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July 16, 2024
 

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HIGH NOTES

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003
Koinu Entertainment Showcase Volume One
Japan has produced so many great hip-hop DJs, like Krush and Kensei, that it is easy to overlook the dearth of equally great MCs. No surprise then that most of the intriguing artists at this weekend's underground hip-hop confab, sponsored by hybrid metal rap group Koinu, are turntablists such as DJs...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003
Doug Wamble's: "Country Libations"
At first listen, Doug Wamble's debut CD, "Country Libations," sounds like a compilation. At different points, Wamble flatpicks country swing, booms out heartfelt gospel, plays slide Delta blues, swings hard on pre-bop jazz and intersperses moments of free jazz. This range and choice of styles is initially...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003
Kings of Leon: "Youth and young Manhood"
The story about the Kings of Leon, a Nashville-based rock band touted as the next big thing, is that the four young men, with their tight bell-bottoms and shaggy hair are pure throwbacks. Having grown up shuttling between Memphis and Oklahoma City with their itinerant Pentecostal preacher father, the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003
Rough Trade Shops: "Post Punk 01"
When punk hit a recession-ridden U.K. in 1975-'76, using a rudimentary version of rock 'n' roll as a platform to scream obscenities and threaten to smash the state, it was enough to ignite outrage across the land. And then, before your grandfather could curse "They should bring back military service,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 30, 2003
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
New Jersey native Ted Leo, who learned his trade in the East Coast hardcore scene of the late '80s, has been toiling as an indie idol in the Washington D.C. underground for more than a decade, first fronting Chisel, which prefigured the current mod-punk revival, and then the Sin Eaters, a power-pop band...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 30, 2003
Alex Sipiagin
Jazz was one of the best-kept secrets of communist Russia, officially suppressed but actually flourishing in underground clubs, bootleg studios and on pirate radio stations. Fortunately for music fans, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin heard enough to become one of Russia's premier jazz players and to emigrate...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 23, 2003
Ze Records: "N.Y. No Wave"
...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 23, 2003
Jaco Pastorius: "Word of Mouth Revisited"
In the '70s and '80s, Jaco Pastorius revolutionized electric bass playing. The imprint of his bold sound can be heard in bass players from jazz to rock to funk. Whether in the seminal fusion group Weather Report, his own high-energy electric bands, with guitarists Pat Metheny and Mike Stern, or in the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 23, 2003
Polyphonic Spree
For a year and a half after Tim DeLaughter, formerly of the psychedelic hard rock group Tripping Daisy, assembled The Polyphonic Spree in 2000, the band only played isolated gigs around their hometown of Dallas, Texas. Then they went to Austin to play the South By Southwest Festival, where they caught...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 9, 2003
Roots Music Festival 2003
This summer's Roots Music Festival at Blue Note Tokyo moves far beyond simple basics to a full flowering of diverse branches of the musical tree. The seven performers, coming from different countries, styles and backgrounds, share an improvisational spirit, but otherwise are notable for their unique...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 9, 2003
The Pretenders: "Loose Screw"
In "Complex Person," a reggae-metered song from the Pretenders' eighth studio album, "Loose Screw," Chrissie Hynde sings that she'll do anything "to make you adore me or deplore me but never ignore me." If there's desperation in the line itself, there is also a note of resignation in Hynde's reading...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 9, 2003
OOIOO: "Kila Kila Kila"
As drummer and sole female in the Boredoms, Yoshimi Pee Wee has often been overshadowed by Seichii Yamamoto's virtuoso guitar playing and Eye Yamataka's idiosyncratic charisma. But listening to the fourth album from, OOIOO, her all-girl group, one wonders if Yoshimi hasn't quietly been directing all...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003
Burnt Sugar: "The Rites"
"I had come up with the idea of adapting motifs from 'Le Sacre du Printemps' for a series of improvisations," says Burnt Sugar's Greg Tate. "Given how many sick bass lines there are in his writing, Stravinsky makes perfect sense for a band that loves to vamp as much as we do."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003
Pat Metheny: "One Quiet Night"
Pat Metheny is one of the most widely imitated guitarists in modern jazz. A prodigy on guitar, he played in jazz clubs before he could even drive to the gigs and became one of the youngest teachers ever at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston. Because of that early fame, he has had the freedom...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003
The Octagon Man: "Magneton"
His real name might be J-Saul Kane; no one knows for sure. Kane is, however, known to possess multiple bank accounts and aliases. Most commonly known as Depth Charge, he also works under the name Alexander's Dark Band and seems to reserve the pseudonym The Octagon Man for his most twisted and deranged...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003
Linda Thompson
Linda Thompson is living proof that it is more difficult to be wed to genius than it is to possess it. Her 10-year marriage to the flinty, cynical singer-guitarist Richard Thompson that ended in 1982 was by all accounts, including hers, a tumultuous affair that produced three children, at least four...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 25, 2003
Byard Lancaster: "It's Not Up to Us"
In 1959-1960, three albums crossed boundaries in three different ways and sent jazz reeling. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" packed so many chords into its explosive tunes that it forced be-bop to an abrupt harmonic conclusion. Meanwhile, Ornette Coleman's melodic inventiveness on "The Shape of Jazz to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 25, 2003
Jack Johnson: "On and On"
In the off season, professional surfer Jack Johnson keeps himself busy -- keeping his boards waxed, of course, but also polishing his craft as a songwriter. To follow up his debut, "Brushfire Fairytales," he retreated to his living room-cum-studio with longtime buddies percussionist Adam Topol and bassist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 25, 2003
Fountains of Wayne: "Welcome Interstate Managers"
Lou Reed may be the New York Man, but only a fraction of his New York fans have any direct experience with the Downtown demimonde he writes about. Most are Tri-State suburbanites who as kids went to Manhattan to party and as adults go there to work.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 18, 2003
Stark Reality: "Now"
It's a good thing the guardians of our children's tender morality are mainly obsessed with vexing lyrics and not intensely trippy jams. Otherwise, "Now" would have a big sticker across the front: WARNING -- The psychedelic children's music on this album will scramble your child's mind.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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