Jason Jenkins - The Japan Times

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Jason Jenkins

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Jason Jenkins

Jason spent 13 years in Tokyo writing about cameras, parenting and the arts. In 2013 he left to travel, homeschooling his kids in Spain, Mexico and Southeast Asia before moving back to Japan in 2019.

For Jason Jenkins's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 28, 2003

Four Tet: "Rounds"

Whether through dewy-eyed computer-animation's marvels or Sony's Aibo, today's "digerati" yearn to simulate real life through hardware. The same goes for "laptop musicians," but few sound as warm and organic as the one-man band Four Tet, which is Kieran Hebden. Using extensive samples of instruments struck (gongs, trap kits, chimes) and plucked (guitars, banjos, harps), he transforms circuitry into loamy mulch for loop-based music to take root. When stitched together with a human touch, the scraps of disparate striking and strumming form an ear-enveloping tapestry.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 14, 2003

Prefuse 73: "One Word Extinguisher"

Atlanta-based DJ/programmer/producer Scott Herren will perform at the Fuji Rock Festival this year, which should come as no surprise. The event has hosted both techno-prankster Aphex Twin and vinyl bon vivant DJ Shadow, and fans of each will easily recognize Herren's cut-and-snip hip-hop project, Prefuse 73, as the logical next rung in the ladder.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 30, 2003

Aoki Takamasa, Ogurusu Norihide and Takagi Masakatsu: "Come and Play in Our Backyard"

Last week a friend of mine complained about a performance of "laptop music" he saw recently. "If I wanted to elbow through a crowd just to watch someone sit behind their Powerbook," he snarled, "then I could just go to my office -- and it's not as smoky." He's got a point, but computer-generated music obviously can't be summed up that easily, especially when it is evolving in so many directions. Three Japanese artists have recently garnered attention for pushing the data-DJ medium forward, in both their live sets and a collaborative studio project -- their first as a trio.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 23, 2003

"Saddle Creek 50"

To the surprise of many, the American underground's most fertile soil is now found on the parched plains of Omaha, Neb. Despite the scarcity of clubs, record shops and other hipster-habitat markers, this remote Midwestern town has cultivated a bumper crop of interesting bands. Early bloomers Tom Bascle (The Faint) and Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos) have garnered the attention of Rolling Stone and The New York Times, but the area is ripe with local talent -- with more moving in.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 12, 2003

Cody ChestnuTT's "The Headphone Masterpiece"

Staring smugly off the cover of his debut double album, "The Headphone Masterpiece," DIY-soul upstart Cody ChesnuTT looks more than a little full of himself. High-fives from both critics and bands like The Roots and The Strokes could be to blame, but ChesnuTT's condition is probably more a case of delayed gratification than a swollen ego. After his band, Crosswalk, dumped him when record contracts fell through, the Atlanta native took refuge in a bedroom studio he dubbed "the sonic promiseland." He emerged years later, with this lo-fi odyssey through R&B, hip-hop and rock 'n' roll.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 5, 2003

Few words in the English language contain the letter q without the letter u (Iraq and Qi Gong being two exceptions). And in Washington D.C.'s thriving underground scene, very few bands lack some resemblance to hometown heroes Fugazi or any other post-hardcore project from the mind of Ian MacKaye.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 2, 2003

The real deal of high fidelity

Twin sisters Kim and Kelley Deal pass the phone back and forth like siblings accustomed to dividing everything. Today they're sharing an interview, and only the tone of their near-identical voices indicates who is on the line. Kelley's measured, Midwestern accent remains at a clipped, cordial distance, while Kim speaks with the casual slur of someone sprawled out on a sofa, catching up with friends after a long trip.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 26, 2003

Bright Eyes: "Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground"

Connor Oberst has hidden under the moniker Bright Eyes for more than five years now, but he began recording in 1994 at the ripe old age of 14. From the start, his salted-wound confessionals and distraught delivery left precious little middle ground between fans and detractors. Some made him out as the indie Dylan or emo-Jesus; others called him a pubescent poster-boy for Zoloft.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 19, 2003

Mary Lorson and Billy Cote: "Piano Creeps"

Aside from a newborn and an overlooked body of work, Mary Lorson and Billy Cote share a passion for film. After their band, Madder Rose, died from a bad case of under-appreciation in 1999, they began to compose music for motion pictures whenever they weren't wandering through each other's solo efforts. Lorson pinched the soft underbelly of jangle-pop with her project Saint Low while Cote's "The Jazz Cannon" set its sights on sequencers and samples. They scored several indie films during this time, including an HBO documentary on photographer Sally Mann. Lorson was particularly inspired by screen music's emphasis on mood over lyrics. Being a vocalist, she says that the loose, instrumental format was liberating, since there was never a need to "get to the chorus."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 12, 2003

No one would call the trip-hop architects of Massive Attack hopeless romantics, but I suspect that their music has been enjoyed in just as many bedrooms as clubs. Their collages of seductive vocals and slow, fleshy beats appears to activate all the appropriate hormones and makes that itch -- to dance or something more intimate -- all the more crucial to scratch.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Feb 5, 2003

Baka Beyond: "Heart of the Forest"

Before we get into the new album by the world-beat collective, Baka Beyond, let's get something straight about the name. In Japan, "baka" may be what you call your boss behind his back, but this four-letter word also denotes the pygmy tribe indigenous to the rain forests near the Cameroon/Congo border.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 29, 2003

"Synkretizm: A Mountain Thinking the River Fire."

Voodoo, with its mix of West African mysticism and French Catholicism, plays a vital role in the lives of Haiti's rural poor, but it gets a bad rap elsewhere. For the faithful, the communion of saints and shamans offers even the most piteous peasant his own sliver of paradise. But to outsiders, voodoo only conjures up images of curses, chicken blood and pin-pricked rag dolls.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 22, 2003

Common: "Electric Circus"

Hip-hop and Hollywood share at least one thing in common: Star-studded lineups never guarantee a work of art. In fact, some material's strength is often diluted proportionately to the number of egos featured.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 15, 2003

The Sea and Cake

Post-rock seems to have been born a genre already approaching middle age. While rock 'n' roll swaggered and screamed, this reticent cousin of indie-rock purposefully strode away from the testosterone. Post-rock's aim was a departure from rock's basic instincts, placing mood and texture over guitar hooks and shrill histrionics. This detour veered through jazz rhythms, ambient minimalism and world pop, often incorporating instruments not normally associated with rock: Banjos, vibraphones and wind instruments surfaced between the guitars, drums and electronic equipment. The label "post-rock" first appeared in the mid-1990s as an attempt to corral these unorthodox approaches into a stable we all could comprehend, and the term's legitimacy is still dubious at best.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jan 8, 2003

During the late-'80s halcyon days of rave, Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams congregated with other high priests of acid-house at Manchester's Hacienda, then the mecca of club culture. But as their group, Sub Sub, evolved from beat worship into melody-driven guitar pop, they began losing their faith. By 1995, the signs were ripe for a conversion. The biggest omen came in the form of an electrical fire in their studio, which consumed all of their equipment and master recordings.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Dec 18, 2002

"el Christmas: The World in Winter"

Before British label el records went belly up, they were considered one of the hippest dispensers of candy-coated twee-pop and lounge music from the '70s and '80s. A holiday compilation album pulled from el's catalog of aural confectionary makes perfect sense as so much of the holiday season nowadays revolves around sweets and booze. Shibuya-kei stars Cornelius and Kahimi Karie once eagerly lapped up el's syrupy libations; isn't it time you had a serving yourself? At least you won't get a bellyache from these Yuletide novelties.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Dec 11, 2002

The Roots: "Phrenology"

'They have reached the level of their dreams: a major-label record deal and some international notoriety. But for all that, their concept has not yet blown up, and it is possible it won't."

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Dec 4, 2002

Aphex Twin: "Out From Out Where"

Techno music is never short on energy, but with artists now letting their laptop algorithms call the shots, electronica often comes up dreadfully short on actual human emotion. Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) best displays this embrace of the cold, clinical side of the sampler. Most of his ambient jaunts and drill 'n' bass tirades overtly display an absence of a sentient being. Perhaps many wouldn't be surprised if James came forward as a hoax, his music just a computer glitch spitting out track after track.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 27, 2002

Sigur Ros: "Kid-A"

When listening to Icelandic postrock outfit Sigur Ros, it's easy to conjure up romantic images of their homeland: frosted clouds framing a cobalt sky, ice monoliths frozen stoically over ancient lava plains, muffled blasts of the geothermal powerhouse deep below. These postcard shots may have held no influence over the foursome from Reykjavik, but their music is undeniably as blue, blissful and baffling as the landscape.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Nov 6, 2002

The Polyphonic Spree: "The Beginning Stages Of . . ."

Smile. Go ahead, it's good for you. That's right, smile now. Can you do it? If you're finding an impromptu grin difficult, pick up the first album by The Polyphonic Spree, "The Beginning Stages Of . . .," and wash away any gloom for at least 68 minutes.

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

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