Space Shower TV, the homegrown version of music television, has been instrumental in promoting what might be best called Japanese pop, as opposed to J-pop. These groups may not make the upper reaches of the chart -- they are either too raw or too offbeat -- but they are also too accessible or too popular to be called indie anymore.
Space Shower's "Sweet Love Shower 2001" -- a six-hour-long concert broadcast live on television -- is a primer for what is bubbling in this stratum of music, between J-pop's saccharine sounds and the sonic tumult of the underground.
The lineup runs the gamut from the power pop of the Ulfuls to the folkie rock of the Magokoro Brothers. A sense of dynamics and an almost jazz sensibility save newcomers The Back Horn from sounding like just another alternative rock band. Quruli, likewise, have begun to sever their rock roots with a bit of techno on their latest release.
The undisputed highlight of this show however, will be Ego-Wrappin'. After more than five years playing the live-house circuit, Ego-Wrappin' broke through this year with the single "Paranoia" and an obliterating set at Fuji Rock.
At times tending toward ska, at others pure swing, the group (essentially a duo of singer Yoshie and guitarist Masaki) make effervescent and jazzy pop. Unlike most potential starlets, Yoshie is a big girl, and she throws her heft around with an abandon resembling the blues women of old, propelling the music with pure physicality.
The concert venue, Hibiya Park's Open Air Amphitheatre, is one of Tokyo's best live spots. As long as the event's name is only metaphoric and the weather holds, "Sweet Love Shower 2001" should be a minifestival in the heart of Tokyo.