author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Shawn Despres

Meta

Twitter

@s_despres

Shawn Despres
Shawn Despres has been contributing to the Japan Times’ music page since 2005, and he has a passion for writing about the independent music scene in East Asia. He spent several years living in Yokohama and currently resides in Seoul.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2009
Limited Express (has gone?): "LTD"
Formed in Kyoto in 1998, Tokyo-based trio Limited Express (has gone?) issued two full-length discs (the first of which surfaced on American avant-garde composer John Zorn's well-respected Tzadik Records) and gigged overseas in Australia, Europe and North America before breaking up on New Year's Eve in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2009
Metric
Sure it is always an honor to be nominated, but at this point Metric have got to be jonesing for a win. One of Canada's top alt-rock acts, the quartet's fourth full-length, "Fantasies," was shortlisted for this year's Polaris Music Prize (Canada's version of the U.K.'s Mercury Prize), but the band left...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2009
Asagiri Jam
The last major outdoor music festival of the year, Asagiri Jam has been dubbed "the real Fuji Rock Festival" due to its very scenic location at the foot of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka. The two-day concert was established in 2001 and inspired by the spirit of the late 1960s and the communal atmosphere at early...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2009
Pastels / Tenniscoats "Two Sunsets"
"Two Sunsets" is a collaboration between Tokyo's Tenniscoats and seminal Scottish guitar-pop act Pastels. Recorded over a few years in Glasgow during time off from Tenniscoats' European tours, the album joins the growing list of joint projects by the Japanese avant-pop duo. They teamed up with Swedish...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2009
Vivian Girls
Issued domestically by Tokyo record imprint Yacca at the beginning of September, "Everything Goes Wrong" is the sophomore effort from Vivian Girls.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2009
Dälek and DJ Baku
To promote their "DJ Baku Vs Dälek" CD, Tokyo turntablist DJ Baku and American hip-hop group Dälek (pronounced Die-a-leck) are teaming up for some shows.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 28, 2009
the telephones get their disco on
Saitama quartet the telephones are unabashed disco aficionados.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2009
Eastern Youth "Hohaba to Taiyou"
Formed in Sapporo in 1988, last year marked Tokyo trio Eastern Youth's 20th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion they issued two retrospective discs and performed for the first time on Fuji Rock's Green Stage, the renowned festival's largest performance area. The newly released "Hohaba to Taiyou"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2009
Bleach "Bleach Stone"
Citing the old standby, "artistic differences," on June 10, all-girl Okinawa hard-rock trio Bleach (who used the modified moniker Bleach03 overseas) announced they had disbanded. Formed in 1998, they gigged extensively throughout Japan and toured the United States 11 times, establishing a small cult...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 26, 2009
Acid Mothers Temple vs. Kinski Japan Tour 2009
A pub debate between a few rummies and a bartender over analog and digital recording techniques ended with the involved parties forming a band together called Kinski in 1998.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2009
De De Mouse
Here's some unsolicited advice for De De Mouse — whatever you've done to capture the ears of promoters, keep on doing it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2009
South Korean festivals suffer a setback
In 2006, South Korean promoters I-Yescom Entertainment and Yellow9 launched the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival to coincide with the Fuji Rock Festival in the hope of capitalizing on the amount of foreign acts touring Japan every July.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 12, 2009
Kool Keith & 54-71 "Idea of a Master Piece"
There's no harm in asking, right? Tokyo indie rock quartet 54-71 can attest to this. Big fans of seminal New York MC Kool Keith, they e-mailed him to inquire about collaborating. Receiving a somewhat surprising "yes" reply, 54-71 flew to the U.S. in April and the two parties banged out 10 well-rounded...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2009
A Flood of Circle "Buffalo Soul"
The strength of A Flood of Circle's 2007 debut eponymous EP helped the Tokyo quartet secure a coveted spot on the rookie stage at that summer's Fuji Rock Festival. A clear sign of bigger things to come, with the release of their first full-length recording, "Buffalo Soul," the act have again scored an...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2009
Deerhunter
Bradford Cox, frontman for Atlanta, Georgia's, self-styled "ambient punks" Deerhunter, tends to attract attention.
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2009
Qomolangma Tomato "Camouflage"
Qomolangma Tomato came together in Yokohama in 2003 while all four of its members were in their early 20s. Influenced by posthardcore, math rock and punk, their early material earned the band invites to perform on Summer Sonic's Tokyo stages in 2006 and 2007.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2009
The Bawdies
More than 25 years ago, ZZ Top sang, "They come running just as fast as they can, because every girl's crazy about a sharp-dressed man." Looking quite dapper in matching suits and ties, The Bawdies will see if this still holds true as the Tokyo outfit attempts to pack clubs with hordes of screaming ladies...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 17, 2009
80kidz "This is my Sh-t"
During their two-year existence, Tokyo-based DJ trio 80kidz have shared stages with famed electronic acts Justice and Boys Noize, and have also remixed American underground rockers Black Kids, Brazilian dance punks CSS and J-pop star Ayumi Hamasaki. The unit's rapidly rising status was recently boosted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2009
Flogging Molly and Civet
On March 17 every year, millions toast Ireland and its patron saint at St. Patrick's Day festivities around the globe — but few do it with the same ardor as Celtic punk band Flogging Molly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2009
Cocobat "Searching for Change"
Compared early in their career by U.K. rock rag Kerrang! with U.S. metal heavyweights Pantera, Tokyo quartet Cocobat attempt to once again ascend the ranks of the local aggressive-music scene with the release of "Searching For Change," their first album in five years.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER