The Grizzly Folk

Earlier this year, I flew up to Tokyo to meet Saya, the mercurial vocalist with Tenniscoats. We initially made contact in conjunction with our 4th Tada Sampler, and - truth be told - I’d become something of a Tenniscoats junkie in the interim. Though she’d been delightful in our email correspondence, I found myself vaguely nervous about meeting her in person.

Tenniscoats have become one of the hippest bands on the underground scene, though their vast legion of worldwide fans probably inidicates that ‘underground’ is no longer applicable. In which case, it’s a triumph of the internet that a band as avant garde (’avant pops’, to use their own expression) as this can inspire such a following, especially as they’re hardly household names in their home country. Such renown is helped, of course, by an ability to produce the kind of music that grabs your attention whatever you’re doing. When I first played their latest album to the staff at TADA, they sat in drooling silence. Even the usually unshakable TADA technician was rendered useless. I challenge you to listen to Baibaba Bimba (available on TADA Sampler Volume Four) and not fall head over heels in love. Many have tried, many have failed. (more…)

An hour before TsuShiMaMiRe are due onstage, I’m stood near the bar of Fukuoka’s Voodoo Lounge watching an atrocious performance by a shoe-gazing outfit whose name I won’t mention for their own good. I’m busy trying to fit myself with an extra pair of earplugs, when a foreigner steps up and shyly introduces himself. I know he can’t live locally, because local gaijin rarely speak to each other at gigs like this. True enough, he’s over on holiday from San Francisco, and he’s travelled all the way to Fukuoka especially for this gig. I apologize for the onstage atrocities and offer to introduce him to TsuShiMaMire. Having seen them in a much larger, much more crowded setting back in ‘Cisco, he can’t believe his luck.

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Towards the end of last month, TADA Music packed up its old kit bag and trundled off along that well-worn path towards Shibuya’s O-Nest, where 7e.p. Records had put together a tasty little lineup in honor of Alabama’s Kyle Field, AKA Little Wings. Unfortunately, the winged wonder was out of action - some kind of throat infection, or so the story goes - so the local acts were left to take up the slack.

In truth, our American friend was barely missed. Amongst the stars of the evening were our sprawling friends, 4 Bonjour’s Parties - a band that, from the name down, are pretty hard to fathom. Not that they really want it that way, and in this - one of their first encounters with a foreign journalist - they tried as hard as their wayward humour would allow to balance things out for the unprepared world at large. (more…)

By Jon Nice

Known primarily as the male half of experimental pop-electronica-jazz duo Rimacona labs, Marihiko Hara departs from structured pop-song writing and dives ears-first into ambient soundscapes. There’s a feeling of tonal space throughout the album - a layering of soft lows and harsh highs that, more often than not, fit the collection well. Whilst there are elements of beauty here, it’s not all happiness and light in the gardens of Hara; there’s loneliness and even menace under the surface, particularly on ‘composition’, the album’s equivalent to watching Ring alone with the lights off. The jazz influences of Rimacona break through on occasion - ’sleep’ uses jagged, choppy piano underneath white noise, clicks and bleeps to intrigue, but ultimately confuse. Not the best track, but interesting, and hints at promising things to come. (more…)