Hey all! Do we have some Jpop lovers here? Part of the reason I have so much fun learning Japanese is being able to understand a few more song lyrics, I must admit. I love my music. ^^

I worship at the altar of Otsuka Ai. I'm also a Hello! Project fan, with a special love for anything Kago Ai-Related. Maybe I just like the name Ai, haha. How about the rest of you folks? Any special favorites? Here's a link to my last.fm, for any interested people. Add me, or just browse my interests and see if you can discover a new artist! \o/

http://www.last.fm/user/Shibo1

You should join the RTK group: http://www.lastfm.jp/group/RTKers

After looking at your profile, Shibo, I'd say the term "worship" is entirely appropriate. :D Are you registered on lala.com, by any chance? I haven't used the site in a while, but I remember a user named Shibo (with an Otsuka Ai avatar) who popped up a lot when I was recording the Japanese music I owned.

My last.fm profile is here. Lately my main Japanese-language obsessions have been Morning Musume and capsule (plus anything produced by Nakata Yasutaka), but I like a lot of different stuff. I joined the RTK group as well. :)

thequietfox Wrote:After looking at your profile, Shibo, I'd say the term "worship" is entirely appropriate. Are you registered on lala.com, by any chance? I haven't used the site in a while, but I remember a user named Shibo (with an Otsuka Ai avatar) who popped up a lot when I was recording the Japanese music I owned.

Haha, yeah, that was me. I've been inactive for quite some time, but I was really into lala when it was in beta. Even scored an Ayu CD, some BoA.. Tons of P5, haha. Trade your junk for treasure, great concept. Added you as a friend, quietfox, and joined the RTK group! \o/

BoA deserves to be slapped for what she did to "We Will Rock You" ...
Thankfully I've discovered a few good JRock bands and can now listen to Japanese music again without wanting to strangle myself.

I haven't heard her rendition of "We Will Rock You". That's probably a good thing, haha. I love her version of "La La La Love Song", with Soul'd Out, though. "Winding Road" is a great one too. What concerns me is the fact that she cut her hair. What on earth was she thinking? :o

I almost quit after seeing this... :/

I do like the Love Cook album though.

I like music of all kinds, and Jpop is one of them. My friend and I watch a lot of anime at her place, and if I like the music, sometimes I buy the soundtrack, or CD singles if there is no soundtrack.

So far, my favorite band from Japan is Ali Project, who does the music for Rozen Maiden. I loved the music because it was different, and when I bought one of their CDs, I was not disappointed.

I also have an Ayumi Hamasaki CD, and the soundtracks for Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari, which are really awesome because most of the songs are different from the cookie cutter Jpop that's become so popular recently.

I don't know a lot of the band names, but I'll listen to just about any of it. I'm also kind of amazed at Ayumi Hamasaki, just because she's been around so long (that and her voice). I think the turnover on these bands is often just three or four years, and she's been at it for what, ten? She has a couple of good songs in last year's Top 100.

To be honest I probably listen to more jrock (ie: Ellegarden, Bump of Chicken, Asian Kung-Fu Generation) than jpop...but my favorite jpop group would probably have to be Arashi.

Another ALI Project fan here. Actually, I like just about any music from Japan, as long as it has vocals. It is a very beautiful language, after all. I mainly listen to Moi dix Mois, Dir en Grey, etc., however, so I may have neglected the pop genre a bit.

Is there really that much of a jpop/jrock difference? I hear Bump of Chicken & B'z in the same places as Morning Musume & the Kinki Kids. To my ear some of it just has more electric guitar. I guess "underground" bands like Shonen Knife & the Boredoms are different, but I don't even know if they have as many fans in Japan as overseas.

One song that fits no category: [kana]oshiri kajiri mushi[/kana]. I saw the video on Youtube before it got pulled and almost died from laughing. Same hilarity for the video for [kana]ai don wana dai[/kana] by the Ginnang Kidz(?), but for totally different reasons (not worksafe, btw).

Sometimes I listen to J-Pop, especially Mika Nakashima, Angela Aki, Maki Goto and Nana Kitade, but I prefer something completely different: J-Metal in the vein of Onmyo-Za, Gargoyle, Sex Machineguns, Aphasia... Onmyo-Za is my favorite band ever, I listen to it every single day!

Yes! The Boredoms, I completely forgot about them. I learn nothing Japanese wise from listening but they win for sheer insanity.

billyclyde Wrote:Is there really that much of a jpop/jrock difference?

It depends on the definitions, but I can tell you that while there are a lot of Jrock bands that I love, the pop genre described on this thread doesn't really suit my tastes. So I think there is some kind of difference, albeit fuzzy.

Regarding Jpop, I like Spitz, Makino Yui, Younha...

Then there are the "halfway", poprock ones like Ellegarden, Chatmonchy, GO!GO!7188, YUI, etc.

Finally my favorites are more on the rock side, like the pillows and Tokyo Jihen/Shiina Ringo. (I don't like metal and the like, so it ends here)

At least that's how I sort of categorize them. Anyway, it's true that most of Jmusic sounds quite pop-ish to western ears.

Tokyo Jihen is kind of awesome. I like Yui & Otsuka Ai a lot as well, and the Funky Monkey Babys, though if I ever wore one of their shirts I'm sure I would get beat up.

One I have no category questions about is recent fave Mizumori Kaori-- it's ENKA! I never though I would like this stuff, but I'm about to go to a mamasan bar and rock the mike.

And the Boredoms-- I've never heard 'em, but one of my friends from school is really into them, and told me about this infamous concert they had. I guess it's an earlier name for the band-- [kana]hanatarashi[/kana]? Photos from the show:

http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~gin/rock/jap...ashi2.html

Hit the play arrow. A backhoe? Not quite pop!

Holy crap, someone mentioned Shonen Knife! I love them! Saw them back in 2006 was it? I think. Little bar in Rochester NY of all places. So good.
There's definitely a pop/rock difference, but there is also the blending found in pop-rock which I find more tolerable. Bump of Chicken probably follow under that category but I can stomach them while Utada drives me nuts. (Simple and Clean is forever engrained into my mind, damn you Kingdom Hearts.)
Go!Go! Is poprock? Really? They feel a little harder to me. But that's just a label. I <3 them so much and I always do Jet Ninjin when I go out for karaoke. (Of course, I also do Arashi's 言葉より大切な物)

I wanted to forget about the butt biting bug. Why did someone have to mention him?

Yeah, you're probably right, Go!Go! should be mentioned as on the rock side. Anyway, they're great, so who cares

I stumbled across Bon Voyage (http://www.myspace.com/bonvoyageweb, http://bonvoyageweb.com/) earlier this year and really like them. Trouble is that it appears I can only get the CDs from Amazon.co.jp or the tracks off iTunes, and yesasia.com doesn't carry them. I hope I can find their stuff elsewhere.

A japanese friend came over and turned me on to the following:

Ajico
Blankey Jet City
Chara
Shaka Labbits
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
UA

not really j-pop but food for the ears

@billyclyde I really like Tokyo Jihen (Incidents).

@taijuando Ooh, more music to check out! Thanks!

A lala trader turned me on to Halcali. I guess they could be categorized as pop rap? Great stuff. Check out the Utada and Rip Slyme parodies in this vid. ^^

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BGyn1PBWDQk

On my playlist, I usually have the following artists playing:

Do As Infinity
Shiina Ringo
Utada
Tsukiko Amano
Miwa Sasagawa
Onitsuka Chihiro
Kagrra

I tend to like female singers with interesting/unique/powerful voices.

椎名林檎 <3
There's something in her that bewitches you...

Luminous Orange is really good shoegazer/rock-type stuff: http://www.myspace.com/luminousorange