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May 17, 2024
 

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HIGH NOTES

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 24, 2001
Dr. John: 'Creole Moon'
Since the 1960s, Dr. John has been amazing live audiences with his own brand of New Orleans funk, blues, soul and "voodoo" music, but he's suffered a curious inability to get his music recorded right. Few of his records live up to the live experience, and even his live albums have been marred by mediocre...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 24, 2001
The Pattern: 'Immediately'
Phew, what a relief. Radiohead have left the country, so we can now stop sucking our thumbs and feeling sorry for ourselves and instead lighten up and have fun again. So it's off to the record shop and, what's this here sharing a listening post with The Strokes? Something called The Pattern? Anything...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 24, 2001
Clinic: 'Internal Wrangler'
W hen the Liverpool quartet Clinic opened for Radiohead last month, their raucous art-punk came through with startling clarity. I say "startling" not so much because Yokohama Arena is famous for its poor acoustics, but because the sound on the band's debut album, "Internal Wrangler," often wavers between...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 17, 2001
Money Mark: 'Change Is Coming'
Those familiar with Money Mark's funky, retro-keyboard dabbling might not initially notice the new direction hinted at in the title of his latest, third album. But rest assured, a second listen to "Change Is Coming" reveals subtle enhancements to his signature deep grooves and smooth vibes, making it...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 17, 2001
Festival Conda Lota
The lineup for the upcoming Festival Konda Lota, Tokyo's annual celebration of global roots music, is smaller than usual but no less potent for that.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001
Shelter
In a hidden corner of almost every major city there is a grotty club that serves as rock 'n' roll's nerve center, a place where a talented band with a good idea can be catapulted to indie-rock notoriety. In New York, it was CBGB; in L.A., it was the Whiskey, or maybe Spaceland; and in Tokyo, for the...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001
Alicia Keys: 'Songs in A Minor'
When it comes to describing pop artists, few adjectival phrases are as off-putting as "classically trained," especially when it's used repeatedly in the course of a five-year PR buildup for a teen prodigy. But classically trained Alicia Keys' long-awaited debut album, "Songs in A Minor," is neither as...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001
Ray Wylie Hubbard: 'Eternal and Lowdown'
The 1970s produced an amazing crop of Texas singer-songwriters, though few have survived without some, shall we say, "life experiences." Transforming the pain and confusion of such experiences into self-revelatory, tight-rocking songs is what the Texas troubadour tradition is all about.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001
Sigur Ros
Since the worldwide release of their second album, "Aguis Byrjun," last year, Iceland's Sigur Ros has been dogged by more pretentious journalism than any pop group in history. Melody Maker took the cake when it described the group's music as "the sound of God weeping tears of gold in heaven."
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001
India Express
While it was Ravi Shankar who brought Indian music to the world, it's been left to others to help it sink roots. In Japan, that task has been taken up by Nagoya-based sitarist Amit Roy, who has been imparting the Hindustani tradition to his Japanese students for the past decade.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001
John Linnel & John Flansburgh: 'Mink Car'
Since their early albums "Lincoln" and "Flood," John Linnell and John Flansburgh, the self-appointed supercilious music nerds of They Might Be Giants, have displayed a remarkable talent for straddling the fence between disdain for and celebration of the pop tune. Usually sweet and upbeat on the surface,...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001
Macy Gray: 'The Id'
Webster's defines the id as "the part of the psyche that is the source of instinctual impulses and demands for satisfaction." For Macy Gray, it is simply "what you do before you think. The real you . . . unedited."
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001
Dave Holland Quintet: 'Not for Nothin' '
On their third release, "Not for Nothin'," The Dave Holland Quintet picks up exactly where last year's "Prime Directive" left off -- with more compelling modern jazz.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001
Stereolab: 'Sound Dust'
With a musical foundation in German progressive rock and political roots in the playful tradition of the Situationists, Stereolab is as avant-garde as they come.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001
Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft'
You can tell how much the critical establishment needs Bob Dylan by the praise heaped on his last studio album, 1997's "Time Out of Mind," which contained five excellent songs, five pretty good ones and one 161/2-minute bore. Music critics decided the album was all about death, and as this was, after...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001
Kodo: 'Mondo Head'
For some, that Kodo is based on Sado Island might encourage the stereotype of the Japanese master taiko drum troupe living and working in splendid isolation fully dedicated to its traditional Japanese art. But what Japanophile types may not realize is that Kodo, perhaps uniquely among its peers, has...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 12, 2001
Rachid Taha
Algeria's indigenous pop music, rai, which gained international attention in the 1980s, was, like many popular music forms, the result of city slickers adapting music from the sticks for their own purposes and enjoyment. Originally ribald, rai became pointedly political after young people in the '60s...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 12, 2001
The White Stripes: 'White Blood Cells'
Detroit duo The White Stripes seem a very confused couple. Jack (guitar, vocal) and Meg White (drums) can't seem to decide whether they are brother and sister or husband and wife. Jack insists it's the former -- and that they started the whole rumor that they were married for nothing more than a laugh....
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 12, 2001
Kakraba Lobi
Kakraba Lobi is a virtuoso master of the gyil (pronounced JEEL or JEE-lee), the traditional instrument of the Lobi people of Ghana, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. After stints as a cab driver, farmer and just about every occupation in between, Lobi realized his calling as a gyil player, becoming,...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 12, 2001
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown: 'Back to Bogalusa'
Louis Armstrong once said: "All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song." If any disc ever deserved the "folk music" label it would have to be Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's most recent release, "Back to Bogalusa," with its incredibly rich variety of American styles.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Kishida defends planned rule to revoke foreigners' residency
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting of the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Human bone-like objects found at Nippon Steel plant’s molten iron pot, with one worker missing
Police believe it’s highly possible that human bones found in a molten iron pot at Nippon Steel's Oita factory belong to a missing male employee.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Japan to review romanization system for first time in 70 years
An advisory panel to the education ministry will consider how the Japanese language should be transcribed into the Latin alphabet, including unifying different romanization styles currently in use.
Japanese rap creates its mecca in Pop Yours
Tokyo-based artist Jumadiba says he forgoes the label of simply “rap” for his music because the Japanese rap scene isn’t confined to a particular sound.
Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.
In Japan, 68,000 people over 65 projected to die alone at home this year
As Japan grapples with its population's rapid aging, supporting people who live and age alone is looming larger on the policy agenda.

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