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

Man... I've been out of the Japanese scene for ages. What's the rock/indie du'jour these days? I'd talked to a fellow friend about it awhile back and he told me that nothing of note really coalesced in the time that I'd been absent. Not sure whether I buy that, but nothing really sticks out to me these days I guess.
 

Kurita

Member
Man... I've been out of the Japanese scene for ages. What's the rock/indie du'jour these days? I'd talked to a fellow friend about it awhile back and he told me that nothing of note really coalesced in the time that I'd been absent. Not sure whether I buy that, but nothing really sticks out to me these days I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Xzw12qMgk

trying to get back into jrock and i love this song.
Maybe you'll find stuff you like here
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=135975808
The J-Rock scene has never been this good and lively imo so I'm always a bit surprised when people don't find stuff they love.
 

Kansoku

Member
きのこ帝国 new album is pretty damn good.
It starts well with 東京, which I love. Then it goes down a little with クロノスタシス, which I hated first, but it has grown on me, so I'm at least okay with it now. ヴァージン・スーサイド sounds like something Whirr would make, and it's pretty nice. You outside my window is amazing. Unknown Planet is really nice, but sadly is too short. I would love to see a full song with this style of instrumentation. あるゆえ is nice. It get's amazing towards the middle/end, but overall is not an amazing song. 24 is okay, a little outside of the album's style, but still nice to the ears. フェイクワールドワンダーランド sucks, and thank God it's short. Then it goes back to being good with ラストデイ and 疾走. They're both really good songs. And it ends on a high note with Telepathy/Overdrive, which is probably my favorite song of the entire album.

Overall is a great album. I was worried about it from the both MVs they released, thinking it would be a little too pop-y or have some hip-hop/rap to it, but they delivered something much better.

渦になる > フェイクワールドワンダーランド = ロンググッドバイ > eureka
 

Kurita

Member
Their album still isn't up on iTunes, weird... Guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

KANA-BOON revealed the covers of their upcoming single as well as their live DVD.
jgBTRY8.jpg

ZrJuYTs.jpg
 

Kurita

Member
Thanks for the comprehensive post. We've had some pretty good crossover in tastes in the past so I hope something in there resonates with me

You're very welcome.
I also made posts about stuff released in 2014 I've been listening to on my Tumblr
http://lekurita.tumblr.com/tagged/2014-in-music

New Sakanaction single is great. I hope we hear news about a new album in the near future.
If the new album is as good as this new single and the previous one... hnnnnnngh
 
Whoa, much appreciated man. I like that the blog is laid out with all those covers. Very snazzy looking. I used to hit up Keikaku.net pretty religiously years and years ago to keep up with the scene but it's slowed down there tremendously over the years. I think one of the guys in this thread writes for them... can't recall his handle, starts with a V... Vard? Something like that. But yeah, I'm a lapsed listener; haven't really followed the scene for about 2 or 3 years now I think, so I'm sure a lot has changed.
 

Kurita

Member
Whoa, much appreciated man. I like that the blog is laid out with all those covers. Very snazzy looking. I used to hit up Keikaku.net pretty religiously years and years ago to keep up with the scene but it's slowed down there tremendously over the years. I think one of the guys in this thread writes for them... can't recall his handle, starts with a V... Vard? Something like that. But yeah, I'm a lapsed listener; haven't really followed the scene for about 2 or 3 years now I think, so I'm sure a lot has changed.

My pleasure. Honestly I mostly did it for me, so I can keep track of what I've been listening to, and since I'm a lazy ass I can just link to that when someone asks for recommendations haha
 
OH. MY. GOD. I decided to visit Keikaku for the first time in... I don't even remember, went directly to their forums to see what was up and clicked on the Ging Nang Boyz thread. I have been waiting for a new album to surface from the Boyz since... 2004. I read through the last 2 pages and experienced this rush of nostalgia. In truth, I hang out over at Head-Fi a lot and discuss ludicrously expensive headphones with some friends over there. I had written an email comparing two pairs of phones to a friend using the song "Boys on the Run" as my demo track (yeah, NOT the kind of track you use to compare reference phones but who gives a shit really haha). So yeah, out of nostalgia, I google up Boys on the Run since I loved the PV and was kind of in the mood to see it. I scroll through the hits a bit and down on the page is this story from May 2014:

http://www.razorcake.org/columns/th...f-the-ging-nang-boyz-i-dont-wanna-die-forever

About the sudden meteoric rise and fall of the band. I click it out of interest since I'm always curious of what others make of this bizarre group and therein I learned that they had dropped an album earlier this year. 10 fucking years i've waited. I am like over the moon right now man. God damn. And hilariously enough, according to that article, as suddenly as they had regrouped, they disintegrated, like some kind supernova collapsing into a blackhole. Gotta love these crazy fuckers haha
 

Vard

Member
Whoa, much appreciated man. I like that the blog is laid out with all those covers. Very snazzy looking. I used to hit up Keikaku.net pretty religiously years and years ago to keep up with the scene but it's slowed down there tremendously over the years. I think one of the guys in this thread writes for them... can't recall his handle, starts with a V... Vard? Something like that. But yeah, I'm a lapsed listener; haven't really followed the scene for about 2 or 3 years now I think, so I'm sure a lot has changed.
'Sup. Yea I recommend following us on twitter for random updates these days: @keikakuDOTnet
 

broz0rs

Member
question for japan music GAF. has m-flo become an electronic dance duo? I just heard a few of their tracks from earlier this year and it sure sounds like it.
 

Kurita

Member
Had to buy Kinoko Teikoku's album on the Japanese iTunes store since it wasn't available worldwide heh
I like that the album isn't too long, it's easier to listen to it.
クロノスタシス is the best song of the album imo, it's so cool and makes me want to chill or take a long walk in the city while listening to it on repeat. Hope they'll do more songs like this one. You outside my window is also fantastic. フェイクワールドワンダーランド is a pretty cute and fun song, I like it a lot.
Definitely an impressive album and their best work so far.

Hello Sleepwalkers released a PV for one of the best songs from their latest mini-album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB77ckeTPz4
 

Larsa

Member
The new Kinoko Teikoku is good and simultaneously pretty disappointing. I feel it's a huge step down from Eureka. A lot of the songs here just feel pretty generic and boring. The two short interlude songs, Unknown Planet and 24, seem pointless. Even though it sounds pretty different from their other songs I really like クロノスタシス. You outside my window is probably the best song on the album (also the guitars in this song sound like they're straight out of a Soutaisei Riron song.)
 

Kurita

Member
Grabbed amazarashi's new album. One of the best covers of the year.
As always, amazarashi delivers some beautiful music, it can be poetic, gut-wrenching, "epic". The frontman's voice is one of a kind, well, this band is one of a kind, I don't know another band like them. I feel like this album had more electric guitar than usual, it definitely gave some songs more power. The song もう一度 in particular had a surprisingly rock intro.
Anyway, they never disappoint, wonderful album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ5Vs4dHmWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap2sg77LekI

Listened to OGRE YOU ASSHOLEE's latest mini-album, ペーパークラフト.
It reminded me of their album homely, which is not that liked by fans for some reason. Since I loved that album I was satisfied. Pretty trippy album, kinda jazzy, too, this band's music has always been laid back and relaxing without being too boring. Some songs might be a bit too long for their own good though. Still, a solid release.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG070-ZoFqc
 

Kurita

Member
I decided to search her up and her music is so weird but I'm slowly growing into it. The instrumentals are great but her voice feels so off lol.

Need to check out that new album.
Yeah I feel the same. The music itself is cool but her voice kinda ruins it.
 

Slowdive

Banned
Her voice is pretty "normal" compared to Seiko Oomori and Jun Togawa, I'd love to know what you think of them. :p

I know what you mean though. :)
 

Slowdive

Banned
The new Shiina Ringo album is great but I can't help feeling it would've been even better if it had more new songs, that said, the old ones don't sound jarring or anything. I love Flight JL005.

This album preview video I took from the listening party stream is pretty cool.
 

Kurita

Member
Hahahaha, that's hilarious. I remember when their version came out, people thought it was a cover of Gackt :lol
Speaking of ONE OK ROCK, only one month (and one day) left until their show in Paris. Can't wait. This time the venue has a capacity of 6000!
Hope they'll play a couple of brand new songs to hype their upcoming album.

LEGO BIG MORL released a PV for Rise and Set, imo the best song from their latest album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhWc_IYjIrY&feature=youtu.be
Most relaxing song of the year.

Sakanaction performing their latest single at Music Station.
http://sayonarababy.tumblr.com/post/101417310868/sakanaction-sayonara-wa-emotion-live-at-music
 
The new Shiina Ringo album is great but I can't help feeling it would've been even better if it had more new songs, that said, the old ones don't sound jarring or anything. I love Flight JL005.

This album preview video I took from the listening party stream is pretty cool.

Oh snap. She actually released a new album? I kinda stopped paying attention after Jihen broke up. I'm guessing it's more along the jazzy side of things? I wish she'd go back to sounding like she did during the SS/KZK days. Everything sounds a bit too commercial and blasé post solo SR.

'Sup. Yea I recommend following us on twitter for random updates these days: @keikakuDOTnet

I'm not on twitter lol. It's cool though. I'd probably not have known that the new GNB album dropped had I not passed by. The album proper was a real surprise to listen to. I know they like to repurpose old songs as a good chunk of Door/Kimi to Boku was comprised of Going Steady songs but the new takes surprised even me. Ginga tetsudou no yoru was fuckin amazing. And the closer was pretty much perfect as it reminded me of the GNB documentary that released a number of years back. Real sad I won't be hearing any new material from these guys, but the final album was damn satisfying to me
 

Slowdive

Banned
Oh snap. She actually released a new album? I kinda stopped paying attention after Jihen broke up. I'm guessing it's more along the jazzy side of things? I wish she'd go back to sounding like she did during the SS/KZK days. Everything sounds a bit too commercial and blasé post solo SR.

It's officially out on the 5th but yeah. It's not as jazzy as Sanmon Gossip, it's mainly a mix of rock and jazz. That video gives you a good idea of what to expect.
 

Kurita

Member
Fishlife (フィッシュライフ) are a promising band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dT_fzBB1_g
They won last year's Senkou Riot festival. Basically it's a festival for artists/bands as well as dancers under 20 years old. Great way to discover artists before they become big.
In 2008 (when the festival was created) Galileo Galilei, Negoto and Brian The Sun were among the participants, and nowadays they're quite popular so yeah it's a useful festival.
 

Anony

Member
does anyone want to go to perfume concert but can't get tickets?
I bought it when it was out, but i can't make it anymore, was wondering if anyone want to buy it off me?
 

minty_jpg

Member
Fishlife (フィッシュライフ) are a promising band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dT_fzBB1_g
They won last year's Senkou Riot festival. Basically it's a festival for artists/bands as well as dancers under 20 years old. Great way to discover artists before they become big.
In 2008 (when the festival was created) Galileo Galilei, Negoto and Brian The Sun were among the participants, and nowadays they're quite popular so yeah it's a useful festival.

Spent the last hour replaying their YouTube stuff. Pretty awesome, love the sounds and the vocalists energy on stage.
 

Kurita

Member
HOWL BE QUIET have a new EP coming this week. Never listened to them before but I've seen their name a lot before. It's right up my alley. Great pop-rock, the lead singer is playing the piano in every song, definitely digging that.
http://youtu.be/_wmDpzkcRiw
 

thefro

Member
The new Shiina Ringo album is great but I can't help feeling it would've been even better if it had more new songs, that said, the old ones don't sound jarring or anything. I love Flight JL005.

This album preview video I took from the listening party stream is pretty cool.

Just listened to most of it... Flight JL005 is really good... might be my favorite song from her in the last 4-5 years.
 

Kurita

Member
go!go!vanillas released their major debut album, Magic Number.
Last year when they release their indie debut album I said that they were promising rookies out there and this album confirmed that. I looooove it. So fresh... They're inspired by stuff from the 60s-70s but their sound is still modern, pop-rock goodness. They remind me of THE BAWDIES, though I'd say THE BAWDIES embrace the 60s's atmosphere more than go!go!vanillas, wearing suits and all that...
Pretty sure I'll listen to this album a lot while going to college to feel good even in the stinky subway...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngl2EyR-dSY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaSTGXGqA9I
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz27DaXEx18
 

Kurita

Member
plenty dropped one of the most beautiful animated PV of the year, damn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NewfyAvpow
Definitely grabbing their new EP tomorrow.

andymori will release their last live on DVD on December 24th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dkbt-U8uyQ&feature=youtu.be
I'm so sad that they're gone now. I wasn't even a fan of the band. I mean, I listened to their albums and loved them but that's it. Now that the band is no more I realize that I actually loved these guys. *sigh* Oh well at least now go!go!vanillas are filling this hole.
 
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