When I interviewed Taro Yasuzawa this time last year, he didn't let on that he was about to pull the plug on the event he'd been organizing for the past decade. A few weeks later, it was official: Taicoclub, the plucky all-night music festival ...
Synthesizers, drum machines and Vocoder-filtered vocals in the style of pop star Chisato Moritaka — this was 1980s Japan, and it's the sound of Satellite Young. However, singer Emi Kusano points out that most of the Tokyo band's songs are about life in the internet ...
In 2017, algorithms are everywhere. They determine the news we see, the music we stream, the advertisements we're served and the very means through which we communicate and access information on a daily basis. And it's not just our online experience that's underpinned by algorithms. E-commerce ...
Daisuke Endo made peace with EDM thanks to Mister Donut. The electronic artist, better known by his stage name De De Mouse, eats at the snack chain frequently. Recently, he says he has been enjoying the American pop music they pipe into the store. "They ...
Last month, I was invited to speak at the inaugural Tokyo Dance Music Event — a conference consisting of workshops and talks, loosely modeled on long-running international equivalents like the Amsterdam Dance Event. On the first morning of the two-day program, I was asked to ...
While New Year's Eve in Japan tends to be a more solemn affair, Tokyo's nightlife never really comes to a halt. If you find yourself in Shibuya Ward, check out Womb for "Womb Presents New Year Countdown to 2017" with Josh Wink (www.womb.co.jp). Also in ...
Last year, according to sources on the internet, an alien race known as the Yahyel was meant to descend on our planet. They apparently look similar to humans and enjoy a pretty constructive relationship with technology. The Yahyel didn't come. But we did get yahyel ...
The Japanese word for cute, "kawaii," has been popping up more and more in the English lexicon in recent years. From the popularity of Hello Kitty to singer Gwen Stefani's new kawaii-filled cartoon "Kuu Kuu Harajuku" being cute means making money, and it's no ...
Kom_I, the lead singer of electro-pop trio Suiyoubi no Campanella, could very well be the personification of the term "free spirit." But before we get into her artistic exploits, a few things need to be made clear: She keeps her real name a secret and ...
Seiho Hayakawa knows how to work a room. After his show at Black Bear Bar in Brooklyn — a performance that saw him thrashing his long hair back and forth to electronic beats — the Osaka-born musician takes a walk through the crowd. He ...
When musicians from around the globe gathered in Tokyo last autumn for the 2014 edition of the Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) — an intensive series of lectures, gigs and studio sessions that aims to nurture promising artists — many of the participants had ...
Akiko Kiyama has made a name for herself as one of the most prominent female Japanese techno artists. Since returning to Tokyo this past December after living in Berlin for several years, she has already launched her own label, Kebko Music, with two releases ...
