Likes or Dislikes regarding Japanese Music

[RickyDicky]

Pizzicato Five, and its singers Maki Nomiya, and Kahimi Karie. BD...er, Buffalo Daughter, and any band with Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda.

 

[Ledzep1]

Mention ELLEGARDEN to any Japanese person under the age of 25 and you'll receive smiles...
The lead singer lived in America for a few years and writes songs in flawless English and Japanese.
Eleven Fire Crackers is their newest album

 

[mawjp]

It is all mass produced shit!

Porn, yes. Music, huh?

 

[wearthefoxhat]

It's a long time since anyone posted in this thread, so here's a kind of 'bump' to see if it can get going again.

This is a list of my favourite bands (in no particular order)

YUKI/JUDY AND MARY
Hi-Posi
Clammbon
Sketch Show
United Future Organization
Fantastic Plastic Machine
DJ Hazu
DJ Krush
Pizzicato Five
Rip Slime
Tha Blue Herb
Cokiyu
Tujiko Noriko
Piana
Gutevolk
World's End Girlfriend
Takagi Masakatsu
Minekawa Takako
Cornelius
Dragon Ash
dorlis
GO!GO!7188
Kimura Kaela
LOVE PSYCHEDELICO
Plastic Tree
Quruli
School Food Punishment
Spangle Call Lilli Line
Yaida Hitomi

 

[zcarenow]

I like the older 60s, 70s music.

Anzai Mariya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvAs8WuyJs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sv6PeggFJA&feature=related

Also, does anyone know of Japanese covers of American songs?

 

[noir_fox]

AH! Perfect, a J-Music thread (not posted on here in ages).
Ok just so I stay on topic I personally love Utada Hikaru the most.
Also quite like Gackt, Miyavi (his singing isn't amazing but his guitar skills are top-notch), REVERSLOW and Asian Kung-Fu Generation

Now onto something I'm desperate for (please bear with me :/)
I came across one of REVERSLOW's songs a while back and can't find lyrics to the song (tried searching Japanese websites and everything).
I was wondering if you guys would be able to translate it, have any ideas or any information.
Thanks for any help, I have the album with the lyrics sleeve, if that helps at all, though I can't read any Japanese kanji.
(also if you know any Japanese tab sites for guitar by any chance that would be awesome, I already found XXXSOUND)

Song name is ハイヒール
Youtube link to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=P3Fsk9W3vsU&NR=1

 

[abahcizzy]

for jpop i like ayaka, she is from 2006-present...haha her albums are first message & sing to the sky =)
naotaro moriyama and Noriyuki Makihara =) presently these three are my fav singers...hehe
i also like utada hikaru...haha
btw Shiina Ringo songs...is it nice? i want to know cause all the utube links video are deleted..=(

 

[guy]

Shiina Ringo (椎名林檎) is great.

Speaking of which, she has a new collab track with Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, "My foolish heart (Crazy on Earth)", on their latest album "6" released just a few weeks ago.

[youtube]Hn6JHXyjOEU[/youtube]

 

[Pusa]

Hitomi! I thought someone else would mention her. Came across a copy of Innocence from Huma-Rhythma while I was in Korea. When I left, had a lay over in Tokyo, found a shop and asked for the album... 25 bucks, ow! Now I have Love Life, Traveler, H, Self Portrait and HTM: Tiartrop Fles. I'll get Love Life 2 and Peace one day.
Others I like are: TM Revolutionary, Cornelius, DJ Krush (I think I have most of his albums), m1dy, I.B.B.

I like Japanese for J-pop and rock and then Korean music for the R&B and Hip-Hop stylings; like S.E.S when they were together, Kim Gun Mo, Shin Seung Hun, Epik High, As One and Big Bang. There's plenty more, but that's all I can think of.

 

[Rhinosaur]

Not a big fan of J-Pop (heard far too much of it from my sister-in-law!) or anything for that matter from manufactured "stars". To be honest I find Hitomi to be a very ordinary singer! Quite tuneless and like a lot of Japanese singers (and Korean from what I've heard), she sings from her throat and not her diaphragm and lungs! It ends up sounding forced and not effortless like it should.

 

[HarutoAsou]

Mention ELLEGARDEN to any Japanese person under the age of 25 and you'll receive smiles...
The lead singer lived in America for a few years and writes songs in flawless English and Japanese.
Eleven Fire Crackers is their newest album

ELLEGARDEN broke up July 2008 and Hosomi's English is far from flawless, it's actually quite broken.

 

[shadeofgray]

As far as Japanese music is concerned, I listen to ''Burning Spirits'' style of Japanese hardcore. Bands like Forward, Paintbox and Blowback. It would definitely fall under the category of ''And now for something completely different''.

Here's a little bit of Paintbox from their newest album. I think they're the most digestible of the lot since they experiment with more mundane music styles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtJZHDPNAs (unusual song for them, it sounds like J-pop with a tad of 'normal' Paintbox thrown in the middle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1uvrfmRvL8 (a more typical song with classic rock influence)

:goodmood:

 

[qn3t]

My favourite band since about a year happens to be Japanese: Soil & Pimp Sessions. I saw them live at a festival and in my opinion, they're really awesome. I've shared the albums with a few people, but they usually think that while the music is somewhat cool, it's mostly boring. Their newest Album, 6*, isn't bad, but this is the first time they release a full album without the word "Pimp" in the album title. I feel betrayed.

*One of the tracks features Jamie Cullum. Don't get me wrong, I like him and all, but the song he worked on is probably the most repetetive one.

 

[bloop]

GO!GO!7188 all day, everyday. I love when she hits those high notes. :grassdance:

 

[SUGIZOLOVER]

Luna sea...Luna Sea.....LUNA SEA

 

[RogerMoore]

Japanese music has never appealed to me, especially J-Pop. It is derivative, copyist and sometimes downright plagiarism of western music.

I've not found anything of artistic merit, it is all aimed at selling an image, not musical integrity. Some of the cute girls and boys that "sing" are nothing more than puppets supported by record companies and producers proficient in auto-tune. Live performance is also a ruse, it's all lip-synch to pre-recorded backing in most cases. There are exceptions, I know, but not too many.

However, if like most of the people who buy this, you want to buy into an image and music as "entertainment" rather than something with artistic merit, J-Pop may just be your ideal.

The one thing that really bugs me though is the constantly bad and mistaken use of English, which is counter-educational. A lot of young kids think/believe the English used must be correct and I've noticed it adopted into speech.

 

[aquamarine]

This man ain't wrong.

 

[voltesv]

its just hard for me to appreciate Japan Music since i dont understand the lyrics except for those anime cartoon opening/closing themes that i watched when i was a kid.

 

[Rollyco]

It is derivative, copyist and sometimes downright plagiarism of western music.

That's a pretty reactionary opinion. All music, even great works, are derivative in some way. Some of the best reggae I've heard is sung by a Japanese female. So what if it's a Jamaican musical style? Is she only allowed to pluck a shamisen? What a boring world it would be if musicians couldn't incorporate what came before them.

Some of the cute girls and boys that "sing" are nothing more than puppets supported by record companies and producers proficient in auto-tune. Live performance is also a ruse, it's all lip-synch to pre-recorded backing in most cases. There are exceptions, I know, but not too many.

How is that any different from the industry in the U.S., G.B., etc? You won't find many good bands if you wait for someone to hand them to you on a platter. Finding good music takes time and effort on your part. Stop being so cynical and lazy.

 

[RogerMoore]

That's a pretty reactionary opinion. All music, even great works, are derivative in some way. Some of the best reggae I've heard is sung by a Japanese female. So what if it's a Jamaican musical style? Is she only allowed to pluck a shamisen? What a boring world it would be if musicians couldn't incorporate what came before them.

How is that any different from the industry in the U.S., G.B., etc? You won't find many good bands if you wait for someone to hand them to you on a platter. Finding good music takes time and effort on your part. Stop being so cynical and lazy.

Actually I'm not. With a CD collection approaching 30,000 discs, I am what I think most people would consider a serious music collector and listener. My taste covers new and classic rock and pop to classic and modern jazz, classical composers and even the avant garde.

I recognise what you are claiming in writing "how is that different from the US and UK" and at a certain single level you are indeed right. There isn't a lot of distance between manufactured pop stars like Britney Spears and those that do a similar thing in Japan. In fact I often feel that the West learned some of these marketing and image-manufacturing techniques from Japan!

What I was referring to was serious music, music written by individuals and bands and performed by them. Artists that control their own artistic vision. These are few and far between in Japan as I see it. If they do exist, they seem to have limited popularity.

As for plagiarism, it may be in the ears of the listener but I often hear much loved Japanese bands touting riffs and melodies that are lifted wholesale from existing Western songs old and new. Maybe they feel they can get away with because Japanese music is heard rarely outside of Japan and unless you live here, is largely inaccessible. There is of course an argument for all music being derivative and I recognise that. However, in my mind there is "influence" and there is "plagiarism". They are very different things.

These only my opinions.