Music | Up All Night

Some more photos from 2016, no longer where I left them on the internet, so going up here instead.

Anison done, I took in punk-power-pop Osaka veterans Shonen Knife at Fever in Shindaita, just one stop from arty, arsey, am-dram hangout Shimo-Kitazawa.

The guileless and warmly requited connection between audience and band was palpable, and as the music clattered from uncontrived glam to careering rock n roll abandon, the atmosphere became fuzzier, funnier, and even more affectionate.

It felt like the band love their fans as much as their fans love the band, and in that case, it’s an impeccable variety of romance: a marriage for life.

With some acts there can be an emotional gap between the performer and the audience, and the show is, well, for show. But with Shonen Knife the gap was almost not there, and the show was for real, between friends.

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Akihabara, some time in 2016.

Some of these photos were published elsewhere at the time, but the site they once appeared at has, I recently discovered, now disappeared, so I thought I’d put them up here.

I’d gone to take photos at an anison event. Anison means animation songs, but what it actually equates to is a mish mash of anime soundtracks, synthpop, future bass, electro, hip hop, breakbeats, drum and bass, guitar solos, 8-bit retro noises, genres I don’t know the name of, if names even exist, and whatever else you feel like throwing in there.

All accompanied by syrupy anime visuals on the walls, and glowsticks in hands.

Akihabara, over on the east side of the city, is the otaku capital of Tokyo, of Japan, and, by extension, of the world, and this felt like its soundtrack.

I might go back to the club sometime, if it’s still around.

For now though, while Tokyo stays in for the end of the winter, nostalgia will suffice.