Ian Martin - The Japan Times

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Ian Martin

Ian Martin is a freelance writer covering music and pop culture. He has been active in the Tokyo music scene as an indie event organiser, DJ and label owner since 2004 and has been contributing to The Japan Times music page for almost as long.

For Ian Martin's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Nov 24, 2011

Late-night dancing should not be a crime in Japan

Imagine a town where playing rock music is under a curfew and police crack down on unlicensed late-night dancing. Are you thinking of the town from the film "Footloose"? Or are you thinking of Fukuoka? Kumamoto? Yokohama?

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 3, 2011

Must-see indie groups coming out of Aichi

Nagoya is the biggest city in Aichi Prefecture and has a population of well over 2 million, so there is no way an article like this can hope to capture the full depth of its musical talent. However, here are a few bands that are well worth checking out.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 3, 2011

Record stores fuel Nagoya's scene

Despite having had its musical reputation sullied by Yasushi Akimoto's decision to make it the home of SKE48, the first offshoot of pop-idol army AKB48, Nagoya is home to one of Japan's most vibrant independent music scenes.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Oct 27, 2011

Cruel to be kind: Does noruma work in bands' favor?

One of the first stumbling blocks you'll probably come across starting up a band in Japan is trying to book gigs. You'll explain to the booking manager about your music, give them a demo CD or a link to a place they can hear you online, they'll say, "Sure, I love your sound" — and then they'll tell you the noruma.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 13, 2011

The Human League know you still want them

Emerging out of the late-1970s new-wave scene in the English industrial town of Sheffield alongside fellow electronic and synthpop luminaries such as ABC, Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17, The Human League was one of the bands that defined the sound of the '80s, with their distinctive plastic-glamour fashion sense and icy, synth-led sound.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 29, 2011

The cute 'n' kooky world of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japan's newest pop idol

A recurring theme in the Strange Boutique column has been the question of what has gone wrong with pop music in Japan. Amid discussions of the pernicious influence of advertising agencies, record industry conservatism in the face of declining sales, and the faceless, self-replicating Eurobeat monstrosity from out of Akihabara, there was one fundamental thing that Japanese pop seemed to have lost: The ability to make you go, "Wha...?"

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 8, 2011

(M)otocompo's theater challenges stale indie scene

Shuffling onto the stage in a flurry of robotic jerks come three men wearing glazed expressions and identical striped tops. In time with the retro-futurist synthesizer chirps and bleeps, they then lurch into a kind of clockwork dance routine, while a fourth man, wearing a construction helmet and mask, scampers around, correcting mechanical errors in his "robots."

CULTURE / Music

Aug 25, 2011

Avoid the sins of playing live in the grimy clubs of Japan

Spend a lot of time trawling the grimy-toilet venues of the Tokyo music scene and, apart from gaining an encyclopaedic knowledge of how to smuggle alcohol past staff members guarding the doors of various venues, you will start to pick up on the minutiae of musicians' stagecraft like a sommelier when it comes to fine wines. After several years serving time in the country's underground music scene, and in a spirit of sharing, here is one indie-music snob's guide for artists on how to avoid possible pitfalls in your performances:

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Jul 28, 2011

Tis the season for some girl-pop classics

In Japan, observation of the seasons is an ingrained cultural trait that not only forms the basis of haiku poetry and many classic works of art, but also marks the calendar for cultural ephemera from special-edition Kit Kats to alcoholic drinks to pop music. Since summer is now at full burn, here are my Top 5 seasonal girl-pop hits from the genre's golden age:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 7, 2011

She Talks Silence aim for live experience on new mini-album

When a band kicks off an interview with a statement like "We don't do gigs, we do performances," you could be forgiven for thinking you're in the presence of a group of uncompromising, postindustrial noise punks. However, for indie-pop group She Talks Silence, this attitude is all about intimacy.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Jun 30, 2011

Every day we're schaffeling: What Girls Generation are doing right

A big part of what has made the current wave of South Korean idol pop so successful in Japan is obviously the image. K-pop's often crass objectification of young women makes for a welcome break from J-pop's often crass objectification of barely pubescent girls. However, laughable though we may find it, there are some interesting differences in the music too.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 16, 2011

AKB48 "Koko ni Ita Koto"

Beneath the media frenzy over the "election" of this year's front line members, behind the coy faced but otherwise absurdly blatant evocation of teen sex imagery, and far from the bizarre stories of the otaku (obsessive) fan who bought thousands of copies of the same CD — as if trying in some perversely patriotic way to become a sort of one-man bubble era — one could be forgiven for forgetting that there is in fact some tediously formulaic and crushingly banal music at what we might, with perhaps a wry smile and an ironically raised eyebrow, call the heart of AKB48.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 3, 2011

Decade of fine tuning yields gold for capsule

"I see capsule as a J-pop group, but then again, I don't think J-pop should be made into a particular genre with its own rules," says Yasutaka Nakata of electro unit capsule and producer of idol sensations Perfume. "There are professional producers who try to create 'J-pop music,' but really any pop music made in Japan should just be considered J-pop."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 2, 2011

Nisennenmondai "Nisennenmondai Live!!!"

Tokyo instrumental trio Nisennenmondai (which translates to "year 2000 problem") have always seemed to struggle between an unwillingness — or fear of — compromising their scratchy, lo-fi sound and the problem of transferring the immediacy and sometimes breathtaking energy of their live performances onto disc, making uneven but nevertheless tangible progress with their recorded material over the past several years.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

May 26, 2011

'Golden age' of kayoukyoku holds lessons for modern J-pop

On April 21, 2011, the actress and singer Yoshiko Tanaka, aka Sue from 1970s idol group the Candies, died after a relapse of the cancer that she had been living with for 20 years. A tragedy, at the relatively young age of 55, and one that comes during a period of deep soul-searching for the Japanese music business.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 19, 2011

Tetsuya Komuro's 'Digitalian is Eating Breakfast 2'

Emerging from the tail end of the 1980s new-wave scene with the band TM Network, Tetsuya Komuro was a producer who defined the 1990s. In fact, anyone searching out a single point when the more modern agglomeration of styles that later became known as J-pop killed off the older kayoukyoku (an older term for mainstream Japanese pop) style, need look no further than the moment in 1989 when Komuro's "Gravity of Love" beat Seiko Matsuda, the last great kayoukyoku idol, to the No. 1 spot.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Apr 22, 2011

Japanese music fans need the shows to go on

Last month I wrote a hastily conceived piece for this column documenting the immediate reaction of the music scene in Tokyo to the Great East Japan Earthquake. It was a difficult article to write because the situation was still unfolding and so much was unresolved; however, a month later, a picture of the postquake music scene is emerging.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 8, 2011

The Monochrome Set

In many ways, The Monochrome Set are the archetypal "Big in Japan" band. Formed in 1978 by a handful of Adam Ant's former backing musicians, the band, featuring guitarist Lester Square's faintly retro playing style and vocalist Ganesh "Bid" Seshadri's dryly humorous lyrics, flew insolently in the face of the spittle-flecked and violently imploding punk movement.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 25, 2011

Altz, Hotel Mexico to play weekend bash

A mid the continuing developments surrounding the March 11 earthquake, clubs and live venues, at least in Tokyo, are gradually getting back to their regular schedules, much to the relief of musicians and fans.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Mar 18, 2011

Indie scene aims for normalcy in unusual situation

As I write this on Tuesday afternoon, four days after the earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11 and with the continuing drip, drip, drip of nerve-shaking news from the damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima forming background noise to life in Tokyo, I see on the BBC news feed that Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is urging "all the great musicians and singers in the world" to get together and do a concert for Japan.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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