Seeking J-Pop Recommendations

http://shiina.peach-arrow.net/scans/ss5.jpg

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TOCT-24321
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TOCT-24942

buy these two records immediately!

milton beat me to it

Starting this thread up again...I've accumulated several Shiina Ringo discs (including all four by Tokyo Jihen), about five by UA, and a couple each by Namie Amuro, Ami Suzuki, Hikaru Utada. I'm still enjoying the more electronic, hyperproduced, sugar-rush stuff more than the semi-rock, singer-songwriterish stuff - basically, I'm just not a Ringo fan, no matter how many chances I give her. But Ami Suzuki's electro-disco stuff is fantastic, and Namie Amuro and Hikaru Utada (who's released three English-language albums in addition to five in Japanese) are pretty good, too. There's a new Ayumi Hamasaki album coming out on 4/13 that I'm looking forward to - it's called Rock 'n' Roll Circus and the cover art is pretty excellent (viewable here).

Have you checked out ony of Tomoe Shinohara's records?

You've probably seen these already, but just in case:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/mar/25/japanese-pop-women
http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/play/6-most-underrated-japanese-albums-00s-702098#ixzz0afFFD6QS

Macdonald Duck Eclair and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box might fit the bill (especially the former), though I haven't dug into either much beyond the links included in that last article. I like part of the Alan song (and the rest is tolerable as well) linked to in the Guardian article, but maybe j-pop with strange Tibetan wailing isn't what you want.

That Macdonald Duck Eclair link is broken, but for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpmfzoRjIn4

(I do have a bad feeling anything I recommend will end up being more from the avant-pop side of things than you really want in this case, but that other MacDonald Duck Eclair track was more electronic/hyperproduced and sugary than this one which also seems a bit more "rock" in a loose sense.)

Yeah, I'm really not so much interested in J-pop for indie people as I am J-pop for 13-year-old girls. Thanks, though.

I find it hard to believe that 13 year old girls aren't listening to Alan and Macdonald Duck Eclair (or Shiina Ringo, for that matter, considering how huge she is in Japan), but whatever.

Also, lol at me being defensive about not recommending j-pop that's popular with 13 year old girls, while responding to someone whose main meat and potatoes is metal and free jazz. Only on ILM, or something.

I am not indie! (Not usually anyway.)

I have the same inability to get into Shiina Ringo. It makes me feel oddly guilty! I am aware I am supposed to have recognised her genius by now! (actually there is this duet she did called 'haiiro no hitomi' that i do really like but it's basically, like, a muse track.) But my tastes for some reason got stuck on 'amiable soft pop-rock and eighties boyband nonsense' for a really long time so I'm probably not much use for recommendations for you-- the one pop-pop group I've noticed people getting excited about recently is Perfume, who have a v specific sort of filter-disco-y style (or at least every song by them i've heard reminded me of kylie's 'love at first sight', faye wong's 'valentine radio', etc etc etc, though it's more in the vocals than the beat somehow).

Grabbed the new Ayumi Hamasaki album yesterday; it's fantastic. The first two songs (after a weirdly Gothic keyboard intro) are almost Evanescence-style metal, with some DJ scratching in the background and some "November Rain" piano added on the second one. The usual complement of gooey ballads are present too, of course, but there's some really aggressive material here. I like it a lot.

I'm also listening to Koda Kumi's new album, Universe, which is very aggressive R&B, and she's a more powerful singer than Hamasaki.

I might've posted this in another thread here, but it's single of the year for me so what the hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edyARJq9sgM

I recently came across this American podcast called 'Gaijin Kanpai' where 3 really dorky and obssessed Japanophiles get drunk and discuss J-Pop, there's always a ton of info in each ep if you are looking for new things. It's good stuff.

http://www.gaijinkanpai.com/

I was going to post Perfume but got beaten to it. Didn't know that they had a new single, woo.

Capsule (much more dance) and MEG (slightly less shiny) are also worth a look and have the same producer. Actually, looking it up I see that it's the same for Ami Suzuki too!

How's this, unperson? Or do you already know her? (Probably.) I can't keep track of all her "band" names:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxQQW_lA1Qs

My fav Jpop so far this year is a cellphone commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5DJyKnq5ms&feature=related

Hey, that's Kimura Kaela. I'm so happy she sells a lot of records these days, I bought a bunch of em a few years back and she's got some of the best pop rock singles of the past decade. Too bad every music video of hers has been removed from youtube.

J-pop for 13-year-old girls.

I looked at the global chart this week and saw that jailbait group numero uno, AkB48, had sold MASSIVE amounts of their latest single (Ponytail to shushu), enough to enter at #2 worldwide. A catchy song and sketchy video. Anyway it lead me to another single of theirs where the chorus (consisting of 'happy happy birthday') has to qualify as the most amazing thing I've ever heard. It's so hyper active in both concept and execution you can't help but love, and fear it. Unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG44c2sDOXM

Another in the post-Capsule electro pop vein:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K23j24as_9s

Re:the exchange above on 'indie' - yeah... lately I've been feeling that my taste in major label J-pop has gotten too predictably 'alternative'. Basically Shiina Ringo/TJ, Tomoko Kawase's solo records, some Perfume, the oddball song from a big idol (I like Namie Amuro's "Dr."). Kimura Kaela I find okay. Does this make sense? I don't think it's a coincidence that these are all cited on an ILX thread.

But re:unperson's original post, I want to be open to the idea that stuff like AKB48 & more mainstream J-pop can be itself & still deliver "the most amazing thing" (link taken down btw - what song is it?) but it's not really coming together for me. I went through some videos last week & felt sort of tired & strained to differentiate between all the new groups. I like maybe 1 out of 10 Ayumi Hamasaki songs.

Also, I see nobody has boy band recommendations. Not that I could blame...

is there any anti-JPOP jpop?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEIBlNDUYAQ

I thought this was really catchy for a song that excoriates JPOP but then I found out it was a straight cover of a previous hit that had no ironic intent (!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFdURwwnXBc

link taken down btw - what song is it?)

'Namida Surprise'.. seems all their stuff has been removed from youtube. http://video.nate.com/clip/view?video_seq=209230590

Unlike the k-pop scene, which I'm somewhat obsessively up-to-date with, I don't really know what's what in j-pop.. I pick up recommendations here and there, but it seems even the core fans are a little disappointed with what's being offered (in the mainstream) at the moment. For me, the only really exciting thing among the bestsellers I know of is Perfume. Ayumi used to make some shockingly great singles, but I can't say I've heard a compelling one in a while. Sometimes the most sugary stuff gets to me, but then it has to be REALLY sugary with a lot of melody as in the aforementioned AKB tune.

This floored me when I first got it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZr42REXIcI

^^ SOCOPOGOGO (YMCK Version) ^-^

abcfsk, how do you keep up with the k-pop scene? any good english language sites?

Maybe a little on the songwriter side, but it's J-pop!
I think J-pop tends to have a lot of breezy 7thy chords

Sugar Babe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwGQbF8y5ys&feature=related

Southern All Stars. apparently the most best-selling band in Japanese history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI2QzryWyo4&feature=related

Yumi Matsutoya. Kind of a Japanese Carole King. Highly recommend her first album (Hikoukigumo).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeyPIkKx3Ms&feature=related

Flipper's Guitar. What Cornelius was up to before just being Cornelius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d4IUa0pF70

Acidman. A band that made it big!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJgX0eb_5CY

Quruli. Another band that made it big.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJjJOQbE_s

Jun Togawa. Maybe. Maybe not
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkXIOdOwGTE

RC Succession. Kiyoshiro is one of the greatest singers. ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o2WR-DWdzI&feature=related

Quruli are a band that are completely different from record to record. This makes them awesome, though it also means they bear no center.

Is Puffy (aka Puffy Amiyumi) too obvious? If not, you should be able to find Pure or Jet around fairly easily.

Also really like Tsuji Ayano, though she tends to skew away from the teen-style pop. But Calendar Calendar may be worth checking out.

Ack, not sure why I wrote Pure. I meant Nice.

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://web1.nyc.youtube.com/v/QHf1ZAjrLMM&hl=es_ES&fs=1&";></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://web1.nyc.youtube.com/v/QHf1ZAjrLMM&hl=es_ES&fs=1&"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Sorry about that:

immi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHf1ZAjrLMM

dyao: allkpop is a massively popular / frequently updated site, albeit with more gossip than music talk. but all new releases are mentioned, more or less

this one's sweet. only tune by them that I go back to though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNC7gGnt93U

Where do I start with this stuff? It seems like most of the recommendations are from the past ten years or so.

I really like YMO's Naughty Boys and feel like that could be a starting point. Any recommendations for glossy hyper-produced melodic stuff like that (from like 85-90)?

I ask for stuff from this era 'cause it seems like a logical extension of what I already listen to. I have a feeling that if I just dive into the post 2000-stuff like Ayumi Hamasaki or Perfume (I did like the song "Dream Fighter" though) I'll just be entertained by the novelty of it for a bit and then promptly ditch it.

You could maybe start with more Shibuya-Kei/Pico Pop oriented stuff, or maybe bands like Capsule, Hazel Nuts Chocolate, McDonald Duck Eclair, EEL, Puffy Ami Yumi, Denki Groove, or some compilations like the Sushi series.

I've probably posted this upthred or elsewhere but Tokyo Recohan is an excellent site, Patrick is super helpful too and it's pretty damn reasonably priced.

Where do I start with this stuff? It seems like most of the recommendations are from the past ten years or so.

I really like YMO's Naughty Boys and feel like that could be a starting point. Any recommendations for glossy hyper-produced melodic stuff like that (from like 85-90)?

― fidel castro clone (corey), Friday, July 23, 2010 11:35 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark

Some of the older, sunnier, Japaense Pop/Jazz/R&B stuff I have that might be of interest:

(1977) Taeko Onuki - Sunshower
(1977) Tatsuro Yamashit - Spacy
(1979) Matsutoya Yumi - Kanashii Hodo Otenki
(1979) Sadao Watanabe - Morning Island
(1980) Minako Yoshida - Monochrome
(1983) Minako Yoshida - In Motion

Thanks guys! I'll give these a listen and post my impressions later.

The Taeko Onuki is lovely. Great summer music.

Back to the teen pop side of it, Perfume's new single is lovely (as always) and so is the video. As always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18grnTXq7mc

I love this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebWsTKtTHzs

oh no I like them

checking out the songs from their first two albums makes it clearer that they're coming from technopop and gradually getting more accessible. earlier stuff more like tomoe shinohara with all the weirdness tamed back a bit, but updated with digital techno production like the later dat politics records, or more accurately the lazy town soundtrack. but the newer songwriting / arrangements are definitely mining the late-YMO sweet spot.

Yes, exactly. I'm listening to GAME and they definitely have the production and the melodies. My only qualm is that it seems to be mixed too loudly.

This is pretty good, but from 1998:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqcHWsz_pvk

I like the breakdown at around the four minute mark.

Yet another Perfume single. Heavy. http://vimeo.com/16237211 Amazing dance at 2:47

Re: the talk above, before they met with Yasutaka Nakata, who's produced everything since 2003 (2010 is their 10th anniversary), they were PURE bubblegum pop: youtube.com/watch?v=AwhLR-gdh7w

So I would say they started out at their most accessible, before re-thinking things. At first they were only promoted regionally and after they hooked up with Nakata they were also doing indie releases for a while. Took a while to get into the mainstream.

I want people to recognise how massive this song is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AySBbwGJA0g

Kat-Tun "Change Ur World" -- such a fkn choon

Rip Slyme are pretty incredible. They're technically hip-hop, though their songs definitely venture into pure pop territory pretty often. Most of their albums are pretty good. Most J-Pop fans ought to at least know about their singles. Their first single comp was pretty massive. Nearly all those tunes are undeniable and their videos have been pretty consistantly amazing.

I reviewed both of Ayumi Hamasaki's 2010 albums on BurningAmbulance.com today.

Aikawa Nanase was great. Apparently Marty Friedman from Megadeth was her guitarist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BXB9G9InVw

Rip Slyme spin-off Halcali were amazing as well

XP - Really enjoyed reading the Ayumi reviews, good work!

IT'S J-POP DAY

this shit is genuinely tearjerking (and brilliant), may seem like an overblown hamfest but try listening to it without welling up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuL-BRo9tZs

Just out of interest, where are you with Shiina Ringo L?

Ohhh yeah brother, try getting this guy out of your head

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFOgjHSx9go

Wait how do you make the video appear?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFOgjHSx9go

Just out of interest, where are you with Shiina Ringo L?

― philippe is standing on it (MaresNest), Friday, 4 February 2011 15:41 (7 minutes ago)

Dunno, am yet to really try her! Although she did win that poll I ran, so...

I think you would love Tokyo Jihen and Shiina Ringo. If you do SR, I say go for the ultimate and listen to Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana. Alternately, since you like checking things out on youtube, I could recommend a 12 track intro. or something (or a few of use could do that). For Tokyo Jihen, I think starting with youtube stuff might be best, since much of their material has been better realized in live versions.

Notice how quickly I swoop in when she is mentioned. (I continue to have no life at the moment, so it's easy to pull that off.)

Okay, try this on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyRxz1DfQW0

<3 you Rudipherous!

And this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc_vSSLFMs4

x-posts:

:)

I think acoleuthic's SR/TJ conversion is long overdue.

Toyko Jihen - Denpa Tsuushin & Season Sayonara (live)

If this doesn't hit your prog. spot (while still being pretty pop), I guess I don't understand your taste.

Denki Groove was kickassssss :)

OK, will get stuck into these now, cheers!

Ugh, that Shuukyou konks out before the end of the track. It's not supposed to do that LJ, just letting you know.

XP - does that choice mean you are coming round to 'Sports' a bit more Rudipherous?

Shuukyou is awesome!! Such massive, crunchy production, huge tune, love it!

In an alternative universe, that would be big and Oasis would be obscure

I still don't like Sports per se, but I like some of the Ultra C performances of that material. I haven't stopped watching a bunch of these clips from the Ultra C video.

Yeah that song in particular always hits the spot; its like one big climax
Denki Groove in general rule pretty hard though, especially if you're into YMO or similar music'

whoops that is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxp

The boys are still not as good as songwriters as she was at one point. (Hopefully, she will come back on that front.)

Trying to find that awesome performance of Noudouteki Sanpunkan from the Music Japan programme, seems only to be around as a download bah!

First Tokyo Jihen...well, all I'll say is that you clearly DO know what scratches my itch. JOY IN OUR CENTURY

thanks for this guys, this is a whole new trove of awesome hypermelodic and above all emotionally open and unafraid-to-get-expressive brilliance

Hmmm. I prefer the studio version to any of the live versions I've heard of that one (and I think I've heard the one you're talking about).

It's here, and very similar to the album, with maybe a little more swing.

http://sadisticgossip.blogspot.com/2010/03/tokyo-jihen-20100228-music-japan.html

acoleuthic, you need to hear this to from the original TJ lineup. This is one Shiina Ringo wrote:

Tokyo Jihen - Sounan (Dynamite Out! version)

(She doesn't write the music for any TJ songs these days.)

Hurrah for Friday nummy num J-Pop goodness.

oh my WORD @ this second Tokyo Jihen song

gonna have to give these guys a SERIOUS listen

Also LJ, Shiina has a very interesting sense of aesthetics/detail and it's worth doing a bit or research into her practices/ideas/principles, she's pretty cool.

ok! well I am very much enjoying all this stuff :) and it seems to have been made with the idea of engaging the audience as maximally and enjoyably as it can, which is a fine aim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4bqBAYpMIQ

Tokyo Jihen - Sounan (Dynamite Out! version)

This has been my first exposure to any of this stuff...most of all I dig they way they look so serious and committed while wearing such ridiculous headgear.

As for the music: need to digest more, there's a whiff of muso pastiche that I'm not sure about. Actually, what this reminds me most of is Janelle Monae. But I've only heard 1.5 songs so this might be an idiotic statement.

there's a whiff of muso pastiche that I'm not sure about. Actually, what this reminds me most of is Janelle Monae.

There's definitely a muso thing going on, but I can deal with that. Some degree of pastiche, but to me everything generally feels integrated and cooked up into something new. The music is generally emotional enough and pop enough and tuneful enough that I don't see where the pastiche element is a stumbling block. "Sounan" is so great melodically that I don't see what there is to complain about.

But I'm obviously a fairly rabid fan at this point.

I probably shouldn't say it, but I originally got interested in Janelle Monae because Shiina Ringo fans were comparing the two.

Re: JM, see this thread:

http://forums.electricmole.net/showthread.php?t=1278

Oh MaresNest, wish you hadn't posted that last one. Ringo Expo kind of loses me and that song is one I prefer to hold off on until people are hooked. (It would be many times better minus the intro., I think.)

New TJ single out this month, incidentally, and probably another album this year.

Ha, well I'm quite fond of the size and look of the Expo event and I know LJ will get a kick out of that billy big bollocks orchestral arrangement.

You're probably right. I like some of her big orchestral performances, but Expo was a little too Vegas for me.

morning

'Karuki Zamen Kuri No Hana' = my favorite pop album of the 00's, nothing else really came close

opening night of 2005 tour @ Budokan (sorry I couldn't find it on youtube): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x34k5v_tokyo-incidents-souretsu-budokan_music

aw neat

really feel like I should find some of these albums in their entirety...

You should, but also keep in mind that a lot of the time the live versions are very different and interesting in their own right (and sometimes better). There are no live CDs, only DVDs.

Milton, did you see that she was doing a photo shoot at White Sands, New Mexico? They were here in my state--but no concert.

why doesn't she just play here

makes me so sad

thank you person who uploaded my favorite shiina b-side to youtube

whoa it's been a while since i saw this...you just can't like, not dig this tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOiI-x02iYk

aw that is chill! and very unlike any other hip-hop i've heard...

milton parker that song is GODDAMN EPIC

it's like a Japanese take on Six-era Mansun :D

LJ, it's a whole bunch of pieces of SR songs (some backwards I think) reassembled. Something she put out when she officially quit her solo career (which of course she didn't take long to partially resume).

well the fact she did that speaks for her desire to mess about with the form :)

hell, yes. Also she/they do a lot of drastically new arrangements of songs from one recording or concert to another. That's the sort of thing you come to appreciate more the more you dig through her catalog.

x-post

Like this video stitches together various fragments of her videos (the song is quite good, imo, as well):

Ringo no Uta

(Apologies to unperson for helping to turn his thread into another Ringofest, but it's not all my fault.)

Whoa, it actually blends together somewhat to form something kind of coherant...suffice to say it makes a lot more sense knowing that it's a splice of a dozen songs

No P-Model in this thread yet, so let's bop this up there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj13Y_H6lDo

yayyyyy

a singular delight :)

I made a comp of the insane post-capsule overproduced stuff in this vein; I'll try to remember to post the tracklist here when I get home

Would like to see that tracklist.

Sorry for the delay! Here's what I threw together:

Saori@destiny: WOW WAR TECHNO
Aira Mitsuki: ニーハイガール
capsule: e.d.i.t.
MEG: LIES
Ayaka Ikio: Mess Up My Body
Ami Suzuki: FREE FREE
LIL: Dance On The Floor
immi: Alice
mini: Are U Ready ?
Ordinary Venus: I Don't Know!
Mizca: Kirakira
Perfume: Polyrhythm

There's a little more overlap here with the rest of this thread than I'd originally remembered, oops. The Saori@Destiny "WORLD WAR TECHNO" EP is probably my favorite find from this bunch; it's about 20bpm faster than the rest of this stuff and the arrangements are really slippery and busy.

Also, immi does a shockingly great cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" (on the back half of Switch) that's worth seeking out.

Wow! thanks, would like to hear all that, I might have to go digging. I know Capsule and Perfume and (I think) Ami Suzuki.

I got into Japanese music only fairly recently, 5 years ago or so. I started with Shibuya-Kei and Tokyo/Pico Pop stuff mainly and worked from there but my tastes are easily ten years out of date.

Love the MEG, Perfume and Capsule songs on that list, will definitely seek out the others. Thanks!

Hah, Ayumi was how I got into J-Pop, too. Some of my other favorites in related veins:

Puffy AmiYumi
Do As Infinity
Every Little Thing
the brilliant green
Yaida Hitomi
Garnet Crow
Aikawa Nanase
Chitose Hajime
Olivia
tommy february6 / tommy heavenly6
Amano Tsuki(ko)
globe
Shingyoji Eri

I will admit I'm only interested in this because it's Shiina Ringo penned and produced, with helping from Tokyo Jihen, but it's Chiaki Kuriyama:

Chiaki Kuriyama - Oishii Kisetsu

Eh, it's okay.

love this song, sounds like a duck with a cold quacking along to a super mario brothers tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabYxwvxsh0

This looks like it was a party and a half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BOcVi9ZACI

The PV for the Shiina Ringo/http://i54.tinypic.com/11l4yvn.gif Kuriyama collab:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjQ0MDU5NDgw.html

?

Maybe I wrote http://i54.tinypic.com/11l4yvn.gif and not Chiaki? Let's see.

Ah. That's kind of fucked up, but it's ILX so what can you do. Also, I just listened to the song again and it sucks, maybe even more with the video.

This is something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_bLVsJLlY

There's a bit of ridiculousness involved, yes, but at the end I still got chills.

'Karuki Zamen Kuri No Hana' = my favorite pop album of the 00's, nothing else really came close

pretty much

this thread needs some SMAP tho. probably not weird enough for some and they're kinda wack now (though awesome as tv celebs) but they had some dope singles in the 90s, if you like super amped up house-y boy band type stuff

plus they are kinda hot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wLNJZPveJA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXGfwMbwIT4

>There's a bit of ridiculousness involved, yes, but at the end I still got chills.

I made an edit of that Perfume song ('Polyrhythm') where that middle Daft Punk breakdown repeats three times and it's still not long enough, could listen to that forever. And just to keep bringing up Carl Stone on J-Pop threads, that vocal quiltwork hook from Perfume's 'Nee' sounds a lot like a crib from Stone's piece 'Flints'

yikes, SMAP

^ Especially in a live setting with 50 000 people dancing together.. crazy that they didn't extend it there. Anyway that song is on the soundtrack for Cars 2, believe it or not. Will feature both in the movie and on the OST release.

And here's a short version of the video for their new single, Laser Beam. Doesn't seem to be on par with Nee, but catchy http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xinc32_yyyyy-yyyy_music

yikes, SMAP

― Milton Parker, Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:28 AM (19 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah not weird enough plus insufficient amounts of scantily clad japanese chicks right but i heard those songs a lot after the earthquake and they kinda sunk in i guess

>Anyway that song is on the soundtrack for Cars 2, believe it or not.

getting the break in the West that Shiina never had, really just not fair. the idea that Perfume will tour the States before Tokyo Jihen is more than a little depressing. aesthetically I think Perfume is just as terrifying as SMAP really, but there's something in the production approach that inches closer to that invisible line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g

kinda obsessed with this band Negoto (ねごと), album just came out
here's a video of them playing a couple of songs live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JphSlVQ1CNE

really like this song even though its at least a minute too long - feels very 90s US indie influenced, but hard to pin down?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQVhpkVDLPU

New Perfume! It's...ok I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R-fu2jHvrw

It's amazingly beautiful. SOTY. Didn't know pulling back on the vocal effects slightly in the middle eight would have such an effect on me. The album is out on the 30th.

First Shiina Ringo song I've liked for a while, from her new EP (not the single though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34BVyR0K_9c

It's amazingly beautiful.

YEP.

This is the b-side to it, btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbE4OBnxwlE

they released the tracklisting for jpn, which means if you've been following the singles for the past year you've already heard 8 songs

but those are 8 fucking good songs

01. The Opening
02. レーザービーム（Album-mix)
03. GLITTER （Album-mix）
04. ナチュラルに恋して
05. MY COLOR
06. 時の針
07. ねぇ
08. 微かなカオリ
09. 575
10. VOICE
11. 心のスポーツ
12. Have a Stroll
13. 不自然なガール
14. スパイス

perfume song sounds like it's in a weird key signature, no?

I forgot how much I love Judy and Mary!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmHNv0WVUpY&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCptL_HNNMA&feature=related

actress Yuuki Aoi has her first single coming out soon, and its ... odd. dat hat! the title translates roughly as 'The Tail of the Horse on the Merry-go-Round', lol

http://youtu.be/QY1q-Phj_L4

listening to the new capsule album STEREO WORXXX. big step up from world of fantasy to my ears. the gigantic pop hooks are back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KHsMb-UTCw

lol, was just about to start a thread on Capsule/Perfume/everyone else under that umbrella. been listening to some of Capsule's 2004-2005 records and they're pretty dire. but this new direction seems pretty promising.

yeah, there was an umbrella thread in the sandbox but I couldn't find one on ilx proper so I just posted here.

2004-2005 still bossa nova/lounge era? not a big fan of that style either.

i like the style, when it's done right - Cutie Cinema Replay is a pretty good album, but they just get worse and worse

There's a new Perfume single now as well, which is excellent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFNY1S1Fp-0

not too blown away by the song but I like the shot with Ayano posing with a Teenage Engineering OP-1

An umbrella Nakata-Empire thread might be a good idea. The new Perfume was posted on another thread a few days ago (can't remember which), would be good to put everything in one place.

whoever does it can cut and paste if they are feeling fanatical

http://beta.ilxor.com/sandbox/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=142&threadid=1671

not blown away by that perfume single either but ain't bad. another solid nakata production w/nice instrumental break towards the end.

I'm really digging this guy Ram Rider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc0t9rgT-1g