Archive for January, 2006


Toge Toge Tokagee is more of a laid-back dark live event. It is quite a nice place to chill at the end of the week with some interesting acts, some exhibition/craft space and a labyrinthine lower floor. There seems to be a core of Gothic Lolitas who attend this event, but its not dress-coded and even suits should not feel out of place.

Toge Toge Tokagee by Daybook
When: Friday, 27 January 2006
Open: 18:00 :: Start 18:30
Where: Head Power, Shinjuku
Address: B1, 1-34-13 Shinjuku Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 166-0002 :: Map
Phone: 03-3354-7727
Price: 2,000 yen adv. / 2,300 yen @ door
Live:OPERA, Proper 669, Secret Dead Space, QuietNoiz, at0, Shingguapoura
Exhibition: Oriental Deeva, Naz, Asamixjuice, Kuboeri, Kuroi Niwa (Black Garden)

Midnight Mess is back as a regular event, playing every 4th Saturday of the month. The Mess is an underground dance club offering DJ’d and remixed sounds plus performances. The club offers Gothic, fetish, dark, experimental and industrial sounds. Tonight’s noise core features 666dB and Kwick Kick Mummy Lee; both of whom know how to get their shit on. KKML scores big for a couple successful crowd-surfs during his Electrock set in December.

[url=http://www.midnightmess.com/][b]Midnight Mess[/url][/b]
[b]When:[/b] Saturday, 28 January 2006
[b]Open:[/b] 24:00
[b]Where[/b] Marz Shinjuku (near Shinjuku)
[b]Address:[/b] B1F Dai-ichi Tokiwa Bldg., Kabukicho 2-45-1, Shinjuku :: Map
[b]Phone:[/b] 03-3202-8248
[b]Price:[/b] 2,500 yen adv. / 3,000yen @ door (plus 500 1D)
[b]Live (DJ style):[/b] [url=http://brainwashed.com/666db]666dB[/url], [url=http://www.total-control-freak.com]Control Freak[/url], [url=http://sound.jp/mummy]Kwick Kick Mummy Lee[/url]
[b]Dance:[/b] 86B210
[b]DJs:[/b] Sato.M (Paranoia Night), Statik, Maya (Midnight Mess).
[b]VJ:[/b] Visual Works Fraw

Brain Scan LaboratoryJunk Children exploded onto the night scene in Tokyo in September 2005. Now the children of the damned are back to unleash the next chapter: Junk Baptism.

Tonight’s event is the Industrial Decadence Club Edition, letting the DJs unleash their mixes plus a live performance from Baal. The night’s DJs are top quality with DJ666Fox (alter ego of Violet), Undermine (Despair’s Rieu) and Margath Orgia from club Golgotha.

Brain Scan LaboratoryJunk Baptism #1
Organized by BRAIN SCAN LABORATORY
-Psycho Technology DJ’s Babylon-
Industrial + Decandence Club Edition Junk Children -Slave’s Riot Midnight.

When: Saturday, 21 January 2006
Open: 24:00
Where: Urga (7 minutes from JR Shinjuku East exit)
Address: B1, 2-42-16, Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo :: Map
Price: 1,800 yen adv. / 2,300 yen @ door
Live: Death Machine Gig by BAAL .
DJ: DJ 666 Fox (a.k.a. DJ Violet), DJ Undermine (a.k.a. Rieu/Despair)
Guest DJ: DJ Margath Orgia (from Club Golgotha)
Bonus: Limited Special Gift! 2 Types of CD (turn up early!)

Check who’s going

January already?!

It looks like a quiet month ahead in Tokyo for night stalkers, but we are saved with two big events: Blood’s night on January 4th, and the re-emergence of Junk Children for its club edition, Junk Baptism. Nagoyans are being spoilt rotten this month with Stigmatic on the 8th and Phantasmagoria joining in Kaz Tattoo Operation on the 22nd.

Hopefully there will be a couple more events to add during the month, but the major events are getting detoxed and revved for a return in early February.

:: EVENT LISTINGS FOR JANUARY 2006 ::

January 4 (Wednesday) :: BLOOD
:: VENGEANCE for BLOOD Extra 2 @ Ikebukuro Cyber, TOKYO 16:50

January 6 (Friday) :: Psycho Dream, Jubilee
:: Subliminal Attack Vol.2 @ Pipe69, OSAKA 16:50

January 8 (Sunday, Monday is public holiday)
:: Stigmatic @ P.O.D., NAGOYA 21:00

January 13 (Friday) :: Scorpion’s Death Rock
:: Mixed Up Industries #04 @ Urga, TOKYO 18:00

January 21 (Saturday) :: BAAL
:: Junk Children :: Junk Baptism #1 @ Urga, TOKYO 24:00

January 22 (Sunday) :: Phantasmagoria
:: Kaz Tattoo Operation Vol.11 @ Apollo Theater, NAGOYA 17:00

January 26 (Thursday)
:: Metal night @ Chop, Ikebukuro, TOKYO 18:00

Cheers,

:: Igor
:: Web slave
:: www.jgoth.com

BloodStart the new year right with a special event to celebrate the upcoming release of Blood’s Vengeance for Blood 3. Blood have an incredible visual presence and combine it with very solid Goth-rock sounds. Other bands include the hot rock sounds of Calmando Qual and the psycho-buddhist chants of The Candy Spooky Theater. Other bands include Kokusyoku Sumire (Black Violet) and Brand 0, with Tokyo Dark Castle’s DJ, Chihiro. A grand mix of Goth and the dark side of kei, Igor would say it’s the best thing going on in Tokyo for the first half of January.

From Blood: Those dressed in gothic or lolita clothes at the live will receive a 20% refund on tickets. Those who buy tickets from BLOOD on the day of the live will receive a free “phantom reprint CD.”

Blood’s VENGEANCE for BLOOD Extra 2
When: Wednesday, 4 January 2006
Open: 16:00 :: Start 16:50
Where: Ikebukuro Cyber (nr. Ikebukuro station East exit)
Address: B1F Sato Bldg., 1-43-14, Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0013 :: Map
Phone: 03-3985-5844
Price: 3,000 yen adv. / 3,500 yen @ door (20% refund for those dressed in Goth or Gothic Lolita
Live: Blood, Calmando Qual, The Candy Spooky Theater, Kokusyoku Sumire (Black Violet) and Brand 0
DJ: Chihiro.
Exhibition: pureblack, Gothic Labo

As we start getting used to the idea of this being 2006, I decided to take a quick look at the most-read stories in 2005. Kind of interesting to see the dominance of Tokyo Dark Castle in terms of number of stories at the top, but even more interesting is the total dominance of the two top stories involving Gothic Lolitas. Those Gothic Lolita stories were miles ahead of the competition.

1. Gothic & Lolita Bible :: It’s a Mook…. What’s a Mook?
2. Gothic Lolita by Wikipedia
3. Event Report :: Tokyo Dark Castle 13 :: Igor’s Take
4. Upskirt mirror antics cause economist to reflect
5. Event Report :: Satanyanko & Strawberry Song Orchestra @ ADM
6. Event Report :: Tokyo Dark Castle 12 :: Igor’s take
7. Event Report :: Agent Murder’s ADULTERY @ Urga :: Igor’s Take
8. Event Report :: Tokyo Dark Castle 11 :: Igor’s take
9. Tokyo hot spot :: CD Gold @ Shinjuku
10. Tokyo Dark Castle Vol. 10 :: March 5
11. Fetishes :: Silicon sex service industry
12. Anders Manga :: One Up for the Dying
13. Are Japanese youth being desexed?
14. Tokyo :: Sat. April 30 :: Tokyo Dark Castle #11
15. Event Report :: Tokyo Dark Castle 14 :: Igor’s Take

Despair @ ElectrockAs I sit in an Internet cafe on the outskirts of Nagoya remembering Electrock from a couple of days earlier, I must say that I liked it. I liked it a lot.

[b]UPDATE![/b] [url=http://www.jgoth.com/modules/myalbum/viewcat.php?cid=3]Pixies are up Die!!Die!!Color!! and Despair![/url]

[b]Rushing to get there[/b]
So I finished washing and preparing the ferrets for the annual road trip to Nagoya and raced off to catch at least half the Electrock show. Sure the Electrock is not about Goth, but 1) electro-rock is pretty cool, 2) [url=http://www.despair-nation.com/]Despair[/url] put in a performance and 3) Jude did his debut for Despair on the ax-board.

[url=http://www.urga.net/]Urga’s[/url] space is kind of nice and cosy. It works out pretty well regardless of the crowd density so a quiet night is okay and a packed night rocks. Tonight it was quite packed so it was rocking nicely.

[b]Kwick Kick Mummy Lee[/b]
First up (when I got there) was a remix performance from Kwick Kick Mummy Lee. Lively and enjoyable affair with KKML with some successful (if mild) moshing going on upfront and even a couple of crowdsurfs by the mixer. Not bad at all. He also distinguished himself by being visually entertaining while doing the performance – something that most of these remix artists fail to do. Worth looking at again.

[b]Die!Die!Color![/b]
Die!Die!Color! were hot with some psyched digital rock. The instrumental-side would be speedy hard rock/metal traditional with extra elektro layers. However, it is the vocals that give this band something extra, with Hiroaki doing male attack screeches and Anna ripping out great power femme. Lots of energy onstage and a sound that keeps making me think “Fight Club.” Die!Die!Color! have balls. I will see them again.

[b]Despair[/b]
Despair just keeps sending shivers down my spine. There is something otherworldly about this unit when they’re onstage. Just a total aural assault with Rieu and Ana fighting for their lives to subdue the machine noise. The band sported a blonde gaijin on the ax-board tonight called Jude! Yes, Sins of the Flesh’s lead vocalist (and many other things), and JGoth.com’s Kansai chief, was doing a special spot for the band, putting in his 100% to keep the band running at its regular energy level (i.e. fucking overdrive!). Nothing can touch Despair when it comes to total industrial and that is why I will go to every performance I possibly can.

The last band I saw was Far East Eclipse. They had a good live sound suited to Electrock’s theme. A technical glitch hit them half-way through the set, which took a while to fix (and lost them the moment I think), but they were good live rockers.

Overall, Electrock is definitely worth seeing for some good live rocky sounds and I’ll be adding that to my list of regular events to mention here. I loved Die!Die!Color! and Despair, especially with two power femmes back-to-back.

And happy new year from Nagoya, origin of the Mangakiss.