Japan's The Band Apart play big festivals in their home country and have sold over 700,000 copies of their surprisingly sophisticated alterna-rock. Like the U.S.'s 311, they use the "modern" guitar tones of Hot Topic rock, yet manage to come off sounding way smarter than their peers. There's a bit of math rock, emo vocals that verge on smoothed-out J-pop, jam-band guitar licks and a dash of cocktail jazz in their mix. It's very polished and works for me in practice way better than it sounds in theory!

Next month, a few lucky inhabitants of the American mid-portions can avoid the air tickets, stadiums and port-a-potties and see The Band Apart in a small rock club, as the band tours the States for the first time:

09/21/07 - Nashville, TN @ The 5 Spot
09/23/07 - St. Louis, MO @ Cicero's
09/26/07 - Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
09/27/07 - Bloomington, IN @ Uncle Festers

By the way, check out these guys' merch. Why don't more American bands sell towels?