Tag: featured

News

Goddess Online Listening – Japan to World via Analog Record

Text: Tomohiro Yabe “This is impossible.” In early April, when BELONG Media founder Tomohiro Yabe sent an email to London indie label Bella Union about a listening session, that’s what people around him whispered. The project to deliver the album by “Goddess”—the new project of Fay Milton, a member of the four-piece women’s post-punk band […]

Interview

Gotoh (AKG) on Nano-Mugen’s Return & Asian Music

My conversation with Masafumi Gotoh of ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION was a reunion for me, yabori (Tomohiro Yabe), after 10 years. My musical journey began here, encountering AKG’s music and opening the door to Western music by listening to ASH’s “Burn Baby Burn” from the Nano-Mugen Fes compilation CD. And now, NANO-MUGEN FES. 2025, revived after […]

Interview

Miso Extra Talks Umami for Ears, ‘Earcandy’ Interview

Miso Extra is a British-Japanese singer-producer with roots in both Japan and the UK. She layers Japanese and English rap over eclectic beats, blending sounds from K-Pop to UK garage and R&B, creating ear-pleasing music that has garnered praise from talents like Thundercat and Fabiana Palladino. Furthermore, Miso Extra’s “POP” has ranked high on J-WAVE […]

Interview

Deradoorian | New Album “Ready For Heaven” Interview

Dirty Projectors, a leading American indie rock band based in Brooklyn, released their 5th album “Bitte Orca” in 2009. It’s an undisputed masterpiece that still garners support even after more than 10 years. Participating as a former member on this masterpiece “Bitte Orca” was the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Deradoorian, whom we interviewed this time. Although […]

Mei Semones
Interview

Mei Semones Interview – Roots & New Album ‘Animaru’

Singer-songwriter/guitarist Mei Semones, originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a Japanese mother. Having studied guitar performance focusing on jazz at Berklee College of Music and possessing experience as a Japanese kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, Mei Semones is a young artist featured by media outlets like Rolling Stone and Paste in 2024 and is scheduled to […]