Description:
Grounded in the fields of Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, Popular Music Studies, and Japanese Studies, this book explores the underground Tokyo hardcore scene, ultimately asking what play as resistance through performance of the scene tells us about Japanese society in general.
Review Quotes:
'This book is a welcome contribution to the study of music in Japan and popular music studies in general. Matsue's notion of 'playing with resistance' serves as a powerful reminder that so-called 'alternative' styles of popular music are less about resistance to mainstream culture and more about the construction of an imagined alternative society that actually recreates and reinforces social norms.' - Jay Keister, author of Shaped By Japanese Music
'This book is a model of rich and committed ethnography. Its account of hardcore music-making in Tokyo engages with key questions of creative labour and its meaning. With insight and wit, Matsue analyzes music's relationship to work and play, to movement through the city, and to the meaning of musical undergrounds.' - Will Straw, McGill University, Canada