Music Nation is a Music Video Competition for Independent Artists

The duo have made highway life one of their priorities since forming in 2001 and have toted their lo-fi bubblegum noise to some of the most unconventional spaces along the way: bathrooms, boats, street corners, and freeway overpasses (and a planned off-the-grid performance at the Albany Landfill, Buchanan Street at Highway 80, Albany, on May 31). Tearing through raw, energized sets with three-stringed bass thunder, dime-store Casio SK-1s, cheerleaderlike drums, and sing-alongs shouted through phone receivers... Though technically a rock band, Japanther has made quite an impact on the art world as well. In April 2006, Aquadoom — a synchronized swimming troupe — invited the pair to do a live score for the team's Dangerous When Wet performance at New York University. Japanther also helped bring artist Dan Graham and company's punk rock puppet opera Don't Trust Anyone Over 30 to the Whitney Biennial 2006 before going on to create an updated, giant-puppet show version of the duo's 2003 album, Dump the Body in Rikki Lake (Menlo Park). And the Brooklyn bike nuts show no signs of slowing down. In addition to working on tours galore and a couple of split 7-inches, they appeared in the 2005 documentary B.I.K.E. and will soon release a new full-length, Skuffed Up My Huffy (EXO). One new song, "Vagabond," sums up their roundabout art-making ethic perfectly: "Can't trust a vagabond / So pack your bags / 'Cuz we are on / This night train is leaving soon." No hope for the summer snoozer when these cats are in town — hibernation has been put on hold.