Albino Sound explores angles on 'Cloud Sports'
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 ...
Sapphire Slows looks to build on her past lo-fi success
'I get asked, 'How can you make it as a musician?' and I really think it's all about mental strength," says Kinuko Hiramatsu, who produces music under the name Sapphire Slows. In the past two years the 25-year-old electronic-music artist has released a full-length album, ...
Sparrows to step up to the studio sound board
'It's embarrassing to be flashy," says Ryota Miyake, explaining why he chose the sparrow, one of the plainest, most ubiquitous birds in Japan as his moniker. The 34-year-old musician and bird lover is one of Japan's two Red Bull Music Academy participants in Paris this ...
RBMA Radio set to mark 10 years with special show
Last year's Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) left Tokyo with a four-floor space in Shibuya designed by prize-winning architect Kengo Kuma. Included in the design were a number of lecture halls, where some of Japan's most influential musicians taught academy participants the basics of the ...
Who was music being made for in 2014?
When looking back on the year in music, the big question music fans should be asking themselves is, "Who was music being made for in 2014?" Looking at the broader picture, we can find the answers writ large across the Japanese music scene. Is music ...
RBMA gifts Tokyo with some impressive events, but did they simply preach to the converted?
At Liquidroom last Friday night, clubbers attending the Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo closing party formed an orderly mob outside the venue as they waited for upward of half an hour to get inside. Only on reaching the head of the queue did it ...
Review: Chaos Conductor at Shinseiki Dance Hall in Tokyo
The events organized in the course of the monthlong Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo have run the gamut from tired to inspired. This breezy, entertaining evening of improvised music at the Showa-era Shinseiki dance hall in Uguisudani slotted happily into the latter category, while ...
Ena treads a fine line in the DJ booth
When the people at the Berlin-based Samurai Horo label asked Yu Asaeda to contribute to a compilation they were putting out, they got more than they'd bargained for. "I must have sent them about 20 or 30 tracks in total," says the Tokyo-based producer. "And ...
Review: DJ Krush at the Tokyo National Museum
It's all in the location. For his sold-out Red Bull Music Academy show on Monday night, DJ Krush traded his regular clubland haunts for something a little fancier: the courtyard of the Yoshio Taniguchi-designed Gallery of Horyuji Treasures at Tokyo National Museum in Ueno. ...
EMAF packs a lot onto its musical menu
In its first week, the Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo has treated local audiences to a wide gamut of sounds, from hip-hop to deep house to noise, while keeping the capital's billboards comprehensively smothered in advertising. The two-day EMAF Tokyo (Electronic Music of Art ...
Review: Wails to Whispers at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo
Visitors to Roppongi's SuperDeluxe last Friday arrived to find the basement venue decked out with tatami mats and a polite sign at the door asking them to remove their shoes on the way in. This was the setting for Wails to Whispers, one of ...
DJ Krush taps into tradition for RBMA
This month, artists from 34 countries will congregate in Tokyo for the latest edition of the Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA), a caffeine-fueled creative hothouse organized by the world's most ubiquitous energy drink brand. For participants, the event offers a chance to attend closed-door ...
