More than 100,000 people are expected to attend this month's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the Southern California desert. While heavyweight North American pop stars such as Beyonce and The Weeknd are grabbing the most attention, the lineup also features dozens of noteworthy names — including two Japanese ones.
The first is X Japan, a long-running metal band mythic enough to inspire both a hit documentary and a collaboration with Hello Kitty — it's the type of flashy legacy act that Coachella loves.
The second is Otoboke Beaver, a smaller punk-leaning quartet based in Kyoto named after a local love hotel. The group's live performances are frantic bursts of energy, with tunes that sometimes only last seconds.