Artist Spotlight: December- Natccu

Welcome to my Artist Spotlight, every month on my World Tour show (Sunday's 4-5pm KCC Live) I select an musician or band and play tracks from their discography, and on this blog I'll be writing about the artist or musician in question. This month's Artist Spotlight is Natccu from Japan.

Described by her website as a 'singer and a songwriter, but not a singer-songwriter' (which doesn't make much sense but hey its a free world) Natccu (pronounced na-chew) plays the guitar on most of the tracks from her debut album (called Sketchbook) her music genre has been described as a mix of Rock, Japanese Pop and Jazz, at live shows she is accompanied by a second guitarist, a bassist and drummer. Her website also features several of her songs available to listen to as does her Myspace.

I mentioned seeing Natccu in my blog about Japanese bands coming to play during the Liverpool Sound City Festival and I was impressed by her performance, and was able to get a seven track E.P from her, the E.P really shows versatility in this artist. The bouncy, bass laden first track Apple Z were the guitars screech under Natccu's vocals is very different from the balladesque Crescent Moon which is sung in English (a Japanese version of which, Kagen No Tsuki also appears on this E.P as the) the song sounds like The Goo Goo Dolls Slide but at the same time shows that Natccu can evolve her style from a pop punk genre to a soft melodic rock sound, shifting gears to a guitar heavy track like third track Calendar.

Randoseru Salaryman is another track which have a strong bass line but also has some synth sounds, while the guitar isn't as heavy in this track it fills the strong presence Natccu leaves behind when she isn't singing. Her track Hakushon! Bless You features sci-fi guitar sounds over a bounding beat, while her vocals switch between English and Japanese at a drop of a hat adding spontaneity to her style, perhaps this is where the Jazz influence comes in, though the sixth track on her E.P Tareta Cosmos has a back room jazz feel to it despite the wavering Japanese vocals which change their pattern from a soft spoken style to an intense growl that really throws the empthasis into the word she is singing.

Natccu has toured the UK three times, she first toured in October 2008, before returning in May this year and finally again in July, she is currently playing a few dates in Japan and hopefully is planning on releasing a second album.

World Tour changes time and day

My World Music show, Beard's World Tour will no longer be broadcast on Fridays, it will now be part of the Sunday afternoon schedule at KCC Live from 4pm, I'll still be playing music from all over the world, the first Sunday show will include a Japanese artist's remix of his own song, some French electro music, a live track from a Cuban music group, some Indian Rock Music and also December's Artist Spotlight (Natccu) hope you can listen to some boss world music with no adverts to spoil the mood.

Review: Bands from Japan

As I mentioned in my last blog, there were several Japanese acts coming to Liverpool as part of Liverpool Sound City I managed to catch most of them (missed out on Remain On and Levelload).

Tokyo Pinsalocks @ The Magnet 20th May 2009
Dressed in Kimono's this three piece band from Japan play somewhat hypnotic dance/electronic music that you can't help but dance along to. Songs like Circle and Antenna have a nice, warm and friendly electro feel to them, while new song Mannequin has a feel of an old arcade game, and is one of the few Tokyo Pinsalocks' which is sung primarily in Japanese (most of their songs are sung in English) the beats sound space-agey at times while the vocals sound very pop-esque, well when they could be heard over the instruments.

Skunkrice @ The Korova 21st May 2009
Another three piece band however Skunkrice's sound gives the impression that there are more than three members playing at a specific time, their blend of rock and techno comes together flawlessly it makes you wonder why other bands haven't tried this combination, neither the heavy guitar or the dance beats sound like they're fighting for domination i.e. every song's sound is a perfect balance of the two genres, the often distorted vocals make the songs like they are using a recorded voice instead of it coming from front man T2low.

100% Genki Tour @ Barfly 22nd May 2009
The 100% Genki Tour featured four acts; De De Mouse, Tucker, Riddim Saunter and 80Kidz
De De Mouse
First act of the night was De De Mouse a J-Electro artist whose music is filled with light synth beats and computerised vocals (mainly female vocals) his set was quite mellow, most of his music came from his laptop but his keyboard playing adds a more melodic touch to the music.
Tucker
Multi instrumentalist Tucker was up next, and his performance was perhaps the most memorable of the night, using mixing decks, a guitar, drums, a bass guitar, an electone and an old oil drum to create a unique performance, (often looping several instruments together to create a beat while he played one specific instrument. Tucker's performance wasn't just music based, at a couple of points during his set he would set the top of his electone on fire and at the end of the set he proceeded to do a handstand from atop his electone.
Riddim Saunter
This 5 piece band played with alot of energy, the small stage at the Barfly couldn't contain them or the mic stands, but that didn't seem to matter for this band whose tempo shifts from melodic rock to something reminiscent of old school punk which made there set unpredictable yet enjoyable. Not only would they change their style several members changed instruments. The band also played a cover of Counting Crow's Big Yellow Taxi, enlisting the aid of Tucker on Keyboards and unlike most bands when Riddim Saunter enlist the aid of the audience they provide hand bells.
80Kidz
Yet another techno/dance based band, 80Kidz finished the 100% Genki Tour in style, their music was more techno based than De De Mouse's work earlier in the evening and somewhat reminded me a bit of Skunkrice with the live guitar (and in 80Kidz case bass guitar as well) both weren't overpowering the beats and in some instances you forgot they were even there.

Natccu @ Bumper 23rd May 2009
Natccu rounded off the Japanese bands playing in Liverpool Sound City, her bouncy guitar tunes like Apple Z are helped by great bass lines and good guitar licks, while her song Crescent Moon (or Kagen No Tsuki the Japanese version of Crescent Moon which she played) have soulful lyrics sounding something like a Goo Goo Dolls song.

What struck me the most about all of these bands was that while they didn't have that many people watching them, is the real effort to put on a strong performance that people would remember them by, and for acts like Tucker who put on a show that didn't feel boring or like you were just watching a recorded song in its rawest element. It'd be understandable if these bands did that especially those who played at the 100% Genki Tour and Natccu who played gigs which were free entry but they didn't, they came out and played memorable sets and made me feel like I have been cheated by other bands who have played with little soul to them.

J-Rock Gigs Coming to Liverpool

Since getting into J-Pop/J-Rock a few years agothere has always been some part of me that wished for one of these artists/bands to come over and play a few shows in the UK (and yeah hopefully in Liverpool) and to be fair there have been a few (most recently Dir En Grey played at the O2 Academy as part of the Kerrang Relentless Tour) but I was either out of funds or just wasn't into the music at the time.

SO it is nice to know that as part of the Liverpool Sound City event in May, there are several J-Pop/J-Rock acts performing in various venues across Liverpool beginning from the 20th of May to the 23rd of May.

From the information I've been able to gather so far, these are the bands performing during that period:

20th May: Remain On perform at Bumper

20th May: Tokyo Pinsalocks are at Magnet

21st May: Skunkrice are performing at Korova

22nd May: 100% Genki Tour featuring 80kidz, DE DE MOUSE, Riddim Saunter and Tucker is at Chameleon Bar

23rd May: Natccu is playing at Bumper

Should be a few good nights of different music and most of them are cheap gigs (the 100% Genki Tour is a free entry event and Bumper tends to be free entry as well even when bands are performing), it'd be interesting to see whether any of these acts will be selling any CD's and whether there will be decent sized crowds there.