Superdeluxe: Tokyo's Experimental Music Heaven

Last night I got out to Superdeluxe, Tokyo's biggest venue for experimental/progressive music, for what was unbelievably the first time.  Remember, I moved here from Iowa City, where there is a healthy, but still quite small and institutionally homeless experimental music scene.  In Tokyo, what you get is this:



The various spazzy bands last night played in front of a triple-projector setup, between two sweet-sounding stacks.  The video, moreover, was being produced and mixed live by this great trio of performers:



There was also great, live-control lighting, great seating, friendly crowd . . . and this is a free monthly event.  I loved the tight-knitness of Iowa City, and there were some really gifted musicians there, but this is on a whole other level.  I have honestly gotten a little jaded about Tokyo a bit too quickly, probably because I've been so purely focused on my research that I've not seen quite enough of what the city has to offer - but this was a real mind-bender. Remember, I'm used to seeing weird music in people's basements, standing next to old paint cans, drinking forties out of paper bags.

But man, this is Tokyo.

(Oh, and the bands were great too.  Stephane Shibatsuji-Perrin really showed up on the hacked light-sensor toy guitar.)