I've gotten into J-Rock lately & got set up on an announcement bulletin anytime that a band was coming to the US I would get a newsletter about when & where their appearance would be. The band that I'm excited about lately is Quaff.
They represent a new trend in Japan called Neo-Japanese. Instead of imitating english speaking rock groups, they are now trying to insert more traditional Japanese attributes to their music or look. It can range from bands wearing kimonos (with baseball hats) to using traditional instruments. Quaff does the later, they use the twin voice technique; UTA & TUZURI. Uta is the melody and Tuzuri is closely what I can compare to rap. The guy that does the tuzuri uses a fan as a prop....which means he's the only rapper that uses a fan in history. Femine to Westerners but in Japan, I've only seen yakuza (gangsters) welding fans, so I guess its very tough.
You can get their music online or you can download their latest lp [The Explosion] on itunes. My favorite song on the album is Saihara-no-miyako, if your computer shows Romanji. Or you can go see them in concert this month. Most Japanese bands play LA. If you are lucky they'll play Dallas. If they're really popular than they'll fly all the way to NYC. Which boggles my mind that Quaff is playing in Atlanta?!