Launchpad

I like your J-Pop princesses such as Hamasaki Ayumi and Utada Hikaru, but is anyone else into Japanese music beyond their anime soundtracks?

Here's some of my faves:

Hip-Hop/ R&B
Rip SLyme
Dragon Ash
Gaku MC
Crystal Kay
Minmi

Punk/Ska
Mongol 800
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
Shaka Labbits
Potshot

Rock
The Brilliant Green
Yuki
Judy&Mary
Hoover Over

Peetster

The last Japanese CD I bought was by a group called Hiroshima. That was some time ago. I haven't heard of any of the artists you named. If you had to pick one to recommend to a total noob, which would it be?

Ratman

Launchpad- good list. If you like the brilliant green (they use all lowercase), check out the lead singer's solo stuff under the name Tommy February6. A little more "J-pop"-py, but fun to listen to.

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ninety09

I'm a huge X-Japan fan.

lafemmefatale

another excellent jap r&b group is m-flo...also i enjoy puffy, porno graffitti, and my fav' out of the bunch shiina ringo who's ever so sexy and who's music is magically delicious and can rock with the best of them.

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rockzilla

Try Thee Michelle Gun Elephant and Guitar Wolf. And while not technically Japanese, Cibo Matto's pretty fun, it won't give you cavities like Shonen Knife and Puffy Ami Yumi will.

alkaiser

i'm just into anime mostly...but i do listen to the usual jpop and some others like l'arc~en~ciel or the brilliant green

Ganguro

I loooove GACKT!!!
also. i agree that Sheena Ringo is a brilliant artist..
Here are some albums/artists to check out:

R&B:
Ken Hirai
Soulhead
Suite Chic

Rap/Dance:
Zeebra
M-Flo - sure it's been mentioned already, but their last remix album was brilliant.
Mach25


Ballads/Singers:
Hitomi
Chara
Mr. Children

Rock/Crazy Sugar pop:
Minimori
Spoozys
Guitar Vader

That's all i can think of off the top of my head, but pretty much all i listen to is import music. There are a LOT of Visual-Kei bands out there that are just great, and their underground music scene is really growing. Im soo glad i saw this thread.

westothemax

I don't think anyone mentioned Cornelius. I don't know what genre to put them under... electronic/rock?

Cibo Matto and also Miho Hatori's side project Smokey and Miho (alright, half Japanese but that counts right?)

Polysics and Hi-Standard. My friend says that Hi-Standard is in Japan what Blink 182 is here. I hate Blink 182 but I like Hi-Standard. Hmm. Polysics has been described as a Japanese version of Devo.

ishkeb

I have an album by a Japanese ska band called Kemuri. It's standard completely positive ska, but it's nice if you just want happy poppy music. No great depths of emotion there, just happy happy giggles

Motorbreath

i dont listen to japanese music except for the metal band "Loudness"

i listen to all kinds of metal

Launchpad

that really depends on what kinda music you like. the Japanese music market is second only to the US. there's a HUGE indie scene here, too. i'd obviously recommend any of the bands i listed. songs by all can Dl'd online. buuuuuuuut if i had to narrow it down to just 1 i'd say Mongol 800. awesome band w/ some great lyrics in English that actually make sense (although not 100% grammatically correct, but what album out in the English market is? happy listening!

Ratman: I'm there w/ ya on TommyFebruary6, mate. But I really prefer her Brilliant Green stuff much more, which is just the opposite w/ YUKI. I dig her 2 solo albums more than any of her stuff w/ Judy&Mary.

Oh and an FYI you may already know, TommyFebruary6's name is a combo of Tomoko Kawase's nickname (Tomo) and her birthday (obviously Feb. 6th).

Pyrate

I love Ayumi. It's strange beacause I'm a dedicated hip hop fan, and usually I'm very intolerant of other music (except Ragga), but for some reason I love her music. I connects with something in me that I never before knew was there-perhaps tolerance!

I like mflo as well, although they are the only j-hip hop group I've heard. I'll be checking out some of those names above then...

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Bob Biter

OK, since we're on the topic of Japanese music, there's a lot of fuzz on the net about the song featured in "Blade", sung by Bing Wa Cherry. It's the song played when Blade enters a nightclub searching for a vampire safehouse, sung by a pair of shrilly-voiced Japanese schoolgirls. I've been searching for an album with this song on it, or anything by Bing Wa Cherry, but to no avail. Does anyone have any info?

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Mr.Deflok

Can anyone recommend any Japanese hip-hop as this sounds like an interesting mix. Also perhaps some classical music along the lines of the stuff you hear in Akira Kurosawa's films and the Japanese national anthem?

eris

I used to love the "neo-japan" station on Spinner. Though I'm not sure if it's even still around...

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Ganguro

Bob, you cant get a copy of that song because it doesnt really exist. It was just made for the movie, and isnt in the SDTK. The persons who performed it have never made any other recordings of that tune. So unless you get a sound grab from the movie..that is the onyl way you can hear that song. Also the band is Bang Wa Cherry.


Edit: ok i lied. Go here: http://www.icomic.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=27

warrrreagl

YAHHHH!! YAHHHHH!

**warrrreagl running around in hysterically panicked circles**

YOKO COMING! YOKO COMING! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!

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Launchpad

hmm...it won't let me DL even after i registered.

kod

While they are in the soundtrack for FLCL, The Pillows are a pretty rockin' band in their own right.

Ganguro

The pillows are an awesome band..
There are 2 FLCL soundtracks full of their music, but i've had a hard time tracking down their other stuff.. did you have any CD's or anything kod?

Anime soundtracks are a good way to start listening to japanese music if you like ballads, compositions and guitar rock. They aren't that hard to track down, and you are already interested in the anime and are familiar with some of the songs..

A good yahoo group i belong too is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soundl...guid=117206829
it's a community all about japanese music, from folk, to jpop..

jryan1

If you're interested in music form Japanese artists, you should check out Melt Banana. They're absolutly crazy and have built quite the reputation for themselves on the college scene. Plus, the lead singer is a babe, which is a definite plus.

~J

90degree

I like traditional japanees music while eating sushi!


hheheehe.

XenuHubbard

How come nobody's mentioned Shonen Knife?
They're great. Kind of punk-poppish, but you can't deny the genious of a band that write songs about riding bicycles and
banana chips.

Another great band I'd recommend is Zoobombs.
They're kind of noisy, but their songs make me really happy.

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Launchpad

do you mean enka?

bleh.

enka gives me the heaves worse than sashimi.

Antagony

While I'm not an avid listener of Japanese music, I have a few bands that I listen to regularly:

Bleachmobile
Minor League
Invisible Man's Deathbed

ATTENTION: The best motherfucking DJ on the entire planet happens to be Japanese. Saw him in concert, and I still get erections thinking about it.

DJ Krush

If you have even the slightest interest in trip hop or turntablism, you *must* listen to DJ Krush. Internationally renowned and for good reason.

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Ganguro

Krush is good.. actually i though DJ Honda was pretty decent, and i have a DJ Sushi LP around somewhere (too bad about him though, he was only 16 when he died).

No one mentioned Shonen knife because a lot of people dont hold them in the same regard as other japanese bands. Hell i bought "Let's knife" yesterday Also no one mentioned PuffyAmiYumi.. but i think that might be for the best

jujueye

YOW! So glad I'm not the only one in the US who likes this stuff. I'm amazed at it and have no idea why the happy pink fun music doesn't catch on here. Oh well. I like l'arc~en~ciel, Ayumi is ok. Ali Project is neat, Miki Imai has some pitch problems, but is pretty good. Maaya Sakamoto and Yumi Matsuzawa are indeed my favorites. Just something about them.

So glad this sthread go started. I'm going to go look up some of the stuff other have mentioned. Domo Arigato!

Launchpad

I just bought Yuki's new CD, COMMUNE and found a new copy of The Brilliant Green's album Los Angeles for on 780yen. Whoot!