- Description
"Dokkiri! unfolds the rich history of Japan's unique underground music worlds - from experimental rock to psyche to punk to Noise - and no one could do this better and more organically than David Hopkins. Hopkins is that rare scene historian who was there at the beginning: and he's still there, recounting the details and telling the stories that no one else can remember. Maniacs and beginners alike, start here!" -David Novak, Japanoise
"For me and my friends in the American underground, the music of the Japanese underground was beyond exotic. It may as well have been from Mars. The occasional examples that made it out of Japan and into our hands and rare concert appearances were intoxicating. The bands all had strong identities, obviously incubated in an active scene, probably complete with its own legends and apocrypha, to which we had no access and remained ignorant of. We could only wonder at the artifacts and concerts. The bands we got to hear were astonishing. Simultaneously alien and familiar, the musicians were often both gifted with expert technique and compelled to abandon technique. They were simultaneously artful and artless in a way that no Western bands could approximate. I longed to know their stories, and through Dokkiri! I finally have a glimpse. This book fills in many of the gaps in my own appreciation of the Japanese independent music scene and provides context for sound, lyrics and personalities that were all opaque mysteries until now. As an outsider to the Japanese underground, I have renewed respect for the people who built it and am grateful it was written." -Steve Albini
Table of contents:
- Rock Magazine, or, Willing a Scene into Existence
- Taking it to an Audience in Tokyo, or, Do You Wanna Be My Doggg?
- Kansai Scene Beginnings, or, We Aren't Normal and We Want Our Freedom
- 1979 Explosion, or, It's the Beginning of the Century
- Dokkiri! and Other Records, or, Hi, Speed Freaks, Listen In
- Meanwhile Back in Tokyo, or, Wanna Riot of My Own
- Oi and Hardcore, or, Punks Not Dead
- Pure Noise, or, Bad Character, But Great Sound
- Fun Kalternative, or, I'm Dilletante, I'm Proud
- Psyche, or, Smell Me Smell My Grandfather
- None of the Above, or, Wish You are Here
Author: Kato David Hopkins
Publisher: Public Bath Press
Page Count: 298pp
Size: 6 x 8.5 x 1
Notes: softcover, b/w & color, imported from Japan
Date of Publication: August 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-4990863609