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

OP is going to Japan? He's going to be in Heaven.

Make sure you go to many Book Offs and Book Markets. They have shelves of used CD singles for 105Y. That's under $1. I got like 3 or 4 of Utada's singles and a The Brilliant Green single for that price, a Bivattchee single for 400Y, and a HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR for 200Y.

It's good stuff. Albums are as low as 750Y too. The conversion rate when I was there was 114Y = $1.

If you begin to buy stuff, you'll never stop.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

Shiina Ringo does indeed rock, and hard at that. I'm loving the new Tokyo Jihen album lots and lots.

Rollins: Ha ha, will do. Well it certainly won't be 100% guys as the person I'd be going with is female.

I got Adult about a week before it actually came out. I was a hero on Soulseek. Great album, but I think I liked their first album, Kyoiku (?) better.

Originally Posted by Dhsu

What really strikes me about her PVs (although this might apply to a lot of other alt rock artists) is that there is very little dancing in any of them. It's all about the music, not how well she shakes her half-naked behind.

I think it's more about conveying a message. Businesses and greed do exist, but the artists are much more involved in Japan when it comes to their music. Most artists write their own music and that's what makes them superior. It's real.

Anyway, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION's new album, Fanclub, comes out in 8 days. I really don't know what to expect. Blue Train was great, World Apart wasn't that far behind, and the aired tracks from the album are 50/50. With Sol-fa being such a hit around the world, I think it's going to be really difficult for them to duplicate that success with this third album.

Nevertheless, I can't wait.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm still sort of confused about whether this is J-Rock discussion as well, but so be it. Rock is popular music so I can get by on that.

Came back from this live last night that was really awesome. It was my first rock concert so it was really exciting for me. The Emeralds, The Rodeo Carburettor, Ellegarden, Stance Punks, PE'Z, and Sushi Mamire all played and they were great. Ellegarden set the house on fire and PE'Z was my favorite or second indefinitely.

If they tour again, you should go see them definitely. Awesome stuff. I'm going to lives more often now :P

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

As far as I'm concerned, PE'Z is just PE'Z, not Peelander Z or anything like that. They're a jazz band primarily. I actually bought the album they were selling and I was surprised to not have already had it digitally.

I really wanna hear YUI's new album and AKFG's as well, alas, no internet still. Hopefully I can grab them tomorrow.

I've seen the PV for Tiny Tiny Melody, and however beautiful her songs are, it always sounds like there's one note in every Rie Fu song that she never gets all the way too. Its not like she can't sing, but it often sticks out, and I've never really heard of any musical technique causing you to purposely not hit notes like that.

Oh well.

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

Dear ignored "newbie,"

There is a large list of artists and descriptions in the first post. Read it.

Don't think you're special deserving attention at the exact moment you want it. If anyone feels like it, we'll help.

Also Katamari isn't really jpop. Its just music tailored to be weird/badass enough to fit the game. Contrary to popular belief, most normal japanese people don't go around listening to video game soundtracks, especially not zany games like Katamari. That kind of shoots down the whole "popular" part of jpop.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm not too sure about methods of dvd ripping via xbox, although they undoubtedly exist. However, you can rip the dvd image with DVD Decrypter (if you can find the install, I have it but I don't have internet at the moment). Also, to play on the computer there's a nice little program called AnyDVD which should do you nicely. It pretty much disables region encoding so you can play DVDs of any region on your resident DVD drive.

Also, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR album 2 in like two weeks. Going to the mothers soon so I'll definitely take that oppurtunity to catch up on as much of the music scene that I possibly can in a day. I want to be back in Japan with the huge music stores in Akihabara and all the godliness of a foreign country.

Anyway, pay your bills, folks, you don't want to be left on the street with no internet, trust me.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Rollins

Apparently the story of the series (as DramaWiki describes it) is a cowboy from the US goes to Shibuya to find a group of girls to dance para-para.

Wait what? Does that even count as a story? What would a cowboy want to do with para-para girls?

The U.S. still has cowboys?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Flara

oh btw... does anyone know what's happening to Sowelu right now? She's been kinda quiet lately...

She hasn't been quiet at all. She released an album last July, and since then 2 singles, one in November and one in February. Her third single, presumably the last before her next album, will be released on May 10th, entitled "Dear friend".

Sowelu @ CDJapan

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

Has anyone heard of eufonius? eufonius did the Noein opening, but I actually knew about them before I watched the series. Great Jpop, it gives me a feel of a show I watched a long time ago but I can't remember what. Their sound is very familiar but I can't remember where from.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Check his journal.

Also has anyone heard of BACK-ON? I love their debut single, "CHAIN." Probably because it's pretty relevant to my manga lyrically.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Rydia

I managed to listen to the "Chain" single a few months ago. I assume they're a relatively new band since I don't recall seeing an album by them yet.

Yeah I checked their site, Chain was their debut and nothing else yet. Still love it though.

If only I had a job like you OP. If only. Although collecting manga is more my thing.

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

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.

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