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Japanese Music (Pop, rock and all 'dat) |OT|

Aizo

Aizo

Banned
Kunagisa said:
Anyone know if Kuroishi Hitomi is still working in some form?

2013 went by and ユビキリ from 龍 -RYO- was not released, I just want to hear the complete song ...
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It looks like she was working on the soundtrack for Hakkenden (never seen it) in 2013, according to her wikipedia page.
 
K

Kansoku

Member
Can someone explain what the hell happens with indigo la End bassist? Looking at MVs up to Yoru ni mahou wo kakerarete, I can see that there's a girl playing the bass (Name, please, she is really cute >.>), but on the biography of Gesu no kiwami otome, they shay that the bassist there was a former indigo la End member. But their newest ep. (that was released right after Yoru ni... doesn't have any bass. What the hell?
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Zoe said:
But you know, I completely lost interest from about Tsuji/Kago's departure up until around Takahashi's departure. They're not the same group, but I really like what they are now.
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I lost interest around the time Kamei left. Just before then though... it was probably the darkest time for MoMusu. WTF was Seishun Collection and Pyoko Pyoko?
 
Aizo

Aizo

Banned
They handed out a CD with those two tracks when I saw Unchain and la la larks live the other month. la la larks literally made my jaw drop. I was amazed.

Unchain, on the other hand, was very disappointing. From the first song, I noticed that their guitars weren't in tune, but I dealt with it. In their third or so song, they played a riff in which the two guitars were supposed to be in harmony. It hurt my ears, and my friend and I left the concert early. It is hard to get into their music now, after that.
 
M

minty_jpg

Member
K

Kurita

Member
Shiina said:
Smooth jazz collab from Yumi Uchimura (ex school food punishment) and Masanori Tanigawa:

la la larks x UNCHAIN - Loop
la la larks x UNCHAIN - I'll be the music
Click to expand...

I really need to listen to more UNCHAIN. I quite enjoyed the few songs I heard a while ago.

Glutamin announced a new album, which will be released in march. For those of you who don't know him he does vocaloid covers. His voice is... unique. :lol He can do whatever he wants with it and really take the original songs to a whole new level. It's a blast to listen to this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoaJYqDr10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gK84vwqxSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLMS13ZDSWo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwAAtQQKCAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGG_j0J4vjU
 
F

faridmon

Member
Fuck Tower Record exclusivity, especially if you happen to have a bigger audience and fanbase outside Japan, as it is the case with Lillies and remains. Now their bloody single is sold out in-store. Fuck this world.

They have released every Album. EP and single in European Itunes, why the fuck would they do some exclusive bullshit? why would they prevent something from their fans in such fashion...

I am really pissed off, now my collection is incomplete because of that.

Does anyone know if Tower Record ship outside Japan to UK?
 
K

Kurita

Member
I'm seriously falling in love with Gesu no Kiwani Otome (ゲスの極み乙女。), easily one of the best new bands from 2013. Been listening to them non-stop for the past week.
I can't wait to listen to a full album by them.

Now that I'm thinking about it, their label unBORDE is kind of crazy. There's androp, RIP SLYME, Capsule, Takahashi Yu, tofubeats, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Passepied...
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
faridmon said:
Fuck Tower Record exclusivity, especially if you happen to have a bigger audience and fanbase outside Japan, as it is the case with Lillies and remains. Now their bloody single is sold out in-store. Fuck this world.

They have released every Album. EP and single in European Itunes, why the fuck would they do some exclusive bullshit? why would they prevent something from their fans in such fashion...

I am really pissed off, now my collection is incomplete because of that.

Does anyone know if Tower Record ship outside Japan to UK?
Click to expand...

I usually just use middlemen to get things from Japanese shops/resellers. FromJapan / Yokatta are good. Tenso is also a good alternative but it can cost a lot since they ship by EMS.
 
F

faridmon

Member
zeopower6 said:
I usually just use middlemen to get things from Japanese shops/resellers. FromJapan / Yokatta are good. Tenso is also a good alternative but it can cost a lot since they ship by EMS.
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What about older Cds that could very well be out of stock? I mean, including The Lillies and Remains CD, which was the one I wanted, I have asked other 2 CDs from this dude I know who is in Japan for holidays and he did say that those other two are sold out in Tower Record.
The other two CDs are Oui OuI Oui by the Mirraz and Sekaitekinaband (written in English) by Sekaitekinaband (Written in Japanese). If you could find out a cheaper place to find those two CDs, let me know!
 
S

Slowdive

Banned
I couldn't find the Lillies and Remains single on there, but Yahoo auctions Japan has the other two CD's you want.

The Mirraz 3 days left

Sekaitekinaband Almost 2 days left

For buying stuff off there I use http://www.fromjapan.co.jp/ Fairly easy to use, just put credit on your account and bid, then once they receive it, choose a shipping option. For the things I've bought I've been quite impatient and chose quicker shipping which is obviously quite expensive but I don't think it should be too much if you choose standard delivery. Looks like they're selling the Mirraz CD for quite a bit more than the store price though.

Edit: Ah, just saw zeopower6 mentioned fromjapan, anyway, it's good.
 
F

faridmon

Member
That website is so Japanese to a point that I wouldn't even know how to do the purchases. That, and The Mirraz one is bloody expensive. Thanks for that website though, I will keep an eye on it. Seems to be a very comprehensive website.
 
M

Mononoke

Banned
He guys. Don't mean to bump this, but I need some help. So recently I've been really wanting to get into J-Pop. But to be honest, I absolutely have no idea where to start. Is there a guide? Or can someone provide me what they consider the 10 best J-Pop acts? Just trying to work my way into the genre, and have no idea what artists I should start with.

Kurita said:
So I managed to choose my 30 favorite releases of 2013. It's not a ranking, this way there's less pressure :lol
http://lekurita.tumblr.com/post/72102033172/2013-30-japanese-discs-it-was-a-pretty-amazing
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This is cool. Will check this out for 2013 releases. Appreciate the youtube links too.
 
F

faridmon

Member
Azula said:
He guys. Don't mean to bump this, but I need some help. So recently I've been really wanting to get into J-Pop. But to be honest, I absolutely have no idea where to start. Is there a guide? Or can someone provide me what they consider the 10 best J-Pop acts? Just trying to work my way into the genre, and have no idea what artists I should start with.
Click to expand...

You only need one person in your life when it comes to J-Pop:

MiChi

thank me later!
 
K

Kurita

Member
Received all three Kyuso Nekokami's (キュウソネコカミ) CDs \o/
MpoTE6g.jpg
 
F

faridmon

Member
Yeah, the latest Album by them is really good. Top 5 material.

Kyusonekokami are one of the best new bands around. Shit is so good!

My impression on their new album few pages back

faridmon said:
Oh and the great surprise of the year comes from the new Mini Album by Kyusonekokami and holy shit what a release. Fucking amazing synthetic punk outing with a lot of Powerpop influence with a bit of Twee pop touch here and there. Its full of character, not to mention the lyrics are absolutely amazing (from my limited knowledge of the language) and definite 9 so far.

Not to mention that it has the best Album title of the year and simply named : We are Indies band. Bloody amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfVlvzFp2Co
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_58aTTukqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QlPMfkCTaw
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P

Peru

Member
Azula said:
I'm actually open to any Japanese music. So your list was still really helpful. I appreciate you listing your fav J-pop too.
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The discussion here is fairly limited in scope, j-rock only for the most part, although I personally mostly listen to other j-pop genres (rnb, electro etc). If you want some jpop reccs a place like popjustice's j-pop thread is also a good place to go, I'll mention some of my 2013 highlights though:

Groups:
Tokyo Girls Style's shockingly heavy, funky album Yakusoku was on ofe last year's big highlights http://youtu.be/Vhbq65WcH3o
Momoiro Clover Z's latest album, although the one before was even better, a hyperactive exploration of genres and ambitious pop ideas
Dempagumi Inc for the mental, even more hyper pop
BiS touches on noise, dream pop, shoegaze, electro, punk in a catchy yet cheekily calculated provocative 'anti-idol' packaging http://youtu.be/gRaMsDyW-XQ
Lyrical school - old skool beats meets idol pop

Solo:
bomi, charming singer-songwriter pop http://youtu.be/XkP-vk-ypuM
Tommy february6 for the upgraded pop rock package
Curumi Chronicle for one of the year's freshest rookie electro debuts http://youtu.be/UUVMkCUXKYI
Jasmine's latest album is good, solid rnb although her previous releases were on another level.
Daichi Miura is another, male rnb alternative. Dude has been on a pretty solid synth rnb vibe lately. Dances well.

And.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQsayrmMoU

Of course that's just 2013.. too much to mention if we go back.
 
S

SweetDonuts

Member
Azula said:
He guys. Don't mean to bump this, but I need some help. So recently I've been really wanting to get into J-Pop. But to be honest, I absolutely have no idea where to start. Is there a guide? Or can someone provide me what they consider the 10 best J-Pop acts? Just trying to work my way into the genre, and have no idea what artists I should start with.
Click to expand...

What sort of genres do you like?
 
K

Kurita

Member
faridmon said:
Yeah, the latest Album by them is really good. Top 5 material.

Kyusonekokami are one of the best new bands around. Shit is so good!

My impression on their new album few pages back
Click to expand...

So I finally listened to it (along with the two other CDs of course) and you're right, it's amazing.
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Azula said:
He guys. Don't mean to bump this, but I need some help. So recently I've been really wanting to get into J-Pop. But to be honest, I absolutely have no idea where to start. Is there a guide? Or can someone provide me what they consider the 10 best J-Pop acts? Just trying to work my way into the genre, and have no idea what artists I should start with.
Click to expand...

I have a lot of artists in my list, but I'm bolding the ones I listened to often and have albums from. :p It's really disorganized so there's no particular order other than the top which is what came up off the top of my head. There are a crapton of artists from Japan from the last 20~+ years so it's hard to narrow things down to just 10. Most of what's in my list here is really poppy. For each artist, I suggest looking them up and finding their 'biggest song' and deciding on if you like what they produce. Though... a few of these artists never really stick to one sound, so you will have to sample more than just a track. I avoided idol groups but if you'd like you can find them under the Johnny's & Associates umbrella or the AKB/Hello!Project umbrellas for the most part.

Oh, there's also VOCALOID stuff, but I dunno if you guys would count that as "J-Pop" necessarily.

Uh... the classic artists to follow IMO:
Every Little Thing (try their Every Best Single COMPLETE CMs to taste their discography up until 2009)
Do As Infinity
Ayumi Hamasaki (EVERYTHING)
BoA (before THE FACE)
Namie Amuro (mostly her stuff after BEST FICTION/60s70s80s but plenty of people like PLAY/Queen of Hip-Pop)
Chihiro Onitsuka (she's a little odd now though... she throws condoms at people at concerts... but ONE OF PILLARS is an amazing compilation and Ken to Kaede has some good tracks)
B'z (depends on if you like that classic rock sound, I guess?)
Mr. Children (lots of stuff that sounds... similar... but they are VERY popular among their fans)
globe / TRF / m.o.v.e (if you like electronic arrangements)
the brilliant green (also Tommy february 6/Tommy heavenly 6 with Tomoko as a soloist)
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
ORANGE RANGE (first two albums)
BUMP OF CHICKEN
Salyu
EXILE
aiko
Tokyo Jihen / Shiina (Sheena?) Ringo
YUKI
RADWIMPS (amazing lyrics aghhh)
Ken Hirai
Fukuyama Masaharu
Supercar
Spitz
Chara
hitomi (before LOVE CONCENT)
OLIVIA (her work on NANA was fantastic)
MISIA

Now some more recent stuff (I guess debuts after the 2000s?)~

AAA
Ai Otsuka (stuff up until Ai Am BEST basically... she got the best album curse)
SEKAI NO OWARI
Ieiri Leo
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
Shishido Kafka
YUI
Erika Sawajiri (kind of a bitch, but her music was well made when she released a CD or two)
Angela Aki (solid, but mainly piano based... she's going on hiatus very soon)
Ikimonogakari
Kana Nishino (safe ballads and poppy tracks... I only really listen to Best Friend though)
Kaela Kimura (model gone singer... she's very popular with overseas fans)
Yuna Ito
Mika Nakashima (lately she's been a bit... kooky imo)
Superfly
GReeeeN
ayaka
GIRL NEXT DOOR (similar to ELT/DAI/TRF-ish)
Galileo Galilei
Eri Nobuchika (only one album really, but it is GOOD)
ClariS (mainly upbeat anime songs/anime-related tie ups)
Kalafina / FictionJunction / Yuki Kajiura
supercell / ryo / EGOIST
Nana Mizuki
livetune / kz
 
P

Peru

Member
But THE FACE is BoA's best JP album.

Identity was a hit and miss experiment but gave us pretty great singles and last year's ONLY ONE is one of her best singles, period, although originally released in KR.
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Peru said:
But THE FACE is BoA's best JP album.

Identity was a hit and miss experiment but gave us pretty great singles and last year's ONLY ONE is one of her best singles, period, although originally released in KR.
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I thought VALENTI/Love&Honesty were probably her best when it comes to Japanese releases.

Kansoku said:
I would really appreciate links to accompany the names >.>
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Sorry about that! Uh... I can provide links for a handful of them. Most of the artists are heavily featured on their record company's main YouTube channels.

Every Best Single COMPLETE Web CM (I like just about everything they did after 2002... a bunch of tracks from beforehand are good too but many are dated)
The Best of Do As Infinity TV-SPOT (my favorite tracks featured are Kimi ga inai mirai and 1/100, main tracks on Infinity 1 and Infinity 2)
Ayumi Hamasaki's SEASONS (one of her most well known songs but there are others I can recommend if you have specific tastes)
Namie Amuro's Contrail
Chihiro Onitsuka's Ryuuseigun (Meteor Shower)
Mr. Children's REM
TRF's Boy Meets Girl
the brilliant green's Ash Like Snow
Tommy heavenly 6's Papermoon
RADWIMPS' Order Made
OLIVIA's a little pain
Ai Otsuka's Planetarium
SEKAI NO OWARI's RPG
Ieiri Leo's Sabrina
Angela Aki's MUSIC -> POWER of MUSIC (live) (second song is a bit of a remake of the first)
Kana Nishino's Best Friend
Yuna Ito's trust you + Endless Story (live)
Superfly's Ai wo Komete Hanataba wo (Put Love in a Bouquet)
Galileo Galilei's Aoi Shiori (Blue Bookmark)
Eri Nobuchika - Lights
Kalafina's to the beginning
livetune adding Fukase from SEKAI NO OWARI - Take Your Way
 
P

Peru

Member
Subjective stuff I guess, I know Valenti is her highest-selling but in my opinion weakest album. Still, I'm very into her songwriter phase of recent years.
 
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