Inushiki aka Doggystyle – Mafuyu no Rastafarism

Midwinter Rastafarianism

Lyrics:

Music:

let’s get on the beat together,
let’s get appeal for the peace.
let’s get on the beat together,
let’s get appeal for the peace.
let’s get on the beat together,
let’s get appeal for the peace.
let’s get on the beat together,
let’s get appeal for the peace.

I had no money, so I gambled my life
The slot machine did not smile for me
From the platform at dusk, I gazed at the moon
The money, well, from tomorrow on, what should I do?
The harvest moon in the sky, flickering homesickness
“What will you do?”
The waltz of regret
Surging waves all the while, all the while, of money*
In a flash, disappears money
The train rushes into the building, and off come the passengers
it’s not loaded completely, that is to say just me
One time christian easily changing cars turning completely into a wanna-be Buddhist
A procession of lambs who have lost their words
Always soberly pitched forward
Our lives are like novels
I’ll ride the usual chill-um later!
The doors to the next train to come in are opened
It’s the last train so it’s gonna be packed one way or another
Thinking inside the traveling JR
On the long, continuous tracks, where is that person from before looking?
Where my life? Where my voice? Answering one’s own questions
Where my life?
Repeating in this beat
Daily allowance tied to food
Rasta-man Vibration GET in a dozen chimes
Frightfully high tension
Did you have a dream?
If so, next is the action of reality!

*I think this is kind of a play on words, he uses 間に before that, and then changes it to マニー, has the same pronunciation, but the meaning is that he needs money so desperately that everything circling in his mind comes back to that, even the words

Plastic Tree – Kanshou Diary

Sentimental Diary

Lyrics: Sato Kenken
Composition: Nakayama Akira
Arrangement: Plastic Tree

Elegy   an aacceleratingreverberation
Melody   as though singing to oneself every day
What wont abate are dreams   they simply wont stop
While fading behind closed eyes

The coming distance is drawn   as if carved in response
No future   blue sky   chasing after it   now   with you

The passing night struggles   in the form of connected words
Colorless scenery   colored   Our actions

The untouchable afterimage is what is sorrowful
Eternity   You   Like we’re being separated
What is painful is simply incomprehensible
Love fallen ill   but not vanishing

Drifting in darkness comes to mind   submerged in reaching shadows
A nameless voice and impulse   in me   now   begins to question

The passing night returns   like a string of spun words
In an unsolvable lie

That day   the window softly yawned
Swaying   Suddenly   pushing the curtains
Next to me   you also suddenly yawned
In this room   Scattered fragments of me

The coming distance is drawn   as if carved in response
No future   blue sky   I simply chased after it   with you

Various choices day after day    words connected disappear
Changing colors   tears

Repeated wanderings   heaped in my arms
From an unwished for basket   I   am reaching out my arms

Perhaps   Like burnable trash   If tomorrow, the world were to end
This colorless me will   be dyed   Our actions

Quruli – Fuyu no Bourei

Winter’s Apparition

Lyrics: Shigeru Kishida
Music: Shigeru Kishida

It’s left aside when I’m not there anymore
Since I’m not doing the cleaning and laundry anymore
This has already happened with the last three people
Don’t upset things more than they are

And then, soon enough, I’ll come to meet you
So just wait, and don’t get upset about it
Like a pole obstructing the strength to push,
Like a stone blocking blood vessels

From compiled old albums
Ghosts begin to stir
Come on home, the rigid palace
It’s like sneaking away to throw it all out

In that case, what should I do with nothing
Where will the naked king go
Hindered by flab and unable to move
Where is the invisible future

Plastic Tree – Rakka

Falling Petals

Lyrics: Arimura Ryutaro

Composition: Hasegawa Tadashi

Arrangement: Plastic Tree

Bereft of feeling   how appropriate, that   I’ll try a song, this
A gradation as though I’m struggling on to the furthest reaches, dawn now breaks
How many thousands of times have I felt like this?   even self-enlightenment is pitiful
But today is   no, but today is also   and again, tomorrow will also be like this

There are choices before my eyes   I choose self-interested sentiments
It is not right or wrong   it will simply pass by   every day

The falling, scattering flowers are completely bloomed, where does the wind carry my heart away to?
Chasing memory and forgetting difficulty   a vivid mess only I can burst

As the slightly off second hand of the clock advances, I unexpectedly realize I slept for two or three minutes
Absent-mindedly   existence slips away   disappearing sensation   do you understand?

Forgetting the conclusion, logic*   both fate and self-criticism, clean up*
Is this necessary or unnecessary   questioning   every day

The season loses self-control   transient   words in the wind   wont stop rustling
Happy sadness   I wonder if it is without end   while bustling,   the dream’s nightly rain closes

Hey, why wont someone stay by my side forever
If it were like that,   even these foolish moves would have some meaning
Hey,   wont you please feel free to dance as you like
Already,   however, we’re out of time   the stage lights go out   hollowness

The falling, scattering flowers are completely bloomed, where does the wind carry my heart away to?
Chasing memory and forgetting difficulty   it’s so vivid, but   who might you be?
In the end, knowing the painted sky can’t be touched   goodbye, someday
Falling into the world

*I almost want to say this could be an English play on words, in which logic is pronounced like lonely and clean up is pronounced like joker…but Ryutaro doesn’t usually play with English, so I could be hallucinating it, but feel free to mentally insert as you wish

Quruli Live Report 2004/11/3 – Nanzan University School Festival

Was linked to an old Quruli live report by a friend, and decided to type it out as I read it. It’s 1am now, and I’ve been in transit all across the country today, so it might not be the best, but it was fun to do, so I couldn’t stop. I can sleep now, though. Enjoy.

The location is the gymnasium of Nanzan University in Nagoya Showa ward.
Assigned seating tickets were distributed from 12 o’clock on, but showed up after 2, and ended up with a seat on the 2nd floor…
I was on the left side of the stage.
From my seat on the 2nd floor, it was pretty far.

While waiting, I could hear the sound of their rehearsal.
I think they played Suichuu Motor, Bara no Hana, some new song, and Hometown maybe…?

The concert was scheduled to start at 6:30, but didn’t end up starting until 7.
Ugh, man, we’ve been waiting!
This afternoon was DEDICATED solely to Quruli!

I said something like “today, I’m on Sato-kun’s side!” or so it seemed from the silhouette, “what? isn’t that person a little tall?”
The lights shining on Quruli surprised me!
Tasshin-san and Sato-kun’s positions were reversed!
WHY~?!

And then Kishida-kun’s flashy t-shirt also surprised me (haha).
It was a funky pink, and light blue, and yellow spray-painted thing.

01. Wandervogel
Uwa! The very first (TN: in Nagoya-ben! learned a new word, doshoppatsu) is “Wangel (TN: first characters and last characters from Wandervogel combined)?!!”
YES-(>_<)!!
I saw it last time, at the 2000 Nanzan school festival, but for me, it was the new Quruli song.
At that time, Wangel had just barely gone on sale, and on the day of that concert, nodding my head all alone while listening, hearing it live, my heart swelled, I was so happy.
Even now, listen to Wangel, the feeling of that first live rises in me.
And then, once again, in the same place, hearing that same song!
It was so overwhelming!

♪Like an arrow, time flies by…
in this way we’ve kept walking by, missing each other♪

…Christopher wasn’t in his place at the drums, and honestly, it seemed a little lonely.
In “Wangel” particularly.
When I first saw Christopher on drums, it was a little uncomfortable, but he’s had such an incredible impact, that before I knew it, I had really taken a liking to his intense drumming.

02. Machi
“Machi” was the second off of “Zukan!”
I hadn’t heard it in so long…

Kishida: Thank you, we’re Quruli!
Quruli is doing a School Festival tour right now.
Today, how many times has Quruli played Nanzan University…(thinking)…

This is proof of how amusing of a band they are.

Audience: Whaaaa—!!!
Kishida: So then, that makes this the second time we’ve been here.

I say “proof” with a bit of a giggle. I’m so cool.
The audience seems pretty young, so they don’t know that this is the second time.
I saw them the first time they were here. *smug smile*

Kishida: To start with, the next two songs are going to be new.

03. New Song
04. New Song
“To start with,” he says, but it’s been more than that.
I feel like he new song, the first one’s guitar’s rising sound had a kind of Japanese echo to it.
It was a pretty light, warm feeling song.

The second song, I think the lyrics started out with a sort of “I don’t really understand this explanation♪” feeling.
(Sorry, this is all I remember about it)

05. Bara no Hana
Continuing, “Bara no Hana.”
Listening to the CD and hearing it live has a pretty different impression.
I feel like Quruli has a different version of Bara no Hana every time I hear it live.
For the tour, they had Horie-san on keyboards, and this time, they must’ve been delayed on the way or something, because they had suddenly arrived on Sato-san’s side of the stage, and it was really confined. (^_^;)
“Bara no Hana” of course has that impressive piano sound.

The next two songs also surprised me.
It was “Byoubuura” and “Blues!”

06. Byoubuura
“Byoubugaura” started out with Kishida saying “one, two.”
I thought “what kind of song is this,” with that guitar sound, ooh, again, it’s from Zukan!

07. Blues
I thought “Blues” was “Kuroi Tobira” at first.
“This is getting pretty long,” I thought and sat down to listen, but oh, it’s not! “It tastes like blood♪.”
This must be the first time I’ve heard them play this live.

The transition from “Byoubuura” to “Blues” seemed to flow with a “guwanguwan (TN: I don’t know what this is a sound effect for),” and it felt like we had been transported to a different dimension.

8. Suichuu Motor
“And then” Suichuu Motor.”
That was, Kishida-kun would face the other members while rocking out with a broad smile, when Tasshin-san saw that, he started a kind of rhythmical step, and seeing that, from start to finish, I was full of laughter.
It was so great! Seemed like so much fun!
Making a strange voice with the mic was a lot of fun.
And Sato-kun’s voice again is wonderful-!
Isn’t such a waste for him not to be a vocalist? or that’s how I feel.

About Sato-kun, Kishida said:
Kishida: This guy, out of all of Quruli, he’s the most well-bred, he may seem like a nice boy from a good family, and all, but he’s bad with alcohol. Seeing this guy with alcohol, you’d think it was a drug!
He said something like that. Why would you tell a story like that?

Bass: Sato-kun
Sato: Of the most major last name in all of Japan, I’m Sato.

Drum: Daitarou-san
Kishida: It seems that Daitaro-san is turning 23 today.
Audience: What??? (liar)
Kishida: Well, we’re all around 5 years older than 23. He’s so young.

Guitarist: Tasshin-san
Tasshin: Tasshin is actually my real name, (is there anyone out there with a “tt” and “n” in their name? [I think he said somethinglike this, I didn’t really catch this part]”
Kishida: Like “Puttsun (crazy), right?”
Audience: laughs
Tasshin: I guess the name came from a fortune from a shrine. Who would make a fortune with the name Tasshin on it…
Audience: Ooohhh… (I see)
Tasshin: …Yup! (closes up)

Vocal: Kishida Shigeru
Kishida: From here on is going to be a longer song, you’re all going to be late going home.
Audience: YEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!
Kishida: Yesterday, at Kyoto Sculpting Arts College, we set a record for 17 minutes. Today our goal is to pas 20.

Whaaaaattt???
20 minutes?
That is…maybe…that song!

09. World’s End Supernova
Yes, it’s that “World’s End Supernova.”
It started with “Horie-san, give me something funky!”
I think it passed 20 minutes after all.
It was pretty long at the previous tour, but I was so happy to hear it, I was hearing it again! And for over 20 minutes! I was so happy.
Midway through, I don’t know why, but (^_^;), Kishida-kun would do a request “kind of feeling” and go back to improving, doing something pretty strong.
Tasshin did some heavy metal, and that was pretty amusing.
Then at the end, all the instrument’s suddenly stopped, and the 3 hot guys (lol) did a harmony!
*sigh* I’m so happy to hear this again!!
Tasshin-san, like a conductor, waved his hand while singing.
I got shivers.

Kishida: Well then, we’ll do two more songs.
Audience: What??!!
Kishida: Is that wrong, Horie-san, take a look.
(carrying an acoustic guitar)
Audience: OoooOOO!!
Kishida: In a fresh style.
Horie had an acoustic guitar and Kishida had an acoustic guitar, and only you (Tasshin) had an electric one.
Tasshin: What is this, I’m the odd man out?
Audience: laughs
Kishida: Realize the potential of acoustic guitar and electric guitar!

10. New song
I really feel like this new song showed the potential of using both acoustic and electric guitars together.
This was the song they played during rehearsal.
No matter how many times I hear it, I always forget the beautiful lyrics.

*Kishida wrote in his journal that this was “Birthday,” but was it??

11. Harukaze
And then last, “Harukaze.”
This was the most surprising.
I didn’t realize until he started singing ♪all I want is unwavering happiness♪
and then my eyes went wide open.
This was the first time I was hearing it live…
And it wasn’t on the album, somehow I get the feeling that I’d never heard it live.
Amongst Quruli’s songs, I feel like this competes for the spot of my favorite.
So happy…
Even with a cold, I’m so glad I waited up until now…

While waiting for the encore, I talked a bit.
“They didn’t do any songs off of Antenna.”
“I guess they still can’t do the songs they made with Christopher.”
“But I wanna hear Rock’n’Roll.”

They came out for the encore and did an MC, touching on the topic of school festivals.

Kishida: How long does the school festival run?
Students: Tomorrow!
Kishida: Tomorrow is the main day?
Students: Today! (Frankly right now!)
Kishida: What’s for sale? Are they selling things like takoyaki?
Students: Yeah!
Students: Yakisoba!
Kishida: Oh, Yakisoba. What else is there?
Students: Yakisoba!
We already know there’s yakisoba (laugh).
Kishida: What else?
Students (from 2nd floor seats) ○×△！
Kishida: (Confused face) huh? What else??
Students: Fortune telling!
Kishida: Oh fortune telling. Not too long ago, I got my fortune read in Ginza, you know. I paid 3000 yen. You know Ginza, right? Ginza of things like Ginza jewelery stores. This old woman (in an authentic voice) tells me “someone is stabbing you.” “Oh, I see a knife” “you’re being stabbed by someone, by a woman,” and then she started idly chatting. “Oh, you’re from Kansai, right?” Well yeah, I’m speaking Kansai-ben, after all. “You have a younger sister.” No, I don’t. And that was 3000 yen. What a cruel story! I wont lend you money for this kind of cruel story. So anyway, let’s play a song.

Kishida: grinning
Auditorium: Loud cheers! (^O^)/

12. Rock’n’Roll
And then the song they gave us as an encore was Rock’n’Roll.
Now I’m satisfied!
I’m not quite adjusted to the change in drummers, but like this from here on out, I can expect the joy of Quruli’s music to be transmitted.

We had seats (though they were narrow), and the gym was not equipped to handle the acoustics, it was different from a live house, but I think the atmosphere was great.
I get the feeling that everyone watching was taken over by Quruli’s music.
The cheers and applause were huge.

Kishida-kun saying “Nanzan University” made me so happy. (It’s my alma mater, after all.)
Everyone in Quruli, thank you so much for coming.
I’m so happy I came today.

I was anxious to see them so soon after Christopher had left, but yeah, I think they’ll be alright.
Hearing so many new songs was also good (and such refreshing melodies), I feel like the members conveyed how much they love music. And so from now on, I think it will be okay to believe in Quruli.

Thus…with secret resolve, it was the “great present strategy.”
It was stranded on the reef for an hour, but somehow (against its will) it was ferried across.
…maybe.
How the school staff could have kept something as big as Quruli secret puzzles me to this day.
But I guess, I believe it.

2004/11/3
Mamiko