[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgSVZ0e4ZZg”] So here we are…Polysics have become the Japanese OK Go. I think to some degree it was inevitable – the band have been spazzing out new wave music for more than a decade now, and it seems tough (to me at least) to maintain such a head-rattling pace for that long. It’s all been…
The line between “noisy and melodic” and “just plain loud” can be a tricky one to tightrope – just ask KAFKA. The majority of songs available for listening here try to impress with pure pummeling sound. Guitars wail away while the lead singer subs out anything resembling pleasant singing for a howling screech meant to…
Look at the above image. This isn’t one of those random pics I sometime grab from Google Image Search when I can’t get anything else. The band Orland feature this image on their MySpace. It sums the group up perfectly. Which, OK, might seem a little to simple. Yes this is keyboard-heavy music, so a…
Kuriki Nobukazu, a Japanese climber, attempted to climb Mount Everest recently. “Big deal,” you might be saying, “any schmuck with a few thousand dollars can do the same thing!” Well, dude tried to do it with no oxygen assistance. Have you ever read Into Thin Air? That’s crazy, and it appears Nobukazu does this sort…
Today Slate features a slideshow feature on Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, coinciding with an exhibit of his art opening up in New York (link in the pic above). If that name doesn’t sound familiar, I’m sure the you’ve stumbled across the style (especially if you’re reading a blog about Japanese music). The slideshow mostly focuses…