The Sound of Vibrator

From Le Placard JP 2008 at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall

Today I attended a headphone concert called 'Le Placard' at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall in Koenji. A headphone concert, in case you didn't know, is a concert in which the music is not projected through a sound system but instead into a bunch of sets of headphones. The audience dons a pair of headphones and listens. Who thought of this strange idea? Well, apparently it started in France about 10 years. The younger brother of the guy who started it was at the concert and played the closing set. It's been going on in Japan for about 7 years. I'm not sure what the original idea was but at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall it wouldn't be possible to have a regular concert because of noise issues so it was just the thing.

I didn't even know I was going to a concert! And an experimental music one at that. I am not generally a fan of experimental music, although I can't help but respect people who try to push the boundaries of what constitutes music.

From Le Placard JP 2008 at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall

Enjoy Kitanaka Hall is a part of Shirto no Ran (Amateur Riot), a loose association of shops and people based mainly in Koenji who are trying to pursue a different vision of life and create a vibrant community. They engage in political activism, radical art and music projects among other things. On the first Sunday of the month Enjoy Kitanaka Hall hosts a community cafe at which people sew, eat food, chat and do other creative things. As it turns out, this month was a headphone concert. I came along with ingredients and made a large pot of chickpea stew based on Ali's recipe for the same. It is the first time I have really cooked for an event and it was really great having everyone eat and enjoy the food. I look forward to doing this again soon.

The concert was interesting. I enjoyed some of the music while some of it was just noise to me. The first act was an interesting guitarist/singer who ended every song by saying "genki? iizou", which means something like "happy?, that's great".

From Le Placard JP 2008 at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall

His voice was quite sweet as was his guitar playing but the "genki?, iizou" was a bit creepy. I don't think it was intended to be though, the guy seemed really nice. Then there was a very interesting performance by a guy who made his instrument out of a series of springs connected to pickups.

From Le Placard JP 2008 at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall

His name was Mark and I chatted to him after his performance. He has been living in Japan for 2 years and works as a researcher. Apparently he has access to machinery at his work and this gives him the ability to make his own instruments.

My favourite artist of the evening was Masa whose performance consisted of sound recordings of demonstrations in Shimokitazawa and elsewhere and of a Koenji personality called Matsumoto mixed with really good beats. Musically this was the best performance for me because unlike the really experimental pieces it wasn't just interesting it was enjoyable to listen to. The sounds he created were very reminiscent of psychadelic trance which I later found out is one of Masa's interests. Another performer, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, also created a very musical set. He also performed two hip-hop pieces which was very cool. I chatted to him before the concert while I was cooking, he was one of the organisers, and he said that there isn't really any political hip-hop in Japan. I was surprised to hear that but after listening to him perform political hip-hop I know there is at least one such artist in the big city. One of his other pieces combined electronic beats and glockenspiel which worked out much better than it sounds! Listening to that was like being in another world.

One of the most unusual acts was a French duo who played some kind of Nintendo DS, a computer (they used some kind of pick-up to 'play' the computer), a kazoo and a vibrator. As you might expect a vibrator projected through a sound system sounds kind of vibratey. They played a series of unusual clips on the laptop screen they were using for an instrument. The most memorable was a segment of a French cooking show where they demonstrated how to cook an eel starting with the live eel and proceeding to kill, skin and chop up the enormous creature. Not a pretty sight, especially in a country where they actually eat eel. Eel is very tasty, a lot like chicken ... but now I'm not so sure.

I actually spent most of the conert sewing while I listened. I sewed a 'Make Capitalism History' patch on the back of a T-shirt. I sewed another patch on the front the first time I went so now I think the shirt looks pretty nifty. I really enjoyed doing this because it's the sort of thing I wouldn't normally do. One of the reasons I decided to go overseas was to force myself to do things I don't normally do. The fact is I was unhappy a lot of the time back in Australia and I have been unhappy most of the time here in Japan too. However, coming here has forced me to challenge myself every day and stripped away most of the things I use to hide behind. I'm really confused at the moment about what I am doing here, who I am and what I will do in the future but no matter what happens next this experience has changed me for the better already. I have no regrets about coming.

In addition to the sewing I also made some stamps out of erasers which read 世界で平和を (peace for the world). I intend to use these eraser-stamps to make some kind of artwork by stamping pieces of paper with this message. I haven't worked out the final details yet! I ended up chatting with quite a lot of the people at the concert (which was very small, probably 20 people came and went all in all). Among them was the aforementioned artist Masa who I had a drink with at a nearby cafe afterwards. He owns and operates a shop in Shimokitazawa and is active in movements to prevent Shimokitazawa being gentrified and overdeveloped. He and some of the other people at the concert are fans of trance and other genres of electronic dance music. I found the psytrance/political connection! And it only took 3 months (and a few days).

My emotions have been pretty strong lately and I am often thinking about particular pieces of music and listening to various parts of my music collection. This has run the whole gamut from the old teenage angst music such as the Cure to the psytrance which has become such an important part of my life in the last year or so. I have reflected often on the connection between music and our lives. The music I listen to evokes memories of different parts of my life. I realised in the last week or so that my collection hasn't really expanded at all since I came here. I think this is a clear sign that my head has not been in a good place and I intend to rectify the situtation as quickly as possible!

Le Placard JP 2008 at Enjoy Kitanaka Hall