It was 2002 during the World Cup when I first put the music to the name: Kodō. It wasn’t until I had heard Tataku: The Best of Kodō II (1994-1999), an amazing collection of their most recent recorded performances, that I made the connection between the music I was listening to and the globe-trotting band that wrote and performed the FIFA 2002 World Cup Official Anthem, a song which seemed to be powering the Japanese soccer club onto their best showing in a World Cup to date. Even then I …

Shuya Okino has been DJing on the international scene for more than two decades, bringing the best Crossover Jazz to the Americas, Europe and Asia in a soulful effort to bridge musical as well as cultural divides. Garnering early acclaim with Kyoto Jazz Massive’s first single, “Eclipse/Silent Messenger” and the release of the subsequent album Spirit of the Sun in 2002, it wasn’t until recently that Okino put out his own album, United Legends. Like everything Okino does, it’s original and with style. In the tradition of the genre he …

They made me sign a contract stipulating I wouldn’t badmouth the show. By writing this I will most likely not be invited back. I am fine with this. I am of the opinion that these massive festivals should be done way with altogether. The only thing a baseball stadium should be used for is burning Celine Dion in effigy or, well, baseball. Certainly not an exposition of “music” blasted as it were through stacks of speakers like so much dynamite used to tunnel through mountainsides. But you get what you …

Two questions are typically asked surrounding Fujirock: “Are you going?” and “How was it?” Recently the answer to the first has been yes, while the answer to the second generally begins with “Wet” and gets more complicated from there. Despite the weather perpetually being an issue during the three-day megafest in the mountains of Yuzawa, a little known town in rural Niigata, the mainstay of the now 13 year-old music festival is almost always the sideshows. So a fan would be excused if they were lured to the expensive midsummer …

As any casual observer can tell, Japan is all about seasons and as the Japanese summer gets underway, there are a number of ways to not only survive the onset of the rainy season (and soon thereafter the typhoon season), but revel in it, most of them having to do with the sundry music festivals happening across the country from Hokkaidō to Okinawa. If you’re going to try to hit all thirteen of Japan’s major music festivals you are going to need fairly deep pockets (less so if you hitchhike), …

HESO contributor Maria Golomidova shows off her photographic skill at the Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival

HESO heads to the mountains of Niigata for Fujirock to see My Bloody Valentine, Tricky, Grandmaster Flash, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Special Others & more

On paper they read like a relatively run-of-the-mill, up and coming alternative rock band: two guitars, bass, drums, female vocalist all playing their hearts out for an eclectic independent label from backwoods, USA. Yet Deerhoof is not your typical San Francisco band. Nor is KRS (Kill Rock Stars) your typical label. Though somehow the two are a perfect fit, Deerhoof ranking as the all-woman-run, Olympia-based label’s oldest and best-selling act. Originating as a drums and guitar duo in the mid-90s, it has taken over ten years, ten albums and ten …

Cornelius is not a man. Nor, for that matter, is he an ape (though the name comes from Planet of the Apes). Cornelius is a musical group founded by Oyamada Keigo (小山田圭吾) in the early 90s after his Shibuya-kei duo with Ozawa Kenji, Flipper’s Guitar, split up. Suddenly a solo act, Oyamada spent the next five or so years crafting his persona and honing his production skills, a sabbatical ultimately culminating in what made it all worth the wait—the music.
1997 saw Cornelius break into various European and American indie scenes …

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Björk Volta concert in Tokyo, on both nights to met up with and interview Damian Taylor, the musical director and band member, watch the show, take photos and find out more about the tour and instruments. Unfortunately Björk couldn’t do an interview herself, as she needed to save her voice between shows, but still got to meet her and the band and hang out and even went karaoke with them all- of course Björk didn’t sing, and had to instead …

The two-time UK Beatbox Champion takes time out of his packed schedule to tell Heso Magazine about the inspirational genius of Bach and recording his solo album naked while surrounded by monks…
HESO Magazine: Your hometown is Brighton. For the benefit of readers outside England, enlighten us about the little town by the sea that gave us Beardyman…

Beardyman: Brighton is a beautiful little place. Some people call it London-on-sea, but they’re just jealous and overly nostalgic. It’s an awesome place to try and make it in music. True, it’s almost as …

Peter Barakan, one of Japan’s most popular musicologists, doesn’t bring any pretensions to the table. He does bring more than few opinions, however, namely his likes (a whole lot of African music these days) and his dislikes (the formulaic froth whipped up by the same old Japanese pop producers). And any lingering doubt about his credibility was dispelled when we spotted him leaving the recent Derek Trucks Band concert in Ebisu. After Barakan played a live track on his internet-radio show, proclaiming them the best band touring in the world …