A few days after I arrived in Tokyo, it turned out that my friends' band "The Ricecookers" was having Japan Tour and I was able to catch a show in Shibuya Lamama, Tokyo. Upon their request, I'd made a few visual pieces to pump up the audience before the gig...
Even before the door opens, there was line and once inside, it was fully packed. I'm so proud of you guys!
You can check out the visuals collage I made- they played them right before the band's appearance. HERE, HERE and HERE!
These are pre-edited visuals, unlike my usual Live VJ, using MIDI and good old Motion Dive Tokyo... but there are not many venues that has projectors and space to do it nowadays...
Just had a shoot with Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals, my all-time favorite band since I was in teens. Having worked with many "celebrities", I rarely have star-struck, but this time I was like "....woooow." But Gruff was just as how I imagined, a very warm, humble, and thoughtful man.
I was proud to capture the voice I've been familiar with for past 12 years; the voice heard through discman on the train in Japan with teenage angst, the voice blasted out at the backyard of the dorm at party in California, the voice played on car stereo on the road trip with my friends, or the voice soothed me in my apartment in Brooklyn with some solitude. Memories, Memories, Memories...
This is the new project whose theme is "Language and Music", which my buddy Shawn has been developing. Gruff was the third person for the interview after a couple of another famed musicians, but he was indeed a perfect fit, especially given that he's heavily rooted in Welsh culture and language.
More details for the project to be announced soon with the trailer of what we shot, but it will definitely be a note-worthy project! Language and Music, and communication induced by them, has been a key theme for myself as well, so I am excited to be involved.
Next day we went to BAM to see his first feature documentary Gruff directed: "Seperado!"
インタビューの内容は「Language and Music（言語と音楽）」についてで、詳細はまだ明かせませんが大ざっぱに言うと様々なミュージシャンに音楽がどのように言語的（コミュニケーション的）役割を果たすかをインタビューする一大プロジェクト。今回インタビューしたグリフ・リースは３人目。このプロジェクトにはこれからもどんどん関わっていく（はず）です！
Supplementing to what's on the website... this was initially inspired by the earthquake in Japan. After participating and attending several series of charity events as volunteer, there are something that was still stuck in my heart. It felt like a scar attacked by invisible enemies.
I couldn't resist creating something of my own, not knowing which direction it'd take.
When I showed my rough cut, my friend Tomo has suggested me to send it Yell Art, whose agenda matched with what I was doing then.
After series of trials and errors, I've completed the piece and showed it to Shawn, the president of BNS Sessions, and RamKirin, one of the composer/vocal of the track "I AM",
and they applauded me saying this is exactly what they envisioned upon making of the track.
So here it is, the visual I made without knowing its goal, using motion graphic all on my own for the first time. Hope you take a breath to enjoy, and feel a moment of compassion to those who are lost and suffering.
