Tujiko Noriko

I was very disappointed to miss the beguiling Tujiko Noriko playing at Fabrique 23 at the Brisbane Powerhouse on the weekend due to work commitments.

But I was very happy to hear that Noriko was playing a quickly organised gig downstairs at FatBoy's Cafe to celebrate the release of Blurred In My Mirror. The set was followed by a screening on Noriko's directorial debut "Sand And Mini Hawaii", a short film equally as abstract as her music.

So we found ourselves last night sitting on the cold tiled floor of Fatboy's listening to the noise-pop of "The Rational Academy" whose last track was a very noisy version of "White Film" sung by the undisputed queen of Japanese abstract-electro-pop herself.

The second set was Noriko playing with local electronic toy boy Lawrence English, along with guitarist Benjamin Thompson from support band "the Rational Academy" and who also played on Blurred In My Mirror and a percussionist (I didn't catch his name).

I last saw Tujiko Noriko at What is Music 2004 and for me she was the hilight of the event. That time it was just Noriko and her Apple laptop and the simplicity and beauty of the performance had left me spellbound.

This time around, Noriko seemed somewhat swamped as she was surrounded by other musicans, and her beautiful voice was lost amongst the other layers of sound. But it was nonetheless another great show.

This month Tujiko Noriko is releasing three albums

Blurred In My Mirror with Lawrence English, which was showcased tonight and a track of which I've posted below

28 with Aoki Takamasa

J with Riow Arai

The Selector have recently posted some Tujiko Noriko tracks which are worth checking out.

You can also check out Noriko's blog.


Tujiko Noriko - White Film

Tujiko Noriko - I'm Not Dreaming, King