Category Archives: music

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

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

Karl Hyde: Fresh off the Olympics, Underworld’s frontman stabs out solo

Posted on March 15, 2013 by dangrunebaum

If nothing else, their iconic soundtrack for Trainspotting—and in Japan their sets at Fuji Rock and Rainbow 2000—assure Underworld a spot in music history. But from their design collective Tomato to their music for the London Olympics, the British duo of singer Karl Hyde and musician Rick Smith are feverish in their exploration of new opportunities. I spoke with Hyde about his solo debut Edgeland ahead of next month’s SonarSound Tokyo.

Metropolis, Mar 12, 2013

Chara: Breaking the mold, then and now

Posted on February 22, 2013 by dangrunebaum

“When I debuted, it was unusual for women to keep performing after they gave birth,” she recalls. “People told me to keep it a secret.”

Metropolis, Feb 14, 2013

King Brothers: Rock ’n’ roll, demolished, and not put back together again

Posted on February 3, 2013 by dangrunebaum

If America’s Jon Spencer and Japan’s Guitar Wolf took roots rock ’n’ roll and deconstructed it, then Nishinomiya’s King Brothers threw it against a wall and left it there bleeding.

Metropolis, Feb 3, 2013

Alabama Shakes: Brittany Howard’s post-racial rock

Posted on January 18, 2013 by dangrunebaum

Brittany Howard’s vocals are imbued with strains of strong soul divas from the black Marva Whitney to the white Janis Joplin. The singer—herself a blend of black and white—takes a post-racial view of music. “It could be black music or white music. Anything with a soul we’re interested in,” she affirms. “Elvis sang and played black music—that’s where rock came from. But I don’t know if our sound is a black-music thing, I think it’s just a music thing.”

Metropolis, Jan 17, 2013