Blues singer Marikofun finds inspiration in a unique place — Japan’s ancient tomb mounds, known as kofun in Japanese. She has visited more than 1,000 ancient tomb mounds across Japan over the past seven years — a dedication expressed in the line of one of her songs, “I was so ...
A curated collection of the highlights of the Fuji Rock Festival 2014, as seen on social media
Give those dancing shoes a polish — the National Police Agency will be accepting public comments on the country’s so-called ...
Much has changed in Arcade Fire’s world since the band was last in Japan. Back in February 2008, the Canadian six-piece, still propelled forward by the momentum created by its debut “Funeral,” a record that attained perpetual cult status through nothing more than its ...
Since 2001, Fuji Rock’s Rookie a Go-Go stage has spotlighted indie talents not quite ready for the festival’s larger areas. Acts apply to play — this year 1,300 bands vied for 15 slots — and with the exception of Taiwan’s Go Chic in 2010, ...
British band The Heavy is better known in the United States than Britain but is winning fans in Japan thanks to a television commercial. The four-piece’s song “Same Ol” provides the soundtrack to an ongoing big-budget ad campaign for Pepsi Nex starring Japanese actor ...
Chatting to Annie Clark, what is noticeable is how much she differs from her artistic alter ego. The music she creates as St. Vincent — ambitious art-rock that blends avant-garde sound with melodic richness — has been refined to the point that now, four ...
Buffalo Daughter has a knack for recruiting influential fans. One of these fans, Tokyo-born artist Peter McDonald, is partially responsible for getting the band to record its latest album, “Konjac-tion.” In 2011, McDonald (whose father is British and mother is Japanese) held an exhibition ...
During his six-year stay in Croatia, pianist Tomohiro Adachi was introduced to a remarkable woman named Dora Pejacevic. Pejacevic was born into a Croatian noble family in 1885 and went on to become Croatia’s first female composer. She died in 1923, but Adachi hopes ...
For more than 20 years now, Panicsmile has been an unsung hero in Japanese rock. In fact along with “unsung” we can perhaps add “un-singing,” with group founder Hajime Yoshida’s particular atonal, ranting vocal delivery one of the stylistic elements that helped define the ...
As Yoko Ono prepares to take the stage at Fuji Rock Festival on July 26, a BBC video of her performing the 1969 Plastic Ono Band track “Don’t Worry Kyoko” at this year’s Glastonbury festival has racked up nearly 2 million views, largely from ...
With Fuji Rock happening next weekend, it’s time to start making sure you’ve got everything you need to make the festival an unadulterated success. Here’s a list of essential items you should consider trying to squeeze into your bags: Footwear: Ideally, you’re likely to ...
One of the unspoken rules in the progress-fixated world of electronic music is that you don’t get bonus points for dwelling on past glories. So when Yukihiro Takahashi — drummer, vocalist and dapper elder statesman of electro-pop — convened a star cast of musicians ...
Music changes from generation to generation, which is as true in Japan as it is everywhere else. But how can traditional music manage to keep itself from being forgotten? Shinobue (bamboo flute) musician Kisho Tosha is trying to find an answer to this question. ...
It’s not the highest of honors, but I’d like to award awkwardly named boy band Kis-My-Ft2 as the best pop act under the Johnny & Associates umbrella. Again, this isn’t an accomplishment worthy of a trophy, especially considering the competition includes the phone-it-in balladry ...
