The 2011 edition of SonarSound Tokyo very nearly didn't happen: taking place less than a month after the March 11 quake, it required an enormous effort on the part of the promoters to persuade all the performers to turn up. Chances are things will go a little more smoothly in 2012 for this Tokyo offshoot of Barcelona's long-running electronic music fest. Once again, it's split into an all-night event on the Saturday and a daytime gig on the Sunday, headlined by Warp Records mainstay Squarepusher and local faves The Cinematic Orchestra, respectively. The rest of the bill is already looking rather tasty, with industrial-strength electronica producer Clark, attention-deficit beatmakers Rustie and Hudson Mohawke, audio-visual artist Ryoichi Kurokawa, long-running ambient duo Global Communication and more. There's also a strong showing of innovative Japanese electronica artists, among them Yosi Horikawa, Daisuke Tanabe and Oorutaichi. However, we suspect that a certain section of the audience will be there just to see auteur, multi-instrumentalist and poser extraordinaire, Vincent Gallo.
April 21
Africa Hitech, Avec Avec, Masaki Batoh - Brain Pulse Music, Bun/Fumitake Tamura x Takcom, Clark, Culoe De Song, Dorian Concept, Dub-Russell x Vokoi, Eccy, Global Communication, Go-qualia + Naohiro Yako, GraphersRock, Ao Inoue, Ken Ishii presents Metropolitan Harmonic Formulas, Jealousguy, Kez YM, Akiko Kiyama, Kyoka, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Node + NxPC, Hiroaki Oba, Party (Masashi Kawamura x Qanta Shimizu), Seiho, Mergrim, Keiichiro Shibuya + Takashi Ikegami, Squarepusher
April 22
Anchorsong, Jesse Boykins III, Broken Haze, The Cinematic Orchestra, Fugenn & The White Elephants x Yousuke Fuyama, Vincent Gallo, Yosi Horikawa, Hudson Mohawke, Leiji Matsumoto Talk Session, Mount Kimbie, Tom Middleton, Nightwave, Oorutaichi, Rustie, Sauce81, Daisuke Tanabe, Teebs, Typingmonkeys, Ukawanimation! presents XXX Residents