author

 
 

Meta

Tom Bojko
For Tom Bojko's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 24, 2007
Out of darkness
The Sept. 18 worldwide release of "Suimou Tsunenimasu (A History of DJ Krush)," DJ Krush's three-DVD retrospective, certainly gives fans quite a bit to chew on. Stretching back to the mid-1990s, when the turntablist/producer Krush (real name Hideaki Ishii) first toured overseas, this documentary sews together live clips from Europe, the United States and Japan, while adding layers of perspective through footage of recording sessions, brief interviews with collaborators and admirers, as well as a longer interview with Krush.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 16, 2005
Antibalas burn it down and build it back up
At the intersection of North Moore Street and Broadway in downtown Manhattan is No Moore, a bar favored by well-heeled young professionals. The walls are exposed brick, the wooden floor is comfortably worn and, in the daytime, sunlight gilds the space through floor-to-ceiling windows. It's a pleasant enough place to drink, but No Moore has a split personality, and, if you like music, the real action is in the sweaty cavern on the opposite side of the wall. A nondescript doorway in the brick leads to this other world, and people who frequent the sunny side don't often venture into the sweaty side -- and those who come to No Moore for the music don't spend much time in the bar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2004
Kondo trumpets his way
For six nights this week six different combinations of Japanese musicians will gather with bassist Bill Laswell and saxophonist John Zorn at the Pit Inn in Shinjuku. Among those onstage will be drummers Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins and Yoshigaki Yasuhiro of Rovo, guitarist and manipulator of electronics Otomo Yoshihide, pianist Yosuke Yamashita and, on Thursday night, a rare appearance by the legendary electric trumpet player Toshinori Kondo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 3, 2003
Abdul Tee-Jay and Palm Wine A-Go-Go
Sierra Leone might be most closely associated with blood diamonds and gruesome images of civil war, but it is also the home of palm wine music, a happy, bubbling style of guitar picking. Palm wine music, or maringa, as it's known inside the country, combines calypso with local melodies and rhythms and is in part a result of roaming Portuguese sailors landing on African shores bearing guitars. The uplifting feel of this music has been extremely influential in West Africa, particularly on the better-known styles, highlife and soukous. The music gets its earthy name from the fact that musicians and listeners slugged cups of fermented sap from the oil palm at performances, but if maringa was once the life of the party it is nowadays something of a dying art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 20, 2003
Joe Gibbs Production
Soul Jazz Records has issued a couple dozen outstanding compilations of unusual music ranging from New York punk-funk and Philadelphia soul-jazz to Yoruba music and Haitian voodoo drumming. Particularly great are their releases of both vintage and modern Jamaican music, of which "Joe Gibbs Productions" is the latest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 13, 2003
Reverend Charlie Jackson: "God's Got It"
When the Rev. Charlie Jackson was a boy, he played sacred music on Sundays and blues the rest of the week. While Jackson himself saw no irony in this, his mother had little appreciation for her son playing electric guitar on both sides of the Lord's fence and quickly steered him toward the church. Little matter, that, for Jackson's odes to Jesus and his exhortations for others to follow his path have every bit as much grit, growl and bite as the most low-down tunes played on a Saturday night.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2003
Worldly delights
Summer might be the time for outdoor music festivals in scenic locales, but, then again, some of us prefer air-conditioning, a bar within easy reach and a taxi home. So, thank goodness there's a couple of festivals in Tokyo, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003
Burnt Sugar: "The Rites"
"I had come up with the idea of adapting motifs from 'Le Sacre du Printemps' for a series of improvisations," says Burnt Sugar's Greg Tate. "Given how many sick bass lines there are in his writing, Stravinsky makes perfect sense for a band that loves to vamp as much as we do."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 29, 2003
A rare chance to crank it up
The booking policies of club owners have long had an influence on music. Generally speaking, this influence has not exactly been a nurturing one as those with a financial stake in a venue prefer safe bets to adventurous outings. As such, musicians, especially young ones, wanting to test new ideas have historically had to do so in their homes, at private loft parties or in the kind of clubs that can afford to take a risk.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 25, 2003
Byard Lancaster: "It's Not Up to Us"
In 1959-1960, three albums crossed boundaries in three different ways and sent jazz reeling. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" packed so many chords into its explosive tunes that it forced be-bop to an abrupt harmonic conclusion. Meanwhile, Ornette Coleman's melodic inventiveness on "The Shape of Jazz to Come" worked from another angle to release jazz songs from the constrictions of chord progressions. Finally, the weightless modal tunes on Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" ignored chords altogether. In short, the most advanced jazz musicians were aching for broader ranges of expression.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 18, 2003
Stark Reality: "Now"
It's a good thing the guardians of our children's tender morality are mainly obsessed with vexing lyrics and not intensely trippy jams. Otherwise, "Now" would have a big sticker across the front: WARNING -- The psychedelic children's music on this album will scramble your child's mind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 11, 2003
Mamai Keita and Marc Minelli: "Electro Bamako"
According to the liner notes of "Electro Bamako," a collaboration between Mamai Keita, a former singer in Salif Keita's band (no relation), and French producer Marc Minelli, this album presents "Malian songs mixed with electro jazz on pop structures but with a rock sound." Translation: slick, hip music with genuine inspiration from Mali.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 28, 2003
Spacek: "Vintage Hi-Tech"
With just a few beats, some blips and moist, high-pitched vocals, "Vintage Hi-Tech" explores the promising territory of futuristic soul music. As a group, Spacek has a sweetly extraterrestrial vibe, but here on earth they hail from South London.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 21, 2003
King Sunny Ade: "Syncro Series"
King Sunny Ade of Nigeria came and went as a star of African music, and these days makes only sporadic appearances. At his peak, in the early '80s, he had a deal with Island Records, which was then hoping he would fill the shoes and sales of the recently deceased Bob Marley. But if Ade's music was reigning supreme at home -- where his lyrics, sung in Yoruba, were praised for their power and deep metaphors, and where the music's complex rhythms made sense -- abroad the music never went down quite as easily as Marley's did. After Ade's third release, "Aura," flopped, Island dropped him. He then endured another humiliation when his band up and quit in the midst of a tour in Japan.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 7, 2003
Koby Israelite: "Dance of Idiots"
'Dance of the Idiots" takes the thrust of heavy metal and slams it together with a Balkan restlessness while maintaining a strong Jewish spiritedness. If you've grown up in a musical or cultural blender, this record will make perfect sense to you. If you haven't, it will strike you as highly imaginative and, more importantly, highly listenable and danceable.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 23, 2003
Gigi: "Illuminated Audio"
Most remixes are done for a quick buck -- slap on a bunch of reverb, stretch things with some delay, maybe drive the whole mess with a new drum track. Whatever. "Illuminated Audio," however, an ambient remix of Ethiopian-born singer Gigi Shababaw's self-titled 2001 debut, is a pleasant exception.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 16, 2003
She's got them blues good
When Natsuko Miura puts one hand on her hip, holds the other in the air and belts out, "I got my mo-jo wor-kin'!" you'd have a hard time imagining this young powerhouse ever had any doubts about what she was doing -- the voice, that body language . . . she's lethal. But her first experience onstage, harmonica in hand at an open mike night about five years ago, didn't go so well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 9, 2003
Taking it all back
Developing a "voice" of one's own is perhaps the ultimate achievement in music. As anyone who's ever touched an instrument or opened their mouth with the intention of expressing a musical idea knows, developing a voice is difficult to the point of being overwhelming. Conservatories, university music departments, private instructors and seminars see countless devoted musicians every year and, certainly, many of them succeed in sounding "different." But few are ever able to create a voice readily identified as theirs alone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 2, 2003
Jon Madof: "Rashinim" -- oud is in Webby --
Jewish music is as varied as the people that make up the diaspora. Depending on where you're tuning in, the music might be traditional or it might lean toward funk, jazz, metal, punk, orchestral or even spaghetti western. The Jewish guitar power trio, though, remains elusive. There is, of course, Yossi Piamenta, who some call the "Hasidic Hendrix." His ability to wail out ancient Jewish tunes and prayer melodies on a Stratocaster is legendary . . . well, around Brooklyn, anyway. And good luck finding any of his albums.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 26, 2003
Ibrahim Ferrer: "Buenos Hermanos"
"Buenos Hermanos" is yet another great album of Cuban music. But it's worth noting some of the other reasons why this album is such an achievement.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?