2019 served as a reminder of the importance of community in music
As music scenes fragmented, the year showed a renewal in community events for alternative music in Japan, with festivals and gigs taking to new venues and battling the weather
Hothouse Flowers: Enjoying the freedom that comes after the fame
Liam O Maonlai, frontman of Irish rock band Hothouse Flowers, says he feels more freedom now that his band's commercial peak has passed, and that he can better explore music as a result
The Abjects: London-based, but internationally minded
It has been exactly two years since The Abjects, a London-based power pop and garage trio, last toured Japan, and since then the one thing that has been constant is change. Some of that change found its way on to the group's debut LP "Never ...
Seiko Oomori: J-pop's reigning rule-breaker
Pop music often opts for positivity rather than confronting the uncomfortable, but Seiko Oomori has never really adhered to J-pop norms. "The bad things that happen to you can also be attractive, almost kawaii," she says from one of the upper floors at the headquarters ...
British rockers Reef make a revelatory return
The thriving British music scene of the mid-1990s was awash with techno, Britpop and newer genres like jungle and trip-hop. When Reef burst onto the scene, the group's heavier style of rock must have felt like an actual oasis to some listeners. The band's debut ...
Rock act Chai has no time for your definition of 'cute'
The members of Chai aren't content with "kawaii." That word — meaning "cute," but in a kind of pitiable way — gets tossed around a lot in Japan and by people overseas, who use it to refer to almost anything Japanese. "The media defines it ...
Bruce Foxton on breaking up and moving on after The Jam
Bruce Foxton pauses for thought. "How would I describe what I'm doing? I suppose I'm flying the flag for those great songs." Foxton was bassist in The Jam, the mod revivalists who, spearheaded by Paul Weller, became one of the biggest bands to ever come ...
Rock act Joy Opposites detail infamous low points on ‘Find Hell’
When was the last time you found yourself "in hell"? For Adam Graham, frontman for Japanese rock act Joy Opposites, it was last year. "The creation of this record was hell in a lot of ways," Graham says with a laugh. "Not in that it ...
Hip hop and R&B knocked rock off top genre pedestal in U.S. in 2017
Hip hop and R&B surpassed rock for the first time in 2017 as the biggest music genre in the United States, but British artist Ed Sheeran's romantic pop album "Divide" was the year's biggest single draw, according to a Nielsen Music report. Powered by a ...
Are Crossfaith rock's last true believers?
Crossfaith is experiencing an existential rock 'n' roll crisis. It's not stopping them from partying like rock stars, though. "I'm a bit hung over," vocalist Kenta Koie tells me as our interview starts. He was out drinking the night before with programmer and keyboardist Terufumi ...
Communist-run Cuba, which once frowned upon the Beatles as a decadent Western influence, on Thursday held an open-air covers concert in a Havana park to celebrating 50 years since the release of the band's landmark album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Beatlemania has flourished ...
Crypt City turns into the alt-rock supergroup we didn't see coming
Despite what his mammoth bass guitar sound may suggest, rock band Crypt City bassist Kentaro Nakao is comically self-deprecating at times. "This sounds terrible, but I have no commercial ambitions for this band," he says with a laugh. His band's new album, "Chant," will be ...
