Cornelius and Shintaro Sakamoto

Japan’s late-80s economic boom pumped Tokyo’s Shibuya district full of fashion, nightlife and towering tons of records. Shibuya-kei (or the Shibuya style) was born within this eclectic collector’s spirit. After helping establish the scene with band Flipper’s Guitar in the early 90s, Keigo Oyamada went solo. He borrowed a moniker from Dr. Cornelius (The Planet of the Apes's preeminent chimpanzee archeologist) and pushed things further.Cornelius’s records can swerve from breezy bossa nova to bouncy indie pop into thrash metal outbursts then veer into Brian Wilson-sized orchestral pop, and bird-chirp field recordings. His live shows are painstakingly planned and always aurally lush.

After spending the ‘90s and '00s making mould-breaking psych rock, garage and electronica in the Tokyo-conquering band Yura Yura Teikoku, Shintaro Sakamoto quit on a high. Then in the 2010s he got to work on the laser-focused groove of his solo sound. Now he’s responsible for what has to be the most infectious fable about meeting a racoon family ever written. And he’s here for a rare appearance, bringing a richly arranged, easygoing catalogue that can thaw a windbitten winter.

The two Japanese legends will be joined in support by Honey 2 Honey. The group started out as a duo born from a specifically Canberra brand of ennui. Singer Rory Stenning has since swelled things to a quartet with Daryl Prondoso, Tim Bruniges and Greta Balog. Together they create a unique blend of jazz, dub, krautrock, disco and R&B. Their debut album To Water a Road came out on Moontown Records last year and has been hailed as “sophisti-pop for the Dean Blunt era”. There’s no big message. Just a big energy, that fits.