Tatsu Aoki left his native Tokyo in 1977 to study experimental film and settled in Chicago two years later. In addition to making films, he improvises, composes, and conducts music, playing bass, shamisen, and taiko drums, and by the early 1990s he’d connected with the local jazz scene, developing a particular affinity with past and […]
Tag: Tokyo
Posted inMusic
Boris rage against a world turned upside down on the urgent, hardcore-driven No
In their nearly 30 years as a band, Boris have developed the rare ability to alchemize practically any sound in the vast realm of heavy, atmospheric, and psychedelic rock into their distorted, amplified vision. The Tokyo trio’s release and tour schedules have been equally ambitious (they’ve played Chicago so often over the past decade they […]
Posted inMusic
Kassel Jaeger and Jim O’Rourke take us on a journey with In Cobalt Aura Sleeps
In 2017, Paris-based electroacoustic composer Kassel Jaeger (born François Bonnet) and Chicago-born multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke joined forces for Wakes on Cerulean, a kaleidoscopic duo recording filled with shape-shifting electronics and field recordings. On their brand-new second collaborative album, In Cobalt Aura Sleeps (Editions Mego), they aim to convey a similarly rapturous experience, but the piece […]
Posted inMusic
Shintaro Sakamoto finds the realness in cheesy lounge pop
Japanese musicians have a long history of fascination with Western kitsch—perhaps they perceive aggressive artificiality as America’s most authentic form of expression. In the 70s, Haruomi Hosono released a number of exotica albums, and two decades later, the Pizzicato Five became famous for their irony-poisoned Bacharach sophisti-twee. Iconic Tokyo singer-songwriter and producer Shintaro Sakamoto advanced […]
Posted inBlogs
City Pop, the optimistic disco of 1980s Japan, finds a new young crowd in the West
Thanks to the genre’s devoted Chicago fans, City Pop star Anri plays a rare midwestern show this weekend in Schaumburg.
Posted inBlogs
This life coach is inspired by Helmut Lang and the films of Wong Kar-wai
Life coach Andrew Asuncion, 26, looks for “color and mood” in an outfit that’s “uniform, but different every day.”
Posted inMusic
From Rockford to you: An oral history of Cheap Trick’s early years
Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, and many more recall Cheap Trick’s scrappy beginnings on the midwest club circuit of the 1970s.
Posted inBlogs
Fink from Teengenerate has a new single with the Raydios
Fink has been tinkering with trashy, exuberant garage punk for 25 years, and “Brand New Kid” combines melody and pell-mell drive.
Posted inBlogs
Reader premiere: The Lemons’ split with Tokyo’s Teen Runnings
We’ve got the exclusive premiere of the newest tunes from local garage-pop outfit the Lemons and Tokyo’s Teen Runnings.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: The blown-out garage punk genius of Teengenerate’s ‘Mess Me Up’
Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is the timeless “Mess Me Up” from the blown-out garage punk stalwarts in Teengenerate.
Posted inMusic
Gossip Wolf: Help for two former Chicagoans caught in the SXSW hit-and-run
Help for two former Chicagoans caught in the SXSW hit-and-run, new music from the Lemons, and more
Posted inFilm
The Wind Rises: On a higher plane
Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises considers a man who saw the beauty in war.
Posted inArts & Culture
Ten years of taiko at the MCA
In an MCA doubleheader, Tsukasa Taiko marries classical and contemporary forms—from Japan and Chicago both.
Posted inBlogs
Reader’s Agenda Sat 10/5: Found Footage Festival’s Best of the Midwest, Charlie Wilson, and Toe
What’s on the Reader‘s Agenda for Saturday, October 5
Posted inFood & Drink
Ramen quest
Food Issue: On the hunt for tonkotsu perfection with Brendan Sodikoff’s ramen researcher