MUSIC

Ten new members have joined Shuta Hasunuma’s pop orchestra, and he released a new album. We spoke to Shuta regarding why he added more members, and the album-making process.

Jacob Tanaka, singer-songwriter and guitarist for “Yanushi,” releases his new and melodically evergreen album.

In this series, Tsuya-chan writes about contemporary music with a focus on Japanese hip hop. She breaks down the relationship between music and fashion, as well as fashion trends and youth culture. In her second installment, she deciphers the symbolism of Versace in Japanese rap, such as KOHH, SALU, and Elle Teresa.

Producer and MPC drum machine player STUTS explores boundaries and limitlessness with his mini-album, Contrast.

TOKION spoke to CHAI about the concept behind their band and how the coronavirus has influenced their music.

We asked Go Hiyama and Nakako about the backstory and goals of their project – AISO, which explores a new possibility of music.

In this series of articles, we invite a number of music-loving creators and cultural figures to talk to us about their favorite music and so on. Our first guest is ZOMBIE-CHANG.

How did Japanese artists from the 80s embrace Miles Davis’ venture into ‘proto-ambient’ music in the 70s? Music critic, Masaaki Hara unravels the thread that connects the two.

Jun Miyake, a musician based in Paris, is active on the world stage. “Stolen from Strangers” (2007), which was the introduction on the epic Lost Memory Theater, act-1 to act-3 (2013-2017) and was reprinted on an analog disc in April, 2007, is still fresh in my memory. From jazz and classical to chanson, electro, South American and Bulgarian voices, the music transcends borders and genres and even the concept of time. Though shaken by the corona virus pandemic, Jun Miyake, a rare musician, wrote a song for “TOKION.”

Amidst the pandemic, yahyel had a solo concert for the first time in two years. We spoke to the front man of the band, Shun Ikegai, after the event; how did his thoughts regarding live performance evolve? What was going on with yahyel?