Tententen: Satan (December 21st, 2014)

Tententen celebrates the Longest Night with a Christmastime audio-visual exorcism. Pile all the year's greed, hate and evil onto our pyre and burn it away in a raucous celebration of beauty and joy!


Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date: 12/21 (Sun)
Time: 8:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Compact Club
- Tropical Death Metal
DJs:
- Ralouf (Lo-shi)
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ian Martin
Expo:
- The Holy Hole

Fashion Crisis (December 2014)

The final Fashion Crisis of 2014 features a special collaborative live performance between Xiroh from psychedelic kraut-blues band Buddy Girl and Mechanic, Danish folk singer Katrine Christensen and Indian dance performer Numanta. We also welcome back Cleveland's own Carl Freire as guest DJ as Fashion Crisis sees out its year in a mixture of style, charisma and hair.

Place: Koenji One
Date: December 5th (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
LIVE:
- Kat + Xiroh with Dancer Numanta
DJs:
- Carl Freire
- Malamura
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

Tententen: Peau de zébu (November 16th, 2014)

Tententen welcomes back Lo-shi once again for a night of space-drone and phallic night terrors, featuring live guest Ultrafog and DJ guest Evil Penguin with his steel wheels of ancient magic.

Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date: 11/16 (Sun)
Time: 8:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Lo-shi
- Ultrafog
DJs:
- Evil Penguin
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ian Martin
Expo:
- Peau de balle

Fashion Crisis (November 2014)

Baby, it's cold outside... but it's going to be hot, hot, hot in Koenji One for November's edition of Fashion Crisis, featuring jet setting guest DJs Mark Cummins from Dublin and Fumie, back in Japan from her regular haunts in London, as well as funky musical encyclopaedia Wizz Jones returning to grace the decks once more.

Place: Koenji One
Date: November 7th (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
DJs:
- Mark Cummins (White Collar Boy)
- Wizz Jones
- Fumie (Bang The Noise)
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

Tententen: Mégalithisme (October 18th, 2014)

October's Tententen explores the monoliths, megaliths and henges of empires past and present through the contrasting electronic-industrial claustrophobia of LIF (solo work by Soh from Hysteric Picnic) and rural psychedelic drone of Under. Guest DJ is Sue from Rhyming Slang, while the Pink Lodge this month features art by Ada Flores-Vidal.



Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date: 10/19 (Sun)
Time: 8:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- LIF
- Under
DJs:
- Sue (Rhyming Slang)
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ian Martin
Expo:
- Ada Flores-Vidal

Fashion Crisis (October 2014)

Regular Fashion Crisis DJ James Hadfield is off to the mother country this Friday, but there'll still be no shortage of musical goodies for you to enjoy. Guest DJs this time round are DJP (from The Mornings), long-term friend of the event Ayaco, and Battle Princess (from Tacobonds).

Place: Koenji One
Date: October 3rd (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
DJs:
- DJP (The Mornings)
- Ayaco
- Battle Princess (TACOBONDS/transkam)
- Ian Martin

Koenji vs. Kyushu Pop Festival -- 10 FUCKING YEARS!!!! (September 27th, 2014)

My first event in Japan was exactly 10 years ago on September 27th 2004, so on the anniversary, I'm celebrating this landmark with old and new friends from my home in Tokyo and my home-away-from-home in Kyushu in this sure-to-be-legendary postpunk/new wave/alternative festival.

Place: Higashi-Koenji 20000V
Date: 9/27 (Sat)
Time: 3:00pm
Cost: ¥2000 adv / ¥2500 door (+1 drink)
Live:
- 百蚊/Hyacca（Fukuoka）
- JEBIOTTO（Tokyo）
- 経立/futtachi（Kagoshima）
- ウサギスパイラルアー/Usagi Spiral A（Tokyo）
- Miu Mau（Fukuoka/Takamatsu)
- Tropical Death Metal（Tokyo）
- 泣き顔ツインテール/Nakigao Twintail（Saga）
- Voided By Geysers（Tokyo）
- マクマナマン/macmanaman（Fukuoka）
- MIR（Tokyo）
DJs:
- James Hadfield
- 3TE1

TIMETABLE:

3:00 Open

3:20-3:35 Voided By Geysers

3:45-4:05 Tropical Death Metal

4:20-4:45 Miu Mau

5:00-5:25 ウサギスパイラルアー / Usagi Spiral A

5:40-6:05 Mir

6:20-6:45 マクマナマン / Macmanaman

7:00-7:25 経立 / Futtachi

7:40-8:05 泣き顔 / ツインテールNakigao Twintail

8:20-8:45 Jebiotto

9:00-9:30 百蚊 / Hyacca

Fashion Crisis (September 2014)

The end of summer is only the beginning of a new typhoon season, and whipping up a mighty wind at September's Fashion Crisis, we're proud to invite back on decks Yutaka Kogami and orange sonic architect Romantic Harp and Flute with Dolphins, while offbeat hip hop duo Y.I.M. will be blowing the house down live.



Place: Koenji One
Date: September 5th (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
LIVE:
- Y.I.M.
DJs:
- Romantic Harp and Flute with Dolphins
- Yutaka Kogami
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

NEW RELEASE! Jebiotto: Love Song Duet

Call And Response Records' second new release of the day comes from synth-punk trio Jebiotto. The mini-album Love Song Duet comes out just as the band are coming off the back of a U.S. East Coast tour and showcases the central friction between the group's punk instincts and their love of pop. I've described them variously as "three punks who set out to be an 80s stadium band but got lost somewhere between Dan Deacon and Sonic Youth," "like Bon Jovi wrapped in tin foil, falling down some stairs," and "like TM Network in a washing machine with some rocks" so you might be able to see a theme emerging there of big, bold 80s sounds that the band can't help but sabotage.

Love Song Duet (CAR-76)

1. Sequential TomTomCats

2. LOVE SONG DUET

3. Pa Pa Pa Emotion

4. Start Today

5. AxNxC

6. We can dAnce

7. DEACON PUNK

ON SALE NOW!

Call And Response Records

Bridge

Disk Union

Tower Records

HMV

NEW RELEASE! 経立 / Futtachi: Tane to Zenra (CAR-74)

Those who bought Call And Response's 2012 Dancing After 1AM compilation might remember Futtachi as the new project that Zibanchinka vocalist Iguz Souseki had just started. More recently, they made an appearance on our free Valentine's Day download where 21 bands covered Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Those brief glimpses of the band showed a bunch of musicians with a taste for psychedelia, but Tane to Zenra goes way further. The album is a single 30-minute track, composed of washes of kosmische sound held together by a throbbing, almost industrial rhythm. Futtachi have toured in Kyushu with Bo Ningen, but on the evidence of this, they're now taking psychedelia to deeper, more abstract extremes. We're putting out the album in collaboration with the band's own Baku no Yume Records label.

Tane to Zenra (CAR-74)

1. 過去を想う者が見た夢 / Kako wo Omou-mono ga Mita Yume

ON SALE NOW!

Call And Response Records

Bridge

Tower Records

Disk Union

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Tententen: il a un an (August 9th, 2014)

Nous avons un an! Due to schedule issues, we're holding this month's Tententen (our first anniversary event!) on Saturday the 9th of August rather than our usual 3rd Sunday timetable, but please come along anyway. Joining us live are Troglobytes and Steel Music, while Gotal, Ralouf and Ian will all be DJing.

Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date: 8/9 (Sat)
Time: 8:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Troglobytes
- steel music (zoo tapes)
DJs:
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ralouf (Lo-shi)
- Ian Martin
Expo:
- Lignon

Jebiotto: Drunk and Confused

In advance of the release of Jebiotto's new Love Song Duet (CAR-76) album, they worked with longtime Call And Response visual collaborator Matt Schley and indiscriminately skilled talent-about-town Ryotaro Aoki to make this short documentary introducing the band, featuring live footage from legendary Koenji live house 20000V (Ni-man Den-atsu).

Fashion Crisis (August 2014)

It's the first Friday of the month, so that means our monthly DJ lounge Fashion Crisis is on tonight at our usual haunts of Koenji One. Joining us for our August edition are special UK Guest Simon Fowler (NOT the guy from Ocean Colour Scene, thankfully) and friend of the event DJ Rally of the bands Han Han Art and soon-to-be-legendary Tropical Deathmetal.

Place: Koenji One
Date: August 1st (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
DJs:
- Simon Fowler (UK)
- Rally (Han Han Art / Tropical Deathmetal)
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

New releases from Call And Response this August + Jebiotto U.S. Tour news!

Coming out this month simultaneously on August 13th are two new albums by bands who debuted on the label as part of 2012's Dancing After 1AM compilation album.

First up is Jebiotto's Love Song Duet (CAR-76), the Tokyo synth-punk band's second mini-album and first with Call And Response. Jebiotto are currently just about to kick off a short U.S. East Coast tour with American mates Warm & Comfy.

Our second new release is Kagoshima psychedelic supergroup Futtachi's Tane to Zenra (CAR-74). Vocalist Iguz Souseki's previous band Zibanchinka released their album Hatsubai Chushi through Call And Response in 2011, racing through 15 tracks in a breakneck 28 minutes. Tane to Zenra, which we're releasing in co-operation with the band's own Baku no Yume Records, features a single track over a more stately 30 minutes.

Both Jebiotto and Futtachi will be appearing at our annual anniversary event at Higashi Koenji 20000V/Ni-man Den-atsu on Saturday September 27th, along with a huge cast of other bands from Tokyo and Kyushu. More details on that to follow.




Lastly, here are the details for Jebiotto's East Coast tour (listed below):

August 2nd (Sat)
Washington DC @ Bathtub Republic (day show - part of "In It Together Fest")
Baltimore, MD @ The Crown (night show)

August 3rd (Sun)
Annapolis, MD @ The Metropolitan

August 4th (Mon)
Asbury Park, NJ @ The Wonder Bar

August 5th (Tue)
Astoria, NY @ Shillelagh Tavern

August 6th (Wed)
Newark, DE @ Blue Door (house show)

August 7th (Thu)
Baltimore, MD @ Club K

HOT FREAKS (July 12th, 2014)

Call And Response Records is having a small party this weekend on the occasion of my (Ian's) birthday. Live music comes from Suginami Ward's finest Guided By Voices covers band Voided By Geysers, with indie/spacerock pals Servals, stoner/doom megaliths Human Wife, and Zibanchinka guitarist Maitake's new garage rock duo Count 8. Live music finishes at 10pm, but there'll be DJs playing all evening.

Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date: July 12th (Sat)
Time: 7:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+drink
Live:
- Voided By Geysers
- Servals
- Human Wife
- Count 8
DJ:
- Grant McGaheran

Tententen: Baku (June 15th, 2014)

June's Tententen sees the return of event hosts Lo-shi, who will be celebrating the digital release of their new album, Baku. They will be joined by noise-pop duo Slow-Marico and guest DJ Maki from Communication Breakdown.

Place: Koenji Art Bar Ten
Date: 6/15 (Sun)
Time: 8:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Lo-shi
- Slow-Marico
DJs:
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ian Martin
- Maki (Communication Breakdown)
Expo:
- 菊川香渉 x Drew Barthélemy

Fashion Crisis (June 2014)

Say hello to the summer with the June edition of Fashion Crisis, featuring live hip hop sampledelica from Communication Breakdown and tunes from guest DJs Methyl of Twee Grrrls fame and Konatsu from Saga garage-punk cake-Vikings Nakigao Twintail.

Place: Koenji One
Date: June 6th (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
LIVE:
- Communication Breakdown
DJs:
- Methyl (Twee Grrrls Club)
- 呼夏ちゃん (泣き顔ツインテール)
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

Tententen: Kids (May 18th, 2014)

Listen up, boys and girls: the May edition of Tententen features a double live treat of Tokyo's finest Guided By Voices covers band Voided By Geysers, whose almost-unique rock'n'roll stylings will be rocking the house first, and the icy, existential, new wave art-pop of the incomparable Mir. Joining on decks will be Ralouf and Gotal of ambio-dextrous kraut'n'bass duo Lo-shi and DJ team Maitake & mitsunavilino. The exhibition this month will be in the form of Mr. James Hadfield's lens-flaretastic punk rock photography. Come on down and get buzzed, kids!




Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date:5/18 (Sun)
Time: 8:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Mir
- Voided By Geysers
DJs:
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ralouf (Lo-shi)
- まいたけ & mitsunavilino
Expo:
- James Hadfield

Tententen: Energy (April 20th, 2014)

Lo-shi are back for the the April edition of Tententen, performing a live soundtrack to the drug-addled 1916 Douglas Fairbanks comedy short "The Mystery of the leaping Fish" along with collaborator Tamachi Joe.



Completing the live bill will be Lo-shi's comrades-in-arms from Damo Suzuki's Network, noise pop duo Umez.

(Note the slightly earlier than usual opening time)



Place: Koenji Art Bar 天/Ten
Date:4/20 (Sun)
Time: 7:30pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Lo-shi with Tamachi Joe
- Umez
DJs:
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- DJ Smoothface
- Ian Martin (Call And Response Records)
Expo:
- Karmic Butthole x Ralouf

Fashion Crisis 5 Year Anniversary (April 2014)

Five fucking years!

Come celebrate with us at the usual place, at the usual time, with the usual good vibes and sweet sounds.
Place: Koenji One
Date: April 4th (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
LIVE:
- Kitsch Hitori Gakudan/キッチュ一人楽団
- Batman Winks
DJs:
- Ryan Erik Williams
- Hitodama/人魂
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

N'toko "Mind Business" Tokyo release party (Saturday, March 29th)

N'toko is in Japan with his marvellous new album "Mind Business", so come join us for a release party and tour final in Higashi Koenji. He'll be joined by a crowd of Tokyo's finest postpunk and industrial beat-botherers, so get down there early and spread the fun all around.

Date: 3/29 (Sat)
Place: Higashi Koenji 20000V/二万電圧
Time: 18:00
Cost: ¥2000 adv/¥2300 door (+ 1 drink)
Live:
- N'toko
- 無呼吸過呼吸深呼吸 (from Skyfisher)
- group A
- JEBIOTTO
- dubideb (from GROUNDCOVER. / numbs)
DJs:
- Tanaka Kaita (Worst Taste)
- Ian Martin (Call And Response Records)

N'toko:


Jebiotto:

group A:

無呼吸過呼吸深呼吸:

Tententen: Kill Your Sempai! 2 (March 16th, 2014)

The March edition of Tententen features live performances from synthpop kitten Gloomy and hip hop beat-hounds Communication Breakdown. The whole Tententen crew will be behind the decks and Ian and Ralouf will offer a sequel to their crypto-situationist 2012 "Kill Your Sempai!" expo. It will, as usual, be rad.

(Note the earlier-than-usual opening time and get down there EARLY!)

Date: 3/16 (Sun)
Time: 7:00pm
Cost: ¥500+1 drink
Live:
- Communication Breakdown
- Gloomy
DJs:
- Gotal (Lo-shi)
- Ralouf (Lo-shi)
- Ian Martin (Call And Response Records)
Expo:
- Kill Your Sempai!

Fashion Crisis (March 2014)

First an apology. Unfortunately we aren't able to keep Fashion Crisis as a free event anymore, and so it's become necessary to set a first-drink fee of ¥1000 (¥500+1 drink).

However, Koenji One is allowing free entry for any guests arriving before 9:00pm. We hope to still see you all there and have a good time with the usual mix of top tunes. COME EARLY!

Place: Koenji One
Date: March 7th (Fri)
Time: 8:00pm-midnight
Cost: ¥500+1 drink (FREE before 9:00pm)
DJs:
- BGM捕鯨 (スロウマリコ)
- Soh (Hysteric Picnic)
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin

N'toko March 2014 Japan tour details

Here are the full dates and lineups of the N'toko "Mind Business" Japan tour. We'll update this as any last-minute details or additions are finalised, so check below and see if we're gonna staycate your area!

12th (Wed) - Tokyo, Shibuya Home

20:00

¥1000/¥1500 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / Nature Danger Gang / Boys Get Hurt

DJs: Tomo (Style Band Tokyo) / Rally

13th (Thu) - Yokohama 試聴室

19:00

¥500 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / Come To My Party / 左右

DJs: Ian Martin (Call And Response Records) / gou (picnic)

15th (Sat) - Nagoya Bar Ripple

21:00

¥1500 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / ロック墓場 / ONOBLK

DJs: Ian Martin (Call And Response Records) / Halsion & Substance (Boredom)

19th (Wed) - Kumamoto Navaro

20:00/20:30

¥1200/¥1500 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / ニューワハイ / 冠GROOVE / KenVolcano

DJs: RYUHEI

20th (Thu) - Fukuoka Utero (DJ set)

19:00

no charge (1 drink order)

《SPECIAL PLAN!!》　21時まで飲み放題 ￥1000 /イベント終了時まで飲み放題 ￥2000

DJs: N'toko / Ian Martin (Call And Response Records) / 吉田 (パニックスマイル/THE LISTENING MACHINE) / Tetsuro (Otonoha/temperamental) / 100HIP (百蚊/ALICE) / to-ya (z/nz / liminal)

21st (Fri) - Fukuoka Utero

18:00/18:30

¥1800 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / 経立 / accidents in too large field / AmrFas / the perfect me

DJs: Ian Martin (Call And Response Records) / TKC (マクマナマン)

22nd (Sat) - Kagoshima Word Up

20:00/21:00

¥1000 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / 経立 / 泰尊 / Dew

23rd (Sun) - Saga Rag-G

15:30/16:00

¥1500/¥2000 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / 経立 / ジョニー大蔵大臣 / 白☆星 / 白痴 / Horrows / The amber tortoise / ダークネスショベルカー / yaoyoloz / siebold's

27th (Thu) - Takamatsu iL

20:00
¥1000/¥1300 + drink
LIVE: N'toko
DJs: Ian Martin (Call And Response Records) / oka / COCOEH

29th (Sat) - Tokyo, Koenji 20000V/二万電圧

18:00/18:30

¥2000/¥2300 + drink

LIVE: N'toko / Jebiotto / 無呼吸過呼吸深呼吸 (from Skyfisher) / group A / dubideb (from Groundcover. / numbs)

DJs: タナカカイタ (Worst Taste) / Ian Martin (Call And Response Records)

N'toko: "Mind Business" on iTunes

N'toko's new album Mind Business is now available internationally via iTunes. You can just search for it in your local iTunes store, but here are a few links to get you started:

Slovenia
UK
USA
Taiwan
France
Italy
Germany
Brazil
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Russia
And, um, Japan

Basically, it's available everywhere except China, where for some reason we can't sell it.

N'toko has also been reviewed recently in a few places, so why not have a look at what some people have said about it (it helps if you can read Slovenian -- English and Japanese speaking journalists, pull your bloody socks up!):

- Odzven (Slovenian)
- Cookie Scene (Japanese)
- Radio Student (Slovenian)
- Mladina (Slovenian)
- Hrupmag (Slovenian)
- Slovenia Times (English)

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a special Valentine's gift for you...

Call And Response Records presents 「チョコくれるのはいいが・・・、何を企んでるんだぁぁ！？！？」 ("Thanks for the chocolate… What's your agenda!?!?"), a compilation of covers by our musical friends of the song Paranoid by Black Sabbath. You can download it free (it's a hefty file at 114mb so may take a long time).

DOWNLOAD 「チョコくれるのはいいが・・・、何を企んでるんだぁぁ！？！？」 FREE HERE (114mb so might take a long time — sorry!)

I've written in detail about it over on my personal music blog Clear And Refreshing, so check over there if you want to read more about the background and information about the bands and tracks.

「チョコくれるのはいいが・・・、何を企んでるんだぁぁ！？！？」(CAR-75)

1. Fidel Villeneuve

2. ロア/Loa

3. 経立/Futtachi

4. Human Wife

5. Client/Server:Q

6. Abikyokan

7. うるせぇよ/Uruseeyo

8. Han Han Art, featuring Fukusuke (Owarythm/Nature Danger Gang)

9. Under

10. Artless Note

11. Umez

12. スロウマリコ/Slow-Marico

13. Trinitron (featuring Gloomy and Ryotaro Aoki)

14. Carl Freire

15. Kaki16. Loser & Ribbons

17. Oa (featuring Hatsune Miku)

18. Jahiliyyah

19. 人魂/Hitodama

20. Voided By Geysers

21. Tiny Tide

Hysteric Picnic live in Shibuya (February 12th, 2014)

Hysteric Picnic will play a show at the "New Vibration" event at Shibuya Home on Wednesday February 12th with industrial duo group A. New Vibration organiser Tomo will DJ alongside Ian from Call And Response Records. group A are back to their official lineup after sickness saw violinist Sayaka Botanic replaced temporarily by sax player Ryota Komori of Miila and The Geeks for our show at Koenji Ten last month. Hysteric Picnic are playing as a full band for the second time so it should be heavy and loud.

Date: 2014.2.12 (WED) 
Event: STYLE BAND TOKYO presents: NEW VIBRATION #17
Place: Shibuya HOME 
Time: 20:00 ～ 23:00 
Price: adv.1500yen / door.2000yen (including 1 drink)
LIVE:
- Hysteric Picnic
- group ADJ:
- TOMO (STYLE BAND TOKYO)
- Ian Martin (Call and Response)