Gig report: WOWOW "Music Ltd." 17th public live recording

Text by Patrick for Tokyo's Coolest Sound

On October 12 I went to a public live recording for pay TV channel WOWOW's "Music Ltd." show. The recording isn't done in a TV studio but at a regular live house, and a good one, Shibuya AX! The whole recording was really well organized, almost just like a normal show with 15-minute set changes. The only difference were the large robotic arm cameras flying around silently. There were shows by 4 artists recorded, each playing about 5 songs. The whole lasted less than 3 hours.

First on stage was cute singer-songwriter Predawn, who was along on stage playing her guitar and singing in a sweet voice. Her singing reminded me of Julie Doiron. All of her songs were in English which she sings really well. She played "Milky Way", "Tunnel Light", "Suddenly", and listening on her MySpace I think I remember hearing "What does it mean?" too.

Then were two rockish bands. Takahashi Yū sounded more like mainstream J-rock/pop. Not quite my thing, though he had a good attitude and played sentimental songs such as "kutsuhimo", "honto no kimochi" and "fukuwarai" that should please the female audience. The next was sleepy.ab, a rock band from Hokkaidō with a post-rock touch that was rather good. I didn't know of them before but it seems they've been around for a while, debuting in 2002 as an indies band but now they're major. They played songs "Melody" and their upcoming single "kakurenbo".

Then it was finally time for what I had come to see, Nanao Tavito X Yakenohara X Dorian! Not that I knew much about any of these artists, though I had heard of each of them before. I knew Nanao Tavito from his collaborations with Ishino Takkyū/Denki Groove, and I've heard of rapper Yakenohara in numerous places, but I was mainly curious about Dorian whose first album "Melodies Memories" was released just last month.

The show started with a long jam with just Nanao singing with Dorian on keyboards. Nanao applied effects on his vocals using pedals, he made everyone sing along "dondon kisetsu wa nagarete" ("the seasons go by on and on"). Next Yakenohara joined on stage for smooth dance track "Shooting Star" off Dorian's album. They closed with "Rollin' Rollin'", a rap track released by Nanao and Yakenohara last year. That was a great show, and I especially enjoyed seeing Dorian playing his synths while dancing. I can't wait to see him this week at Fantastic Explosion's release party. On my way back home I ran to Tower Records to pick up his album which I've been enjoying since!

It's free to attend Music Ltd recordings, you have to reserve through the site and if you're lucky you'll get a happy email a week before the show. While WOWOW is a pay channel, Music Ltd can be viewed for free by those who can view BS channels. It airs every Friday at 21:30.

Predawn "Suddenly"