Dating back hundreds of years, the Japanese have always been a master of crafts. Now, however, instead of delicately folding paper into cranes, the Japanese have turned to the music world. One Shinichi Osawa has turned heads around the world with his scintillating house grooves.
I was lucky enough to catch Mr. Osawa in concert this past week as he opened for Fatboy Slim at Terminal 5 in New York. He not only didn't disappoint, he far exceeded my expectations. Fatboy was left looking Slim as Shinichi blew him away. Fatboy Slim rested on his laurels, using a mostly prerecorded performance and some over the top fist pumping to try and please the crowd. Osawa, however, was busy mixing his music throughout the hour-plus that he played. He would mix for five minutes, slowly building to the peak, rarely looking up as he concentrated, and then he would release the tension for the excited crowd. After quickly throwing his hands in the air to celebrate the surreal beat he had just created, he would grab a swig of his Sam Adams and get back to work.
The only slight disappointment was that he left out almost all of the songs that people knew. No "Perfect Vision." No "Main Street Electrical Parade." No "Dreamhunt" or "Detonator." No complaints, however, as I thought it was amazing that of all of the songs that I have come to love Shinichi through, the only one he played was "Pogo" and I still thought the show was unbelievable. Here's a link to download "Pogo," as well as two other dope songs. I realize that this is an old song and you've probably heard it, but take a second listen...and then a third. It's worth it:
"Pogo (Shinichi Osawa Remix) - Digitalism
In other music news, Phish will be playing a three day festival for Halloween! Another cool announcement through Phish.com on Friday, the band will be throwing on their musical costume for some extended sets in what is speculated to be Indio, California, the site of the Coachella festival.
Halloween has always been a special day for Phish as they don their costumes in the form of music by covering full albums of other bands. They have played The White Album, The Who's Quadrophenia, Velvet Underground's Loaded, and Talking Head's Remain in Light. You also can't forget 1998 when they covered Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon just two days after the Halloween show where they played Loaded.
While you have to expect the unexpected with Phish, one can't help but find it interesting that they announced this the day after Michael Jackson died. Fans had always been hoping for them to cover his Thriller album and this could be the year. No matter what, this will be a weekend to remember and I will do everything I can to be there. Anyone who wants to join is more than welcome. Here's a video of GRAB (Trey and Mike Gordon with the Benevento Russo duo) playing "Billie Jean." Could be quite the dance party under the stars of SoCal with the kings of the jam band scene covering the King of Pop with some questionable substances and costumes to aid in the process:
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