I've Never Trusted Neatness

So I'm learning that I don't keep a very neat house. My sister is coming to town this week for SXSW, and I'm really excited about it, but there are a thousand things to take care of before she gets here. And I'm making absolutely no progress on it. Heck, I even started a blog instead of vacuuming!

Anyway, it will all be fine. We'll have a great time. And it really won't matter if I dust the window blinds. What will matter is getting into the shows we want to see. I am really hoping to get into Japan Nite, which is actually a misnomer this year, as there are two Japan Nites. Friday, the big name is the pillows. Their moment in the limelight came when director Kazuya Tsurumaki chose to use Pillows tunes as the primary soundtrack for his aliens and adolescence anime series, FLCL. All of a sudden, the pillows were widely known on this side of the Pacific. This was probably the first (and only) time in history that otaku were cooler than rock hipsters. I've been listening to Runners High and Happy Bivouac a lot lately, getting ready for the show, and all I can say is that if these songs were in English, we wouldn't have needed Franz Ferdinand and The Killers and the like to save Rock and Roll. It wouldn't have needed saving in the first place. I really hope they play "Kim Deal" during their show, but I suspect they'll probably limit their set to stuff from their most recent album, Good Dreams, and FLCL standards like "Ride on Shooting Star" and "Little Busters" (not that there's one damn thing wrong with that!)

Saturday night comes Bonnie Pink, who is probably my favoritest Japanese singer ever. Of course, I found out about her from another anime. ("It's Gonna Rain" was the memorable closing theme during the second season of Rurouni Kenshin.) However, quality songwriting, tremendous musicianship and her clear, inviting voice have kept me along for the long haul. I'm a bit conflicted about her latest album, Even So, which feels like a throwback to her best album, Let Go, and is every bit as good as Present, which apparently was a big-seller for Bonnie. I enjoy listening to it every time I put it in the CD player (which is frequently) but it doesn't have the memorable standout tracks of previous releases.

One pleasant surprise is that I've been rediscovering Just a Girl, a wonderfully diverse album with a solid line-up of songs. Some of the best ones on the disc, "Communication" and "Just a Girl" are completely in English, so just because you're reading this, don't think there's nothing for you at the show. (In fact, I'd argue that many of her English lyrics are better than some of the stuff passing as songwriting on American radio these days.) I hope she doesn't lock herself into only singing English songs for the audience, though. We'll need to hear some old standbys like "It's Gonna Rain", "Thinking of You", "Inu to Tsuki", "Nemuarenai Yoru" and "Tonight, the Night", as well as the English songs. (I'm hoping for "Forget Me Not" and "Wildflower".)

Anyway, as SXSW will be taking up a big part of the next week for me, I'm sure I'll post more on this later.