Zazen Boys

Named after a form of Buddhist meditation, Zazen Boys first appeared as a side project of Japanese musician Mukai Shutoku, the guitarist/vocalist of alt-rock band Number Girl, as an opportunity for Mukai to express some of his more diverse and experimental musical urges at a time when his other band was riding the crest of its breakthrough into the mainstream. After Number Girl's demise, he revived the project, taking them to new levels of critical and commercial success and proving a critical link between mainstream and underground music in Japan. ~ Ian Martin