Koenji Pop Festival (October 10th 2009)

It's anniversary time again for C.A.R. with the fourth annual Koenji Pop Festival, as usual featuring a wealth of musical debauchery amid fountains of low quality alcohol. In total there will be ten bands performing, including three from the southern rock and roll Eden that is Kyushu, augmented by a wealth of local talent.

Along with a number of familiar faces like MIR, tacobonds, The Mornings, ruruxu/sinn (pronounced "lulue-shin"), Grouncover. and Zibanchinka (地盤沈下), the event will also feature Fukuoka instrumental trio Me I Sashimi (ミー愛さしみ), the fierce and sexy Hemay (悲鳴), the glam rock/kayoukyoku stylings of Momoiro Ageha (桃色アゲハ), not to mention old co-conspirators Abikyokan, who return to C.A.R. to dazzle you with their science.

Info and artist links below:


Place: Koenji 20000V
Date: October 10th 2009
Open: 16:00　Start: 16:20
Cost: 2,000 yen + 1 drink adv. / 2,300 + 1 drink door

Live:
■MIR
■The Mornings
■Hemay (悲鳴)
■Zibanchinka (地盤沈下 -- From Kagoshima)
■ruruxu/sinn (From Fukuoka)
■Abikyokan
■Groundcover.
■Me I Sashimi (ミー愛さしみ -- From Fukuoka)
■Momoiro Ageha (桃色アゲハ)
■tacobonds

Spoon Market (September 18th 2009)

All-girl indie synth thing Tokyo Pinsalocks are holding the latest of their Spoon Market events tonight, gathering together all manner of girly music, arts and crafts at the unlikely venue of the Sasazuka Bowl (as in a bowling place, rather than something like the Hollywood Bowl). Call And Response are represented by myself, who will be DJing the more ambient end of Krautrock and NDW, plus whatever else comes to mind upstairs in the lounge area, and by Fukuoka indie supergroup Miu Mau, featuring Hyacca's very own Kajiwara Hiromi on guitar. In addition, regular C.A.R. collaborators Motocompo will perform live, as will former Fashion Crisis DJ Noriko. Frap Frap Fraps and Sweet Vacation, who Switched On! partygoers may remember from past events, will also be performing in various capacities.

Date: September 18th 2009
Time: 7:00 P.M. - 5:00 A.M.
Place: Sasazuka Bowl
Cost: 3,000 yen (advance) / 3,500 yen (door)

All information is on the Spoon Market web site where you can find a full list of artists, a detailed timetable, and a floor map.

NEW RELEASE: "Hanazono" by Hyacca

Call And Response Records have a new mini-album out this month. The long-awaited second by Fukuoka's finest, Hyacca (百蚊). Going by the title of Hanazono (花園), it's tighter, faster, more aggressive, and every bit as awesome as their debut, also on Call And Response, Sashitai (刺したい).

Hanazono (CAR-93)
1. 34 DANCE
2. Olympic
3. AFLAC
4. Hair Nude
5. Charlie
6. YA SU KU NI
7. HANAZONO
8. Stress



Currently available at selected independent record shops:
Enban (Koenji)
Sunrain Records (Koenji)

Available nationwide October 1st either direct from our distributor Bridge inc. or through mainstream stores:
Tower Records
HMV
Amazon

Fashion Crisis (September 2009)

It's that time of the month again and tonight (September 7th) sees the latest Fashion Crisis swing into view. Joining the usual crew will be Noriko behind the decks, and Koenji local Back in Tokyo on vocoder and electropop. The fun starts at the usual time and ends when it ends.

Date: September 7th 2009
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Koenji Bar One
Cost: FREE
Live: Candles / Back in Tokio
DJs: Noriko / James Hadfield / Ian Martin

Edit (3:20 P.M.) : Just heard that Pepe from Candles is out of action with the lurgee, so Tessy is going to play a one-off set without her today.

Switched On! 2nd Anniversary (August 28th 2009)

The bimonthly Tokyo electro, new wave and dance music party Switched On! will have its second anniversary event at Kichijoji Fourth Floor on the 28th of August. As always, Call And Response's very own me will be there as a DJ, as will all manner of other, better, DJs and a handful of live acts.

Full event details here:

8/28 (Fri) Kichijoji Fourth Floor
8:00 P.M. - 5:00 A.M.
2000yen (including 1 drink)
* Members of the Switched On! mixi community can get in for 2000yen (including 2 drinks)

DJs
Ian Martin (Call And Response Records)
Grant McGaheran (Abikyokan)
Katsumi Suzuki
Takayuki Tonegawa (Wicky Records)
Kovacs (Petit Mit)
higuma (bluebadge label, Free Design
Kitt
Yajima (Coconuts Disk)
Mince (The Frap Frap Fraps)

VJ
TDKKKM
waterblue
analogy and digitalian

FOOD
Shimanekoken

LIVE
V/order
Candles
The Frap Frap Fraps
Motocompo
Momokomotion

This event goes on for nine whole hours, so come prepared to dance your poor little feet off. Alternatively, just arrive late or leave early. It's all up to yourself.

Fashion Crisis (August 2009)

This month's Fashion Crisis is tonight (August 3rd), with the usual behind-the-scenes chaos and disorder. As usual, myself and Metropolis' own James Hadfield will DJ, and of course Candles will perform.

However, the lovely Puffy Shoes were forced into cancelling last week for certain reasons (get well soon, Azumi!) and a bit of a palaver ensued. Fortunately Fujiko More has agreed to step in at the last minute and perform in their place. One crisis over, another to begin, er, as it were. Then lastly, we have DJ extraordinaire Evil Penguin joining us to pound our listeners into submission with his genre-busting party tunes or whatever he's planning to play. In any case, it'll be worth it.

Date: August 3rd 2009
Time: 7:30 P.M.
Place: Koenji Bar One
Cost: FREE
Live: Candles / Fujiko More
DJs: Evil Penguin / James Hadfield / Ian Martin

C.A.R. stuff reviewed on the Internets

On some random 5 A.M. Internet rambling I ran into some stuff about Hyacca (百蚊) on ZB's A-Z of J-Music, which compares them to Midori (ミドリ)and Toddle, neither of which are bands I'm sure I deem worthy to shine Hyacca's boots, but it would be churlish to suggest that there are absolutely no similarities.

Roam in Octave gushes about Hyacca as well, and also takes in Mir in an earlier post. To top things off, they describe C.A.R. as "a totally awesome record label that you should all support monetarily" (bold text mine), which just makes it all the more tragic that the site seems to have drifted into oblivion since January. Come back!