After hearing about this event from a friend of mine, I decided to check out the Myspace account dedicated to the tour itself, as opposed to each individual band. Listening to the samples on the web page offered an enticing glimpse as to what each band would perform on the night of the gig. All three bands:
Sonic Dragolgo,
Bespa Kumamero and
tokyo pinsalocks are electronic bands with different influences and images, but they all possess an intensity in their performance that leaves you unwilling to look elsewhere.
The Magnet itself is a small venue (An American style bar with a downstairs area for gigs), but the dimly lit atmosphere seemed well suited for this small gathering of curious people. After all, a trio of Japanese electronic bands performing is not an event that occurs very often in Liverpool!
The first act of the night was
Sonic Dragolgo who has toured with the likes of
POLYSICS and UK based acts
Yumi Yumi and
Mika Bomb. Being the only solo act of the night
Sonic Dragolgo engaged the audience in small talk while he checked that his equipment was set up correctly for his set, introducing himself and telling us that he had lived in London for four years and apologizing for his English. Attached to his microphone stand was a Bob the Builder toy which aided in playing the guitar during one of his songs.
Sonic Dragolgo's music itself is a mixture of distorted vocals, synth, and guitar that he plays with a seemingly distracted expression; gazing at something that no one else can see. Dressed in a formal suit,
Sonic Dragolgo both entertained and performed with songs taken from all of his UK releases. Despite having some trouble with the sound equipment at the venue, this charismatic man displayed a vast amount of talent in both his guitar playing and skill in blending electronic effects to create a truly individual sound.
It is not only
Sonic Dragolgo's backing tracks that make his music individual however, it is also the use of somewhat bizarre lyrics that helps to push him into his own brand of electronica. With such lines as: "
Dr. Simpson works in a hospital. Tough and cool and very humorous", one can only begin to question what his key inspirations might be.
With the end of
Sonic Dragolgo's last song for the evening, a tribute to
POLYSICS (
BLACK OUT FALL OUT), the audience gave him a thorough round-of applause as he departed. All in all
Sonic Dragolgo's music and comical talents had impressed and had been appreciated. With his quirky personality and individual approach to music, this man is definitely someone that you should look into if you love
POLYSICS.
Bespa Kumamero formed in 2001, creating a musical style that blends electro-pop, digital rock and techno, with a visual style of a futuristic invasion. The duo consists of vocalist
Azumi Kuwadate and sound-designer
Monkichi Irikura, who had opted to wear a combination of electric pink and black clothing for their performance, which blended perfectly with the pair's bleached blonde hair.
Introducing themselves in stilted English,
Bespa Kumamero took their positions on stage and proceeded to give the audience both an energetic and visual performance. Any nerves that the duo may have had when first introducing themselves to an International audience was rapidly dispelled as both
Azumi and
Monkichi threw themselves into making their set one of the most memorable that I have ever been witness too.
Although
Bespa Kumamero's music itself was constructed of layered effects over a backing track, it was
Azumi's voice that took the band’s efforts onto a new level. With a hauntingly beautiful voice, this young lady sang with power and clarity despite the pair’s energetic antics throughout their time onstage.
Bespa Kumamero's appeal not only lies in their music, but in their visual performance, which was displayed by the musicians' frequent bouts of jumping around on stage, dancing around one another and the presence of hand-held fans with which
Azumi displayed a geisha-esque dance routine during one of the acts' instrumental pieces. It was, however, during their song
Totem Pole that
Monkichi leapt from the stage and allowed
Azumi to climb astride his shoulders and proceed to walk through the crowd whilst still performing. It was a spectacle like nothing I had ever seen before, seeing two musicians' confident enough to integrate a routine into their performance to entertain the audience even further.
Bespa Kumamero are definitely a band that one should follow if merely for their energy and positive vibe. Their music is of a purely individual vein, but if you are interested in hearing some more futuristic sounds incorporated into the music industry, I can only recommend this band as being your ideal choice!
Tokyo pinsalocks were the third and final act for the night. Hailing from Tokyo where the band was created at the turn of the millennium,
tokyo pinsalocks is an all-girl group consisting of
Naoko on vocals and keyboard,
Hisayo on bass and backing vocals and
Reiko on drums and programming. Rejecting the use of guitars in their music, this band relies heavily on precise drumming, thrumming bass, the use of a keyboard and
Naokos colourful vocals to create a retro, new-wave sound.
Greeting the audience with wide smiles and a brief introduction, these three women took the stage and brought the audience back into a more relaxed atmosphere with their retro sound.
Tokyo pinsalocks' music is of variety that leaves you feeling distinctly cheerful, and makes you want to dance around in accordance with it's deeply resounding bass, almost twinkling drum sound and distorted vocals.
Naoko was an incredibly cheerful woman with a fantastic energy onstage, her ability to juggle vocals, communicating with the audience and playing the keyboard, as well as leaping around during some songs, proved that she had a truly remarkable stage presence. Once
Naoko began singing in her slightly high voice that accompanied the music perfectly, you were entranced by the confidence that she emitted, despite this being the band's first time in England.
Hisayo was one of the best female bass players that I had seen in a long time, plucking at the strings with an intense look of concentration on her face, to create deeply resounding notes that play an integral part to the
tokyo pinsalocks music.
Reiko was a highly energetic drummer who played most of the gig with a smile on her face. The style of playing that
Reiko adopts lends an almost ethereal atmosphere to the music with an almost twinkling edge that it brings to their compositions as a whole.
If you are an avid listener of such bands/artists as
Kraftwerk and
Björk (whom the band draws influence from) then I would suggest that you give
tokyo pinsalocks a listen!
To find out more about these bands, please check out their MySpace profiles:
Sonic Dragolgo
Bespa Kumamero
Tokyo Pinsalocks
JaME would like to thank It Came From Japan.
