Sep 117 min read

Tuning In to Tokyo with Shibuya's Scrambled Sounds: Japanese Underground Music Newsletter

Tokyo is the homeland of some of the most iconic Japanese musical genres in history from bluesy ‘70s enka to iconic ‘80s city pop to ‘00s J-rock standards. The city is a music lover’s paradise full of clubs, music bars, record stores, and live venues ranging from everywhere from huge stadiums to underground dives. With so much music waiting to discover, you almost don’t know where to start.

That’s where Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds comes in. This Japanese underground music newsletter is a labor of love by Josh Pittman, an American living in Tokyo who uses his self-proclaimed music nerdiness to find, review, and share all of Japan’s most intriguing underground music. Josh has been living in Japan for around five years, and his connection with Japanese music stems back to his time in America. He spent years as a musician with the band floral print and as a DJ. In college, he hosted a radio show called “Moshi Moshi 88” at WRAS 88.5 through Georgia State University with the mission to “explore contemporary Japanese music with an emphasis on indie and underground artists.”

Josh has carried that spirit into his newest project, Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds, where he provides weekly recommendations of underground Japanese music across all genres and eras. Each week’s newsletter features albums and artists you might never have found if not for SSS’s uniquely curated lineups.

A wide range of Josh’s recommendations – such as eclectic singer-songwriter Shintaro Sakamoto (Issue 24) and polished indie rock group Strip Joint (Issue 20) – are now regulars in my playlists. As a casual record collector, SSS has given me a lot more names to look for when flipping through discs in Japan and searching for local concerts. In this way, I feel like SSS doesn't just expand your knowledge of Japanese music, it deepens your experience of it. If this is what you’re searching for, look no farther than Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds.

Get to know Josh through the interview below, and make sure to subscribe to the Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds newsletter via email and follow them on Instagram!

Interview

What is Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds’s mission?

My main goal is for SSS to be a resource that anyone can use to find new Japanese music, whether they’re a music nerd or just someone interested in different genres. For me, it’s basically an outlet to share underground and independent Japanese music that I really love. I focus on sharing artists and albums which are hard to find information about in English in the hopes that others can learn more and find their own new favorite artists as well.

What made you want to start sharing music in this way?

One of the main inspirations for starting the newsletter was my experience running a Japanese music show on my college radio station in America. Finding new music was really tough at that time. In researching, I kept running into the same artists that people in the U.S. already knew and loved, so I had to go a bit deeper on the Internet using the limited Japanese ability I had at that point. It took a lot of work, but I found a lot of music I really love. Essentially, I just want to be a bridge for people who are searching like I was and give them a platform to jump off of.

What made you interested in Japanese music in the first place?

Some of the most impactful music of my life was Japanese video game and anime music I heard as a kid, stuff like Zelda, Final Fantasy, Inu Yasha, and Cowboy Bebop. One of my earliest memories was popping in a new VHS of Dragon Ball Z and the Japanese theme played instead of the usual English one. My mind was blown, I was so into it. This childhood love for Japanese music grew even more when I got into high school and made other friends with similar interests who taught me about other Japanese genres like visual kei.

Who are some of your most foundational Japanese artists?

I would say I have three huge musical inspirations, to the point that I partially think they led to me coming to Japan. The first one is “The Pillows,” who did the FLCL (Fooly Cooly) anime intro. At the same time I was getting into the classic 80s/90s underground Western bands like the Pixies and Sonic Youth, The Pillows were a Japanese band which really struck the same chords for me.

The second was Yellow Magic Orchestra. All three members (Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yukihiro Takahashi) not only made amazing music together through YMO but also had incredible solo work as well. I’m still combing through all the work that came out of that band and its members over the years, but they’re one of my biggest inspirations.

The last one is Tatsuto Yamashita, who was basically the pioneer of city pop. I got into him right when I first started the radio show. It’s funny how I found his music: I started hearing his stuff sampled in early 2010s vaporwave and I was like, what is this? It was the first time I heard that city pop sound, and it hooked me immediately. His music is like, what if The Beach Boys was actually good in the 80s?

As someone originally from another country who listened to this music from afar, what is it like to be here experiencing the Japanese underground music scene in Tokyo now?

It’s interesting to compare it to the US, where people who aren’t even that into music go to shows down the street for a band they’ve never heard of just to hang out. There’s a lot more talking and drinking - more of a party vibe.

Here, the people who are at concerts are generally really passionate and focused on the music itself. As soon as a band starts playing, the crowd is immediately focused on them, even going silent depending on the genre. I mean that in a good way! The people who go to shows here are very much there for the music.

How do you find shows to see in Tokyo?

At first, I would look up artists I already knew to find the venues they were playing, and then I would search the venues’ schedules to find other artists. If an artist's name or concert flyer looked interesting, I’d usually check them out online. I got into a groove of knowing pretty quickly whether the music was something I’d be into or not, but sometimes a song I didn’t think I liked would circle back somewhere in my brain. That’s when I knew, “Oh, yeah, there’s probably something here.”

What are Tokyo music venues like?

The small underground venues here honestly feel like cleaner versions of dives in the U.S. There are a couple unique quirks to Japanese venues, the first being that shows are generally more expensive. Even for smaller artists, you often pay 2500 to 3000 yen to see them, which I compare to my experiences in the US seeing bands for $5 or even free. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just makes me a little more picky about which shows I see.

The sound is always good. In the US, it really depended on the venue and the sound guy - some people were really talented but it can be a mixed bag. But in my experience at shows in Japan, the sound quality is usually so high.

Do you have any special memories of a concert here?

Actually, the one that came to mind was the first show I ever saw in Japan, when I was just visiting before moving here. It was about seven or eight years ago, and I saw the band Tricot (トリコ). They’re one of those bands I got into after high school, and seeing them live was really cool. The DJ started playing the Full House theme right after their set, and I guess he saw me get excited about it because he came out from behind the booth, picked me up, and actually started carrying me around the venue as stuff was falling out of my bag and everybody was getting lit. It’s such a fun memory to look back on now.

What’s your goal looking forward for Shibuya Scrambled Sounds?

I want to continue to expand my network in the music community here in Tokyo. I started with the hope that I could help other people find music, but now I want to not only expand to people listening but to the artists themselves. There have been some artists who I’ve reached out to after sharing their music through the newsletter and I’ve got such kind feedback and responses from them. Especially as someone who was formerly in a band, being able to relate and make connections like that is really special.

The dream for the newsletter is to just be a main source for people searching for Japanese music in English - to be like the Pitchfork for Japanese music. Pitchfork was my favorite thing when I was in high school, and it’s still one of my biggest inspirations for what I want to make.

Any message for somebody who’s coming to Japan for the first time to live or to visit and wants to engage with the music scene here?

It definitely depends on what genre you like and what you’re into, but that’s the great thing - Tokyo is a huge city with so much to offer from a music perspective. I would say my advice is to just go for it - it can be intimidating to go to shows, especially if you don’t speak Japanese, but that shouldn’t stop you from going. People at concerts here are very friendly, if a little shy at first. Don’t be afraid to go out and find your music and your people!

Before you go, make sure to subscribe to the Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds newsletter via email and follow them on Instagram!