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what's new in japan?


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Guest bugbread

Uh...what about it?

 

By the way, if you wanna know why kind of stuff is playing in Japan, THE site to go to is www.solstice23.com...But since you probably can't read Japanese, I'll give you the direct link to the Parties page (mostly English):

 

http://solstice23.com/events/events.html

 

7 different psy parties on May 25th alone!

 

And UbarTmar's new album also comes out on the 25th. One hour long, 89 tracks, based on the Golden Mean. Probably very much in the style of True or his recent live sets: complex, polyrhythmic minimal.

 

NP: Blind Idiot God - Wise Man Dub

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Guest Deep Kick

russ & bugbread

 

hey guys, im goin back to japan on 24th.

one more final to go!!!

 

im thinkin to go see THE DELTA on June 21st in Osaka if I can afford.

also Xenomorph on June 28th? 29th? in Yokohama.

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Guest Deep Kick

bugbread

 

till August, 21th.

i will be so busy this summer thou...

finding a job...im graduatin in Dec and comin back to Japan so.....

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Guest russ

hey guys!

don't worry bugbread, that brand of "minimal" is not for me either. i like son kite "minimal" but this new kuro stuff sounds like the soundtrack for a headache, for the speed freaks only methinks...

and welcome back, deep kick! here till the 21st are you? perfect timing, after you hit the solstice big bash, you can take a dive into the underground and check out The Labyrinth, a 24-hour outdoor event i am organizing august 3-4...will provide more details soon...the only secret i will give away is that you will hear, in my mind, the nicest, most advanced PA speakers in the world...they make sound hurt in a whole new way:)

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Guest russ

p.s. bugbread, no i missed the tromesa party. did you go, and if so, what did you think of the whole affair? very curious to hear...

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Guest Deep Kick

russ are you a member of new world or what? I missed last year coz it held in Spetember and I had to go back to the states. Im not goin to solstice but probably goin to the labyrinth I think.

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Guest bugbread

Nah, I didn't go to Tromesa because I went to System F instead...my harcore goa friends will never forgive me for that ^_^. But System F was a hellofa lot of fun, and the people who went to Tromesa said it was also great. Very cerebral.

 

So keep me informed on the Labyrinth gig.

 

BTW, who's coming to Solstice this year? Last year the location really really disappointed me but Shpongle was great, so it all comes down to the artists, not the place, I guess.

 

Anoyo is...hmm...tough question. Kinda minimalish, but not "hard". And they throw my favorite parties. If you're coming to Japan, try to go to an Anoyo show, they're somehow quite different from your ordinary goa show (or, at least, the one I went to was and my friends have described other Anoyo shows similarly). Probably Russ could tell you more about Anoyo's sound, though.

 

Speaking of which: Anoyo next week! Whee!!

 

NP: Goblin - Suspiria

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Guest russ

hi deep kick, no i am not a part of New World. my party crew is Mindgames. for last year's Labyrinth, i asked New World to provide support, which they kindly did in the way of staff and parking, but this year's party is just us.

 

about anoyono, they are an interesting crew, much more visual-oriented than music-oriented, i think. the visuals are where their interest really lies, so they tend to have spectacular locations and deco, but their music doesn't do anything for me. don't know how to describe it...mostly local acts...almost no "trance"...lots of live instruments and very eclectic...some tribal...some experiemental noise...some rock...some good some not so good...and lots of unfocused randomness. they are of that "art graduate school" hipper and cooler than thou vibe, extremely arrogant "artistes"...even threatened a friend of mine a few years...told him if he helped out another organizer do a party on an island where they did a party in the past, that he would never work as staff for any organizer in japan again! what black-balling bullshit! he now works for me, though:) you wouldn't believe the trance "politics" in japan...amazingly childish...i think only greece and israel have a similiar "poltical" culture in the trance scene...

 

about solstice, don't know who's coming this year, but if you look at last year's flyer, my guess is at least 75% of the same acts, plus anyone who played or released for them this year, so maybe biotonic and yumade will be the additions. as for their "big act" it's hard to top a shpongle world premiere, but my guess is that they might try to get a Younger Brother "world premier live" with simon and benji, but that is just a guess...haven't heard anything. having said that, if i go, the only reason will be to pass out flyers...i can only take a formula so many times...and if i see that childish fucking balloon flying above the stage again, i might have to wip out a bb gun and remedy the problem:) and don't get me started on those infantile "light warriors"!

 

and bugbread, why were you dissappointed in the location last year? i thought it was infinitely better than the fuji location the previous year. the previous year's dance floor was covered in stones and on an incline and there wasn't any space to sit down. last year's was huge and flat and grassy with a nice lake and a beautiful view of fuji. it's hard to beat a location like that in japan. if i had more money, i would love to do a party there. you have no idea how difficult it is to find a spot with a flat floor that is amenable to a party and where sound restrictions don't apply. finding our location this year gave me more than a few heart attacks. sound is the biggest problem. i think some of the larger organizers have so much clout behind them that they can pay the "right people" and ensure that nothing happens, but for everyone else, sound and the locals is a serious consideration when choosing a venue.

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Guest Deep Kick

about anoyo i agree with russ they are more "live"-"rock"-"jam" oriented. not REAL trance for me. also they dont have many trance artists now. it doesnt attract me either. im not lookin for jam and rock at a trance party thou i like jam and rock. about childish behaivor...yeah....japan has that unfortunately......even VQ does (did?). about solstice festival i also agree with russ. 75-85% of the same act and will bring some simons projects such as younger brother or something. about location i liked the last one much better than the one in 2000. but it wasnt a party i was lookin for...hard to explain...i was not goin to but i did for some reason i spent only abou 2 hous at the main stage except shpongle live for 2 nights and 3 days......lol

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Guest bugbread

I try not to concern myself with the evil deeds behind the scenes anymore. I used to think about it a lot, but it just depressed me when I thought about which organizer was hiring organized crime to start trouble at other organizers' shows, and who was backstabbing who, etc. In the end I'd be surrounded by great acts but not be able to go to any because of it. Lemme tell all you people where the scenes are small: nothing breaks up "shantiness" more than money.

 

As for Anoyo being more into rock/jam oriented: honestly, that's one reason why I loved the show, and why I'm looking forward to the next. It's a lot more eclectic than the stuff at, let's say, Solstice, and there's more variety because of that. Also, though Anoyo may be really protective of their locations, they don't seem to be that big into getting the massive audiences. I actually like that they use mostly Japanese talent...Keeps the kogal away and keeps the prices and crowds from going batshit huge.

 

Also, I like the strong visual approach. I was getting tired of the whole "Solstice Balloon and Wire Artwork", "Zigzagging string art", "Deco by Brahman!", "Light Warriors" thing, and the show I went to was the one at Hantenchi in Gifu (jawdropping location). They mey be artschool snobs, but if you can't see behind the scenes, it just looks like they are artists. Once again, I've only been to one of their shows, but I really liked the ambiance and the fact that they didn't play any high power music at night, just ambient.

 

Out of curiosity, did either of you go to Hotakayama last year? BESIDES the rain, bad traffic, bad organization, etc., what did you think? I really liked the lineup...Lots of different types of music. I really want to go to a show with Rovo live, too, and it seems if anyone hosts them, it'll be Equinox (RIP?) or Anoyo.

 

As for the Solstice location last year...Well, the tents, mainly. The one in 2000, I camped in the woods near the stage, and was surrounded by trees and little trails and it had a very "woodland forest" feel. Last year the tent area was just tents, tents, tents. Plain and ugly. The scenery was just...ugh. Of course, my group camped WAY in the back, in the forest area ^_^

 

Hmmm...If Solstice is the same lineup, I dunno if I'll go...Last year I had a BLAST at Solstice, but for me Solstice was Shpongle, shpongle, raja ram, and shpongle. I don't remember a single other artist. Didn't care about any of them before I went, and didn't care after it was done. Still, since I like Shpongle as much as Strumpling does, it was enough for me. My friend bitched about them using DAT, but for me, just being able to hear continuous Shpongle outdoors on a big sound rig was enough: they could have put a CD on the player and left the stage, for all I cared. ^_^

 

Huh...I gotta meet up with y'all some time. Let me know which parties you'll be at...The next one that's in my calendar is Benza and Mr. Peculiar next month, but I'm sure more will come in in the middle.

 

NP: Yojalka, NBR, Sonic Sufi, Der Spyra (long post!!)

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Guest russ

i didn't mean to take anything away from anoyono, i think visually they are fantastically talented, and maybe they have done the right thing by steering away from trance, its certainly kept things at a more relaxed and real level. the problem is more me, in that i don't really like live jamming music that much...oh well...still many years left to expand my horizons. would love to see what kind of venue they found this year. and about the 2000 solstice location, yeah i forgot about the camping...i didn't like the 2000 dance floor, but i loved the camp area. my friends and i had a bungalow by a stream and had a great time just chillin around there...almost forgot about that:)

next parties...hmmm...don't really go to any indoor parties...but if you see some american guy passing out flyers after a party for The Labyrinth, that would be me, so say hi!

and bugbread, give us a report about the anoyo party next week!

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Guest Deep Kick

bugbread!! im not sayin I hate anoyo. I liked their parties a lot a few years ago. also i like their artwork very much. youve ever been to anoyo shop in shibuya? they sell prety cool items. about solstice yeah you are right.....camping place in 2000 it was surrounded by trees and that was beautiful indeed. and i didnt go to hotaka last year cos i wasnt interested in the line up at all. i like jam and rock band(i play the guitar) but if i wanna see jam or rock i rather like to go to jam or rock live. i mean....dancing into trance for 2hours and jam is started to play....it get me outta TRANCE....sorry cant explain well. but i think you understand that. see you in Japan bugbread.

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Guest bugbread

Ok, sorry, looks like I misread you guys a bit...

 

As for Solstice 2000...Yeah, I forgot the dance floor actually. Rocky as hell. Luckily, I was on paper for the first time in a long while, and my dancing gets really minimal then (I don't move my feet much on paper), so it didn't bother me, but I remember when I first got there thinking, "What the hell?!"

 

As for the jam stuff: Agreed. Having it go psy -> jam really throws me off, but the other direction I enjoy (i.e. the night starts with jam stuff, then progresses into more and more electronic stuff.) If the transition is sudden, it can really screw me up, but I remember the shift at Hotakayama from Jam to Psy went really well...The daytime bands were pure acoustic things, then some band (Snog?) that played basically industrial came on, which I didn't enjoy too much but it was an ideal bridge, going "acoustic, real instruments" to "electronic, mostly real instruments, some synths" to "electronic, synths". I guess that is all in the execution.

 

And if jam doesn't float your boat, well, then that kinda party sucks. Personally I'm into the whole "bands around the edge of psy" stuff (Rovo, etc.), so it's like a candystore for me.

 

I agree that I'm not too impressed by Anoyo's CD's, though.

 

As for next week: report will be coming. Plan on taking lots of pics with the digital camera (Oh, if only I owned it for last year's Hantenchi!). If anybody knows a free host where I can offiste link pics, please let me know, so I can put them inline here. Or maybe I'll try to write up an "official" party report...Nah, I really suck at those, because I don't necessarily listen to every act, and tend to wander off, so it would be full of gaps.

 

As for the Anoyo shop: yep, been there, and it's OK, but I prefer Frank Zakka. Actually, I live maybe 5 minutes away on foot from there, so it's my backyard.

 

By the way, Deep Kick, what's your first name? (I hope your parents didn't name you "Deep", or I'd be might embarassed)

 

NP: Cornelius - 69/96

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Guest bugbread

Hmm...For some reason the default setting when I type in Psynews for my email is "Parhelion"...What the heck? What is parhelion? Anyway, I forget to manually correct it a lot, but my email is:

 

bug@bugbread.com

 

Easy to remember, eh?

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Guest russ

just saw the solstice line-up. my 75% guess was a bit of. seems closer to 90% repeats. basically last year minus shpongle, plus rektum and the fanzi. how very original:)

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