Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 17, 2001

Time is the nemesis of originality. The greater the number of artists who explore a particular discipline over time, the less likely it is that one of them will come up with something fresh.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jun 13, 2001

'Poses': Rufus Wainwright

'Everything I like is a little bit stronger, a little bit thicker, a little bit harmful for me." So croons Rufus Wainwright on "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," the opening cut from his new album, "Poses."

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jun 10, 2001

There's a fine line between parody and larceny

There is an unspoken belief among music critics that had George Harrison not been a Beatle, he wouldn't have lasted more than a minute in the pop business. This belief has nothing to do with Harrison's talent and everything to do with his professional judgment. First, he released all his good songs on...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 6, 2001

Music for the masses

Lord knows, it ain't easy Call it the Happy Meal effect, but what used to be considered "bonus" is now taken for granted. The multiple-stage gimmick offers more of a festival atmosphere, but if you go for the music you will eventually have to choose, and sometimes it ain't easy.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jun 3, 2001

It's all about manners (cough, gasp), not health

It's not surprising that the local media glossed over the World Health Organization's 14th annual World No Tobacco Day last Thursday. The government, a member in good standing of the United Nations and a conscientious contributor to its causes, didn't start preparing a seminar to mark the occasion until...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 30, 2001

'Lovers Leap': Dan Bryk

In art, confession treads a fine line between catharsis and showing off. A subset of current punk bands like Wheatus and Blink 182 utilizes the geek mode to comment on classic macho-rock poses, but since they have nothing original to say (girls ignore you at school? figure it out), geekiness turns out...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 27, 2001

Cosmetics companies give themselves a makeover

Truth in advertising has never been a strong concept in Japan, but no one flouts it as boldly as the cosmetics industry, which is understandable, since makeup itself is a form of deception. One company's antiwrinkle cream is said to "prevent aging," an obvious impossibility, while the manufacturer of...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 23, 2001

'Cassidy': Luke Sutherland

The fringes of hip-hop that line the frayed fabric of British club music have lately become tangled up in the nascent European postrock scene, a development that has resulted in an expanded instrumental pallette taking over where machines previously ruled. Luke Sutherland, the restless, thoughtful multi-instrumentalist...

CULTURE / Music

May 20, 2001

Is you is or is you ain't . . . ?

Stephen Malkmus, formally known as SM, formally known as that tall, skinny guy who knows more neat metal guitar riffs than anyone in Stockton, Calif., was the leader by default of Amerindie's greatest band, Pavement, which called it quits last fall after a year of waffling.

CULTURE / Music

May 16, 2001

The Sonig circuit

Back in 1960 when he was a strapping egghead of 31, Karlheinz Stockhausen, the father of taped electronic music, had a vision: Every major city in the world would build an auditorium for the appreciation of "space music." Stockhausen's prediction was simply the optimistic ramblings of an intellectual...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 16, 2001

'Gainsbourg Forever': Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg died on March 2, 1991, a month shy of his 63rd birthday. Though characterized as a womanizing alcoholic, the iconoclastic Frenchman always thought of himself as a homely little Jewish piano player who never asked to be a star, but as long as he was one then you had to accept him for...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 13, 2001

Public participation aids media more than police

Prior to Thursday's arrest of a suspect in the April 30 murder of a 19-year-old woman in Asakusa, hundreds of people had called the police with information. The majority of these calls were not made until several days after the murder, when police found some items that they believe the killer discarded...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 9, 2001

'Movimento': Madredeus

The musical form fado takes off from the Portuguese concept of saudade, or "yearning," which dwells on things that are lost: a mother, a sweetheart, home. However, the music of Madredeus, Portugal's most popular group, has always contained an element of hopefulness, a yearning for things still possible....

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 6, 2001

Funny hair beats dark blue suits and bad teeth

One can gauge the emotions now churning through certain portions of the Liberal Democratic Party by a tearful comment made by a member of the Hashimoto faction following the unveiling of a memorial statue of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in Okinawa last week. The politician was not crying over...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 2, 2001

'The Facts of Life': Black Box Recorder

Artists who harbor ambitions that outstrip their talent often try to pre-empt accusations of pretentiousness by hiding behind surface ironies. Luke Haines called his first rock band the Auteurs, thus placing quotation marks around whatever they produced, which was mostly literary-minded rock descended...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 29, 2001

No frills, no thrills: the hottest trend in retailing

The news that the discount department store chain Jusco made money last year while its two perennial competitors sank deeper into the red was met with surprise by the media. One can get a handle on how the press views the former underdog by reading this week's Aera, in which it describes the three-way...

CULTURE / Film

Apr 25, 2001

Hidden Gems

'Straight-to-video" is a term that carries a stigma, and deservedly so. So much of what emerges without theatrical release is either slasher, sleaze or sly made-for-TV imitations of a bigger-budgeted film (e.g., "Asteroid," released just prior to "Armageddon"). But here in Japan there is a surprisingly...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 22, 2001

All together now: Let's all shill for Universal!

Before Universal Studios Japan opened on March 31, media commentators were asking why the new Hollywood theme park wasn't called Universal Studios Osaka. After all, Tokyo Disneyland isn't called Japan Disneyland. Here's the punch line: If they called it Universal Studios Osaka, the acronym would be USO,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 15, 2001

Style as something you buy rather than cultivate

I always leaf through Katei Gaho in my dentist's waiting room. In fact, it's the only place I've ever had a chance to peruse it. Printed on the heaviest glossy paper money can buy, the magazine is more notable for its heft than its content, which is beautifully photographed clothing and household goods...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 11, 2001

Emmylou Harris' 'Spyboy'

Emmylou Harris left one subsidiary of Warner Bros. (Asylum) in the mid-'90s before being picked up by another (Nonesuch) last year. During those five years she released an excellent but overlooked album with Linda Ronstadt and toured the world with a three-piece band called Spyboy (named after the jester...

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