Tokyo's Coolest Sound

On February 4 was an event organized by (M)otocompo, together with The Aprils, BiS and Ezypt. It was held at Shibuya Milkyway, and it was my first time at this nice-sized venue. The place was packed, and noticing a good number of idol fans I assumed that BiS had to do with it!

The event started with indies unit Ezypt, which sounded very new wave and 80's influenced. Their set was quite impressive too, fronted by a guy and girl wearing golden glittery outfits while singing and playing a shoulder keyboard. More surprising was the guy at the back, named Pyramy, wearing a large pyramid-shaped hat that completely hid his face. Towards the end of the show he moved to the front to play a pair of handheld cymbals!

The band's sound reminded me of Thai band Futon, and later I found out that they have shared a stage with Momokomotion (Futon's female vocalist Momoko) before. I'd have really liked to buy a CD if they had any, but it seems that their only release (pyramid-shaped) has sold out long ago.

Next were The Aprils, who were surprised by a type of audience they're not used to. The idol fans (not to say "otaku"!) were cheering and imitating the band's every dance move, to a previously unseen extent! The crowd also quickly gave a nickname of "Candy" to singer Iguchi Miho, for an unknown reason. :) It seems like the band enjoyed the ride!

The set included remix versions of "Back To The Future Music" (by Sexy-Synthesizer) and "ki-ra-me-ki Moondiver" (by Plus-Tech Squeeze Box). There was an appearance of Taichi (Genius) who came on stage for a cover of CTO LAB's "C.Disco". Towards the end, The Lady Spade joined for the time of their collaboration song "Magical Girls" from their album of the same name. The set also included "Stainless Girl" (feat. Hatsune Miku), "Cosmo '80s" and "Pan-da" (without the big Gloomy panda).

The next unit was the most awaited by a large part of the audience, BiS. I had heard a liitle about BiS before, an idol unit of 3 girls that's been gaining popularity. The name stands for "Brand-new Idol Society". One of the girls was active solo for a while as Pour Lui. They've been also getting press for their provoking music videos.

This night was the 1 year anniversary since their 1st show ever. Most tracks were more rock than pop, and they gave a good show each taking turns at the front and interacting with their fans.

And then came the time for the show by the event's hosts. It was the 2nd time I had the pleasure to see (M)otocompo (read "otocompo"), a spin-off of Motocompo but formed of 4 guys. Dr. Usui leads his group of robot-like guys who play live synths, electronic drums and guitar according to his directions. The doctor explains that their genre is "ska electro" and indeed most tracks have a ska feel to them, all while being full of live synths.

For the encore, the band invited The Aprils' Imai Kentarō to join, and proceeded to assimilate him by forcing him to wear the same T-shirt and then teaching him the basic finger rhythm. Soon the rest of The Aprils and also the girls from BiS joined to do the same. Of course by then the whole audience had been turned into robots.

(M)otocompo has yet to release any recording, but this time they were selling official T-shirts like the ones they wear, as well as a towel that comes with a sticker and badge. I had been secretly wanting the T-shirt ever since I had seen them last year so of course I jumped on the occasion.

This was a great event and I'll be looking for more of this series!

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

EZYPT live preview "T-Back" (filmed at this very show)

The Aprils "Cosmo '80s"

BiS "BiS"

(M)otocompo "Gee" (cover of Girls Generation)