Getting to work in Tokyo isn't much fun at the best of times, in summer it's even worse. Crowds of sweaty people fighting their way on the Yamanote line; funky (not in the James Brown sense) salarymen wiping their brows and stinking of the previous nights' excesses; and aircon that makes the carriages so cold you could hang meat in them (that's what we all look like anyway, hanging on to those handstraps - has JR got something sinister in mind?) combine to make the buses in my native Edinburgh seem peculiarly attractive. Thankfully iPods, Walkmans (Walkmen?), mp3 players etc provide some respite, especially when playing the music of The Oversleep Excuse. Another MySpace discovery (check out the link) they make music that soothes the sweatiest soul and transports you somewhere far from the chaos of Tokyo and its train system. They reminded me a little of Mogwai, albeit with a quiet/bit louder dynamic, rather than very quiet/cacaphonic dynamic favoured by the Glaswegians. You can download a couple of their songs from MySpace, and they are playing on the following dates:
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