NEWS: Fujiya and Miyagi Care About Kids

MUSIC: Fujiya and Miyagi Care About Kids

Fujiya and Miyagi played the Bowery Ballroom here in NYC last week, and I wasn't really sure what to write afterwards. Their songs are smooth and beat-driven, and sometimes they remind me of Can, which can only be a good thing. They know what they're doing when mixing live instruments with electronic sounds, and they're certainly good to listen to while chilling on one's couch and smoking a hookah...but live, they're a little on the mellow side for someone who likes to jump around and thrash in the pit at shows (me). I also find it alternately cool and annoying that they have a fake Japanese name and admit in a song that they are "only pretending to be Japanese" O RLY, clearly not Japanese-looking-or-sounding guys?? Then again, they get props for naming themselves after Pat Morita's character in The Karate Kid. All in all, I am pro-them.



I am even more pro-them after seeing this news item on Pitchfork:

Now each time I smoke a hookah on my couch, I will turn their beats up extra loud and feel happy I'm listening to a band that supports rad charities and music therapy. This goes without saying, but music is good for more than just dancing around to and/or writing scathing criticism of. In ways that are documented but not yet fully understood by science, tunes from Mozart to Moby can help people overcome a variety of conditions.



Of course, you don't have to be disabled to benefit from music. So whatever your status, turn up the rock and start feeling good.



Pictures from the show:

I wanted to ask you how the show was, but apparently I just found out. Good on them for doing something positive to give back, too.

I knew they weren't Japanese with that name. I totes called it.