Japan

Japan's music often unjustly gets pidgin-holed into the New Romantic movement. It is true they embraced a lot of the themes associated with that genre: flamboyant looks, pop oriented sounds, heavy use of keyboards; however throughout their career Japan moved on to more innovative artistic pursuits, denying the trends of pop culture and eventually defining themselves as serious artists.
Though Japan renounces their glam rock origins, it seems unjust to ignore their early career. Their first album "Adolescent Sex" embraces the raw punk tendencies of the mid seventies, and throws it about with progressive rock keyboard riffs, jazzy chords and slick R&B guitar riffs. The group eventually denied this sound and moved onto a more alienating and hypnotic style. This trend persisted throughout their career and even extended further into David Sylvian own solo projects. Their final and arguably best album "Tin Drum" features an eerie combination of keyboard programming, tape loops and world instruments. By the time they released their final album Japan were masters of live presentation. They mixed in the sounds of marimbas, fretless bass, intricate synthesizer noises and monotone vocals into a coherent and compelling musical performance.
Though Japan disbanded nearly 35 years ago, you should by all means see David Sylvian if you have a chance. He still performs the material of Japan, giving the songs new meaning and life while preserving their old charm. Sylvian continues to redefine himself as a musician and is never shy about venturing into experimentation. His music has shifted in a more ambient drone direction often ignoring melodic leads focusing rather on the combination of interesting sounds. He has also collaborated with a wide range of musician who have left a large impression on how he composes his own music. He has worked with Japanese electro-pop icon Ryuchi Sakamota of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Austrian glitch artist Fennesz and art-rock guitarist Robert Fripp. Sylvian often performs his music in front of a projector screen which features experimental video collages that go along excellently with the dark nature of his performance. You likely will not see a pop show at a David Sylvian concert; however if you are looking for a sense of artistic enlightenment and a one of a kind experience than this might be for you.

The last time I went see Japan was the "tin drum" tour. I've seen them live 3 times. Sylvain is fantastic live...
First album I ever purchased was "Quite Life", still my favourite.
All tomorrow's parties is class...
What an era to be 18.
I'd go and watch them tomorrow if they ever hit the road.
Minus Mick Khan of course but I'd be there...