Gig report: Future Pop Lounge 2010

Text and photos by Patrick Benny for Tokyo's Coolest Sound

On August 28, I went to Future Pop Lounge (official site), a festival style event at Shibuya O-Nest. It was the 3rd time the yearly summer event was held though it was the first time I made it. The line-up was quite reminiscent of Usagi-chang Night Fever that used to also be held every summer. I'm really glad there's still a place where great bands such as The Aprils, sono na wa Spade (The Lady Spade), and EeL can be seen all at once! I was also really looking forward to Sexy-Synthesizer which I was seeing for the first time.

Starting at 16:00, the event opened with Candles, which I had seen once before at event Switched On. They played a really fun set, sounding maybe a bit more techno than I remembered. The set included songs "Shy Boy" (YouTube), "Maybe Tonight" and a few others.

Next was a funny-ish rapper guy who goes by the name Aphrodite Fan Club. He was also responsible for serving some quite good taco rice. His show was fun too but let's say that I preferred the food. :) One song he did was inspired by some kind of music called "kuduru" from Angola, saying it was the first form of J-Kuduru.

Actually I couldn't wait for the next band, Sexy-Synthesizer! I had heard several of their songs before, which sound quite strictly Famicom-style 8-bit, much like YMCK, although Sexy-Synthesizer ends up sounding more like club/dance music. I really enjoyed how the two guys seemed to be having such a good time! They played their song "Calling Me" and also a special set of songs they newly made as Dirty Synthesizer, quite reggae sounding stuff. also they were joined for a few songs by singer Chihiro who was really cute. VJing during this part was really funny, showing old 7" record jackets with the name and face replaced by Chihiro's. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw the screen.

Up next was EeL who came all the way from Osaka! As usual she gave a crazy show with her friends dancing around on (and off) the stage, the crowd slowly moving away. :) It's amazing how she can stand almost still as she sings, ignoring all of the action going on. Her set contained a cover of Onyanko Club's "Question" (from compilation "Onyanko Punklub") and "Uncle Chicken's drag rag" (from Plus-tech Squeeze Box' album "Cartooom!"). The show closed with her song "Jump" and everything went all whack, with her buddies dragging a lot of people from the audience to dance together on stage! I was one of the poor victims, not that it wasn't a bit fun. :)

After a DJ break with Mr.SLF!, it was time for sono na wa Spade! The unit changed singers recently, the new singer is ATG aka AristoGisele. I was very excited to see what it would be like. Some of Spade's new songs sound definitely much lighter than the previous ones, especially one called "Sweetholic" about eating more macarons than it is healthy, and also the sound has went more electronic (see techno) contrasting with the very 60's sound they used to have. Obviously fans might have varied opinions, but no one can deny the girls' stage play and sexiness. An amazing show as always! There were a few unpredictable moments during the show where audience is told to grab their cameras and girls take a pose. The set contained 3 songs from new CD-R "Mission #003" available at shows, a few covers, and a few songs from the album.

Partial set list: Opening ~kuro no Spade~ / gakuen tengoku (Finger 5 cover) / Sweetholic / (E)na (Okamura Yasuyuki cover) / Obey me? / Dancing with the Sunshine (Cat's Eye ending theme) / Callsign

(Watch live clips from another recent show at YouTube.)

Then we had to take another intermede by Afrodite Fan Club just before the final act, The Aprils! They played a set as a full band, accompanied with Plus-tech Squeeze Box' Wakky on guitar. They also invited Marino to rap on two songs, and there was an appearance by Hatsune Miku. :) The set included one song by CTO LAB, Imai Kentaro's side-unit with polymoog (Elektel) and Okada Toru (Moonriders). There was also a new song called "Pi-Pi-Pi Music" that's featured in arcade game "Music GunGun!".

Set list: Drive My Carpet / C.Disco (CTO LAB cover) / Back to the Future Music (with Marino) / New Yma Smack / Play'n Loud / Pi-Pi-Pi Music / Shine x Shine x Shine x Shine / ki-ra-me-ki Moon Diver / Galaxy Express 999
Encore: Stainless Girl (with Hatsune Miku) / Pan-da (with Marino)