brewsterbuffalo
12/09/06, 05:23 AM
Probably the single most amazing band to ever come out of Japan. Their impassioned, unique approach to playing punk and rock music reminds me of bands like Hot Water Music and Fugazi, but also touches upon softer bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Jawbox. And they've been around forever. They formed in 1988 as an Oi! band (believe it or not), but before long began to shed that sound, as well as the right-wing nationalist politics that surrounded it (Eastern Youth, however, were never expressly nationalist in their lyrics--most of their lyrics from their Oi! days deal more with self-empowerment and individualism). They sing mostly in Japanese, so most of you probably won't be able to understand their lyrics, but their music is so remarkable and powerful that chances are you won't care.