Seattle Times: Japanese rock scene starts to bubble up
NEW YORK — "Japanese rock" might conjure images of Zen gardens, with bonsai trees and quiet streams. But the elaborate mini-encyclopedia of Japanese music called "jrock, ink." is anything but still. Reading from right to left, like a Japanese graphic novel, "jrock, ink." is a spunky, fast-paced rundown of 40 of the hottest rock-music acts in Japan...Yun spoke about some of the bands most primed to make it big in America: X Japan - "The whole idea behind X Japan was to express ... the four extremes of human emotion all at the same time, and to embody it in not only their music but their dress. That's a pretty tall order, but that's a totally Eastern concept."...Princess Princess: "I hope that more people will know about them after I write about them because they were just a total breakthrough. I don't think there's any equivalent in the U.S. An all-girl band playing in the style of Van Halen. It's kind of nuts."...more...
