Tetris Effect

What on earth could be interesting about another version of Tetris?
Well, how about if it was made by the same person, Tetsuya Mizuguchi that did Rez Infinite - a game so affecting to me that truly nothing could be the same again [link]^[1] . That was always going to pique my interest and it was further piqued by PSVR support. I wondered what would even be the point of VR for Tetris.

Tetris, itself, is a stone-cold classic and left the ”games” world to enter into the real world with the incredible success of the Gameboy version. I’m a huge fan and it is arguably the game that I have played most of all. It was my “T” in my “A-Z” rundown and that is probably a better guide to the basics of Tetris although I would be surprised if many required a primer on this particular puzzler. Tetris is about creating space to be ready for the future and filling an absence. What we are doing, when playing Tetris, is making gaps to fill later - it is the making gaps that is the game, filling them later is almost an incidental part of the process. Filling those gaps is satisfying, no doubt, but it is only satisfying in the sense that you have prepared for it. And that preparation is all about managing risk using the probability of pieces - what are we going to get and how can we use it? As you get better and better, you can have a plan for each eventuality which is pure risk management. Because you are working in this way, this is actually management of negative space^[2] which is quite counter-intuitive. I think this is what appeals about Tetris - the anticipation is so enjoyable.

In many ways, it might be easier to list how Tetris Effect differs from the versions we have all played before and the biggest gameplay alteration is the use of variable speed throughout the game. I say, “throughout the game” but actually, once you start, there are two major sections to choose between - “Journey Mode” and “Effect Mode”. Journey Mode acts as a type of campaign mode and see you start off a series of 27 levels (or skins, as they are often referred to) grouped into bundles. The Effect Mode has a number of different variations on classic Tetris gameplay with different scoring mechanics with similar gameplay. As you unlock skins for Effect Mode by reaching them in the Journey mode, it probably makes sense to go through the Journey first to unlock as much as you can to use in the Effect Mode. There are some nice modes included with a number of variations on the theme with combo modes, speed runs and a weird infection mode too. The meat of the game, in my opinion, is the Journey mode however.

Variable speed is an interesting gameplay choice and one that was taken in Lumines - the musical puzzle game Mizuguchi released in 2004 to coincide with the launch of the PlayStation Portable. The effect of this variable speed is to lengthen a given “run” so rather than being a spurt of gaming with growing intensity, it has the ebb and flow of an album - a Journey in fact. This had quite a weird effect on the way that you played it in that it could last for a very long time within one run and had the effect of transporting you through the game and you felt that you were playing with it rather than trying to beat it^[3]. It also lends the game an experiential air rather than the score chasing mechanic that you come to expect from a puzzle game. I think that this is also true of Tetris Effect which, although it does have an explicit scoring system with grading, feels like a trip or a journey into and through the game. There are periods of intense pressure - and Tetris has a suffocating pressure as you tip so easily from manageable to "impossible to salvage" - but there is always a chance that the game will give you a chance if you can get to the next segment of a level that has lower speeds.

The start of the Journey mode is indeed slow and it does not speed up significantly for a while, it guides you in with a very calm hand and music that is both welcoming and sparse. Those first few sections are a great introduction to what Tetris Effect does and with such a relaxed pace, you can rack up the points with Tetris after Tetris.

The key differentiator with Tetris Effect is the connection and that connection is built through the sonic and visual flourishes that accompany your actions. Each time you move or rotate a block, that is accompanied by a sound effect which changes depending on skin. This is pretty standard in games - jumping in Mario will play the jump sound effect. And, as in Mario, that sound effect latches you into the game. Each line you clear will also generate a sound and a visual trick of some kind - a colourful particle explosion^[4] that is in some way related to the skin you are currently playing. This hardly sounds groundbreaking - this is just videogame mechanics. But, The Beatles (see Yesterday (2019)) were just guitar, bass, drums and vocals. The choices made by the development team to create that connection is on another plane with all those sounds making sense of what is around you in a way that seems barely human. And what a selection of sounds and visuals that have been created here, truly taking on the journey aspect of the game. Starting off in the deep, deep sea with whale sounds and effects to link you in, it is striking from the first minute. The initial minimalist soundscapes are layered on as you get more lines and progress through the stage with whale sounds accompanying the line clears. The next stage mixes that approach up straight away with an "in your face" set of sounds and music resetting your feelings and preparing you for an eclectic and always interesting selection of music through the journey.

With classic Tetris being so well known, there is a school of thought that Tetris Effect is just Tetris but prettier and with nice music. I can’t disagree but “just” is doing a hell of a lot of work here, and elevates a game that is already at the pinnacle of the genre to a geostationary orbit above it. It is worth thinking about what the purpose of those pretty graphics and nice music is and what they are doing to the player. That isn't a side effect of the game - that is gaming in a nutshell. The enjoyment of doing interactions is surely all that gaming is. Is that side-effect, what art is, in a nutshell? Invoking or evoking emotion into the "observer" is surely one of the defining traits of art. This isn't a debate worth having - Mizuguchi is an artist and so much more layered on top of that.
Tetris Effect is an absolutely stellar addition to the world of gaming with top tier graphics, an exceptional soundtrack and gameplay that fuses Tetris, a game that many would argue has claims to be a perfect game, to that visual and audio tour de force. And then layers a coherent and beautiful virtual reality implementation on top of it.

I can't really recommend this highly enough. It might not hit you in the same way, but it is so, so simple to at least try.
Honestly, I was really looking forward to this and many have said that it can be a transcendental experience and the pinnacle of what VR can do, and I do sort of agree with that but for me, this does not quite match that moment when it is all connected in Rez. But to be the second most transcendental experience (I have had) in all of the time I have been playing games is not a bad recommendation. Please do play.

Come follow me
I'll show you the side of yourself
The person that you've always been
But never dreamed
-------------------------------------

<sup>1. This was pretty hyperbolic in 2016 but I do still stand by it - “Rez Infinite is an incredible experience and game and I am not honestly sure that anything will be the same again.”↩
2. At school, many years ago, I used to do a subject called design and communication. I rather enjoyed it as it was about presentation of ideas. At the time, the teacher used to walk around and offer comments on our work and one time, he mentioned that one of my drawings was very good use of negative space. This brought a lot of laughter and mocking of my work by some friends as he seemed to basically be saying that the bits I didn't do (the white space) were very good. We all understood what was meant but it was still brought up even decades later!↩
3. Although it was very much trying to beat you!↩
4. These particles are used in a similar way to the particle effects in Rez Infinite's Area X which lends an impressionistic air to the explosions. ↩</sup>

Yesterday (2019)

I like Danny Boyle and I like The Beatles, so why would I not like this? And therein lies a meta-question at the heart of this film - would the songs by The Beatles be popular if they were not by The Beatles?

I went to see this^[1] largely off the strength of it being by Danny Boyle rather than The Beatles as there is a lot of Beatles stuff. As a director, he has an interesting collection of films and he isn’t afraid of trying things out - and they definitely don’t always work. I always thought of him as someone that likes to challenge himself and might put obstacles in his way or try to achieve the best he could with limited resources^[2] . I do not think he has tried anything quite like Yesterday before - his last “feelgood” film I recall was Slumdog Millionaire and that had rather a lot of torture and pain for a proper feelgood film.
Yesterday’s setup is pretty simple, a jobbing singer-songwriter (Jack) is having trouble getting anyone to like his self-penned songs as he plays around local pubs and hotels Suffolk. Having played yet another poorly received gig in a small tent at the Latitude Festival, he decides to jack it all in - fed up with it all. Although his friend and manager, Ellie, tries to persuade him otherwise, he has had enough. And in this daze, he cycles off confused, annoyed and frustrated by it all. This state of mind isn’t conducive to safe cycling at night, especially in conjunction with a weird blackout and leads to him being hit by a bus. When he comes around he finds himself in a world where the Beatles have not existed - but he still knows all the songs. This, he discovers after singing “Yesterday” to some friends and discovering that they really like it (although, comically, it is hardly “Fix You” by Coldplay). What a power to have. It leads to a meteoric rise - but what happens after the rise?
The film answers the question of the Beatles’ songs by saying, “Yes, they would still be hugely popular”. Bereft of context, musical narrative and some of the pure innovation of The Beatles, yes, they would still be popular if heard for the first time. In this instance, the pure songwriting of The Beatles is being tested with no play made to the instrumentation nor the avant-garde production techniques pioneered George Martin. But that is just the music - none of the extra-curricular elements, none of the charm of the Fab Four, no Beatlemania, no Wings^[3] , no Imagine, no Thomas the Tank Engine, no Concert for Bangladesh. In a way, the absence of all of these elements to concentrate on just the music makes you realise what an amazing force they were in just over seven years (1963-1970). And what music.

The questions asked of me when watching this, however, were slightly different to the original one. Of course, it is still a point to ponder how much we can ever separate the art from the author and whether some of that art would ever have got a fair listen without the weight of previous history. But I think we can all agree that an album with Octopus’ Garden^[4] would be unlikely to be a multi-million seller without The Beatles previous work!
The creative process is a mystery to most of us and there is an argument to say that competence is doing something we know of very well but genius is doing something that most cannot even comprehend. So, within the film, when Jack is asked where all these songs are coming from, he can appear to legitimately say he doesn’t know. He keeps drawing from the well as he needs to but he is effectively communing with another world and drawing influence and inspiration from the multiverse. Is this really what genius is? I am not sure the film presents^[5] it like that - this isn’t a metaphysical exploration of the creative process - it is a much fluffier film than that. This is fundamentally a feelgood romantic comedy and more Richard Curtis than Danny Boyle.
Throughout the film, Jack is drawing on the past and so he knows that it is not creative, he comes up with post-hoc justifications but he knows himself that it is not real. There are some nods to imposter syndrome here which I kept returning to - the belief, or fear, you are about to be found out as a self-promoting charlatan is one that I have (and one I wish some more people in government had). Again, I am not sure that it was meant to be presented as such but the exploration of this theme did end in people just being happy about good things rather than wanting to see Jack’s failure.
As a film then, I have to say that it lacked some of the flourishes I was hoping for and really was played pretty straight. To go back to the premise, this was not something I could have pegged as a Danny Boyle film particularly. The whirling nature of the bus collision (which is very early within the film) was the closest I felt to directorial flair. The soundtracking at this point alludes to Beatles songs without being explicit - it felt very much like “A Day In The Life” and this method is used through the film. It is fairly subtle but will set the mood for the scene without quite being the “fanservice” that many will want. There are some interesting shots sprinkled in but nothing that really sears into your mind’s eye. But, sometimes flair just gets in the way and I think this simple film is not trying to be provocative or trying too much. Similarly, thinking too much about time warps like this is not worth the effort - be comfortable with suspending your disbelief.

The questions asked of me by the film are less relevant than the questions asked of me by people talking to me - “would I recommend the film?”. Yes. It is enjoyable crap - simultaneously memorable due to the content and yet fairly forgettable due to the softness of the whole thing. And sometimes, that is exactly what you want - whether you know it or not. It is genuinely quite a happy film with the skeleton of a great soundtrack - but the real songs are better.
It may not be the best film I have seen with a title shared with a Beatles song (that would be Helter Skelter) but definitely worth watching for fans and non-fans alike. If nothing else, I hope some people are introduced to the complete spectrum of music of The Beatles^[6] as then the world really does end up being a better place.

The trailer:

<sup>1. I saw this at the ever-reliable Barbican. It had an older crowd than the last few films I have been to see with quite a few older than even me!↩
2. For example, I thought he made Trance as an object lesson in what was the best you could do with a terrible film.↩
3. Wings? Who are they? Only the band The Beatles could have been. ↩
4. I use this for effect, I quite like it actually and is a component of probably my favourite album by The Beatles - Abbey Road.↩
5. But, how the film presents itself and what I get from it is often not the same thing.↩
6. as I was only ten years ago with the album re-releases↩</sup>

2013 Favourites

2013 has been an interesting mix of rubbish and excellence - often at the same time. These are my favourite things of the year within music, film and games, though some may have been released at other times. There are many reasons that could be given but this is a subjective choice and so could be very different had things had happened at a different time. But you all know that, right?

Thomas Was Alone (Original review)
This was released on Playstation plus as an included (free) game but I think I'd have bought it anyway. As part of cross-buy, the PS3 or PSV versions were accessible. I was very taken by this in a way that reminded me of my youth - though it is a short game.
Gaming is a simple feeling of control and the simplicity of control can strengthen that feeling. Platformers, 2D platformers especially, do feel as if they are from a different age and they can still captivate. The coherence of the concept is what kept me in it but what drew me in was the atmosphere. The graphics are simple, the sound is simple and the game is easy,but the easiest thing of all is the easy charm of the characters. The characters are wonderfully rounded with narration from Danny Wallace and he gives them all a sense of purpose within the world that you want to help them with. And, yes, they are "them" rather than "you".

Helter Skelter  (Original review)
Deconstruction and destruction are quite different things but I felt this had both. It won't be to everyone's taste, of that I am fairly certain. It is pretty kitsch, ridiculous and nonsensical but who doesn't like that? Beautiful, quick and melodramatic - the ideal woman. Possibly?

Ufabulum
I probably listened to the album Entertainment by Sekai No Owari the most this year (original review) but not sure it ended up being my favourite musical thing of the year (maybe my favourite interview though). One of two albums that I remember really connecting with me after hearing them live. The concert for this was at the Roundhouse but I actually had booked and then cancelled an earlier performance in 2012 due to a wedding. The wedding was great fun so I don't regret that one but I was fortunate to get a chance to go again. Squarepusher is an acquired taste, no doubt, but seemingly each time he releases something, I think "this is the most accessible thing he's done". As was the case for this.

The concert started with a little tenderising massage as the sound system flexed the bass it could produce as almost a sine wave for about 5 minutes. It was bizarre and brilliant. After that, the man on stage with lights for eyes played through the album, track for track with an amazing light show to match. It was great and there is something hugely satisfying about knowing what is going to play next as each song goes on. He then ended with a classic version of A Journey to Reedham (7AM Mix) which was unexpected. A great gig that made me think it was great album.

Entertainment - SEKAI NO OWARI

I don't listen to much Japanese music and don't really keep up with it at all. The fact is, the people I know in Japan that were really into music mainly listened to foreign bands so I didn't get much info.

Sometimes, it is just quite hard to explain why you like something and it appears contrary to what you think you like. This may be one of those times, it may not. I did persuade one person to listen to a bit of one song and the question I was asked was "That is a girl, right?".
The band themselves supposedly got popular through a song called "Starlight Parade" which was used in an advert for ^[1] and it was also the first song I heard on television (this is explained at the end in a separate section) and it is appropriately advert friendly being quite catchy although eventually feeling a little empty. It is also the first proper song on the album, although it is preceded by an "Entrance" track.
As a fairly long album, it weaves through to the end via quite a few styles although all rooted in an "indie-ish" punk sound with significant elements of polish. The album is overall, quite a mixture of speeds and instrumentation so it is quite hard to pin down.
This seems to be a fairly central theme in the Japanese pop culture that I have consumed and enjoyed of late but I cannot be sure that this is a particularly central thing in reality. In fact, that is one of the things about listening to music isolated from the culture - it can be hard to know what it means within that culture or the time without a true context^[2]. I have later been told that the band are very popular amongst "young people" - a euphemism I'd imagine!
Fittingly, I had a mild addiction to the album as a whole when I first heard it and I always consider the repeat playing of songs or albums to be teenage and it is a really coherent album with simple, clear hooks. The different sounds and the production style is very fun and sing-a-long throughout (linguistic issues aside) and feels quite carefully crafted. The polish comes from the use of quite spacey post-effects with twinkling, tingling starfalls being implied and the use of many other instruments such as xylophones and piano/keyboards. To be honest, it is probably the production that has elevated the album and I am quite ready to fall for gimmicks and suchlike at time. The last track (深い森/Fukai Mori), for instance has two sections to it and there is not a smooth split between the two but the first section just sounds as if it broken by the second and it is not a smooth transition at all. I loved it and it made me smile - a rarity.
The linguistic issues will be there for a lot of people, understandably, as the album is sung in Japanese (apart from a few sections). My understanding is probably not sufficient to get the lyrics but I was quite struck by how the meaning was still fairly clear without knowing the words. Nemuri Hime[眠り姫] for example has a simultaneously upbeat and downbeat feel to it, as if the happiness is muted and it is actually about (as far as I can make out, anyway) the sadness the singer feels when he is happy, as he knows that happiness will cease in the future. I think that is a relatively complex idea but it was still hinted at musically.
Why not have a listen?

Songs such as Fight Music, 生物学的幻想曲 (Seibutsu-teki Gensōkyoku) and Fantasy drive along with pace, where others feel more sedate and mournful. It is a good mix and one I would recommend to those that are open to it.
Although this has been on my playlist since May, I have been quite unsure about how much of a fleeting enjoyment it would prove to be but it has been a few months and I am still not bored of it so i feel a lot more comfortable with recommending it.


How did I come across this?
There is a programme called J-Melo[link] on NHK-World that I record (amongst a few other things) and then usually forward through and see nothing of note on. I think I have been doing that for a few years and, other than a few songs that were not bad, it is a fruitless task to try and listen to decent music like this. The majority of bands on there very much fall into J-pop and that is not really my favourite of genres. Actually, the presenter, May-J is also a pop star (of sorts, not sure how popular) and she sometimes sings and usually interviews some people.
I usually "watch" J-Melo with my back to it or doing something else and listening to it as if it is radio and so I only look over if my interest is piqued. Apart from the strange costumes of SEKAI NO OWARI, I was also struck by the fact that the interview was done in (imperfect) English. The interview was superb and I actually laughed out at one answer, delivered by the drummer in a clown mask - which is actually what made me continue watching. May J looked genuinely perplexed at the answer and it was brilliant. Upon being asked about why they made music and appealing to foreign fans, the band members spoke in turn of wanting to connect with different cultures and wanting to learn from them. The drummer (to paraphrase):

I want to grow as a person. Not just mentally but physically too. I want to be taller.

^{1.Adverts have a little musical note icon and the name of the song noted on the advert itself when it plays on TV, so it is easy to find out what song is used and who it is by.↩}

^{2.For example, I remember quite liking the first Babyshambles album when it came out but that I did so oblivious to the circus surrounding Pete Doherty at the time and so many friends were somewhat surprised I could like it. I wonder if I would have had I been in the middle of the stories too.↩}

Everything In Its Right Place pt.3 and encore

[cont...]

We then started to make a move towards the stadium itself for the main attraction (and the ONLY reason we had come). I had wanted to avoid the Stereophonics (as had we all) but it was worth it if we could get near the front We got to the stadium to find a HUGE queue to get to the front, near the stage. We waited and waited while a cat died [the Stereophonics]^[A]. Actually, I shouldn't be so harsh as they weren't that bad And there was this one girl near where we were waiting who looked like the happiest person in the world. Seriously. She looked like she was going to explode with joy. Not the loud kind of whooping joy but the internal "rising up inside and I will not let it escape" kind. It was beautiful to see and so I have to have some kind of grudging respect for the 'Phonics. Which is a shame - I feel dirty and wrong. We got through to a roadblock in the queue. Some stewards were stopping people from getting any closer and we were lucky enough to be stuck with some other people who spoke English. They were knobs. They were constantly swearing at the stewards to let them through and acting all matey with us. I didn't want anything to do with them but Paul is a little more forgiving so he spoke with them^[B]. Eventually we worked our way to the pitch after the Sterophonics had finished. The back of the pitch. Better than nothing. But, not better than the front so we pushed and barged through til we could get to the little path/gate thing that allowed us there. And we got there. Nirvana.
We got there before The Strokes were on so we managed to watch them in the pit. They were pretty good but the lack of material was really apparent. Blitzed through the album in some random order. It's not even a particularly long album and its even shorter live. I enjoyed it a lot though. The crowd seemed to like it too. Not amazingly into it though, the problem with festivals is that you don't necessarily get a load of fans there of each band (1). And it is difficult to sing along in a foreign language I guess. They chucked in a few Japanese words. Well they said "Arrigato" (Thanks) anyway.
It was still light as we waited for the headliners to the accompaniment of some random muzak. Not the style of the new Beta Band album on repeat (like at South Park) but some other stuff. There seemed to be a bit of a buzz about the place. Craig had never seen Radiohead before and I had spent much of the time after getting the tickets building up his expectations about how they were life changing live. Not sure he believed me but he was obviously looking forward to it. Me and Paul had seen them a few times so we spoke about our favourites, speculated about the set list and what it would be.
And. Then...

Everybody went mental. And I mean it, not in some blinkered "cos I was excited" way, they went mad. Radiohead came on, played the beginning of "There There" and, well, I had no choice but to float. Thousands of people started moving and I levitated. Phenomenal. I was wrong (look at (1)). They had all come for Radiohead - this was a Radiohead gig with support. I can't even remember the details that well but it was like a totally different experience from not only every Radiohead gig I have been to but also anything else I have ever done. They played a lot of songs. A lot of songs, especially for a festival set. And the crowd were well into it. Singing along, jumping and, most bizarre of all, swaying in time to the slower ones. You know, like primary school girls. Except thousands of them. Bizarre but amazing. I was well into it too, obviously. I even started the shushing for "Exit Music (for a film)" Like at South Park. The band looked really pleased too, I don't think they can get that reaction for most of their gigs (no way they could be such grumpy muppets if they did!). Thom spoke more Japanese than the rest of the bands that I saw that night and the crowd were very appreciative of it. In fact they were very appreciative of anything they did. The setlist was really weird and highlights the breadth of material they have at their disposal now. They played a lot of new stuff and it was a bit like a "Hail to the Thief" touring list but they played a few older ones. I was shocked at the lack of "Street Spirit" and "Airbag" but the other stuff was "not bad". They played a decent rendition of "Everything in its Right Place" too to finish the first part.

The highlight of South Park (sorry to keep mentioning it but those that know me will recognise what high regard I hold that in) was the encore of Creep. Not because it is their best song (far from it in fact) but because it felt very special. They don't play it normally and they even set it up last time with a bit of trickery. They played it again as the finisher and again it was a bit of a surprise. But it didn't feel as special because it was just "normal". It even took the sheen off of South Park for me and Paul. It was still absolutely fantastic though and the crowd went mental yet again. It was so very hot too - everybody was drenched. The gig finished and there was the most intense ovation I have heard in a long time. And then the real finisher came. Knockout blow. Fireworks. In the sky. Perfection. I cannot explain it and I don't know if it was a Radiohead thing or a Summersonic thing but it was perfect. And took the whole night up that little bit more.
The lights came on and I found Paul and Craig (the pit was fairly "fluid"). And Craig's face was totally different. Honestly, he looked totally drained of "something" and pale. As if he didn't quite understand what had happened to him. Eyes WIDE open. "Rabbit in your headlights", if you will. He clearly loved it beyond what he had thought and it was really visible. Different to that girl I mentioned but visible nonetheless.

[tbc]

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. I used to like the Stereophonics in a certain way. Their first album should have been excellent and it had some really good singles - but they worked as singles. They didn't seem to work within an album and I felt the same about the second album.↩

B. I do not seem to get on well with people at gigs - it may be an aversion to seeing other people have fun. Or it could be that some people become very selfish and entitled once they have had a few drinks and are surrounded by other people.↩</sup>

Everything In Its Right Place pt. 2

[cont...]

Not sure it was the greatest idea in the world to go without sleep but I am guessing adrenaline will keep me going for a while. Reminds me a bit of my friend who went to see Massive Attack and took some sleeping pills. And then promptly fell asleep at the gig. You know who you are!

Well, we got the train from the next station from me (Minami Koshigaya) all the way to Chiba Marine Stadium and waited outside the station for Craig (or Kuraigaru as we decided to call him that day).It was a fair walk from the station to the stadium so I needed a drink to cool myself down (sweltering to say the least - and this was no heat wave). I got a super-sweet coffee and an orange ice tea. Caffeine/sugar rush plus the most refreshing drink in the world^[A]. Nice.

We got into the stadium to hear some mad Japanese guy shouting on stage. The crowd were lapping it up and loving it. I didn't understand but he wore a dress so I think he was "wacky" or something. The crowd loved it but, to be honest, I was more worried about passing out due to the heat. Moved from the pit to the seats in the shade for the next (first) actual band...."The Polyphonic Spree". They were good, really got the crowd into it and the stadium was nowhere near full (it was 1030). There was also some crazy dancing from some of the crowd - it looked like they had honed it on "Dance Dance Revolution" with their four way movement. It was funny but also quite nice to watch. I reckon I might have to make their CD a purchase^[B]. I was also very close to the world of sleep which did not bode well for the rest of the day..... Standby beckoned.
We had to get moving after as the next band were not on for a while. And movement (usually) prevents sleep. Got some vending machine coffee - a wonderful mixture of caffeine and sugar. Just what I needed and always very close in Japan.
Made our way to the other stages and this is where the fact that this was a very Japanese festival hit home. The other stages were a fair distance away - crossing roads and such like, and they were in the Tokyo equivalent of the Birmingham NEC. And in no way was it dressed up in any other way. This was an exhibition centre and no mistaking. From the faux airport feel to the tacky posters and everything. Then we couldn't find the stages we wanted, just a load of doors and toilets - convenient but not required at the time (though caffeine is a diuretic). We found the stage, it was just beyond what I could generously describe as "stalls". But these stalls were like the ones you get at graduate fairs - orderly little compartments with little of the haphazard ambience of a festival. And it was indoors^[C]. We eventually worked out where the stages were and watched a couple of (to be honest AND fair) pretty non-descript acts: The Rapture and Mando Diao. We got some food and then watched a band called Interpol who were a little better. Paul actually managed to fall asleep in the gig - most impressive.

[tbc...]

---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Chiba Marine Stadium is a baseball stadium, and I never had any interest in baseball or going to watch it as a novelty. I did return to the station a few times as the festival was spread over both the stadium and "Makuhari Messe" which is an exhibition centre. Tokyo Game Show was held here and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend in 03, 04 and 05 (also 2011 as part of a separate trip). I may also have gone to the Tokyo Motorshow but I am not sure. Each time, it was ludicrously hot and humid, and each time, I had an orange ice tea to cool down - which was a nice tradition.↩

B. I did, indeed make the purchase of "The beginning stages of..." which was a great album and a good album to prepare lessons by.↩

C. I returned to Makuhari Messe to see an actual gig a few years later - Radiohead again. The atmosphere was awful and the airport feel really did not suit music of that scale. The smaller acts I saw at Summersonic were OK in that environment but I was genuinely disappointed by seeing Radiohead there.↩</sup>

Everything In Its Right Place pt.1

Tired. Moist. And euphoric. That's how I was two years ago after seeing Radiohead and its the same again. The reason for moistness is different, where at South Park it was because the heavens opened, here it was all about Hell being angered by all the happiness being spread by some band from Oxford.
Summersonic is a newish festival in Japan which is twinned in Tokyo and Osaka. The headliners this year were Blur and Radiohead - probably my two favourite bands going.
It was very hot and ridiculously humid. And a very long day.....

It all started on Saturday. I went into school and whacked the air conditioning up to full and then found out that, although my last lesson was cancelled, I had been given another one. This was a little annoying as there was a festival in Koshigaya that I wanted to go to. Fireworks, people, fun (maybe). It was gonna be great. What was annoying about it was that he didn't turn up anyway and i was warned he might not aswell. Grrr.

I got to the festival a little later than I wanted and the fireworks had started already. And the streets were totally packed - such that moving was tricky. Paul^[A] was meant to be coming at night so I had to be home to take any phonecalls to direct. This meant I could not see much of the fireworks as they were a little far away and also because I had to get back. The festival seemed fairly decent with a nice family feel to it but madly busy. Fireworks display went on for about an hour and a half.

I got home and waited for some Paul based contact -his flight was meant to land in Tokyo at about 830. I got a call at 910: "I'm still in Osaka, my flight was delayed".

As I have explained, the trains in Tokyo don't run that late so there was a definite possibility he could get stuck. A definite possibility. And I thought that was what had happened....until about 1245 when I got a phonecall. Paul, being the jammy little blagger that he is, managed to get to Koshigaya on the four last trains on each line he needed. That's mighty impressive for a first train trip in Tokyo^[B]. It was definitely a high risk manoeuvre though.

Anyway, we grabbed some food^[C] and then went back to mine for we had an early start - Chiba is not that close. Obviously sleep was a tricky one so we went for a walk once it got light. I wanted to leave the house by 730 so we grabbed some food and then went back to get ready.

[tbc]


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

<sup>A. Paul was (and depending on what has happened since, still is) a friend of mine from secondary school that had, through an element of good fortune and sacrifice, managed to get a free flight from London to "Asia" - and he selected Japan so that he could visit me. I mean visit Japan and stay with me.↩

B. I am not sure that even he knew what trains he got but from Haneda to Koshigaya would require the monorail to the main JR network and probably two JR trains followed by the Tobu line. That is hard enough for a newcomer in the daytime but he managed this at night although he tells me that he was made to run a few times!↩

C. For some reason, this is quite a strong memory of mine - possibly due to still being a little woozy with the awe that I had that he made it. We went to Matsuya - a gyudon chain which I personally preferred to Yoshinoya. Looking back, it must have been a strange experience for Paul to find a chain restaurant open at 1am and the simple service and great food (for not much money) that we got. I have a memory of him putting a lot of pickled ginger on his gyudon and telling me how much he liked ginger. Another teacher also popped in (by chance) and so, I guess from Paul's perspective, I looked pretty settled. I might be wrong, but in hindsight, I think I did settle and find things more comfortable than I had when I went to other places in the UK, for example university in Southampton.↩</sup>

Think Tank - Blur-------------------------------

A band would be expected to change a fair amount when they lose a quarter of its staff and Graham Coxon, as lead guitarist, was always a pretty major member of the band. But times change and it was with an odd mixture of surprise and expectedness that he left the band. It is actually quite difficult to say what difference this has made to the sound of the newest Blur album as it is always difficult to tell what their next album is going to sound like anyway.
I actually went out and bought the single - Out of Time (my first DVD single) without hearing it and was very pleasantly surprised. A nice simple track with similar qualities to the last two lead Blur singles (Beetlebum and Tender) in that it was a soft slow burner that boded well for the forthcoming album. The greatest strength that Blur possess is, not only their ability to develop from album to album, but also to provide a variety within their albums.
The songs vary from the quick, punky, one-minute "We've Got A File On You" to the slow burning "Out Of Time" taking in the groove of (the excellently named) "Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club" and simple charm of "Sweet Song". Individually, the songs are fantastic and the album is very well crafted with a nice progression throughout to make a satisfying whole.
There are some similarities between Think Tank and "13" with a lot of different sounds thrown in to make most songs quite complex in terms of pure instrumentation. I have to say the "sound" and production of the album is excellent. The type of noodling evident on both Think Tank and "13" is usually used to obscure a lack of focused songwriting (although I am a fan of soundscapes) but this is not really true of a "pop" band of the calibre of Blur. The beauty of this album is that each track would be similarly brilliant without the instrumentation and production.
I have not felt like this about an album for a long time and I have been repeat playing it for much of the week. Special mention must go to the packaging which is red book styled and similar, though smaller, than that used by Radiohead for thier "Amnesiac" album. It isn't as nice as that and limited edition packaging always causes storage issues but it is still nicer than a standard jewel case.