OK SO,,,

Japanese music fans in the UK never get a good deal when it comes to tours because no one ever comes here on tour,, that is all about to end thanks to the 100% Genki Tour!

The 100% Genki tour takes place over 10 days in May 2009, and will introduce contemporary Japanese acts to the UK. International audiences have demonstrated a growing interest in Japan’s music, and a wealth of talented artists exists in the burgeoning domestic scene, spanning the entire musical spectrum - from punk to electronica, from techno to ska. Young Japanese bands, producers, singers and DJs have their own unique sense of direction and style, due in part to the unique position of the country - increasingly immersed in Western culture, but still removed, culturally as well as geographically.

Bringing a taste of Japan’s exciting music scene to a UK audience, the tour will take in 4 of the UK’s best, most cutting-edge festivals.

Artists

80kidz

Emerging from the borderless youth culture of Japan, 80kidz began making music as a three-piece DJ unit in early 2007, and released their own limited bootleg mix CD “The Kidz Are Alnight No.1” in February of the same year. This mix sold-out rapidly and requests for DJ appearances quickly followed – they have since performed with the likes of Justice, Busy P, Boys Noize, Teenage Bad Girl, Hot Chip and Bobmo. “The Kidz Are Alnight No.2” continued to move things further forward for them, and a series of Myspace only unofficial remixes saw the threesome’s music blogged, discussed, and circulated around the world. This attention has built ever further with the posting of an original track, “Disdrive”, which was soon followed by official remix requests pouring in from autoKratz, Danger, Benjamin Diamond, Cazals, CSS, Black kids, the Shoes, Quiero Club, When Saints Go Machine, and Futurecop. 

DE DE MOUSE

DE DE MOUSE is the brainchild of bespectacled Tokyo-based studio boffin Daisuke Endo. Following the lead of “chiptune” pioneers (and fellow Tokyoites) YMCK, DE DE MOUSE’s sound is characterized by feather-light vocals, housey beats, infectious synth melodies and lush production values. Unlike their near-contemporaries YMCK – DE DE MOUSE began life in 2005, two years after YMCK debuted – Endo does not base his entire oeuvre on soundtracks to games made for the 8-bit NES console. Instead, Endo’s layered grooves often take on a darker, more abstract bent that incorporates drum ‘n’ bass and ambient. DE DE MOUSE has won fans in Tokyo’s music and fashion scenes: as well as sharing live bills with the likes of HALFBY and BUFFALO DAUGHTER, it has also soundtracked fashion shows by Takayuki Suzuki, the costume designer of choice of J-pop stars such as Mika Nakajima.

Riddim Saunter

The band’s first eye-opener into the world of music began with band leader, TA-1, first encountering Hip Hop music. At this time, TA-1 was simply a DJ but soon transformed into a drummer after finding interest in intricate rhythms. During high school TA-1 got together with classmates, Keishi (Vo.) and Hiroshi (Gtr.) and a band was born. Influenced by the ska boom in the late nineties they quickly become a ska-core band and upon moving to Tokyo, met a trumpet player named Honma, who was soon included into the group. Soon after, the band recruited a saxophonist and bassist thus creating the six-piece band known as “Riddim Saunter.” 

Tucker

A hyperactive one-man band / turntablist / organ playing whirlwind, who has created an worldwide internet phemenon. Tucker’s confounding, high-energy mix of rock and roll, punk, pop, and hip hop leaves critics fumbling for words. The electric organ fan site Electone Zone described it dizzily as “a 21st century Neo-Tokyo vaudeville show.” Other fans describe his sets as “performance art” (in 2006, Tucker appeared at Barcelona’s Sónar multimedia music and art festival). “Vaudeville” implies comedy, and laughter is the obvious response when Tucker spins the “Pink Panther” and “Sesame Street” theme songs, scratches records with his nose, or leaps shirtless into the crowd. Music critics’ vocabulary is rarely so taxed, but coming up with a way to describe someone not entirely hip hop, not entirely rock, not entirely retro, and perhaps not ever entirely serious has left many at a loss. Even Tucker’s show-stopping blazing organ trick is both a Hendrix send-up and a gutsy act of vandalism more punk than hip hop. Tucker’s mash-ups are knowing and often more than a little tongue-in-cheek, but his reverence for retro instruments and melodies goes well beyond the merely ironic.

If anyone is going to go to the Liverpool gig then let me know and we could have a Pyontube outing! :D