Blog: PopMatters

On his fourth LP, Shugo Tokumaru's jubilant bedroom pop proves to be a bit too much of a good thing. In the summer of 2006, I ducked into a small, subterranean club in Tokyo's Yoyogi neighborhood, excited to finally see one of my favorite new songwriters perform live. When I approached Shugo Tokumaru at the merch table, he seemed a bit taken aback. It was as if he couldn't comprehend how a foreigner might know of him, let alone attend one of his shows. The feeling of disbelief was more than mutual. How had a...