toe

At the turn of the 2000s in Tokyo, the Japanese band toe brought together Takaaki Mino and Hirokazu Yamazaki on guitars, Satoshi Yamane on bass and Takashi Kashikura on drums around an instrumental rock sound situated between math rock and post‑rock. The early releases, including the EP 'songs, ideas we forgot' (2003), laid the foundations of a language based on compound metres, clean arpeggiated guitars and a highly mobile drum approach, with compositions that are mostly instrumental and occasionally punctuated by vocals. The first album 'The Book About My Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety' (2005), followed by 'For Long Tomorrow' (2009) and 'Hear You' (2015), extended this aesthetic by playing with dynamic contrasts, the use of repeated motifs and tightly focused melodic writing. Active on the Japanese and international independent scenes, toe has undertaken numerous tours across Asia, Europe and North America, as well as occasional collaborations with other outfits from the post‑rock, indie and experimental spheres.