Simon Bartz - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 23, 2002

The Prodigy might not be ancient history, but five years in pop music can feel like an eternity, and that's how long we've been waiting for them to release some new material.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 16, 2002

The Charlatans

I magine if Oasis singer Liam Gallagher suddenly dropped his cod-punk-rock snarl and started singing like a young Michael Jackson. He'd be laughed off the charts and forced to take an early retirement. No matter how good the songs.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 9, 2002

Alec Empire

Alec Empire is a terrorist, let there be no question about that. Slide one of his records onto your grandmother's gramophone while she's making a cup of tea and then, on lowering the needle, watch her writhe in agony until she can take no more and commits seppuku with a knitting needle. Then again kids,...

CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC

Jan 6, 2002

Fuzz Log: (rock)stardate, 2001

2001 was great for music, with rock 'n' roll at last being rescued from the clutches of tired nu-metal (Limp Bizkit, etc.), boring nu-acoustic rock (Coldplay, etc.) and punk-lite (Blink-182, etc.) by exciting new bands like The Strokes, The Toes and The White Stripes.

CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC

Dec 2, 2001

And, now, the greatest shows on earth

Fancy some Yogurt Pooh? "Errr, no thanks." Ever seen Cruyff in the Bedroom? "Johan Cruyff? The '70s soccer star? Is he doing porn now?" How about Girls From Italia? "Yeah, OK, I'll have a bit of that."

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 21, 2001

Electraglide 2001

Electraglide attracts big names, and that's why it has quickly become Japan's most eagerly anticipated annual dance event. Last year's inaugural event boasted Underworld and Orbital. This time around, Fatboy Slim headlines the DJ stage and Aphex Twin the live stage.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 14, 2001

Mercury Rev: 'All Is Dream'

On Sept. 11, Mercury Rev released the presciently titled album "All Is Dream." It was perfect timing because, although Mercury Rev will never be fashionable, the terrorist attacks on the U.S. must have upped the sales of their albums significantly. Who in America wanted to listen to the abrasive Limp...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 7, 2001

Cato Salsa Experience: 'A Good Tip for a Good Time'

Don't be fooled by the name. The only thing Cato Salsa Experience has to do with Latin American big-band dance music is that it makes you want to throw your jacket in the corner, take your partner by the hand and cut the rug until it's a tattered and torn smoking ruin.

CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC

Nov 4, 2001

Straight from the monkey's mouth

The Stone Roses are the most influential British rock band of the last 15 years, but since their long-drawn-out and frankly ludicrous demise five years ago, vocalist Ian Brown has taken a lot of playground flak.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Oct 31, 2001

Pulp: 'We Love Life'

Surely Pulp vocalist Jarvis Cocker hasn't turned into a hippie? Note the title of the new album, "We Love Life." Note that it's produced by '60s maverick Scott Walker. And, above all, note that it's all about . . . nature. A Pulp album not about sex? Well, there's bits of sex in it, of course, but basically...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Oct 24, 2001

The Pattern: 'Immediately'

Phew, what a relief. Radiohead have left the country, so we can now stop sucking our thumbs and feeling sorry for ourselves and instead lighten up and have fun again. So it's off to the record shop and, what's this here sharing a listening post with The Strokes? Something called The Pattern? Anything...

CULTURE / Music

Oct 17, 2001

Return of the sound and the furry

Super Furry Animals have been the most consistently great guitar band of the last 10 years, and I've got a stack of hard evidence to prove it.

CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC

Oct 7, 2001

Make punk rock, not war

While I was in Britain, the world went mad. A puppet, Bob the Builder, beat French disco kings, The Supermen Lovers, to No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart; across the Atlantic, a puppet, George W. Bush, was not an idiot anymore, but a national hero; and, after 10 years, I'd suddenly become allergic to my...

CULTURE / Music

Sep 19, 2001

They'll do it theeeeeeir way

Girl bands . . . you've gotta love them.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 19, 2001

Girl's night out! OI! OI! OI!

Tokyo-based Lolita No. 18 is billed as the headliner of the "Wild Wacky Party Asia" tour, and they're probably the craziest bunch of rock chicks you'll ever see. They are party animals (vocalist Masayo Ishizaka lists alcoholism as her favorite hobby) and nothing if not extreme. They've even started wearing...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Sep 12, 2001

The White Stripes: 'White Blood Cells'

Detroit duo The White Stripes seem a very confused couple. Jack (guitar, vocal) and Meg White (drums) can't seem to decide whether they are brother and sister or husband and wife. Jack insists it's the former -- and that they started the whole rumor that they were married for nothing more than a laugh....

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Sep 5, 2001

The Strokes: 'Is This It'

Let's put our hands up and admit it, right. We are all sick of the aging rap-rock racket of Limp Bizkit and their ilk, the punk-lite of Blink-182, etc. and the overblown histrionics of mainstream British rock. We need a feisty new band to kick down the door, spray the establishment with aural bullets...

CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC

Sep 2, 2001

Baba's back and he wants your head

Four men on stage, stripped to the waist, dripping with sweat, belting out demented rock 'n' roll that sounds like The Stooges jamming with The Doors, and fronted by the craziest, most charismatic singer you will ever lay eyes on. God, if only it was always like this.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 29, 2001

Sizzla: 'Black History'

This, I believe, is Sizzla's 16th album since his 1995 debut, although forgive me if I've missed one or two in my calculation, as we're talking about a reggae artist so prolific that, this year alone, we're looking at the possibility of four new albums.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 22, 2001

Rodney Hylton Smith: 'Run Come Save Me'

If you think the only thing Britain has to offer hip-hop is a bunch of arenas for the likes of Eminem and other Americans to fill when they make the short trip across the Atlantic, then it's time to listen to Rodney Hylton Smith and reconsider.

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