[Album] J-Pop: An Introduction (and discussion)

Def Tech's awesome. I heard My Way and Konomama reintroducing RIZE and was hooked after that. It's nice to hear something new.

For the record, they've labeled their genre of music as "Jawaiian reggae."

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Flara

i just heard Hikki's Ultra Blue (i know, i lag...)

i give it a so-so... i like her older albums better
but the only highlight in ULTRA BLUE is COLORS!!! I love love COLORS!!! "aoi sora ga~~~"

I think the only weak spot ULTRA BLUE has is Kairo. It may be her most personal song, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere musically at all.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Technophile

Also, Angela Aki's definately one of the more pleasant surprises to come outta J-pop. She's just so talented. Can't wait to hear more material from her.

I was afraid she would go the way of previous Final Fantasy theme song singers (it's almost like a curse!... Not really, but you get what I mean), but thankfully she's proven to be a strong contender. It would be a shame to let her music go unheard.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

I was never arguing that it brought huge success to everyone, but it's certainly not a curse by any means, case in point: Koda Kumi.

I always forget Kumi when I think of Final Fantasy theme songs.

Also, my usage of "curse" was mostly geared towards the fact that Faye Wong, Emiko Shiratori, and Rikki seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth in terms of presence in the Japanese music industry. I mean, I don't even know who Shiratori is.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

As for Koda Kumi, to dismiss her involvement with the FFX-2 soundtrack, and the exposure it gave her, would be naive at best.

I'm not dismissing the exposure it gave her; I just forget her when I think of "Final Fantasy theme song singers," that's all.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

And for those people who have been living in cave recently, Koda Kumi is releasing her 32nd single on the 26th July, called "4 hot wave", which has seven tracks, though three of those are an intro, outro and interlude.

4 hot wave isn't that bad. The only song I didn't warm up to at first was JUICY, but I think I like it kinda better now that I've listened to it a couple of times. The PV is a typical slut!Kumi romp, but it's just funny at the same time because it's so provocative. It's more provocative than SHAKE IT.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Flara

I can't wait til UVERworld's SHAMROCK release on August 1... I'm too lazy to translate the description and romanize the song titles lolz... the kanji actually scares me...

1. SHAMROCK
2. Boku ni Kasanatte Kuru Ima
3. =

There, that wasn't so hard. Heh.

The description doesn't really seem too exciting. Blah blah blah tour encore blah blah blah summer killer tune blah blah balh Dandori.~Dance Drill~ theme song blah blah blah...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Flara

lol thanks

wait wait.. what tour encore???

I think it says that SHAMROCK was performed as an encore on their tour, but I'm not sure. I'm probably wrong.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by vemp

Whoa, YUI is in a movie? I love her music, and it would be interesting to see her act.

It's really very good. I enjoyed it a lot in comparison to the drama version of the movie. Sawajiri Erika doesn't seem to play off Amane Kaoru very believably at all.

Besides, YUI is a better singer than she is.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

Does anyone hear have Yuna Ito songs? I'm looking for some. p2p let me down >.<

http://soulsteelgray.wordpress.com/t...ring-yuna-ito/
http://soulsteelgray.wordpress.com/tag/yuna-ito/

Go wild.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

Thanks. Speeking of Yuna, do you know much about the movie Limit of Love? She sung Precious for it.

All I know about LIMIT OF LOVE: Umizaru is that it serves as a sequel to Umizaru and the following drama series, Umizaru Evolution.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

Oh really? It looks good from what I seen. So you're saying there's a previous movie and tv show?

Yup.

http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/umizaru.shtml
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Umizaru

I was speaking idiomatically.

I thought I should pop in and post tidbits about Koda Kumi's new double A-side single.

Tentative tracklisting:
1. Yume no Uta
2. Futari de...
3. Yume no Uta (Instrumental)
4. Futari de... (Instrumental)

Yume no Uta and Futari de… will have the same basic melody but the arrangements will be different and so will the lyrics. It’s supposed to represent the duality of love. The single is described on her official site as a "2 Story Ballad Single."

It also seems that the first pressing of the CD and CD+DVD editions will have two bonus tracks. (I think that's what her official site says.) The DVD will contain the two PVs and a making-of for the two PVs.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Scarletdeath

Younha's new single is different though, as she actually changed her image into a gothic punk rocker on that single. No piano.

Te wo Tsunaide had some piano, but it wasn't as prominent as it was in previous songs.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

I was able to get info on the movie Umizaru here, so maybe I'll get lucky. Does anyone know much about the movie Shinobi?

It was based on the novel Kouga Ninpou Chou by Yamada Futaro, but it was adapted into a manga and anime first before heading to the big screen as SHINOBI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilis..._Ninja_Scrolls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHINOBI_Heart_Under_Blade

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Chyna~Girl

Did you see the movie?

No. The movie doesn't particularly interest me even though Nakama Yukie is in it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Flara

and I'm in love with all the songs she sings in the drama and I'm going crazy looking for the movie >______< someone please end my agony and kill me now hahahaha jks jks

Ha ha. Give it a couple of months before it leaks onto the internet. It just came out, what, last month? Late July?

Anyways, I thought I should plug Younha's latest single, Ima ga Daisuki. I'm not particularly fond of the B-side, Inori, but I really like Ima ga Daisuki a lot.

And then, of course, there's Suga Shikao's newest album. Man, the guy never fails to amaze me.

One last thing: please tell me I'm not the only one slightly appalled by Taiyou no Uta's first week ranking. #2 with 150k units moved? It's not even that good of a single. The ratings for the drama don't seem to correlate all that well with the sales figures either.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by jouhou

Speaking of Utada, does anyone know the english translated lyrics for her song "making love" ?
It's not on wiki.theppn and I can't find it in any forums.
It's really catchy and I want to know what she's singing. I can guess what she's singing but I like reading translated lyrics, I do that for all J-songs.

All I can do is offer a summary. Hikki's singing about a friend of hers that's moved away, but she doesn't have to worry about her because she's already "making love" in her new city.

If you didn't already know so, Making Love was written by Hikki for a friend who--surprise!--moved away.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Flara

What's on the dvd for the tokyo friends movie music collection???? IF THE MOVIE COMES WITH IT I SWEAR I WILL BUY IT RIGHT NOW!!!

I'm dying by not watching the movie without english subtitles....

I think it just comes with PVs/footage of Ai singing tears, Yumekui, and Friends.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Flara

ah craps...

does anyone feel my pain???
I'm slowly dying without watching that movie!!!

You could make yourself feel better with YUI's latest single, I remember you. The song is a continuation of sorts from Good-bye days (and by extension Taiyou no Uta), so it's nice to see that acting as Amane Kaoru had a pretty huge impact on YUI. The song's also pretty damn good (and the single comes with the acoustic version of Good-bye days!).

And of course, I wouldn't be talking about I remember you if I didn't have it uploaded. Ta-da!

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Flara

Taiyou no Uta!!! I have that movie sitting in my room right now....
YUI is the main lead right?
ahhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so excited seeing her act!!!!

She's absolutely wonderful in it, which is more than I can say for Sawajiri Erika's interpretation of the character in the drama.

Speaking of which, is anyone else puzzled by Taiyou no Uta's success on the Oricon charts?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by striped phantom

How about Utada's "Boku wa Kuma" ? I love it! The video is so cute.

It's just a kids song, so I'm inclined to plain not care about it, but I'll admit that it's a cute song and it has a cute Minna no Uta animation. I'm going to prefer listening to her other songs over it, though.

Most amazing jew boots

Speaking of Kumi, I'm loving WON'T BE LONG from EXILE & Koda Kumi. I don't really like the original version by the Bubblegum Brothers, so I'm puzzled as to why I enjoy the cover. Maybe it's because of AKIRA's hypnotic abs.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by lemonmanko

on another note im actually collecting pv's now is there any websites that have direct download for jpop vids?

I have a good number of PVs up for direct download at my media blog. I haven't gotten around to reuploading a large portion of the broken links on it, however, so you'll have to live with what I've got up. The broken links are in posts dated prior to September 1st.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Flara

I roughly read the thing... but Shiawase no Chikara is the image song for a movie called Shiawase no Chikara? It has Will Smith in it??? WHAT???

"Shiawase no Chikara" is the Japanese title for the movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

There's nowhere I can't reach.