On January 29 and 30, the world premieres of Voivod Symphonique take place, a rare public event that juxtaposes classical “high culture” with the underground world of metal. Yet there are many links between these two European traditions, both in terms of music and history. Nevertheless, even the most erudite of scholars, and orchestral musicians in particular, remain largely unaware of this connection. To demystify the context in which this extraordinary collaboration culminates, our collaborator and musicologist Laurent Bellemare offers a brilliant comparative overview of the similarities between these two worlds. This is the second part of his excellent dossier.

Back to complexity

For composer and conductor Pascal Germain-Berardi, also founder of the metal band Archetype, this belonging to the classical world can be explained by a cultural counter-attack:

“[Pop] was a reaction to trying to make simple music that everyone could listen to. A few years later, from the descendants of pop music, metal emerged as an ‘anti-pop’ current.”

In an environment where commercial music was seeking to break away from the elitist culture of classical and its contemporary forms, there was a natural attraction in drawing on complex, hermetic music to transgress new popular genres.

Moreover, Germain-Berardi underlines the impact of the socio-economic context in the equation: “Metal music emerged above all in the poor, proletarian districts of wealthy societies, where there was enormous economic effervescence. We were right in the middle of the ‘thirty glorious years’ in the United States and the English-speaking world. In the middle, we had poor neighborhoods where people didn’t touch this at all.”

The aura of revolt that runs through metal culture is said to be rooted in this sense of economic insecurity.

Symphonic metal or amplified orchestra

Since the 1990s, certain sub-genres of metal using orchestral sequences performed on synthesizers have become known as “symphonic metal”. Rhapsody of Fire, Nightwish and Dimmu Borgir are the best-known examples, but these bands represent the tip of the iceberg.

In contrast, many more obscure bands see this as a tasteless cliché and adopt an aesthetic that, consciously or not, brings them closer to the modern/contemporary classicism of the last century, through their extensive techniques and propensity for experimentation.

Percussionist David Therrien Brongo confirms that there is no consensus on the right way to drink in the Western classical universe:

“In Rhapsody of Fire, there are frequent references to Vivaldi, Bach and cycles of fifths. A simple classic in form and harmonization. On the other hand, death metal bands also make references to classical music – in Fleshgod Apocalypse, for example, there’s an orchestra, but it’s far from Vivaldi. Harmonically, it’s something else. Structurally, it’s something else.”

Indeed, one hears more and more of Igor Stravinsky or Gyorgy Ligeti in today’s extreme metal, which is not surprising given the dramatic effects this music seeks to stimulate. Understandably, the avant-gardism of modern and contemporary composers is perfectly compatible with metal’s gloomy aesthetic and aura of inaccessibility.

Germain-Berardi further explains that the main difference lies in the use of contemporary classical techniques for purely expressive purposes in metal, whereas in classical music we tend to see “study” works that exist solely to explore playing or compositional techniques:

“In metal, you always want to justify the sound, the sonority, the friction with an affect”.

Next: Underground Savant Music ?

On January 29 and 30, the world premieres of Voivod Symphonique take place, a rare public event that juxtaposes classical “high culture” with the underground world of metal. Yet there are many links between these two European traditions, both in terms of music and history. Nevertheless, even the most erudite of scholars, and orchestral musicians in particular, remain largely unaware of this connection. To demystify the context in which this extraordinary collaboration culminates, our collaborator and musicologist Laurent Bellemare presents a brilliant comparative overview of the similarities between these two worlds. This is the third part of this excellent dossier.

Underground Savant music?

For Pascal Germain-Berardi, the change in references used in metal is also a mirror of what is perceived as classical in society.

If there was a time when classical meant Bach, Mozart, Beethoven et al. for most people, this must also have been the case for most metalheads in the 80s and 90s. But with the increasing accessibility of music on the web, the musical “omnivorism” of new generations and the institutional education of many metal musicians, knowledge of the classical corpus has deepened considerably.

In Quebec, one of the most obvious cases of this new paradigm is that of Luc Lemay, founding guitarist of Gorguts, who studied alto performance at the conservatory at the time of composition of Obscura (released in 1998, but composed in 1994). This mythical album was a stylistic exercise that completely overturned the death metal clichés of the time, purging tremolo picking, power chords and thrash metal rhythms in favor of dissonant harmonies, labyrinthine forms and extended technical exploration.

Luc Lemay has often said that he sees little difference between composing metal and chamber music, apart from the amplification and distortion of timbres. This approach has left an indelible mark on the most extreme currents in metal today. Think of Deathspell Omega (France), Imperial Triumphant (USA) or Ad Nauseaum (Italy).

Germain-Berardi agrees:

“… whether I compose for string quartet or guitar, bass and drum or orchestra, the music remains a form of energy. […] The compositional gesture doesn’t really change between the two”.

Audiences at the latest edition of the FIMAV festival will have heard this in Basileus, an orchestral work lasting over an hour, whose language is a true hybrid of classical and metal traditions. Canadian Harry Stafylakis and Austrian Bernhard Gander are two other emerging figures in this hybrid aesthetic of contemporary music.

Towards an academic approach to metal

Metal enthusiasts have always formed a community that values knowledge, a curiosity that gave rise, among other things, to the impressive Encyclopedia Metallum database, founded in Quebec in 2002 and managed by fans ever since.

It’s certainly such a curiosity for discovery that drives more and more metalheads to pursue advanced studies in music. It’s no longer uncommon to find classical performers who have cut their teeth on metal, or jazz improvisers swooning over Meshuggah’s polyrhythmic complexity.

It was with the avowed aim of making metal that David Therrien Brongo says he enrolled in classical rather than jazz/pop at CEGEP: “I thought I’d be closer to what I wanted to do than in jazz drums. I felt I was closer in classical music. There were more similarities.”

The link with jazz, born of a culture more focused on improvisation and freer musical forms, is indeed less obvious. On the other hand, metal is also a form born of a relatively disadvantaged context that has become sophisticated at a remarkable speed. Like jazz, we could soon imagine metal programs becoming institutionalized, and this is being observed in real time in certain institutions around the world (e.g. Metal Factory, in the Netherlands).

To be continued: The devil is in the details

On January 29 and 30, the world premieres of Voivod Symphonique take place, a rare public event that juxtaposes classical “high culture” with the underground world of metal. Yet there are many links between these two European traditions, both in terms of music and history. Nevertheless, even the most erudite of scholars, and orchestral musicians in particular, remain largely unaware of this connection. To demystify the context in which this extraordinary collaboration culminates, our collaborator and musicologist Laurent Bellemare offers a brilliant comparative overview of the similarities between these two worlds. This is the fourth and final part of his excellent dossier.

Un enjeu de cordes vocales

Like opera, whose soloists’ vibrato and vocal projection techniques are often hard to digest for the average person, metal repels so many music lovers because of its vocal approach.

“Growl is still the biggest barrier,” explains Pascal Germain-Berardi, elucidating this apprehension shared even by many musicians. David Therrien Brongo agrees, pointing out that “the voice is what reaches people the most. We use our vocal cords every day. To imagine growing, I imagine it hurts people. […] I don’t know if it’s a form of empathy, a block or the fact that people shout… people don’t like bickering… Again, the distortion [of the guitar], it’s the grainy side, the grain that also reminds me of the growl of the voice. It’s not smooth.

Here too, there’s a parallel to be drawn with contemporary music and its gritty, noisy techniques.

David adds: “I’m just working on a piece where I’m running a bow over [Styrofoam]. I don’t mind it, but there are people for whom it has the same effect as fingernails on a painting. I know that at concerts, some people will jump on their chairs at that effect… it’s classical music!”

The devil is in the details

The worlds of classical music and metal are growing ever closer, but this development is far from widespread in the collective imagination. Even in the orchestral world, few artists are familiar with metal music, as Voivod Symphonique arranger Hugo Bégin confirms.

Be that as it may, fortunately the OSM is willing to host something other than traditional concerts. But beyond attracting metalheads to classical concerts, can we expect a gradual fusion of the two cultural milieus?

For Pascal Germain-Berardi and David Therrien Brongo, this potential opening is more a collateral effect of the event’s punctuality: “We’re not going to create new fans of Shostakovich and Mahler with Voïvod Symphonique, even though it’s a clientele that could very well respond to it.

Would the success of this cultural dialogue consist more in presenting hybrid concerts where the two genres are invited side by side without merging them?

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal certainly puts its stamp of legitimacy on Voivod’s music, and it’s a fine tribute to the late guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D’amour, a music lover whose interests included Karlheinz Stockhausen, Penderecki and Ligeti.

The program also celebrates the avant-garde complexity of the first Quebec metal band to make a name for itself worldwide, over 40 years ago.

Let’s hope Voivod Symphonique leaves its mark on the cultural landscape and sets a precedent for further collaborations. For the time being, metal concerts with orchestra remain very much a one-off event, and it’s remarkable that Montreal, self-proclaimed “metal capital” in 2019, should host one.

END

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan last spring.

teamLab Planets Immersive Exhibits, April 5th, Toyosu Area.

In Tokyo, teamLab Planets has a status comparable to that of Montreal’s Société des arts technologiques and Centre Phi, i.e., a center for the dissemination and research of immersive arts, i.e., augmented or virtual reality. teamLab Planets center is located in Toyosu, an industrial area of the port in the midst of hi-tech and residential gentrification, between the Ginza and Odaiba sectors.
Access is generally by reservation only, with a specific time scheduled for your visit. You get there via a light, automated train, in fact very similar to the REM, which gives a great overview of the surrounding area. We find the queue and enter at the appointed time. Staff and reception screens prompt us to take off our shoes and roll up our pants to our knees, then leave them in the lockers provided.
We then walk through a corridor of half-light, then light, into the first room, filled to the brim with crystal curtains or grids through which shapes and lights are projected to a background of ambient music. The paths to be traversed are maze-like at first, but eventually lead to the next corridor.

We then find ourselves in an aquatic room, stepping into about 20 centimetres of water. You look down and see fluorescent water lilies and carp similar to those seen in Japanese ponds. These projections are breathtaking!
We then find ourselves in a room filled with balloons of various sizes, with more ambient music to match, and various lights projected onto all these circular shapes. The new-age soundscapes don’t really detract, but they don’t flesh out the image as you might expect.
A final piece is devoted to an immense bloom, accompanied by chamber music that is both instrumental and electronic, absolutely consonant and thus prone to neoclassical harmonies in an ambient context. The omnipresence of flowers in this virtual universe proves comforting, soothing, a more important complement to the visual creation.
The visit is over, we collect our socks and shoes, and leave TeamLab Planets feeling that the spectacular impact of the technologies has outweighed the depth of the works on the program.

All the exhibits on video HERE

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan last spring.

Eri Yamamoto Piano Recital at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall,  Nishi-Shinjuku, March 17

You first must know that there are 2 Eri Yamamoto piano players from Japan. One is experienced, born and raised in Osaka and performs as a jazz player now based in New York City… and there is this young virtuoso from Tokyo who we could witness her great potential last spring, more precisely at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. That was a very special occasion to attend a concert filled with Japanese classical music afficionados from all generations on a Sunday afternoon recital. Eri Yamamoto has played beautifully and showed her skills ad obvious sensibility through her repertoire, from Chopin to Ravel and Liszt. A few weeks later, she was reached in London by PAN M 360, where she actually live, for this generous interview. We wanted to know more about her and how she built her young career from here teenage years to now. Tokyo calling and London calling at the same time ! Here are the Eri Yamamoto videos on her FB page if you click here.

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan last spring.

Beethoven played by Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, conducted by French maestro Marc Minkowski at Suntory Hall, Akasaka, March 18th

On March 18 at Suntory Hall, Main Hall, 6:30 p.m., Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphonies 5 in C minor Op.67 and 6 in F Major (Pastoral) were performed by the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa under the direction of French conductor Marc Minkowski. Certainly one of the most renowned symphony orchestras in Japan, with over thirty members!
For a Westerner, attending a first symphonic concert of Western music on Japanese soil is an experience in itself, whatever the quality of the performance. It was a solid performance, but not an exceptional one. The orchestra has been in existence for almost 4 decades, and shows great maturity in each of its sections. One senses here a deep and integrated culture of this repertoire that so many orchestras have mastered today.
We also sense that the audience has a solid classical culture behind the tie and gala dress. Listening is respectful and disciplined, applause is generally polite, but we didn’t notice a single ovation, in stark contrast to Montreal, the capital of… standing ovation. We also noted this the day before at the Yeri Yamamoto piano recital.

The Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (OEK) was founded in 1988 with the support of Ishikawa Prefecture and the city of Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo. Conductor Hiroyuki Iwaki set out to create the country’s first multinational chamber orchestra, comprising 40 musicians from all over the world. The OEK has a busy schedule, presenting over 100 concerts a year in Kanazawa, in all major Japanese cities, including Suntory Hall, one of Tokyo’s most important concert halls. The orchestra also performs regularly abroad.
The Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa mainly performs the classical repertoire, but also encourages today’s composers. Over 50 contemporary works have been premiered by the OEK. Michiyoshi Inoue was Music Director after Hiroyuki Iwaki, from 2007 to 2018. Since then, Marc Minkowski has been Artistic Director.

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan last spring.

Kagero @ Nepo Club, Mitaka, March 20th

Kagero is definitely one of the heaviest jazz small ensembles in the whole jazz world, much beyond Japan. Aggressive with a real hardcore/punk appeal, powerful, sarcastic, almost acoustic but musically violent, savage but highly skilled, this group clearly pushes the boundaries of the idea of a jazz quartet. Through the last decade, it’s been said that Kagero became a  « topic » for jazz afficionados in Japan, and we don’t exactly know why it hasn’t become yet for art punk & jazz listeners in the West.

Since 2005, this excellent band has played and recorded mainly in Japan an Asia. The lineup has been  Shiromizu on bass, Ryu “Ruppa” Sasaki on saxophone, Yokoyama Nana on piano, (2005-09), Takayuki Suzuki on drums (2005-07, 2008-10, 2010-12), Chieko Kikuchi on piano (2010-present), Tomomichi Hagiwara on drums (2012-present).

We could witness their great talent and edge at the Nepo Club in Mitaka neighbourghood, last March. And we’re pleased that they accepted to answer our questions. Here they are!

PAN M 360 : For almost 20 years, this band has been performing and recording. Are you true pioneers in punk jazz  in Japan ?

Yu Shiromizu : Wr don’t know if we are “true pioneers” or not, but we have never taken a cue from what someone else has done.

PAN M 360 : What have inspired you to make that blend of acoustic free jazz and punk spirit ? Did you have some early influences in that sense ?

Yu Shiromizu : For us, we feel that jazz and punk are fundamentally the same in terms of “freedom. In terms of fusion, there are no particular artists that have influenced us, but of course we like many artists in each genre. 

PAN M 360 : Were the 4 of you trained in music schools before being professionals ?

Yu Shiromizu : Pianist Chieko Kikuchi studied piano in the U.S., and the other three met in the light music club of a regular Japanese university.

PAN M 360 : Were you following the occidental punk jazz groups like Lounge Lizards, Tupelo Chain Sex, King Krule, Puma Blue, Tim Berne Caos Totale, Last Exit, The Ex and many  others ? Do you have some favourite ?

Yu Shiromizu : Not at all. 

PAN M 360 :There is a great deal of virtuosity in your band and also a great deal of violent noise. How do you see this tension ?

Yu Shiromizu : Both technology and noise are means to express a sense of urgency and exuberance. 

PAN M 360 : Some Japanese musicians told me that the local jazz scene has declined over the last decade. What do you think ?

Yu Shiromizu : I don’t know for myself whether jazz has declined in the last 10 years, but I feel that jazz is becoming more and more classic in Japan. 

PAN M 360 : In this band, do you consider yourselves as jazz musicians or free musicians relating to modern jazz while doing something else ?

Yu Shiromizu : I am not too concerned with such a concept. I am aware that each of us is an independent, one-of-a-kind musician and that we are a collective of musicians. 

PAN M 360 : Are there many other jazz punk units in Japan ?

Yu Shiromizu : If there are any, I would like to be friends with them. 

PAN M 360 : About your social and economical conditions as alternative or niche musicians in Japan ? How is it to make a living with music in your country ? Do you often perform in other countries or other markets ?

Yu Shiromizu : The reality is that the overwhelming majority of musicians in Japan have other jobs as well. In this respect, the members of KAGERO are fortunate. The mainstay of their livelihood is music production and live performances, which inevitably involve a lot of expenses. For this reason, Yu Shromizu(Ba) has its own live music club, NEPO. In the past, he has traveled to the U.S. twice with KAGERO, as well as to China and Taiwan.

PAN M 360 : What are your next projects as a band or solo ?

Yu Shiromizu : Work on the next album, and as a solo artist, he will work on a wide range of projects, from self-expression to commercial music production.

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan last spring.

Unhellys @NepoClub, March 20th

Kim raps, sings, plays bass-guitar custom made and also iws able to draw nice lines and riffs with a pocket trumpet. Midi also sings and especially plays drums at an excellent level. Both members are generating exciting electronic loops in real time. Above those considerations, UNHELLYS is an explosive duo, one of a kind. They seem to absorb any genre of contemporary music : rap, hardcore, punk, jazz, dancehall, electronic, noise and even more sub-styles are serving a cohesive and brillant sound. Through this sound, there is a vast protest song corpus, highly creative collection of statements that does not lack caustic humor and a great sense of the absurd. Spectacular, radical but also refined, UNHELLYS are giving a great show (with wicked lights and projections) wherever they perform. Fortunately, we could attend one of their intimate gigs in a small Tokyo venue, more precisely in the Mitaka neighbourhood, after which we asked for this interview.

PAN M 360 : Hello , I am Alain Brunet from Montreal Canada, for www.panm360. I met you at your Mitaka concert on March 20, few weeks ago. I have a few questions for you, here they are!

こんにちは、カナダのモントリオールからwww.panm360のアラン・ブリュネです。数週間前、3月20日の三鷹公演でお会いしましたね。いくつか質問が

PAN M 360 : Since when did you work on this project and how did you meet each other and decide to start a band ?

 いつからこのプロジェクトに取り組み、どのようにして知り合い、バンドを始めることにしたのですか？

KIM : We started UHNELLYS around 1998. We are classmates in high school. We, the evil spirits, started making underground music.

私たちは1998年頃からUHNELLYSを始めました。高校の同級生です。天邪鬼な私たちはアンダーグラウンドな音楽を始めました。

PAN M 360 : Was it a long process of assembling musical genres and personalities to achieve what we heard at the concert and on your Bandcamp page?

コンサートやBandcampのページで聴いた音楽のジャンルや個性をまとめるのに、時間はかかりましたか？

KIM : No, it didn’t take long. There’s not much difference between the way I played when I started and the way I play now. I just love loop music.

いいえ、時間はかかりませんでした。始めた頃の演奏と、今の演奏に違いはあまりありません。loopする音楽がとにかく好きなんです。

PAN M 360 : Are there other bands of your type in Japan, I mean blending punk hardcore with rap, funk, jazz or avant-garde noise ?

パンク・ハードコアにラップ、ファンク、ジャズ、アヴァンギャルドなノイズを融合させたようなバンドは、日本には他にいますか？

KIM : I don’t think there is anyone else. If there were anyone else, we would decide to make different music.

他にいないと思います。もし他にいたら私たちは別の音楽を作ることにするでしょう。

PAN M 360 : You must have strong musical influences from Asia but also from Occident. Is it relevant for you to mention the most important if there are ?

あなたはアジアだけでなく、西洋からも強い音楽的影響を受けているはずです。最も重要なものがあれば挙げてください。

KIM : I was particularly influenced by 90’s New York music. Among them, Soul Coughing is special. I’ll keep listening to it until I die.

90年代のNYの音楽に特に影響を受けました。その中でもsoul coughingは特別な存在です。死ぬまで聞き続けます。

PAN M 360 : Can you describe some aspects of your lyrics, your poetic approach, your humour, your critical thinking, your vulnerability or whatever ?

あなたの歌詞、詩的なアプローチ、ユーモア、批評的思考、脆弱性など、いくつかの側面について教えてください。

KIM : Most of my lyrics approach problems. I have covered politics, race, nuclear power, vaccines, water, and many other topics. Rather than complaining about the “answer” I came up with, I revisit the problem. Information flows too quickly. I want you to stop, look back, and think. Don’t forget the humor.

私の歌詞は問題提議がほとんどです。政治、人種、原発、ワクチン、水、他にもたくさん扱ってきました。私が考えた「答え」を訴えるのではなく、問題をぶり返すのです。情報の流れはあまりにも早すぎる。立ち止まって、振り返って、考えて欲しいのです。ユーモアも忘れずに。

PAN M 360 : Can you make a living with your music in Japan ? What are your social and economical conditions as music people ?

日本では音楽で食べていけますか？音楽人としての社会的・経済的条件は？

KIM : I think it’s difficult to make a living with underground music. But for someone who loves underground music, that’s not a big deal.

アンダーグラウンドな音楽で生活するのは難しいと思います。しかしアンダーグラウンドな音楽を愛した人間にとって、それは大したことじゃない。

PAN M 360 : Do you aim specific markets ? Where are your audiences?

特定の市場を持っていますか？観客はどこにいますか？

KIM : Japan has a lot of small venues. It’s probably the most in the world. The people who gather there will accept any kind of music. A mysterious and kind world.

日本には小さいベニューがたくさんあります。きっと世界で一番あります。そこに集まる人はどんな音楽も受け入れてくれるのです。不思議で優しい世界。

PAN M 360 : Because you create this kind of hybrid music, is your international artistic identity as strong as your Japanese identity ?

あなたはこのようなハイブリッドな音楽を創作していますが、あなたの国際的な芸術的アイデンティティは、日本的なアイデンティティと同じくらい強いですか？

KIM : It’s definitely strong. Actually, the label I belong to is an Australian music label, and 99% of the music that influences me comes from overseas.

強いです。実際所属しているレーベルはオーストラリアの音楽レーベルですし、自分が影響を受けた音楽の99%は海外の音楽なので。

PAN M 360 : Do you collaborate with other musicians ? Do you feel part of a larger community of artists in Tokyo or somewhere else ?

他のミュージシャンとのコラボレーションはありますか？東京や他のどこかで、より大きなアーティストのコミュニティの一員であると感じますか？

KIM : That’s the best question. I love Soul Coughing, and I participated in the work of Soul Coughing’s vocalist, Mike Doughty, with Japanese rap. I have the record in my possession, and I asked my wife to put it with me in my grave.

最高の質問です。私はsoul coughingを愛していますが、soul coughingのボーカル、Mike doughtyの作品に日本語ラップで参加しました。レコードを所持していますが、墓に一緒に入れてくれと私の妻に頼んであります。

PAN M 360 : What are your next projects ?

次のプロジェクトは？

KIM : I have started playing only percussion instruments and voice. Big changes take time, but we need inspiration if we are to continue making music for decades to come.

打楽器と声だけの演奏を始めています。大きな変化のために時間がかかりますが、私たちが何十年先も音楽を続けていくには刺激が必要です。

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PANM360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet, who were in Japan last spring.

Jeff Mills presents The Trip: Enter the Black Hole @ Zerotokyo, Shinjuku, April 1, 2024

Jeff Mills has been assembling multimedia shows under the heading The Trip since 2009. A founding figure of the Detroit techno scene, Mills’ name is rarely uttered without the designations “godfather” or “pioneer” attached, and his fascination with science fiction has been in evidence for many years. It’s what drives The Trip: Enter the Black Hole, the latest iteration of his series of multimedia events, which made its world premiere on April Fools Day at Zerotokyo, the expansive, easily navigated club space cradled in the below-ground belly of the recently erected Tokyu Kabukicho Tower entertainment complex, in the heart of Shinjuku’s otherwise tawdry, trashy Kabukicho zone.

Dressed up in a vintage astronaut suit and seating himself at a similarly antique, console-cluttered work station (complete with red rotary-dial phone, presumably to alert Houston if a problem arises), Mills delivered a delicious live mix while serving as ringmaster for a show that involved abstract contemporary dance, mesmerizing projections, and two appearances by Jun Togawa, an avant-garde superstar actress/singer since the 1980s.

Assuming the role of some sort of intergalactic oracle, Togawa was literally rolled onto the stage—her voluminous outfit, almost the size of many Tokyo apartments, was the work of the show’s costume designer Hiromichi Ochiai, founder of the FACETASM brand. Togawa delivered her soliloquies in a somber sprechgesang, though according to our sources (your correspondent’s date for the evening) what she was babbling was largely nonsense.

That lack of substance was in keeping with the unexceptional dancers choreographed by Hiroaki Umeda, and most notably the slim scientific relevance of the proceedings. It can safely be said that Mills won’t replace Neil DeGrasse Tyson as an authority on outer space. Divided into five chapters, the show offered little in the way of cold, hard facts on quantum physics and cosmic phenomena, instead using a general sense of grandeur and wonder as a springboard for the fascinating visuals crafted by Cosmic Lab founder C.O.L.O (whose pseudonym stands for Cosmic Oscillation Luminary Operator).

All of this was both in service to, and bound together by, the marvellous music Mills was assembling on the spot. The show’s chapters included such headings as “Abstract Time” and “Time in Reverse”, and indeed, his music for this show transcends any specific period of EDM’s evolution, and any obligation to establish what might come next. In fact, for a mix to match a theme of the cold, dark, far-flung reaches of outer space, it often felt quite warm and, dare I say, comfortably homebound (the sweet growl of a Hammond B-3 slipping into Mill’s sonic palette likely contributed to that). Not a complaint—Mills is who the audience primarily showed up for, and he did not disappoint.

Mills calls the whole thing a “cosmic opera” and while certainly short of scientific significance, it’s nonetheless a solid and satisfying gesamtkunstwerk for the rave generation. It’s a show about the universe with pretty universal appeal, but with a strong streak of Japanese sensibility to it—even the souvenir program handed out upon departure contains an extensive manga, starring Mills himself.

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), sound quality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PANM360 is pleased to report back on.

It’s almost three decades now that Japan’s purveyors of “technicolor pogo punk” have been dishing out their mix of raucous garage rock and retro electronics (they’re named in honour of a Korg synthesizer). You wouldn’t know it, though, from the set Polysics banged out at the rather plain, mid-sized venue Fever, a bit off the beaten path in what’s currently Tokyo’s preeminent hipster neighbourhood, Shimokitazawa. The band is known from a severly elevated energy level on stage, and when that stage is in a part of town they clearly cherish and play in frequently, they’re pretty hard to beat in that respect.

Clad in their yellow jumpsuits and censor-bar sunglasses, the debt that founder and frontman Hiroyuki Hayashi and company owe to Devo is enormous, and they aren’t reticent about it. They’ve been covering, quoting, even collaborating with Devo throughout the years, though they’ll certainly acknowledge inspiration from P-Model (Susumu Hirasawa’s early new-wave band) and of course Yellow magic Orchestra, still venerated throughout Japan.

The opening acts were frustrating—the generic college-kid indie rock of Peanut Butters was utterly forgettable and Helsinki Lambda Club’s retro inflections (mild funk and psych flavours) not much more engaging. Polysics made up for all that with a powerhouse set, peppered with rapid-fire banter from Hayashi while bassist Fumi just seemed to delight in his motormouthed foolishness. While their last record (of dozens) came out five years ago, here’s hoping that Polysics find a reason to tour internationally again, and soon.

One of the world’s most populous cities and certainly among the most interesting, Tokyo is a place where there is never a lack of worthwhile things to do, and that includes musical options in the countless “live houses,” or concert bars, peppered across the municipal map. Japanese musicians and fans have long demonstrated a thirst for sounds from abroad, and an informed respect as well, so quality rock, reggae, jazz, and much more can be found easily enough. For the foreign visitor, the distinctively domestic creations and interpretations are the most interesting. While tickets aren’t cheap, the online reservation system is practical (and honourably devoid of treacherous supplementary fees), soundquality is taken seriously, early start times much appreciated, and the sheer energy of the local audiences astounding. Below are a quartet of musical events from early spring that PAN M 360 is pleased to report back on. Stories by Rupert Bottenberg and Alain Brunet who were in Japan at springtime.

McDog Works/Namara Mazaru underground idol showcase @ Loft X, Shinkoenji, March 26, 2024

Thanks to the likes of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Babymetal, more recently Atarashii Gakko!, and the cottage industry called AKB48 (Guinness World Record holders for “largest pop group”, at 90 rotating members), the longstanding and distinctively Japanese pop modality called aidoru (“idol”) has shot to global prominence in recent years. Imitators have popped up across Asia, and in the case of South Korea’s K-pop wave, have risen to rival and even eclipse the original Japanese scene. That’s a shame, because in terms of musical production, originality, distinctiveness, and frequent element of outright weirdness, the Japanese still can’t be beat.

Aidoru is best described as female song-and-dance performers, solo or in coordinated units with matching costumes, performing over prerecorded tracks. Revenue rolls in less through concert tickets and record sales than through endorsements, merchandise, and most notably (and problematically) through high-priced, artificially cheerful micro-moments with lonely male fans, perfectly demonstrating the principle of parasocial interaction. It’s all a bit creepy, more than a bit sad, and after a couple of drinks, rather hilarious to observe.

The idol scene has its superstars, some of whom are mentioned above, and below that a tier of polished, mainstream, commercial up-and-comers. The most interesting element, however, is the chika aidoru, or underground idol, movement. Confined to tiny venues and pocket-change ticket prices, the chika acts may be the underdogs of the industry, but aside from perhaps KPP’s eye-popping spectacles, its most worthwhile component.

Idol acts are part of a management agency’s stable, and two such operations, McDog Works and Namara Mazaru, teamed up for this showcase at the tiny basement club Loft X, trotting out three acts apiece. Openers Chicken Blow the Idol, freshly returned from a tour of the Philippines and clad in matching mint houndstooth vintage ensembles, were probably the strongest and most together group of the evening, but only by a small margin. The energy level and appealing vibe remained firmly in the red throughout, far higher than one might reasonably expect of a midweek show in a basement shoebox of a venue, with perhaps two dozen attendees in all.

They were followed by Tokyo Psychopath, the most punk rock of the bunch in attitude and appearance, seemingly precision-marketed at a young lesbian demographic. One member of quartet was missing, but the three on hand compensated with a crazy if clumsily choreographed set that culminated with member Oni Gunso perched on a stepladder planted in middle of the dancefloor, around which a very polite and considerate “circle of death” mosh pit spontaneously erupted.

Kuroguro followed, and as their name suggests, black was the new black when it came to tailoring their outfits—a skin-flashing gothic Lolita look with a hint of disquieting militarism. Also somewhat disconcerting is the fact that three of the four members are dead ringers for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Probably advantageous.

In their flouncy, ornamented bouffant dresses, VS. VERSE were possibly the closest in sartorial style to the common, midlevel idol groups of the Akihabara district, though like the night’s other acts, their sound leaned heavily on punk rock and periodic outbursts of screaming, to counterbalance the sugary, calculated neoteny that the idol model generally demands.

NEOTOKYO-TRIBE, whose name references more than one classic anime of the turn of the ’90s, were clad in exceptionally skimpy all-white outfits. A sneaky bikini top left one poor lass on the permanent verge of a wardrobe malfunction. It’s worth mentioning that unlike most other idol formations, NEOTOKYO-TRIBE’s music is produced by a member of the group, Panya Melt. Himegoto Zettaichi (which translates approximately to “princess absolute value”) closed out the musical portion of the evening. They’d abandoned their previously established look, asymmetrically fractured black and grey business attire, for a goofy mix of tartan plaid, Pollyanna frocks and splashy haori to complement their particularly playful and inspired choreography.

Once the music concluded and the house lights came up, the inevitable post-show process of the idol scene sprang into motion. The various groups assembled for the lingering audience (equal in number to the performers) to line up for, lavish gifts upon, and indulge in inane chatter with (at a cost of roughly $10/three minutes). Your humble correspondent cannot comment further on this aspect as his fistful of yen was better applied to mixed drinks at the bar, but this much is certain: for absurd energy, catchy if indeed formulaic electro-pop-punk (a sort of 21st-century bubblegum), and entertaining spectacle, Japan’s underground idol scene is tough to top.