Nonreturner/Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re @ Mojo's, 10/04/08
Two superlative musical experiences in a single night is a rarity, no less in the mecca of rewarding and edifying art that is Columbia, Missouri. So only minutes after having my perspective on the live experience thoroughly redefined by Living-Legend-of-The-Blues/Member-of-the-Rock-&-Roll-Hall-of-Fame Buddy Guy, I was only mildly grateful to find that I hadn't missed this "all-girl Japanese band" opener to which several sources had vaguely alluded in the weeks preceding Saturday's Nonreturner (ex-Barn Owl) release party. Let's go play-by-play:
Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, or つしまみれ (duh), conducts a puzzling soundcheck wherein the ten or so people in the vicintiy of the stage are never entirely sure whether the actual performance has begun or not. The band abruptly leaves the stage, only to return minutes later to the soundtrack of what I'll guess is some massively popular Japanese pop tune. So it's an entrance. No bowing or gift-giving, but the guitarist does unfurl a Japanese flag covered in indistinguishable scribbles. Autographs or something. Guitarist and now apparent lead vocalist Mari introduces the trio as Tsushimamirefromtokyojapanyay!, and there are maybe twelve people now standing within fifteen feet of the band.
The hour that followed amounted to the most purely enjoyable and entertaining thing I've ever seen on a stage, the band high-kicking, fist-pumping, high-fiving, and generally blowing the place to adorable little Japanese pieces. Two (2) encores were played (Two encores. In a bar. There were two encores played in a bar. By an opener.) at the permission of their American liaisons and the dire insistence of the rabid and thoroughly unhinged audience that swelled to a stupefied mass by the second verse of the opening song. Mojo's seemed only inches from exploding into flames when Mari, her mic stand having finally given out for good, jumped into the audience and reduced the crowd to complete and total hysteria. (This is exactly the kind of inhibition-annihilating experience that I imagine a Girl Talk show would be if the whole concept wasn't so contrived by now)
And the music itself was just as good, if more than slightly bizarre to American ears - one tune apparently called "My Brain Is A Shortcake" was a convincing mock-up of Pavement's "Conduit for Sale!" except for the fact that it was totally incomprehensible. Bassist Yayoi and drummer Mizue (...that is correct) were both startlingly capable musicians, and guitarist Mari had a vintage blue Jaguar with matching headstock, which has to count for something. Oh, and they're apparently under contract with Cartoon Network for the soundtrack to some kind of Powerpuff Girls thing that did not translate whatsoever.
It seems Nonreturner also had something to do with this show. Bummer for them that their release party set was ultimately cut in half so TSMMR could crash their party for an additional fifteen minutes, but the fans had spoken.
Some of the new material (newer than the new release itself) sounded excellent on first listen; specifically, the one with that really great line - "If it's beautiful at all, you're standing too close to it" - made me wonder how I'd ever missed the Radiohead comparison. "Awash," the opening track from the new release, was too good to cut so short, but time was obviously at a premium. Bummer.
Nonreturner
[review by Zach Noland; most photos by Meghan Sundermeier]
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