Brothers Ryōichirō and Ken'ichi Yoshida are masters of the shamisen, the three-stringed instrument whose peculiar, almost insectlike twang is invariably one of the first things that pops into my head whenever I think of Japan.

I hear the shamisen and I picture a serene old man with a long, flowing beard playing an ancient folk song with a misty Zen garden spread wide behind him -- a facile, borderline stereotypical tableau that I no doubt fabricated from one too many visits to EPCOT. See also: accordions, Paris.

But while the Yoshida Brothers have become expert in instruments that were created sometime back in the 16th century and wear traditional kimonos onstage, there's something about them that seems more rock festival than rock garden. Part of it is the emo haircuts sported by both (and tragically universal now), but the real giveaway occurs when these two young men pick up their instruments and begin hammering at them like auxiliary guitarists for the Mars Volta.

Take the song that's fast becoming their signature, "Kodo." It begins with some lightning-fast picking, with the brothers seemingly racing each other to the meat of the song -- then, suddenly, one of them grunts out a "hooah!" and "Kodo" locks into a rhythm that could easily be described as "head-banging." (Odds are good that you've heard the remixed version of "Kodo" in the commercials for Nintendo's Wii -- a remix that slows the song down considerably.)

Many songs in their repertoire tread similar ground to "Kodo." The Brothers take apart Western genres, keep the parts they need and throw away everything that could push the songs towards parody. To use the Guitar Center parlance, dude, they shred.

The Yoshida Brothers play the Triple Door Wednesday, May 21. Go, close your eyes and imagine whatever you wish. If a Japanese garden should pop into your mind, good for you. If you imagine a Japanese garden with a giant robot sitting in it, picking out songs on an aircraft carrier-sized shamisen using one of the Stonehenge rocks for a pick ... well, I guess that's just my thing. Looks pretty awesome, though.

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