March 18, 2007
News | 60s and 70s Asian Pop Gallery |
San Francisco-based photographer David Greenfield has posted a wonderful gallery of 60s and 70s pop album covers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan to the photo site PBase. David tells me he has over a thousand Asian pop tracks in his ever-expanding collection. His gallery has caught the attention of Singapore rock historian Joseph C. Pereira, author of Legends of the Golden Venus, who commented that the collection "will make even Singaporeans and Malaysians green with envy."
I wonder if David has considered linking some sample mp3s to these groovy covers...
March 16, 2007
News | Cornelius on Tour in US |
Japanese pop music innovator Cornelius will be on tour in the US during April and May, including an appearance at the Coachella festival. The tour is in support of his new album Sensuous. The dates are as follows:
Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom (April 23)
Seattle, WA El Corazon (24)
San Francisco, CA Bimbo's 365 (26)
Indio, CA Coachella (28)
Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theater (30)
Boulder, CO Fox Theater (May 3)
Chicago, IL Park West (7)
Baltimore, MD Sonar (9)
New York, NY Webster Hall (10)
Philadelphia, PA Theater of Living Arts (11)
Source: NME via Plastic Bamboo
March 06, 2007
News | Far East Audio on WIUX's Global Riffs |
On March 7th, I'll be on Indiana University's WIUX to talk about some of the Japanese bands that will be appearing at this year's South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Global Riffs, hosted by IU Telecom prof Mark Deuze, is broadcast every Wednesday from 08:00 to 10:00 AM. The show features independent rock, pop, metal, techno, and lo-fi tunes from all over the world. I'll be on around 9 AM. You can stream it in high or low quality.
For you visiting WIUX listeners, welcome to the site! Here are links to the bands we're talking about:
The Emeralds
50 Kaitenz
Pistol Valve
Asakusa Jinta
These bands will tour the US before and after SXSW, hitting Cambridge, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, San Fancisco, Seattle. The Chicago show is at the Empty Bottle on March 14.
We're also talking about Red Chamber.
Please check out our archives on the side bar--we have over 150 reviews and articles.
March 04, 2007
News | Indonesian Girl Group Dara Puspita |
This week Stuart's featuring Indonesian 60s girl group Dara Puspita. If you've been to his site Radiodiffusion Internasionaal before, you know the drill--he'll have these mp3s up for just a week.
While he was researching the group earlier this week, Stuart got in touch with me, looking for information. I emailed Anton Pulung, Indonesian singer of the mysterious masked men of Asian surf/instro rock, Red Chamber. Turns out Anton used to go to church with one of the members in Jakarta!
Anyway, start your week off right with some charming, upbeat pop from Dara Puspita. I love the vocals--the sweet harmonies bounce around in a psychedelic echo chamber.