Jun Togawa is Japan’s most avant garde pop star, adding a unique and semi-deranged art element to the nascent japanese new wave scene of the 1980s. She spent the 80s and 90s making solo albums as well as doing vocals and songwriting for the bands Guernica and Yapoos and was still releasing new material in the 2010s.
Category: recommendation
sheena is a punk rocker
I stumbled upon Sheena Ringo hearing her first album being played in a trendy Taipei record shop in the late 90s and became an instant fan. Back then she was known as the Queen of Grunge and her first two LPs really drove that home. After her pop success she expanded to psychedelic jazz with a fabulous vibe of 1960s seedy burlesque clubs and 1930s gin joints. Hands down Japan’s most high concept pop star, she never does a show or tv appearance without pulling out every stop and putting on a mixed media barrage of classy retro homage to the past century of japanese music. Her latest work in 2024 is a series of collaborations with younger pop divas which honor and respect both artists but with the expected and extravagant Ringo flair and polish. Heres a few videos, please watch them all.