Acclaimed Japanese Instrumental Rockers Lite Talk Inspiration Ahead of June 10 Yugong Yishan Gig

Any Beijing music buffs that were lucky enough to catch Minutemen legend Mike Watt perform at DDC back in March should prepare to be blown away all over again come June 10. That's because Japanese math rock band Lite, and one of the alt-rock elder's favorite up-and-comers, will perform at Yugong Yishan.

For those unaccustomed to the "math rock" genre, it's often defined by a strong rhythm section, often instrumental, and accented with especially noodly and complex guitar or synth overplays. However, that doesn't make Lite so elaborate to render it inaccessible, instead making the music ear-wormy, upbeat, universally propulsive, and fun. You'll have a hard time not to pogo from the moment you hear them, and at the very least their hard driving rhythms and soothing hooks make them perfect earphone fodder for your next gym workout.

The success of their sound is due in no small part to drummer Akinori Yamamoto, whose idiosyncratic patterns are engrossing and keep you on your toes, eagerly awaiting what he'll tap out next. His percussion on their song "Starry Night," for instance, is distant and echoing but assuredly booming, an eclectic contrast to his upper cut, in your face pummeling of the skins on "Bond," which coyly keeps you waiting until the one-minute-mark before the drums and climactic rhythms truly kick in. That latter song is also a great entryway into the band's catalogue, thanks to its enticing slow burn guitar (Nobuyuki Takeda) and bass (Jun Izawa) intro, an enticingly restrained turn by them both. Kozo Kusumoto rounds out the lineup with his synth playing, which gives their songs a gorgeously melodic complexity

Formed in Tokyo in 2003, Lite are considered to be one of Japan's top instrumental rock acts, with all of their albums having charted on domestic charts, and a dedicated cult following filling up Japanese venues for their shows. They caught the attention of Vice's Noisey music outlet in 2013, which published a fun Q&A with them that, among other things, detailed their relationship with mentor Mike Watt (to see the Minutemen's lasting influence on the band you need look no further than "Hunger" on Lite's 2013 LP Installation). Below, Takeda tells us more about their relationship with Watt as well as their latest LP Cubic, released last year.

What was it like to meet Mike Watt?
We have toured with Mike several times and through the experience he taught us “what a musician should be” – how to do on tours, and how to keep a good relationship with the band members and people around. He teaches us about life through music.

Mike is famous for having many friends, and when we played in Seattle, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam came to see our show. He said he enjoyed it, and invited us to his home next day. We went kayaking and chilled on the beach. It was like a dream spending time with him.

Do you think people have a lot of misconceptions about instrumental rock and math rock?
As a matter of fact, there are people who don’t listen to instrumental music only because there are no vocals. But we don’t categorize ourselves as a “band without vocals.” Our songs have melodies. We often are categorized as an instrumental rock band or a math rock band, and I don’t care about that. But I think it’s sad if people don’t listen to a genre only because of the stereotyped images they have. We are trying to make music that can reach out to these people, too.

Tell us more about the Japanese instrumental rock scene.
Japanese instrumental rock is influenced not only by music from abroad, but also by the Japanese underground and hardcore scenes. It has developed in a very unique way, and I think there are a lot more bands who have the potential to break through overseas. I hope they have more opportunity to expand their music.

Are you working on any new music?
Yes, our new songs are very aggressive compared to [our 2016 LP] Cubic. I guess I want to make something different and in opposition to it.

What did you enjoy most about recording your 2016 LP Cubic?
We did mixing in Chicago and worked with Keith Zouza and Seth, the engineers for Battles. A demo was sent to us on the day before the mixing with a message. It said: “We made it 2D to 3D.” We listened to it, and it was exactly so. This album has our most diverse range of sounds and it's very dynamic.

You can read more about Lite at Noisey here and from the Japan Times here. They'll perform at Yugong Yishan on June 10 at 9pm as part of a China tour put on by New Noise. Tickets are RMB 120 presale, RMB 150 at the door. We'll add a link when they go on sale.

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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
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Photos: J Pop Asia, Noisey, Mike Watt's Hoot Page