Tom Bojko - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 24, 2007

The Sept. 18 worldwide release of "Suimou Tsunenimasu (A History of DJ Krush)," DJ Krush's three-DVD retrospective, certainly gives fans quite a bit to chew on. Stretching back to the mid-1990s, when the turntablist/producer Krush (real name Hideaki Ishii) first toured overseas, this documentary sews...

CULTURE / Music

Jan 16, 2005

Antibalas burn it down and build it back up

At the intersection of North Moore Street and Broadway in downtown Manhattan is No Moore, a bar favored by well-heeled young professionals. The walls are exposed brick, the wooden floor is comfortably worn and, in the daytime, sunlight gilds the space through floor-to-ceiling windows. It's a pleasant...

CULTURE / Music

Sep 19, 2004

Kondo trumpets his way

For six nights this week six different combinations of Japanese musicians will gather with bassist Bill Laswell and saxophonist John Zorn at the Pit Inn in Shinjuku. Among those onstage will be drummers Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins and Yoshigaki Yasuhiro of Rovo, guitarist and manipulator of electronics...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Sep 3, 2003

Abdul Tee-Jay and Palm Wine A-Go-Go

Sierra Leone might be most closely associated with blood diamonds and gruesome images of civil war, but it is also the home of palm wine music, a happy, bubbling style of guitar picking. Palm wine music, or maringa, as it's known inside the country, combines calypso with local melodies and rhythms and...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 20, 2003

Joe Gibbs Production

Soul Jazz Records has issued a couple dozen outstanding compilations of unusual music ranging from New York punk-funk and Philadelphia soul-jazz to Yoruba music and Haitian voodoo drumming. Particularly great are their releases of both vintage and modern Jamaican music, of which "Joe Gibbs Productions"...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 13, 2003

Reverend Charlie Jackson: "God's Got It"

When the Rev. Charlie Jackson was a boy, he played sacred music on Sundays and blues the rest of the week. While Jackson himself saw no irony in this, his mother had little appreciation for her son playing electric guitar on both sides of the Lord's fence and quickly steered him toward the church. Little...

CULTURE / Music

Jul 16, 2003

Worldly delights

Summer might be the time for outdoor music festivals in scenic locales, but, then again, some of us prefer air-conditioning, a bar within easy reach and a taxi home. So, thank goodness there's a couple of festivals in Tokyo, too.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 2, 2003

Burnt Sugar: "The Rites"

"I had come up with the idea of adapting motifs from 'Le Sacre du Printemps' for a series of improvisations," says Burnt Sugar's Greg Tate. "Given how many sick bass lines there are in his writing, Stravinsky makes perfect sense for a band that loves to vamp as much as we do."

CULTURE / Music

Jun 29, 2003

A rare chance to crank it up

The booking policies of club owners have long had an influence on music. Generally speaking, this influence has not exactly been a nurturing one as those with a financial stake in a venue prefer safe bets to adventurous outings. As such, musicians, especially young ones, wanting to test new ideas have...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 25, 2003

Byard Lancaster: "It's Not Up to Us"

In 1959-1960, three albums crossed boundaries in three different ways and sent jazz reeling. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" packed so many chords into its explosive tunes that it forced be-bop to an abrupt harmonic conclusion. Meanwhile, Ornette Coleman's melodic inventiveness on "The Shape of Jazz to...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 18, 2003

Stark Reality: "Now"

It's a good thing the guardians of our children's tender morality are mainly obsessed with vexing lyrics and not intensely trippy jams. Otherwise, "Now" would have a big sticker across the front: WARNING -- The psychedelic children's music on this album will scramble your child's mind.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 11, 2003

Mamai Keita and Marc Minelli: "Electro Bamako"

According to the liner notes of "Electro Bamako," a collaboration between Mamai Keita, a former singer in Salif Keita's band (no relation), and French producer Marc Minelli, this album presents "Malian songs mixed with electro jazz on pop structures but with a rock sound." Translation: slick, hip music...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 28, 2003

Spacek: "Vintage Hi-Tech"

With just a few beats, some blips and moist, high-pitched vocals, "Vintage Hi-Tech" explores the promising territory of futuristic soul music. As a group, Spacek has a sweetly extraterrestrial vibe, but here on earth they hail from South London.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 21, 2003

King Sunny Ade: "Syncro Series"

King Sunny Ade of Nigeria came and went as a star of African music, and these days makes only sporadic appearances. At his peak, in the early '80s, he had a deal with Island Records, which was then hoping he would fill the shoes and sales of the recently deceased Bob Marley. But if Ade's music was reigning...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 7, 2003

Koby Israelite: "Dance of Idiots"

'Dance of the Idiots" takes the thrust of heavy metal and slams it together with a Balkan restlessness while maintaining a strong Jewish spiritedness. If you've grown up in a musical or cultural blender, this record will make perfect sense to you. If you haven't, it will strike you as highly imaginative...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 23, 2003

Gigi: "Illuminated Audio"

Most remixes are done for a quick buck -- slap on a bunch of reverb, stretch things with some delay, maybe drive the whole mess with a new drum track. Whatever. "Illuminated Audio," however, an ambient remix of Ethiopian-born singer Gigi Shababaw's self-titled 2001 debut, is a pleasant exception.

CULTURE / Music

Apr 16, 2003

She's got them blues good

When Natsuko Miura puts one hand on her hip, holds the other in the air and belts out, "I got my mo-jo wor-kin'!" you'd have a hard time imagining this young powerhouse ever had any doubts about what she was doing -- the voice, that body language . . . she's lethal. But her first experience onstage,...

CULTURE / Music

Apr 9, 2003

Taking it all back

Developing a "voice" of one's own is perhaps the ultimate achievement in music. As anyone who's ever touched an instrument or opened their mouth with the intention of expressing a musical idea knows, developing a voice is difficult to the point of being overwhelming. Conservatories, university music...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 2, 2003

Jon Madof: "Rashinim" -- oud is in Webby --

Jewish music is as varied as the people that make up the diaspora. Depending on where you're tuning in, the music might be traditional or it might lean toward funk, jazz, metal, punk, orchestral or even spaghetti western. The Jewish guitar power trio, though, remains elusive. There is, of course, Yossi...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 26, 2003

Ibrahim Ferrer: "Buenos Hermanos"

"Buenos Hermanos" is yet another great album of Cuban music. But it's worth noting some of the other reasons why this album is such an achievement.

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