I don't like the modern pop music. I prefer Enka and Kayoukyoku!

I heard that last.fm is a good place to find new music you might like.  To be honest I haven't used it until just now.  It has a search (I tried "japanese rock" at that got me in the right direction), then there's "similar artists" and then playlists called "stations" and then there's a drop down to download (buy) the song on itunes and other stores (like amazon mp3).  (edit: It seems that a lot of stuff isn't available from the itunes US store... and when I log in to my account it switched me to the US store. I guess they'd rather I download it.) The songs are also tagged so there's like a j-rock tag for instance.  The sound quality is MUCH better than youtube.

Last edited by drivers99 (2009 June 14, 12:54 am)

I just listen to random online radio stations and listen for stuff i like then if i like it go buy it

It's extremely rare i buy anything now either, I listen to free radio stuff, and have old lessons on my ipod and a bunch of stuff that i tend to not listen to anymore ^^

If satellite radio did japanese music i'd pay for it

miki76 wrote:

Hmm...I don't know any websites that allow you to listen to full songs, but Last.fm and the itunes (Japanese) store let you listen to at least 30 seconds (I think) of the songs they have available. That's were I go to try and get a feel if I like a new Japanese artist or song before I download it. Hope those two places can help!

Last.fm lets you listen to the whole song sometimes. Sometimes you can even get a free download.

Unfortunately Last.fm wants to charge me money for their services now

bombpersons wrote:

In this day and age I seriously can't justify spending money on a 3 minute audio file anymore...

Hopefully one day musicians won't say they just can't justify spending the time to create a 3 minute song anymore, since no one buys them.

I am a lastfm user.  "bjgnome" is my user name, if you want to hear what I am listening to.  I listen on my iphone only.  They play the whole song through.  Haven't heard anything about paying for services, unless you want to download something for $0.99 (links to itunes).  So far I've bought one tune by モンゴル８００、but most of the jmusic I've come across is just annoying. 

I use it for 日本語の歌 only.  So, when I ask for recommendations is gives me a mix almost exclusively of jpop, jrock, or jska.  A lot of it is crap and I end up skipping tunes, but sometimes I find stuff that is OK.  Japan has some great jazz artists, but usually not a whole lot of lyrics, which defeats the purpose.

I'd love to hear names of favorite artists so I can search. 

One thing I heard of interest is about recently deceased Kiyoshiro Imawano.  His japanese was analyzed by linguists and found to be perfectly pronounced and proper.  I got an album from a friend, and every word is audible and clearly pronounced.  It also actually sounds like Japanese.

Last edited by yukkuri_kame (2009 June 17, 10:19 am)

You'll probably end up with fake merchandise and a ripped DVD of their concert!
Us musicians will now have to work even more than the 8-10 gigs a week we have to play, to pay the rent! Woho!

Anyway - back to topic! Thank you guys so much for your help!
I'm really digging myspace for their searching... Too bad I can't find any good music (yet) in the genres I like. I'll keep searching!

www.listen.jp is quite great. A huge selection, 30 second clips of most songs and lyrics for most artists.