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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Koenji Hyakkei 2006/6/28
    Posted: July 02 2006 at 04:14





(Aki and Miyako)





(Thee High Priest of Koenji)





(Angherr Shisspa)

Edited by Yukorin - September 17 2006 at 05:45
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2006 at 04:24


高円寺百景　渋谷クアトロ　2006/6/28

Koenji Hyakkei @ Shibuya Quattro 28th June 2006


Gigs in Japan tend to start very early and this one was no exception. Doors were opening at 6pm with proceedings commencing from 7. Getting to Shibuya meant leaving work way earlier than was possible leaving me no choice but to feign injury and scarper. A couple of weeks previously I tried chatting up a way-out-of-my-league girl on my train inviting her to tonight's show trying in vain to describe Koenji Hyakkei:

"They' re a bit like Magma..."  
"Huh...?"
"...in that they fuse disparate genres and try to create something otherworldly..."
"Huh...?"
"...and, although firmly entrenched in the Zeuhl sub-genre, they push the envelope even within that knows-no-bounds category soaking up influences from polar extremes..."
"Huh...?"
"...and combining them with an outrageously laissez-faire approach which reminds one of The Boredoms at their most inventive..."
"Huh...?"
"...and, if you can imagine a colony of ants ever getting a five-piece Jazz-flavoured ensemble together they probably wouldn't sound too dissimilar."
"Huh...?"
"Listen babes, I've got free tickets and the fancy restaurant is on me."
"Ok...! Ikitai...!"

We get there just as the 'Kkei take the stage. I'm drawing a few looks and put it down to my natural aura. Doesn't take long to realize it's because of my date.

Yoshida-san mumbles something into his mic and we're off ! 90 minutes of astonishing outer-space Zeuhl follows. There's no Kyoko, the regular lead soprano, who is in Italy for one year performing in an Opera production. Instead we are treated to the return of ex-Bondage Fruit and ex-Koenji siren Kubota Aki who is singing like an angel and hitting notes that makes my body seize up. She, along with Kanazawa Miyako and the guest violinist are reading from notation.

There is no new album to promote so we are getting the full treatment spanning their four releases. Miyako looks possessed and the concentration levels of all the members is astonishing. As usual Yoshida Tatsuya is on the house drum-kit and as usual he makes it sound as if Messrs Bonham, Bruford, Vander, and Palmer have worm-holed through time from 1972 to now and brought their road-crew with them. He loses a stick or two along the way, carries on with one hand whilst rooting around for the other stick, all the time maintaining time-signatures that would give Stockhausen pause for thought.

The big surprise tonight was the casual introduction of "The Magma Medley". Anyone familiar with Yoshida's "Ruins" will know what to expect. 20-odd Magma songs in 5 minutes. The band bulldoze their way through "Udu Wudu", a few snippets of "MDK" here and there, and a lightning fast "Khontarkosz" to finish.

As all the members treat Koenji Hyakkei as their side band it seems unlikely that they can get their schedules together to perform outside Japan. A real pity.

As their name says: "look around as you enter The High Circling Temple and you will see one hundred sights to treasure"

Mesmerizing. Do what you have to...






    

Edited by Yukorin - September 17 2006 at 05:37
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Apsalar View Drop Down
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Points: 2888 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2006 at 05:57
Jealous... how I would have killed to be at the concert. LOL some fantastic descriptions in there. As you could imagine not to many Japanese bands venture down to Australia, so most appreciated for you to go into such detail about everything, love reading you posts about the more obscure bands Thumbs Up
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Points: 12625 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2006 at 06:07
Sounds like it was a great show.
 
Loved the humour, good writing Thumbs Up
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Points: 54 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2006 at 06:14
Ah! Cannot believe you had the opportunity to see such a FORCE live! Sounds like a dream come true. Thanks for the report!
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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 12 2006 at 09:55




Edited by Yukorin - September 14 2006 at 06:55
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2006 at 06:53




Edited by Yukorin - September 14 2006 at 06:55
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Points: 293 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 27 2006 at 23:00
Sounds like it must have been most excellent! To bad theres not really any Zeuhl in the States. Cry
WWOSD?
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Faaip_De_Oiad View Drop Down
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Points: 529 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 12 2006 at 15:43
Confused How are you so lucky??


I mean. Kanazawa Miyako approaching you a subway station is pretty crazy.  Haha!


Great discription of the show ! Can't wait til' 'Live At Doors' gets here!



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tuxon View Drop Down
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Points: 5502 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 12 2006 at 17:26

Great post, really fun to read.

and a great photo underneath.

Have to buy a DVD from them soon, so I get in on the live action.
I'm always almost unlucky _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Id5ZcnjXSZaSMFMC Id5LM2q2jfqz3YxT
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Points: 46301 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 01:24
Yukorin's sheer mockery edited this, is should be closed and deleted, out of no initial subject. What a shame to have done quite a fine review and to have posted some good pics, then to act irrationally. AngryAngry

Edited by Ricochet - September 17 2006 at 01:25
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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 04:42

Please bear with me Ricochet. I'm currently editing the review as in the first review I gave out too much personal information about myself. I will also post some more pictures of the Koenji Hyakkei gig
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Points: 46301 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 04:47
okay then, we wait. Smile sorry for...the harsh words.
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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 05:51






(ex-Bondage Fruit and Koenji Hyakkei temporary returnee Kubota Aki)
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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 05:55






(Magma Medley)
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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 05:56






(Kanazawa Miyako clearly in some pain)
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Yukorin View Drop Down
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Points: 1589 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 17 2006 at 05:59



Thanks to everyone for your patience. I wanted to upload the video I took on my digital camera of their incredible 'Magma Medley' but I only gone an' soddin' erased it by mistake !
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Faaip_De_Oiad View Drop Down
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Points: 529 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 27 2006 at 03:36
Originally posted by Yukorin Yukorin wrote:




Thanks to everyone for your patience. I wanted to upload the video I took on my digital camera of their incredible 'Magma Medley' but I only gone an' soddin' erased it by mistake !


Are you kidding?

Holy Cow, If i had a cellphone with that on it im sure it'd be in a super-protective vault somwhere under
An unknown Valcano.

Boy that's unlucky



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