The J-Pop Thread

while e-girls is*

new Vampillia album out next week, has collaborations with Tujiko Noriko, BiS, Hirotomo Hasegawa of Aburadako, Mick Barr of Orthrelm and ... Jun Togawa!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTWfomMQaP4

like that one. she's the best.

Yeah that's nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apr2JCdpTbQ

new Kyary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paHGjIe2Wms

are there any good english-language critics/bloggers who are writing about new J-pop in an interesting way?

Make Believe Melodies guy can be pretty good. I don't dig that deep into the J-Poposphere though.

feel like melissa johnson's blog stands out:
http://blog.mjohnso.com/

mostly k-pop but some j-pop too. you can filter by tags if need be.

Yeah I guess I get most my jpop stuff from twitter, forums, stuff like that. Weird that there shouldn't be some regularly updated, j-pop only, high quality blog though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QjACk4qM6g

new especia single is fantastic:
http://mbmelodies.tumblr.com/post/83615671010/omikse-livefromthetabernacle

Woah, that's a big, great tune.

And here's the new Momoiro Clover single / MV http://youtu.be/TC1Q7DuNKfw

Composed by Nakajima Miyuki

hmmm... not bad but doesn't strike me as all that special either? but I like them best when they're at their most manic and that's pretty restrained.

I think it's partly a case of other groups having taken on the mantle of the super hyperactive, manic idol group - like dempagumi inc, even with former MomoClo musical maeastro Hyadain - and so MomoClo try to stake other courses to stay unique. Personally I really like their rock side, "Otome Sensō" (Z女戦争) is my favorite single of theirs and it's hardly them at their most manic - much as I love their CoCoNatsu / Santa-san side. This is a bit straighter than Otome, better compared to 'Saraba..' perhaps, but sounds good to my ears. I really like how distinctive the members' voices are, though I know other people find them shrill they've really sold the individual personalities in later releases.

Cosign Make Believe Melodies, I wonder if that's the same Patrick who occasionally posts on ILM about Japanese music.

x-post -

well, first impressions and all and it may grow on me still! also love their vox and that's a plus on here but I do wish this had a bigger chorus, feels like it doesn't quite take off to me.

and yeah, I don't really have any problems with the way they've evolved either given that we have dempagumi and plenty of others pumping out hyperspeed idol music. but still, it's a little bittersweet for me, and man I don't really see it happening, but I would LOVE if we somehow got tons of hyadain on the next one!

"gounn" was ultimately a little disappointing to me so high expectations may be a factor as well

on initial impressions i'm not sure about that MomoClo song, i like it better than Gounn tho - prefer it when they are being more 'out there' but there's maybe too much money at stake these days to release an oddball single?

Gounn was oddball, it just didn't necessarily hit hard enough.

and the 5th dimension single hyadain wrote WAS p bonkers and it did well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C5%8Dretsu_Uch%C5%AB_K%C5%8Dky%C5%8Dkyoku_Dai_7_Gakush%C5%8D_%22Mugen_no_Ai%22#Chart_performance

I think doing things on a huge scale is a big part of their image, so I wouldn't count em out

Yeah..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvO2u2XkCbs

hah, exactly what I was thinking of!

lol not denying the concerts are still nuts, just think the last two singles have been too safe (& next one is probably Sailor Moon song? ultra safe!). that Hyadain song was released 2 years ago!

I like Hyadain but don't really want them to go back with him. He's in the idol game anyway. Someone like Etsuko Yakushimaru is a much more exciting, and just for the politics of it I'm happy with how many of their singles the past few years have been composed by women.

oh, that is cool and I didn't even realize it. is there a good resource for writing credits for j-pop?

Generasia used to be good, don't seem to have updated info on latest MomoClo releases though.

gonna dig around, thanks!

Momoclo Scandal! http://youtu.be/AIqCVmf564s

maybe last BiS single, they shot the first half like a cheesy AKB48 video with bikini beach dance routines, kissing the camera etc! awww I'm going to miss them :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc8vjprOWLs

Yeah that's an oddly f itting end to the great experiment that was BiS. Will have to write some more once it's all over.

The new Especia is gorgeous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e089x6ba1Zo

that's great. sounds a little like some of the slicker tokyo girls' style singles to me.

Charisma.com album out in one month (June 4), excited! The EP was super good all the way through.

that EP got a super limited vinyl pressing for RSD btw, not that I'll ever see a copy :/

another week, another great track from this especia album that can't come out soon enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQz4GIOB8gg&feature=youtu.be

LOVE the video too

Yngwie Malmsteen is playing guitar on the rerecording of MomoClo's "Mugen no Ai" lol
not really feeling this new Perfume song tbh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0XFiU3i1vM

hahaha hilarious yngwie x momoclo news. I am actually pretty curious about how that one out, but y'know, friedman already shreds p hard!!

really dig perfume when they're at their sweetest and the production is as bright as shiny as possible, so that one is actually sounding real nice to me after the EDM onslaught of their last one (which I do like too...)

Yeh I'll probably end up loving it by the end of the week haha

I'm so bummed there is hardly any of this stuff on Spotify

Don't love the Perfume song yet...it sounds too much like a song from a TV show for pre-K children. When the Tom Tom Club-ish keyboard bit comes in at the very end of that clip it improves a lot, but the first minute or so is rough. I'll need to hear the full-length version.

Perfume are like a drug to me, I'm helpless to resist. Plus my wife's name is Merry. A+

yea I've already played that short clip a ton. have gotten back into the complete best comp of early stuff in a major way lately, so I think that's made me especially happy about this change in their sound. hope it's not a one-off, I'd love an album in this style.

Full version! https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_n5vmttYWZ71t5237ro1.mp3#_=_

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BoJVENqCAAAtEiA.jpg:large

hmmm interesting a 4 track EP? hope they make a PV for each track!

new Charisma.com track, album is out in two weeks I think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1_8zHnvudc

Horrible: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27572723

Two members of popular Japanese pop group AKB48 were injured after a fan attacked them with a saw.

Rina Kawaei, 19, and Anna Iriyama, 18, were meeting with fans in the northern city of Takizawa on Sunday when a man lunged forward and slashed them.

They sustained cuts on their hands and heads, reported Kyodo. A male staff member was also cut on his hand.

I saw about that on one of the AKB48 news Twitter feeds and couldn't believe it. Jebus.

yikes that's awful, glad that no one got seriously injured
Alice one half of the duo ClariS is quitting to focus on studying, no word yet on what the other member Clara is going to do. Find their story interesting - discovered by a record company via karaoke videos on Nico Nico, no photos exist and they have always been represented by cartoon drawings, supposedly even their closest friends have no idea that they have been singing professionally for 3+ years?

those akb meet and greets are fucked. men ejaculating into their palms before shaking hands with a group member, groping, sexual advances towards preteens etcetc. hopefully after this people in japan will begin to more thoroughly scrutinise the idol industry and the misogynistic attitudes that permeate it