I’ll Be Your Mirror

Note: Over six months after organisers announced that they were postponing I'll Be Your Mirror until later in the year, owing to poor ticket sales and difficulties in booking certain artists, the event has been officially cancelled. Promoters Creativeman say that moves are underfoot to hold the festival again in 2013 but, eh, don't hold your breath.

It’s back. I’ll Be Your Mirror, the inner-city spinoff of boutique music festival All Tomorrow’s Parties, is returning to Tokyo this April for an expanded two-day event, with a lineup co-curated by Jim O’Rourke and ATP. The indie geek hoedown first arrived here last year, over a decade after it started life at a seaside holiday camp in England – though given the lack of seaside holiday camps around these parts, it was repackaged as a more conventional two-stage gig. While there was plenty to like about the inaugural I’ll Be Your Mirror, it was hamstrung by a soulless venue (Studio Coast) and a distinctly conservative lineup.

The follow-up has managed to redress one of these problems, at least, with a bill that’s as wayward as we’ve come to expect from ATP. Only the choice of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion as Saturday night headliner feels predictable; that aside, you can look forward to sets from Krautrock pioneer Michael Rother, veteran noiseniks Borbetomagus, The Magic Band, Australian heavyweights The Necks and The Drones, and a reformed Codeine (pre-empting their appearance at the Mogwai-curated I’ll Be Your Mirror in London in May). Oh, and O’Rourke himself will be taking the limelight on the Sunday to perform his most famous album, Eureka, with a 12-piece band. Tasty.