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November 25, 2024
 

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Shaun Curran
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2013
After breakthrough covers, James Blake proud that 'Overgrown' belongs to him
For most, the passage from underground dubstep sensation to critically acclaimed, Bon Iver-collaborating, Kanye West-endorsed artist is the kind of career path you can only dream of.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2013
Bugg scores with working-class familiarities
"I hadn't been anywhere before last year, I'd hardly left England. And now I'm going to Japan. I never thought I'd be going to a place like that. I think it is going to blow my mind."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2013
Nicolas Jaar: My job is to make music that hasn't been heard
Nicolas Jaar, the precociously talented American-Chilean underground electronic artist, makes music that defies conventional description. Of course, that is exactly what the 23-year-old Ivy League graduate aspires to. "For me, it would be boring if you could say to me 'you make this type of music'. I...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2013
Alabama Shakes tap the roots of Southern blues-rock
Here's a question: what do Russell Crowe, Robert Plant, Jack White and David Byrne all have in common?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 17, 2013
Patti Smith hopes 2013 is about rebuilding
By the time you read this, Patti Smith will have been in Japan for nearly a week. The iconic poet, author, painter and "Godmother of Punk" hasn't yet played a gig with her band; that will come later. First, Smith is reconnecting with a country with which her affinity runs deep.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012
Hot Chip 'embrace fun' on new album
"I like Zapp, not Zappa" goes "Night and Day," the lead single from London electro-pop quintet Hot Chip, and in one small yet significant statement the five-piece's attitude to music is shouted loud and proud.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 17, 2012
Maccabees rise above indie's fall
So indie-guitar music in Britain is in the doldrums, is it? Try telling that to The Maccabees.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2012
Spiritualized forgets the past and moves on with 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light'
It is just four days before Christmas but Jason Pierce seems oblivious to festive cheer. The leader of influential space-rockers Spiritualized, sitting in the home studio where he has spent the last two years creating the band's forthcoming seventh album "Sweet Heart Sweet Light," has issues on his mind....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2012
Zulu Winter brings brains to their beats
"That sounds very English, doesn't it?" says Zulu Winter frontman Will Daunt of his refusal to get carried away by the fact his band has spent the start of 2012 as many critic's tip for the top. "I don't want to sound like a miserable git, but we really haven't done much yet."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2012
Calvi sings out in a big way
Endorsed by Brian Eno, asked on tour by Nick Cave and doused with critical acclaim, Anna Calvi is the little woman with the big voice winning admirers at her every turn.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2011
Friendly Fires to indulge pop pleasures on tour
Friendly Fires are happy to finally be back on home turf. It's no wonder, the year has been predominantly spent living out the tale of their song "Hawaiian Air," the highlight of second album "Pala" that typifies the trio's dance-pop vision while bemoaning the monotony of tour travel. Consequently, drummer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2011
Chad Valley's summer project
Extra incentive, as if any was needed, to get down to the Friendly Fires shows in Osaka and Tokyo comes in the form of opening act Chad Valley, the moniker of British solo artist Hugo Manuel.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 12, 2011
Andy Bell glad to finally bring Beady Eye to Japan
Andy Bell may be in Stockholm but his thoughts remain focused on Japan. The guitarist's new band, Beady Eye, consists of the former members of Oasis who were left standing following Noel Gallagher's acrimonious departure two years ago. The quartet were in the process of launching their fledgling outfit...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2011
Vaccines bring shot of rock to Fuji
Even before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake caused concert cancellations en masse, The Vaccines had to start pulling out of overseas tour commitments due to singer Justin Young's throat operation. Now "100 percent better," the band will show the audience at this year's Fuji Rock Festival what...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2011
Years in the making, Warpaint to hit Fuji
Even when enjoying some downtime in her Los Angeles home, Jenny Lee Lindberg still feels as if she is "whirlwinding around." But then, it has been that sort of year for the bassist in Warpaint: her band has spent 12 months carrying the "next big thing" tag.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 11, 2011
The National break past indie's borders
Formed in Brooklyn, New York, via Cincinnati, Ohio, The National have taken an equally oblique route to success. Twelve years into a career where every strand of recognition has been painstakingly hard-earned, The National's exquisite melancholy has resonated long enough to transform any cult-status...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2010
Sleigh Bells
Few bands defined 2010 like New York girl/boy noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells. Residing in uber-trendy Brooklyn, championed by both the blogosphere and M.I.A. (who signed the pair to her NEET label), and oozing the sort of elegantly wasted glamour they would sell by the truckload if they could bottle it,...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2010
Preaching to the converted
Nicky Wire is reminiscing. For the self-professed "nerdy historian" of Manic Street Preachers, the wistfulness is not misplaced. New album "Postcards From a Young Man" is Manic Street Preachers' 10th: a landmark under any criterion, but Wire is keen to accentuate what a milestone it is for a group of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2010
Here be Vampires
V ampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio exudes a happy demeanor, albeit a slightly weary one. Weary thanks to an unyielding touring schedule that finds him traveling to San Diego midway through an extensive tour of the United States; happy because there can be no reservation that his band have dominated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 27, 2010
Klaxons
Klaxons divide opinion like few others. Emerging in 2006 to a crescendo of hype, they were held up as leaders of the nu-rave movement even before their debut album "Myths of the Near Future" was busy thrilling and irritating in equal measure.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Tokyo police care for lost umbrellas, keys and flying squirrels
An employee at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo bags, tags and organizes thousands of items.
Japan to aid introduction of multilingual ride-hailing apps
A Nihon Kotsu Co. taxi departs one of the company's service offices in Tokyo.
Seven & I founding family sounded out KKR and others about buyout: report
A 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”

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?
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