best for guests. ray kimura

One of Ray's self portraits

Our next guest is an illustrator from Tokyo, Japan. Ray Kimura's work may be very familiar for indie pop kids around the world, thanks to her very personal, colorful and delicate aesthetic (and awesome taste in music). Ray's work combines her passion for indiepop bands and illustrations.
In 2012 - apart from her famous band illustrations/portrayals - she did the Japan tour poster for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and all the artworks for Alpaca Sports releases (her aesthetic is already part of the band's imagery).


You can check and follow her work on facebook.



BEST ALBUMS 2012 TOP 10
01 TOY Toy
02 THE ICE CHOIR Afar
03 THE BILINDA BUTCHERS Regret, Love, Guilt, Dreams 
(Mini Album Japan special edition)

04 MY BLOODY VALENTINE Ep's 1988-1991
05 RIDE Going Blank Again: 20th Anniversary Edition
06 WILD NOTHING Nocturne
07 DIIV Oshin
08 RINGO DEATHSTARR Mauve
09 LETTING UP DESPITE GREAT FAULTS Untogether
10 VIOLENS True

BEST ARTISTS 2012 TOP 10
*Except The Pains, most of following bands are new comers!

*Wallflower is from Japan, which is gonna be 'Japanese pains' 

01 TOY facebook
02 SULK  facebook
03 HONEYSLIDE facebook
04 THE BILINDA BUTCHERS facebook

05 ALPACA SPORTS facebook
06 THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART facebook
07 ICE CHOIR
 facebook
08 THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE facebook
09 ERIKA SPRING facebook
10 WALLFLOWER facebook

BEST TRACKS 2012 TOP 5
01 TOY Motoring

02 THE BILINDA BUTCHERS Hai bby (ft. Tiny Microphone)

03 ALPACA SPORTS Just for fun

04 ICE CHOIR A Vision of Hell, 1996

05 WILD NOTHING Shadow


BEST GIGS 2012 TOP 5
*Instead of 'labels', I chose my personal 'BEST GIGS' in 2012 
'Cause during this year, I went to 5 music festivals and 15 headlining shows.
 In total, saw the gigs of 37 bands!! (haha, I'm a gig-junkie!)
1 THE STONE ROSES @Fuji Rock Festival 12 (Jul 27)

2 THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART @Shibuya Quattro (Feb 17)

3 PRIMAL SCREAM @Rocks Tokyo (May 27)
4 PAUL WELLER @Zepp Diver City (Oct 27)

5 THURSTON MOORE (with CHELSEA LIGHT MOVING) @Hostess Club Weekender (Nov 4)