Musicians, labels, and venues have been coming out of the woodwork these past few weeks to do what they can for the ongoing relief efforts in post-earthquake Japan, so we thought we’d end the news week by pointing our readers to a number of relevant shows and releases that are donating their proceeds to worthy relief organizations. If you don’t see anything of interest in this article, check your local concert listings — there’s certain to be a lower-profile benefit show or two going on near you pretty soon. You can also, of course, donate directly to organizations like the Japanese Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Civic Force, and Peace Winds.
Benefit Shows
• April 2: Brooklyn, NY’s Le Poisson Rouge hosts a benefit concert featuring contemporary classical pianist Taka Kigawa.
• April 2: Los Angeles, CA’s Stones Throw Records teams up with some local businesses for a relief event and raffle at Space 15 Twenty, with live DJ sets from various Stones Throw artists and event-exclusive merchandise.
• April 2-3: Tokyo’s SonarSound Japan festival goes on as planned, featuring sets from Flying Lotus, DJ Krush, Ryoji Ikeda, Kode9, Nisennenmondai, Battles, and many more. Sonar’s other planned festivals in Barcelona and Galicia will also be donating a portion of those ticket sales to Japan relief.
• April 3: London’s O2 Brixton Academy holds a Red Cross benefit with performances from Primal Scream, Richard Ashcroft, Graham Coxon, Paul Weller, Beady Eye, and The Coral.
• April 5: Brooklyn’s The Bell House hosts the first of two BROOKLYN <3 JAPAN nights benefitting GlobalGiving), with headliner Ra Ra Riot, and comedy from Eugene Mirman and Todd Barry.
• April 8: NYC’s Abrons Art Center hosts a John Zorn-curated benefit concert featuring Thurston Moore, Ikue Mori & Zorn, and Norah Jones.
• April 9: NYC’s Japan Society hosts a 12-hour concert — also curated by John Zorn — featuring Philip Glass, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Bill Laswell.
• April 15: Brooklyn’s second BROOKLYN <3 JAPAN night, with music from Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington and Mike Doughty, and comedy from Kristen Schaal and Wyatt Cenac.
• April 15: Olympia, WA’s K-related acts D+, Calvin Johnson, and The Maxines perform a benefit show at The Northern in support of 7ep.
• April, 21: London’s The Forum hosts the ATP-curated “Made in Japan” benefit show, featuring Squarepusher, Fuck Buttons, and LFO, plus a raffle and DJ sets.
Benefit Compilations, Releases, etc.
• Thrill Jockey and Antiopic are still selling their mega-compilation Benefit for the Recovery in Japan for $15, featuring music by Akron/Family, Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Oneohtrix Point Never, Tunde Adebimpe, C. Spencer Yeh, and Rhys Chatham among its 64 tracks.
• Max Richter, Alva Noto, Jonsi & Alex, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Taylor Deupree, Robin Guthrie, Balmorhea, and others have exclusive tracks on the For Nihon compilation, available soon from digital music outlets like iTunes, eMusic, etc.
• Electronic artists like Kode9, Onra, Paper Tiger, Paul White, and folks on labels like Ninja Tune and All City have contributed over 40 tracks to the Nihon Kizuna compilation, available on Bandcamp for $15.
• Chad VanGaalen has made available the Your Tan Looks Supernatural EP on Bandcamp for $5, which is made up of outtakes from his upcoming album Diaper Island.
• The Morning Benders are giving away the Japan Echo EP on their website to people donating at least $5. The EP has remixes from Wild Nothing, Twin Sister, and Star Slinger, among other tracks.
• Drag City is donating all proceeds from the purchase of August Born in any format (the [awesome] 2005 collaboration between Six Organs’ Ben Chasny and Fushitsusha’s Hiroyuki Usui), as well as a charity download of proto-Newsom harpist Carol Kleyn’s “Return of the Silkie.”
• Shinji Masuko (of DMBQ/Boredoms) has started a relief fund and is on the ground himself, helping to deliver food and supplies directly to areas that most need it. Donations should be sent via PayPal to dmbq@dmbq.net.
• Cold Cave have re-released their New Morale Leadership cassette on the Japanese Big Love label in an edition of 100 for charity.
• Big Love is also offering a number of other charity items, including key rings and tote bags, Nite Jewel t-shirts, a 12-inch by The xx, and an auctioned 7-inch test pressing of an OOP split from Male Bonding and Pens.
• Shugo Tokumaru is offering a lovely little song on Bandcamp for 100 yen (~$1.22).
• tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus is donating $1 for each fan picture posted to this Flickr account where they have painted themselves in tUnE-yArDs-like face paint. Whoever posts the most creative photo will be given a special painted boombox.
• Warp Records is selling a special-edition benefit t-shirt, available until April 4.
• Lullatone, sleepy-pop purveyors, are offering their entire 13 album/EP catalog at a pay-what-you-want level, with all proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross.
• Fake Four Records is offering the J-A-P-A-N: A Fake Four, Inc. Japan Relief Benefit EP for $8, with contributions from Moka Only, Myka 9, Factor, sole, and others.
• Hear Japan, a DRM-free Mp3 store that features Japanese artists of all genres, is donating 50% of all their sales to Japan Platform.
• iTunes is offering a 38-track Universal Music Songs for Japan compilation, with contributions from all the major label folks like U2, Lady GaGa, Cee-Lo, etc. There is also a Serena-Maneesh remix of Lindstrøm & Christabelle’s “High and Low” being offered as a charity single. Finally, you can donate directly to the Red Cross via the iTunes store.
[Photo: Ed Hawkesworth/DFID]