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James Hadfield

For James Hadfield's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

CULTURE / Music

Jan 18, 2008

Boredoms "Live at Sun Flancisco"

Boredoms (or V ∞ redoms, as they're confusingly billed in their home country) preside over a haphazard patchwork of a discography. For every official album, there's a slew of EPs, remixes and side projects, chronicling in detail the Osaka group's evolution from schizoid noise punks to ecstatic tribal-drum circle.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jan 17, 2008

Gilberto wavers from the family script

Her albums of sultry, sunny bossa nova and pop have beguiled and seduced millions of listeners. But, woken by The Japan Times after a meager few hours' sleep, Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto is struggling to put on a brave face.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 16, 2007

A one-time hardcore polemicist changes his tune

Alec Empire has never been the kind of guy you'd take home to meet your mother. While other musicians played at being scary, he was the real deal: dour, fiercely political and forever unwilling to let a good time get in the way of some antifascist polemic and white noise.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 15, 2007

A big noise about what?

'I think the best pop is always subversive in its nature," says James Righton over the phone from London a few days after his band Klaxons beat the bookies' odds to win the Mercury Music Prize, a major award that gives $40,000 to the "best" British or Irish album of the year. "Even things like Abba — I think it's always got a dark, subversive element to it," says the keyboardist/ vocalist. "You've got these four blonde Swedish people singing about their relationships breaking up while they're all going out with each other."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 8, 2007

Underworld outside their comfort zone

Call it a midlife crisis. Five years ago, Underworld's Karl Hyde and Rick Smith — then aged 45 and 43, respectively — took stock of their careers and realized a change was due.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 8, 2007

Dub and dope: Weatherall's weird science

He's been a key mover in every dance genre from acid house to techno and indie disco. But if you really want to know what gets DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall out of bed in the morning, it's a rather different type of music.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 19, 2007

Sherwood: 'Ari Up is a genuine one-off'

Joining The Slits on their Japan tour will be producer Adrian Sherwood. One of the key figures on the British reggae scene for the last 30 years, Sherwood has most recently been working on new Primal Scream and Lee "Scratch" Perry material, while some of his past credits include New Age Steppers (who included Ari Up on vocals), The Fall and Nine Inch Nails.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 5, 2007

Devendra Banhart "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon"

Much like 2005's "Cripple Crow," Devendra Banhart's latest album is probably best tackled in small doses. With 16 tracks spread over 70 minutes, it's an unfocused affair that finds the shaggy troubadour moving ever further from the acoustic folk of his breakout record, "Rejoicing in the Hands."

CULTURE / Music

Sep 28, 2007

PJ Harvey "White Chalk"

From blues punk to Brechtian chanteuse, FM-friendly femme- rocker to feral screecher: Polly Jean Harvey has been many things during her career. All the same, "White Chalk" is a real curveball.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 21, 2007

Gypsies are one of music's great cross-pollinators.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 24, 2007

The Caribbean Magic Steel Drum Orchestra

In 19th-century Trinidad, drumming became so synonymous with gang warfare that the British colonial authorities outlawed hand drums altogether. Seeking an alternative, the island's denizens turned first to bamboo before happening upon an ingenious use for discarded oil drums. The resulting instrument, the steel pan, must be the most refined piece of junk percussion ever invented.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 17, 2007

Girls have all the fun

If there was a festival anthem to this year's Summer Sonic, it was "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The overflowing crowd at Cyndi Lauper's Sunday set on the Sonic Stage was mostly made up of women who mouthed every word to her string of hits. And when she finished with her biggest hit, the female members of The Polyphonic Spree and Tilly and The Wall joined her on stage to she-bop ecstatically.

CULTURE / Music

Jun 22, 2007

Tha Blue Herb "Life Story"

Tha Blue Herb are the Company Flow of Japanese hip-hop: uncompromising, fiercely independent and more apt to induce chin-stroking than booty-shaking. When their debut album dropped in 1998, it was unlike anything the local scene had heard before. Central to their appeal was Ill-Bosstino, the trio's lone MC, whose dense, metaphor-heavy rhymes were a world away from the hands-in-the-air banality peddled by his peers. A decade on, he still sounds like no one else, but "Life Story" finds Tha Blue Herb losing ground to the groups they inspired. While the lyrics (of which translations appear in the liner notes) still offer plenty to chew on, the musical settings feel curiously drab especially given the audacity of producer O.N.O's work on their last full album, 2002's "Sell Your Soul."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 21, 2007

Soundtrack of the summer: Audion

The latest in a long line of influential techno producers to emerge from Detroit, Matthew Dear has wasted little time becoming one of the club world's hottest commodities. In the past few years, he's scored widespread acclaim for records released both under his own name and the aliases Audion, False and Jabberjaw. As Audion, Dear peddles a libidinous, scuzzed-up take on minimal techno. His signature tune, "Mouth to Mouth," an almost absurdly stripped-down banger, became one of last year's biggest techno anthems. Audion plays Metamorphose, the eclectic all-night dance party that, for many, symbolically marks the end of the summer festival season.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 25, 2007

Rapper Madlib's mad assortment

Sometimes you wonder how Otis Jackson Jr. even finds time to sleep. The Californian hip-hop producer and rapper, better known as Madlib, churns records out at a rate so furious, that even dedicated beat heads struggle to keep up. His discography on the Stones Throw Records label Web site lists over 50 releases — as producer, remixer or artist — since 2004 alone. And they probably missed a few, too.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

Apr 15, 2005

We are the robots

EXPO 2005 Aichi, now entering the fourth week of its 180-day run, is providing visitors with thousands of thrilling glimpses of the future. With all manner of advanced technology on show -- from humanoid robots to next-generation transportation systems -- the world of tomorrow has never felt so close.

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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