Say hello to Keigo, bass player of Tokyo indie rockers “Tomato Ketchup Boys”, who I ran across in Shimokitazawa a few weeks back while record-shopping with his bandmates, frontman and guitarist Haruki, and drummer Shunsuke (from the previous post).
Keigo scored a very interesting record – a record that, after listening to and reading up on, perfectly illustrates the kinds of amazing discoveries I keep making through this project. It turns out that Diners is a project by a rather enigmatic musician, Blue Broderick, who seems to have a bit of the genius of Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, and I might offer in my humble opinion, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy. It also seems like a beloved project by those in the know, which I am now happy to consider myself a part of. It’s an indie rock record for sure, but is full of anti-folk and power-pop, and some dissonant bubblegum too, and really feels like it could be an unsung voice of a kind of sub-Y-generation, one that connects itself to its just-one-before predecessor sub-X-generation, mine, and in the spirit of slacker/smarty/fuzzy/weirdo/folk/punk/hippies – that’s my tribe! Listening to this record for me was an old familiar feeling that I’ve mentioned before from the famous Blind Melon “No Rain” video when the Bubble Bee Girl finally finds all the other Bumble Bees – An “I’m home” feeling. If you love Daniel Johnston, Beach Boys, Cat Power, Beck, and that bedroom rock vibe, I highly, highly recommend this record. So grateful it found its way to me. Thanks, Keigo! I owe you one.
Having heard Shunsuke’s favorite drummer was Bonzo, I had to ask Keigo about his favorite bassplayer – Hosono was his reply. Eeeeexcellent. Guitarist Haruki, whose photo I didn’t get the chance to make, offered his current favorite frontman, well women in this case, Adrianne Lenker of American Indie Folk Rockers, Big Thief. The three gents finally told me collectively that the Tomato Ketchup Boys love, Libertines, Pavement, Oasis, and The Clash to name a few. These guys are dudes. Gotta see ’em live!
Thanks, fellas! More TRS on the way!
Diners – DOMINO
Label: Bar/None Records – BRN-LP-302
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: Aug 18, 2023
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Indie Pop, Power Pop, Indie Rock
https://www.discogs.com/release/28247200-Diners-DOMINO
Try Best Offer Score
On Instagram