This sounds ridiculous, but if I go to the iTunes top 50 singles right now in the Japan store, I cannot find a single one I like.

And I have pretty eclectic music tastes, enjoying most genres.

Anyone else share that problem? Maybe looking at popular singles is my first mistake.

do you like vocal songs in japanese? those I enjoy a lot.

Most pop music is the same old catchy, sugared up crap.
I for one prefer Enka and the occasional 8-bit music, such as YMCK.. haha
but I don't really listen to music much anyway. Listening to music feels like waiting for something fun to happen without putting any effort into it. Reading's my thing, I guess.

Quote:Maybe looking at popular singles is my first mistake.

Eeeeeexactly. They're certainly better than the barren wasteland of American pop music, but you'd do far better looking elsewhere.

It's a little difficult to give advice without knowing more details, though. I do recommend Last.fm (my profile for reference/recommendations, minus the two or three non-Japanese bands on there), as it'll recommend similar bands and is usually quite accurate in doing so. You can easily chain your way toward much musical goodness.

I've been rocking this all week. The new cd is pretty good.

Plus the girl is totally cute

I find it really hard to find J-music that I like, but I'm rather selective. If anyone can recommend a band that sounds like ASFG, let me know, ya.

This guy posts some pretty amazing music, a lot of which can be extremely hard to find. There should be something you like.

Some of my favorites

J-Pop: 椎名林檎 (<3 <3 <3), クラムボン, フルカワミキ, Pizzicato 5, アーバンギャルド
Rock: Supercar, Bloodthirsty Butchers, OGRE You A**hole (Can't post the real name)
Weird: Zazen Boys, ミドリ, ヤプーズ、戸川純

You didn't really say what kind of music you like so it's hard to suggest something. Though usually when someone says they like "everything" it means they don't listen much.

Most pop is rubbish anyway.

I´d reccomend some stuff, but it´s easier to post my youtube favorites page:
http://www.youtube.com/whittleddownbattery#g/f

About 70 songs on there, some of which are rubbish(and some of which I just favorited so that I could listen to them later, and never got actually got around to it). I listen to a wide variety. I´ve also been trying to add subtitles(in both Japanese and English) to some of the songs that I like better:

Radwimps

The Pillows

ケツメイシ

I´ve prepared subtitles for some other music videos as well, and will probably get around to uploading them at some point in the future, if only so I personally can watch them on computers other than my own.

quincy Wrote:This guy posts some pretty amazing music, a lot of which can be extremely hard to find. There should be something you like.

Very seconded! Although admittedly, a lot of his picks aren't the most accessible in the world (read: very experimental, noisy). I recently stumbled upon 神聖かまってちゃん by way of his blog, an incredibly unique band I'm slightly addicted to now (and notorious for posting tons of cheap/hilarious PVs to Youtube and Niconico, almost all of which containing Japanese subs).

Edit: Just gotta pimp the new Galneryus album while I'm at it, because it's so facemeltingly power metal, it hurts. IT HURTS SO GOOD.

Everyone gotta love this song

Hey man, just popped in for a quick second and saw this post. Grooveshark.com is an AMAZING resource for music. You can type in the words jpop, and it will bring you TONS of peoples playlists that have all assortments of different JPOP or jrock or whatever in them. It's an awesome resource for music.

I'm super picky about music, and my tastes don't usually match well with others... But the other day, I found a group that I like a few of their songs. Other than Hamasaki Ayumi, it's the first J-band that I've liked.

Ulfuls - Samurai Soul is the first song I liked of theirs. The intro is a bit meh, but once it gets into it, it's really good. Suki De Yokatta is pretty good, too.

Don't expect to find anything good in the charts. It is basically middle/high-schoolers buying up insipid idol group stuff like Arashi or AKB48 that populates it.

If you look through the top 50 singles on the US iTunes do you like any of them? I certainly don't. Give us some idea of your tastes in English music and you'll get some recommendations of Japanese music. 'Eclectic' doesn't give us much to go on...

Burritolingus Wrote:They're certainly better than the barren wasteland of American pop music, but you'd do far better looking elsewhere.

I hear a lot of people say this about Japanese pop music... and I really really really don't understand it at all. The pop music played on Japanese radio is even more cookie cutter and juvenile than American pop music. Not to mention, every decade America puts out at least a few pop acts that are actually half way decent (even just think of the 80's: Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc). Even American idol groups--The Backstreet Boys, The New Kids on the Block, Christina Aguilera, and all that crap--definitely rival (and, I think, far surpass) Japanese idol groups.

That said, the 'charts' always reflect what 11-17 year olds are thinking. If you're not in that age group, it's really not a good place for you to look.

In Japanese I listen to a completely different type of music than normally. I look for something with lots of lyrics, clearly pronounced words, slower pace, something that can be constantly playing in the background.

Like others said, charts are not good source for anything music related if you're past that awkward age.

rswarsaw Wrote:Anyone else share that problem?

yep, you just have to listen to LOADS of stuff you don't like to find something you do like.

try snoozer magazine, it's pretty good for bands.

Tzadeck Wrote:

Burritolingus Wrote:They're certainly better than the barren wasteland of American pop music, but you'd do far better looking elsewhere.

I hear a lot of people say this about Japanese pop music... and I really really really don't understand it at all. The pop music played on Japanese radio is even more cookie cutter and juvenile than American pop music. Not to mention, every decade America puts out at least a few pop acts that are actually half way decent (even just think of the 80's: Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc). Even American idol groups--The Backstreet Boys, The New Kids on the Block, Christina Aguilera, and all that crap--definitely rival (and, I think, far surpass) Japanese idol groups.

That said, the 'charts' always reflect what 11-17 year olds are thinking. If you're not in that age group, it's really not a good place for you to look.

Good points, but for me it has more to do with the music's production than its thematic elements. J-pop songs could be about boiling puppies alive and casual sodomy and I'd still prefer them to American pop music songs 9 out of 10 times, simply because I prefer their sound. Take Perfume, as a quick example - if you really listen to their lyrics, there's a high probability that your lunch will end up embedded on the wall, but damned if that shit ain't catchy.

Either way, both countries have pretty repulsive modern pop music scenes, I think we can agree

ocircle Wrote:Most pop music is the same old catchy, sugared up crap.

Everyone's looking for some "deep" music nowadays.
Sticking with the main stream is lame, or as Ocircle called it "sugared up crap"...
But you know what? I like sweets, + they move my bowels so I'll have a clean colon
I listen to japanese music when I'm out of motivation and need a little push...no deep feelings here
like this:

Enjoy

One word: vocaloid.

My favorite band is Ego-Wrappin'. They are originally from Osaka, but moved to Tokyo.
They are a mixture of jazz, pop, and rock (with a heavy emphasis on jazz in their earlier
albums). One of the best indie bands out there IMHO.

Also, JAPANDATA is a great site for downloading new japanese music.
It's the next best thing to JPOPSUKI (which is now invite-only).

Just google "japandata" if you're interested.

They have a page with all of their tags listing every artist in their database. Just go to
that page and search for your artist (in japanese). Wish other sites had the same feature.

I keep singing X Japan songs today, so I recommend them.

Tzadeck Wrote:I hear a lot of people say this about Japanese pop music... and I really really really don't understand it at all. The pop music played on Japanese radio is even more cookie cutter and juvenile than American pop music.

This. Japanese pop music is so bad, it would have made P.D.Q. Bach weep like a school girl.
I really like Japanese Hip Hop, Metal and Progressive Rock though. Wish I knew more Japanese Prog bands though.

quincy Wrote:This guy posts some pretty amazing music, a lot of which can be extremely hard to find. There should be something you like.

This website looks really great. Thanks for posting it.

yes, j-pop sucks ass for the most part. but japan offers other music besides jpop and so it's all cool.

threads with links and info about jpaanese music.
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=1649
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=1724

p.s. i would have to say the same thing about the top 50 singles for america....

ems573 Wrote:One word: vocaloid.

Bleagh.
No.