Tenniscoats are a Japanese indie pop duo comprised of Saya (lead vocals) and
Takashi Ueno (guitar, saxophone). With the help of an ever-shifting lineup of backing musicians (the likes of which have included
LSD-March, Eddie Marcon, Secai, Popo, Saibou Bungaku,
Tim Barnes, and Tetsuya Umeda), the Uneos make the kind of gentle, willowy, cerebral tunes that bring to mind a host of Japanese indie pop acts, particularly
Four Bonjour's Parties and
Lullatone, as well as artists like Bobby Baby and
Rose Melberg.
Tenniscoats released their first EP, The Theme of Tenniscoats, via the Majikick label in 2000. This was followed two years later by another mini-album, The Ending Theme, which was released on Noble/MIDI Creative.
Tenniscoats' first proper full-length album, We Are Everyone, arrived in 2004. Several more releases followed in the next four years, including
Totemo Aimasho (2007) and Tenniscoats & Secai (2008). In addition to their own recordings,
Tenniscoats were involved with various collaborations and side projects at this time, including Tan-Tan Therapy with Swedish ambient rockers
Tape in 2008 and OneOne, a collaboration between Saya and
Deerhoof's
Satomi.
Tenniscoats released another full-length,
Temporacha, via the
ROOM40 label in 2009. Two Sunsets, an album made in collaboration with the seminal Scottish indie pop group
the Pastels, was released on Domino that fall. Tokinouta appeared in 2011, and the following year the duo reconvened with
Tape for help on production of the quiet chamber pop collection
Papa's Ear. Later in 2012, the group released
All Aboard!, an LP they recorded between 2005 and 2009 that featured
Ikuro Takahashi, a drummer known best for his work with Japanese noise rock bands
High Rise and
Fushitsusha. They collaborated with Pastacas (musician Ramo Teder) for the lo-fi folk of Yaki-Läki in 2013, and with
Jad Fair and Norman Blake for 2014's How Many Glasgow. (A second album with Fair and Blake, Raindrops, was issued in 2017.) Their own Music Exists and Music Exists, Vol. 2 both followed in 2016 on the Alien Transistor label. ~ TiVo Staff