[yukihiro]

lol... The first thing that came to my mind was that they're ruining their instruments!

I agree that a lot of Japanese pop music isn't really good... I guess it's meant to be more entertaining than good.

 

[DeusEx]

I watched that clip 2 days ago...when I was doing a 25-mile bike time trial...(On a side note, Lance Armstrong has my utmost respect, the guy's more than twice my age, and can do hundred of miles at a blistering pace...)

I think most JPop can be characterized as "cute" and "fun", that's why I tend to listen to JPop with either more of a "rock" influence. Less cute, more aggressive, darker energy (not that outrageous bubble-gum stuff...) Overall, I have around 20 JPop tracks in my music library, not too many. I also listen to KPop, which I think sounds more like American pop. (note, I don't listen to girl groups. Only individual singers (Younha is my favorite singer, regardless of nationality).

Here's Nami Tamaki, one of my favorite JPop singers. (Not that I have many..)

+ YouTube Video​

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

+ YouTube Video​

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

 

[Fukunaga]

For you guys who like J-Rock (like I do), try Abingdon Boys School, they're dead awesome

 

[TheOtus]

I´m not that much into j-pop, but I say that many japanese singers have a beautiful voice. I´m more into j-ska...

And the lyrics, even though some is english, most is in japanese. I´d kinda wish I´d understand more of it, but to me, music has never been about lyrics, more is about the instrumental side. And there´s still the rhyming etc. to listen, and the already mentioned beautiful voice.

 

[Fukunaga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOtus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I´m not that much into j-pop, but I say that many japanese singers have a beautiful voice. I´m more into j-ska... And the lyrics, even though some is english, most is in japanese. I´d kinda wish I´d understand more of it, but to me, music has never been about lyrics, more is about the instrumental side. And there´s still the rhyming etc. to listen, and the already mentioned beautiful voice.

Actually, you don't need to bother. Most of j-pop's lyrics are meaningless ... or should I say, random?

 

[Mystere9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yourstruly /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've always treated J-Pop as more of a "guilty-pleasure" kind of thing. The only Japanese music I've liked for a long time was from the Pillows. Everything else I've listened to basically fell in the category of "love it for a few days, then get bored of it". I'll be sure to check out some of the recommendations here.

I tend to follow this pattern also. Anything that's characterized by over-the-top 'let's see how many instruments and synth tracks we can use in this song' style of music which also has a cute(male or female) lead tends to end up like this. There's some incredible underground and hardcore stuff from Japan though.

 

[DeTrun]

Oh. J-Pop is the only music I listen to.

Well, I listen to Japanese/Korean music. (J-Rock, K-Pop, J-Poprock, J-Trance, J-Techno, etc.)

In the past weeks, the songs I mostly have listened to are:
*Ef - a tale of melodies/memories OST (There's this song, A moon filled sky. The violin's beautiful. The lyrics are translated to Japanese, as 'A moon filled sky' was originally a German song. the songs Ebullient Future and Euphoric Field, sung by Elisa, are also nice. I recommend the anime Ef, it's a psychological drama)
*1 Litre of Tears OST (Only Human by K is very touching. It's one of my favorite songs. Other songs: Konayuki (Powdered Snow) or Sangatsu Kokonoka (9th March), both sung by Remioromen. I also recommend 1 Litre of Tears. It's not an anime, but a Japanese drama. A very dramatic one.)
*Perfume ('Game' and 'Triangle' are the two albums I've got. Also, I like that YouTube-video on page 1.

)

Also, I liked the comments of the OP.

 

[TheOtus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fukunaga /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, you don't need to bother. Most of j-pop's lyrics are meaningless ... or should I say, random?

Well, as said, no j-pop for me. Unless you categorize j-ska to the same genre, which would be very wrong. Well to the point, from the translated lyrics I´ve read... I´ve even gotten very touched by some of them, so I wouldn´t call it meaningless. But then, I´m on a wrong thread because I don´t listen to j-pop. xD

If I extend this to other genres, perhaps it would make sense to listen to most metal and hardcore in other language too. "This **** makes me sick, RRRRAAAARRRGH, MOTHER****ERS!" That´s not exactly worth knowing. Songs about love are rather pointless too after all. As said, music is more than lyrics to me.

EDIT: Fukunaga, you´re from Nagoya? Some of my favorite bands are form there!!! =D

 

[ChroniCali]

K-Pop and C-Pop are good too!

 

[wenhui]

Thanks for the information and the effort, T.IIZUKA! Jpop has its fine moments I think, much like any other genre (and language) of music.

 

[erasmus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif If someone has had almost no exposure to J-Pop, what are a handful of essential albums?I'm always willing to try something new.

try anything by Shiina Ringo

 

[Aslan123]

Well, I'll confess to liking KOTOKO and Maaya Sakamoto, but that's all really. Even still, I only listen for a lark nowadays compared to a few years ago, and I haven't bothered to find anything new by either artist for awhile now.
Artists like Ayumi Hamasaki are much too over-produced for my liking, and I never got into Hikaru Utada and the Pillows for whatever reason.

I wouldn't mind finding some Japanese Indie artists, but this has proven in the past to be quite difficult and time consuming.

 

[DoYouRight]

Shugo Tokumaru is awesome its upbeat electronic acoustic sex. Check it out.

 

[tamahome77]

M-flo & Utada Rocks. I also enjoy songs by Bonny Pink.

 

[Lorentz]

I listen to a lot of Japanese music, but most are not j-pop. It's a vague genre though, just as much as pop music is in vagueness.

Uncle Erik: I'll highly recommend the Katamari Damacy OST (the first one, one with rainbow behind two cows). It's wacky, catchy, easy to get into, and has many sub-genre-flavours that should ease you in if a single song doesn't catch you. Centered around the theme the game it's from, songs are somewhat repetitive (as are many sound tracks for games), but very listenable anyway.

Another high recommendation for more rock (read: new wave/synth) oriented, is perhaps the band "Polysics", probably the compilation album "Polysics or Die!!! Vista", since many of their songs are often misses than hits. Personally, anyway. Polysics is even wackier, completely full of energy, and their music for nothing but fun. Very noisy rock, with large bag-ful of electronic from the wonderful keyboardist. And the male vocalist who has a perculiar singing method. Sometimes they lay back to more pop-ish nature, but none-the-less, they're pure energy.