The J-Pop Thread

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

not really a fan of the song but really like this video, worth it to follow the instructions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_UhKcAy6xc

Ahhhhhhh it made me go a bit weird. I like it.

great video! the song reminds me of "1 Thing" - the beat and the "love me riiiiiight" bit in the chorus, especially.

The only election in Japan with a good turnout

http://i.imgur.com/AM6M6lIl.jpg

ANNOUNCE // Kyary Pamyu Pamyu returns to the UK in October for a live show at The Roundhouse as part of Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival. Tickets on sale Friday: http://gigst.rs/KPP

http://orig13.deviantart.net/9e4d/f/2013/307/7/1/thumbs_up_by_weapons_expert_cool-d6sx4o7.gif

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