taffy, PASSEPIED, moumoon and Yosi Horikawa in JAPAN RISING Showcase at The Great Escape 2015

FB Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1381477455513705/

Four Japanese artists have been confirmed to perform at The Great Escape, held 14-16 May in Brighton, England. taffy, PASSEPIED, moumoon and Yosi Horikawa will appear at the JAPAN RISING showcase on the afternoon of Saturday 16 May at Queens Hotel, accompanied with a buffet of free sushi. They will perform in front of fans from all over Europe, music industry professionals and media outlets. All four artists will also perform separately during the festival with other international bands.

Held annually in Brighton since 2006, The Great Escape is Europe’s fastest-growing music marketplace and consumer festival. This year, 400 selected artists from over the world will perform at 35 clubs around the city.

JAPAN RISING will present the first UK performances from major-label artists PASSEPIED and moumoon; the former being iTunes Japan’s “Breakout Artist of 2013” and the latter bringing a dose of unadulterated J-pop, whose latest single featured as the opening theme to hit new anime series Assassination Classroom. The special showcase will also be opened by Tokyo shoegaze-pop quartet taffy, while experimental DJ Yosi Horikawa, who was recently part of compilation Nihon Kizuna which raised over £20,000 for earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Northern Japan, will conclude the proceedings.

The showcase is organised by The Foundation for Promotion of Music Industry and Culture (PROMIC), supported by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) and coordinated by Japan Underground. It is part of a remit to create overseas showcase opportunities for performers at Tokyo International Music Market; further showcases will follow.

Venue / Time:
Queens Hotel, Saturday 16 May (11:30-4pm) – Entry with festival pass only

taffy: 12:00-12:30pm

taffy is a four piece fuzzy guitar pop band with a female vocal Iris. They are often compared to the Britpop and the Grunge bands from the 90s. Their music is described as art-punk (247magazine) , shoegaze (Buzz), 90’s Britpop revival (NME), highly addictive (DiS) and so on. The band has three albums out already, and has done 4 national UK headline tours so far. And the new EP “Darkle” out on May 4th 2015 includes a song “Young Tines” which was remixed by The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

moumoon: 1:00-1:30pm

moumoon is a made-up term with a French word “mou(soft)” and “moon”: soft moon.
Ever since their inception in 2005, they have continuously gained recognition through their radio live-performances on various networks and had their songs featured in commercials and television dramas. They have taken further steps in their career as they performed in large-scale music festivals and went on their biggest tour to date (16 different areas in Japan) in 2014.
Recently, they have been holding live performances overseas, in an attempt to showcase Japan’s high quality pop songs to the rest of the world.
Also playing: 8:30pm Saturday 16 May @ Brighton Museum

PASSEPIED: 2:00-2:30pm

Formed in 2009 by keyboardist, Narita Haneda. Their name, PASSEPIED was taken from a composition by French composer, Claude Debussy. Ever since their formation, PASSEPIED are causing sensation in the Japanese music scene with their unique music style created by Haneda, who has a classical background, and the illustration/artwork and music clip animation created by the band’s own vocalist, Natsuki Ogoda. Their sophomore album “MAKUNOUCHI-ISM” was released on June 18. In October, the band released “MAKUNOUCHI-ISM e.p” which includes 4 tracks from the latest album “MAKUNOUCHI-ISM” re-recorded all in English on iTunes Stores worldwide.
Also playing: 8:00pm Saturday 16 May @ Komedia Studio Bar

Yosi Horikawa: 3:00-3:30pm

t’s clear that Yosi Horikawa is not only obsessed with music, but sound itself. The Japanese producer consistently incorporates field recordings into his tracks to vibrant effect offering an exciting musique concrete version of electro beat.
He released his first EP, « Touch » on Eklektik Records (FR) in 2009 and his LP « Vapor », on First Word Records (UK) in 2013. He recently performed among international festivals (Sonar, Mutek, Glastonbury etc.). 2011 academy grad, a documentary about him « Layered Memories : Searching For Sound With Yosi Horikawa » have been released on 2014 by RBMA
Also playing: 6:45pm Friday 15 May @ Unitarian Church

moumoon and PASSEPIED, Two of Japan’s Rising Talents, Announce Special One-off London Show

Event Name: JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents moumoon x PASSEPIED – JAPAN RISING Warm Up
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/454371931382680/
Date: Wednesday 13 May 2015 (from 7pm)
Location: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London E1 7DA [map]
Nearest Tube/Train: London Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Shoreditch High Street
Entry: £5

Schedule:
7-8pm: Japanese music DJ session
8pm: PASSEPIED
9pm: moumoon
10pm-close: Japanese music DJ session

Two of Japan’s hottest rising talents, moumoon and PASSEPIED have already been selected to represent the best in new talents from Japan at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton between 14-16 May 2015, and now they have announce a very special one-off show in London to warm up for the festival appearance, accompanies by DJ sessions from UK-based Japanese music label JPU Records.

PASSEPIED (www.passepied.info)

Named after French composer Claude Debussy, PASSEPIED have became a sensation in the Japanese music scene since forming in 2009. With their unique music style crafted by keyboardist and founder Narita Haneda, who graduated the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in classical music, and illustrations, artwork and music clip animation created by the band’s own vocalist, Natsuki Ogoda. This will be PASSEPIED’s very first performance outside of Japan.

moumoon (www.moumoon.com)

moumoon is a Japanese group formed by YUKA (Vo.) and MASAKI (Gt./Composer). They both grow up with classical music with Masaki playing piano and YUKA playing violin. Their present musical style covers various types of music such as pop, alternative rock, electronica, folk and indie rock with YUKA’s lyrics and vocal adding scenery and a story to Masaki’s sensitive but dynamic melodies. After moumoon was formed, their songs were power played on radio and used in many TV commercials earning them name recognition. Their latest single is also currently being used in hit new anime series Assassination Classroom as its closing theme.

moumoon and PASSEPIED are in the UK to take part in the JAPAN RISING showcase at The Great Escape on Saturday 16 May, where they will be joined by Yosi Horikawa. The showcase is supported by The Foundation for Promotion of Music Industry and Culture (PROMIC) and Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), and coordinated by Japan Underground. It is part of a remit to create overseas showcase opportunities for performers at Tokyo International Music Market; further showcases will follow.

SCANDAL to Release GREATEST HITS Exclusively in the UK and Europe – 4 May

One of Japan’s leading all-girl groups, SCANDAL, will release a special collection of their greatest hits exclusively in Europe on 4 May 2015.

The powerful Japanese pop-rock band is currently preparing for their first world tour, taking place between April and May. To mark the occasion JPU Records will release a special compilation CD of the band’s biggest singles and fan favourite tracks.

Entitled GREATEST HITS – EUROPEAN SELECTION, the album will be SCANDAL’s first to not be released in Japan, and is instead exclusive to the UK and Europe. The collection features 15 tracks, including their feisty 2008 debut single DOLL – which has racked up over one million hits on YouTube – as well as seven of their top-ten chart smashing singles (Oricon Weekly Singles Chart) and four catchy pop-punk songs featured as theme-tunes and insert songs from popular Japanese anime.

This will be the first time several tracks from SCANDAL’s back catalogue has been made available outside of Japan, and includes a booklet containing lyrics translated into English and Romaji. This album will not be available for digital download or streaming.

SCANDAL – GREATEST HITS TRACKLIST
01. DOLL (video)
02. HARUKAZE
03. Midnight Television
04. Shojo S (video)
05. LOVE SURVIVE (video)
06. Queens are trumps
07. SCANDAL BABY
08. Taiyo to Kimi ga Egaku STORY (video)
09. KOSHI-TANTAN
10. Shunkan Sentimental (video)
11. Awanaitsumorino, Genkidene (video)
12. Kagen No Tsuki (video)
13. Pride (video)
14. SAKURA Goodbye (video)
15. Sayonara My Friend

Pre-order from: [  JPU Records Shop ], [  Amazon.co.uk ], [  Amazon.fr ], [  Media Markt (France) ]
[  Amazon.de ], [  Media Markt (Germany) ], [  Weltbild (Germany) ], [  JPC (Germany) ],
[  My Media Welt (Germany) ], [  Treffpunktmusikshop.de (Germany) ], [  Music Corner (Poland) ],
[  imuzika (Italy) ], [  Media Markt (Italy) ], [  levykauppax.fi (Finland) ], [  Record Shop X (Finland) ],
[  CDON (Finland) ], [  Weltbild (Austria) ], [  CD Soundtrack (Czech Republic) ], [  CDON (Sweden) ],
[  CDON (Norway) ], [  imusic (Denmark) ], [  CDON (Denmark) ]

SCANDAL is

HARUNA
Lead Vocals / Guitar

MAMI
Guitar / Vocals

TOMOMI
Bass / Vocals

RINA
Drums / Vocals

SCANDAL online:
https://www.youtube.com/scandalSMEJ
https://www.facebook.com/scandalofficial

JPU Records online:
http://www.jpurecords.com
https://twitter.com/JPUrecords
https://www.facebook.com/JPUrecords

Otaku Superstars Dempagumi.inc Confirmed for HYPER JAPAN This Summer!

Super colourful, mega energetic idol group Dempagumi.inc will be heading to the HYPER JAPAN Festival at The O2 in London this summer! They will be performing for one day only, Sunday 12th July, and will have an art exhibition about them installed throughout the three days of the Japanese festival.

Dempagumi.inc is Mirin Furukawa, Risa Aizawa, Nemu Yumemi, Eimi Naruse, Ayane Fujisaki, and Moga Mogami. Every member is a hardcore otaku, whether for games, anime, manga or cosplay, and they all still actively pursue their various passions alongside their singing career. From their humble origins as performers at Akihabara’s idol live house Dear Stage, the girls have now hit it big internationally, and have performed at concerts throughout Asia and in the US. Their domestic popularity continues to soar as well; last year they performed a solo concert to an audience of 10,000 fans at Tokyo’s prestigious Nippon Budokan, and their recent music releases continue to rank well within the Top 10 in Japan’s music charts (see here for their British iTunes).

They do an absolute bonkers cover of Beastie Boys’ Sabotage, check it out here, while below is one of their latest music videos:

Akihabara Kimono Trio to Hold First Overseas Performance at HYPER JAPAN

HYPER JAPAN Festival has already revealed the attendance of visual rockers Lost Ash in its line-up, and now things are set to become a whole lot cuter with the freshly announced arrival of J-pop trio Heisei Kotohime, confirmed for this summer’s event at The O2 in London between 10-12 July.

Heisei Kotohime burst onto the scene from the infamous streets of Akihabara, Tokyo’s capital for all things otaku and electronic. The group combines traditional aspects and sounds of Japan with idol culture. Each member has their own unique and colourful kimono, as well as a specially redesigned version of Japan’s national instrument, the koto.

Catch the girls at their first show outside of Japan exclusively in London at HYPER JAPAN this July. Here’s a special video message they recorded for the event: