[bizkid]

I just finished reading through the other jpop thread opened by saint.panda and it's nice to know there are atleast some other people who enjoy the more serious music coming out of Japan

I listen to jpop for over 10 years now and i'm always hunting for new stuff which was unknown to me before. So here you can mention your favourites which rarely get mentioned anywhere else or are unknown to the usual anime/japanophile fanboys

Please none of the following:
Teenage Girl Pop (you know who)
Idol Pop (ayumi hamasaki, suzuki ami & co)
Visual Kei crap
No Albums older than 1996


My Listening tips:

Eiko Matsumoto (松本英子)
Check out her first Album "From the First Touch",
Best Pop Debut Album Ever imho

Ayu Okakita (岡北有由)
Bonnie Pink meets Hitomi Yaida

Mimori Yusa (遊佐未森)
As mentioned in saint.pandas thread already.
Check out bougainvillea, her latest Album

And some nice new RnB:

Yoshika Timeless

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/...217747-5509561

Ai - Mic-a-holic A.i. (from mid. of last year)

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/...217747-5509561


Thats all for now, i'll add more if interest shows up

ps. Under jpop also falls japanese rock, there is no "jrock" term in Japan. So you can post your favs here too. To clear it up more, you can post "indies" "hiphop" "rnb" and others too.
Most CD Stores in Japan declare their domestic musicians as "jpop/japanese", no matter which genre it sits in. Big stores have hipop/punk and whatnot sections but its all in the "japanese" area. For me jpop is just a term for japanese music regardless of genre.

 

[trains are bad]

Well, I have no idea about jpop, but this

Chieko Kawabe-be your girl

Is a really catchy song. It's pure bubblegum, to be sure, but it is tasty bubblegum.

Thus ends my total sphere of jpop experience.

 

[YamiTenshi]

Most of my J-pop comes from animes

, so I'll keep my mouth shut and just watch this thread.

 

[Dachink]

My current faves in the pop scene are

MISIA -Amazing voice :O I recommend "Kiss in the Sky"
Ayaka Hirahara - my current favorite female singer of all time <3. Check out all 3 of her albums

I started listening to Utada Hikaru again cause of her last two singles hooked me. So addicting

for rock

Acidman - they just make awesome music. Sexy bass.
Supercar - Electronica/Alt. Rock. Kinda sound like...iunno :/ A great band...to bad they broke up :'(
The Yellow Monkey - Amazing and extremely underrated. Great lyrics and music writing.


if this thread was "Japanese music" than I would have started talking about the indie bands

 

[bizkid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dachink My current faves in the pop scene are MISIA -Amazing voice :O I recommend "Kiss in the Sky" Ayaka Hirahara - my current favorite female singer of all time <3. Check out all 3 of her albums I started listening to Utada Hikaru again cause of her last two singles hooked me. So addicting for rock Acidman - they just make awesome music. Sexy bass. Supercar - Electronica/Alt. Rock. Kinda sound like...iunno :/ A great band...to bad they broke up :'( The Yellow Monkey - Amazing and extremely underrated. Great lyrics and music writing. if this thread was "Japanese music" than I would have started talking about the indie bands

Yeah Acidman and Supercar are good Bands. Also Grapevine is worth a listen.
What do you define as Indie? I visited many 2nd hand and normal CD Stores in Japan but there was never an "indie" section. But you can find CDs from smaller labels between the major ones. Anyway if someone is really good, majors _will_ make sure to get them onboard most of the times

Ie Hitomi Yaida.

 

[zChan]

Here is a Japanese Rockish Forum that I visit often.
My 3 fav Rockish bands are:
The Band Apart, esp. K and his Bike
The Back Horn. With a great song called "Headphone Children", having lyrics such as "we will live until the day we are run over by a car" and "there is no salvation in headphones"

And Acidman.

[size=xx-small]
BTW, Does anyone happen to live in Tokyo? I have extra tickets for Acidman for this weekend...[/size]

 

[K2Grey]

See-Saw (Yuki Kajiura and Chiaki Ishi-something)

 

[GlendaleViper]

Nicotine - Great Japanese punk band. Their music is typical NOFX style crap punk, but their ridiculous translations, AMAZING live performance and generally high talent given the genre make these guys an absolute party to listen to

Kyoichi Sugimoto - Pretty cheesie stuff here but again, in the realm of pop-rock this guy has a lot to offer. Some pretty catchy stuff here.

Jun Togawa - Frickin' amazing. You'll either love it or hate it. Like a Japanese Bjork but... even more bizarre. Her song "Casablanca Moon" is an absolute riot.

 

[Dachink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bizkid Yeah Acidman and Supercar are good Bands. Also Grapevine is worth a listen. What do you define as Indie? I visited many 2nd hand and normal CD Stores in Japan but there was never an "indie" section. But you can find CDs from smaller labels between the major ones. Anyway if someone is really good, majors _will_ make sure to get them onboard most of the times Ie Hitomi Yaida.

indies would be bands like Bloodthirsty Butchers, Bleach, and Number Girl.

anyone into Japanese metal?

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

Haha, finally somebody mentions something Japanese other then "crappy" J-Pop music haha! Seriously, there are some absolutely amazing Japanese BANDS out there, but all anyone ever wants to seem to try out are plastic, manufactured idol pop records. Anyone even remotely interested in Japanese music oughtta at least try out Number Girl/Zazen Boys, Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen, Acidman, Blankey Jet City/Sherbets/JUDE, UA/Ajico, Super Junky Monkey, Bleach, Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, Cocco, The Elephant Kashimashi, Bloodthirsty Butchers, Going Steady/Ging Nang Boyz heck even Spitz and Judy and Mary the list just goes on an on - just so that you can get the sense that there's more to Japan then just a bunch of technoed out Kylie Minogue rip offs. There's a lot of damn ferocious rock too!

Man I actually lost my Bleach CD... how I managed to live without Shiri I'll never know.

Catch you later,
Id

 

[jjcha]

Anyone else a Ken Yokoyama or other Pizza of Death fan? He can be such a sentimental cheeseball sometimes, but fun, great straightforward pop-punk.

Best,

-Jason

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

Ha, Pizza of Death Records! Greatest company name ever

 

[CD44hi]

Hey jjcha
could you let me know what was that material i heard in NJ? specially the one with the big bass

[edit] PM would work fine. Many thanks

 

[sagocup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YamiTenshi Most of my J-pop comes from animes , so I'll keep my mouth shut and just watch this thread.

haha same here. I liked some of the stuff on the Katamari Damacy soundtrack, though I don't think all of the stuff there counts as J-Pop. I'll check out the artists listed here, I'm tired of the j-pop crap that some of my friends listen to.

 

[nsjong]

Anime introductions and Bemani games got me into Japanese music.

1. Sex Machineguns
2. Asian Kung-Fu Generation
3. BeForU
4. Do as Infinity
5. Shachi

I'm sorry Synchro, but I don't agree that comment about Tokyo Jihen being ANY good. The vocalist sounds like she had a helium accident. And Number Girl isn't much either with the vocalist. JUDE is quite good...

You said you lost Bleach music? I assume you're talking about the band Bleach03? That band has some nice songs...