J-Pop, eh...?

Just picked up some of the Ayu-mi-x Acoustic Orchestra CDs recently (Yeah, I know they're super old, but can't say no at $3 each.) All some pretty good stuff.

As for Morning Musume, I wasn't so impressed with Egao YES Nude but I do enjoy it more than some of the other stuff that H!P has been releasing these days... Though the SharanQ version of Aruiteru was pretty cool. Hopefully this year will let Niigaki get some more screentime? :) The Takahashi-Fujimoto-Tanaka triad isn't really doing it for me...

I love J-pop. Some of my favorite artists are:

ORANGE RANGE: sort of like a mix between rock and rap. Rapping in Japanese just sounds awesome.

MIZ: actually the first j-pop cd I heard. Sort of poppy but she sings half in Japanese and half in English.

BoA: she is actually from South Korea, but really awesome.

MIKA NAKASHIMA: she is a real genuis. She can sing anything from classical to hard core punk. She even sings "Amazing Grace"

I've been to Japan. My wife is Japanese, so we flew there to get married and so that I can meet her family. Japan is awesome. I told my wife if shecan teach me to speak Japanese, we are moving!

Welcome parKbench. Good to see more J-music enthusiasts.

Since you've already listed some of your favorite artists I'd like to suggest some for you to give a listen to.

ORANGE RANGE: If you like those guys you should definitely check out bands like SOUL'd OUT, Heartsdales, and HOME MADE KAZOKU.

MIZ and BoA: These two defintely side on the more pop type. I suggest you try out Crystal Kay (especially her most recent CD, "Call Me Miss..."), Rei fu, and Sowelu.

That's cool how you're learning Japanese as well. It can be rather challenging. :)

I would never associate Rie fu with Crystal Kay, Sowelu, and BoA. Her style is much more eclectic than those three who sing mostly Pop/R&B.

Orange Range are the best. I can listed to their CD "MusiQ" over and over again. I, also, love their ending theme for the Naruto anime.

I picked up a CD by Exile titled "Entertainment". Awesome stuff.

Any suggestions on more artists like that? I love J-hip-hop?

I agree. I guess I could've made a separate section for her, but parKbench said he was interested in artists who sing in both Japanese and English. Rei fu definitely fits into that category at least. ;)

parKbench: If your interested in more J-hip hop, definitely check out the artists I mentioned in my previous post:

- SOUL'd OUT
- Heartsdales
- HOME MADE KAZOKU

Also, which CD's besides MusiQ do you have of ORANGE RANGE?

MusiQ is the only Orange Range CD that I have. The other songs I have heard, I have found on youtube.com. I have heard of SOUL'd OUT, I will have to keep an eye out for that. I have heard that Gacht (did I spell that right?) is good, too. I am interested in picking that up.

Any suggestion as to which SOUL'd OUT CD would be the best to start with? What is their newest CD?

I think you're in luck because SOUL'd OUT just came out with a singles collection album in December. If you're looking to get into an established artist, the best way is usually through their "Best Of" or "Singles Collection" albums. They give you a taste of all their music over the various years they've been in the business.

My wife picked me up the new Mika Nakashima CD "The End" for Valentine's Day.

Score!

She, also, told me that only otaku like Morning Masume. I watched a video of their's on youtube and it looked like something that should be shown on a children's TV show.

Morning Masume is very hit-and-miss for me. Some of the group's tracks are very catchy and upbeat, while others fail miserably. It may also have to do with the rotating group members (something I've seen in countries other than the US. It works well in the rest of the world, so why not here?)

In other news, my Utada vinyl is still backordered. GRR :angry:

I've been really getting into stuff from Misia. I've been listening to Marvelous ever since it came in a few weeks ago, and Remix 2000: Little Tokyo is nothing short of amazing. Anyone else a fan of her's? I believe there's a new album being released from her this year...

Parkbench: You should watch the "Chu! Natsu Party" music vid on YouTube. I think the song is for a kids' show, but isn't it a bit naughty to show to the wee ones?

Random MM comment, but fair enough. If you've not heard their latest I recommend checking it out because it's very good. Very glad I've got that on order (should be here beginning of next week).

I'm really loving Bonnie Pink at the moment, her music just rocks and I'm so glad I picked up "Every Single Day" collection. If you still haven't checked out Bonnie Pink, go do it.

I watched the Chu! Natsu Party....um... it does look like it belongs on a dirty children's show...maybe a Spanish children's show. OMG, I used to watch a show called Xuxa or something with my son. I swear the host of this children's show would come out in bikinis. This video would fit in very well there.

After a few months of J-pop hiatus, I listened to Do As Infinity's "Do the A-side" album today. Why can't there be bands like this anymore :( (this and The Brilliant Green :( ). Maybe there are new bands like them, I just haven't checked yet. heh.


DAI 4 lyf!

Yeah, ever since Tomoko continued her Tommy project (which I love, by the way), I've been wanting to hear some new tbg music.

OP! You mean "Egao YES Nude", right?
I watched the PV and I'm very very sad because... I dunno... hehe

And Sowelu = <3

Anyone listen to Flavor of Life - Ballad Version - by hikki?

Yeah, it's going to be looping on my playlist for a while now. I first watched the PV and absolutely <3-ed.

edit.
Also, does the guitarist look like Chow Yun Fat or am I still deranged from watching Curse of the Golden Flower?

http://systema.googlepages.com/snaps...0222142756.jpg

I do mean "Egao YES Nude" indeed. You watched the PV and were sad? Why? I'm loving that song though, it's absolutely rocks.

Also, YUI's upcoming single "CHE.R.RY" is very, very, very, very good. The PV is also cute as hell. I recommend checking that out too.

TBH I didn't really fall for CHE.R.RY or the PV in this case.

I personally loved the "CHE.R.RY" PV and song, even more so than "Rolling star." :)

By the way, I noticed that th3 r3s0urc3 b10g was shut down...again. :(

I watched the Yui CHE.R.RY video on youtube. It was pretty good. Anyone have any other suggestions on j-pop videos to check out.

I somewhat agree with the stance of the PV... it seemed a bit too mature for Momusu, in my opinion, and the while the PV matched that image perfectly, I kind of have problems seeing those girls (especially Koharu and Aika!) rolling around on a bed and lying on top of one another like that. Not that it's a bad song, but it seemed more like a song v-u-den would make. Momusu's a shade young for it.

I miss the days of super bubbly, Renai Revolution-y things.

Just recently announced, there have been apparently some new additions to Morning Musume. The interesting part is that Tsunku has decided to go international this time and added two Chinese teenagers to the mix (Li Chun, 19 and Qian Lin, 16). They still need to take some dance, vocal, and Japanese language lessons, but their first appearance is scheduled for the March 18 ep of Hello! Morning.

Well, as long as they sing and dance I guess >_> Looking at their photos, they honestly blend in pretty well with the rest of the group.

Well, for you Morning Musume / Tsunku / Hello Project fans, there's an interesting television program that does this:

Yuko Nakazawa singing "Momo Iro Toiki"

Selected members of Hello Project (and some other guest performers, by the looks of it from other episodes) sing one song each episode (?) that are songs from the past. Each week has a theme and the song is selected to adhere to that theme. Just thought you guys might find it interesting to see girls from (or whom have graduated) Morning Musume singing songs that are not customary to their "usual" style the general public is accustomed to.

Also, note for all y'all who think J-POP is all about yappy, happy go lucky chick tunes (as in Morning Musume):

Ayaka x Kobukuro

Not all Japanese music is "Pop-ish," some can actually sing. This is a song called "Winding Road," a collaboration performance between Kobukuro (the two male singers, for those of you unfamiliar to them), and Ayaka.

I listen to all J-pop EXCEPT yappy, happy go lucky chick tunes. I would feel more comfortable being caught by my wife watching porno than a Momusu video.

My favorite is Mika Nakashima. She CAN sing! And I love Orange Range.