Japanese new music showcase goes girl-group crazy!
There’s nothing quite like Next Music from Tokyo (NMFT). A tour that brings bands from Japan’s indie and underground music scene to Canadian audiences, NMFT is curated by a lone music fan – Toronto-based anesthesiologist Steven Tanaka. On his numerous trips to Japan throughout the year, Tanaka scouts out the best possible lineup to bring to Canadian audiences, often for the first – and, sometimes, only – time.
This latest volume (#8) features five bands, all but one making their Canadian debuts in a tour that includes four shows – two in Toronto, one in Montreal and a final night in Vancouver, on May 25. NMFT Vol. 8 include three female-fronted acts, including the return of what Tanaka calls “one of the greatest female bands of all time,” as well as an instrumental post-rock group and a dance-rock band, all for the low low price of $10. Find out more below.
Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (MOTFD) – This is the band that the event’s Facebook page refers to as “one of the greatest female bands of all time.” The description goes on to say that “No other female band in the history of rock ‘n roll played with the same combination of fury, power and skill…” MOTFD broke up in 2012 but have reformed with a new lineup. Watch Mass of the Fermenting Drags live at the Fuji Rock Festival 2009.
Dalljub Step Club – Dalljub Step Club fuses dance music and rock equally at home in nightclubs and underground punk venues. Watch a video here.
Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu – The name means “3am & bored,” and how better to describe a band with four (female) first-year (according to the event’s Facebook page) university students? Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu will bring a “fun, whimsical attitude with a profound flair for creativity and experimentation” to Next Music From Tokyo Vol. 8. Watch a video here.
Regal Lily – Another all-female band, Regal Lily makes “soulful, melodic and unpretentious” music, “but when you least expect it they sideswipe you with a mammoth wall of shoegaze noise and distortion.” Watch a video here.
Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu is one of five Japanese bands playing the Biltmore Cabaret May 25 as part of Next Music From Tokyo Vol. 8.
Next Music from Tokyo Vol. 8 comes to the Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward St.), Monday, May 25; doors at 7, show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance at ticketweb.ca and $15 at the door.
For more details visit nextmusicfromtokyo.com.