The HYPTYO message board says John Wesley Harding’s doing an in-store performance at the Shibuya Tower Records this Sunday (7/1) at 3pm. Here Harding sums up his career arc in one neat little folk song.

Dunno how many of y’all were (and still are) Bad Brains fans, but as they’ve reunited once again, I was crossing my fingers and whispering “Fujirock, please” ten times before bed every night in hopes of a visit to Naeba next month. I’ll still keep up hope.

Actually I’m surprised there hasn’t been more Afro Punk stuff in Tokyo. There was last month’s event at O-Nest with The Eternals, a good band who put on a great show, but c’mon - as much as Japanese kids love their punk and looove their reggae, who else better to give them both?

Back in the day:

Bored at work? Or simply bored with your iPod?
Here are two great resouces of DJ mixes:
Blentwell.com/
filter27.com

I didn’t make it to Japan’s Red Bull B-Boy championships, but I have a feeling these guys wouldn’t stand a chance.

Oh Uniqlo, how cool will you try to be…

A couple comments on the HYPTYO message board merit more amplification:

The DFA Radio Mixes are consistently brilliant, with special points going to James Murphy for finding a way to mix Venom and the Bee Gees.

Big thanks to Sebastien for recommending Pig Radio. The mix up for grabs now is from Ed Banger Records. Hoo boy. Good stuff.

The promoters at Smash have always had a soft spot for both Latin Rock and local talent, so I’m surprised we haven’t seen Copa Salvo on the FujiRock lineup, but I guess it isn’t too late.

Here they are rocking Quattro:

That’s the saxophonist from Ego Wrappin’ back there:

And the piano player’s a banger:

Mitsuyoshi Azuma is a bigwig at NTV (Nippon Telebi), one of Japan’s top broadcasters. He and his band, the Swinging Boppers, are entertainers in the classic sense, and possibly the country’s best purveyors of old-school rock n’ roll and R&B.

Their site

I mean, the guy is just a geezer salaryman having a blast, right? But he connects with young Tokyo hipsters in a way rarely seen. Too bad he performs only a few times a year. Their last performance sold out a month beforehand, but I was able to see Azuma-san perform with a trio at Club Quattro’s Orbit Blender event a few weeks ago. The only vid I caught was of Azuma breaking and fixing a string, but even this relays why people flock to his shows. Here he is playing jazz standards, his string breaking just as the vid ends:

Handclaps and the upright bassist take over during repair:

The crowd, unprompted, stays with him, keeping the beat:

String fixed (sort of), and Azuma plays it for laughs:

Self proclaimed American jerk, Steven Schultz, who runs Tokyo Damage Report, has a load of good tips for taking in the sites and sounds of our favourite city. Check out Tokyo Damage Report Travel Guide for some things to do this weekend.

The guide goes quite deeply into Shinjuku, for me the most interesting and exciting city in Tokyo. Grab a couple of beers from the combini and just people watch. Best place to do it is around Kabukicho.

And while we will be bringing uou a feature on theme bars and restaurants in Tokyo soon, TDR reccomends Tachibana shinryoushitsu (tachibana’s diagnosis room):

“One of the many tiny expensive weirdly-themed bars in golden-gai. This one’s theme is “nurse fetish.” While you drink out of beakers and eat popcorn out of surgical trays, you can look at medical charts on the wall, squeeze the blow-up nurse hanging from the ceiling, or admire the mama-san’s giant dragon tattoo. Expect to pay about $25 per person, as there is a cover charge which you will not be told about. Kabukicho 1-1-8. (addresses are pretty meaningless in Golden Gai, but it’s the kind of trippy neighborhood where getting lost is half the fun. Basically keep a lookout for a store sign with a red cross on it). it’s open nightly from maybe 10 or 11 pm till 4 am.”

Seems like Schultz san may be leaving Japan. While I don’t always agree with his conclusions, it would be sad to see him go, and the city will be poorer for it.

See his site here: http://www.hellodamage.com/tdr/

Just the kind of thing we love. Though probabably hidden no more. The new york times has an article on Tokyo’s hidden bars.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/travel/17tokyo.html?pagewanted=1

Link via: http://www.jeansnow.net/

We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how we can improve Hyptyo.  We have loads planned,some of which is almost ready to go.

In thefuture expect to see:

• spots - recommended places near the venue where you can hang out before and after
• Keitei - we are committed to making HYPTYO full mobile
•  Mapping
• Reminders

But please feel free to tell us what you would like to see.

Also we are giving away extra invites to all who suggest an event that we use. And we are also looking for people to help us review venues. Send us a review, if you use it, you’ll get cred and an invite top-up.

After months of hard work, fun and games, head scratching, hair pulling, beer drinking and tempura eating we are live. Welcome to Hyptyo.

The backend is up and stable (touch wood!) and the frontend design is pretty much completed. So expect Hypto so quietly go live in the next 24 hours. Let the games begin -and let meget some sleep sometime soon.