One of the great curiosities of the Japanese music scene is the tendency to eat up the latest indie rock innovations from the U.K. or U.S., leaving home-grown talent unknown and uncelebrated.
Since the early '80s, Zin Yoshida and Hitomi Takenaka, the duo known as Salon Music, have crafted an idiosyncratic body of work that stands with the best of overseas pop auteurs.
While the Shibuya hipsters are bouncing along to Creed, Limp Biskit or Cibo Matto, they're missing out on the beguiling mix on their latest release, "Round Five Shaggy Bee" (Trattoria), with its hints of the Fall-style beats and shouts, thick distorted guitars a la My Bloody Valentine and the fall-apart sweetness of the Velvet Underground. Once again, Salon Music have proved themselves masters of transforming sonic convulsions into lush, hook-laden pop songs.