Music critic and editor Yuzuru Agi has died

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    Fri, Oct 26, 2018, 09:45
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  • The multi-talented Japanese singer, producer, DJ and label owner passed away on Sunday.
  • Music critic and editor Yuzuru Agi has died image
  • Influential Japanese music critic, editor and label owner Yuzuru Agi has died, aged 71. News of Agi's passing on October 21st was confirmed by the Twitter account of environment 0g, the Osaka venue he operated. A man with a vast number of titles, Agi was also a singer, producer, DJ, publisher and editorial designer. Born in 1947, Agi debuted as a vocalist at age 20, spending a number of years working as a recording artist, as well as a radio DJ, before pivoting towards an editorial path. He launched Rock Magazine in 1976, a publication in which he coined the term "techno pop" two years later when reviewing Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine. That same year, Agi founded Vanity Records, releasing highly limited runs of now-sought-after records including a 7-inch by Brian Eno. More than a decade after Rock ended its eight-year run in 1984, Agi went on to create several more magazines, including Infra and BIT, both of which focused on club music in the late '90s and early '00s, as well as operating Osaka venues Mathematic Modern and Cafe Blue. Following the conclusion of both magazines and clubs, he continued writing for other publications such as Remix and opened Nu Things, a venue which opened its doors in 2004. A decade later, he launched environment 0g, the physical embodiment of his 0g zero gauge zine, which covered everything from rock to club to experimental music. Listen to one of Agi's sets, recorded at environment 0g.
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