When we hear the word ‘khaki’ we usually think bland, business casual, uninspired. Fortunately Khaki the band are anything but, as they showed with their Friday afternoon Naeba Shokudo set.

While in many ways slotting comfortably into the Japanese indie rock band mold, there is more than a bit more going on with Khaki than with a lot of their contemporaries. It is obvious that their range of influences is both wide and deep, and that they are comfortable putting on and quickly changing out of different musical styles easily. At times prog,, at times 90’s alternative, suddenly jazzy, and in the blink of an eye groovy. And all this over the course of a single song. Throwing out tempo and key changes like they are going out of style too!

Perhaps this eclecticism is because all five members of the band write their music collaboratively, and it could be that they can’t get in all the ideas they have, so they are forced to cram them all into the short spaces of single songs. Whatever it is, it was a strong, precise and compelling set. They even managed to pull a quite significant sized crowd for Naeba Shokudo, considering the legendary Brahman was playing just next door on the Green Stage at the same time.

Whatever the case may be, their set was thrilling. If you didn’t like what was happening, just wait around for a few beats and a new thing will have come to take its place. These young Waseda boys have a bright future ahead of them.