The J-Pop Thread

ALl americans must go

going LA to London to NYC with a couple of days in between is a bit daft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbq2ZhZ5Wwge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHdS83J50VE

Sashihara no Ran - that weird show where AKB's #1 of last year Sashihara Rino goes around poking at things in the industry to show things idols normally don't finally gets an episode subbed. It's a great show, she all natural in trash talking with her sidekick the director, who's got his own agenda and is clearly set on making original tv first and foremost (show was aired late on a minor station). They try and fail to get a number of projects going although she did manage to haggle her way to making a photobook. In this ep it's the lucrative mascot biz

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/q71/s720x720/10482856_874100665952180_6838167968583963735_n.jpg
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21f3yb_aidol-140226-sashihara-no-ran-ep20_fun#from=embediframe

hahaha

hugely into suiyoubi no campanella right now. a little like charisma.com but the production is more melodic/pretty/idm and the vox are rawer. the videos are kinda neat too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpLgEQig1AE

Sounds nice. Charisma.com is a bit hit and miss for me, some huge songs though.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsYG0GICMAAXp_T.jpg:large
tricot have finished their European tour and it's gone very well. Two of the festival shows were streamed live, can't find full uploads yet. Here's a sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgicmlvYvw4

at Madame Jo's http://youtu.be/xOoiE386D38
More @ Pohoda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUcIJqd6qhQ

With Pixies @ Eden
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsJVbEPIQAAO0um.jpg:large

Really digging that Suiyoubi no Campanella track, the contrast between the smooth electro & her raw vocals work so well.
Sashihara no Ran TV show was interesting, I have no use for AKB style idol music/culture but would watch more of that. abcsfk do you have any other recommendations of similar TV shows that have been subbed?

Does anybody know if there is a subbed version of the documentary about the least popular AKB girl losing her mind, kicking around the net? It's about 4 years old, dying to see it.

zappi - similar shows, probably not, which is why I've been praying for months and months for this to be subbed. she's laidback friends with the director dude, they aired this show in an obscure slot late at night, no other idol really talks money and raw industry chat like her, or if they tried they wouldn't do it with the same wit. I mean there are other shows where the idols make fun of themselves and do wacky stuff but it's innocent fluff in comparison. there's hope more eps of this will be subbed.

maresnest - hmmm, was the docu just about her?

I'm not totally sure, but I think so, I heard it mentioned in a podcast ages ago and I've wanted to see it ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Va228UhRs

Merch already exists quoting the song

http://www.lookhuman.com/render/product/0901/0901064858802080/bb453wp-w484h484z1-56916-we-are-not-helpless-girls.jpg

wearing that right now tbh

This is really j-rock, not j-pop, but who can resist a name like ROLLICKSOME SCHEME?

http://open.spotify.com/album/2fwafN66NaKnvJq9z1jYjR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLCaUckdoZc

And another one in a similar vein but a little heavier: Trill-Dan.

http://open.spotify.com/album/3V5SlpNV0TIN4HbkrNgEUr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRdoQuOSTTQ

new Dempagumi, sounds a lot like MomoClo from 2 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOin4bwUQ5c

yea, I dig it. hard to top "sakura apparation" but I'm always up for more light-speed dempagumi tracks.

This is so good I feel like talking about it for days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDEl77WMY8

If that didn't load, Charisma.com VS Tempura Kidz http://youtu.be/NDEl77WMY8Q

That is fantastic

wow!

echoing everyone - music video of the year right there

Mummies! This is awesome. What is it pastiching? Are there 80s Japanese music videos that look like this?

I get Michael Jackson vibes from that bit but idk really

The video was produced by NAGOYA TV and parodies the what the late-night music program BOMBER-E would have looked like in the 80s.

The lyrics talk about people who are like “mummies” wrapped in bandages that are just an empty shell and have no free will of their own. They want to kill them.

http://aramajapan.com/news/tempura-kidz-vs-charisma-com-in-new-80s-inspired-video-for-miirakiraa/4084/

new Tricot vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3D-yKRRt5s

Ooh, I shall watch that soon - was just popping my head in to concur with the Charisma.com/Tempura Kidz greatness.

apathy - apathy - appetite

really enjoying this new song by Seiko Oomori - she has one of those voices with a harsh edge like YUKI or the singer in nano.RIPE that I'm kind of addicted to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qlEeVS2vMU

that's p cool and I love her voice too but I was kinda hoping for the outside shot that signing w/avex meant she'd ditch all the rock in her sound and just make weird jun togawa-ey pop music like that one single from her last album

I realize this is just my own hangup speaking and I'm prob in the minority here...

Tempura Kidz are amazing. This is my favourite single of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmTiOwuC39k

Still listening to the tempura charisma tune... but here's Hungary's Volt festival's upload of the awesome full tricot set from this summer http://youtu.be/hW_ayjXr1Lk

fun vid to promote the BiS Kaidan (collaboration between BiS and veteran noise group Hijokaidan) boxset
taken from a concert where they played the same song 13 times in a row (!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpjAWcv94ro

new dempagumi.inc rules, as usual (and cool video, as usual)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGy39OMyHzw

Yeah, cool song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_RN3a_GJuE

really cool stuff! sometimes i watch a "j-pop" video and i say to myself: oh japan! i loves ya, but you so crazy!

just my $0.02

Sumire Uesaka has a covers album out soon called "Uesaka Sumire Presents 80's Idol Song Definitive Disc"

1. "Koiki de Namaiki" (Saint Four)
2. "Aoyama Killer Monogatari" (RAMU)
3. "Naze? no Arashi" (Akie Yoshizawa with Onyanko Club)
4. "Little Date" (Ribbon)
5. "Tokyo Rose '88" (Lemon Angel)
6. "Yume Fushigi Ikaga" (Kirara to Urara)
7. "Henne!" (Tsukasa Ito)
8. "Parallel Girl" (Sayuri Iwai)
9. "Stormy Weather" (Mariko Kurata)
10. "Hime-sama Zoom In" (Miho Morikawa)
11. "Starlight Movement" (Momoko Kikuchi)
12. "Pygmalion" (Etsuko Sai)
13. "Motto Sekkin Shimasho" (Hidemi Ishikawa)
14. "50/50" (Miho Nakayama)
15. "Ai wa Boomerang" (Yuko Matsutani)
16. "Yume Shinjyu ~MY DESIRE~" (Junko Mihara)
17. "I WANT YOU" (Mami Yamase)
18. "Dotou no Renai" (Chika Takami)
19. "Mizu no Hoshi he Ai wo Komete" (Hiroko Moriguchi)
20. "MUGO・N" (Shizuka Kudo)

cover is pretty spot on!

http://i.imgur.com/MSXv1nG.jpg

first single by ex-BiS member Tentenko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIkd3H4tEf4

That sounds a whole lot like Especia.. same producer?

looking into it it seems like she produced it herself and is financing its release through this Japanese Kickstarter-esque thing http://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/1305

Awesome

that new sumire uesaka looks awesome!

been getting into you'll melt more lately. the record collector scum designs they bite on their covers caught my eye, like

neu
http://item.shopping.c.yimg.jp/i/j/yamano_4113090673

esg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kzRZCRKdL._SY300_.jpg

and, um, weezer
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51O4JK-D10L._SY300_.jpg

and interestingly, altho they mainly work in typical idol pop modes, like on this wonderful track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOCIKV2erL4

they do throw in some curveballs and sometimes even explicitly in the style of the band they're referencing, e.g. this krautrockin' one (with hijokaidan adding some extra feedback skree!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H67s0_7zCo

and here's some shoegaze idol music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiWiQ0RofSU

^ great find.

Been listening to Negoto a fair bit this year, it kind of scratches that early Shiina Ringo itch.

http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/Negoto---Ammonite%2521/125a3f9263b00e1bc37a2eb77a0eb02b

really like that shoegaze You'll Melt More song. no surprises in the Red & White lineups this year, feels like a cut & paste from last year.

thoughts on the oomori seiko album? surprised by how much I like it given that, save a couple tracks, I've been kinda cold on her in the past, never really got into sheena ringo, etc.

still want a whole album in this style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbKu4Xx0_Us

Just want to say j-pop has by far been the most interesting thing in music this year. So much good stuff from all kinds of artists and scenes I'm struggling daily to keep up with it all and give albums and singles the time they deserve.

Clear your 2015 best-of lists... tricot is putting out a new single in february and ALL NEW ALBUM IN MARCH. Praise the lords.

new Suiyoubi no Campanella video is so good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syLz1rcTKD8