Sounds of the Japanese Underground
Most of the artists presented here have been purely Japanese. This duel, however, deserves mention on Up From the Underground. Signals Bulletin is the child born from a collaboration between German experimental electronic musician, Jan Jelinek and Japanese ambient-drone artist Asuna. It is a slow sweet voyage on a sea of sound waves. The minimal synth tapestries …
PIKA☆ is the master of noise. A drummer from Osaka, she has spent her entire life banging out rhythms in a kind of stream of conscious self-expression. I love how unpredictable the sound is. I also love how imaginative it is. You could call it alternative rock, maybe even math rock, although it doesn’t meander …
Experimental soul is how WONK describes their music. It is a blend of hip-hop, soul, beats, blips and mysterious sounds. It really is different, unique and somewhat indescribable. Experimental soul doesn’t come close to telling anyone who has never heard of WONK what to expect. On their website they try to describe their own sound …
Japan has always been a haven for electronic music creators. Deep within the underground new sounds are constantly being innovated as artist push imagination to the limits. For the most part, like many things in Japan, the electronic music scene is male-dominated. That’s why it is refreshing to see this magnificent woman rise up. Kyoka’s …
So here we are, exploring territory the Japanese underground is most globally known for, sounds from way out in left field. It’s no surprise that Japan is full of strange and wonderfully bizarre music. Life in the big cities can be stressful and regimented. Many people live under the old adage that the nail that …
Shamanz was formed in 2011 by singer, songwriter, and guitarist TAMA TSUBOI. His aim was to spread an acoustic based sound that could crossover genres and race. Their songs feature bilingual vocals. Each one is a fusion of Latin, reggae, pop, soul, Japanese music, world music etc. The current lineup consists of KAI PETITE (Hentai …
King Gnu can be seen in and around the Japanese jam session scene. In particular, members of King Gnu were regulars at the jam session, Battle of Study, an event where musicians from all over the country would get together for a biweekly jam. The session was started by Motoharu Fukuda, former saxophonists for the band …
