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December 23, 2024
 

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Simon Bartz
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2001
They came from Zeta Reticuli
Mudvayne are often said to be the "new" Slipknot. Slipknot wear masks and are very famous; Mudvayne wear makeup and are getting there. And they both fit snugly into the new-fangled rock genre known as nu-metal. What's nu-metal? It's old metal but louder, faster and much more pretentious: It makes the...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 6, 2001
The boys are smokin', the girls are on fire
All-girl trio Thug Murder have been making pals quicker than most in the underground with their upbeat brand of melodic punk rock. So it was no surprise that they were able to pull together one of the best lineups I've seen for ages for the release party of debut album "13th Round" last week at Shimokitazawa's...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 30, 2001
Getting off on the art of noise
I got a beer in my hand and a slim bottle of Zubrovka vodka stuffed in my back pocket for back-up, but all this rock 'n' roll partying business seems rather inappropriate right now.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2001
The buy-or-die albums of 2000
In 2000 America rocked with Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and At The Drive In, while Britain got all soppy and introverted with Richard Ashcroft, Coldplay and Belle & Sebastian. As for Japan, I have mixed feelings. It was great that Melt-Banana, Audio Active and 54 Nude Honeys (my favorite Japanese bands) all...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 1, 2001
America gets a bang out of Melt-Banana
It's rare that a Japanese band is more successful in America than in Japan, but Melt-Banana are an exception to many rules.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 19, 2000
Rumbling with the jungle girls on tour in the U.K.
I'm a failed rock star and that's probably why I ended up writing about music.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 5, 2000
Audio Active beams down the space dub
Masa of Audio Active has gone AWOL. I'm at the new offices of his management company, Beatink, in Shibuya. Tae, who arranged the interview, is refilling my coffee cup and apologizing, telling me that the main man is not answering his keitai and nobody knows where the hell he is.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 7, 2000
A fine fuzzy day out at Rocktober
The inaugural Rocktober festival on Sunday, Oct. 15, at Shiokaze Park in Odaiba, confounded my expectations: I had a great time.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 17, 2000
We gotta get outta this place: tales of extraordinary madness
Dusk, or dawn, and when the doorbell sounds my brain vibrates painfully. It's John and Queenie, on vacation from Hong Kong. And once you've been a good host once, it's impossible to live down the reputation. Here we go again.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 3, 2000
We've got a personality crisis
If you go to a live event you don't just want to listen to music, you want to witness a show, right? You want the people on stage to be rock stars for the night. And you want to be swept away on a flood of shared adrenalin.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 19, 2000
Rockin' without fear or favor
I'm often asked what kind of misfits bother writing to Fuzzy Logic and what they say and as I'm busy lying on a beach in Thailand -- having my toes sucked by a bunch of cherry-lipped ladyboys while sipping a sexy cocktail and sucking on a big fat exotic stoogie -- I've decided to give you a few examples...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 5, 2000
Guilty of goodness in the first degree but always in control
Pop star Bonnie Pink is sick of being a "goodie-goodie" girl. She wants to be a bad girl. But does she know how?
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 15, 2000
Knife-wielding nutters, karate chop cocktails and ueberbabes
"There's nothing for kids to do in Nagoya except sit around all day drinking and taking drugs," says pal Hiroshi, who spent three years there at college.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 6, 2000
Beer and loathing in Naeba
First it was the black flying things -- hundreds of them swooping and screeching and diving around the main tower of the hotel.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 1, 2000
Hard training is its own reward as big event looms
Note: By the time you read this you're still probably suffering a hangover with the force of two stars colliding in a distant galaxy (courtesy of Fuji Rock Festival): far out and painful, in other words. Well, this article concerns the Fuji Rock warmup weekend, an annual ritual where Fuji Rockers imbibe...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 18, 2000
Feed your head
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 4, 2000
Festival fun for the young and those who just wish they were
The main excuses I've heard for not attending one of this summer's two international rock festivals in Japan are: "None of my favorite bands are coming" and "there's hardly any big names."
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 20, 2000
This next one's for Mom: getting their Crispy Nuts off
"What you doing tonight?" asks Paul. "I'm going to see Crispy Nuts at Antiknock," I answer.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 6, 2000
Super Furries, Eels, Bentley signed up for summer of fun
Super Furry Animals -- "Mwng" (Placid Casual) Their warped imaginations proffer a bent reality, a Dali-like melting pot of madness; they adorn their album covers with exotic monstrosities that are both cute and menacing. They are totally fuzzy. They are the Super Furry Animals, they don't play by the...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 16, 2000
Blood and gore all over the floor
"Everyone thought I'd fallen on some broken glass by accident. But . . . I just couldn't stand myself anymore, so I went behind the amps with this piece of broken glass, having decided to cut my jugular vein. I just didn't have the guts, though . . . I was aiming for the vein, but I just couldn't make...
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

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