TAMIW Return With New Single ‘We Are Not Friends’ (ft. SOMAOTA)

Stream and share - https://friendship.lnk.to/wanf_TAMIWTAMIW
Watch the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_x-OYj7R2g 

Japanese Leftfield/Alternative Quartet’s New Album Farewell Party Released 14th May 2025 via Niwer Records

Presave - https://friendship.lnk.to/FarewellParty_TAMIW

Select Japan Live Dates On Sale Now

Tickets - https://linktr.ee/tamiw_band

Osaka, Japan-based leftfield/alternative band TAMIW are pleased to return with their new single ‘We Are Not Friends’ (ft. SOMAOTA), set for release on 16th April 2025.

The track is the latest single to be taken from their forthcoming new album Farewell Party, which will be released on 14th May 2025 via Niwer Records.

To celebrate the album release, the band play a short run of live dates in Japan (see below for listings) including two free entry shows with every CD/LP purchase, and plans are in motion for UK tour dates later this year.

A memorable cut of guitar-driven electronic hip-hop that showcases all of the core elements of TAMIW’s eclectic approach to songwriting, it’s a forward thinking window into the band’s sound.

Each member brings something distinct: Tami’s emotive songwriting and genre-blending instincts, BON-SAN’s rhythmic hip-hop sensibilities and contemplative presence (inspired, perhaps, by his day job as a monk conducting animal funerals), guitarist Sho’s raw rock energy, and Taichi’s lush pop and ambient layers. The result is music that walks the edge of contradiction—cold and warm, distorted and precise, chaotic and calm.

Guest vocals on the track come courtesy of SOMAOTA, the MC of Tokyo hip-hop collective Black petrol, who have performed at SUMMER SONIC and FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL, and as a solo artist has performed at numerous festivals in Taiwan, including Neon Oasis Fest.24 and Ya nettai Vol. 2 amongst others. Based on the idea that life and music are inseparable, he incorporates the discomfort and questions he feels in his daily life into his music.

Commenting on the new track, vocalist TamiKeem says: "What is a friend? Where does the line begin and end for a friendship? There are a lot of people who say they don't have any friends, but is that really true? I'm definitely a troublesome person for thinking like that, and I don't have many friends. (I'm always so grateful to my few friends.) Despite being such a troublesome person, I've been thinking for many years that I have to make friends. When you feel uneasy or hurt, you don't have to force yourself to fit in, and you don't have to try too hard. I think it's fine to just say, ‘We are Not Friends!’.”

‘We Are Not Friends’ follows on from previous single ‘A.H.O’ which received airplay from BBC 6music New Music Fix Daily with Deb Grant and Tom Ravenscroft, plus 2024 AA-side album tracks ‘Deep ‘n’ Shallow’/’Overcome’ and early 2025 follow up single ‘Pay Me Back!!’, which picked up a swathe of buzzy blog coverage and early UK radio support from BBC 6music’s Cerys Matthews.

Forthcoming album Farewell Party is an emotionally raw yet hopeful body of work, born from personal upheaval and artistic rebirth. In the wake of their 2023 album Fight for Innocence, the band experienced a wave of losses: a founding member left, their manager disappeared without warning, and for the first time in her life, Tami found herself unable to create.

The silence was painful—and long. But it was broken by the creation of ‘Overcome’, a track that slowly pulled her back to life. That moment became the heartbeat of Farewell Party, an album that redefines "farewell" not as an ending, but as a necessary release—a celebration of resilience and possibility.

Across the album, themes of communication and emotional complexity are central. “Music lets me say things I can’t express in words,” Tami explains. That idea is felt especially in the AA-side tracks ‘Deep ‘n’ Shallow’ and ‘Overcome’, which are polar in tone but united in purpose—expressing the despair and eventual healing that brought TAMIW back to life.

With Farewell Party, TAMIW step into a new chapter, expanding their sonic palette and leaning further into the emotional extremes that define their music. It’s a record that acknowledges pain but embraces joy, fueled by deep collaboration, a love for experimentation, and a studio that truly feels like home.

UK live dates TBA.

TAMIW’s new album Farewell Party is released 14th May 2025 via Niwer Records

Live Dates:
04th May - CONPASS, Osaka JAPAN (w/paranoid void)
15th June - FS.Shibuya, Tokyo JAPAN (free entry with CD or LP purchase)
29th June - hidden place, Osaka JAPAN (free entry with CD or LP purchase)

Farewell Party album tracklist:
1. A Silent Letter [3:30]
2. Anthem of Sutra [5:06]
3. Deep 'n' Shallow [3:57]
4. Interlude 01 [1:48]
5. We are Not Friends (ft.SOMAOTA) [3:50]
6. Pay Me Back!! [4:06]
7. Sudan [2:57]
8. Run the World (ft.SHIMMY) [4:22]
9. A.H.O [3:55]
10. Interlude 02 [1:55]
11. Overcome [4:40]
12. 3 Stupid thieves [3:45] (CD ONLY BONUS TRACK)

TAMIW are:
TamiKeem (Vocals, Vn., Ondomo, Looper, Syn)
Sho Kawabe (Guitar, Cho, Manipulator)
BON-SAN (Drums, Sampling, beat-making)
Taichi Yoshimura (Bass)

TAMIW online:
https://linktr.ee/tamiw_band
https://tamiw.net
https://www.instagram.com/tamiw_band
https://x.com/tamiw_official
https://www.tiktok.com/@tamiw_official
https://www.youtube.com/TAMIWOFFICIAL

More info:
TAMIW (pronounced ‘tam-yu’) are the leftfield darlings of the thriving, creative, and internationally lauded Japanese indie scene. Operating as a full live band on stage, TAMIW base their studio sound around electronic tracks featuring bass music and hip-hop elements, with an extensive use of sampling and analog synths, creating truly unique, forward-thinking, leftfield music with a refined sense of balance.

As with previous releases, all of the band’s material has been self-produced at Hidden Place—their own recording studio located in Osakaʼs Sakai city. Run by the band members, the studio is located on the grounds of a temple called “Senjyu-in”, which serves as an animal cemetery and offers pet funeral services. The band members also work at the cemetery, with the band’s drummer, producer and mix engineer BON-SAN conducting daily animal funerals as a monk.

Formed in 2018 by vocalist Tami, the band have been remarkably prolific over the course of their relatively short life span—their debut album, flower vases, was released the same year, followed by a 20-date US tour in 2019. Sophomore album, future exercise, followed in 2020, and in 2021 their selection and performance at "FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL ROOKIE A GO-GO" gained significant attention back home in Japan. The band released their first EP, Floating Girls, in 2022 and just a year later they followed up with their third 2023 album, Fight for Innocence.