LOVEBUYLOVE

Mixing preternatural cuteness with magical punk, LOVEBUYLOVE seem to take their inspiration as much from the Shaggs as from Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Formed by the members of bands like Kukan Hakai, shobu and Albert Fish and Tea, prepare for a fantastical fun ride from the backstreets of Koenji into outer space.

LOVEBUYLOVE on Tumblr

N'toko (from Slovenia) + Seijiro Murayama Duo

Slovenian national freestyle champion twice-over, N'toko (aka Miha Blažič) has taken the micro-sampled hip-hoppery that guys like Prefuse 73 and Funkstorung needed hours of editing to achieve and has reproduced it live at the mic (think Jamie Lidell and Canibus' test tube child).

With his roots in freestyle, N'toko has found the Japan improv scene fertile ground for new experiments, and has invited percussionist and drummer of legend Seijiro Murayama to join him on this outing. Murayama has been active on the worldwide stage for many years, playing with the likes of Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Keiji Haino and Benjamin Thigpen through the 80s and 90s.

N'toko on Myspace

Seijiro Murayama

Motallica

In their early days, this drum and laptop duo were oftentimes joined by a clumsy motorized subwoofer, from which they took their outstanding band name. Unleashed, it would often collide with furniture and audience in its demented quest for life.

Following a short tour in China, the band has returned somewhat reborn with Satoshi Yashiro (laptop) working his fingerchops on an array of keyboards at his control center. Keiichi Nakano (drums) remains as mercurial as ever, taking both hair and drumming to equal heights of grandeur.

Motallica

Eri Inami (Visuals)

Visual artist Eri Inami has a penchant for stretching the boundaries of reality, taking an inner world of surreal dreams and journeys and displaying it in conspicuous places. What results is a triumphant jumble of psychedelic characters, exotica, and appropriated images which all seem to find their happy home in her colorful visions. Already with a book, DVD, and a number of other projects behind her, she has recently moved to try her hand at some phantasmagorical VJ work.

Eri Inami

Evil Penguin

Master of disguises, Mexican top-hats, ambient rockabilly to minimal Hawaiian Kumulipo chants, the Evil Penguin poses the primordial question of evanescence against a backdrop of New Wave folk. Celebratory, subliminal, moment-to-moment. A Tasmanian treasure with a penchant for open spaces.