Alex Hoban - The Japan Times

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Alex Hoban

For Alex Hoban's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 22, 2009

Although it's gearing up to be a bonanza year for Japan's two main outdoor summer showcases, with Fuji Rock looking set to bounce back triumphantly after last year's lineup fiasco, where Primal Scream ended up playing two nights on the mainstage, and Summer Sonic celebrating it's 10th anniversary by adding a full extra day to its proceedings, don't let this be a reason to ignore the ingenious spread of smaller- scale but equally exciting festivals that this fast-approaching summer has to offer. Along with Yokohama's Greenroom Festival — taking place the weekend before it, and offering a portion of port-side surf-rock — one of the first of this season's many boutique events is the eclectic dance utopia Taico Club.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 3, 2009

Busting boundaries with a pioneer of magical music

Hearing Ryuichi Sakamoto talk softly about his 30 years in music, which have elevated him to the status of an officially designated National Treasure, is to witness a perfect exercise in Japanese modesty.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 6, 2009

British Anthems

The cultural difference between Britain and Japan may be even greater than the 9,000 km separating them on a map, but that's no disputing the ties between the countries when it comes to their shared love of music.

CULTURE / Music

Mar 6, 2009

British Anthems

The cultural difference between Britain and Japan may be even greater than the 9,000 km separating them on a map, but that's no disputing the ties between the countries when it comes to their shared love of music.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 19, 2008

Mystery Jets ditch the quirky and turn up the pop

They formed their group when they were only 8 years old, but after years of playpen antics it wasn't until 2006 that Mystery Jets made it into the public eye with their debut album "Making Dens."

CULTURE / Music

Nov 14, 2008

Beyonce "I am . . . Sasha Fierce"

A two-disc concept album charting the sense of detachment Beyonce Knowles feels between her stage presence and the "real her"? The record industry must really be in turmoil for Sony to have let her get away with releasing this — everyone knows double albums tank, particularly when pushed by performers better known for brainless three-minute bootyshakin' radio pleasers.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 14, 2008

Asian Kung-Fu Generation "Surf Bungaku Kamakura"

To Japanese music fans, Yokohama indie-punk four-piece Asian Kung-Fu Generation need little in the way of an introduction, with their colorful sixth album, "Surf Bungaku Kamakura," being released onto an existing backdrop of widespread commercial success and critical favor. With previous albums flying straight to No. 1 and huge singles being used to soundtrack popular anime series, Ajikan — as they're known by their fans — are very much J-rock's golden boys.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 7, 2008

No more riots — Kaiser Chiefs get serious

In a few short years, Kaiser Chiefs, the cheeky indie-pop five-piece from Leeds in northern England, have seen their success on home turf swell from zero (as pre-Kaiser incarnation Parva) to their rebirth as stadium-ready, worldwide superstars. For this they can thank a string of chart-bothering singles and their massive No. 1 hit, the satanically irritating "Ruby."

CULTURE / Music

Oct 17, 2008

Squarepusher "Just a Souvenir"

British avante-garde electronica artisan Squarepusher's latest recorded effort is representative of the bigger picture into which it has been painted. Having overseen an experimental electronic renaissance throughout the 1990s, the Warp label spearheaded a new pinnacle of synthetic symphonists, giving us the likes of Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert and Squarepusher to name but a few. But now that Aphex et al's days of scaring grandmas on the telly and conservative hacks in the tabloids have passed, the movement has reclined back to the underground to reflect.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 10, 2008

Queen + Paul Rodgers "The Cosmos Rocks"

Ever since Freddie Mercury left us for a better place, guitarist-come- scientist Brian May has taken it upon himself to throw his weight around as the new demigod leader of Queen in all its myriad bastardized forms. And who can blame him — if the real Queen let you play the National Anthem on the top of her house (as he did in 2002), it would probably go to your head, too. On the band's latest offering, recorded with Free's Paul Rodgers on vocals, it's not hard to imagine May storming confidently into its recording, still wearing his mortarboard from his Astrophysics Ph.D. graduation and proclaiming, "OK, this is it, we're gonna make the space-rock monolith the world's been waiting for. We're gonna call it Cosmos Rocks — GEDDIT!?"

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 12, 2008

Tell your average Tokyo hipster that there's a subarashi (cool) dance and hip-hop festival taking place in a beach paradise on the far-flung southern coast of Kochi in Shikoku and, before their jaw drops in excitement, you might be met by head-scratching confusion as they try to remember where exactly Kochi is. Shikoku might be the oft-ignored smaller of Japan's main islands, but in its quiet isolation it has developed its own vibrant beach-bum culture.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 12, 2008

Weezer "Weezer" (Universal International)

After 2005's awful "Make Believe," Weezer's sixth album was meant to reaffirm their greatness. But you can forget that, as what fans have dubbed "The Red Album" (because of the color of its sleeve) is the unforgiving sound of an echo rattling through the empty shell of a band you once loved.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 5, 2008

MY PLAYLIST: James Smith, Hadouken!

British band Hadouken! are a curious construction. If you left them out in a storm to be struck by lightning and broken into their constituent parts, in among the blood and guts would flow a river of toxic neon goo, melting cyberpunk sartorials and a sprinkling of electrochip innards.

CULTURE / Music

Aug 29, 2008

Slipknot "All Hope is Gone"

When burlesque skull-breakers Slipknot released their eponymous debut in 1999 amid a heavy-metal renaissance that, although laughable now, saw the grizzly likes of lowest-common-denominator rap-rockers Limp Bizkit topping the charts, the Iowa nine-piece's violent conflagration of screeching thrash, visceral drum 'n' bass and other experimental forms (along with unforgettable performance-art live shows) marked them out as something genuinely exciting. And almost a decade later, while the Bizkit's Fred Durst sits at his breakfast table, crying into his muesli and wondering where it all went wrong, Slipknot are still popular enough to be releasing records worthy of space in well-to-do newspapers like the one you're reading now.

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

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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