No, Fujiya & Miyagi are not Japanese, though the name apparently comes from a brand of record players and a memorable character from the movie The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi, played by long-time actor Pat Morita. They’re Brighton lads, and they do a stunningly good impression of Neu! and similar Krautrock bands.
Alternative/Indie
[Music] 破地獄/Scattered Purgatory – 山險峻/Sua-Hiam-Zun
Scattered Purgatory are a heavy psychedelic band out of Taipei, Taiwan, whose influences seem to include Krautrock bands like Can and Amon Düül II, as well as Japanese psychedelic-folk bands like Ghost.
[Music] 20 Years of Southern Lord’s Dark and Heavy Art
The label’s roster has always featured a wide breadth of sonic explorers, from ambient artists through very heavy metal and post-metal acts to jazz fusion.
via 20 Years of Southern Lord’s Dark and Heavy Art — Bandcamp Daily
It’s amazing to think that this label has been around for 20 years, and I missed a good fifteen of those due to ignorance. May they have another happy 20.
[Music] Various Artists: The Blog That Celebrates Itself: Girl Groups – The Underground Versions
The Blog That Celebrates Itself (TBTCI) has become one of my go-to labels for great covers of indie and post-punk music done in a style not unlike shoegaze music. This one is a gem because the theme is girl groups, and each of these Brazilian unknowns does a stand-up job reworking the originals into something quite modern-sounding,
[Music] Five-Storey Ensemble – Not That City
Not a lot of bands are coming out of Belarus at the moment, but Five-Storey Ensemble are about the best working out of Minsk today. They are the standard bearers for the modern Rock-In-Opposition movement.
[Music] Ghost Bike – Nothing Charms
I don’t know what’s going on in Jerusalem these days, but it seems there’s quite a goth/darkwave/witch-punk scene brewing over there.
Thanks kindly to Tamar Singer for recommending me the work of her colleague Vlad Shusterman (working as Ghost Bike), whose work reminds me of bands like early Sisters of Mercy, Rubella Ballet and X-Mal Deutschland in their calmer moments.
[Music] Zeresh – Sigh For Sigh EP
I love unsolicited material coming into one of my many inboxes. I ended up having the pleasure of discovering Zeresh, a neofolk band out of Israel who rather deftly interpret, on three of the four songs, the poetry of William Ernest Henley (of Invictus fame).
There is a lot of dark, pulsating music that would have been rather comfortable inside of the earlier releases of Current 93. Looking forward to hearing more, obviously.
[Music] ±0 – ±0
±0 (pronounced as plus-minus-nula) are a post-punk band out of Prague, Czech Republic. This eponymous debut was released in March of 2017. If you are a fan of this particular genre of music, especially of the sounds made by The Cure, Joy Division, The Sound or others during the 1979-1980 heyday of the genre, this album was made specifically for you in mind.
Kudos go especially to their sound engineer, who must have really studied post-punk. He managed to get the sound just right for the band. Authentic, and worth exploring further!
[Music] 草莓救星 (We Save Strawberries) – Solar System
Taiwan’s 草莓救星 (We Save Strawberries) are dream pop which would make Hope Sandoval smile, I’d gather.
[Music] Air Liner – The Dream of Machine
Air Liner is a band out of Karachi, Pakistan who play a very dreamy, mellow, post-rock inflected bedroom pop that you can simply chill out to.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 