HYPER JAPAN Festival is known for their celebration of Japanese culture in the United Kingdom and the 2022 edition seems to have a heavy focus on Japanese music with the addition of a mini Japanese music festival in collaboration with Orion Live: HYPER Live. Consisting of two nights with exclusive performances of Japanese artists, the evenings are scheduled to take place on Friday the 22nd of July and Saturday the 23rd of July.
The two evenings also have a specific format of pop and dance on Friday night under the name HYPER Party and Japanese underground and alternative music on Saturday night under the name HYPER Alternative. Those who have already purchased tickets for HYPER JAPAN Festival will have to buy an extra ticket to experience these evenings.
Performing on the evening of HYPER Party are Double And, MIKUROMIKA, Mika Kobayashi, blank paper and FEMM. On the evening of HYPER Alternative, the following artists will be performing: GARUDA, 蛮-BANG-, Miura Ayme, and NECRONOMIDOL. Below are the artist introductions.
Double And
2& (Double And) is Saki Chitose. After the disbandment of this alt idol group called Guso Drop, she concentrated to publish new music as 2& (Double And), releasing her debut album in 2015, followed up by several singles as well as two long-form compilations in the United Kingdom: The Theory of 2& and Saki PLUS YOU = 2&. 2& (Double And) has gone on to appear at many conventions in Asia, toured the UK with Necronomidol and The Screaming Sixties on the 2018 Black Winds Over Albion tour, and headlined the Indie, Idol and Infamous tour in 2019. Her energetic performances are renowned for vocal ferocity and carefully orchestrated dance sequences that draw on her training in gymnastics.
MIKUROMIKA
The singer-songwriter MIKUROMIKA enjoys fusing several musical styles into her music, including as house, vocal trance, and Japanese pop. She also collaborates with numerous international producers. The cool pop sound and slick vocals of MIKUROMIKA are what she simply refers to as MIKUROPOP, and this is also the name of her debut album, which was published in 2021. Her performance at HYPER JAPAN is part of her first European tour, she is the support act of mannequin duo FEMM during European tour.
Mika Kobayashi
Mika Kobayashi is a singer-songwriter, known for a number of theme songs for anime and games, including The Promised Neverland, Attack on Titan, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Gundam UC, FINAL FANTASY XI, Xenoblade X, Dragon’s Dogma:Dark Arisen,, and many more. Her signature melody is reminiscent of classical music, while her talent as a vocalist is distinguished by her passionate and powerful voice when she sings songs on battles and conflicts. Mika started to perform overseas in 2010 and has been touring everywhere inside and outside of Japan with a focus on European countries.
blank paper
Established in Japan, 2021, with the concept of producing music alongside fans, listeners and professionals. They start with a piece of blank paper and see where the collective journey goes. The result of this creative process is known as ‘bpm’ (blank paper medicine). Each dose contains high concentrations of energy and emotions from varying sources, which can lead to side effects of a transcendental nature upon the listener. The identity of blank paper’s core members has yet to be disclosed beyond code names ‘C45P3R’ and ‘T3R354’.
FEMM
For almost a decade, this mannequin duo has been on the leading edge of J-pop, gaining attention of their fans (also known as Agents) due to their aggreisve musical style, but also the Hyper Pop movement. In order to introduce Japanese Pop EDM into the international mainstream, they are collaborating with the biggest songwriters in world pop music, such as Brian Lee (Lady GaGa, Justin Beiber), and Dan Book (Brittany Spears, Demi Lovato). The mannequin duo is best known for their girls’ anthem Fxxk Boyz Get Money which earned them a big fanbase outside Japan, such as Europe.
GARUDA
GARUDA is the name of Yuffie Sakimura’s dark industrial gothic side project, she is also active in the idol group MELON BATAKE A GO GO. Since the release of her debut single, Mousuguyukiga, she has been enthralling audiences all over Japan and abroad with her alternative heavy idol sound and style. With her plague mask, dark angel wings, and trademark bat, GARUDA’s live performance is one of the most unique presentations in Japanese idol scene. GARUDA released the album The Battle of Nightmares in 2020. In 2019, GARUDA was part of the Indie, Idol and Infamous tour with 14th Generation Toilet Hanako-san and Double And.
蛮-BANG-
The core of BANG’s original dance performance is ‘Animation Dance’, a new take on robot dance, which incorporates video and staging effects. Although Bang is a master of many different performance styles, his distinctively dark and gothic manner has made him the most well-known. He formed the elite group of artists known as Team BANG in 2017 and has contributed to a variety of artistic endeavours, including screenplays, productions, and choreography in the context of the film and animation industries. Lately, he has been involved with anime and theatre productions and directing animation x animation dance.
Miura Ayme
Miura Ayme has been performing as a visual kei solo artist since 2018, not only writing and composing all songs by himself, but also becoming well known as a voice actor, cosplayer, actor, and a mystery game writer. In 2019 Ayme appeared in Anime Expo as the official cosplayer for Obey Me!, a well-known mobile romance simulation game from NTT Solmare’s Shall We Date? franchise. Ayme is involved in the series as a voice actor for Asmodeus, where he also produced the game’s main theme is Sinful Indulgence. As a mystery game writer Ayme is renowned as the main director for Danganronpa, Obey Me! and more. Miura Ayme will also perform at the German convention AnimagiC 2022.
NECRONOMIDOL
The name NECRONOMIDOL is not unknown in Europe, as the ultradark idol unit has been touring Europe several times already and will be touring for the fifth time this summer. Currently, they have performed in over 12 countries and played diverse events as HYPER JAPAN Festival, the HP Lovecraft Film Festival, AnimeCon and NärCon. Playing black metal, darkwave, NWOBHM and other eclectic genres of music NECRONOMIDOL’s ultradimensional choreography and performance have blackened stages all across Japan.
There is of course much more to do at HYPER JAPAN Festival 2022, from Japanese food, travel, fashion to pop-culture, find out more at the official event website.
