Otoya Kintoki Live House

音や金時

Kishi Coop B1, Nishi-Ogi-Kita, Suginami-ku. (03)5382-2020

〒167-0042東京都杉並区西荻北2-2-14 喜志コーポB1

Cover charge 2,300 to 3,000 yen. Usually two sets from 7:30 but check carefully.

http://www2.u-netsurf.ne.jp/~otokin/

Nishi-Ogikubo Station (Chuo Line). From the north exit, look to the right at the crossing and basically turn right there (with your back to Kikuya). Follow the side street (running parallel to the tracks). You kind of veer to the left and then back to the right at a 7-11 convenience store. The live house is then about 100 meters from there on the right hand side down one floor. There’s only a small sign, but the total time from the station is just a few minutes, depending on how busy the big street is.

This lovely club is like stepping back into the 60s: curry, Asian beer, warm wood tables, Indian cotton cloths hanging on the walls, a whiff of incense, and a very cool artsy handwritten schedule. It’s delightfully charming and retro. However, the soundstage is very up-to-date, with a clarity that lets you really hear the instruments, by which I mean, hear even the fingers moving along the strings. And strings of all sorts: Spanish guitar, oud, celtic harp, sitar or any of hundreds of other ethnic instruments. It’s also the kind of place where you feel totally comfortable chatting with the people sharing your table, and find you have a lot in common. It’s a community center of sorts. Yet, the community is wide.

Music draws from a diverse range of traditions, jazz, of course, but also celtic, tango, jazz, Indian, Chinese, and seemingly all combinations thereof! Any two nights in a row might have music from opposite sides of the globe. If you want to hear something a little different from the average live house, and hear it in an intimate, laid-back setting, there is no better place than Otoya Kintoki. The care and attention to a perfect evening of music and all-around general comfort is rare and very, very welcome.

The live schedule is written by hand, and only in Japanese. But every month it looks something like this to the right. (It changes every month). If it’s hard for some to decipher, well, stick with it. Eclecticism requires some effort. And the same for the menu! But it’s delicious just the same!

Clubs & Venues, UncategorizedApril 26, 2009