Any of you last.fm subscribers, try "TBS RADIO 954kHz Radio" or just search for TBS Radio on the site. It has a fairly broad variety of j-music.

Just for fun:
Dj Sharpnel

somehow divers... happy hardcore, speedcore, gabber, lolicore... :/

EDIT:
and for style:
Malice Mizer

rock, visual kei

Why has nobody suggested the one and only Hironobu Kageyama? Despite the reputation he's got for doing the weird-but-cool vocals on virtually every　ドラゴンボルZ track in existence, he does way more than just that. He has some of his own stuff, and from what I gather it's good and sounds very different compared to his DBZ contributions.

And for those of you who don't really know of him, here's a pretty good song by him:
http://[video=youtube]http://www.youtube...vw[/video]

It's too bad he doesn't do the opening or closing for Dragon Ball Kai, though. D:

I'm gonna throw in my recommendation for Oku Hanako （奥　華子）. She writes and performs her own piano ballads, they're really nice easy listening.

I like The Back Horn a lot:

This song's also a classic, by The Blue Hearts:

If you're looking for Japanese hiphop/rap, or maybe some pop:
Bennie K (Female MC and another female singer. Really, really good.),
Ya-Kyimu (Female MC and two female singers),
SEAMO (a great rapper),
COMA-CHI (Easily one of the greatest female MCs),
and Rappagariya (Male MC) are all fantastic. It's really cute when a Japanese girl tries to talk like an urban gangster (I've noticed Japanese rappers tend to throw in bits of english at times).

I've been addicted to this particular Bennie K song for a good while now:

This group is unidentified (help?) but they're magical. The female singer meshes well with the two guys (although the guy in the white tries too hard if you ask me):

Of course the rap song legend Home Made Kazoku Arigatou (guaranteed to make you smile):

Ya-Kyimu performing with American rapper Trey Songz:

BoA - I did it for love (a pop song with hiphop-ish dancing):

SEAMO performing with AZU live, love this song:

(thread revival )

Saw this topic linked on a sticky but to my disappointment, it's been kinda dead! Have been listening to this new-ish song on repeat for the last few days, i love it. Has been a big encouragement to me for the final RTK push (last 150 left!), hearing all these words which i so want to look up and learn.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation: 新世紀のラブソング

They are by far my favourite and (consistently) good band. Other indie-rock-ish bands I've been listening to:

9mm Parabellum Bullet:

ストレイテナー:

Ogre You leprechaun: (classic name)

Radwimps:

I'm almost afraid to ask, but... Reggae? In Japanese? Does it exist?

Evil_Dragon Wrote:I'm almost afraid to ask, but... Reggae? In Japanese? Does it exist?

Check out MISON-B.

If you like bands like The Strokes:
8otto

(also the drummer has an afro, and is the singer. nice)

Anyone interested in Japanese hip-hop should find DJ Nobu AKA the Bombrush!'s album "Black File".

I'll even hint that there may exist a blog somewhere on the internet that may contain the link to such an album on a certain website that usually contains files that are download-able.

You should be able to use the list of tracks and artists to find your interests from there.

Also, find anything by Seeda ASAP. He's easily at the top of the hip-hop circuit in Japan at the moment (even if he isn't the most popular artist), he is definitely one of the most skilled. Most recommended are 花と雨 and 街風.

Finally, listen to this song and be in Japanese hip-hop bliss:

Are there any Japanese female performers that sing in a lower register? @_@

I've been listening to Sleepy.ab a whole lot recently. Great stuff; somewhat similar to Radiohead, which they have been compared to.

Also, check out Lamp, particularly their album Soyokaze Apartment. Bossa Nova/Jazz mix, with some pop thrown in. Really good stuff.

killeralgae Wrote:Are there any Japanese female performers that sing in a lower register? @_@

Have you listened to UA? Her voice isn't too high.

Nobody mentioned Melt Banana?

shadysaint Wrote:Nobody mentioned Melt Banana?

Man, Melt-Banana played in San Francisco a couple months ago and I found out like 2 days after it happened. Missed my chance! They're coming back to Sacramento in a few days but that's pretty far to drive on a work night. Oh well...

I'll suggest an incredibly good power-pop song:

Plectrum - Till I Die Again

shadysaint Wrote:Nobody mentioned Melt Banana?

Man I saw them last year in Shinjuku and it was like being beaten to death with a Gameboy. Good stuff.

For my money though, the best J Band for me is Zazen Boys, in particular their Himitsu Girl's Top Secret EP.

Don't know if anyone's mentioned JACKS yet, but their Vacant World album is incredible, check it out if you're into 60s psychedellic rock.

Some of my all time favourite rock/pop-rock/indie bands. I swear this stuff is phenomenal.

Nico Touches The Walls - Broken Youth (@1:25 ぎりぎりセーフ！)

Base Ball Bear (べぼべ) - 愛してる

Flumpool - 花になれ

Round Table feat. Nino - 流れ星

Aqua Timez - 一瞬の塵

Back-On (few songs here)
Sands of Time -

New World -

Chain -

Shinichi Osawa - Our Song (a lonely girl ver.)

Nana - 一色

Last Alliance - 片膝の汚れ

Abingdon Boys School - Via Dolorosa

Hip Hop/RnB stuff:

Crystal Kay - Step by Step

BoA vs. Bennie K mash up - Eat Monochrome (hooooooooooked on this for some reason)

Seamo feat. Bennie K - A love Story

Chemistry - Life Goes On (Side K)

Electropop stuff:

Seira Kagami - Super Special

MEG - amaizeitaku

Perfume - Secret Secret (and soooooooo much more )

Capsule - Sugarless Girl

Aural Vampire - Darkwave Surfer (this is industrial!!!!!!!! so epic)

For a cool female singer and some jazz..
Ego-Wrappin

I'm a bit of a music snob I must admit. There are few Japanese bands I REALLY like, but I'm looking out for new ones to listen to. Thanks for the recommendations!

My favourites artists are

スピッツ

Fishmans

井上陽水

also 坂本龍一 (Ryuichi Sakamoto) and Cornelius

Anyone else use Red Karaoke to sing their favourite songs?
http://jp.redkaraoke.com/

いきものがかり - Great band, so here are two songs. One is a bit more relaxed, and the other is kind of bright and happy. Their songs are consistently high-quality.

(Not sure what's up with the video, just listen to the song. This is the more relaxed one.)

(The fast-paced and happy one.)

ハルカリ - Another band with great songs all around. J-Pop, if I'm not mistaken. Both women are very cute and have distinctive voices. Love listening to them when I draw. Here are a couple...

Psycho le Cemu - A visual kei band...

Ben_Nielson Wrote:If you like bands like The Strokes:
8otto

(also the drummer has an afro, and is the singer. nice)

I think I love you for giving me this band.

Stuff I've liked so far (mostly indie):
- OGRE YOU leprechaun (mentioned before, high five!)
- Asobi Seksu (also mentioned before )
- Dirty Old Men (more poppy than rock, but still alright)
- The Pillows (classic 90's rock)
- ACIDMAN
- andymori (really indie-ish. Singer sounds similar to Vampire Weekend, and some songs feel similar to the Libertines too)
- LITE (good math rock, although their last EP is moving towards synths)
- Hartfield (excellent classic shoegaze, it's a shame they disappeared a few years behind)

I guess that's it. I'm looking to get sleepy.ab as I've heard of the name for a while.

If there are more Radiohead-like bands or indie bands, I'd love to hear them.

I like Ketsumeishi

and Pushim

ambassadog Wrote:For my money though, the best J Band for me is Zazen Boys, in particular their Himitsu Girl's Top Secret EP.

Nice to know there are other Zazen Boys fans out there! Mukai Shutoku is the bomb blizzly dang dong.

I'll recommend INU, Number Girl (pre-ZB Mukai), Supercar, and anything you can find from the Showa period. 80s idols are fabuloso as well.

I listen to a bunch of random stuff but my 2 favorites by far are:

1)Supercar (スーパーカー) -- They disbanded in 2005. Their older music is sort of rock/punk-rock type stuff. I personally never listened to it much. However, their last 2-3 albums are electronica-rock stuff. That's my fave stuff from them

2)Sakanaction (サカナクション) -- A newer band that hasn't been around all that long and isn't really that well-known yet. Same deal as Supercar's stuff. Alot of electronica-rock stuff and also just some straight rock/light rock stuff.

There aren't a lot of either band's songs on Youtube so you might have to go look around for samples if you like it. I have 3 of Supercar's albums and 2 of Sakanaction's (and getting the 3rd eventually) and I love all of them.

I can also second some of mezbup's recommendations. Capsule is good, I've got one of their albums. I've only heard a couple of MEG and Perfume songs but everything I heard was great.

Also can second DJ Sharpnel for anyone into crazy hardcore/techno/speedcore/etc. etc. etc. I first got into that music playing StepMania and nowadays I listen to Sharpnel when I run Nothing like hardcore to pump you up!