Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan

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

A live sample from their gig at Liquidroom in Tokyo last year can be found here: www.pitchblack.co.nz/?s1=downloads

FUSH & CHUPS (日本語)
ニュージーランドの音楽イベント。エレクトロニック／ダブユニットPITCH BLACKやベン・ケンプ、ニュージーDJsのＰＬＡＹに加え
、サプライズゲストやスペシャル映像、ドリンクまで全てアロテアロアから！！

GIG INFORMATION
入場: 1,000 JPY, 18:00~, 2007年5月16日, 『STEREO @ Flower』東京都港区六本木5-5-1 ロアビル2F

e-mail: stereo@tigermusic.jp, URL: www.stereojapan.com

ARTIST INFORMATION
PITCH BLACKはPaddy Free と Michael Hodgsonによるユニットである。1997年の活動開始以降彼らは、ニュージーランドのダンスミュージック・シーンに多大なる貢献と多くの賞賛を得てきた。 彼らの創りだすサウンドは、ひとつのジャンルに囚われず、聴く者を壮大なサウンド・ジャーニーへと導いてゆく。オーガニックなアンビエンスから、アシッディなメロディ、重厚なリズムとビート、それらの要素をDUBサウンドが包み込む。ある評論家曰く、『リッチー・ホーティンがキング・タビーに出会った瞬間。またはテク二カラーに染まったリズムとサウンド』と評される。過去に３枚のアルバムを発表、特に2004年リリースの３rdアルバム『Ape to Angel』は、UKのDJ MAGAZINEのアルバム・オブ・ザ・マンスにノミネート、同誌で５ツ星を獲得。アメリカでのデビューも果たし、世界中で４５都市のライヴ・ツアーを敢行する。また彼らのライヴは、音に完全にシンクロするヴィジュアルが高い評価を受け『ニュージーランドのHexstatic』との異名を持つ。他にもファッション・ショーのサウンドや、昨年オスカー賞ノミネートの『Whale Rider』のサウンドを手掛け、UKのビッグ・チルにも過去３回出演するなどそのクオリティーは世界において実証済み。今回まさに待望の初来日＆ライブである。

PITCH BLACKについてもっとお知りになりたい方はこちらへ www.pitchblack.co.nz

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Almost forgot that it was ANZAC day yesterday. No Anzac biscuits here, but a pleasant day nonetheless. For those of you who don’t know ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp and is a public holiday in both Australia and New Zealand to both recognize and honour the achievements and sacrifices of both countries armed forces.

Japan of course does not celebrate such a day – one would imagine the geopolitical ramifications of doing so especially with regards to Japan’s Asian neighbours would be swift and very difficult to deal with. Personally I feel such things should be remembered, above all so that people do not forget the stupidity of politicians whose inability to find peaceful solutions to their problems causes such catastrophic loss of life to their constituents.

(The photos on this post were taken last year in Gallipoli, Turkey, site of a terrible campaign in World War 1 with a great many casualties, which for both New Zealand and Turkey – enemies at the time – served as a major event in creating the sense of national identity that both countries demonstrate today. Visit Turkey and you will be surprised to be greeted with cries of Kia Ora and G’dday mate.)

Thinking about this topic, one of course gets around to the occupation of Iraq. I wish I had a copy of T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom here in Japan with me. In that beautifully written work (be it fiction or non-fiction) he brings forth an idea that seems very pertinent to the topic of Iraq. Lawrence and the Arabs had a strategy based on the idea, that even if the Turkish forces were to have an outpost every 2 miles manned by 20 soldiers they would not be able to control the country if the Arabs were to adopt guerrilla like tactics and strike randomly.The only chance the Americans have of achieving peace in Iraq on their terms is through regime change – in America. The option is a withdrawal of the occupying forces. This would cause chaos, probably for 2 to 3 years before the power struggles ended. But it would be a faster solution than the current situation allows.

Today New Zealand soldiers, like their Australian, British and American comrades, are still involved in peacekeeping and other operations around the world including Afghanistan, Iraq and many other countries.

Wouldn’t it be great if they could come home tomorrow?

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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.

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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.

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I don’t normally write about computer games or video games for that matter. I am not really much of a games player. I used to enjoy UltimaIV on my Commodore 64 when I was a kid, and networked games of Red Alert when I was at University, but since I came to Japan I haven’t played much apart from a bit of Pokemon on a cute little yellow game boy a friend of mine gave me. I am not into anime either unlike a lot of Westerners living in Japan.

However, a friend of mine from New Zealand has been working on a game called GripShift for the PS3. And they just released the game for testing by Sony so I thought I would give it a plug here. The graphics look pretty cool, cartoonish and fun. For me a good game is like a good book. When you play, if the game is good enough you “suspend your disbelief”, that is, you forget that you are involved in the act of reading or playing. Hopefully next year I will get a chance to see if this is true for GripShift. You can read bitshifter’s post on the release of GripShift or go directly to the GripShift site.

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My hometown paper, The Press has an interesting story running this morning on increased cultural diversity in Christchurch and in New Zealand as a whole.

People who identify as being of Asian origin now make up 7.9% of census respondents in Christchurch up from 4.4% in 1996. This means that Asians now outnumber Maori in Christchurch by 0.3%.

These statistics raise again the debate of biculturalism and multiculturalism. This debate raises a number of issues concerning the power structures in a society, as they fall along racial lines. For example in New Zealand you have the case of the Maori who were colonised by the British – a bicultural relationship, legitimated by The Treaty of Waitangi on which the country as we know it was created. In recognising a multicultural state the efficacy of both parties in bicultural terms is diluted.

Personally, living in Japan, I don’t have much at stake in such discussions. What does interest me is how, in the case of the United States, a diverse group of nationalites were able to combine to create “the American people” – and whether this experience is even possible today.

Asians outnumber Maori in city

There are now more Asians than Maori living in Christchurch, according to new Census results.

Figures for the 2006 Census show that 26,631 people – or 7.9 per cent of total respondents in Christchurch city – identified themselves as Asian, up from 4.4% in 1996. [Read more]

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