Psychoheads: The Wicked Side of Tokyo’s Underground Music
Tokyo is known for its love story with the American and British world of music.
The Nippon capital is ceaselessly inspired by these Western artists and public figures, whether they are contemporary icons or cult classics. The Sex Pistols with Vivienne Westwood have marked a side of Urahara fashion in the early noughties and the recent wave of Y2K trends resurfacing is bringing back this Harajuku-filtered punk, and today’s social media’s coolest kids rave about shoegaze and hyperpop. At this crossroad is Psychoheads, the next big thing in the world of gliding guitar riffs in Tokyo.
Psychoheads is an obscure band that relatively few people have heard of outside of the city. With humble 280-something listeners on Spotify, Psychoheads makes that type of music you just want to brag about because it makes you look way cooler than everyone else.
With the vivacious mix of punk influences with cloud rap, the four men that constitute this group are full of ingenuity. Himeno, Hitoshi Violet, Taklo, and Ylow started Psychoheads around 2020. It’s clear that rock bands from the 70s and 90s have had an imprint on them musically, but, on the other hand, their alternative fashion styles are springing from somewhere completely different. Like a cocktail of The Cure fans and Woodstock hippies, they piece together vintage trends with modern chaos.
Among other things, Psychoheads is part of the eclectic artist collective XPEED, which also includes the band Waater that has been previously covered on Sabukaru. XPEED hosts events and flea markets, all while curating playlists and promoting like-minded artists in the genre of hyperpop, punk, breakcore, and other alternative electronic mixes.
It is to say that the transcending band that is Psychoheads invites listeners to their manic universe: trippy, wired music videos are the sum of their eccentricity and proof of how devoid of limits they are, all while emulating the pioneers of punk and shoegaze.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
