Blonde Redhead frontwoman Kazu Makino has organized some pretty stellar musicians for a good cause: We Are the Works in Progress is a 14-song compilation album to support Japan's efforts to rebuild and heal after  the 2011 tsunami.  The album features exclusive tracks, remixes, and new versions of songs-- many of them works in progress themselves-- from artists such as Karin Dreijer Andersson (Fever Ray, The Knife), John Maus, and ... Read More

CNN uncovered a truly amazing story today about a young girl in California who received notice that her family is alive in Minami Sanriku, Japan via YouTube.  Akiko Kosaka studies at the University of California at Riverside where she began a yearlong study of English last September. She is originally from Minami Sanriku, a small fishing village on the coast of Japan where an estimated 17,000 residents were feared to be dead or missing ... Read More