Great Japanese Pop

Also Mansfield's mini-album - can't recall the name - the one with his astonishing version of "The New Pollution" with Yukari Fresh.

Don't know much current 2002 J-pop, but Morning Musume are amusingly inept and occasionally hit the POP! button, while Speed's "White Love" has to be my all-time favourite quasi-sophisticated teenage pop guff.

Any more advice would be cool as I'm going to be DJ at a "cool J-pop" night in London soon.

escalator is also a great label for that type of stuff... yukari fresh, losfeld, neil + iraiza, american rock, cubismo grafico, miniflex (miniflex is GREAT)...

buffalo daughter is of cuorse great, they have a new one coming out in about 2 weeks called "i"... check that out most definately.

also investigate maher shalal hash baz and nagisa ni te, who have recently had retrospectives released on Stephen Pastel's Geographic Records in the UK. much different stuff, more of a belle and sebastian/syd barrett/neil young circa "on the beach" feel to it... good savant psych pop. they have become 2 of my favorite bands as of recent.

and, i back nick (momus) wholeheartedly when i say

BOREDOMSBOREDOMBOREDOBOREDBOREBORBOB

also check out OOIOO, yoshimi from boredoms' other semi-main band... feather float has been issued in the US on birdman and i pretty easy to get, and their last LP gold & green is also essential... and if you like that there's a remix LP of those 2 albums out on shock city/trattoria...

for some classic j-pop try the plastics, 80's new wave japanese devo shit... or pink lady, 70's japanese bizarro abba type shit...

i know i am missing stuff but there is a lot of great shit...

dig in and enjoy!!

thanks

a websearch turned up some joker hosting her new album online, I'd mention Shuukyo and Stem, who can tell me more?

Trattoria has become 1ct Records if I remember correctly.

Anybody remember when Pink Lady had a weekly variety show on U.S. teevee? I think it was a summer replacement thing, mid-70s. That shit was wierd.

and then... 2004 Pop albums from Japan I like to varying degrees:
Sweets - Sweets
Ex-Girl - Endangered Species
Tommy February6 - Tommy Airline
Olivia - Lost Lolli
W - Duo Uandu
Yukari Rotten - Not Dead

Late seventies.

In celebration

It's on DVD

I saw the damn thing when it first aired!

Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana?

Yeah... but who doesn't?

Ever try staying a week in Tokyo or Yokohama without having your head explode from all the hot chicks walking around like the end of the world is not near? Damn near impossible!

Ever try staying a week in Tokyo or Yokohama without having your head explode from all the hot chicks walking around like the end of the world is not near? Damn near impossible!

The same's true for Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Fukuoka - the whole place is ridiculous.

Also

SUPERCAR

uh... japanese-american. they're from san francisco, california, usa.

not really "pop" either...

nippop

http://www.keikaku.net/reviews/102

it should be noted that I really don't like about 99% of j-pop though, it gives me the rabies. but I've been listening to Adult 2-5 times a week since it came out in January.

And thanks for the link to that site! I hadn't seen it before...not bad.

I'm looking for something that's really poppy and dancey though. I want like a japanese girls aloud.

I'm not really feeling j-pop 2006 yet, it doesn't feel like anything very exciting has happened, musically at least (the current number one selling like 750,000 copies in its first week is more uhm culturally interesting?). Otsuka Ai has a new single out, which is supercute (music video on youtube here), but LOVE COOK was a bit of a disappointment, so I'm not expecting too much. Morning Musume's last single was good, if a bit typical.

The j-pop i'm listening to most at the moment is straightforward pop-rock and eighties chartpop, though, not post-shibuyakei stuff. Also m-flo, who are a.ma.zing, but more r'n'b/hiphop than j-pop. 2004's 'astromantic' is the album to go for with them.

Yukihiro Takahashi - Blue Moon Blue

http://www.neowing.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TOCT-25939

If you listen to the samples, you'll see it's in a similar vein as the Takahashi/Hosono Sketch Show collaborations, though bordering slightly more on the pop than electronic side.

Tomita Lab - Shiplaunching

http://www.neowing.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AICL-1731

Jazzy pop with lots of guest vocalists (including Takahashi on one track).

Buffalo Daughter - Euphorica

Can't find samples for this...but they're one of the more well-known j-pop bands I suppose.

The great thing about 'joy' is that I expect the usual gentle sweetness, but the first song is so startlingly synthpop (crypto-rave, even!) --
http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=153YM54R40SLM0PQ01UOPX10PR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLZ8ddRbQ5o

Salon Music good at shoegaze

Nice one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhetXL7KmZA

this is some really sick 80s dance pop. that snare is pure cocaine.

yes! all late 80s toshiki is fucking awesome ("sea is a lady" is my favorite)

oh this one, yeah, i have this comp called "made in the eighties" that has this and some other great stuff, dee-dee-phone by the ab's, dress down by kaoru akimoto, free way 5 to south by fujimal yoshino...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVYqqrw6eQU

been listening to this cos of the amazing album cover. also the Hosono production!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOZac0bNJqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brec06BA6JU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT5BlCZsiCQ
nonstop doopees for me the past 3 weeks. I've become a treble head for Caroline's vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlhukAkkSN8

untootooku gets posted in these threads like once a year (not complaining, it's amazing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQjdwRno5g

why is none of this music on spotify?

spotify hasn't been in japan very long and is missing many label deals there. digital music also just never quite caught on in japan in the way it did elsewhere etc

ah yeah, I seem to recall Tower records thriving in Japan...

This guy runs a little engine with 30 something hours of City Pop and leaves it streaming on Youtube.

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

Poison Girl Friend - Fact 2 (from Melting Moment)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZ7O7GWuN0

oh word, i listened to that EP for the first time last week and have had the same track in heavy rotation since. love it.

original love, tomoyo harada, olivia, clammbon