myspace band of the week
Himawari Batake (ひまわり畑) is an indie rock trio. All I get when I Google their name is a lot of sunflower pictures so I’ll have to forego the usual bio paragraph.
For a band whose name translates to “sunflower field,” Himawari Batake rocks pretty hard. Not to say they’re mosh pit heavy, but they’ve got a good hipster head bob going on. おはよう (Good Morning) is a catchy song and I’m happy to say I knew what “ohayou” meant before plugging it into the translator (I know some Japanese words!). They have another song that they named after themselves. It doesn’t evoke sunflowers but it builds on the energy of their previous song. 月夜 stands out as they cut out the noise to focus on guitar work. The “GF version” is equally brilliant. If they focus on developing the sound of these last two tracks they’ll be a force to reckon with some day.
J-Rock Explosion 