Music | STRANGE BOUTIQUE	Feb 28, 2016
Icy Kanazawa, sunny Naha: A tale of two live scenes
by Ian Martin
I have been traveling around the country since September meeting people involved in different independent music scenes in such places as Hokkaido, and Iwate and Saitama prefectures. After taking a break over winter, I resumed my travels this month and headed to the contrasting ...
Music	Jan 24, 2016
Cairo breaks with its past for dreamy debut, 'Same as Before'
by Ryotaro Aoki
While talking to the members of indie rock band Cairo, I can't help but feel their sense of excitement. After all, this is their first interview ever. Explaining the ideas behind their debut album, "Same as Before," the four guys, who are all in their ...
Music	May 8, 2015
The quirky sounds of indie music find a voice in Boys Age
by Patrick ST. Michel
Around 50 people are watching Kaznary Mutow of the band Boys Age thrash his guitar on a Friday night at Shimokitazawa club Three. He's in the middle of a 10-minute-plus psychedelic freakout, locked into an intense slow-burning session with drummer Takamasa Kobayashi. It's a bit ...
Music | STRANGE BOUTIQUE	Apr 24, 2015
The secret to indie success is in the bag
Here's a joke: When is a bag not a bag? Give up? When it's a symbol for the shifting place of music in the pop cultural landscape. . . . I'm here all week, folks. Try the veal. Music occupies a strange position in our ...
Music	Jul 24, 2014
Manic Sheep, Wedance represent overseas indie at Fuji Rock Festival
by Shawn Despres
Since 2001, Fuji Rock's Rookie a Go-Go stage has spotlighted indie talents not quite ready for the festival's larger areas. Acts apply to play — this year 1,300 bands vied for 15 slots — and with the exception of Taiwan's Go Chic in 2010, ...
Music	May 13, 2014
Macmanaman step up to bat for the live show
"Instrumental post-rock" is probably the worst way to introduce a band, and by this point 90 percent of this article's readers will have probably fled to the sports section. Many of the most celebrated Japanese instrumental post-rock bands have carved a niche for themselves as ...
Music	Apr 29, 2014
Indie band The fin. is just getting started
"There's this idea (among Japanese bands) that you have to make something different from the Western music you listen to," says Yuto Uchino, singer for indie rock band The fin. "I was really trying hard to write in Japanese, but it was awkward. The ...
Music	Mar 11, 2014
Mothercoat sees tour as a step in cultivating a global fanbase
Most bands in Japan come to Tokyo to reach for stardom. Indie rock act Mothercoat did the opposite, however, when its members all relocated to Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, two years ago. "We don't really see a point in being based in Tokyo anymore," says bassist ...
Music	Mar 4, 2014
Crunch's debut mini-album aims for a 'sense of minority'
In a music scene where the border between underground and mainstream can be incredibly difficult to traverse, it's not surprising that many bands trapped in the indie-sphere bemoan their lot. What you hear less of is how that sense of exclusion, fostered by a cultural ...
Music	Feb 25, 2014
Jesus Weekend will keep your family pet from a pit of despair
"Animals don't commit suicide, but this song is so sad that even animals would want to kill themselves." Seira Nishigami, vocalist, guitarist and synth player from Osaka-based lo-fi indie trio Jesus Weekend, is trying to explain the feeling behind her group's evocatively titled "Animal Suicides," ...
Keep the band, young graduates, but don't quit your day jobs
As the academic year draws to a close and a new cohort of young Japanese are dumped out the business end of the education system, so a new year's graduating class of young bands face a tough and forbidding new world. In the past, the ...
Music | STRANGE BOUTIQUE	Oct 29, 2013
Tokyo Boredom is blazing its own trail — and the first stop is Taiwan
Of all the cliches about Japanese music being bandied around, the one I find most baffling is the idea that bands here are "just copying Western music." It's a rehash of the old jibe, originally born from fear of Japan's rapid postwar industrial growth, ...