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:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 26, 2008

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Mexican acoustic instrumental duo Rodrigo y Gabriela cut their teeth in the thrash band Tierra Acida, playing the dirtiest dives of Mexico City before decamping to Dublin in 1999. Soon after they busked around Europe for a while, developing their unique fusion of styles and building a body of their own...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 9, 2008

Nepal's remarkable do-it-yourself peace

KATMANDU — Nepali Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as "Prachanda," has now been sworn in as the first prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, having won an overwhelming vote in the Constituent Assembly elected in April.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 5, 2008

Yukari Fresh — "grrrl, summer cape kid, etc." (Escalator); Aira Mitsuki — "COPY" (D-Topia)

Emerging from the dark days of the 1990s' "lost generation," the Shibuya-kei movement in Japanese music was a breath of fresh air, bringing together with impeccable style a variety of musical genres encompassing jazz, retro-futurist lounge pop, 1960s French pop and dance music. Its commercial heyday...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 29, 2008

As leading figures in the 1970s German experimental rock scene, Faust are really the granddaddies of much modern electronic and noise music. Along with contemporaries such as Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, they helped to break the stranglehold that British and American musicians then had on rock — and...

CULTURE / Music

Aug 29, 2008

Wire "Object 47"

U.K. postpunk band Wire always seemed to view their contemporaries in the 1970s music scene with an air of disdain, and while all around we are now treated to the unedifying spectacle of old heroes re-forming and cashing in on their legacies, Wire have been quietly following their own path all along,...

CULTURE / Music

Aug 8, 2008

Sparks "Exotic Creatures of the Deep"

For a group dismissed by many as a novelty act, genre-hopping L.A. duo Sparks have a remarkable history. They have averaged just over one album release every two years since 1970 and have influenced pretty much every 1980s techno-pop group as well as just about every camp, flouncing singer or ironic...

CULTURE / Music

Jul 11, 2008

Nhhmbase — "Hamon Cross"; Uhnellys — "Mawaru"

Experimental indie rockers Nhhmbase and hip-hop/jazz duo Uhnellys' careers have in many ways run parallel to each other, with both bands emerging into Tokyo's eclectic underground scene and releasing debut recordings at about the same time in 2006. And each band is now releasing a followup record a week...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 11, 2008

"I didn't know anything about Japanese, or Japan at all, and I spoke English on stage and no one understood what I was saying."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 4, 2008

Fans raise $50,000 for Japanese band

To most bands, it sounds like a dream come true: $50,000 with no strings attached; the opportunity to record an album with one of the world's top engineers; and the freedom to make any kind of record you want, unhindered by interfering labels just waiting to drop you at the first sniff of commercial...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 20, 2008

The rhythm is gonna Gotye

"There are just tons of bands in Melbourne, and I think there is a bit of a chip on the shoulder that too many of them are going unrecognized." So says Wally De Backer, aka Gotye.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 18, 2008

Founded in 1987 by all-girl rock band Show-ya, Naon no Yaon is a festival dedicated to female artists — although anyone expecting a kind of Japanese version of American chick-rock festival Lilith Fair will either be very disappointed or very pleased to learn that this event has a decidedly pop...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 11, 2008

The Tenori-on World Launch Tour

Words from the lexicon of visual arts have often been applied to the world of music, from the way 1960s British Mod band The Creation described their music as "red, with purple flashes" to the way modern electronic and ambient music is often described as "sound collages" and "aural landscapes."

CULTURE / Music

Apr 4, 2008

Neon Neon "Stainless Style"

If there is one man you wouldn't normally associate with the slick, materialistic 1980s, it would be Gruff Rhys, frontman of shaggy-haired psychedelic popsters Super Furry Animals. So you'd be forgiven a quick double-take on your first listen to Neon Neon's "Stainless Style," a collaboration with Los...

CULTURE / Music

Mar 21, 2008

Nisennenmondai "Destination Tokyo"

All-girl instrumental three-piece Nisennenmondai shook the Tokyo underground scene with the release of the mini album "Sore de Souzo Suru Neji" in 2004. They quickly gained a reputation as one of the hottest new bands in Japan for the way they combined elements of minimalist 1970s progressive rock like...

CULTURE / Music

Mar 14, 2008

Perfume "Fan Service ~ Prima Box"

Formed in Hiroshima in 2001, moving to Tokyo in 2003 and hitting the big time in 2006, Perfume are an idol-pop phenomenon, notable for how their music combines elements of house and electro with a futuristic, Akihabara-friendly image.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 14, 2008

James Murphy's 'magic plastic discs'

"Cod sperm sacs, I had that," muses James Murphy, multitalented record producer, DJ, founder of New York's DFA Records and mastermind behind dance-punk phenomenon LCD Soundsystem. Apparently, despite averaging two or three trips a year to Japan, the country — in particular its restaurants —...

CULTURE / Music

Mar 7, 2008

Levelload "Yellow Fever"

Comprising Japanese bassist Mariko Doi and British guitarist Tony Wade, Levelload have a mixed cultural background. But their sound is largely drawn from Anglo-American punk-rock tradition, with the spiky Britpop melodies of Elastica and the sultry garage blues of The Kills, combined with Mariko's cooing...

CULTURE / Music

Feb 1, 2008

Apartment "Sparkle Bicycle"

Not so much a band as the solo work of multi-instrumentalist Tatsuya Namai, Apartment is a bedroom-pop act with a DIY ethos. With its cheap-sounding production and instruments constantly on the brink of going out of tune, "Sparkle Bicycle" harks back to 1980s U.K. and U.S. "cassette culture" —...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST

Jan 25, 2008

MY PLAYLIST: British Sea Power

"Originally we wanted to record it as a psychedelic jam session, but in the end we just couldn't help writing tunes," says British Sea Power vocalist Yan (born Scott Wilkinson) of the making of their third (and arguably best) album, "Do You Like Rock Music?"

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 30, 2007

In touch with his inner Tommy Lee

"It wasn't so much the style of music as the attitude toward performing and doing shows. That's what we wanted to bring back from America to Japan," says Yasuaki Sakai, reminiscing about his immersion in America's Pacific Northwest music scene that began nearly a decade ago as the singer/guitarist of...

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

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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