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November 22, 2024
 

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@ianfmartin

Ian Martin
Ian Martin is a freelance writer covering music and pop culture. He has been active in the Tokyo music scene as an indie event organiser, DJ and label owner since 2004 and has been contributing to The Japan Times music page for almost as long.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2008
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Mexican acoustic instrumental duo Rodrigo y Gabriela cut their teeth in the thrash band Tierra Acida, playing the dirtiest dives of Mexico City before decamping to Dublin in 1999. Soon after they busked around Europe for a while, developing their unique fusion of styles and building a body of their own...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2008
Nepal's remarkable do-it-yourself peace
KATMANDU — Nepali Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as "Prachanda," has now been sworn in as the first prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, having won an overwhelming vote in the Constituent Assembly elected in April.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2008
Yukari Fresh — "grrrl, summer cape kid, etc." (Escalator); Aira Mitsuki — "COPY" (D-Topia)
Emerging from the dark days of the 1990s' "lost generation," the Shibuya-kei movement in Japanese music was a breath of fresh air, bringing together with impeccable style a variety of musical genres encompassing jazz, retro-futurist lounge pop, 1960s French pop and dance music. Its commercial heyday...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2008
Faust
As leading figures in the 1970s German experimental rock scene, Faust are really the granddaddies of much modern electronic and noise music. Along with contemporaries such as Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, they helped to break the stranglehold that British and American musicians then had on rock — and in...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2008
Wire "Object 47"
U.K. postpunk band Wire always seemed to view their contemporaries in the 1970s music scene with an air of disdain, and while all around we are now treated to the unedifying spectacle of old heroes re-forming and cashing in on their legacies, Wire have been quietly following their own path all along,...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 8, 2008
Sparks "Exotic Creatures of the Deep"
For a group dismissed by many as a novelty act, genre-hopping L.A. duo Sparks have a remarkable history. They have averaged just over one album release every two years since 1970 and have influenced pretty much every 1980s techno-pop group as well as just about every camp, flouncing singer or ironic...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 11, 2008
Nhhmbase — "Hamon Cross"; Uhnellys — "Mawaru"
Experimental indie rockers Nhhmbase and hip-hop/jazz duo Uhnellys' careers have in many ways run parallel to each other, with both bands emerging into Tokyo's eclectic underground scene and releasing debut recordings at about the same time in 2006. And each band is now releasing a followup record a week...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 11, 2008
Scott Murphy
"I didn't know anything about Japanese, or Japan at all, and I spoke English on stage and no one understood what I was saying."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2008
Fans raise $50,000 for Japanese band
To most bands, it sounds like a dream come true: $50,000 with no strings attached; the opportunity to record an album with one of the world's top engineers; and the freedom to make any kind of record you want, unhindered by interfering labels just waiting to drop you at the first sniff of commercial...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 20, 2008
The rhythm is gonna Gotye
"There are just tons of bands in Melbourne, and I think there is a bit of a chip on the shoulder that too many of them are going unrecognized." So says Wally De Backer, aka Gotye.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2008
Naon no Yaon
Founded in 1987 by all-girl rock band Show-ya, Naon no Yaon is a festival dedicated to female artists — although anyone expecting a kind of Japanese version of American chick-rock festival Lilith Fair will either be very disappointed or very pleased to learn that this event has a decidedly pop bent....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 11, 2008
The Tenori-on World Launch Tour
Words from the lexicon of visual arts have often been applied to the world of music, from the way 1960s British Mod band The Creation described their music as "red, with purple flashes" to the way modern electronic and ambient music is often described as "sound collages" and "aural landscapes."
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2008
Neon Neon "Stainless Style"
If there is one man you wouldn't normally associate with the slick, materialistic 1980s, it would be Gruff Rhys, frontman of shaggy-haired psychedelic popsters Super Furry Animals. So you'd be forgiven a quick double-take on your first listen to Neon Neon's "Stainless Style," a collaboration with Los...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2008
Nisennenmondai "Destination Tokyo"
All-girl instrumental three-piece Nisennenmondai shook the Tokyo underground scene with the release of the mini album "Sore de Souzo Suru Neji" in 2004. They quickly gained a reputation as one of the hottest new bands in Japan for the way they combined elements of minimalist 1970s progressive rock like...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008
Perfume "Fan Service ~ Prima Box"
Formed in Hiroshima in 2001, moving to Tokyo in 2003 and hitting the big time in 2006, Perfume are an idol-pop phenomenon, notable for how their music combines elements of house and electro with a futuristic, Akihabara-friendly image.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008
James Murphy's 'magic plastic discs'
"Cod sperm sacs, I had that," muses James Murphy, multitalented record producer, DJ, founder of New York's DFA Records and mastermind behind dance-punk phenomenon LCD Soundsystem. Apparently, despite averaging two or three trips a year to Japan, the country — in particular its restaurants — still...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 7, 2008
Levelload "Yellow Fever"
Comprising Japanese bassist Mariko Doi and British guitarist Tony Wade, Levelload have a mixed cultural background. But their sound is largely drawn from Anglo-American punk-rock tradition, with the spiky Britpop melodies of Elastica and the sultry garage blues of The Kills, combined with Mariko's cooing...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2008
Apartment "Sparkle Bicycle"
Not so much a band as the solo work of multi-instrumentalist Tatsuya Namai, Apartment is a bedroom-pop act with a DIY ethos. With its cheap-sounding production and instruments constantly on the brink of going out of tune, "Sparkle Bicycle" harks back to 1980s U.K. and U.S. "cassette culture" — think...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Jan 25, 2008
MY PLAYLIST: British Sea Power
"Originally we wanted to record it as a psychedelic jam session, but in the end we just couldn't help writing tunes," says British Sea Power vocalist Yan (born Scott Wilkinson) of the making of their third (and arguably best) album, "Do You Like Rock Music?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 30, 2007
In touch with his inner Tommy Lee
"It wasn't so much the style of music as the attitude toward performing and doing shows. That's what we wanted to bring back from America to Japan," says Yasuaki Sakai, reminiscing about his immersion in America's Pacific Northwest music scene that began nearly a decade ago as the singer/guitarist of...
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

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