(the) Road to the Deep East

Even in a city of limited Internet access, where even ADSL is not popular, there are some ways to enjoy music. Some young readers may not believe, but suppose that you were a teenager Bon-Jovi fan in 80s living in Texas whose father is a famer. So, while I was recuperating in such a place, I could reach at music and it was almost the only way to console myself.

Above all, m.o.v.e's MEGA BEST, which gathered selected 15 songs from 10 years history and 20 remixed songs was literary best, and I really regret that I overlooked this group with a prejudice that this is only a group for Initial D theme. ( I've already seen them at a event with AAA before and bought their previous album 'GRID' before , though.)

10th Anniversary MEGA BEST(DVD付) (2007/10/03) m.o.v.e details

Especially, I was impressed by their recent work 'SPEED MASTER' feat. 8ball, and the remix songs from #5 Burning Dance(Glitch remix) , #6 BREAK IN2 THE NITE(Mashup remix), #7 Freaky Planet(Discotique remix). Remix songs , especially the ones from avex are always crap, but this album is not the case. Above all, the Diecotique remix of 'freaky planet' is now one of my favorite songs in my life. Now I can understand the reason the composer and keyboardist of this group, t-kimura is sometimes admired as the god from all DTM amateur artists.

So, first thing I decided to go after I recovered was to go to the concert of m.o.v.e. Fortunately, I could get the ticket for the concert held at Shibuya Quatro, and I went there. Indeed, it was almost 7months that I go to a live concert .


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(click the link to read the rest)

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I won't you bother you with a freaky long entry with minutest details to day, so first of all, here is a track list.


1.platinum(Drum'n BASS REMIX)
2.DOG FIGHT

3.DISCO TIME
4.Systematic Fantasy

5.Key Ring
6.Painless PAIN
7.ANGEL EYES
8.medley (around the world - Rage your dream - words of the mind )

9.REALITY
10.GHETTO BLASTER
11.come together
12.Romancing Train
13.blue juwel
14.How To See You Again
15.Blazin' Beat
-encore-
16.Noizy Tribe
17.FLY ME SO HIGH
18.SUPER SONIC DANCE
-Double Encore-
19.Gamble Rumble　

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And some details.

-The show started with remixed plutinum and DOG FIGHT, and the audience was crazed soon even though they look like over 30. Before I came to this concert, first thing I was interested in was how the audience of m.o.v.e concert is like. Are they young? Or are they scary hot rodders influenced by Initial D manga? But the answer was very simple. They look like very ordinary persons. But as the group has a history of 10 years, they looked a bit elder, or matured.

-the mc motsu colored his hair blue for this concert. And yuri was putting on some black dress and white cardigan. According to motsu, he changed her hair color in each concert hall (Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo). Speaking of motsu, he calls himself 'eternal 18 year-old', but I guess he is now nearly 40. I worried about the future of motsu at 20 anniversary then, but he may be in a skinhead then.

-Between the songs, m.o.v.e members, mainly yuri and motsu told us a very humorous episodes of this group. The medley includes 'around the world' was from the songs in eary era of this group which they played after a very long time. Yuri's pitch was a bit changed in ten years, so t-kimura thought they need to arrange the pitch. But he also thought it is too much to rent a studio for it. Then they went to karaoke box. They planned to finish it in 10 minutes, but it took 2 hours – because Yuri began to order beer there. (In fact, the pitch of some songs was lowed, especially the part of Disco Time, starts from 'Waiting for the disco time”.

-After they thanked 10-years support from fans, motsu imagined what they were doing if they weren't in m.o.v.e. Motsu concluded that he must be a helpless middle-aged jobless person who hung around Kashiwa City, Chiba, and t-kimura, who was a punk boy 10 years ago, must be working at obscene shops in Kabukicho.

-As m.o.v.e is already famous in oversea for their very unique style, there were some guests from oversea. There were some from Britain, and Thailand who requires a song from their old album.

-As a souvenir, all of the audience who collected the questionnaire could get a handmade CD-R with a unpublished song from m.o.v.e. (I don't know its title, it was J-POP meets-techno esque song, which reminds me some early works like around the world or supersonic dance.

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It was very good concert, with the heat from O-30 people. I was at the back, far from the stage, but when the Disco Time started, I found the necessity to join the moshpit. Unfortunately, the floor was crowded so I couldn't , but I enjoyed the heat of the audience after 7 months.

Especially, I was impressed by motsu's stage acting. In gamble rumble, he says 'モツMC 超ティーンエイジャー、人類最速ラップ芸者',(Motsu mc super teenager, fastest rap geisha of all human beings), but deserves to call himself as such. I can't imagine the human beings who can rap Japanese language except for Motsu.

And through these concerts, I could also enjoy the change of their style in 10years from dance, trance-like songs like 'SUPERSONIC DANCE' to the rock-esque song 'How to see you again', and very J-POP like ballad like 'ANGEL EYES'.

Afer 10 years since their debut, now Yuri , who was literary teenager then became elder than motsu of eternal teenager, but these change may imply that even after 10 years, at 20 anniversary, they may be searching for their original style. And I may feel the heat from O-40 audience then.

*Live DVD of this concert will be released on March 19th.

m.o.v.e 10 YEARS ANNIVERSARY MEGALOPOLIS TOUR 2008 LIVE DVD at SHIBUYA CLUB QUATTRO (2008/03/19) m.o.v.e 商品詳細を見る

Anyway, m.o.v.e is a good example of rap music imported from United States over 10 years ago evolves into a very unique music mixed with other traditional styles in Japan. In the next entry of this series, I'd like to introduce another example of this case.


(Series #1)
(Series #2)(this entry)
(Series #3)
(Series #4)