Watashi Wo... is probably their strongest overall to date, and probably the easiest to get into. I'd probably put Cinema Jack at #2. Triathalon is a bad example of the group's normal sound, but is a really good EP.
Sad to hear my favourite Japanese band Byee the Round didn't benefit anything from going major. In fact, the word on the street, is that they lost most of their fanbase and their gigs isn't as hyped as they used. Their first album was a masterpiece (one of the few albums I could actually say it was perfect).
I still haven't listened to their last one because they don't have them on Western Itunes. (I own the rest as physical, but wished they would embrace the Itunes beyond their first Mini-album)
indigo la end has been on my mind a lot lately. I moved to a new city where I don't know anybody just three days ago, and I was eating dinner two nights ago at this ramen shop where they played nothing but indigo la end the whole time I was there. The owner said his son probably threw it on. The next day (yesterday), my indigo la end shirt was the only clean shirt I had left, and now I've just been listening to a few songs over and over.
雫に恋して (Shizuku ni Koishite) is so damn sad, along with its MV. Following that one with 忘れて花束 (Wasurete Hanataba), and opening the MV with this dialogue tells you its just setting you up for another sad one.
"Have you been all right?" "Yeah." "What's it beentwo years?" "I think so?" "Hey, um.. Will you go on a date with me just for one day? ...So we can break up properly." "So we can break up?" "Yeah. To break up."
I really love these two songs, though. I hope I can meet Kawatani some day.
Listened to Sekai no Owari, totally not my stuff too much pop and voice effects. I liked SOS and Dragon Night tho, lyrics are good.
Can't understand how Japenese can compare Sekai no Owari with Gesu no Kiwami Otome totally different kind of music. Gesu are closer to Sakanaction in sounding rather than Sekai no Owari.
I can't stand Sekai no Owari, but I get why their crap is popular.
But Gesu's popularity continues to astound me- what is it about them that made them break into mass appeal? They honestly still seem like a well produced indie band, which is not something that typically fills stadiums there. Right place, right time? a shift in public tastes?
I can't stand Sekai no Owari, but I get why their crap is popular.
But Gesu's popularity continues to astound me- what is it about them that made them break into mass appeal? They honestly still seem like a well produced indie band, which is not something that typically fills stadiums there. Right place, right time? a shift in public tastes?
I don't get why their(Sekai no Owari) crap is popular, whilst i come across amazing bands which are not popular. That's something i never could understand.
Gesu might be a bit overrated but their funky beats are really nice, members are top notch players and vocals flow nicely with it. Rhythm changes throughout the song which makes it pretty diverse. To me its quite unique while Sekai's music is something i've heard for lots of years.
P.S srsly that bass kills it and drummer ( i want a child from her :O )
indigo la end has been on my mind a lot lately. I moved to a new city where I don't know anybody just three days ago, and I was eating dinner two nights ago at this ramen shop where they played nothing but indigo la end the whole time I was there. The owner said his son probably threw it on. The next day (yesterday), my indigo la end shirt was the only clean shirt I had left, and now I've just been listening to a few songs over and over.
雫に恋して (Shizuku ni Koishite) is so damn sad, along with its MV. Following that one with 忘れて花束 (Wasurete Hanataba), and opening the MV with this dialogue tells you its just setting you up for another sad one.
"Have you been all right?" "Yeah." "What's it beentwo years?" "I think so?" "Hey, um.. Will you go on a date with me just for one day? ...So we can break up properly." "So we can break up?" "Yeah. To break up."
I really love these two songs, though. I hope I can meet Kawatani some day.
Lol, i've came across 雫に恋して today, really loved it. I really felt sorry for vocalist, story is kinda beautiful but quite sad at the same time. What came to mind first was "If one wishes to gain something, one must present something equal of value".
I mean Dragon Night pretty much speaks for itself. inoffensive song, potential earworm, a chorus anyone can sing along to. it's manufactured from the top down to hit the broadest appeal, which is pretty much never a recipe for being interesting.
I don't care for Gesu but there's appreciable artistry involved, you know? That's the part that surprises me.
Right. I'm expecting more amazing songs from them and hope other unique indie bands will be able to break into mass appeal, because there are so many amazing J indie bands.
This my fav song by them so far https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sXVjsijbcY
I was kind of prepared for the salsa part because I saw the livestream Tricot did just before the release of A N D, but my friend (who only heard about Tricot that night, when I told him I was going to the show) was blown away. That's also why we didn't immediately rush to the merch table--still too busy going "what amazing thing did we just watch." Oh, and helping drunk backpack crowdsurfing kid get all his stuff back.
We saw the merch table sloooowly empty out until eventually there was just the Cosmo vinyl, and figured our chances at even getting that were slim to none. Toronto really cleaned them out!
Dammit, my copy of Kyuso Nekokami has been delayed :'(
Anyways, grabbed FOLKS's new mini-album this week.
A very different atmosphere when you compare it to SNOWTOWN (also released this year). We go from a snowy ambiance to something warmer. It sounds like their first release actually, NEWTOWN. 5 songs is a bit short but hey, more FOLKS is always good.
Got a message on Instagram where a Japanese girl sent me a short clip of THE BAWDIES's latest DVD (where they show their European tour) said "Hey, isn't that you?!", made my day haha
I don't get why their(Sekai no Owari) crap is popular, whilst i come across amazing bands which are not popular. That's something i never could understand.
It's not rocket science, it's just J-Pop. Easy to listen to, catchy choruses, likeable members (including a "mysterious" masked dude), they've build their identity and unique universe over the years, do some impressive live shows, just add marketing and voilà.
Been a fan since their first indie album (which was very different, it was pretty straight-forward pop-rock back then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od8CNHDkIJA)
I'm still impressed by their rise to stardom, 5 years ago they were performing at the tiniest stage of Rock in Japan.
I also like the fact that they opened their own livehouse when they were still unknown. Hard work payed.
LAMP IN TERREN announced today that they're now a four-piece band. The new member will be the lead guitarist, he was actually in the band back when they were in high school.
Well, they released their major debut album this year. They didn't release a single before that hence "Major first single" and not "Major debut single"
It's not unusual to do that.
I think this could become Sakanaction's most popular song ever. Actually that might already be the case.
It has everything : song, video, TV performances, a tie-up with a big movie... It's already one of my top 5 favorite songs by them.
So it seems huge amounts of Japanese Youtube MVs are now blocked in the US. This seems to be related to the implementation of Youtube Red and seems to affect videos from labels like Victor, Columbia, Sony (the few videos that weren't already region locked), 48 Groups (except NMB48 for some reason), Hello! Project/Up-front, Pony Canyon, Teichiku, Dreamusic, even indie labels like P-VINE and probably a lot more. Videos from avex, Warner, and Universal are still available. Hopefully this will be resolved soon but it's pretty frustrating.
What is it with Japan and their fondness for combining cats and shoegaze? Don't get me wrong, they're two of the greatest things in the world, but what's the connection? First Lemon's Chair did it with their two albums, then Tokyo Shoegazer followed suit with the debut, and now Kinoko Teikoku are jumping on the bandwagon.
Maybe scientific experiments have revealed that Japanese cats have a proclivity for noise and reverberation or something.
It's not just shoegaze, you often see cat stuff in Japanese music/entertainment. Guess it's just that their love for cats is everywhere. Can't blame them!
So it seems huge amounts of Japanese Youtube MVs are now blocked in the US. This seems to be related to the implementation of Youtube Red and seems to affect videos from labels like Victor, Columbia, Sony (the few videos that weren't already region locked), 48 Groups (except NMB48 for some reason), Hello! Project/Up-front, Pony Canyon, Teichiku, Dreamusic, even indie labels like P-VINE and probably a lot more. Videos from avex, Warner, and Universal are still available. Hopefully this will be resolved soon but it's pretty frustrating.
This is crazy and must have just happened. Last night, within an hour or so, all the Sakanaction I was watching got geolocked. Maybe it's a part of YT Red, but Japanese rightsholders have always had specific controls to geolock in and outside of Japan. It would be weird to be related to YT Red because of how many labels have acted at once. Japan is so goddamn stubborn with this shit. I already can't buy or stream so much of their music digitally.
Weird that it's an US only thing though.
I'm in France and I don't have any problem.
Also, as for buying music digitally it's not a problem nowadays, you can buy pretty much everything on Amazon MP3 if you use an account with a bogus Japanese adress. That's what I do.
No need to use a VPN and you can buy points using your non-Japanese card on Amazon (cause you can't directly buy digital music using your card).
That one's just Sony blocking most of their acts outside Japan (try this instead).
But Youtube Red is definitely the culprit behind most of the blocks in the US. It basically falls under the category of a paid subscription streaming service and we all know how reluctant Japanese companies have been to embrace those. It's Youtube who is forcing content holders to allow their stuff to be available on the new paid platform or else have it blocked on the free site. Can't really blame the companies that are unwilling or legally unable to accept those terms. I don't really see a happy outcome for international J-music fans. I think most of these videos will continue to remain blocked and a proxy or VPN will become a necessity for American fans. If Youtube Red is successful it will be rolled out in more and more countries, which means fewer proxies will be able to get around it. Japanese companies may decide there's no point to continue uploading and instead just decide to focus on domestic services like GYAO, which is already limited to within Japan.
Oh well, I think a lot of us have been around long enough to remember when things were much worse.
There you go. I checked out more of their songs, to my amazement very decent stuff. Hope in jpop and idol groups partially restored. They are going to be first idol group on my playlist.
Jpopsuki.tv is good for mvs but seems it's blocked for Japan.
Back in the early 2000s, I heard about new music from watching Hey Hey Hey Music Champ. They would always have countdowns of top songs that week. Music Station does it too.
Recently I've just been on youtube looking up bands I like and checking the side bar and randomly clicking bands I've never heard of with results being a tremendous success.
Awesome City Club, Oral Cigarettes, Frederic, and Gesu no Kiwami Otome just to name a few of the bands I've gotten into recently.
