While the Japanese music charts are dominated by J-Pop, an alternative scene has been bubbling up in Kobe. Already spreading to Shibuya, Tokyo, the movement is best described as worldly indie-pop, and is led by artists shunning the local music and instead taking their cues from the likes of the xx, Cat Power and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. At the forefront of the movement is American-born artist BOMI, who in December 2013 took to the new artist stage at Thailand’s Big Mountain Music Festival. “People are free here, so they dance, scream and shout, with freedom,” the 26 year old told ARTINFO. “It’s not like this in Japan.”