Fuji Rock, Sandra Cross, Frayz etc

fujilogo You might have checked about this at the top page of Fuji Rock Festival of smash-jpn.com, some of the acts for the 99 fest. were officially announced there.

    Green Stage (30,000)
  • BLUR
  • THE BLACK CROWES
  • BOREDOMS
  • THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
  • CATATONIA
  • HI-STANDARD
  • JOE STRUMMER
  • LIMP BIZKIT
  • OCEAN COLOUR SCENE
  • RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
  • ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT
  • SKUNK ANANSIE
  • STEVIE SALAS COLORCODE
  • UA
    WHITE STAGE(15,000)
  • ATARI TEENAGE RIOT
  • EASTERN YOUTH
  • HAPPY MONDAYS
  • THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
  • TRICKY
  • UNDERWORLD
    FIELD OF HEAVEN
  • PHISH for 3 days and appearing on Green stage as well)
  • FEMI KUTI for 1 day and on Green Stage as well)

I hear that there will be more acts added later, which probably are the headliners and I actually know who the organizer is approaching, but I could not tell you that far... The details of the ticket info as such will be announced in the mid April. But whatever the addition might be, the line-up appears just incredible this year.

The message of the boss at Smash mentioned that the ticket price has to go up a bit as there are more acts involved and more space is prepared than the last years which is reasonable.

I feel this is gonna be a real big one this year and especially I was amazed that the organiser has given one stage to this band, Phish, which I wanted to cover for ages. They are given an ideal location, time and space to show what they really are all about to the Japanese audience. I do understand that the record sales of Phish here is very poor and they have never been Japan either. Still they are getting this treatment... Surprising, innit? I think I really love the guys of Smash.

Sandra There is enough time to talk about this Fuji Rock Festival but there is something more important to me personally to let you know about that is my own project.

As I have reported here, I have been working on a jazz reggae project with Sandra Cross, a super vocalist of lovers rock, and Alan Weekes, a guitarist of Jazz Jamaica, and have released 2 albums by now, "Just A Dream"(96) and "Dreams Come True..."(98). Now there is another one added which is titled "Dreamix Vol.1".

This is a re-mix album by 6 Japanese DJs and each one of them worked on one track each. The 3 trax each were selected from the both albums and they sounds very different from the orioginals but great. In the original albums, mostly the sound was based on acoustic musical instrument and recorded mostly live. But, in this re-mixed one, the DJs gave completely different touch to the trax. Also you would make a picture of re-mix usually as something like heavy dance music, but this album does not give you that. You could dance if you want to, but this one is more like a listening album.

The DJs involved in this album are;
Kyoto Jazz Massive
DJ Watarai
Rock Kongs
Silent Poets
Utsumi
Yasushi Ide

This album is out on the 25th of March. If you are interested in, please do check at major stores.

Also I should not for get to let you know that Sandra Cross is starting a short tour from London. With a release of "Just A Dream" from my own label, Hana Records, there, she is having a gig at Tavernacle on the 4th of June and at Ronnie Scott's on the 6th. Then flying to Osaka, she is having a gig at Osaka Quatro on the 12th and at On Air West on the 14th. Do not miss these gigs... as live jazz reggae is pretty amazing.

Frayz Another project I actually initiated and taking a big part of was a recording of a new unit called Frayz by Ray Carless, one of the founder members of Incognito, and Fayyaz Virji, one of the hardcore members of Incognito after its re-formation in the mid 80's. I can tell you this album is gonna be a big hit here in Japan 'cause it sounds bloody good. Covering "Aquarious", "Another Star" or "Is It Love That We Are Missin'" in a very unique way, the guys recorded some wicked original trax like "Spirit of The Nile", "Frayz" and "Jazz Worrior in Bahia Grande" as such as well.

The title of the album is "Phase One" and it's release date is 28th of April. If you are into club and mad on jazz funk such Incognito, Jamirokuai, Brand New Heavies, do not miss this great album. In fact one of the trax called "Sunny" has been heavily played on radio from the beginning of March and some radio DJs mentioned this is gonna be a hit.

Also I have to mention that there is a strange co-incidence which I found out lately. I hear Incognito's new album is coming out on the 7th of April, three weeks before the release of the Frayz's album, but some members of the Incognito, at its best, have moved out and helped the recording of this Frayz. Like one of the best bassist, Randy "Hope" Tayler, now touring with Jeff Beck, is here and the trumpet player, Kevin Robinson, who arranged horns for Stevie Winwood, Tina Turner, Ray Charles as such, has credit as Frayz Horns as well as Graham Harvy, a keyboard player played some trax. I suppose these are the guys really defined the sound of Incognito and they all are here. This album could not be bad, you could guess, don't you?

Natalie Merchant The big thing for this week to me was to meet Natalie Merchant. I did an interview with her and saw her show at Nakano Sun Plaza. As usual, my interview is something like just a having a chat to see a musician's background and it was nice to find so many things in common. Obviously I did questioned a bit about music, but I suppose her music is not come from music if you know what I mean.

The show was great. Her voice was so beautiful and there was some kind of a halo around her on stage. What can I say?

written in London on the 28th of March 1999.

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