SOUNDTRACK: CHAI-Tiny Desk Concert #905 (October 23, 2019).
What sounds like circus music plays as four women dressed in hoods with colorful bangles run out behind the desk and start dancing.
The lyrics begin: C-H-A-I. CHAI. We are CHAI.
The choreography continues for about a minute and a half when they take off their robes to reveal the four of them wearing matching pink and orange outfits.
The quartet made its grand entrance wearing hooded pom-pom outfits, with loosely choreographed dance moves, while the band’s song “This Is CHAI” played boombox style. It felt adorable. But once the hoodies came off, revealing their matching pink, crop top uniforms, the serious fun began.
In yet another example of how the best Tiny Desk Concerts are unfairly short, this super fun and adorable set is not even 11 minutes long.
Although CHAI does manage to play 4 songs in that time.
My face hurt from smiling so much! That’s what I remember most about CHAI’s Tiny Desk. CHAI is a sweet, colorful blanket of joy. These four women from Japan — twin sisters Mana and Kana, along with Yuna and Yuuki — are on a mission to expand the conventional notion of what we think of as “cute” or “kawaii” as it’s called in Japan.
They open with “Hi Hi Baby.” Yuna plays drums while Mana and Kana start singing. Then Yuuki starts playing the bass–a fast rumble while Mana and Kana keep singing (and doing choreographed arm gestures).
Their voices are high and they are decked out in pink.
CHAI’s music leans punkish, and the outfits quite pinkish. The songs played at the Tiny Desk come from both the band’s 2017 album Pink and the 2019 album appropriately named Punk. The group’s lyrics bounce back and forth from Japanese to English, often in the same sentence.
For “N.E.O.” Yuna sits at the drum kit and plays a cool, complex pattern while Yuuki’s bass brings in a great low funky riff. Kana adds some guitar licks as they sing in a kind of staccato style (in harmony).
The song ends and the three of them raise their arms and say We are CHAI!
“Fashionista” is one of these songs where you can tell it’s Japanese and English. There’s big thumping bass as the vocals kinds of whisper the lyrics. I don’t know what they’re saying–except the chorus “we are fashionista.” There’s some cool chunky guitar and a great sliding bass (their bass sound is terrific). Mid-song Kana plays guitar by itself while singing before the band jumps back in together.
Before the last song. They introduce themselves:
I’m Mana and I’m Kana and we are twins! Same face! Same face!
I’m Yuna and I’m Yukki. We are … not twins.
CHAI chose “Future” for the final song, with more lyrics to brighten my smile and the smile of those around me.
“This is just my FUTURE！
This song about us forever！
Are you ready？
Never seen before！
It’s just what I imagined！
Come on!”
For “Future” Kana plays a futuristic synth sound while Yuuki plays a slow, low bass and Yuna hits the drums and percussion with her hands.
I’ve been looking forward to this Tiny Desk and it did not disappoint.
[READ: March 1, 2020] “Unbuttoned”
This is a another essay about Sedaris’ father. Sedaris’ father is 96 and quite frail.
David himself was in the hospital about to undergo “a pretty disgusting procedure: in a few hours’ time, a doctor was scheduled to snake a multipurpose device up the hole in my penis” when his sister called to say that their father was dying.
The urologist said the device had a camera that showed what was going on inside: There’s your sphincter!
He says his previous exam like this involved his prostate
I’m fairly certain it involved forcing a Golden Globe Award up my ass. I didn’t cry or hit anyone, though. Thus it annoyed me to see what he English radiologist who’d performed the test had written in the comment section of his report: “Patient tolerated the trans-rectal probe poorly.”
They bought next-day plane tickets for the U.S. En route DAvid learned that his father had been taken out of intensive care and sent back to his Assisted Living Facility.
When his father woke up, David said “I figured you’d rally as soon as I spent a fortune on last-minute tickets.” He said he knew “that if the situation were reversed he’d gave stayed put, at least until a discount could be worked out.” (more…)
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I saw CHAI about a year and a half ago and it was one of the more memorable shows I’ve been to. The four members of the band are funny, silly, coordinated (sartorially) and play sweet pop music.
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