Two things are certain if you enter into any discussion online about must-listen Japanese shoegaze bands. One, that someone will list Kobe’s Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs (with numerous seconds), and two, that someone will make a point of saying that they are not shoegaze. Both of these things are, in fact, true.

While you can pick any number of bludgeoning guitar moments from the MOTFD discography as proof of their shoegazey inclinations, it is far too narrow a pigeonhole to try and contain them. While the trio has gone through a number of lineup changes, starting as an all-female trio in 2002 to the current roster with only singer-bassist Natsuko Miyamoto as the remaining founder and female, they’ve been consistently hard to classify. Generally you need to multi-hyphenate them as post-hardcore-math-shoegaze-kraut-pop-rock, or just plain awesome.

Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs are embarking on a comprehensive North American tour this Fall, and it is one of the shows I am most looking forward to this Fall – and yes, that includes Pulp coming to town. By all accounts their live shows are amazing. I am ready.

I could honestly have chosen almost any of the songs from their catalog as a worthy introduction, but I’ll go with the opener from their 2018 album No New World; it’s not the most exciting video, but the song is – as they say – a bop. And don’t worry, there’ll be more.