Tag - fuzzy-logic

 
Menu
Search
 
May 07, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

FUZZY LOGIC

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 24, 2005
We call it 'metal,' they call it 'rock'
Detroit7's new release is the sound of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Kiyoshiro Imawano being shackled in a shower room together and sprayed with sulfuric acid until they dissolve into a messy pile of punk-rock metal gunk -- and the detritus we get on their new five-track "EP Vol. 1" is "bad" in a very good way.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 12, 2005
A stage-dive back into the mayhem
Illnesses. Broken bones. Arrests. Bereavements. Just a few reasons why Fuzzy Logic has been on a six-month sabbatical. You don't need to know the details. So here's a rather straightforward comeback column in which I round up a few things and then, in future columns, I'll get back to introducing you to Japanese bands that you should know about.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 26, 2004
Rip, burn, play: crucial tunes in 2004
Here is the definitive list -- albeit a bit fuzzy (it's been a tough few weeks of pre-Christmas partying) -- of the best albums of 2004. I wish there were more Japanese bands here, but in 2004 most of my favorite bands -- The Gimmies, The Saturns, Melt-Banana, Thee '50s High Teens, Watusi Zombie, etc. -- didn't release new stuff and instead concentrated on burning down live houses with their incendiary stage shows. But, anyway, here goes . . .
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 21, 2004
Toilet humor in the Tokyo underground
"Tell Franck he's an asshole," barks David Pallash down the phone to me. "And that he is just tooooo French."
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 22, 2004
Rockin' on ... and on
Friday Aug. 6
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 4, 2004
Vitamins, chill pills and indie rock
Everyone goes home, seeks out some sympathetic tunes, and cries now and then. I know hardened punkers with Belle & Sebastian albums hidden under their futon. Let's face it, every rock 'n' roller needs a metaphorical teddy-bear to cuddle at times even if they'd never admit it -- hence the enduring spirit of indie rock. And thank Buddha for this often-ridiculed genre. A few weeks back it probably saved my life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 23, 2004
Should be handled with extreme caution
Violence is in, pop-pickers. You've seen those pictures of those troops whooping it up in Iraqi jails. Violence is clearly fun. It's cool. It basically rocks! Just ask Bush and Rumsfeld. They kicked the whole thing off.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 29, 2004
Street fighting men in the funhouse
"I saw your review about my band I was so disgusted with your review They'll say you're right and I'm not right But I'm OK 'cos it's nothing to me." The Gimmies -- "Dirty Trick"
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 14, 2003
Toasting the top of 2003's pop
It's been a fantastic 12 months for rock 'n' roll. Any of the top 10 albums listed here could easily have taken the No. 1 spot in a different year. Buy (or burn) them all. The only surprise was that, bar Kings of Leon, none of the new garage-rock upstarts hitching a lift on "The White Strokes" bandwagon managed to deliver a truly great album, but that was more than compensated for by the post-punk revival led by bands like The Rapture and The Kills.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 16, 2003
The new house band chez Tarantino
I feel like I'm in a "Kill Bill" outtake and I guess that's exactly what the three cool chicks I'm with intend. They lead me down a Nishi-Ogikubo side street and up a darkened staircase. At the top is a pair of doors and the handles are bolted-on samurai swords.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 5, 2003
Fun at Asagiri is as easy as ichi, ni, san
It's 9 a.m. and the gentle rolling piano intonations of the Rajio Taiso theme start up. A man stands at the foot of a hill on a small raised platform and begins the count: "Ichi, ni, san, shi . . ." The hill is covered with tents from which several thousand people slowly emerge. They twist sideways, bend down and stretch up -- obeying the commands of our PE instructor this sunny Sunday morning in the foothills of Mount Fuji.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 7, 2003
Boiled alive . . . all for rock 'n' roll
It's hitting 40 degrees in the concrete badlands of Odaiba and the asphalt beneath our feet is attaining the viscosity of quicksand. We wanna run for cover, but this stuff sucks at your sneakers and makes the beer tent slower to get to. The only sea breeze today is the cocktail mixed by the bartender, but if we don't finish our drink within five minutes it's lukewarm. We knock 'em back. But instead of getting merry, we stagger round with a premature hangover, aka sunstroke. It's been a crap summer but today the sun is making up for lost time. It's out to kill us. And before the day's over there will be at least one death at this year's "Rock 'n' Roll Summit."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 6, 2003
A last taste of Honey
It might be the right time for the 54 Nude Honeys, but it's the wrong place and they've decided to do something about it. In September, they're jumping on a plane and decamping to New York, where the American music-media have stepped into line with their British brethren and realized that the current garage-rock revival is the kind of shot in the arm that rock 'n' roll has desperately needed since the demise of Kurt Cobain. And, unlike in the pathetic, punklite-loving Japanese press, the U.S. music media are devoting column inches to inform the kids about it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 1, 2003
You gotta walk the walk, talk the talk
DJ Seen does have tales to tell. After I get all five members of Pico System to play a game in which they have to decide what kind of animal each of the others is most like (this does, believe me, occasionally yield some illuminating responses), Seen is voted a cheetah. Maybe it's got something to do with his catlike fury as he goes about scratching up records on the turntable, or maybe it's the way he lets his speedy napalm-like beats run wild, but vocalist Kimihiko Mabuchi says, "He's the craziest member. He's always jumping on things, especially girls. There are many stories about him."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 4, 2003
How to become a musical genius without trying
On the surface, you might think British techno animal Aphex Twin and Tokyo rock anarchists Bossston Cruising Mania have little in common. I mean, the one twiddles knobs while the other bunch plucks strings. But you'd be wrong. Take these four things off the top of my head: 1) they have no respect for musical conventions; 2) they make a lot of noise; 3) they occupy the borderline territory between genius and insanity where most great artists emerge; and 4) they're damn ugly and dress like bums. All in all, a wonderful steaming caldron of nonconformity. And nonconformists shape the future of music and always will. Sitting on the fence rarely makes great records; diving headfirst over the edge does.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 6, 2003
Rock with a nasty bite
"What the hell happened to the Cobra Chicks?" I say, slapping last year's "Loaded" album onto the cafe table. Four rock chicks stare up at me from the CD jacket pulling pouty poses so effortlessly steamy that only a eunuch or a nun could resist dashing off to snap up a ticket for the next show.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 2, 2003
Whatever you do, don't call them . . .
It's not every day that someone threatens to kill you. My mistake is to suggest to Asian Dub Foundation bassist Dr. Das that the new album, "Enemy of the Enemy," suggests ADF are moving in a more chilled-out eclectic direction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 2, 2003
Getting a word in edgewise with Howling Guitar
"This is my 1958 Gibson LP-Jr. You know that Johnny Thunders played the same model. This guitar is my life and if it dies I would like to give it an honorable burial. But . . . I hope we get buried together."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 5, 2003
Rock 'n' roll that's as good as it gets
OK, the best album of 2002 goes to a bunch of teenage upstarts from Merseyside, England, but the place to be was underground in Japan. Veterans Shonen Knife and Guitar Wolf delivered their best albums to date, Salt Water Taffy and All Tomorrow's Party kick-started the indie-guitar revival with heart-melting melodies, and Anadorei crash-landed into a vibrant scene sounding like nothing you've heard before. Has Japan ever had it so good? I doubt it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 1, 2002
Drop-dead cool bands percolating in Tokyo's underground
The things I first heard about Marble Sheep really sounded baaad, and I don't mean BAD in an irreverently cool Iggy Pop or Keith Richards kind of way.
As visitors surge, Japan seeks ways to make tourism eco-friendly
Much like other hot spots across Okinawa, Onna has diligently strived to captivate both domestic and international tourists, while at the same time grappling with the environmental strain induced by the influx of visitors.
Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
The National Diet building in Tokyo
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Kishida talks up bolstered Latin American ties as China cements position
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a news conference in Sao Paulo on Saturday.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Japan’s tween skateboarders get head start on preparations for 2028 Olympics
Ibuki Matsumoto competes at an event in Osaka on April 21.
As visitors surge, Japan seeks ways to make tourism eco-friendly
Much like other hot spots across Okinawa, Onna has diligently strived to captivate both domestic and international tourists, while at the same time grappling with the environmental strain induced by the influx of visitors.
Kishida talks up bolstered Latin American ties as China cements position
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a news conference in Sao Paulo on Saturday.
Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi
Spotlighting a Niigata castle town through sushi

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER