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DJ Sharpnel @ Animecon X (Kuopio, Finland) & Zutsuu's Animecon journal
Good evening to y'all.
I'm Zutsuu.
Hi, I'm Zutsuu and we are now here in Kuopio.
The annual nationwide Animecon will be held here tomorrow. DJ Sharpnel is a guest there.
DJ Sharpnel is not depicted in this picture!
The situation is kind of strange, because Jea
(DJ Sharpnel) is now playing his first gig in Europe.
..and what's even stranger is that he's playing here in my birthplace, Kuopio.
A little bit about my own background..
In 2006, my track "Noiseman" was released on DJ Sharpnel's album "Brain Violation.感脳侵食".
I was the first Finnish artist to release on his label.
I have a bag here with CD's.
A little present for Jea, because when I was in Tokyo
in late 2006 he gave me a bag of j-core CD's.
So, I'm doing a little favour in return. I have a bag of suomihc (Finnish hardcore) here.
These are not pressed CD's, these are just CD-R's,
because there hasn't been a similar CD culture and the release
culture is only rising now in the hardcore scene here.
Yep.
I have this intoxicant for tomorrow night's party.
I haven't been following the j-core scene and anime things in general for some time now.
It used to be my thing sometime ago, but not so much anymore.
I still do respect DJ Sharpnel for his contribution to the Japanese hardcore scene.
Animecon is interesting in the sense that I still
appreciate anime and manga as an art form.
Let's see how this goes..
My younger brother is a j-core otaku.
Good morning.
Ok, I've had my green tea now and it's time to head to the Animecon.
Don't expect hyperactive *** from me, but I will probably express
myself better hyperactively when we get on the dancefloor.
Jea arrives at the Animecon
Many kinds of cosplayers are on the move here.
I am cosplaying DJ Lala aka LoveScreamTerror who
is a hardcore/speedcore dj and artist from Tokyo.
Today we have a questions and answers session coming up, but before we get there
let's ask our guest of honour to shortly introduce himself and tell us what he does.
Hello all, my name is DJ Sharpnel and yesterday
I came here to Finland from Japan and today
here to the Animecon, which I understood is organized for the 10th time now. Hello all.
First I would like to do a little self introduction.
I actually started DJ Sharpnel, my current project, in 2002, but before
that we had Sharpnelsound, which was founded in '98.
This year is Sharpnelsound's 15th anniversary.
Many of you probably know what I've been doing during these 15 years.
I've been remixing anime songs with hardcore techno.
At the start of my career I did lots of underground
type of remixing. I still do underground as
well, but nowadays I've also made official remixes
for game companies and major record labels.
As I said, Sharpnelsound turns 15 this year and I would like to tell about its history.
Sharpnelsound was founded in the year 1998.
And actually before that in 1996, while I was living in
Osaka, we formed a unit called Project Gabbangelion.
The name was formed by combining Evangelion and gabba.
Project Gabbangelion was disbanded in 1998 when I moved
to Tokyo, but after that we formed Sharpnelsound.
Our name was initially High Speed Music Team Sharpnel.
High Speed Music Team Sharpnel is a 5 person unit, but I also play
solo as DJ Sharpnel and we also have Sharpnel.net with more people (VJ & DJ).
High Speed Music Team Sharpnel does not have a DJ or an MC. Do you know what this means?
Yes, good, nods.
The concept is that all 5 of us are on the stage dancing to music that comes from a CD.
In 1998 the Japanese hardcore underground was quite
young and there were no funny crews doing this thing.
We were not at all like stone-faced DJ's, it was more about putting on kigurumi costumes,
you all know what was worn, and we went to dance
on the stage. It was all about having fun.
We were that kind of group.
We also got lots of negative feedback from some people, because of what
we were doing. They didn't even want to see this kind of hardcore.
However there were also people who got introduced
to hardcore by us and started to like it.
This contrast, or this battle, between funny hardcore and real
hardcore, is still ongoing although in a slightly different way.
So this was High Speed Music Team Sharpnel, which we founded in 1998.
This group was disbanded in 2001.
After that I started as DJ Sharpnel.
I have been producing music as DJ Sharpnel for 12 years now.
I feel that all this time I have been doing work inside the hardcore
genre, but at some point people started to call my music j-core.
Do you know what j-core is?
When we get to the questions I would like to ask which j-core labels you like.
I still produce as DJ Sharpnel and since 2010 I've also
been invited to play abroad at various anime events.
Now I am here in Kuopio at the 10th Animecon, which is great of course.
DJ Neodash from Holland introduced Japanese hardcore, j-core, to Europe
in 2005 or 2006. He needed a keyword for it, so he came up with "j-core".
Around 2006 we also realized that this music is called
j-core in Europe, so we also started to use the term.
At this point "doujin hardcore" termed music was also being made abroad.
The "j-core" keyword was also very handy then.
The most difficult thing about j-core is that the sound is impossible to define.
When people talk about me they usually refer to me as a j-core artist,
but Japanese samples and language alone don't make it j-core.
There are different branches in hardcore techno.
For example Dutch mainstream hardcore, makina, speedcore,
hardstyle, tekstyle and jump. Japanese artists also make
all of these styles and together they are called j-core.
Some of the artists who people from abroad call j-core are not exactly j-core.
That's the current situation.
Was this answer ok? - Yes, thanks.
Put your hands up. There, next one.
For how big audiences do you usually play in Japan?
What's the scale? The least and the most?
"For how big audiences do you usually play in Japan and what's the scale?"
There are of course smaller gigs, but usually the
scale at Japanese gigs is around 200-400 people.
When I was in Sakuracon in Seattle (USA), around
3000 people came to listen to DJ Sharpnel live.
In Japan there are many people who listen to this
music, but not quite as many come to the gigs.
(DJ Sharpnel interview) How do you like today's Animecon so far?
I was surprised that there are many people cosplaying quite recent anime series here.
It's quite a surprise that this is his first gig in Europe and that it's here in Kuopio.
Has there been earlier demand in Holland for example?
It's surprising that this is the first place in Europe.
Speaking of shows abroad, DJ Sharpnel action revolves a lot around anime related events.
There are some events with a concert and some events without a concert.
This time it so happened that this Animecon was organized here in Kuopio
and there was a possibility to do a concert here. So that's how it happened.
Has there been any demand from the Dutch hardcore scene? I mean non-anime events.
No, not quite yet.
I'm still waiting for an invitation.
How are your own projects and the Sharpnelsound label doing?
What's the latest upcoming thing?
We have been doing Sharpnelsound pretty much
independently, doing our own thing. We haven't thought
so much about other people or crews in the scene,
so we haven't really started collaborations with them.
At least consciously. It's more like it has just happened.
The next thing we're going to do is to start to create a more global network, not just
with j-core people, but also with other international people in other hardcore styles.
How is the Killing *** project doing? Anything new coming up?
At the moment we don't have any plans for Killing ***.
We have a project called Onatsu Gurentai going on in Japan.
Lost in translation: Onatsu Gurentai = Killing *** & m1dy play their first live set at the
Otakuspeedvibe Reloaded party on 15th of September 2013.
(The picture is from their 2004 album)
How is the Japanese hardcore and gabber scene doing today?
Any hot upcoming names you would like to mention?
One thing I've noticed about the Japanese scene is that the amount of parties
has increased a lot. More parties means that there are more musicians.
I believe that there are many new names who have joined the scene.
Speaking of releases..
CD releases have been very popular in Japan.
Digital releases have become more common now and it has decreased
CD sales a lot, at least in the West and the Western hardcore scene.
Has it affected the situation in Japan?
This is of course true for mainstream music.
CD's are threatened by the spreading of digital media and the sales have decreased.
However, in the doujin music and indie scene the situation is different.
There are events such as Comiket and M3, which include indie bands.
At these events CD's are the main method of spreading music, so I
believe that CD's will continue to triumph in the indie scene.
Speaking of Finland..
He has a track called "Pretty Green Onions". It's based on an internet meme.
Is he aware that he sampled a Finnish band called Loituma?
Yes, I am aware of that.
I don't understand the vocals at all though.
What do you know about the Finnish hardcore scene?
The more hard dance based scene and the underground hardcore based scene.
What I know about Finland is hard nrg and that hard dance is very popular here.
When Finnish artists are touring Japan I go and see them.
Do you know anything about underground names?
No, not at all.
Ok, I don't have anything else to ask except..
Would you like to send some greetings to Finnish hardcore heads?
I want to give a message: Hardcore is very fun music,
it's both very energetic and emotional.
Thus I hope that you continue with the hobby and please invite DJ Sharpnel
again to Finland. I am waiting for your invitation.
DJ Sharpnel's autograph session
No Age Limit Evening Party @ Kulttuuriareena 44 (Culture Arena 44)
Do we need more of this?
Excuse me, a more specific question..
Do we need more Caramelldansen?
And I thought the music was loud.
Don't say. This is how it goes.
Let's try again. Let's thank the whole group together.
So from 3 to 1. Thanks after 1. 3, 2, 1.
Thank you!
Ok, continue the party, this will be a long night, yeah!
(anime song dj set)
That was the No Age Limit Party. If you ask me, I think the
under-aged could have handled some j-core and speedcore.
We are not talking about hardcore *** here.
But I dunno, maybe he will play it at the end of his set.
Evening Party (for ages 18 and up) @ Puikkari
(Tribute set to the late Kaoru Kimura aka Betwixt & Between)
What's up j-core man?
(tired commentary after the evening)
J-core today.. There was lots of j-trance, but then suddenly Sharpnel came to the
picture and after that my feet were stomping a lot *** more than usually.
Lots of nostalgic set on top of that, so yeah, many people were dancing.
I was surprised that people really came to Kuopio because of Sharpnel.
It's like this.. Some have listened to that music and
fallen in love with it, like me 5 years ago or so.
I listened to it and had to listen to it again, because it was just my style.
Animecon's Evening Party is over now and we have checked out DJ Sharpnel's set.
The set was quite freef..
I danced and.. It was a nice weekend.
Made by: Zutsuu Camera: Zutsuu, Jokkiman, Translator-san ..
Viewers, Animecon organizers and Voema crew, other ravers
Translator-san & Jea-san, thank you!..
..and sorry!