{"id":123333,"date":"2024-08-12T08:50:24","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T12:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=dossiers&p=123333"},"modified":"2024-08-12T15:50:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T19:50:19","slug":"tokyo-calling-mcdog-works-namara-mazaru-underground-idol-showcase","status":"publish","type":"dossiers","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/dossiers-360\/tokyo-calling-mcdog-works-namara-mazaru-underground-idol-showcase\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo Calling | McDog Works\/Namara Mazaru underground idol showcase @ Loft X, Shinkoenji"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


One of the world\u2019s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless \u201clive houses,\u201d or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren\u2019t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), soundquality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan at springtime.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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McDog Works\/Namara Mazaru underground idol showcase @ L<\/strong>oft<\/strong> X, Shinkoenji, March 26, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thanks to the likes of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Babymetal, more recently Atarashii Gakko!, and the cottage industry called AKB48 (Guinness World Record holders for “largest pop group”, at 90 rotating members), the longstanding and distinctively Japanese pop modality called aidoru (\u201cidol\u201d) has shot to global prominence in recent years. Imitators have popped up across Asia, and in the case of South Korea\u2019s K-pop wave, have risen to rival and even eclipse the original Japanese scene. That\u2019s a shame, because in terms of musical production, originality, distinctiveness, and frequent element of outright weirdness, the Japanese still can\u2019t be beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aidoru is best described as female song-and-dance performers, solo or in coordinated units with matching costumes, performing over prerecorded tracks. Revenue rolls in less through concert tickets and record sales than through endorsements, merchandise, and most notably (and problematically) through high-priced, artificially cheerful micro-moments with lonely male fans, perfectly demonstrating the principle of parasocial interaction. It\u2019s all a bit creepy, more than a bit sad, and after a couple of drinks, rather hilarious to observe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idol scene has its superstars, some of whom are mentioned above, and below that a tier of polished, mainstream, commercial up-and-comers. The most interesting element, however, is the chika aidoru, or underground idol, movement. Confined to tiny venues and pocket-change ticket prices, the chika acts may be the underdogs of the industry, but aside from perhaps KPP\u2019s eye-popping spectacles, its most worthwhile component.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Idol acts are part of a management agency\u2019s stable, and two such operations, McDog Works<\/strong><\/a> and Namara Mazaru, teamed up for this showcase at the tiny basement club Loft X<\/strong><\/a>, trotting out three acts apiece. Openers Chicken Blow the Idol<\/strong><\/a>, freshly returned from a tour of the Philippines and clad in matching mint houndstooth vintage ensembles, were probably the strongest and most together group of the evening, but only by a small margin. The energy level and appealing vibe remained firmly in the red throughout, far higher than one might reasonably expect of a midweek show in a basement shoebox of a venue, with perhaps two dozen attendees in all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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