Last Thursday night, we had our special Electro Rock Night. The night heated up real quick with DJ Shinnosuke and Keiichiro’s music and the venue had no problems reaching capacity. At 1:30 am, the special guest from Tokyo for the night, Dai Sato, along with Soichiro Migita started playing their favorite tunes and the party transitioned into a bit of a private atmosphere. Dai is best known here in the U.S. for a number of critically acclaimed anime series and scripts for live action films. He is indeed the person who inspired the Tokyo subculture scenes in 90′s with his Tokyo-based indie electronic music label Frogman Records. The label was set up as a part of  his co-owned tech/anime/fashion/game consultancy called FrogNation.

The crowd varied from the usual electro and rock fans to figures such as Gabriela Hunter. Gabriela is one of the founding members and designer of Liquid Sky and Dai’s friend. Many showed up to listen to Soichiro’s farewell music for Ryo Nagasawa. Many stayed even after 4 am enjoying a great summer night out on Thursday. Thanks again for our drink sponsor, Asahi Beer!

Check after the jump for photos from the event:

Chinza Dopeness is set to release his latest album, “100% Rap” through  W+K Tokyo Lab on September 16th. You know what that means, a complete package of creative goods that come with all things W+K Tokyo Lab! We’re excited to see all the new artwork, graphics, videos, and other mediums the lab decides to release. Above is the video to “Mogu Mogu” which is a single off the upcoming release.

NEW YORK – TOKYO is having a great summer! Lots of music events and parties for us this season. We’ve been making new friends and affiliates all summer long! This Thursday we’re throwing another party, NEW YORK – TOKYO ELECTRO ROCK NIGHT. This party will also serve as a farewell party for our good friend Ryo Nagasawa, who helped with NYT in the past. Soichiro Migita and Dai Sato will be providing electro and rock sounds with DJ Shinnosuke and DJ Keiichiro throughout the night! There will be $3 Asahi Beer all night long!

More info and RSVP after the jump!

Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda has been making moves with his art work as of late. Shinoda has been an artist before Linkin Park came together as an act. Shinoda had been collaborating with DC Life in designing footwear that pays tribute to his Japanese heritage, and we had all been there to see his koi scales line the soles. This fall, Shinoda takes his paintings off commercial venues and moves them into the Japanese American National Museum on Aug 30. Titled Glorious Excess (Dies), Shinoda explores society’s obsession with celebrity culture, consumer addiction and fascination with the excess.

The highly psychedelic and surreal exhibit of paintings takes its motifs from our culture’s biggest vices– sex, money, death and pop. Shinoda immortalizes the decadence of society and over consumption while challenging his viewers to find out what is real amidst media and commercial bombardment.

Set in a nameless coastal town, Ponyo tells the timeless tale of “boy befriends goldfish, boy promises to protect goldfish, goldfish sprouts arms and legs and then accidentally floods town with her magic powers.” Okay, so maybe not that timeless, but that’s essentially what happens here. Ponyo (whose real name is Brunhilde until Sosuke dubs her Ponyo when he first rescues her) is the daughter of a man who gave up his life on land to be with a sea goddess and in turn also became a father of a thousand little goldfish babies. This would explain why Ponyo has a goldfish body (sort of) and a human head with hair, though only one person in the whole film seems to notice this.

Here is more good news about STILL WALKING for our readers! NYT is inviting 10 pairs to the STILL WALKING screening which will be held 2 days before the theatrical opening. Information is as follows:
Date/Time: Aug. 26th (Wed) at 7:30pm.
Venue:  IFC Center: 323 Avenue of the Americas, NYC

Send your entry by 5pm on Aug.24th (Mon). Will send the confirmation to lucky 10 pairs Aug.25th (Tue) morning.
Entry form is after the jump!