March is almost here, and on the music calendar that means eyes are on the South by Southwest (SXSW) music showcase in Austin, Texas. For many Japanese bands and for much of the local press, SXSW means the festival's Japan Nite event.
The advantages of an event like Japan Nite, with its high profile and big audiences, are obvious. However, make a list of Japanese artists with a genuine profile among overseas music fans and chances are that, rather than the upbeat party-punk of bands such as Ketchup Mania and Lolita No. 18, you'll wind up with bands such as Cornelius or the Boredoms — musicians whose popularity transcends the novelty of their nationality.
In many ways the idea of the nationally themed bundle is a strange one in today's world. Before we had the Internet, it made sense to group bands together by region, partly because the lack of any easy way for fans to find information about music beyond their home country or state meant it was much more practical for promotional purposes if groups from one particular place could be labeled in a certain way. Much as many bands involved with Krautrock hated that term, it did a lot of good in bringing attention to German psychedelic and early electronic music.