Music Aug 13, 2020
Local Visions web label creates a digital oasis for pop
by Patrick St. Michel
Masayuki Funo, founder of the music label Local Visions, gives burgeoning artists the freedom to explore their own sound.
Music Feb 13, 2018
Yasuaki Shimizu's artful jingles
by Russell Thomas
An effective commercial jingle wedges itself into your brain. There's the incessant repetition of Meow Mix, the harmony of McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" or the youthful chorus of "Biiiku, biku, biku, Bic Camera." Thirty years ago, though, Belgian record label Crammed Discs released an album ...
Music Jun 3, 2014
Especia takes a road less traveled by idol acts
by Patrick St. Michel
The eldest member of six-member idol unit Especia was born in 1989, so when I ask them about life during Japan's early '90s bubble era they can only imagine what it was like. "I picture people throwing a lot of money around," says Haruka Tominaga, ...