Sugary Tokyo girl band groove to an acid, edgy beat

By Alastair Himmer

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Sugary sweet in matching babydoll dresses and hair pompons, Japanese girl band Tokyo Pinsalocks look like your typical pop princesses, until their psychedelic electro groove kicks in over a killer bass line.

The trio's Bjork-meets-Kraftwerk feel has won them a large underground following at home as well as international renown, with the band just back from a tour of Britain and the United States to promote their fourth album.

"The reaction in the U.K. was great," drummer Reiko told Reuters. "We played in Barnsley and old men were coming in to watch us with their dogs," she said of the northern English town.

"They were coming in from the bar next door. They probably liked the retro feel to our music. They said they had never even seen Japanese people before in that part of Barnsley."

Comparisons to Japanese pop, or "J-Pop", sirens Perfume, another three-piece girlband, are not particularly welcome and Tokyo Pinsalocks, who all go by only one name, do not appear in any great hurry to become mega-stars.

"We're not mainstream yet but we don't want to jump on the J-Pop bandwagon," said bassist Hisayo, who formed the band with vocalist Naoko at university.

"I suppose we're associated with the J-Pop boom and Perfume because it's that era and we're also a three-piece band but I am not really sure what J-Pop is to be honest."

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