J indies night at Woodys Niigata

Having delved into j indies in YouTube - I stumbled across a few decent bands which have a great look , and are taking the nod from early nineties c86 indie - with a touch of shoe gaze - and along with home grown Japanese slacker wacko ness .

First up we’re raptor - a 4 piece based in Niigata . They played a tight 5 sing set which drew on influences of early mbv , mogwai - and some poppy , west coast harmonies . The front man had a synth with vocoder - and also played Rythm guitar - his wing man - complimented it with some great melodic riffs and leads - he also plunked along with an Akao analogue . They closed their set with a very tight note for note cover of something by the Beatles .

Jurassic boys hail from Tokyo - I had hit upon their current catchy hit “ cherry cola “ a jingly jangly nod to c86 acts such as the pastels , teenage fan club , and us bands such as Dinasour jr and pavement . They have an early 90s slacker look - and a star in their frontman - with a foppish shoegaze cut - I bought their 2 track single “ cherry cola/ city from the various pop up indie stalls which sold diy indie style merch such as cds , lighters and cupcakes all with their various indie motifs printed on .

Their set was fun , and all the band played very tight . The frontman is a great singer , and the rhythm guitar and riffs from his Gretch were addictive and ridiculously catchy .

They have a great sense of goofiness and fun , including the drummer who sported a Jurassic park - retro 90s t shirt . Their exuberance was reflected in the crowd who went nuts for their cover of cyndia laupers “girls just wanna have fun “ .