Fruits from Tokyo, mussels from Brussels

[imomus]

A couple of things today, I just wanted to congratulate those oshare Harajuku hiking types at Tokyo Bopper for making the December issue of FRUiTS magazine. Yama-Sama is on page 15 and Osyama on page 19.



And I wanted to give you a chance to hear one of my two Brussels concerts last week. The overall sound level is a bit low, the vocals a bit dry, and the last song gets chopped off before the end. But here's Patrick Thinsy's recording of...

Momus Live at the Compilotheque, Brussels, October 22nd 2007 (stereo mp3 file, 61 MB, 61 mins)

The Artist Overwhelmed
Zanzibar
Count Ossie in China
Nervous Heartbeat
Thatness and Thereness
Beowulf (I Am Deformed)
Pygmalism
The Lady of Shalott
Pierrot Lunaire
David Hamilton
What Are You Wearing?
Giapponese a Roma
Mika Akutsu
I Refuse To Die
I Am A Kitten
Tinnitus
The End of History (fragment)

Comments

[akabe.livejournal.com]

i better wear those scarpa (http://www.scarpa.net)s tommorrow when i go to harajuku.
it was actually me who initiated the trend last winter but it got a bit tough during the hot humid summer. anyway pretty soon they'll be as flat as a graniph tshirt so i better get some wear while still possible.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Booo, you played all my favourite songs at the Brussels gig. Play nearer to me, damn you.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

You're in Holland, right?

The next shows are in Vienna (November 28th) and possibly Gothenburg a week or so before. Keep an eye on the LastFM Momus events page (http://www.last.fm/music/Momus/+events).

Zanzibar

[(Anonymous)]

I cannot aggree more!

I love Zanzibar song!

Unfortunately I was unable to buy Ocky Milky in a sad country such as Portugal!

Pedro Félix

[(Anonymous)]

And what about Lisboa?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

No plans just now, but basically I play whenever and wherever nice people come up with a sensible invitation that can cover travel expenses, accommodation and a small fee.

The host can also choose whether I come relatively clean-shaven or beardy:

Re: Zanzibar

[akabe.livejournal.com]

it's my absolute favourite too !

it should have been the last smash hit in the history of the pop chart (like an ashes to ashes or an rem number).
why isn't it ?

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Gothenburg I might be able to make. If it´s not at night and I can catch a train back. Or my friend will drive me. But it depends on what time etc.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Wait, gothenburg in Sweden? cos, no. Aw man you know I´d invite you if I could.

SOMEONE FROM HOLLAND INVITE HIM TO PLAY ALREADY.

Re: Zanzibar

[imomus.livejournal.com]

If you love Zanzibar that much, you might be interested to hear an abandoned first sketch for the song, with completely different lyrics (based very much on Rinko Kawauchi's blog, awkwardly auto-translated), called "Ragtime":

Ragtime (http://imomus.com/canterburytale.mp3) (stereo mp3 file, 3.6MB)

I'd be interested to hear if anyone likes this more than the final piece.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, Gothenburg is not confirmed as a gig yet. At the moment it's an invitation from Jesper Larsson (http://www.nextcenturymodern.com/) to appear at a Pecha Kucha event (http://www.pecha-kucha.se/) there:

Pecha Kucha Gothenburg
Wednesday 21/11 Pecha Kucha GBG vol #5
Venue: Nefertiti
Time: 19.30 (starts 20.20)

That's definitely happening (I'll do a much-improved presentation on my Future of Texture theme, the one I messed up at AIGA). Jesper also has a club event going on, possibly on Saturday 24th, and he wants me to either DJ or perform at that. So it'll be a brief and very informal club appearance, backed up by the iPod, I think, rather than a proper gig.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yes, in Sweden!

[(Anonymous)]

Does one need a name to go to a Pecha Kucha event or are anonymi welcome?

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

Woosh!! You got a gig in Sweden! Yaaaaaay! Lalalalsdklsofksdofjosdjfo.....fghthfthgf.....fdsssst.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The event is free, and I don't think having a name is a requirement either.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

At the moment it's not a gig, just a 6 minute 40 second design-related talk! For which my hosts, Next Century Modern, are kindly paying all travel and accommodation expenses.

[(Anonymous)]

C'mon Momus, you're not seriously suggesting that making the pages of FRUiTS magazine constitutes an achievement, are you?

Especially when their photographers pretty much stick to a small area of Tokyo between Omotesando and Meiji-Jingu and you happen to work in a shoe store right between those two places, meaning you go there everyday with the agenda of appearing hip. Surely NOT being featured in FRUiTS would be more of an achievement.

I wonder who here has ever made a serious attempt to get spotted...

http://westfearneon.com/2007/10/21/overdressed-and-over-here-basic-maths-explains-why-harajukus-foreign-cos-tourists-arent-cool/

[(Anonymous)]

aaah.. thank you for the concert!

eDwin :)

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I agree with that article (http://westfearneon.com/2007/10/21/overdressed-and-over-here-basic-maths-explains-why-harajukus-foreign-cos-tourists-arent-cool/) that, however peaked and recycled the FRUiTS / Tune thing is, most sartorially-interested people in most other locations globally are still a long way behind and that "what we really need is for culturally conservative nations like, well, all of them, to adopt Japan-level attitudes as to how people should look on their days off work; to allow freedom of choice in fashion and not throw verbal paint and feathers at those who don’t want to have the way they look decided for them by corporate chains on the one hand and small-minded, hateful locals on the other. Then everyone can enjoy a piece of Harajuku at home without the need to take long-haul flights and the whole world can be the freedom-of-choice, non-judgmental one promulgated by FRUiTS."

And yes, foreign fashion tourists aren't cool. And yes, it's still an achievement to appear in FRUiTS. I remember how chuffed I felt to be shot for Street magazine (http://imomus.livejournal.com/213438.html) here in Berlin -- and for the photo to actually appear (http://imomus.livejournal.com/225202.html)!

Re: Zanzibar

[psychronic.livejournal.com]

Zanzibar is definitely better. It's the best song on the album and it's so good I even put it in a mix I made for my mum.

countertenor-ing

[petit-paradis.livejournal.com]

I was at the vestiaire gig where my friend asked your autograph after the show...it is pretty indecipherable hahaha or should i say "conceptual"?

the place was so small and the crowd was very graphic designer-ish and a beautiful tall japanese
BOY (though it took me a while to find out, he was très androgynous) wallflowering in the background which distracted me from your concert only too often ;-) but a great gig!

and your counter-tenoring was da bomb!

here is the card

http://klare-lijn.blogspot.com/2007/10/momus-autographed-my-card.html

btw, I loved the white trousers you wearing then.


erik
rotterdam
the netherlands

DROPsnaps

[petit-paradis.livejournal.com]

plus the people from tokyoboppers are pretty all over the place at the moment, they also regurlarly make the 'pages' of that other great streetwear web-guide DROP!

http://www.dropsnap.jp/pc/snap.php

I love shima


erik
the netherlands

Re: countertenor-ing

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I didn't realize it was you, Erik!

The signature is upside down in the photo, it's just a girly "MOMUS" in which the letters all become hearts.

I love the way you've turned Shiseido into a verb! Here's a lovely example of someone Shiseido-ing (http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=xLmJ_SmvKiU).

wormlantine

[petit-paradis.livejournal.com]

maybe the people from WORM?????

http://www.wormweb.nl/

if there is one place in hte netherlands that should invite momus it's them. I know that the girl from the WORM CD-shop loves anne laplantine.

[(Anonymous)]

I only bookmarked this blog for the first time about a year ago (before that I had been living without internet access in a small fishing town on the Inland Sea of Japan) so I was completely unaware of your impressive 'Street Cred'. Thanks for filling me in. I understand your frustration at being photographed in typical summer tourist garb and not your usual urban poet disguise. Such is life.