The 18th edition of Tokyo International Music Market will livestream their annual music showcase to fans worldwide on planned for 1, 2 and 3 November 2021.
The three-day event, presented in conjunction with TIMM’s music and entertainment seminars, features up-and-coming music artists from a variety of genres, some have received some coverage on AVO Magazine in the past. The back-to-back sets will be livestreamed free on TIMM’s YouTube channel, it is good to know that these showcases will not be available for replay. This means that the livestreams will not be archived after it has ended.
This year’s performers are listed below per day, with a short introduction and a music video to get a taste tester.
Day 1 – Monday 1 November
Time: 19.00 JST, 11.00 CET, 10.00 GMT
Where to watch? YouTube Link
Performing artists: Accusefive, Crispy Camera Club, dreamBoat, Ai Higuchi, Void_Chords feat. LIO
Accusefive
Based in Taiwan, this indie band produces music that falls into a variety of genres from pop, folk, dance to rock. The band was originally formed in 2011 but got reformed in 2017. Since their return, they have been putting out an EP, several singles and albums, some of which was nominated or even won a prize. The band is currently a trio with two vocalists Pan Yun-an and Tsai Hsin-lun, and drummer Richard Lin.
Crispy Camera Club
Formed in Kyoto in 2016, this band has a nostalgic and catchy melody reminiscent of the English indie guitar sound from the ’90s. Crispy Camera Club released their first mini-album in 2018 followed by a single soon after. In 2019, they released their second mini-album and they moved their base of activity from Kyoto to Tokyo. Since then, the three-piece has been working on putting out more music.
dreamBoat
December 1 will see the release of the first original work by the three groups that fall under the dansou (cross-dressing) entertainment project dreamBoat, namely Fudanjuku, ael, and EUPHORIA. These groups are popular on their own, but this is the first time they have joined hands to release an original song. EUPHORIA is known to cease its activities on 14 November, 2021, but there is a plan to form a new group.
Ai Higuchi
Ai Higuchi is a singer-songwriter based in Tokyo, she has been learning classical piano since she was 2 years old, and has experience playing the violin, drums and guitar. From the age of 18, she started her career as a keyboard player. In 2016, she made her major-label debut with her first album One Hundred Sixty Degrees. From then on, she has been receiving high praise, especially because of her performances and musicianship. She has performed at large festivals such as FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL and RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL.
Void_Chords feat. LIO
Ryo Takahashi, guitarist, bassist, synthesizer, composer, lyricist, arranger and DJ but also a creator of music for numerous anime works is behind the artist project Void_Chords. His recent collaboration is with vocalist LIO, where they have created the ending theme of the anime series TRIBE NINE, a smartphone game by origin. They have collaborated before for the song FLARE, the opening theme song for Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest.
Day 2 – Tuesday 2 November
Time: 19.00 JST, 11.00 CET, 10.00 GMT
Where to watch? YouTube Link
Performing artists: KIRAMEKI UNFORENT, Zwei, Sora Tokino, H△G and BiS
KIRAMEKI UNFORENT
KIRAMEKI UNFORENT (written as Kirameki☆Unforent) are a six-member idol group with a space theme, formed in 2015 and the sister group of Star☆FioreNerd. They have been expanding their activities not only in Japan but also in China, Taiwan and other Asian countries and maybe after their performance at TIMM, they will be able to travel much farther than before.
Zwei
While bass player Megu and vocalist Ayumu were active in another band, they met each other in 2002, in the next year the band Zwei was formed and they debuted a year later under VAP. Since then, the band started developing a techno-rock style. After switching labels a couple of times, they ended up with 5pb., where they started to make songs for some of the video games developed by the same company. Since then the group gained popularity and has even performed in Europe.
Sora Tokino
Sora Tokino is a virtual idol and the founding member of hololive, a Virtual Talent agency consisting of Virtual YouTubers owned by Japanese tech entertainment company Cover Corporation. She is active in various forms of media, such as appearing in Watanuki-san Chi no and hosting Sora Ao to!, a radio show. Her big dream is to perform at Yokohama Arena.
H△G
H△G can be best read as hagu (hug in English) and is a collective name for a group of creators consisting of Chiho and various teams in terms of music, design and other creative fields. They try to express conflict and heartache of adolescence, and its immaturity is expressed by language, sound, and design.
BiS
This idol group, BiS, meaning Brand-new idol Society, got formed in 2010 by Pour Lui and Watanabe Junnosuke and is considered the flagship group of WACK. The idol group has undergone several generations or reboots which means that there is much to discover if you haven’t been familiar with BiS. The current generation has been active since 2019.
Day 3 – Wednesday 3 November
Time: 19.00 JST, 11.00 CET, 10.00 GMT
Where to watch? YouTube Link
Performing artists: Singer’s High, JiLL-Decoy association, DEPAPEPE, Helsinki Lambda Club, Bleecker Chrome and YUC’e
Singer’s High
This young rock band recently released their first mini-album, titled Love and Hate, the four-piece was formed in March 2020 by the former vocalist of School Meets Geek. Singer’s High make emotional rock tunes with a one-of-a-kind high-tone voice that pierces through and through with lyrics that address the feelings of separation.
JiLL-Decoy association
Formed in 2002, by vocalist chihiRo and drummer towada, they make music based on jazz, pop and rock and had their major debut in 2006. A jazz arrangement of A-HA’s Take on me, attracted much attention and was featured on international television. The band has also performed at Billboard Live Tokyo, Tokyo Jazz, and RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL.
DEPAPEPE
In November 2002, the two guitarists, Yoshinari Tokuoka and Takuya Miura decided to form a duo guitar instrumental unit. They made their major debut in 2005 with their album Let’s Go!!!, which generated sales figures of about 100,000 and ranked within the top 10 of Oricon’s Instrumental Artist Debut Chart. The music unit has gained attention in other Asian countries, such as Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Singapore, where they also have performed.
Helsinki Lambda Club
While you can describe Helsinki Lambda Club as an alternative rock band, the inspiration and roots of this band and especially the band leader Kaoru Hashimoto, makes it an interesting musical mixture from 70s rock to current indie-pop. The band started out in 2013 and have become a well-known name in the Japanese rock scene. They have been gaining attention from outside Japan.
Bleecker Chrome
Having spent their teens in New York, Xin and KENYA appeared on the scene with native English and a unique melody sense. After releasing the EP Born Again, they each developed solo activities. Continuing a wide range of activities such as participating in collaboration works with top artists and providing music for hit albums. In 2021, they resumed the activity of Bleecker Chrome with the newest song ALIVE.
YUC’e
YUC’e is a track maker, producer and singer based in Tokyo. She studied music theory abroad and began releasing her own music in 2015, but before that, she has been active as utaite covering VOCALOID songs, Touhou arrangements and has participated as lyricist and vocalist in several Touhou albums.
Please keep in mind that all times are in Japanese Standard Time and that performance times and lineup are subject to change. Please check TIMM’s official website for details.
About TIMM
Tokyo International Music Market (TIMM) is the one and only music market in Japan that offers Japanese music a platform for overseas expansion and international exchange in the rapidly changing global music industry. The main components of TIMM are the Marketplace/Business Matching with overseas buyers, the Business Seminars, which are very popular every year, and the Live Music Showcase offering an opportunity for musicians to appeal directly to overseas buyers.
