Often costumed and tattooed in ways that might evoke a dominatrix as much as a musician, it is clear when Yagi plays the koto who is the slave and who is the master.

For me, the urban soundscape of Tokyo is the largest payoff I get for living in an already great city.

When listening to song, in English or any other language, whether aria, lied, ballad, or rap, I simply don’t process the text for meaning but merely for sound.

Musical confessions of emotion and taste.

The impact of being an artist under the influence of Japan.

While I was in Kansai for the FBI Festival, I dropped by the Osaka National Museum of Art to see Plus/Minus, the exhibition of Yuki Fujimoto, an artist whose conceptual works often use sound as a medium of expression.

I was in Osaka recently to perform at the 10th Annual Festival Beyond Innocence, almost certainly the last—certainly the last ever at its weird and wonderful location known as Festival Gate.

The left label says “noise,” the right, “music.” It’s an ad, but what is it advertising?

I’m really tickled that the good folks here at NewMusicBox have asked me to start “chattering.” A few words of self-introduction.