japan
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Sometimes the hardest thing isn’t putting words on screen. Sometimes the hardest part is finding space to write about a certain piece of music you’re not completely certain others will understand (or have the patience for). Unfortunately, you know me, and you know I have patience to spare and more than enough time to choose…
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Is it wrong to feel nostalgia for a past you never lived through? With the rise of City Pop and other genres or media evoking some sort of hauntology, I keep trying to purposefully separate myself from being too backwards-looking, for fear of running the risk of falling through a kitsch trap many fall in.…
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There’s nothing like youthful naivete is there? I fully believe it’s that ingrained spirit to want to shake things up and light your own path that forces the spirits of the past to look forward to the future. It’s that kind of spirit you hear positively soaring in the unclassifiable music of Koto-Za and their…
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It’s pretty hard to write about Fukushima’s Karak without not waxing a bit nostalgic. Over the course of two records – Silent Days (サイレント) and Flow (フロウ) – all the music they created hovers around a certain mood and a certain period. For me, their tracks like “明日ヲ見ル丘” and “ゆめのスウプ” instantly conjure up all these…
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Sometimes I have to catch myself. Do I really want to go down the rabbit hole, searching for information…not for some brilliant bit of music…but for…a well-off music production company? If you, like me, have a bunch of records with literally no-name behind who created them, what do you do when you’re staring down Toyo…
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It’s late summer again. Like before, I’m drawn to music that evokes feelings found at the corners of each such season. And in today’s case, it’s that pull of the sea (or a life aquatic) that reminds us that life keeps moving, as much as we keep exiting, stage left. It’s something you hear in…
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Some artists make whole careers out of reinventing themselves. The best ones, you name it from the late David Bowie, to Joni Mitchell or Tom Waits, always leave you guessing just what they’re going to do next. The ones that try too hard, which shall remain nameless, always leave you wondering why they just can’t…
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Find your space in the pocket. If ever there was a phrase that I’ve been trying to hammer home lately, on the blog, it’s that. It’s about exploring the work of musicians who moved things around, found ways to pick at frayed threads and bind them together, to build their own work. China’s Säju is…
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For any musicians out there: aren’t those perfect, creative, moments the ones you find yourself while playing “in the pocket”? It’s when the groove that swung one way comes together on a beat (and whatever you’re doing is the exactly the right thing to be done). I say this because it reminds me of Suzy…
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Many moons ago, someone interviewed me and asked me (to paraphrase them), “What makes you pick what you share on the site?”Now, if I remember correctly, I think I answered: “most of the time, it’s great music tied to a great story.” It’s with this in mind that today let’s do things a little differently.…
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