Next Music From Tokyo is a music tour across Canada featuring bands from Japan: playing in Toronto, Montreal, and finally Vancouver. It was started by Steven Tanaka; he pays out of his own pocket to fly these bands out and spread music from the underground Japanese scene. If you're in Canada, I'd highly recommend going to see this show. It happens at least once a year, and I promise the music transcends any sort of language barrier there may be.
I had the pleasure of seeing these Japanese bands live in Vancouver last week. It was truly one of the best nights of my life; everyone played amazingly well. The songs inspired me so much and gave me a new musical passion at a time when I thought I was going to give up on it.
Kinoko Teikoku - Taikutsu Shinogi (which translates to boredom, or killing time)
The song means a lot to me and got me started into listening Japanese music, and luckily enough they opened their set with this song. Even though I don't understand Japanese, the melancholic tone to the lyrics is enough to give me a very surreal feeling. I was just overwhelmed with emotions when they were playing their set. I got a chance to meet their drummer when I went up to buy their albums, and they all seemed so humble and genuine on stage. I was so happy to finally hear them live.
Uchu Conbini - Pyramid
The sweetness of the vocals really blew me away. They have a lot of sound for a 3-piece band; their instrumentals are very rich and lush. Every song was so beautiful. I was in a dark, intimate venue but they made me feel like I was standing in a park during a sunny day. I'm definitely a huge fan now.
Jizue - ｢sun｣
My ears were won over by the uniqueness of their sound. They have so much variety in their music, from post-rock guitars to jazzy piano scales and drums. It was a breath of fresh air; they all have so much technical ability and band chemistry. When they went from a drum solo, to a piano solo, to a guitar solo, to a bass solo during one of their songs, I was in awe of what they managed to pull off musically.
Happy!Mari - kids
These guys were full of energy, their sound was so creative and in-the-moment. They mentioned that it was their last tour in Canada and that the band might be breaking up. Hearing that was very sad, since no one really sounds like them. The one thing I think that might be holding them back from mainstream popularity (at least in Japan) is their high-pitched, raspy vocals, which may take a second listen to understand where the vocalist is coming from. I've grown to appreciate his ability to convey raw emotion, and his versatility to go from melodic and soft, to intense and explosive.
