Tomoyuki Ohki's pseudonym, Tomovsky, may have been inspired by the Russian masters of classical music, but his musical lineage is pure -- albeit twisted -- pop: equal parts John Lennon and Syd Barrett.

Tomoyuki Ohki

Like psychedelic punkster Robyn Hitchcock, Tomovsky shapes well-written songs that flutter with off-kilter hooks and the red-eyed humor and skewed perspective of someone who has stayed up way too late. He also borrows a few licks from Money Mark, with meandering organ fill and the same lackadaisical vocal delivery.

Tomovsky (like, oddly enough, Lyndon Baines Johnson) has fashioned a strange sleep schedule of two distinct four-hour periods. This leaves plenty of time for nighttime musical meandering.

His new album, "Yorumania Full" (Nightmania), is a paean not so much to the night's delights as to its ability to refashion the day's events in a different light.

"Everything seems simpler at night," he says. "Those things that are complicated or difficult during the day are suddenly easier to deal with at night."

Tomovsky's twisted pop has a cult following in the U.S.

Though recorded in a home studio, the album has the polish of a veteran, which Tomovsky undoubtedly is.

Like many other established Japanese musicians (Pizzicato Five, most notably), Tomovsky got his start in a university music club. Music soon gained favor over his business studies. A well-known figure in Tokyo's indie scene for years, he eventually hit pay dirt: a contract with Sony subsidiary Dohb Disks. But as an artist used to almost complete control, Tomovsky chafed under Dohb's less flexible regime. When Dohb went belly up last year, Tomovsky returned to an indie label, the UK.Project.

His major label sojourn afforded him the opportunity to play in the U.S. at the influential South by Southwest Music Festival. Although there was some American label interest (Tomovsky has a cult following in the U.S.), with Dohb's subsequent difficulties, nothing came of it.

Not that it brought him down. "I hate flying anyway," he said.

Unlike many indie groups who sign to major labels, Tomovsky seems to have survived unscathed, though "Yorumania Full" is somewhat of a departure. The album's lyrics are full of blurry, poetic images, quite different from the detailed, personal stories of previous albums that resulted in Tomovsky being labeled "confessional pop" -- a tag he agreed with but feels he ultimately transcended.

On "Yorumania Full," though the lyrics still are well thought out, the music and the wacky production flourishes are center stage.

"The fact that the lyrics are somewhat lessened is actually a big thing for me," says Tomovsky. "In the past I've placed more emphasis on the lyrics, so with this I was free of a burden.

"I think that the desire to express oneself through music is actually kind of awe-inspiring. Music is a greater entity than human consciousness, so trying to express oneself through music is somewhat pointless."

Tomovsky, April 4 at Shibuya On Air West; April 12 at Osaka Fandango. For more information, call Flipside at (03) 3470-9999.

Morning Musume strutting their stuff for starving children? L'Arc en Ciel and Ayumi Hamasaki duetting for AIDS awareness? Not in our lifetime.

Benefit shows in Japan have never become the star-studded rock spectacles that they are in the U.S. and Europe, and, given the Japanese music industry's phobia of anything that smacks of controversy (or for that matter, commitment), it will be a long time before they ever will.

Instead, issue-related events, like the yearly AIDS awareness gigs, have been relegated to fringe shows at local live houses. God bless Buffalo Daughter and concert promoters Smash, then, for trying once again to push things to a bigger level by reviving the Tibetan Freedom Concert.

The last Tokyo Tibetan Freedom Concert -- two years ago -- suffered from an out-of-the-way locale and a reluctance on the part of the musical community to transcend the usual hollow pieties about "love and peace" and be active on behalf of a bona-fide issue.

While simultaneous concerts in Amsterdam, Chicago and Sydney featured genuine chart heavyweights like Alanis Morrisette, Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Rage Against the Machine, the Tokyo one had to make do with lesser-known groups. Not that many of the performers or their audience actually knew much about Tibet anyway -- most were there to bask in the reflected glory of Tibetan Freedom poster boys, the Beastie Boys.

This year's festival on May 13 is at the same dreadful location, Tokyo Bay NK Hall, but has managed to attract a genuine star: Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. With punk heroes Brahman and Buffalo Daughter flying in the day after London's Tokyo Urban Beats festival, as well as Boom Boom Satellites, maybe this year's Tibetan Freedom Concert will leave a slightly deeper mark.