Had what might have been my lengthiest article for The Japan Times thus far in my time writing for them – it’s an article about contemporary folk music in Japan today, highlighted by the Kyoto band Turntable Films. I also talked to the artist Predawn, who has collaborated with Turntable Films on their debut album. I also wrote a sidebar featuring a few other artists doing similar things to folk music.
“The spectacle of AKB48, the wackiness of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and the creepy undertones of Sexy Zone aren’t for everyone. In fact even the most dedicated Japanese-music fans can sometimes get burned out on all the gimmicks. For those people, Turntable Films might be the antidote they need.”
Read the rest here.
This week, I wrote about Tokyo rock band Taffy for The Japan Times. They are a pretty interesting group here in the contemporary Tokyo scene, mostly because they don’t really care about making much of an impact in Japan. Rather, they want to do well in England. “The most jarring aspect of Taffy’s live set…
Continue Reading »
I reviewed the new 80Kidz album for The Japan Times this week. “I understand why Japanese bands are tempted to bring Western artists on board for an album. It increases the odds of Western media picking up on them, their websites can use the featured guest (and the Japanese connection) as page-view bait. So I…
Continue Reading »
Reviewed the new disc from MFP, a beat maker out of Osaka who is part of the ever-growing INNIT crew. One of my favorite albums of the year so far. “Mindful Beats Vol. 2″ has one of the most simultaneously accurate and misleading album names of the past year. On a literal level, the title…
Continue Reading »
I just moved to Tokyo, so I’ve been too busy to write much/update this site…fingers crossed that changes soon…but I did talk to American artist Pictureplane in advance of his brief Japanese tour for The Japan Times. “Last September, music magazine Spin wrote that America was experiencing an “electronica revolution.” Spearheaded by speaker-destroying producers such…
Continue Reading »
This week I reviewed the new album from J-Pop artists MiChi for The Japan Times: “It has been a good year for Japanese pop music so far. The Oricon charts still house the likes of AKB48, Arashi and a slew of acts that make me want to bang my head against the wall, but a…
Continue Reading »
Last week, I started a temporary stint of unemployment (woooooooo two weeks) and decided to use the time off to go to Austin, Texas for the South By Southwest music conference and festival. For five days, I watched various Japanese bands who also made the trip over perform to all sorts of audiences. Then, I…
Continue Reading »
It has been a busy week…you will see why later today…but before I forget, I wrote about Tokyo band New House a while ago for The Japan Times. “Yuta Mitsuhashi says he spends a lot of time falling into “YouTube holes”: Watch a clip, click on a related link, repeat until the majority of your…
Continue Reading »
Last week, I wrote a new story for The Atlantic about Japanese music after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The piece looks at a wide variety of artists who released music in the months after the disaster, from mainstream acts trying to rally the country to lesser-known artists rallying against the government. “It used to…
Continue Reading »
Another week, another CD review for The Japan Times! This Thursday, I wrote about the debut album from Your Gold, My Pink. It’s really good, in a very “teenage” way. “Your Gold, My Pink’s decision to name its debut full-length album “Teenage Riot” shows some serious guts from the young quartet. It’s a title that…
Continue Reading »
