taffy, PASSEPIED, moumoon and Yosi Horikawa in JAPAN RISING Showcase at The Great Escape 2015
17 April, 2015 Leave a comment
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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
Japan Underground | JPU Records Ltd. 