After locking myself in the garage for ages, banging my head against the wall and screaming the merits of the latest Japanese band that sounds remotely like Stooges brawling with MC5 in a wind tunnel, it seems logical to kind of get away from it all -- open that door, stroll outside for some fresh air, get some sunshine.
I mean, with the summer kicking in, it's far too hot to go round dressed to the nines like The Strokes. And all that in-your-face guitar music doesn't make so much sense when you're lying on a beach with a Corona in one hand and a smoke in the other.
But before we hit the beach, we got a date in sweaty Shibuya, with Japan's most brilliant reggae collective, Dry & Heavy. They've just released "From Creation," an ace new album that oozes summer bliss and screams out to be glued to the biggest portable sound system I can lay my hands on for the next few months.