Japan Live

When Japanese indie record labels like K.O.G.A. and Blue Badge release compilation albums, I grab them right away. I LOVE compilation alb...

Friday night in Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku—Dodging the African sex-club touts and weaving through the weekend crowd-thronged alleys, I made my way...

I’ve been adding about a dozen songs at a time to Japan Live Radio’s playlist, and taking out a dozen tunes at the same time, and now the p...

It’s not often that I enjoy, from beginning to end, a Tokyo rock show featuring more than one band. Oftentimes, only one group is good, and ...

I went to Niigata over the weekend to see advantage Lucy . A bullet train took me to the city on the coast of the Sea of Japan, about two ho...

I wasn’t well-versed in the complex ritual of claiming a reserved ticket and getting into the club at Shimokitazawa’s 440, so even though I ...

Guitarist Osamu Shimada had a fever of 38.2 degrees Celsius (101 degrees Fahrenheit) when he hit the stage of the Shimokitazawa Shelter with...

Kitsune No Kai Hanging out at the Shibuya O-Nest on Thursday night watching 4 Bonjour’s Parties and other bands play, the thought came to m...

Yunn and Yuyake Lamp is the piano pop band formerly known as Orange Plankton , minus pianist Yuki. I was a devoted fan of Orange Plankton,...

One thing that has long frustrated me in keeping this journal is that I'm writing about all these excellent indie bands that aren't ...

Advantage Lucy , one of Japan’s greatest rock bands, released an album called Echo Park in September 2005, their first full album in four y...

Take a look at this video of a show by funky Japanese punk band Mothercoat , whose singer I described in an earlier post as "somewher...

You’ve never heard about these bands I’m about to describe. They are groups that are just getting started, and few know about them even in T...

It's amazing how sometimes a thing that isn't a huge deal for one person is earth-shatteringly important for another. That thought w...

Dear Readers: I'm planning to help a number of friends' Japanese bands tour the U.S. and Europe, and was wondering if anyone reading...

I went to a club called 440 in Shimokitazawa on Thursday night to see Three Berry Icecream , and there fell in love with a group I saw for t...