Fratenn

In early 2004, Fratenn started performing short improvisations using a stopwatch, cramming percussion, jangly guitar and weird vocalizations into short bombastic sets that belied their two-person lineup.

As they continued to refine their sound, Yoshiyuki Ichiraku (drum, junk and voice) and Masaya Kojima (guitar, voice, and 'crushing frustration') developed a steady following (which may also be helped by the fact that Ichiraku happens to be the very talented son of drum legend Doravideo), and they now find themselves much in demand on the Tokyo live circuit.

If you are a regular concertgoer, you may just find them anywhere and everywhere these days. In the words of Betty Crocker, get them while they're hot!

Fratenn

Nikkasen: Mitsuru Tabata + Kelly Churko + Cal Lyall + Keiichi Nakano

A brutal war erupts between Canada and Japan, resulting in cataclysmic destruction...

Unlikely perhaps, but this is the impossible, very real and fake terror of Nikkasen (lit. Japan-Canada battle), a unit pitting two Japanese improvising musicians (in this case, Mitsuru Tabata from AMT/Zeni Geva and Keiichi Nakano from Motallica/2UP) against two cold-blooded Canadians (Kelly Churko from AKBK/Ossuary and Cal Lyall from Tetragrammaton/Jahiliyyah) for a round of rock sabotage.

Self-described "Neolithic Period soul," Nikkasen seems less a call to war than a reminder of our common Inuit past, when the land mass was connected and we fought on glaciers. Get it while it's ice cold.

Mitsuru Tabata (MySpace)
Keiichi Nakano (2UP)
Kelly Churko
Cal Lyall

Tacobonds + Mochizuki (from Groundcover)

Since 2003, Tacobonds have been hard at work crafting a sound which now seems to sit somewhere between krautrock-inspired math-rock and angry post-punk. Lest we forget that these inadequate labels are created by equally imperfect writers, the music speaks for itself; this is rock at its finest, full of inventive form and beat-laden structures.

Recently, following the departure of long-time vocalist Toshikazu Sasaki, Naoki Ogawa (guitar), Yukiyo Kitagawa (bass) and Arito Yano (drums) are taking the band into dangerous new territories with a roster of guest vocalists who join them impromptu for their brilliant live sets.

This time around, veteran noise-punker Tsurio Mochizuki from Groundcover will do a more than adequate job of matching Tacobonds' driving sound.

Groundcover

Tacobonds

Onnacodomo (visuals)

Taking their inspiration from moments and objects from everyday life, visual unit Onnacodomo make the ordinary decidedly extraordinary. Eschewing computer-generated graphics or recorded material, the three members (DJ Codomo, Yasuko Seki and Ruka Noguchi) perform in real time using a video camera to capture their spontaneous creations.

Shimmering projections are created using water, mirrors and an array of lights, while a world of fantastic images is constructed with found photos, kitchen utensils, toys, stationary and improvised artwork.

Kaleidoscopic, absurd and unreal, Onnacodomo takes you into a slightly-unhinged world that is absolutely original in its conception.

Onnacodomo

Evil Penguin

Grand wizard of vinyl and interstellar treasure hunter, the Evil Penguin makes the perilous journey to the forbidden archives, extracting the tastiest gems from a cosmic vat of recordings long forgotten.