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LastFm for getting into japanese music

#1
Been a member of lastfm.com for a long time but never really used it. But then i realised i could use that site to search for new japanese artists. Its really good and there are a lot of jpop communities on their. It would be cool if there was a reviewingthekanji group so we could reccommend a lot of songs to listen to to each other. What you think fab, can we name it after this site???

Lastfm is basically like facebook for music, but on pills and speed but less narcissim (no cocaine thats why). You create an account, download a plugin for your media player, the plugin tells lastfm what music you play on your pc and gradually it learns your music preferences etc. It then finds you other users who seem to listen to the same music as you (rating those users on their similiarity in musical tastes to you). The good thing about lastfm is that nearly every song is listed on the website and a good proportion have a 30second sample to listen to. This way you can soon find out which artists should be on your shopping trip. A lot of the tunes can be bought online from the site.

Other ways it helps you find new artists is by showing you similiar artists to the one your listening to, listing that artists songs in order of plays, their most popular albums etc etc etc. The other cool thing is that as you listen to a song, the lastfm plugin instantly downloads loads of cool info about that artist and that song that you can read while listening (sounds a bit trainspotterish but hey now i can tell my friends irrelevant facts about oasis etc).

Oh and for japanese all the time followers there in an option for a japanese version as well though most user comments and stuff are written in english.

Anyway thought it might help those who dont know where to start with their japanese music collection.
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#2
I'm a MASSIVE fan of Last.FM and have been doing just the same thing to broaden my knowledge of Japanese music. I think this is a good idea.

btw, you can find my profile here
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#3
Yes last.fm rocks. There is also a less effective last.fm-ish tool available to mixi users. i use that as well but last.fm trumps it.
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#4
sorry for the late reply, ive been so busy with other stuff at the moment ill add yorki to my contacts now and did anyone set the RTK group up?
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#5
Heres the group if you want to join it....need a good pic - anyone got any suggestions... maybe a favourite kanji or something.

http://www.last.fm/group/RTKers
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#6
sos wzafran, didnt spot the link to your lastfm profile - consider yourself added. Wow and 6 members already to the RTKer group. Come on people need at least 9 more users to join the group to enjoy the full features such as compiling a top 10 of the most popular music in our group - i dont want to see any gary glitter songs on there though.
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#7
I'm in now. Hadn't heard about LastFM before but the concept seems really cool. Looking forward to exploring some more. Cheers!
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#8
http://www.last.fm/user/narafan/

just signed up Big Grin
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#9
well done lads and lasses, just need one more person to join and lastfm will open up its charting feature. Just spotted yorkii was listening to some band called art attack (or summit like that) and played the preview of teh tracks... sound pretty cool. Lastfm finds me another top band.

so come on everybody get your arses on it. http://www.last.fm/group/RTKers

oh and sorry for the lame picture for the group its all i could find.... someone post a better one on here and ill switch it (but nothing rude mind)
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#10
I like the picture! Big Grin

comon guys only 1 more to get our own chart!
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#11
Joined, although I've never used LastFm before.
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#12
Everybody make sure you download their plugin so that lastfm can start 'scrobbling' what you listen to (i.e. it remembers the artists and tracks you listen to so it can find out who has similiar tastes to you and make reccomendations). Without this lastfm isnt so hot. When you first start doing it though your like - woh this is the shit. (shit as in good shit and not the nasty smelly variety normally found in toilets)
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#13
it certainly does.

know idea what i was listening to called "art attack" but some recommendations I will give are:
Base Ball Bear, "祭りの後" being my favourite track.
9mm Parabellum Bullet,
RADWIMPS (このバンドにはまってる)
and Mucc (ビジュアル系なんだけど・・・)
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#14
Yo synewave i just looked at your chart and saw "Bomb the Bass" - that was "dope" when i was a kid. Youve just helped me rediscover my youth! hahaha - a fantastic example of how lastfm can really help you find new music or even find great tunes you owned but never knew existed (very easy these days when you have 20 gigs of music on one drive).

So everybody get your stinking maggit asses on it and start scrobbling.

I know i should have our own lastfms group forum to discuss the above but im hoping it will add some momentum to this sites users to get on the case!

yorkii - sorry mate it was actually 9mm Parabellum Bullet but somewhere on their page was the title Art School or summit. They are good.

Current users start using the group shoutbox or forum on the site to make it look like its got some life in it.

See you on there (and here for reviews!)
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#15
thegeezer3 Wrote:Yo synewave i just looked at your chart and saw "Bomb the Bass" - that was "dope" when i was a kid.
Wow, now I feel old. I thought it was "dope" when I was in my early 30s (and I still do!).
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#16
well i was about 10 when his album "into the dragon" came out which was late 80s or early 90s. I think i got into it through messing around with some music making software on the amiga (oh the nostalgia!) and through games like xenon2 (megablast was the tune on it).

Hes still producing and through lastfm i found a link to his myspace page - search for bomb the bass and youll find it.

His shades back in the day were mint and i always wanted a pair. When i was in japan about 2 years ago there was some company making similiar shades. I guess that bboy ghetto look is big there. Sadly they were 30,000 and i dont pay 30,000 even if bomb the bass wears em.

"Keep these frequencys clear"
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#17
I've joined! I'm new to Lastfm though Smile
Edited: 2007-09-07, 4:01 pm
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#18
thegeezer3 Wrote:well i was about 10 when his album "into the dragon" came out which was late 80s or early 90s.
Really? It came out that long ago? A friend introduced it to me just 5 years ago or so. Ahhh, so much music out there Smile
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#19
Okay, I'm scrobbling too Cool
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#20
Looking into getting some more Japanese music. Apparently the '9mm Parabellum Bullet' is used by NATO peacekeepers! Does that mean the music will be good or bad?...I can't decide.
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#21
What? that's crazy. The music is really good, but I can't imagine its application into peace keeping situations. /baffle
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#22
so, looking at the charts everyone seems to have IMHO good taste in music. Smile

who is 浜崎あゆみ ?

also, does anyone have any good japanese artist suggestions for music on US itunes? i just got a gift card, so i figure i might as well check out suplementing my miserably small japanese music collection...
Edited: 2007-09-09, 10:54 pm
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#23
あゆみ is probably the most famous female artist in Japan (although YUI, 大塚愛 or 倖田來未 (こうだくみ) could equally be given the title) and appears in numerous TV commercials.
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#24
skylarth Wrote:so, looking at the charts everyone seems to have IMHO good taste in music. Smile

who is 浜崎あゆみ ?

also, does anyone have any good japanese artist suggestions for music on US itunes? i just got a gift card, so i figure i might as well check out suplementing my miserably small japanese music collection...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayumi_Hamasaki
Have fun reading Big Grin
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#25
perhaps a sticky on the lastfm rtkers board is in order for beginners looking to get a foot on the ole japanese music ladder.

maybe listed in gerne categories and that shows the japanese artist name (hyperlinked to their lastfm page would be nice) then maybe similiar sounding western counterparts (if possible) to give people an idea (if lastfm had previews of every single japanese tune it wouldnt be neccessary but it doesnt so it could come in handy!)

right im on it.
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