Category Archives: japan

Vampire Weekend: The NYC hipsters sink their teeth into Tokyo

Posted on July 18, 2013 by dangrunebaum

“Japan is one of the only places where we grew considerably in terms of our following between our first and second albums,” Rostam Batmanglij says from his New York home.

Metropolis, Jul 3, 2013

JapOneEra

Posted on July 18, 2013 by dangrunebaum

DJ Baku’s new era in Japanese breakbeats

Metropolis, Jun 25, 2013

Summer Festival Guide ’13

Posted on July 18, 2013 by dangrunebaum

From analog headbangers to techno raves, Japan’s music fests have everything under the sun

Metropolis, Jun 20, 2013

Music & Stage: A Decade of Decadence

Posted on June 7, 2013 by dangrunebaum

From vaginas and gaijin J-rap to rock festivals and J-pop’s demise

Metropolis, May 24, 2013

Gaijin Evolution: From seekers and slackers to strivers and thrivers

Posted on May 30, 2013 by dangrunebaum

Rewind two decades to the first issue of Metropolis in 1993. Japan was a juggernaut—about to roll to Number One on an unstoppable export machine. My time here tracks this magazine’s existence, so for the 1000th issue let me hazard a few thoughts about the changes in the Western population that constitutes our readership…

Metropolis “Last Word,” May 23, 2013

Yuki Futami: Jazz piano phenom heads to New York

Posted on May 21, 2013 by dangrunebaum

With technical mastery and a taste for vintage modern jazz, 25-year-old Yuki Futami is Japan’s belated answer to the late, great pianist Oscar Peterson. Before he heads off to New York’s Julliard, Metropolis got some insight on what a millennial Japanese sees in jazz, and the Yuki Futami Trio’s debut album, Banzai Oscar.

Metropolis, May 1, 2013

Takako Minekawa & Dustin Wong: Indietronic pair’s “Party on a Floating Cake”

Posted on April 30, 2013 by dangrunebaum

Some matches are made in heaven; some don’t even bother waiting to get there. Indietronic pair Takako Minekawa and Dustin Wong’s new album Toropical Circle sounds as if it were made somewhere near the gates to heaven—somewhere, if you will, at a “Party On a Floating Cake.”

Metropolis, Apr 26, 2013

808 State: The seminal electronic act reveals a political side to rave culture

Posted on April 30, 2013 by dangrunebaum

“Guitar bands were out. Using the new technology was a stance for change, being armed with a sampler was very much about starting a new page. We had more in common with Detroit than London. Joining an internationalism of the dance floor was a rejection of colloquialism that had chained us.” – Graham Massey

Metropolis, Apr 12, 2013

Jazztronik: Ryota Nozaki fuses live jazz and electronica

Posted on April 8, 2013 by dangrunebaum

“We Japanese don’t have a deep music history, so we are always trying to define our own style.”

Metropolis, Mar 26, 2013

Moon Duo: Ripley and Sanae lob their spaced out sounds at Japan

Posted on March 23, 2013 by dangrunebaum

Take the Eastern psychedelia of a late-era George Harrison sitar solo and the fuzzbox transcendence of strung-out Velvet Underground. Set it to some purposefully tinny rhythm box beats and you’re getting close to the sound of Oregon pair Moon Duo.

Metropolis, Mar 18, 2013