Buffalo Daughter

Everything from war to birdsong finds its way onto the indie-rock trio’s new album

The mid-’90s were halcyon days for Japanese indie-rock. Among the acts that the country threw out to the world for the first time were the atavistic Boredoms, the mercurial guitarist Cornelius, and the anything-goes rock/hip-hop trio Buffalo Daughter. All these bands were signed to overseas labels and cultivated followings abroad, while the Boredoms toured with the likes of Nirvana.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a current young Japanese rock band making as much of an impact in the West. As evidence, consider the fact that the much-vaunted Japan night at Austin, Texas’ influential South by Southwest festival has devolved into a pay-to-play event.

But when I catch up with Buffalo Daughter songwriter Sugar Yoshinaga more than a decade after signing to the Beastie Boys’ now defunct Grand Royal label, she’s not in the process of plotting a new indie-rock world order, but instead having a quiet morning at her home in Kawasaki, feeding her pet cockatoo.

Twittering tunefully in the background, the bird, it turns out, was the inspiration for one of the songs on Buffalo Daughter’s fifth and latest effort, Euphorica. “My favorite song on the album is ‘Bird Song,’” she explains. “I love birds, and [guitarist] Yumiko does too. It’s from the point of view of birds singing about themselves, so we sang the song like we were birds. We did this by slowing down the tape during recording and playing it back at normal speed.” The result is an endearingly quirky song with a chipmunk chorus: “We are birds/We sing a song for you/Du du da da doodle/Do da pa.”

Unlike 2003’s Pshychic, which was purposefully recorded in a three-day span, Euphorica evolved in a more relaxed fashion. “This time we didn’t talk much about what kind of album we were going to make,” says Yoshinaga. “The songs evolved unintentionally.”

Part of that process was an extensive, chance collaboration with Argentinean guitarist Fernando Kabusacki, whose languid acoustic strumming permeates several of the songs, including perhaps the most memorable track, the softly resonant “Winter Song.”

A frequent partner of noted Argentinean songwriter/guitarist Juana Molina, Kabusacki was introduced to Buffalo Daughter by the violinist for trance-rock unit Rovo. “Katsui invited us to do some sessions with Kawasaki. We got along very well and became friends. Every time Kawasaki came to Japan, we would hang out and record.”

photos courtesy of V2

Amid all the impressionistic tracks, there’s also one that couldn’t be more forthright. “Peace” is exactly what it seems: an out-and-out antiwar song. “We’re antiwar, like every musician,” Yoshinaga says with a laugh. “But we’d never expressed that in song. We’d never expressed our feelings, but when I saw images of a mother holding her bloody daughter on CNN, I thought I had to do something. I didn’t want it to be too depressing, so we put a cheerful chorus over it. We didn’t want to be too strident.”

While there’s still plenty of electronic pastiche and scratch courtesy of the third member of the band, Moog Yamamoto, Euphorica has a more organic feel than some of Buffalo Daughter’s earlier work. This may be the result of the return to the band of a live drummer, whose rhythms impart a funkiness to the whole affair.

Like other Japanese groups that emerged in the ’90s, such as Shonen Knife and the Boredoms, Buffalo Daughter have shown surprising longevity. Yoshinaga and Yumiko Ohno formed the band—named for their fondness for American subculture—out of the remains of their previous unit, Havana Exotica. They were signed to Grand Royal when stablemates Luscious Jackson took a liking to them and played some of their music to Mike D of the Beastie Boys.

“We wanted to do music like those alternative bands blending rock and hip-hop and New Wave on the Grand Royal label,” Yoshinaga says. “And we were also fans of early electronic music, so we tried to mix all those elements.” After Grand Royal went under, Buffalo Daughter signed with Emperor Norton in the States and Toshiba EMI in Japan. For their last two albums, they’ve been with V2.

One key to Buffalo Daughter’s longevity may be their very lack of ambition. “We don’t try too hard. The three of us are very different, so if our egos came into conflict it would be difficult,” says Yoshinaga. “For example, I love heavy metal music, but the others don’t. So if I insist I want to play harder, then the others aren’t into it. We only think about what the three of us can do best and follow our individual interests on the side.” Yoshinaga’s thrash metal instrumental side project, Metalchicks with Yuka Yoshimura of OOIOO, will be supporting Buffalo Daughter in their forthcoming tour.

This freewheeling spirit, which characterizes Japanese indie-rock bands that formed in the ’90s, is what sometimes seems lacking among today’s more professionally minded rock acts, and is also what gave them great appeal. Another factor that may be behind the current inability of Japanese groups to make an impact in the West could simply be that the novelty factor has worn off. The day may not be far off when the excitement at the South by Southwest festival is generated by China and India nights.

Liquidroom, June 22. See concert listings (popular) for details.

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