• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
Haven't listened to them since Headphone Children. And was thinking of them the other day. I hear their last few albums have been pretty mediocre, but saw that they released one recently. Was hoping it was a return to form. Ningen Program and Shinsou Orchestra were great though.
 
L

Lafiel

と呼ぶがよい
Been listening to Miimi a lot lately. I like them quite a bit.

What? Explain.

I thought this was going to be all according to Keikaku only to find a buncha pop groups. :/

Vard needs to get up in this bitch.
Click to expand...
I think boris has like 5 releases planned this year. (two albums, three collaborations)
 
D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
Lafiel said:
Been listening to Miimi a lot lately. I like them quite a bit.


I think boris has like 5 releases planned this year. (two albums, three collaborations)
Click to expand...
Madness. Those guys must not sleep or something. I hope one of the upcoming albums is more like Rainbow than Smile.
 
D

DonasaurusRex

Online Ho Champ
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Haven't listened to them since Headphone Children. And was thinking of them the other day. I hear their last few albums have been pretty mediocre, but saw that they released one recently. Was hoping it was a return to form. Ningen Program and Shinsou Orchestra were great though.
Click to expand...


HAH those two albums wouldve been an all time great double cd. Their first 5 albums were monsters , however Taiyou No Naka No Seikatsu had like 5 great bsides that shouldve been on that album and it would've outshined all of them. Complete miss there.

The self titled album was weak save for a handful of songs, one of which is one of the best all time. Album after that, Pulse is kinda luke warm nothing stand out like your used to hearing from them except for a bside whice of course needed to make the album, not bad just nothing grabs you like other albums. The last album Asylum is very good though its in the same company as the first 5 and yomigeru hi. The first 3 tracks alone could fit right into those two albums you mentioned and you wouldnt think they're out of place.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
louis89 said:
I got into learning Japanese after listening to 60s/70s/80s... so I'm up for new stuff from her. But how much of this is new? Black Diamond is years old
Click to expand...

The first 5 songs listed are brand new. FAKE came out sometime last year. Rock U came out in 2009 (though it was used for COD:BLOPS :lol). The rest all came out a while ago.
 
V

Vard

Member
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
What? Explain.

I thought this was going to be all according to Keikaku only to find a buncha pop groups. :/

Vard needs to get up in this bitch.
Click to expand...

I'm here now!

Stuff I've heard today...

Tulip (group sounds, here's a 1973 pop song of theirs, very Beatles-esque)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wbAJzhR69o

Maki Asakawa (1968, this is so cool)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZScKk26Dk4

BOaT (rock. this is off one of my favorite albums post-2000, the physical CD would cost you over $100 since it's rare now, but lucky for all it's on YouTube!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO4bYyrrXWU

Looking forward to backtracking through this thread later.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
In film and in pop music. Rock/Electronic/Jazz, etc, Japan has still got the edge on that.
Click to expand...

Kpop is full of a bunch of overworked posers singing the same music.
 
A

AbortedWalrusFetus

Member
Zoe said:
Pop is full of a bunch of overworked posers singing the same music.
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you. I don't disagree. But that's all pop, not just kpop. It's all about the marketing machine, and right now it's better in Korea than in Japan, and it's obvious with the huge popularity of Kpop groups in Japan itself.

The only two korean groups that hold a candle to the best japanese groups in other genres are Clazziquai and Delispice, and Delispice isn't around anymore.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
Fixed that for you. I don't disagree. But that's all pop, not just kpop. It's all about the marketing machine, and right now it's better in Korea than in Japan, and it's obvious with the huge popularity of Kpop groups in Japan itself.
Click to expand...

Only idol groups in Japan are like that. If you venture out from idol, there's tons of great pop.
 
I

Inflammable Slinky

Member
JAPANESE POSTROCK HIJACK

Did you know that Japan has some of the best artists in the entire genre of postrock?

WELL NOW YOU KNOW!


World's End Girlfriend

2i6p5xt.jpg


Les Enfants du Paradis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfG_G2O2q40

Galaxy Kid 666: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM4TwEQSMxY

1533c4i.jpg


Birthday Resistance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdWMH1XGX30&feature=related

Bless Yourself Bleed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiplYPomtiI&feature=related

MONO

sb7ux3.jpg


Ashes in the Snow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Juilrg6oQ


Te' (can't find coverart)

Those Who Play Using Word Are Not In The Talent, It Is Only There's Memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5p2cOawoHk&feature=related

A thought would never let people "watch" what they choose. Instead, it let them see what they hope to see.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84YhFHqIlaY&feature=related



I'm actually less familiar with Mono than the other bands, which is a shame since I've heard they are amazing live. Any other postrock fans wanna fill in the gaps?
 
V

Vard

Member
Inflammable Slinky said:
JAPANESE POSTROCK HIJACK
I'm actually less familiar with Mono than the other bands, which is a shame since I've heard they are amazing live. Any other postrock fans wanna fill in the gaps?
Click to expand...

I'm not that well-versed in post-rock but World's End Girlfriend is indeed great. The soundtrack to Air Doll is actually my favorite release of his though, and that's way different (not post-rocky at all) than most of his other releases. His new album 7 Idiots is quite good though; Les Enfants du Paradis is a great single!

te' is makes some great instrumental rock. If you like them I recommend Toe, though you might know them already? Their new album For Long Tomorrow is their best yet, but again I wouldn't call it post-rock.

I've seen Mono live before and it was pretty awesome, but I never can get through their albums. BOaT's album RORO I mentioned above has been labeled post-rock before... Natsumen is sort of the post-rock brother of BOaT (after BOaT disbanded, some key members formed Natsumen) and maybe the closest thing to post-rock that I listen to frequently besides World's End, but they actually describe themselves as a "Japanese Progressive HardCore JAZZ Aggressive Improvisation ROCK band." haha
 
D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
Diebuster said:
Mass of the Fermenting Dregs:

Delusionalism

このスピードの先へ

Ling Tosite Sigure (凛として時雨):

telecastic fake show


nakano kill you

Both great bands, surprised they weren't already mentioned. Shame on you GAF!
Click to expand...
I didn't post them because this thread is mostly full of pop fans. I think you, me, Vard, Antiochus and Inflammable Slinky are the only ones in this thread who have compatible music tastes. No point in bringing up stuff like Number Girl or Bloodthirsty Butchers when no one here is even going to know who they are or even appreciate them I guess.
 
L

LProtag

Member
Vard said:
I'm not that well-versed in post-rock but World's End Girlfriend is indeed great. The soundtrack to Air Doll is actually my favorite release of his though, and that's way different (not post-rocky at all) than most of his other releases. His new album 7 Idiots is quite good though; Les Enfants du Paradis is a great single!

te' is makes some great instrumental rock. If you like them I recommend Toe, though you might know them already? Their new album For Long Tomorrow is their best yet, but again I wouldn't call it post-rock.

I've seen Mono live before and it was pretty awesome, but I never can get through their albums. BOaT's album RORO I mentioned above has been labeled post-rock before... Natsumen is sort of the post-rock brother of BOaT (after BOaT disbanded, some key members formed Natsumen) and maybe the closest thing to post-rock that I listen to frequently besides World's End, but they actually describe themselves as a "Japanese Progressive HardCore JAZZ Aggressive Improvisation ROCK band." haha
Click to expand...

I love these two bands. I know a few people who like Toe, but haven't found anyone else who's heard Natsumen before.

Don't get me started on Japanese noise bands.
 
D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
InsertNameHere said:
I love these two bands. I know a few people who like Toe, but haven't found anyone else who's heard Natsumen before.

Don't get me started on Japanese noise bands.
Click to expand...
If you're really interested in broadening your Japanese rock horizons, I'd really suggest visiting Vard's awesome site, Keikaku.net and Greg Bueno's awesome music blog, musicwhore.org. I've been visiting those sites for more than 6 years and they've introduced a great many excellent bands to me. A lot of people seem to think that Japan is only producing plastic pop groups or Visual Kei bands or whatever, but there are a ton of great indie and more underground groups making music along the lines of My Bloody Valentine, Explosions in the Sky, Rites of Spring, Naked City, MC5, The Pixies, Blue Cheer, Television, Gang of Four and stuff that's not even really categorizable.
 
Z

Zoramon089

Banned
I admit, my exposure to japaense music is somewhat limited to what I've gotten into from anime, but my favorite stuff from japan is The Pillows and Nujabes
 
L

LProtag

Member
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
If you're really interested in broadening your Japanese rock horizons, I'd really suggest visiting Vard's awesome site, Keikaku.net and Greg Bueno's awesome music blog, musicwhore.org. I've been visiting those sites for more than 6 years and they've introduced a great many excellent bands to me. A lot of people seem to think that Japan is only producing plastic pop groups or Visual Kei bands or whatever, but there are a ton of great indie and more underground groups making music along the lines of My Bloody Valentine, Explosions in the Sky, Rites of Spring, Naked City, The Pixies, Blue Cheer, Television, Gang of Four and stuff that's not even really categorizable.
Click to expand...

You've just listed some bands I enjoy, so I will do this.

Also, can I name drop here that I've played a gig with Melt-Banana? Because I'm going to. I played a gig with Melt-Banana.
 
D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
InsertNameHere said:
You've just listed some bands I enjoy, so I will do this.

Also, can I name drop here that I've played a gig with Melt-Banana? Because I'm going to. I played a gig with Melt-Banana.
Click to expand...
That is fucking badass, Cell-Scape is one of my favorite albums. I love Agata too, the dude is such an incredibly inventive guitarist. I remember reading an interview with him where he said he'd play Tony Hawk and try to create sounds on his guitar that recreated the mental sensation of those tricks or whatever.
 
L

LProtag

Member
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
That is fucking badass, Cell-Scape is one of my favorite albums. I love Agata too, the dude is such an incredibly inventive guitarist. I remember reading an interview with him where he said he'd play Tony Hawk and try to create sounds on his guitar that recreated those tricks or whatever.
Click to expand...

I talked with him briefly. He bowed down to take my band's CD when I gave him a copy, sort of like the whole business card etiquette thing in Japan. Cultural shock. Also, we have the same guitar amp so there was something to bond about.

Sadly I can't make the same noises come out of mine.
 
D

Dynedom

Member
Hay, a j-music thread. I tend to listen to Last Alliance, NICO Touches the Walls, Do as Infinity, HIGH and MIGHTY Color and Galneryus quite a bit.

Album Recommendations:
Last Alliance - the sum
Last Alliance - Me and Your Borderline
Galneryus - Reincarnation (if you like power metal)
9mm Parabellum Bullet - VAMPIRE
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR - San (their best album, imho)
Bump of Chicken - Orbital Period
Do as Infinity - Deep Forest
Maximum The Hormone - Buiiki Kaesu (or however the hell you really spell that)

I also don't know if it counts but
Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
Nujabes - Modal Soul

RIP :(

Will edit in some YouTube links later...I'm sure AnimeGAF has heard a lot of from these bands already...
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Evening Musuko said:
I usually wait until the full song is out but I like. Sounds pretty fun.
Click to expand...

I haven't really followed them in forever, but this one's getting a lot of attention due to the newbies.

I liked their last single though. Went back to the weirdness that made MM stand out in the first place.
 
D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
InsertNameHere said:
I talked with him briefly. He bowed down to take my band's CD when I gave him a copy, sort of like the whole business card etiquette thing in Japan. Cultural shock. Also, we have the same guitar amp so there was something to bond about.

Sadly I can't make the same noises come out of mine.
Click to expand...
Haha. Well he plays with a slide, and I'm sure Agata has like ten pedals stuffed down the front of his pants, so that goes a long way. Was he wearing a surgical mask at the gig? If you're into Melt-Banana, you really need to check out Zazen Boys. They're a math/funk/electronic/post-punk/hardcore band that has atonal riffing elements similar to Naked City. It's honestly really hard to pigeonhole them as their sound has changed so much over 4 albums, but they're one of my favorite bands. They actually spun out of my favorite band, Number Girl, which is a post-punk/post hardcore band. So check them both out actually.
 
D

damn that's nice

Junior Member
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Haha. Well he plays with a slide, and I'm sure Agata has like ten pedals stuffed down the front of his pants, so that goes a long way. Was he wearing a surgical mask at the gig? If you're into Melt-Banana, you really need to check out Zazen Boys. They're a math/funk band that plays atonal stuff similar to Naked City. It's honestly really hard to pigeonhole them as their sound has changed so much over 4 albums, but they're one of my favorite bands. They actually spun out of my favorite band, Number Girl, which is a post-punk/post hardcore band. So check them both out actually.
Click to expand...
could you post some recommendations for me? i've been having a really hard time finding new music lately. don't feel reserved in your recommendations. i'd really like a lot of them.
 
L

LProtag

Member
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Haha. Well he plays with a slide, and I'm sure Agata has like ten pedals stuffed down the front of his pants, so that goes a long way. Was he wearing a surgical mask at the gig? If you're into Melt-Banana, you really need to check out Zazen Boys. They're a math/funk band that plays atonal stuff similar to Naked City. It's honestly really hard to pigeonhole them as their sound has changed so much over 4 albums, but they're one of my favorite bands. They actually spun out of my favorite band, Number Girl, which is a post-punk/post hardcore band. So check them both out actually.
Click to expand...

Yeah he was rocking the slide a lot. And he had two pedalboards completely full of stuff. I got my spot right in front of him to see what he was up to with everything. He also uses two amps that are insanely loud. A lot of times he just has this really amazing distortion tone without using anything but the amps, I have no idea how he does it. He makes the craziest noises and then just the most powerful rock sound, going between them like it's nothing.

I'll check this stuff out, I'm a fan of Naked City.
 
D

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri

Member
damn that's nice said:
could you post some recommendations for me? i've been having a really hard time finding new music lately. don't feel reserved in your recommendations. i'd really like a lot of them.
Click to expand...
I don't really want to clutter up the thread with a bunch of recs unless I'm going to post a summary behind each band, or at least a genre and that's really difficult to do since a lot of the bands I listen to are either difficult to categorize, or play music that spans multiple genres. I'd honestly just check out the links I supplied and read up on some of the stuff there. That's how I started out years ago. I'd just read about some random obscure band, hop on ebay and try to score some CDs. It's a lot easier to procure Japanese music these days as it's more in vogue with adventurous listeners than it was back then when all you could find was pop and visual kei type music being shared amongst anime fans.

InsertNameHere said:
Yeah he was rocking the slide a lot. And he had two pedalboards completely full of stuff. I got my spot right in front of him to see what he was up to with everything. He also uses two amps that are insanely loud. A lot of times he just has this really amazing distortion tone without using anything but the amps, I have no idea how he does it. He makes the craziest noises and then just the most powerful rock sound, going between them like it's nothing.

I'll check this stuff out, I'm a fan of Naked City.
Click to expand...
Yeah Agata is definitely up there for me when it comes to original guitarists, no one out there sounds remotely like him. He's got a solo album that's pretty awesome too. The Naked City style stuff doesn't really crop up until the band released Zazen Boys 3, which was full of bizarre atonal jamming.
 
E

Evening Musuko

Black Korea
Zoe said:
I haven't really followed them in forever, but this one's getting a lot of attention due to the newbies.

I liked their last single though. Went back to the weirdness that made MM stand out in the first place.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I started listening right after Koharu joined so it's weird to me to see the fandom so excited about a new gen.

G-Fex: I like Mini Moni too. Haven't listened to them in a while.
 
V

Vincent Alexander

Member
Dir en Grey - Red EM

The Gazette - Filth in the Beauty

J - Gabriel

D'espairsray - REM

Abingdon Boys School - Freedom

Alice Nine - Cross Game

Zwei - Dragon

m.o.v.e. - Painless Pain

Diebuster said:
Mass of the Fermenting Dregs:

Delusionalism

このスピードの先へ

Ling Tosite Sigure (凛として時雨):

telecastic fake show


nakano kill you

Both great bands, surprised they weren't already mentioned. Shame on you GAF!
Click to expand...
Just listened to Ling Tosite Sigure, and damn, that shit is awesome.
 
tearsofash

tearsofash

Member
First time in the thread, I'm really digging all the suggestions. Some really great stuff. Have heard it all before, but still...

Anyways, just gonna drop this here:

Autopsy Report of a Drowned Shrimp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwlPtCHlDaw

EDIT: also, does anyone listen to Japanese noise or 80s silver age Jpop? If so, I need to be your best pal.
 
B

Blablurn

Member
did anyone listen to the new koda kumi album? it starts strong but with every song it gets weaker and weaker.

on the other hand, i'm really enjoying meisa kurokis new album. it's called "MAGAZINE". pretty nice pop-songs, thankfully not very girly.... pretty good j-pop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

the band behind THE MOST MYSTERIOUS SONG ON THE INTERNET was finally found!
14
1K
Halo is Back replied
I've been checking out 80s-90s rock music I missed from my younger years lately(because I was shallow). A lot of stuff I really love, like Nirvana
2 3
114
6K
nightmare-slain replied
Deadlock |OT|
|OT| Community 2
82
5K
Robot Carnival replied
SUPER LTTP: TEKKEN - I was wrong!
16
1K
Agent_4Seven replied
Outcast: A New Beginning | Review Thread + |OT|
|OT| Analysis Review 2
81
8K
SF Kosmo replied
Top Bottom