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Cafes Events Meta Music

PLAY 01

After having such a great time coming up with tracks for this past Friday’s PLAY 00 (I used “00” because it was a bit of a test for me) — see this post for the complete set list — I’ve decided to do it again this coming Friday (December 4). If you have nothing better to do, then hey, come on down to Cafe Pause in Ikebukuro for PLAY 01 to listen to a selection of tracks by me, from 21:00 to 23:00.

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Cafes Events Meta Music

Set and Playlist for PLAY 00

So yes, as I threatened last week, I did my PLAY two hours set at Cafe Pause this past Friday, and had a great time doing it. I didn’t make a big deal out of it because this was more a test run for me, and I did find a few things I need to take care for next time (longer cord, adjust bass on the sound system). But yes, there will be a next time, and more on that in my next post. I’d like to thank Hiro for dropping by and spending the evening with me (and taking the photo above), as well as Jason and his crew for coming by before the end.

As promised, I’m including here the entire playlist of my set, although keep in mind that the order is only 90-95% accurate because the software I was using, Djay, crashed at the end. The reason it crashed is because it doesn’t seem to want to record a 2-hour set, as I’ve tried to record my set twice after that, and it crashed every time. Since I did want to share the music, I instead managed to record it in two parts.

PLAY 00 (Part 1) (58 MB)

1. Tori Punk – “Sensor”
2. Beck – “Broken Drum (Boards Of Canada Remix)”
3. RJD2 – “Counseling (Instrumental)”
4. Bloc Party – “Banquet (Cornelius Remix)”
5. Erlend Oye – “Sheltered Life (with Soviet)”
6. Arling & Cameron – “Shake It”
7. Holland – “Bloodbath”
8. Mark Robinson – “100% Guaranteed”
9. Air Miami – “Airplane Rider”
10. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Cassettesingle”
11. Bran Van 3000 – “Jean Leloup’s Dirty Talk”
12. Czerkinsky – “Natacha (Remix)”
13. April March – “Mon petit ami”
14. Jacques Dutronc – “Et moi, et moi, et moi”
15. Belle & Sebastian – “Legal Man”
16. The Gruesomes – “Stop It, Girl”
17. Dog Day – “Sleeping On Couches”
18. Thurston Moore – “Cindy (Rotten Tanx)”
19. Aiha Higurashi – “Platonic”
20. Elastica – “Line Up”

PLAY 00 (Part 2) (45 MB)

21. Komeda – “More Is More”
22. Ladytron – “Playgirl (Tobias Newmann Mix)”
23. Freezepop – “Science Genius Girl”
24. Le Tigre – “Nanny Nanny Boo Boo (Junior Senior Remix)”
25. Metric – “Help I’m Alive”
26. Cat Power – “Love & Communication”
27. Charlotte Gainsbourg – “5:55”
28. Four Tet – “Twenty Three”
29. The Books – “Tokyo”
30. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man – “Romance”
31. Cake on Cake & My Lost Era – “Les souvenirs suédois”
32. Les Hommes – “Intraspettro”

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Cafes Events Meta Music

PLAY 00

I’ve been threatening to DJ — well, “music select” — somewhere for a while now, and I’ve decided to finally make it happen this week. On Friday (November 27) I’m introducing something I’m calling PLAY, in which I’ll be setting up my laptop in a corner somewhere at Cafe Pause, and make people listen to a selection of tracks by me, from 21:00 until 23:00 (when the cafe closes). This is not an event proper, it’s just a casual invitation to come hang out and listen to (what I think are) some good tracks. I don’t know if this will become a regular thing, it might, and I may invite others to join me in the “selection” duties in the future.

If you’re wondering how I’m doing this, today I found what looks like the perfect software for my needs, something called Djay. All I wanted was something that would let me transition tracks, and also allow for pre-cueing, which I’ll be able to do courtesy of my ZOOM H2, using it as a USB audio interface. If this all works as well as I’m hoping it will, I can also see us recording a live episode of Radio OK Fred this way.

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Magazines Meta Stores Tokyo Walking

Tokyo’s Best Magazine Stores

A few months ago, Jeremy Leslie over on his MagCulture blog posted a detailed — and crowdsourced — map of London’s best magazine stores. At the time I thought it was a terrific idea, and wanted to create something similar for Tokyo. Sure, I already have a few I know, but the best way for this to work is if I can get as many contributions as possible.

So please, let me know what your favorites are — either by leaving a comment or by emailing me. I’ll compile the results, and create a proper map on Google Maps, just like Jeremy did for London.

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Events Meta

PauseTalk Vol. 35 Participants

It was indeed a terrific return to PauseTalk (Vol. 35) last night after a skip month, and I’d like to thank everyone — all 30 of you — who attended (and the manager of the cafe thanks everyone for all the drinking). If you haven’t already, do take a look at the great gallery of portraits taken by Max Hodges — he didn’t get everyone, but it’s certainly a nice representation.

Below is a partial list of those who attended — if you are not there, please let me know and I’ll add you right away. The next edition (Vol. 36) happens in three weeks, on December 7.

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PauseTalk Tonight

A friendly reminder that tonight (Monday, November 16) is this month’s edition of PauseTalk (Vol. 35), the first one in over two months. The official session kicks off at 20:00 at Cafe Pause, but feel free to join us earlier, from 19:00, to have a listen at Tokyo Realtime‘s latest audio tour, covering Akihabara. So far, on the Facebook event page alone, we have 19 attending and 15 “maybes,” so looks like it’ll be a good one.

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Art Cafes Meta

Cafe Pause Poster Series: Luis Mendo

I’m very happy to be able to share the latest entry in my “Cafe Pause Poster Series” (#5), a contribution by Amsterdam-based art director Luis Mendo. You know about the Tokyo map he just produced for the next issue of Journal de Nîmes, and now here’s also his homage to the cafe. The concept revolves around the seats found in the cafe — there are 24 (all pictured), with 23 people shown, the idea being that the 24th customer is you!

The poster should occupy the entrance of the cafe sometime this week, but unfortunately won’t be ready for tomorrow night‘s PauseTalk (Vol. 35).

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Next Week’s PauseTalk

As I announced earlier this month, the November edition of PauseTalk (Vol. 35) is set to happen this coming Monday, on the 16th, at Cafe Pause. This is a big return of sorts, since it’ll be the first edition in over two months (Vol. 34 was held in early September), and I’m definitely ready for some great PT-style discussions.

The official start will still be at 20:00, but from 19:00 we’ll be playing the new Tokyo Realtime Akihabara audio tour — great chance to find out exactly what these tours sound like.

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Events Meta

PauseTalk Update

Wanted to update everyone on what’s happening with PauseTalk Vol. 35. It is not happening tonight (first Monday of the month) because I didn’t want to have one during the design week, and since the cafe is not available the following Monday, the November edition is set to happen on the 16th. This will be the first edition since September, so hope to see many of you there!

Also, we’ll be doing something a bit different. The official start time will still be at 20:00, but from 19:00 we will be playing the recently released Tokyo Realtime Akihabara tour over the speakers, so come early to get a feel for what the tour has to offer. Its creator, Max Hodges, will be on hand as well.

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Design Meta

On Design Is Next Week

Just a note to say that this month’s edition of my “On Design” column for The Japan Times is pushed back a week, and will be published on Thursday of next week (October 29), on the eve of Tokyo Design Week.