Category Archives: Music

Review: Moonage Daydream

Posted on March 22, 2023 by philipbrasor

The curious thing about Brett Morgen’s massive documentary about David Bowie is the way he juxtaposes the self-regarding artistic magnificence of the Bowie brand with the effect it had on his audience. By no means a biography of the definitive … Continue reading →

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A stretch of Pavement

Posted on February 15, 2023 by philipbrasor

Pavement are in Japan at the moment. I will not attend any of their shows, though I did the last several times there were in these parts and have dug out a concert review I wrote for the Japan Times … Continue reading →

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Best albums 2022

Posted on December 31, 2022 by philipbrasor

As so many music writers have already said, 2022 was a great year for pop, especially pop in album form. Though the theory is not publicly widespread, I would venture that the reason may have been a post-pandemic reaction on … Continue reading →

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Fuji Rock 1999

Posted on July 30, 2022 by philipbrasor

For only the second time since 1998, I am not attending the Fuji Rock Festival (I don’t count last year’s, which I also didn’t attend, because it was seriously circumscribed by COVID restrictions), and I admit I miss it, so … Continue reading →

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Rage Against the Machine, July 2000, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan

Posted on July 16, 2022 by philipbrasor

Rage Against the Machine is now in the midst of their long-delayed comeback tour in the U.S., so I’m taking the opportunity to post a review I wrote for the Japan Times in 2000 of one of their shows. For … Continue reading →

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Milva in Tokyo, 1998

Posted on May 19, 2021 by philipbrasor

The great Italian singer Milva died on April 23. For a while in the 90s and 00s she was an annual visitor to Japan, kind of like the Ventures of canzone, and I caught several of her concerts because Masako … Continue reading →

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The Merle file

Posted on March 17, 2021 by philipbrasor

Occasionally, I go through old published reviews of mine from the 90s and 00s and post them here. I came upon one that I did under the alias Merle Pangloss, a parody persona used for reviewing certain types of rock … Continue reading →

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Interview with Aidan Moffat, Dec. 2006

Posted on March 8, 2021 by philipbrasor

Arab Strap has reunited and released a new album. Here’s an interview I did with Aidan Moffatt on the occasion of their farewell tour. From the Japan Times. Pop artists tend to be identified by their musical stylings but some … Continue reading →

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Best albums 2020

Posted on December 30, 2020 by philipbrasor

For what it’s worth, the pandemic improved my capacity for listening to new music for reasons that are all too apparent, especially to people like me who tend to be rather compulsive about hearing everything that comes out. During past … Continue reading →

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Eric Clapton, Budokan, Oct. 1997

Posted on July 25, 2020 by philipbrasor

Almost all of the music reviews I wrote for the Japan Times in the 90s and the movie reviews I wrote for the Asahi Shimbun during the same decade are not available on the Internet, so I will remedy that … Continue reading →

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