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May 17, 2024
 

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Simon Bartz
For Simon Bartz's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2001
They came from Zeta Reticuli
Mudvayne are often said to be the "new" Slipknot. Slipknot wear masks and are very famous; Mudvayne wear makeup and are getting there. And they both fit snugly into the new-fangled rock genre known as nu-metal. What's nu-metal? It's old metal but louder, faster and much more pretentious: It makes the...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 6, 2001
The boys are smokin', the girls are on fire
All-girl trio Thug Murder have been making pals quicker than most in the underground with their upbeat brand of melodic punk rock. So it was no surprise that they were able to pull together one of the best lineups I've seen for ages for the release party of debut album "13th Round" last week at Shimokitazawa's...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 30, 2001
Getting off on the art of noise
I got a beer in my hand and a slim bottle of Zubrovka vodka stuffed in my back pocket for back-up, but all this rock 'n' roll partying business seems rather inappropriate right now.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2001
The buy-or-die albums of 2000
In 2000 America rocked with Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and At The Drive In, while Britain got all soppy and introverted with Richard Ashcroft, Coldplay and Belle & Sebastian. As for Japan, I have mixed feelings. It was great that Melt-Banana, Audio Active and 54 Nude Honeys (my favorite Japanese bands)...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 1, 2001
America gets a bang out of Melt-Banana
It's rare that a Japanese band is more successful in America than in Japan, but Melt-Banana are an exception to many rules.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 19, 2000
Rumbling with the jungle girls on tour in the U.K.
I'm a failed rock star and that's probably why I ended up writing about music.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 5, 2000
Audio Active beams down the space dub
Masa of Audio Active has gone AWOL. I'm at the new offices of his management company, Beatink, in Shibuya. Tae, who arranged the interview, is refilling my coffee cup and apologizing, telling me that the main man is not answering his keitai and nobody knows where the hell he is.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 7, 2000
A fine fuzzy day out at Rocktober
The inaugural Rocktober festival on Sunday, Oct. 15, at Shiokaze Park in Odaiba, confounded my expectations: I had a great time.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 17, 2000
We gotta get outta this place: tales of extraordinary madness
Dusk, or dawn, and when the doorbell sounds my brain vibrates painfully. It's John and Queenie, on vacation from Hong Kong. And once you've been a good host once, it's impossible to live down the reputation. Here we go again.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 3, 2000
We've got a personality crisis
If you go to a live event you don't just want to listen to music, you want to witness a show, right? You want the people on stage to be rock stars for the night. And you want to be swept away on a flood of shared adrenalin.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 19, 2000
Rockin' without fear or favor
I'm often asked what kind of misfits bother writing to Fuzzy Logic and what they say and as I'm busy lying on a beach in Thailand -- having my toes sucked by a bunch of cherry-lipped ladyboys while sipping a sexy cocktail and sucking on a big fat exotic stoogie -- I've decided to give you a few examples...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 5, 2000
Guilty of goodness in the first degree but always in control
Pop star Bonnie Pink is sick of being a "goodie-goodie" girl. She wants to be a bad girl. But does she know how?
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 15, 2000
Knife-wielding nutters, karate chop cocktails and ueberbabes
"There's nothing for kids to do in Nagoya except sit around all day drinking and taking drugs," says pal Hiroshi, who spent three years there at college.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 6, 2000
Beer and loathing in Naeba
First it was the black flying things -- hundreds of them swooping and screeching and diving around the main tower of the hotel.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 1, 2000
Hard training is its own reward as big event looms
Note: By the time you read this you're still probably suffering a hangover with the force of two stars colliding in a distant galaxy (courtesy of Fuji Rock Festival): far out and painful, in other words. Well, this article concerns the Fuji Rock warmup weekend, an annual ritual where Fuji Rockers imbibe...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 18, 2000
Feed your head
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 4, 2000
Festival fun for the young and those who just wish they were
The main excuses I've heard for not attending one of this summer's two international rock festivals in Japan are: "None of my favorite bands are coming" and "there's hardly any big names."
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 20, 2000
This next one's for Mom: getting their Crispy Nuts off
"What you doing tonight?" asks Paul. "I'm going to see Crispy Nuts at Antiknock," I answer.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 6, 2000
Super Furries, Eels, Bentley signed up for summer of fun
Super Furry Animals -- "Mwng" (Placid Casual) Their warped imaginations proffer a bent reality, a Dali-like melting pot of madness; they adorn their album covers with exotic monstrosities that are both cute and menacing. They are totally fuzzy. They are the Super Furry Animals, they don't play by the...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 16, 2000
Blood and gore all over the floor
"Everyone thought I'd fallen on some broken glass by accident. But . . . I just couldn't stand myself anymore, so I went behind the amps with this piece of broken glass, having decided to cut my jugular vein. I just didn't have the guts, though . . . I was aiming for the vein, but I just couldn't make...
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Kishida defends planned rule to revoke foreigners' residency
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting of the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Human bone-like objects found at Nippon Steel plant’s molten iron pot, with one worker missing
Police believe it’s highly possible that human bones found in a molten iron pot at Nippon Steel's Oita factory belong to a missing male employee.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Man suspected of using smart glasses to cheat on Waseda University exams
The Waseda University campus in Tokyo. An 18-year-old male test-taker is suspected of using smart glasses to cheat during the university's entrance exam.
Japanese billionaire sues Meta over investment scams using his image
Entrepreneurs Yusaku Maezawa (second from right) and Takafumi Horie (third from right) attend a study session on fake social media ads and investment scams at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on April 10.
Japanese rap creates its mecca in Pop Yours
Tokyo-based artist Jumadiba says he forgoes the label of simply “rap” for his music because the Japanese rap scene isn’t confined to a particular sound.
Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.

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By Mai Yoshikawa

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