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Aaron Krall
CULTURE / Music
Dec 16, 2014
Rock, J-pop and dance: Albums we liked in 2014
The year-end album charts in Japan have a tendency to prop up the same acts year after year: Exile, anything that ends in a "48," and almost every group from the Johnny & Associates stable of boy bands. Writers at The Japan Times, however, spent the year looking past the charts to find a few gems lurking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2014
Getting a glimpse of Tokyo's metal underbelly
Loud Park will go down this weekend at Saitama Super Arena, drawing fans excited to see mainstream metal acts such as Manowar, Dream Theater and veteran Japanese group Loudness, who was the first heavy metal band from this country signed to an American label and is halfway through its third decade of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2014
Japan's rich heritage of video game music explored in 'Diggin' in the Carts'
With Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) putting its focus on Japan this year, a couple of documentaries have sprung up online that delve into the music scene here.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 1, 2014
Leftfield J-pop, '70s influenced rock and shadowy R&B: Our favorite albums of 2014 (so far)
In his Strange Boutique column last week, Ian Martin wrote about the need for a canon in Japanese music in order for newcomers to the scene — especially those writing about it — to gain some context into what is being released.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 27, 2014
SKST 4seasons aren't posing when it comes to rock
Tomo Nakamura had already decided before walking through the door that this audition would be his last. He'd already been in a half dozen bands that had never taken off. He was prepared to give up on dreams of being a musician, but fortunately for him he had found a group of young men who felt precisely...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2014
Vegan metalheads go to the Extreme
A little-known part of the music scene will be celebrated next week at Tokyo's Asakusa Kurawood venue, far from the candy-pop quirk of Harajuku. Obscene Extreme Festival (OEF) promises to be confrontational and dark and — yes, the capital letters are insisted upon — "UNLEASH HELL."

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