The Japanese Popular Music Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by juss100, Feb 19, 2021.

  1. juss100

    juss100 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    There's currently no inclusive place in which lovers of Jpop can indulge this passion as their heart desires so I figured I'd take a chance and start one up, because for me for the last few years it always keeps coming back to this amazing industry and I constantly feel the need to post away my latest discoveries.

    So please take the opportunity to post your favourites, share your loves and your stories of how/why you too love having Jpop in your life. (Please can we keep it to popular music, though. No Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japanese Jazz or Heavy Metal, there's plenty of places elsewhere to discuss those things)

    My own passion for Jpop is bound up with early idol groups Speed, Zone and especially Morning Musume. I had a phase back in 2008-2009 of listening to Morning Musume singles constantly every day. I was suffering anxiety and depression at the time and Sexy Boy picked me up something rotten (it still works, dammit. Repeat repeat repeat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebShKgjBGKk. But I wasn't -at the time -digging the increasingly sexy/sexual platinum era and drifted away as I'd seen Momosu as quite offbeat and cool and wanted the anarchic side to continue. Well I picked them up again a few years back as I was finding it easier to discover Japanese music and the 20th Anniversary collection blew me away with its mixture of complex bravura, insane dance hooks and soaring melodies and I was quite sad I missed the opportunity to discover this music as it dropped, as a body of work Morning Musume in the 2010s is like nothing else I've ever heard.

    So naturally I'm going to start this thread posting one of the not overly involved tracks, but it does see Tsunku at his most heartwarming I think and his ability to eke so much colour and variety out of his playful synth backdrops is still evident. The break at 3:20 is classic, as is the subtlety in the repeated chorus towards the end. Tsunku imo is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

     
  2. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    While I can't say I'm a connoisseur of the genre, I always like a opportunity to tell this story:
    It was around mid-2002 when I walked into the Vegas Virgin Megastore, and while doing my usual browsing, the store was playing these young Japanese voices, singing over such a wide range of musical styles, and familiar 'riffs', that I just HAD to go up to the counter and ask, "What are we listening to?" The guy behind the counter showed me this:
    [​IMG]
    ..bought it on the spot!
     
  3. E888boo

    E888boo Active Member

    Location:
    London
    I remember picking up a couple of their albums on import back in the day due to their Andy Sturmer/Jellyfish connection.

    Haven’t given them a spin for a while, must dig them out...
     
    vince likes this.
  4. juss100

    juss100 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    Do you have any songs you could recommend?

    I'm currently working my way through this rather excellent potted history of artists on RYM and notice that they are on there, though I've never heard them yet! RYM Ultimate Box Set > J-Pop - RYM/Sonemic

    Also, it's the coolest when that happens. Thankfully not too much or it could hurt the wallet. I generally have experiences of "that thing playing was really cool ... wonder what it was. Ahhh well..
     
  5. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Well, that's just it... I assume thanks to Mr. Sturmer, you'll hear 'quotes' from all over the music spectrum.
    There IS a 'best of' called, "Hit & Fun", which would make a good starting point...
    But, here, take this song for example:
    It starts with a rip-off of "Pinball Wizard", but then, on a dime, turns into a pre-"Hard Days' Night" Beatles song....or, should I say...a RUTLES song!
     
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  6. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    Here's one of my favourite Japanese popular music songs: 'Musical Chairs' by METAFIVE. METAFIVE is a supergroup including members of Sadistic Mika Band/YMO Flipper's Guitar, Denki Groove, Dee-lite, and others.

     
  7. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    This was a big hit when I was living in Japan, and is closer to 'popular music' than my previous choice. 'Refrain ga Sakendeiru' by Yuming. (Yumi Matsutoya).

     
    pinkrudy likes this.
  8. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Miki Nakatani deserves a lot of attention as a singer. Most of her repertoire were composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
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  9. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Koshi Mihara with Haruomi Hosono

     
  10. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    A more recent act I discovered more or less by accident (*) is Qururi, and my favourite song of theirs is 'Bara no Hana'. I feel that song was influenced by the 90s (and later) band Unicorn. So, I can do a two-fer by posting a cover of 'Bara no Hana' by Tamio Okuda of Unicorn. Okuda worked with the band Puffyumi early in their career.



    (*) I used to buy Japanese DVDs more or less at random to keep my ear in for the language. I bought a rather poor Japanese horror film which I didn't like at all. But, wait, WHAT IS THAT SONG PLAYING IN THE CREDITS?

    I see that Yasujiro has posted a song co-featuring Haruomi Hosono. Here's one of my favourite songs by him, from the time he was a member of the band Happy End. 'Kaze wo Atsumete'. Some people know this song as the one that plays during the credits of the film 'Lost in Translation'.
     
  11. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Morio Agata’s works are eerily unique and sound bizarre.

     
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  12. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    One of the tracks from the album is the duet with Mako Midori.
    https://youtu.be/oVuuSXXBS8A?t=1977
     
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  13. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Akiko Yano with YMO

     
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  14. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    A band I discovered in Japan was Tama. They had a unique style, and a unique stage show which I saw live. The following is a self-cover of their song 満月小唄 by the original singer/composer and band member Yoichiro Yanagihara.



    Unfortunately I don't have my current computer set up for Japanese input after recently having to replace a broken one. Could I ask @yasujiro to post a video of '12Goushitsu' by Sion? I can't seem to find it by searching with Roman letters.
     
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  15. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Another masterpiece by Morio Agata. It is also very, very bizarre.

     
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  16. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    As I said, while having no 'super-knowledge' of the subject, is it safe to assume PIZZICATO 5 are the godfathers (and mother) of the genre?
     
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  17. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Down Town by Sugar Babe (Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Onuki)
    Produced and recorded by Eiichi Otaki

     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
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  18. HitAndRun

    HitAndRun Forum Resident

    From the 1970s, 'Sumie no Kuni e' by the Sadistic Mika Band. From their, in my opinion, best album 'Black Ship'. It includes a rather long instrumental introduction, and the song proper starts at about 1:50 or so.

     
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  19. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Kazuhiko Kato’s earliest work
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgnYvQ-iXhA
     
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  20. juss100

    juss100 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    You don't need super knowledge of the subject. Nobody has a comprehensive knowledge of any genre anyway ... if you like some of it, that's good enough!

    I love the chilled out vibe of this.
     
  21. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    The Peanuts - The Fugue of Love

     
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  22. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Yuko Nagisa - Kyoto Doll
    composed by The Ventures
    It is an ever green hit covered by many singers.
     
  23. juss100

    juss100 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London
    This is really lovely, exactly the kind of thing I like to discover in fact. The flippant rock song quoting adds a level of charm to it somehow
     
  24. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Anri - Kanashimi ga tomaranai
    A classic City Pop

     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
  25. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021

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