The J-Pop Thread

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

oh there's a new Suiyobi no Campanella song, sounds different as they are using an outside producer and she sings all the way through. digging it after a few listens though.

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

hmmm interesting, way smoother + housier than any other suiyoubi trax. dig it but can't say that I don't miss the rawness that attracted me to this project in the first place, hope that's not gone for good...

have we talked about this Megumi Wata song before? cos I really fell for it in the past week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7qS-_cW5tQ

oh and Perfume played at SXSW last night, here's some footage from the livestream

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

oh man this megumi wata is so cool :D

what's megumi wata's story? how big is she? why so few views for such a great song? i'm obsessed with it suddenly

this is one of the best singles i've heard in the past few years, easy. words, vibe, pitch-perfect feel shifts...

finding out now that she's super unknown at this point -- 4 listeners on lastfm, ~800 twitter followers, on a label with half that. wild.

Greatest single ever called "The Middle Management"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIyc4LTOmP8

"I have no intention to have a stable love relationship on weekdays. Ah HA"

#AccidentalPartridge

insane song. i love every fourth bar but not the rest of them

<3 natsume mito's introductory nakata-produced track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAIyMT7gARc&feature=youtu.be

Nah, I don't like Nakata's children's-TV-theme stuff. I like his aggressive hard-techno stuff.

opposite here. I haven't even bothered with the last capsule record yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=167&v=aI3mT0NoXdQ

Another wild song. The hello pro groups all kinda sound the same, but that sound is so wonderfully distinct, more so for each year, and should be collected in a delicately designed box set released worldwide as a big statement.

I don't know anything about Daoko, but it popped up on my Youtube recommendations probably because I'd been listening to too much Suiyoubi no Campanella:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3xehyYXbJw

this is my fave daoko release:
https://youtu.be/A9lAlykjhIU

emo!

really like this vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREZtQU0ktk

yet another great Suiyoubi no Campanella video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9oBVKqID7g

The stupendous Sashihara no Ran is in the process of getting subbed, all episodes

01 https://dotsub.com/view/2384a334-c404-4d24-bd3b-faca8b52d691
02 https://dotsub.com/view/c72c0a62-8313-42a0-ab8e-9b95e18af66c
03 https://dotsub.com/view/3c020df6-0287-469d-8687-7d71f1e44e55
04 https://dotsub.com/view/f78296f8-e8e1-4911-84a5-da7138d3d59b
05 https://dotsub.com/view/79576989-5e34-4e28-a1d6-93648b2adf5f
06 https://dotsub.com/view/4a35107c-7ae2-4ef9-b155-7d424701ccc6

Honestly not sure if any pop star show in or outside of Japan has ever matched this

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