are themed, around say powerpop, punk, rockabilly, indie, etc., while others are a grab-bag of music styles depending on the guests. In any case you are ensured to hear a lot of great music and if you're lucky, see some of the mind-bogglingly rare 45s owned by the city's most obsessive music collectors... 

Friday


Blast Jams vol. 9! at Heavy Sick in Hatagaya.
Vintage music for teenagers by DJs Sasai Toshio, BANGIE and Takuma with guests Ameku (Back From The Grave), Ayumi (Let's Hop!) and more!
Blast Jams Facebook page
Heavy Sick access map

Saturday



Backbeats Vol. 6. Hiroshi (Flashlights), Rie (Stompin' Riffraffs) and more at Bar Face! Bar Face is a classic mod bar near Shibuya Station, but is unfortunately closing soon. Take your chance to visit before it disappears!

Sunday


Hiroshi Sekiguchi and friends at Memphis Brothers in Shimokitazawa
Legendary DJ Hiroshi (owner of Frathop Records and author of the indispensable Garage Punk guidebook)  plays some of his favorite stompers with guests including Atsushi of r-n-r clothes purveyors Attractions in Harajuku.

Tuesday


Got To Have Pop fièrement presenté: Mon Amour Tokyo.
Tokyo Deep's very own Lars plus guest DJ Suzy Krueger and more spin Europe-inspired pop and beyond!

More gigs

Friday


Dan Hawkins (Australia) + Mellvins, Kummy at Poor Cow

Saturday



TENSION! Postpunk, post-hardcore, new wave, noise rock riot with the legendary Melt-Banana and more at Shibuya Milkyway!

Sunday


Help! We are pop lovers! at Koenji High with Pen Friend Club and more.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Live picks: Weekend of Friday, January 15, 2016

Back to normal!

We've been aways for a few weeks (not that the Tokyo gig scene paid any attention, it's been as crazy as usual). But now it is high time for normal operations to resume – here is this weekend's picks for gigs to go to (and generously, we start already on Thursday!)

Featured

Thursday


The lovely girl pop band The Pats Pats hold a an intimate event at Nanto Bar in Koenji, with food, drinks and music!

Saturday


Mods and sixties fashionistas of all kinds gather for DJs, live bands, scooter parade and much more! All-night event at Tokyo Kinema Club in Ugusudani.

Sunday


Powerpop fans get their fill at Hatagaya Heavy Sick with a selection of bands and friends frequenting the legendary rock bar Poor Cow in Shimokitazawa.

Even more gigs!


Friday


YOU ARE ALONE WHEN YOU ARE DANCING Vol.2
Alternative / Doom / Krautrock / etc... at Shibuya Ruby Room

Saturday



Green Union Records Presents 2016 New Year Show with the swinging sounds of Soulcrap, legendary surfers Jackie and the Cedrics, and more.


Indie with Petersfield, Britpop from Bitter Sweet Generation and much more at Waseda Zone-B!



//REFRESH// vol. 1 – bringing Tokyo based artists, musicians and music/art lovers together to share creative content. 

Sunday




The very finest Japanese shoegaze with Looprider and friends at Koenji DOM

Good old 50's rocking and rockabilly DJs at The Bash