Next Music from Tokyo vol 11
Next Music from Tokyo: Vol 11
Feat: JYOCHO / Nuito / Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu / o’summer vacation
Koutei Camera Girl Drei / opening act: Ame to Kanmuri
Doors: 7pm
Show starts: 8pm (opening act Ame to Kanmuri starts at 7:30pm)
Tickets: $14 (advance) via ticketweb, Soundscapes, Rotate This
$20 (door)
Next Music from Tokyo (NMFT) is an annual tour that introduces Canadians to the most creative and skilled bands from Japan’s indie and underground music scene. The tour began in 2010 and brings a different group of Japanese bands to Canada each year. Tour organizer Steven Tanaka is a Toronto-based anesthesiologist who travels to Japan five to seven times a year, scouting the best possible line-up for each edition. With shows selling out yearly, NMFT is proof that music played with energy and passion transcends language barriers, and can be appreciated by audiences anywhere.
Despite NMFT reaching its 11th iteration, this venture achieves new heights in variety—a genre-crossing tour de force of Japan’s best. Up-and-comers JYOCHO and underground legends Nuito personify this with two vastly different takes on math rock. Bringing the noise is pandemoniac, hardcore o’summer vacation, with the juxtaposition of Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu's quirky, emo-tinged pop stylings softening the mood. Evening out the lineup are Koutei Camera Girl Drei—a fresh idol act rapping over a multitude of sounds—and opening act Ame to Kanmuri, whose hypnotic lo-fi house is sure to get the audience ready for another showcase of Japanese underground gems.
NMFT typically kicks off in May, but this special engagement is an introduction to two acts ready to make their mark—JYOCHO and Koutei Camera Girl Drei. The third iteration of the Koutei Camera Girl lineup and the latest act from alt-idol powerhouse tapestok records, Drei will be making their debut not in Japan, but here in Canada. Likewise, JYOCHO will also be introduced to the world in a series of Canadian club shows before heading back to Japan for a tour to promote his upcoming mini-album. JYOCHO is actually the solo project of guitar virtuoso and songwriting prodigy Daijiro Nakagawa—the mastermind behind math-pop sensation Uchu Conbini, a band seemingly destined for greatness before a shocking breakup at a peak in their rise to fame. Tanaka was so smitten with Uchu Conbini’s performance at NMFT Vol. 6 that there was simply no way Nakagawa's new project could debut anywhere else.
JYOCHO is the spiritual successor to Uchu Conbini's sublimely crafted math-pop. The songwriting and tone have matured, and the addition of flute brings with it an almost folk flair. Daijiro Nakagawa and an elite group of musicians bring his intricately beautiful compositions to life through unrivaled guitar and drums, and a level of badassery that contrasts beautifully against singer Nekota Netako’s soulful and soothing female vocals. Nakagawa is an incomparable songwriter on the verge of superstardom, and JYOCHO's debut stage should not be missed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5t2G5K9skA
Whereas JYOCHO is just starting on the path toward legend status, Nuito are already legends—having released arguably the greatest math rock album of all-time. In 2009, Nuito dropped their first and only LP Unutella—then broke up. Unutella is a masterpiece that pushed math rock to the extremes and seemingly to the pinnacle of songwriting complexity and instrumental skill. With toe and LITE now comfortably considered the giants of Japanese math rock, the stage is set for an epic comeback. Nuito has returned after a seven-year hiatus, and they're ready to claim the throne rightfully owed to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2y4vXu0kyw
Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu (3am & bored)—once an all-female band but now sporting a male guitarist—play an incredibly quirky, creative, and unpredictable brand of pop. No two songs sound alike as they love to experiment with everything from emo, shoegaze, and post-hardcore, to traditional-Japanese, funk, and folk. This adorable yet badass band held Canadian audiences in the palms of their hands back at NMFT Vol. 8. Since then, they've graduated university, refined their songwriting, honed their skills, and changed their looks. This new and improved Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu is ready to recapture the hearts of Canadians with a killer set and early copies of their newest CD ahead of its Japanese release in late October.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgZQcxBZaJY
o’summer vacation is a noise-hardcore 3-piece—bassist, drummer, and female singer/screamer. They bring a truly powerful sound despite lacking guitars and the absence actually gives it uniqueness. Too skilled to be no-wave, yet too irreverent and messy to be math rock—o'summer vacation blends enough qualities of both ends of that proverbial spectrum to appeal to those who like their music somewhere between unbridled chaos and surgical precision.
Koutei Camera Girl Drei is the third installment of the popular alt-idol unit Koutei Camera Girl; known for their unique sound—spitting rhymes over sublime, diverse instrumentals. These range in genre from EDM to glitch to even shoegaze, and evoke shades of Nujabes, Giraffage, Flying Lotus, and their primary inspiration, Autechre. Koutei Camera Girl's stage presence is moody, intense, and heartfelt. This latest quartet of talented young women is sure to crank the dial even higher than their previous lineup, and hosting their international debut is an honour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aNDIM5Seb4
Ame to Kanmuri is the new stage name of molm’o’mol, one of the original members of Koutei Camera Girl. Idol music never truly captured her interest, so she relished the opportunity to DJ/MC as a solo artist. Ame to Kanmuri will be the tour's opening act, dropping bars over hypnotically chill, lo-fi house grooves, and setting the stage for another epic iteration of NMFT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FSOmhfaU7E
Next Music from Tokyo prides itself in showcasing a fresh and eclectic line-up of Japanese artists and bands that put on a great show without resorting to gimmicks. The concerts are curated for an audience that is open-minded and loves high quality music of all types. NMFT is the only tour in Canada featuring multiple Japanese artists/bands and will continue its tradition of creating one of the most interesting and intense live music experiences of the year.
