Well The Brilliant Green have a new single out, that might interest you. ;)

As for other female rock-ish bands, let me think. Well Maria have their debut album coming out soon, so that's worth a look. Mika Nakashima has a couple of new things on the horizon, and she generally has that sort of sound. Other than that, not sure.

I just watched the new TBG pv, and I'm loving it. I'm glad they're releasing new material now. I'm hoping for a new album soon :). I downloaded Mika Nakashima's new album, so far she still sounds the same but I prefer her "normal" style compared to her NaNa style (which is I think is better with Anna Tsuchiya).

Hoy, pare. You might like some ERIKA, the artist name for the cutie from 1 Litre of Tears, Erika Sawajiri. She just released a single too, and I like her sound. <3

Woo, Otsuka Ai has a new album coming out (a proper one, none of this best-of nonsense). It's out at the end of September (26th) and will be called "Love Piece".

I've just pre-ordered me a first pressing of the CD only version (comes with a 40 page photobook ^^).

<3

On a sort of related note, if you like dance-y-esque tracks I'd recommend looking at Genki Rocket's "Heavenly Star". It's a song available as a skin for Lumines Live and it rocks. I got a free £15 iTunes voucher when I bought my Shuffle so picked up a copy. It's made of win.

Hm, now that I have a job, I think I should pre-order Tokyo Jihen's third album, "Variety" :p (and perhaps order the 2 previous albums).

Also, any thoughts on Mizrock? I'm hearing she changed her name but failed to deliver the "oomph" when it comes to her music.

She also changed record label. Not checked out her new style yet, but yeah, not been hearing brilliant things about it.

I'd like to put in my 2 cents for the latest "Best of" album to hit the market, namely "Greatest Hits" from Sukima Switch.

While "Best of" albums are usually a pass for diehard fans, I think that Sukima Switch has gone by unnoticed by most J-pop fans (at least previously...they've gotten some good exposure with "Zenryoku Shonen" popping up on Ouendan 2). I can't think of another group I'd compare them to, other than maybe Yuzu, but with a piano in there instead.

In any case, it's definitely a good intro into a great pair if you're interested.

http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.asp...id-1004882259/

Miz's new mini-album is not good.

Tokyo Jihen, however, has two new singles this summer, both which are great, and a new album in September. And that's all that matters. No other artist is important.

This man speaks the truth.

Aye. I have the new Tokyo Jihen album on pre-order. Looking forward to that. :)

New ELT pv/single is <3. I'm trying to look for info when they'll release a new album.

Also, lol Leah Dizon.

Ooo, I've not seen the new ELT PV, this I will have to check out. I guess it could be coming up to new album time as thinking about it Crispy Park would have been released about a year ago (as it was released at the end of my Japan trip).

I can't believe Leah Dizon has an album. That's such a joke. She clearly exists as a marketing exercise (how much can we sell on the basis that the singer is a hot model).

Anyways, just got my copies of MARIA's album and the new MoMusu singles (MoMusu and the 10 Anniverisary group). All rock hard, especially the new MoMusu single. <3

A lot of J-pop is about image and marketing. I'm not surprised Leah Dizon was able to break into music. I'm pretty sure any idol with a reasonably sized fanclub could get enough people to buy their music. They're training a lot of idols to get into the visual as well as musical arts. I know I did a doubletake when I saw Yamada Yu get on Oricon's Top 30 several months back. Geesh.

That's very true and I guess I wasn't really all that surprised, but I listened to a couple of her tracks and they're dire. They're not even "OK" and forgivable nonsense if you were a fan. Takes all sorts I guess, and well, I like MoMusu so can't really talk. :p

Mind you, I have to say, I am loving the new MoMusu single it's damned catchy.

Just pre-ordered YUI's new single (woo) and Angela Aki's new album. I've not actually heard any of Angela Aki's new material since her last album but I figure what they hey, why not.

I guess it's better to ask here than to start a thread.

Does anyone know how Japanese artists behave? Like in America, a lot of artists are attention whores. There's trash talk, scandals, bad rumors, and everyone has be arrested for DUI or DWI. Is it the same in Japan? Are they more well behaved or do they have the same thing too?

http://wiki.theppn.org/Kago_Ai_Smoking_Scandal

:(

Although I guess smoking wouldn't exactly qualify as scandalous in the US.

And really if anything, smoking is even more accepted/commonplace in Japan. The social stigma isn't as bad over there.

I think the main reason there was such a fuss with Kago Ai was that her image bred her to be this cute, ditzy girl that could never mess with such things as underage smoking.

The private lives of most idols are kept under wraps very well. If you have a good company backing an idol, you'll only hear what they want you to hear, i.e. whatever sells the image they're promoting. Her little indisrection went against the image, which had her banished away from the public eye for a little bit in order to do damage control.

Of course, it wouldn't do any good when she would released from her contract later anyway.

Same thing is happening with her counterpart Nozomi Tsuji, in that their private lives are starting to sneak out. Apparently pregnancy, not as big of a deal as underage smoking over there.

Shoot, if you want a real story about J-pop singers behaving badly, here you go:

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai...dm003000c.html

Haven't heard of her? That's probably because once her problems started to surface, everything about her disappeared from public knowledge.

What the hell? Didn't she also release the single "Taiyou no Uta" under the name "Kaoru Amane"? How many guises does this girl need?

Believe me she needs more to hide her bitchy attitude!

On other note, I've enjoyed her Taiyou no Uta single, loved her Stay with me song, but for some unknown reason I dont know if i should download her new single, if its something like taiyou no uta i would.

I'd recommend it. It's grungy and indy-ish. A bit more rockish that YUI's "My Generation".

I also surprised the hell outta myself by actually grabbing the first KAT-TUN (groan) single I've actually liked so far; Yorokobi no Uta.

Tokyo Jihen's newest single "Killer Tune" has been out since the 22nd! I'm sure you've grabbed your copy, since it's currently occupying the 5th spot on the Oricon Weekly charts.

Good classic sound from Shiina as always.

I just got that last night (I can't believe I missed it!). I can say that their sound changed a lot compared to their previous album. I was kind of expecting this since I read somewhere that the third album, "Variety", will be consisted of demo songs by the band members instead of Shiina writing most of the songs.

Classic J-Pop Sampler - Unofficial and Unauthorized GFF Edition - Volume 7
 

I guess this is as good a place as any to put this in for now. As some may already know, I've taken an interest into Japanese popular music from the 1960s to the 1980s, and have been collecting them and exploring different genres and artists via P2P methods. I've also been repackaging some of what I've got into CD-sized volumes for GFF because I didn't want to have it all to myself.

I will make a more detailed entry of this in my journal, but I'll put it here first for sake of simplicity.

Classic J-Pop Sampler - Unofficial and Unauthorized GFF Edition - Volume 7



The spread of this volume is 26 years, the biggest yet, from 1966 to 1993, spanning from the height of Group Sounds to the beginnings of the current J-Pop sound.

If anyone is interested in the previous six volumes, please let me know and I'll upload them.

I suppose unless someone else with more knowhow comes along, I'll be glad to discuss and introduce classic J-Pop, Group Sounds, Enka, and early idols to y'all. Hope you enjoy this volume!

Well, the new Tokyo Jihen album is a disappointment. I was expecting a "variety" of pop/jazz/rock/electronica fusion, but what I got is a variety of songs with "beeps" and "bloops". Although there's few songs that I like (Kingyo no Hako, Fukushuu, Tsukigime-Hime, and Sake to Geko) the rest of it is very..."beepy".

Oh well, people change, music changes, and I (or we) have seen this trend with a lot of Japanese (and non-Japanese) bands.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with ya there vemp, I really rather like the new Tokyo Jihen album. It sounds very much like a Tokyo Jihen album, which is certainly no bad thing.

Of all my new music though the two things I love most are YUI's new single (shocking I know) and Otsuka Ai's new album, both of which are large spoonfuls of <3