Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan is the blog of Simon Gibson, a New Zealander living in Tokyo, Japan. Focused on New Zealand, Japan, web design and other shiny things.
This is from Upstairs For Thinking, with the low down on the up coming highs (how was that for a mixed metaphor) of Pitch Black’s forthfrothing gig in Tokyo. I’m sure he wont mind…
FUSH & CHUPS
New Zealand music event, featuring electronic/dub unit Pitch Black plus Ben Kemp, NZ DJs, surprise kiwi guests, pick ‘n’ mix visuals and monster drinks from the land of the long white cloud.
GIG INFORMATION
Entry: 1,000 JPY. 6pm till the cows come home, May 16, STEREO @ Flower, 2F Roi Bldg, 5-5-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, e-mail: stereo@tigermusic.jp, web: www.stereojapan.com
ARTIST INFORMATION
Pitch Black is one of New Zealand’s leading electronic outfits. Impossible to pigeon-hole into a single audio category, Pitch Black is a combination of entrancing musical journeys created by Paddy Free and Michael Hodgson. Their sound is distinctive, ranging from organic layered soundscapes and skanking keyboards to razor-sharp acid riffs and thumping rhythmic grooves. For more on Pitch Black, see www.pitchblack.co.nz
Here is the second video for today - showcasing the Pearl Chorus Effects Pedal CH-02. Chorus pedals transform the sound by adding multiple layers giving off a kind of ghostlike sound reminiscent of 80’s gothic greats such The Cure’s Robert Smith. I added some photos from a trip we made to Sendai in the north of Japan a few years back to the video. Some of the signs are quite amusing if I may say so myself.
No longer manufactured, the Pearl Chorus CH-02 effects pedal was made in Japan and can produce a wide range of sounds, including Leslie Speaker and vibrato. It has strong fat sound from a vintage analogue circuit. This pedal has four knobs to control the speed, tone, depth and the amount of mixing between the sound of the instrument and the pedal. It makes some pretty crazy sounds, so could also function similar to a phaser.
I put up a couple more effects pedal videos on youtube. This is the first one for today, featuring the Boss T-Wah TW-1 effects pedal. I put in some random photos from Korla in Xinjiang to spice things up a bit. The sound quality isn’t great, but hopefully it gives you a chance to hear what the T-wah sounds like clean and with amp distortion.
The Boss T-Wah is not the normal type of pedal that one associates with the types of wah pedals made famous by the likes of Jimi Hendrix. As you can see from the video it is a stomp box so more correctly it acts as an envelope filter. It is the only Boss pedal with a toggle switch. This model was manufactured in Japan and is a third generation model. The Boss t-wah is great for psychedelic guitar sounds or Brit-pop style playing.
Freakdance is celebrating its fifth year in existence, and we’ve got some HOT STUFF back in our stock - Faerie Dragon Records from Hong Kong has licensed Puoskari’s “The Audio Hustler” album (cat.nr. FDCD04) exclusively and the album is now available again as a digipak CD.
This is part two of a series giving an example of various effects pedals. Like the first video, this was also recorded at First Avenue Studios in Yokohama, Japan. Kojiro played a Fernandes Stratocaster through a Marshall JCM-800 with of course the Pearl Thriller TH-20. This pedal was made in Japan during the 1980’s.
The video was made on my old mac with the imovie package.
Haven’t been posting much recently. Have been working on a webshop for AquaEffector. The site is a nice little mix of joomla and a shopping cart called virtuemart. Took a fair bit of tweaking to get it up and running, and I would say it is still in the epsilon stage if you think about things in terms of this brave new world.
You can have a poke around at www.aquaeffector.com. As always feedback will be appreciated. I will have a bit more time next week to tidy things up.
Here is a video of a Boss Spectrum SP-1 which is a rare effects pedal made in Japan. It has a very heavy rock sound.
Listening to Radio One (Dunedin / Aotearoa Radio Station) the other night and they had an interesting feature on Damo Suzuki. This is the first I had heard of Damo Suzuki and I liked what I heard. Damo Suzuki, born Kenji Suzuki in 1950, was busking in Munich when approached by 2 of the member of German krautrock legends Can. Asked to join the band, he ended up performing with them that evening. As lead singer for Can, Damo Suzuki went on to become a highly influential force in music. There is an interesting article “I am Damo Suzuki” by Craig Johnson at Spike Magazine that is well worth checking out, as well as a brief wikipedia article if you want to find out more about Damo Suzuki. Damo Suzuki also has a website: http://www.damosuzuki.de (English).
Damo Suzuki is currently on tour, or if I heard correctly, still on tour and has been on tour for 20 years. He is playing three gigs - Auckland tomorrow, Wellington the night after followed by what looks like the highlight - February 24th at Arc Cafe in Dunedin. I haven’t been to a show at Arc Cafe since 1995, but it is a great venue, and with people like Michael Morley, Robbie Yeats and Alistair Galbraith along with 21 other talented musicians from the Dunedin area jamming together it sounds like a night not to be missed.
Following the New Zealand leg of the tour, Damo Suzuki is bringing the Damo network to Japan for 7 gigs - three in Tokyo (March 1-3) followed by Osaka, on the 4th, back to Tokyo on the 8th and then off down to Fukuoka (March 9th), then back again to Tokyo, this time for a show in the back blocks of Tokyo at Kunitachi on the 10th. He home to Europe after that. Quite a full on schedule.
We are planning to check him out at Billy Barews Beer Bar in Aoyama on the third.
Listening to RDU this morning (afternoon New Zealand time) and they had an interview with Wellington group Ragamuffin Children. Ragamuffin Children seem to be new campers on the block, and they mentioned their myspace page, so I checked it out. Three tracks on there, and they sound quite deliciously haunting. A cross between Bjork and Portishead, with a dash of Dermania Lloyd thrown in for good measure.
From their profile:
About Ragamuffin Children
Anita and Brooke moved to Wellington with the intention of becoming pirates. But after realising it was quite fashionable at the time they decided that they would prefer to be SERIOUS musicians. So they pawned their wooden legs and eyepatches in for a fiddle and an electric piano. After many years singing seashanty’s and drinking whiskey, Anita has developed quite a lovely voice. Brookes many life threatening experiences at sea has given her an insight into lifes beautiful complexities which she now expresses through melodically written lyrics that flow like the tide… They currently reside in a pirate house overlooking Wellington Harbour where they write music, garden, hold teaparties, and occasionally go to University. In their spare time, Anita plays spider solitaire, and Brooke compulsively cuts up garlic. They have three house matey’s Claire, Aisling(the wonder dog), and Midget(the giant cat). Their music is a delightful blend of new folk with soulful melodies, that might possibly charm your socks off…(or bore you to tears-let us know which one!)
They are playing tonight at the Wunderbar in Lyttleton near Christchurch. Sounds like it is going to be a great gig. I wonder when they will make it to Tokyo or somewhere else in Japan. Would love to check them out live. The Wunderbar is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets, an energetic venue with a great vibe out in the harbour town of Lyttleton.
For a long time, RDU - the station I used to religiously listen to when I was a teenager and on into university didn’t have a web radio service. I guess they started a few months ago. Definitely worth checking out. You can listen to rdu online here.
DIGIPAK REISSUE NOW AVAILABLE!
Haven’t been posting much recently. Have been working on a webshop for AquaEffector. The site is a nice little mix of 
Listening to 
Listening to RDU this morning (afternoon New Zealand time) and they had an interview with Wellington group Ragamuffin Children. Ragamuffin Children seem to be new campers on the block, and they mentioned their 