For more than 20 years now, Panicsmile has been an unsung hero in Japanese rock.

In fact along with "unsung" we can perhaps add "un-singing," with group founder Hajime Yoshida's particular atonal, ranting vocal delivery one of the stylistic elements that helped define the sound of his generation, bridging the gap between 1970s punk-rock pioneers such as Friction and the rhythmically complex, jazz-influenced sounds of the post-millennial underground.

In fact, Panicsmile has over the years seen its influence — firsthand, secondhand and thirdhand — seep into the fabric of Japan's grotty clubs and dives to the point where you could almost forget that it had ever existed as something other than a distant, well-respected uncle of the music scene. "Don't follow your panic smile!" urged Yoshida on 2004's "Miniatures," yet the band had accrued enough followers over the years that you could almost forget it even made music.