Like a black hole, digital punk Garrett Yim distorts the boundaries of pop and noise; their binary opposition has always been a subject of interest to the California native. Raised in Anaheim Hills, Yim fashioned harsh sounds under the moniker Yuko Imada, taken previously by a late-’80s Japanese serial killer. Following Yuko Imada’s cacophonic denouement Roppongi Nightlife, Yim reappeared in 2014 as Meishi Smile, and has pervaded the digital space with a musical aesthetic that mixes shibuya-kei and shoegaze.
While Meishi Smile’s album debut LUST flickered pink noise with overcast picopop, 2015’s fall follow-up …Belong erodes saccharine gestures with a downpour of static. Ten provocative songs explore youth, death, dysphoria, and identity through the eyes and ears of a digital native.
Catch Meishi Smile supporting the Western tail of Chrome Sparks tour this week, and listen to "Belong". You can still win tickets to the sold-out Echo show; follow @MeishiSmile on Twitter for more details. – Ryan Mo, photo credit: Anthony Thompson
1/20 Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
1/21 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
1/22 Los Angeles @ The Echo (Sold Out)
1/23 San Francisco @ Monarch