Going to kick off a new feature today, the rather self-explanatory "Videos of the Week."
Every week, I'll round up a few of the videos that have caught my eye. They'll be a mix of new and old and not always Japanese, though you can rest assured that most of them will be about Japanese music.
Without further ado, here's the first one:
Mouse on the Keys "Saigo no Bansan"
This is the first I've heard of these guys, and it totally blew me away. The song is cool, but this video really takes it to a whole new level. I absolutely love its dark, gritty Noir feel. Perfect.
Hit the jump for more!
Polysics "Young Oh! Oh!
New single from Polysics. Absolutely crazy, as usual. Seriously, just try and follow the logic of this one. You can't! There isn't any!
I don't remember now where I got the link to this, probably someone on Twitter. New music from Hiroshi Sakaue, a singing grandpa, slathered with Auto Tune. Weird.
History of Buck-Tick
A 10 part history of the very early Buck-Tick days, all in English! A must watch for any BT fan, to be sure.
Susumu Hirasawa "Solar Ray 2" Live
A mesmerizing live solar-powered performance from electro genius Susumu Hirasawa. I could listen to the into forever.
9mm Parabellum Bullet "Punishment" and "Discommunication" Live
It's time again for another fantastic issue of Otaku USA Magazine to stomp its way into better magazine sellers everywhere!
This time around, I've got a nice interview with my heroes Polysics. I managed to catch them in the phone just before they kicked off their latest US tour.
Of course, that's just my own personal neck of the woods. There's a ass-ton of the usual great content, from games reviews, interviews, manga and anime talk, figures and much more. Plus, in case you didn't notice last time, the cover price is almost half of what it used to be! You can't lose. I hope you get a chance to pick it up soon. There's much more to come, so stay strong, true believers!
9mm Parabellum Bullet not only has a rather unique (aka typically Japanese) name, but their music is also a unique mix of straight up rock and totally twisted post punk. Formed around 2004, they very quickly rose to be a force to be reckoned with in the indie rock scene.
All of their guitar playing is extremely tight and usually frenetic, yet the songs are very melodic and almost listener friendly. On the one hand, their more melodic and tune-full slant may put them into Asian Kung-fu Generation territory, yet their spastic playing, crazy drumming and singing pushed to the bleeding edge is much more like Number Girl. There are even a few heavy metal riffs from time to time which show of their technical prowess. It's all presented at blinding speed ("Mr. Suicide" for example), so you'll need to listen to them many times to actually hear everything that's going on. Some of their most intense tracks would even give power metal band Dragonforce a run for their money.
The band has matured ever so slightly over the years, reigning in their more confrontational tendencies more often than not. This doesn't mean that their songs lack any of their trademark intensity, just that the band doesn't throw themselves face first into every song. They manage to separate the more intense moments from the more melodic, crafting songs that are better at luring in the listener, setting them up for the next blast of pummeling staccato riffs. Sugawara Takuro vocals have always been a bit shaky, easily the band's weakest link, but his rough and sometimes strained delivery fits just fine with the general air of down and dirty rebellion that surrounds the band like a warm glow.
Without a doubt, 2008 was nothing short of amazing when it came to new albums. Not only were there a lot of new faces releasing thrilling stuff, but there were also many old favorites that continued to churn out fantastic records.
I could tell around the middle of 2008 that there was going to be way too much ground to cover in terms of a "Best Of" year end collection, so I put together my first list of 30 albums back on July. You might want to give it a quick read to get yourself up to speed.
We've finally lurched into 2009, so naturally it's time to take one final look back at some of the Best Japanese Albums of 2008. What a list it is! I've spent an incredible amount of time pouring over the list, mostly getting lost in the staggering number of great videos I've mostly forgotten about. Really, I could probably just keep listing to the stuff from last year all through 2009 and still be happy.
So, get comfortable, grab a tasty beverage and join me after the jump for the Best Japanese Albums of 2008 (Part 2)!
First off, I'll start with my absolute favorites. Just about any of these albums could have made the top of the list, so everything is simply listed in alphabetical order.
While these guys might not be the most creative sonically (every song sounds very much like every other song), they more than make up for it in sheer intensity. They are extremely sparse and focused, with performances that cut to the bone. Think Rage Against the Machine, only with even fewer frills. [BUY]
Another furiously performed album from possibly the biggest name in the new wave of indie rock. These guys have done nothing but great things right out of the gate, and Vampire is both their most mature and most exciting album so far. [BUY]
Combining their super-tight post-punk playing with spaced-out electronics and production, Avengers in Sci-Fi creating something unique. Both rock and dance, energetic and calming, they manage to push the boundaries without creating too much chaos. [BUY]
De De Mouse is a rare example of an artist who not only creates amazing music, but also creates entire worlds. His purely electronic style is also totally organic and absolutely original, full of fuzzy memories of childhood set in a Lisa Frank world. Absolutely wonderful stuff. [BUY]
Leave it to house/prog/trance masters Denki Groove to step away for a while, only to come back with two full length albums in one year! JPOP already made it onto the previous Best list, and they're back again with Yellow, their second release in 2008. It's actually a much more solid album, and totally infectious from beginning to end. [BUY]
Mo'some Tonebender have come such a long way over the years, but they've always churned out great sutff. Sing! sees them at their peak, with both great sounding songs and some really new direction. Very upbeat, yet still kicking all kinds of ass, as always. [BUY]
Combining operatic vocals, nu-metal guitars, rock piano and classical strings, it's safe to say the there isn't anyone quite like Mutyumu. Their second album pushed their sound even further, but in the death metal department as well as the profoundly moving softer, extended strong sections. A little something for every, just so long as you like things very very dark and brooding. [BUY]
Just one of many spectacular instruments band to release something great in 2008. Yet sgt. stands way above the crowd with their featured violin player and truly epic song structures. Like many other bands in this list, the mix a trancelike intensity with equally delicate details. While they've been together for a while, this is their first album. Let's hope for much more in the future! [BUY]
Few bands rise to prominence as fast as Versailles. With their very first song released, "The Revenant Choir," they instantly shot to the very top of the vis-kei scene. This is no doubt due to the fact that they are amazing players, packing in nothing but quality in each of their epic symphonic metal songs. Oh, and I suppose some people might like the visual side to them as well. [BUY]
Vola changed things up a bit on this album (essentially an EP.) While it's still very much the same band, they went in a slightly more dance-oriented direction. It's still pretty intense and fun though. The use of short electro tracks in-between the songs proper really makes for a solid release. This is another band that's really become an icon in the scene, so it'll be very interesting to see what they do next. [BUY]
Those are the top 10! Oh, but there's still so much more. In fact I had to sift though close to 110 albums just to make this list of the second half of 2008! Naturally there's just too much to go into great depth with. If you want to learn more about each band, click their names and check out more info and videos. They're all superb!
That's it! What? That's not enough? Sheesh, some people are never happy. Well, we'll all just have to wait and see what happens in the coming year. I expect great things.
Make sure to stay tuned to the blog and to Japanator Radio every week for more of the best music from Japan!
Tribute albums are a tricky thing. Covers in general are a bit on the lame side to begin with, and a straight up cover, without the band molding the song into its own style or reinterpreting the original content in a new way, is just an embarrassment all around. It's a fine line between paying homage to the original, and just using it as a crutch for inadequate creativity and a lack of talent for creating something new in the first place. Being able to not only make the song interesting to long time fans as well as totally change it in a way that seems to amplify its greatness, if not flat out improve upon it, is a rare feat.
We've seen some recent Japanese tribute albums that fell well short of the mark. The Weezer and Radiohead tributes come to mind. Both of these are riddled with too many bands taking themselves a little too seriously, and singing the English lyrics with more than a little trouble. A lot of that falls on the original content, which is already loaded with the respective band's heaping helpings of OMG we're Weezer or OMG we're Radiohead baggage.
Now we've got another tribute to another band who, in all likelihood, have had some influence even on bands like the two aforementioned trailblazers. Metallica, for many reasons, are one of the biggest bands on the plant, or at least they were a few years ago. They have legions of absolutely rabid fans that eat and breathe Metallica 24/7, who worship them like gods and follow their every move. It's safe to say that to many fans there will never be anything as great as the original songs, so any attempt at a tribute is doomed to fail even before it gets off the ground. Yet for those of us with a slightly broader perspective, there might still be room for some interesting interpretations.
That's where Metal Ikka comes in. It's eleven songs and forty-eight minutes of pure Metallica madness. Yet even these great songs are rife with chances to fail in the wrong hands. How does Metal Ikka stand up to the competitors? Can anyone hope to shred like Hammett or snarl like Hetfield? Let's take a listen and find out. The album kicks off with “Sad But True” from 10 Feet. What starts off sounding like the aforementioned straight-up cover quickly jumps into all new territory with a fast break beat, then much heavier and faster guitars. Overall the band sound a little like Electric Eel Shock with bouncing nu-metal riff in place of the hard rock approach. They don't bother changing it up much other than to add a few breaks and builds. Still, a very rockin' song.
9mm Parabellum Bullet keep the energy high with “Motorobreath.” They play it pretty close to the original, a little faster and with their usual brash and noisy production. While they don't really add anything to the song other than a few new odd-time stops and starts, they do manage to breathe the same fire and brimstone that fuels the original. In fact, drummer Kamijo Chihiro adds a massive amount of fury to the drums, totally blowing away Lars' original performance.
After the extend intro, “Creeping Death” by Razors Edge is almost totally deconstructed and rebuilt into a very tight and very fast ska-punk blitz. They run the song through several time and tempo changes, mostly from fast to much much faster, which is nice since the original, while iconic to say the least, is also a bit on the slow and plodding side. These guys take all the time tested motifs and apply them in very cool new ways. It's a crazy, fast and, at time, pretty funny ride.
Fuck You Heroes run “Metal Militia” through its paces, stick very close to the original, mealy adding some incomprehensibly screamed vocals and a generally heavier sound. It's basically just an updated version of the original, which is fine, since the original is quite awesome on its own.
When I first saw that Beat Crusaders were doing “One” I knew we were in for a treat, and the good time, tongue-in-cheek, feel good rockers deliver. They turn one of the darkest Metallica songs into what is both a fitting tribute, and also something very close to parody. It's a funky pop-rock take, something that might only be hilarious to people who have the original song imprinted note-for-note into their DNA. They absolutely fly through all of the originally elongated sections, distilling their essence down to easily digestible pills, which actually amplifies the greatness of the original material. Again, it's done in a way taken to almost Weird Al-ian territory, but it's also done in a way the proves Beat Crusaders absolutely love the song.
“Through the Never” is an interesting deep-track choice by Uzumaki. Not exactly one of Metallica's most memorable songs, they nevertheless turn it into a slick nu-metal/industrial dance track. For the most part they ignore the original in favor of simply lifting a few riffs and beats and applying them to the dance-track structure. It's still plenty heavy and dark, but much more suited to, say, an intense driving game or football highlight reel.
The opening riff to “Seek and Destroy” is something that you don't want to mess with. It's one of Metallica's most memorable, and Insolence knows it. While keeping all the notes in the right place, they manage to add a White Zombie swagger to the song, with a deep, Ministry-esque yelling vocal style and deeper guitars. They slow the beats down to half-time and generally let the songs drag, turning it into a doom-metal piece with a few electro scratches and a hollow, echoing chorus. When the solo hits halfway through it suddenly goes into double time, with a break beat similar to that of 10 Feet's opener. Things then fall back into sludgy mode for the end.
Totalfat take on “Fuel.” They tread very close to the original, even singing very much in Hetfield's style. They break it up a bit with some speedy pop-punk breaks and stomping riffs, but for the most part it adds very little to the equation.
My most highly anticipated track is next, that being Polysics' cover of “Enter Sandman.” While they (in this case probably just Hiro) basically play the original, it's a totally electro/industrial version, almost devoid of guitars, pushing them very far back in the mix. It's just as much of a tribute to P-Model's “Enola” as it is “Enter Sandman.” Sadly, most of the performance is phoned-in and very flat, with Hiro's vocals being a real low-point. While as a fan I find it to be a big disappointment, it also won't be winning over anyone new to Polysics.
2Side1Brain continue the album's second half decline with are very whiny emo-metal version of “St. Anger.” This is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping would be absent from this tribute, and up until this point Metal Ikka is a very pleasant surprise. Unfortunately these guys really drag the rest down with a pretty limp effort. The touchy-feely style has never suited Metallica, as evidenced on some of their more recent output, and 2side1Brain only make things worse.
Thank god Outrage is there to save the day with a blistering version of “Fight Fire With Fire.” Sure, they play the song note for note along with the original, but in this case it's a welcome pallet cleanser after the previous misfires. If you're at all familiar with Metallica's original, then you already know what Outrage's version sounds like. Much like the rest of the album, they bring a heavier overall feel, more a result of modern production techniques than anything else. If this were placed high up on the track list it would probably be much less of a stand out, but as it is it ends the album with a very sweet stamp of pure heavy metal.
Long story short: if you are a true Metallica fan, then you must get Metal Ikka. If you are a fan of several of the bands in the line-up, then you must get Metal Ikka. You will not be disappointed. Sure, it might quickly fade in glory, but the rush of nostalgia and the kick-ass energy it delivers are well worth the price. There are probably a few tracks that will be constantly skipped, but they are very few, and conveniently grouped together.
Finally, if you haven't noticed by now, there is one almost unforgivable omission from the track list. There isn't a single track from Master of Puppets! How this is possible is well beyond my own ability to reason. I suppose everyone has their own favorites, but why anyone would want to do something off of The Black Album or St. Anger in lieu of, well, anything off of Puppets boggles the mind. Maybe it's just too sacred an album to even consider the attempt? At any rate, absent friends aside, pick up Metal Ikka and rock the fuck out.
2007 was a great year for Japanese rock. While the pre-fab pop/idol scene is still what Japan is best known for, it's starting to show some cracks around the edges. Many bands are pushing strong playing and even stronger songwriting to the forefront instead of relying on the shallow gimmicks of massive industry backing. What might once have been a talented band lost to obscurity is now a group that has just as much of a chance at fame as any rising starlet. Obviously, many of us would like to think that this is mostly due to the now mainstream use of the internet as the main portal of information gathering. We no longer have to rely on the magazine and television monopolies to tell us what to listen to. It also helps that more and more Japanese bands are making the trip overseas and preforming live to larger and larger audiences outside of the anime convention circuit. We can now follow our own paths wherever they may lead. (Hint hint - this is exactly the mission of this site!)
That said, here are a few recommend paths to follow for music lovers of all stripes. There's no way to list all of the great albums that were released in 2007, but I nevertheless hope to cover a lot of ground, as usual, from metal to pop to electro to indie rock. I'll start things off with 15 of my personal favorites from 2007, followed by 35 quick picks.
Termination easily gets my vote for most intense rock album of the year. It's hard to believe that 9mm Parabellum Bullet could top any of their previous fury, but indeed they do. That could be due in part to the high amount of recycled older material, but it's made even more frantic on the new recordings. Termination is a wall of sound from begining to end, with a very high "twists-and-turns" ratio in every song. Not for the feint of heart, yet somehow extremely catchy along the way. "Punishment," the aptly named final track, puts epic metal guitar gods Dragonforce to shame.
It was a long and lonely wait for the very first album from Abingdon Boys School. We were teased with a couple years worth of singles until they finally releases their self-titled album in 2007. While it only contained about 50% new material, it was still a much welcomed album. Full of Toshiyuki Nishi's relentlessly thick and compressed production, the album is a solid wall of guitars, synths and Takanori Nishikawa's vocal prowess. While it's obviously a pop album, ABS manages to bring a lot of raw power via the intricate guitar riffs and hulking drums. It's pop rock full of metal tricks and synthetic grandeur.
Much like 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Asparagus plays a very intense brand of spiky indie-rock, stripped down and raw. They aren't afraid to leave all the nerve endings exposed on Mont Blanc, which is full of very quick, tight guitars and drums all supporting the melodic structures.
Struggle In A Whirl, the debut album from The Brown, is a feast of progressively minded indie rock, swinging from complex guitar workouts to mellow passages that shine a light on Ai's crooning vocal style. Every song is packed with small details that require several listens to fully comprehend. I hate to keep invoking the name of 9mm Parabellum Bullet (band of the year maybe?), but Struggle In A Whirl certainly sounds more than a little like Evanescence run through a Termination machine.
Buck-Tick never fail to surprise with every new album they release, and they did it once again with Tenshi No Revolver. While the previous album was an ichor slathered, dark and glammy affair, Tenshi No Revolver is a much brighter, yet no less menacing album. While the songs seem more upbeat and happy at first blush, further inspection exposes the same dark undertones. The sound is stripped down and focuses on a simpler raw sound, which highlights the, as always, subtle, brilliant songwriting. Much like The Cure could fake happy now and then, Buck-Tick will put the smiles back on the face of goth via Tenshi No Revolver.
Budo Grape continued their new-wave synth rock stylings on Otonatachi x Kodomotachi, an album full of very cute and fun electro-rock songs ala The Plastics and The Sugarcubes. The tag-team male/female vocals add to the playful, totally unpretentious songs. While overall the production on Otonatachi x Kodomotachi is very dry and to the point (much like early Devo recordings), their willingness to dip into a wide range of electronic textures keeps the simple songs interesting from beginning to end.
Coaltar of the Deepers has made a career out of being extremely tough to categorize. Every album is an exercise in genre bending, and that is expressed most perfectly on Yukari Telepath. While the band started out as a softer, shoe-gaze type band, they've always adopted much heaver element in their music. With Yukari Telepath, they blend dreamy sounds-capes with very loud and very thick metal passages and grunting vocals. That can then break into an uplifting bit full of synths and the usual dreamy style. At other times they stick to straight-up groovy rock, or totally spaced out excursions. Yet they make it all work perfectly and cohesively. I'd even dare to say that Yukari Telepath is the best album of 2007, blending not only disparate styles, but synthetic and acoustic elements in equal measure. And I mean best album. It's something that must be listened to as a whole, and that is something that is becoming increasingly rare these days.
GO!GO!7188's 569 is a much welcome return to superb songwriting for the band. Their surf-rock meets epic-female-vocal style is never more solid than on this album. The opening tracks are easily their best material ever, with extremely catchy songs wrapped in deceptively complex structures. While the middle of the album contains all the more experimental and quiet stuff, the party picks up again toward the end. As with many of the previously mentioned albums, 569 focus only on the band's solid playing, highlighting the trio's prowess behind their instruments, as well as the very upbeat and fun songs.
Maximum the Hormone - Buiikikaesu
On Buiikikaesu, Maximum the Hormone seems to do the impossible, making nu-metal interesting and fun. While it contains all of the signature chugging riffs and guttural screaming, it also adds a huge dose of catchy melody and straight up pop-rock. In fact just about every song seems to jump through several genres, from mook-rock to ska to dancable pop and hip-hop, all with a fun punk-rock irreverence, and the occasional super cute female vocal. With Buiikikaesu, Maximum the Hormone proves that nu-metal isn't all angst and emo, but also a good time.
Bambi's Dilemma is the perfect mix of seemingly random noise guitar with easily digestible punk songs. While calling Melt Banana "abrasive" might be the understatement of the year, they manage to keep their spikey outer shell razor sharp while at the same time writing nothing but pure pop songs on Bambi's Dilemma. It's just pop at a million miles an hour, played through a blender on the verge of a meltdown. While their blistering punk presentation won't be winning over the faint of heart, the pure pop of Bambi's Dilemma just might.
Don't let the sailor-suited school girl who fronts this band fool you. Or better yet, let her fool you into thinking you'll be getting a typical cute pop-rock the image might otherwise represent. After all, Midori is a band full of pop and cute and rainbows, it's just that it's all fractured from too much love and overuse. Both of Midori's 2007 releases are chock full of playful pianos, drums and bass, playfully played by a trio of angry children throwing a fit over a favorite toy. It seems impossible that singer Mariko Goto could contain so much rage and fury one second, then drop down to a cute and alluring tone, drawing you in for another vocal attack. If these guys don't burn out soon, they just might take over the world.
Speaking of taking over the world, 2007 was an extremely important year for Japan's preeminent new-wave band Polysics. Not only was it their 10th anniversary, but they embarked on the very first MySpace Music Tour in America, which exposed them to hundreds of thousands of new fans. While many of those new fans might have thought that Polysics or Die: Vista, a compilation released on MySpace Records, was their big 2007 album, it was actually the all new Karate House which was the year's centerpiece. Containing a large number of hit singles like "Electric Surfin' Go Go" and "You You You," it also showed off the band's continuing evolution. While they still retain their early noise-rock mentality, it continues to be tempered by their desire to hone their sounds into pure electro-rock bliss. Karate House is just one more step on their way to world-wide fame.
If Puffy's previous and more recent releases pushed them too far into pandering-to-America territory, then it was this year's Honeycreeper that brought them back home. The songs on Honeycreeper hearken back to their early days, with more of a focus on the fuzzy, hazy feel-good retro-rock sound in lieu of their previous pop-rock aping of Avril Lavigne. The songwriting is some of the best you'll hear on a rock album in any country, with ample twin vocal harmonies and the simple yet somehow nostalgic sounding melodies. Honeycreeper is just a simply beautiful, middle of the road, totally unpretentious rock album, something only Puffy can do with such quiet perfection.
If it's eclectic arrangements you're looking for, then Shugo Tokumaru's Exit is the perfect album for you. The songs roll out like clockwork toys, all made in a place not quite based in any reality we know, yet all strangely familiar. It helps that all of the tunes on Exit are front and center, somehow managing to not get lost in the vast sea of unique sounds. While the vocal treatments might remind you of The Beach Boys' dreamy, layered style, it's Tokumaru's totally fresh presentation that will keep you feeling just off-kilter enough to keep the bemused smile on your face from beginning to end.
While, for some totally unfathomable reason, it doesn't contain the incredibly epic first single "The Revenant Choir," Versailles' first album Lyrical Sympathy is a limitless font of epic metal greatness. Its soaring majesty is rivaled only by the band's own outrageously over the top visual style, which is taken straight out Anne Rice's most fevered dreams. Their frilly and darkly colorful look is a prefect visual analog for their music, which is equally dark and brooding, yet full of blistering metal guitar riffs, seemingly unending solos and labyrinthine structures. I still don't know how they manage to pull off all of those complicated phrases while wearing a hundred pounds of lace and flowing dresses, but the blinding greatness of their music is enough to dampen any doubts. If Lestat were alive today, this would be his band.
Some Other Notable Releases:
Art-School - Hidari Kiki no KIKI: An excellent little EP.
Ayumi Hamasaki - GUILTY: Yeah, that's right. Even the biggest pop-idols in Japan can release an interesting album once in a while.
B'z - Action: You can't ignore the biggest selling band in the history of Japan.
Base Ball Bear - 17sia: More pop/post-punk/dream rock from BBB.
Bremen - Precious Story: "Just another blissful electro album" is always welcome.
Bump of Chicken - Orbital Period: Simple soft rock is simply perfect.
CapsuleFlash Back: More of the same is just fine when it's the same top-notch electro-dance from Nakata Yasutaka.
Chatmonchy- Seimeiryoku: Fresh-faced-and-smiling rough-edged pop-rock from the all-girl trio.
Coltemonikha - Coltemonikha2: Speaking of Nakata Yasutaka, if his Capsule stuff is too hard and sharp for you, try this softer side.
Electric Eel Shock - Transworld Ultra Rock: More balls-out stoner-rock mayhem from EES.
Fullarmor - Zion: An excellent little guitar-driven instrumental album full of intense songs that seem to come straight out of your favorite retro video game soundtrack.
Galneryus- One For All, All For One: If you were scared off by Versailles' frilly pink dresses, then maybe Galneryus' less visual epic metal is more for you.
Going Under Ground - Oyasumi Monster: If it's fun soft-rock you're after, then this is the album for you.
Hawaiian6 - Rings: More intense, melodic power-punk from Hawaiian6.
Ken Yokoyama - Third Time's A Charm: More intense, melodic power-punk from Ken Yokoyama.
L'Arc-en-Ciel - Kiss: L'Arc continues their mix of lushly produced, dark and elegant rock.
The Local Art - KiZUNA: A great, solid power rock album. What else do you need?
Mars Eurythmics - Range Over Hill and Dale: A great, upbeat, solid indie-rock album. What else do you need?
Meg- Beam: Speaking of Nakata Yasutaka, if his Coltemonikha stuff isn't fun enough for you, try his more mature production on Meg's new album.
Mix Market - Shiawase no Elephant: Another fun and bubbly indie rock album from Mix Market.
Mosaic.wav - Future-Fiction:AKIBA-POP!!: Suffering from low blood-sugar? Inject this super-sweet anime inspired collection of crazy synth-pop twice daily.
Motocompo- Chiptop Lips: Their most mature album so far, it contains some of the most blissful synth-pop you'll hear.
NoodlesMetropolis: More drowsy, fuzzed out rock from this all-girl rock group.
Onmyo-za- Maou Taiten: Once again Onmyo-za bring new life to classic metal and traditional Japanese style.
Otsuka Ai - Love Piece: Yet another spot-on collection of retro-pop rock, tearful ballads and plain crazy fun from the most cutest idol ever.
The Pillows - Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!: It should go without saying by now, but when The Pillows release an album, you buy it.
Roach- Mind of the Sun: Nu-Metal with a very original, high-pitched traditional Japanese vocal style. Well, at least when he's not screaming.
RYUKYUDISKO - INSULARHYTHM A straight-up techno/dance album full of happy melodies and interesting collaborations.
School Food Punishment - Air Feel, Color Swim and School Food is Food Food: Two albums full of mature female vocals, pianos and soft, spacey rock.
Straightener- Immortal: A great little EP of brash indie-rock.
Tokyo Jihen - Variety: More swank, high-society rock. I suggest a white wine.
Tomoyasu Hotei - Ambivalent: Guitar-fueled blues-rock? Here it is!
UVERworld - Bugright: If Base Ball Bear's 17sai didn't have enough down-tempo rap for your liking, then UVERworld would like to talk with you.
Vidoll - Bastard: A step above your average vis-kei album, Bastard swings from screamy metal to soft, dance-able ballads and back.
That's it for this year. Hopefully that will give you enough to wade through until the next wave of albums begins to appear. With all of the amazing music released this year, next year looks to be very interesting indeed!
(Also, please feel free to add your own "Best Of" list in the comments!)
J-Pop and J-Rock are only the beginning. The modern Japanese music scene is just as vibrant and varied as any other music scene in the world. I'm Zac Bentz, writer, musician, designer and all around Japanese music fanatic. Here I hope to share with you a comprehensive (!!) list of Japanese artists and bands (with a strong focus on underground and indie acts) that you may or may not have heard of, in the hopes of expanding our mutual awareness of Japanese music.
I don't mean to suggest that everything I listen to is great. Quite the contrary, I hope that you will take the time to recommend your own favorite artists in the comments so that we can all learn a bit more about the huge range of Japanese music that's out there.
"The best Japanese music blog in the world." - Door Slam "Definitely a must-visit for J-pop and J-rock fans!" -The Otaku "Zac Bentz loves music. A lot." -Japanator "Very cool!" -J-ENT "...one of the foremost blogs and information centers on all J-pop and J-rock...the top source for tour information on Japanese bands in the US..." -YankeeOtaku "Wer mehr darüber wissen will, der sollte sich mal hier umschauen, ein sehr gutes J-Music Blog übrigens." -CommandSheep "...very well-written, and there’s an excellent range of artists...a useful resource." -International Wota "не плохая энциклопедия японских исполнителей/групп" -Diary.ru "Great resource for Japanese music fans who want to explore today's J-rhythms beyond Johnny's Entertainment bishonen music and anime music. XD" -Kaishi "If you are a J-Rock fan, [ZB's A-Z] is a must see." -Crunchyroll community "Otaku USA magazine finally got wise and hired Zac Bentz as a J-music contributing editor."-Radicalpatriot "Reviews practically every Asian band that has ever created a recording."- Zallie "Gewährt spannende Einblicke in die japanische Musikszene." -Laut.de
