With one eye on the past and the other firmly on the future, all-girl groove-pop trio tokyo pinsalocks are one of Japan’s most exciting bands. With a tight sound comprising colourful synth, distorted bass, creative drums and dreamlike vocals, their music is fresh, eclectic and danceable, with an artistic sensibility that garners them as much respect from the world of fashion and art as within music.
Since their 2000 inception in Tokyo, tokyo pinsalocks have played innumerable shows around Japan, including Sapporo’s revered Rising Sun Rock Festival. They put out two mini-albums and a single before the release of their first full-length, ‘rhythm channel’, as a four-piece in 2005 – a joyful collection of popped-up pysch-outs that created a sound all of their own while doing grand justice to the band’s heroes Kraftwerk, Bjork and Super Junky Monkey.
A period of change followed. The band’s guitarist, Tomocchi, left, and rather than replace her, they sought to redefine their sound. The result was 2007’s ‘Plutonium EP’, a joyful set of stripped-back pop that ditched the guitar and offered something lean and powerful. And March 2008 sees the release of ‘Planet Rita’, a bright mini-album released in Japan through new-wave/ new-rave label Kimono, featuring heavenly rhythms and sunshine-inflected psychedelic pop tunes.
In February 2007 they got airborne, exploding onto stages around England on two separate tours; this will be followed in March 2008 with shows in New York and Boston, and a second US tour in October 2008.
Back in Japan, they set up their own irregular series of events, Spoon Market, which present the coolest of female artists – be they musicians, fashion designers, visual artists or cooks – in Tokyo club spaces. The first successful event pulled a crowd of 400 into Ebisu’s legendary Milk venue in September 2007, and the offshoot event Mini Spoon served as a pre-launch party for ‘Planet Rita’ in February 2008. The next Spoon Market is slated for September 2008, presenting yet another collaboration between female art culture and music culture in Tokyo.
As The B-52’s once said, grab some tanning butter. You’ll need it; 2008 promises to be a scorchingly bright year for tokyo pinsalocks.
“Amazing Japanese electropop act” – Peter Robinson, Pop Justice
“tokyo pinsalocks sound, if we're making crass comparisons, a bit like
The Knife if they were from the Japanese capital and learning to fly space rockets” – PlayLouder.com
“A first-class package of groove-led pop magic with mashed-up vocals, warm rhythm instruments and electronic leanings” – David Harrison, Music Towers
“This band is exciting proof of the Japanese rock’n’roll invasion of America to come” – Devo cohort Robert Miltenberg
“tokyo pinsalocks offer tripped-out psychedelic pop that recalls Jane’s Addiction and Lush in equal parts” – Daniel Robson, Disorder Magazine
“‘rhythm channel’ reminds me of the freshness, inventive fun and energy of The Sugarcubes (with Bjork)’s classic CD ‘Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!’” – Albert Fox, film/TV/videogame/commercial composer
“Keyboard-led pop sensation tokyo pinsalocks play danceable, rhythmic pop with nary a guitar nor agenda in sight” – Neo magazine
“Sugar sweet, simple and occasionally Bjork-esque lyrics accompany a grimy but tightly skilled rhythm section that blasts from the PA with the fervor of a super-hero video game” – eGigs
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