2 posts tagged “j-music primers”
1. Miyavi
Miyavi...ah, where to start. His music took a lot of getting used to for me
2. AYA
Yes, that's right folks, a female j-rocker.
Also, another Japanese artist with strong American influences. Her
music is very grunge oriented, and I must say I haven't heard much like
it. Music by her is very hard to come by, though. I actually found out
about her from an MP3 rotation site. She has worked with the American
producer Adam Kasper who has worked with artists such as Foo Fighters,
Pearl Jam, and Sound Garden. AYA
has worked with famous Seattle artists like Krist Novoselic (Nirvana),
Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), John
McBain (Monster Magnet), and Glenn Slater (Walkabouts) to name a few.
. Dir en grey
It will annoy a lot of people that I listed this band here, but frankly, I don't care.
These
days musical talent is cast aside and bands who play three cords
several times are considered rock gods while bands that actually know
what they're doing are considered weird.
Dir en grey is of the second set, and while they have a large fanbase in both American and Asia, many peo ple decide to take the band only at face value, and be disgusted, and refuse to give the band credit for what they are. You can think a band is stupid, but why cast aside their actual musical talent? Back to the point: Dir en grey was formed from the band La: Sadies with one change: the original bassist left and was replaced by Toshiya. Their first mini-album, Missa, was released in 1997, followed by Gauze in 1999. The most recent album was Withering to Death in 2005. Over all this time, Dir en grey has dropped the visual image, and their musical style has also changed significantly. I first became a fan of this band in November of 2005, and I bought one of their albums last month, and plan on buying Withering to Death soon, as it is now available in American stores. Dir en grey is currently touring in America as their fanbase in Japan is much less than it was before.
Dir en grey is of the second set, and while they have a large fanbase in both American and Asia, many peo ple decide to take the band only at face value, and be disgusted, and refuse to give the band credit for what they are. You can think a band is stupid, but why cast aside their actual musical talent? Back to the point: Dir en grey was formed from the band La: Sadies with one change: the original bassist left and was replaced by Toshiya. Their first mini-album, Missa, was released in 1997, followed by Gauze in 1999. The most recent album was Withering to Death in 2005. Over all this time, Dir en grey has dropped the visual image, and their musical style has also changed significantly. I first became a fan of this band in November of 2005, and I bought one of their albums last month, and plan on buying Withering to Death soon, as it is now available in American stores. Dir en grey is currently touring in America as their fanbase in Japan is much less than it was before.
4. Malice Mizer
Another band that people are probably groaning that I mentioned, but again, I don't care.
For a short time MM was on Mana's personal indies label, Midi:nette, until shortly signing to the major label Nippon Columbia, until Gackt left for his own solo career, when they switched, again, to Midi:nette.
See what I mean about changes? Malice Mizer eventually disbanded but Mana now leads the band Moi dix Mois.
So, anyone who's friends with me knows of my somewhat unsettling j-pop obsession, and I suppose I've thrust it into your faces in a rather odd way, making the whole think seem a lot more crazy than it really is. But, I really think that people should open themselves up to more music from all around the world! It started with latino pop with me, then moved to j-pop and j-rock. I have a "thing" for stuff that is a bit off, and, well, weird at times, so it never threw me off, but ti does that to a lot of people. So, here I am to introduce you to the tamest j-pop I listen to, and get you started into exploring the world of music out there.
1. Otsuka Ai
Only a recent obsession of mine, I can't believe how incredibly perky and innocent some of her
singles are, I must say, I love it.
Her voice is high pitched, but on her ballads, you can tell she has a very strong voice, it's just hidden under quite a few layers of sugary, vomit inducing bubble gum pop (but that speaks for a lot of j-pop idols, really. . .) . . .
Anyway, she, like Hikaru Utada, composes and writes her music and lyrics.
Her first big hit was, you guessed it, Sakuranbo, a song about a first love. It's very upbeat and catchy, also my blogs current namesake.
"My smile blooms; I want us to hold each other forever
If we expect to be together in the far future,
We will be 2 people who love each other all the time
Side by side, you and me; cherries." - Sakuranbo, Otsuka Ai
Only a recent obsession of mine, I can't believe how incredibly perky and innocent some of her
Her voice is high pitched, but on her ballads, you can tell she has a very strong voice, it's just hidden under quite a few layers of sugary, vomit inducing bubble gum pop (but that speaks for a lot of j-pop idols, really. . .) . . .
Anyway, she, like Hikaru Utada, composes and writes her music and lyrics.
Her first big hit was, you guessed it, Sakuranbo, a song about a first love. It's very upbeat and catchy, also my blogs current namesake.
"My smile blooms; I want us to hold each other forever
If we expect to be together in the far future,
We will be 2 people who love each other all the time
Side by side, you and me; cherries." - Sakuranbo, Otsuka Ai
2. Hikaru Utada
I've been a fan of her's since about 2004, when her first single in
Thus, her music has a very prominent American influence, and most of her earlier singles sound for R&B than j-pop.
I think her voice is a lot stronger than a lot of the other female j-pop artists, as it is a little deeper and lower. Her latest single, "Keep Tryin" I think sounds a lot more "j-pop" than her other stuff, but I definatley like it. The PV (music video/promostional video) is like a less spastic version of Traveling...
"I run a secret propaganda
Aren't we all hiding pieces of broken anger
I'm just trying to remember who I can call
Can I call
Born in a war of opposite attraction
It isn't, or is it a natural conception
Torn by the arms in opposite directions
It isn't, or is it a Modernist reaction" -Kremlin Dusk, Hikaru Utada
3. Morning Musume
Oh my, well isn't there a lot to cover
Morning Musume (or Momosu) has been around since I believe the late 90's. Starting out with Iida Kaori, Nakazawa Yuko, Ishiguro Aya, Abe Natsumi, and Fukuda Asuka (who have all "graduated" from the group, Kaori most recently.) Of course, with a group of girls that has expanded to be very, very large, you can't go without drama. Recently Yaguchi Mari quit for personal reasons (apparently she had gotten a boyfriend without alerting the head honcho's over at Hello!Project.) The girls are also on Hello Morning, where they do skits, performances, and games. The current leader is Yoshizawa Hitomi (or Yossie), Ogawa Makoto is set to graduate August this year. They also have had many sub-groups, Mini Moni, Ecomoni, Pucchi Moni, Salts, and many others.
For more info, I recommend http://morning-musume.ginas-anime.de/ and wiki.theppn.com
