shanelester.com / blog

Playing at SuperDeluxe Tonight

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:00:20 +0900

I’ll play some music at SuperDeluxe from 10pm to midnite tonight. I believe it’s a free event so come along and join if you’d like. I was invited by Ben of Chroma*Fresh / DaDaKingZ fame. Thanks!

VideoMusic

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:04:36 +0900

We’re doing an event called VideoMusic this Saturday, March 28. It’s at Roppongi Hills, Mado Lounge on the 52F. Riow Arai, Hiroshi Watanabe, and Jemapur will play live. We’ll be doing visuals for the whole thing. It should be a great time. Starts at 10pm and goes till 5am. Admission is ¥3500. Come check it.

Stars

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:44:14 +0900

Just found this silly photo of us taken before lecturing at Apple store Ginza this past December. Those were some heavy and overactive days in the conclusion of last year. Gino is missing from this particular shot.

Nothing Has Changed

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:58:03 +0900

Amazing. Make sure to watch all, in order.

This happened a long time ago but...

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:17:34 +0900

Tha@ggg exhibition video

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:47:54 +0900

For those in other cities/nations who couldn’t attend the recent Tha/Yugo Nakamura Ginza Graphic Gallery exhibition, you can visit virtually through this Vimeo video.

Jemapur’s Evacuation: The Visuals

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:17:38 +0900

Here’s a taste of what you will get on the DVD of Jemapur’s new album, Evacuation, to be released on November 26th. Thanks to all our directors: Kosai Sekine, Max Hattler, and Genki Ito.

I’m quite excited about this release, Jemapur being a very talented friend who I introduced to the lab. Although I didn’t really get to participate in the production of this album (got sidetracked on “real” work), I hope to watch as Jemapur’s music takes him to more and more interesting places. There’s already strong signs of this, as he’s been invited to play at Kokugikan in a high-profile event (I’m sure it’s his biggest ever) that Hifana was featured in last year.

Super Entertainment

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:52:44 +0900

I almost never blog anymore, but this is just crazy ridiculous. I only just found out about Emily from Neojaponisme. She also has her own アメブロ where I found out that she is a Tujiko Noriko fan! Here is her DVD. This whole thing is just blowing my mind on all kinds of levels.

I’ll be there for Tokyo.Ten in LA

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:06:51 +0900

I’ll be setting up the Los Angeles Tokyo.Ten show at Nucleus Gallery, which is in Alhambra, very near my old turf of Pasadena, where I lived while attending Art Center. It could be a little bit strange and definitely a natsukashii experience. I’ll also play a set of some of my fave Japanese music at the opening party on the night of November first. I am not at all familiar with the LA scene but hopefully I will see some ppl show up for it! If you are an LA-based J-phile I can at least promise you will like what you see (and hear). Some more info here.

The Fruits of Labor

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:42:04 +0900

Transient Editing Bay

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:04:50 +0900

Starting with some gear in Tokyo:

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Canberra, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia (new location)

Bangkok, Thailand

Sydney and Kuala Lumpur not pictured.

A Muxtape for Summer

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:24:34 +0900

I’ve updated my muxtape, though not with particularly summeresque songs. There are three tracks in there featuring Togawa Jun, who I was extremely lucky to see live recently, and to be able to buy a copy of one of the limited edition Togawa Legend 3 disc sets that was released a few days after that show. That’s been sustaining my interest, as well as Apogee and Perigee, a very rare disc featuring some wonderful YMO-side-project-styled 80’s J-pop including some tracks helmed by Jun, which I was able to find at Janis–where else? And, yeah, so there are tracks in there too that have nothing to do with Togawa Jun. Anyhow, have a listen, and if someone out there enjoys the music as much as I do, then it’s worth it.

My Dreams Come True

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:22:46 +0900

Yesterday one of my recent fantasies of getting to perform on LCD screen came true! Somehow we hooked one up for the Tokyo.Ten live show. Thanks Anthony from W+K and Telmic. Looking back at the photos from this show it looked like a lot of fun, but actually on the day I was two days almost without sleep and with one of the biggest headaches of my life. To the point where I was getting seriously worried about brain damage. I stuck some photos on the W+K blog too.

Back Travelogue 1 – Paris

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:02:11 +0900

I intended to blog my European trip, but instead, I delayed so long that I ended up never writing anything for it. It turns out that when you’re on the longest summer vacation of the last 4-5 years of your life (pathetic, yes) the last thing you are motivated to do is open up your laptop and organize digital photos, etc. Some from Paris, after the fact:

Tokyo.Ten live show coming up 07.24

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:21:49 +0900

Official PR blurb:

W+K東京LABは2003年の立ち上げ以来、HIFANA、高木正勝、AFRA、DJ Uppercutの作品を、ほぼすべてのタイトルで、DVD＋CDという形態でリリースしつづけている。ハイブリッドをコンセプトに、さまざまな要素を融合させた音楽をリリースするだけにとどまらず、早くから音楽を軸としたオーディオビジュアル体験を創出することに着目。今、ここ東京でしか生まれない表現を追求しつづけてきた。レーベル設立5周年、記念すべき10枚目のリリースはDVD+BOOK+BLOG で構成された“TOKYO.点”。このリリースをセレブレイトするライブイベントを、LIQUIDROOMで開催する。ここで、新しい体験を垣間見ることができる。ここから、新しい旅がはじまる。つぎの“点”へ。

Since W+K Tokyo Lab was launched in 2003, we’ve continued to produce CD+DVD releases for our artists Hifana, Takagi Masakatsu, Afra, and DJ Uppercut. Embracing the concept of hybrid, all our releases have been experiments in audio-visual expression and beyond, while striving to create a new experience that could only be born in Tokyo. Now that we’ve come 5 years along in this journey, this month we present our tenth release, a DVD+Book+Blog, called Tokyo.点, and to celebrate it, we’ll hold our biggest and best party at Liquidroom, featuring live performances by five of our artists. Come and share this experience with us as we kick off a new phase in the journey of W+K Tokyo Lab.

Tokyo.Ten : Live
W+K Tokyo Lab 5th Anniversary
2008/07.24/THU
Liquidroom
OPEN : 18:00 START : 19:00
Ticket : ￥3,000 (tax in, no drink)

Live Performances by:
Hifana
DJ Uppercut
Afra & The Incredible Beatbox Band
Jemapur
鎮座DOPENESS + Kochitola Haguretic Emcee’s

Thanks to our sponsors:
Amana Group, Claska, and special visual technology partner, Crescent.

Seriously though, this is gonna be an awesome event. The first time since our founding that all the lab artists (well, unfortunately one couldn’t join actually) will be performing together in one show. We’re planning some cool visual stuff for the show as well. Come check it!