The J-Pop Thread

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

What will it take to get to a place where Japanese language popular music (not just j-pop, but indie, rock, hip hop, stuff like Suiyoubi) can be a thing on year-end lists, year-end summaries, western coverage in general? We're obviously at a place where some of the most lauded artists among sources ilxers follow do not sell a lot - they're not 'relevant' in a bestseller perspective any more than these artists - their fame stems from certain circles of people who care about their music and talk about it, often mainly online, which is significant enough to have them end up on many year-end lists also among more mainstream publications. It's not a case of writing about the artists around you - scandinavian, latin american, eastern european artists are represented. In this world where this consensus grows online for artists of all kinds, what does it take? What is the magic ingredient still missing? Asian pop has had its viral hype, k-pop more so than j-pop, j-pop mainly through Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - but what about the critical darlings among fans of Asian popular music? I didn't except them to show up on year-end lists in 2013 and I didn't expect it 2014, so I didn't even react to it, but why? Why can't tricot, for example, be a band that shows up on these lists?

/late night rant

I hear ya and the inevitable "japan is CRAY-ZAYYY" angle that goes along with the meme-friendly stuff that does get written up riles. but I'm not sure there actually is a lot of foreign pop showing up on broad "best of" lists for english-speaking publications? I've missed it if so. usually a couple token acts, nothing too deep & that's not really super different from KPP or babymetal getting a blurb or w/e.

but the heavy overlap with weeb circles prob isn't helping either, that stuff is super uncool

speaking of which, this touhou arrange track is incredible, like an extended especia club edit or something

http://youtu.be/FbX5OLKwlIk

that new suiyoubi is awesome btw, really excited to see where this act goes as they mature...

gotta admit the new You'll Melt More EP cover made me laugh. Also it's called SUImin CIty DEstroyer.

http://i.imgur.com/2WjoSQT.jpg

That EP is great. Glad they put the instrumentals on there too.

Suiyoubi no Campanella = zOMG awesome, had forgotten how ace her stuff can be.

yea the long track on that EP that is not really very suicide-y but maybe a little bit ("nnn") is really pretty

yeh that track NNN was not Suicidey enough, so I made a quick remix over the weekend using only Suicide samples! http://youtu.be/ljKzgNXk6ic

nice!!

not quuuuite there yet but have high hopes for cupitron:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUWTK8jomc4

in their own words, “Colorful Pop!!! From Techno World”

not sure how i've missed this thread before!

i could talk all day about why j-pop (and k-pop) aren't considered for the western crit canon, but will refrain.

nothing out of j-pop really struck my fancy last year except the two shiina ringo record, akai koen's major label thing ("now on air" especially), maybe a few other things here and there...what did i miss? what should i be looking for in 2015?

I don't know where to start with 2014 reccs which is why I haven't made a year-end list either. It was the year where every girl group made an effort to stand out. Cynics may say it was the year where the idol scene co opted indie aesthetics at random to find a gimmick foundation, or just used indie scene songwriters for quick cred, but I'd rather go with 'lots of crazy stuff in every direction' and too many good songs to list, from more traditionally j-pop-y stuff to everything else. I'll have to put together a youtube playlist at some point, at least.

2015 will be the year tricot releases a new single (next month) and 2nd album (march)

imo

dempagumi.inc - singles, esp. "sakura appareshon" (world wide dempa lp came out dec 2013 and rules, so that too)
suiyoubi no campanella - eps
especia - gusto
seiko oomori - sennou (esp. if you're a ringo fan)
charisma.com x tempura kidz single

probs forgetting a bunch of more low profile stuff...

Last Berryz song before they split

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M9TJpLTcw8

Pretty good, but several of the best songs of 2014 were HP releases, like

Morning Musume's
Beyond the Time and Space
Your Bright Smile Is Like The Sunshine

C-Ute - I Miss You
S/mileage - Oh Susukino

I mean how good are those songs. I've played them all year and I'm still surprised listening to them now. Tsunku was on an absolute roll.

Also Juice=Juice
http://youtu.be/_so9w95wzVI¨
http://youtu.be/38c5UbdpfLw

aww, that last berryz video

and yeah, def some nice straight-up idol pop this year. also dug this s/mileage single/b-side myself:
http://youtu.be/_glcrpyvkaE

Good stuff.

When it comes to AKB48 singles, the Oricon chart tells one story (of constant domination), but here's another. Itunes sales:

http://img.tnsori.com/uploads/2015/01/20150119-akb48-itunes.png

wtf is the half mil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFf4AgBNR1E

well, if any akb48 song deserves massive chat domination status, I suppose that's the one

and I kinda love the fan ver of that video, it's really sweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1EwgwyGIp8

Yeah the official AKB channel has over 100 fan versions of the video uploaded.

I was in Japan at the new year visiting the in-laws, so I managed to catch the 65th Kouhaku (info here if you don't know about it : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dhaku_Uta_Gassen). The red (female) team had Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Shiina Ringo, Perfume, MomoKuro AND the ever-awesome Akiko Wada all bringing it, while the white team responded with SMAP, Arashi and some other dullards but still managed to win.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FIX

Apart from that crushing disappointment I also managed to catch the TV making-of doc about the Kiss vs. Momokuro record which is hilarious, the hilarity of course largely coming from the Kiss camp. You can pretty much see Gene Simmons coming to the sad realisation that a bubbly, slightly manic 20 year old Japanese girl is just not something he's going to be able to hit on any more at the age of 65.

Preview of the fairly awful song here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qrI_oPUQdw

whole thing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivJZljEostE&feature=youtu.be

not much kiss on this, prob for the best

It does unfortunately seem like Kiss are the weakest songwriters they've worked with for a title track so far. Not offensive but just kinda.. there. The guitar riff has some promise and actually sounds like a previous MomoClo single, but the chorus is meh.

i've yet to hear a redeemable AKB song.

They have several pretty good trad j-pop chord progression songs, which can be real comfort food pop for me when done right, though the one above, which I dig, is an outlier. Their early single 'River' was however an impressive statement of purpose they never lived up to. Here's one of my favorite of their 'old school' ones: http://youtu.be/qJ-Drv9tVjI?t=1m59s The maximalism of the crashing guitars, the echoing lines, give it to me.

decent chorus, but man AKB videos are always so weirdly creeper...

i may have heard that one before. i got up through the first half of their singles discog before giving up, i think. the highlight, iirc, was the last 10 seconds or so of "beginner"

Yeah they've had some 'cool' songs that have worked pretty well if nothing else then for the contrast. 'River' was an impressive statement they never could live up to. SKE48 have better dancers so they've released some solid uptempos as well.

Interview with and new MV from tricot over at NME http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/meet-japanese-rock-three-piece-tricot-and-watch-their-stylish-new-video-for-e

Album "AND" is out March 18

http://natalie.mu/media/1501/0131/extra/news_xlarge_tricot_and_normal_201501.jpg

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

Sounds great. I'm looking forward to this album.

hah, that cover is a bit

http://images.moviepostershop.com/ekusute-movie-poster-2007-1020507278.jpg

Happy february6, here's a song penned by her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNqbI4D7mEE

Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCQT4STlXz0

feeling that talkbox solo

wow the break into the bridge...so good

plus tricot is so great, man. wow

B-side to the tricot single (bassist on vocals) https://soundcloud.com/bakuretsu-records/tricot-6

Having trouble finding decent info on these guys but I am digging this, unusual line up too (if it's not a conceit of course)

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

as i understand it they are a spinoff/alter ego of idol group Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku