The Routes - Alligator

There's a huge number of great bands in Japan right now and one of the best is right here, right now on Dirty Water Records. With a sound that's tough, breakneck yet soulful, there's also real proper tunes coming from this trio. Yeah, this is freaked-out 100mph fuzz-bucket guitar garage rock'n'roll, and all executed with more than the usual amount of frenziedly primitive zeal, but it's all delivered by people who actually know what they're doing, who know how to play their instruments.