Favorite Japanese music?

For all the music-lovers out there, this is your place to swap lyrics, talk about new bands and jazz about concerts. All things related to the audio world belong here.

Favorite Japanese music?

Postby nillapoet » Sat Apr 04, 2015 7:49 pm

Who are some of your favorite jpop, jrock, and jrap artists?
User avatar
nillapoet
 
Posts: 146
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:50 am
Location: Oregon

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby ClaecElric4God » Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:10 pm

Ooooooooooh, yay, I love this thread!

The first one that comes to mind is Kokia. I adore almost all of her songs. On top of her beautiful singing voice, her songs are so...I dunno, unique. It has such a wide range of emotions behind it, and doesn't seem to stick to any sort of pattern. The song that introduced me to her music was Transparent, one of my favorites of all time. *goes off to listen to Kokia*

Also, FictionJunction. Parallel Hearts comes to mind.

I want to say Kalafina, but I find that I actually dislike more of their songs than I like.

Touhou? Does that count as an artist? I dunno, but drill got me into that music and I enjoy it a lot. Good stuff.

In my search for Japanese Christian music, I discovered Daisuke Yokoyama awhile back, and I really enjoy his music. A lot.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? -Micah 6:8 KJV
They have shewed thee, O teen, what is good; and what doth the world require of thee, but to fit in, be wealthy, have good looks, and be rebellious? -Peer Pressure 1:1
"I hate milk; it's like drinking vomit." -Edward Elric and me. :fmed:
Image

ClaecElric4God in regards to Wolfsong - You're the coolness scraped off the top of this morning's ice cream, after being pulled out of a beautiful summer day!
User avatar
ClaecElric4God
 
Posts: 2090
Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 9:02 am
Location: By the time you read this, I'll probably be somewhere else...

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby artisticDreamer » Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:30 pm

ClaecElric4God wrote:Also, FictionJunction. Parallel Hearts comes to mind.

I approve of this.
Image
User avatar
artisticDreamer
 
Posts: 191
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:16 pm
Location: Land of Colour and Shade

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby Kaori » Mon Apr 06, 2015 7:52 pm

Sakamoto Maaya is my personal favorite J-pop artist. She has a good voice and has teamed up with a lot of good songwriters, Yoko Kanno for example, so a lot of her songs are just strong across the board.

This is kind of a stereotypical answer, but Mizuki Nana is fantastic. I only have one of her albums, but I love the way she floats up to that high note in “Eternal Blaze” (which is a great song anyways).

Arisaka Mika is, surprisingly, an alto, and I like the rich quality that her voice has. Also, she spent some time living in the States, so her English is quite good.

I have one album by Ceui which I like pretty well, but the musical style is so uniform across all the songs that I tend to find most of them pleasantly unmemorable (they all just kind of blend together). The style is a sort of delicate and pretty-sounding J-pop (female singer).

Recently I’ve started to be interested in Yamazaki Masayoshi, who might be most familiar to people here for having sung the song that was used at the end of 5 cm/s, “One More Time, One More Chance.” Minuet (used as the intro for a video game) is also a fantastic song. He has a sort of folksy, minstrely sound which is really unusual for Japanese music.

I listen to a little bit of Hirasawa Susumu also, but rather than saying he’s a favorite artist, he has a few songs and albums I really like, but outside of those I have a pretty indifferent reaction to his music.

Have never really gotten into J-rock; I’m not sure why, but although I listen to a ton of Western rock I just have not found J-rock artists I really like.

Since Touhou was mentioned already, I really like listening to the Touhou rock/metal remixes which can easily be found on YouTube, and I also listen to quite a bit of Japanese VGM. But that might be a bit off-topic for the thread.
Let others believe in the God who brings men to trial and judges them. I shall cling to the God who resurrects the dead.
-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

MAL
User avatar
Kaori
 
Posts: 1463
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:48 pm
Location: 一羽の鳥が弧を描いてゆく

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby Lilac#18 » Tue Apr 07, 2015 6:02 pm

It's been awhile since I listen to JPop. But recently I started listening to a japanese contemporary christian artist named Migiwa, who is now my favorite. I wish I knew how to get her CDs.
FKA Selenite
B careful of bad habits u form when ur single. In most cases u'll carry them over into ur marriage! - Damita Haddon

"Apparently, it takes more than just the sword." - Mirai (Future) Trunks

24When you lie down, you shall not be afraid; yes, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet. Proverbs 3:24 AMP

@)}~`,~ Carry This Rose In Your Sig, As Thanks, To All The CAA Moderators.

Image
User avatar
Lilac#18
 
Posts: 2349
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:06 pm
Location: USA

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby anlptgtsg » Thu Apr 09, 2015 6:27 am

Well recently I saw some old music from the anime rurouni kenshin. I actually enjoyed many of the songs played in the anime. So yeah the bands/singer in that anime are enjoyable.
Last edited by anlptgtsg on Thu Apr 09, 2015 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
anlptgtsg
 
Posts: 266
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 2:13 pm
Location: Here, there, nowhere....

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby artisticDreamer » Thu Apr 09, 2015 7:14 am

I really like Vocaloid songs. I'm actually listening to Vocaloid Eight songs right now; I just like the way voice synthesizers sound, I guess... So, yea... I also like Linked Horizon, because Guren no Yumiya and Jiyuu no Tsubasa.
Image
User avatar
artisticDreamer
 
Posts: 191
Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:16 pm
Location: Land of Colour and Shade

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby Thunderscream872 » Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:14 pm

I like a number of songs from UVerworld, Back-On, Stereopony, Nico Touches the Walls, Abingdon School Boys, The Gazette, Aqua Timez, and Larc En Ciel to name a few artists.

I like allot of Japanese music, but I don't know that many band/artist names (or song names for that matter). I associate most of the Japanese music I like with the anime they're used for rather than the artist. That's kinda sad I guess, lol.
"NO BLOOD! NO BONE! NO ASH!"

“I don’t take orders from anybody. If there’s something I wanna do, I do it. If there’s something I don’t wanna do, I don’t do it. That’s the dandy way to live, and I’m Dandy. Do you get it?” - Space Dandy

MyAnimeList - Anime-Planet - A room with a moose
User avatar
Thunderscream872
 
Posts: 367
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:56 am
Location: Wumpa Island

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby the_wolfs_howl » Fri Apr 10, 2015 9:56 pm

Most of the Japanese music I listen to is from soundtracks, whether from anime or video games. Outside of that, I think my favorite J-rock band must be ONE OK ROCK. I discovered them through the live-action Rurouni Kenshin movies. After about two lines of this song, I fell in love with them. Whether they're singing in all-English, all-Japanese, or a beautiful mixture of both, it's so much fun to sing along.
You can find out things about the past that you never knew. And from what you've learned, you may see some things differently in the present. You're the one that changes. Not the past.
- Ellone, Final Fantasy VIII

Image

"There's a difference between maliciously offending somebody - on purpose - and somebody being offended by...truth. If you're offended by the truth, that's your problem. I have no obligation to not offend you if I'm speaking the truth. The truth is supposed to offend you; that's how you know you don't got it."
- Brad Stine
User avatar
the_wolfs_howl
 
Posts: 3273
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:26 pm
Location: Not Paradise...yet

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby thedragongirl77 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:03 pm

I'm not too familiar with many artists, but I really like SID and Perfume atm
thedragongirl77
 
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2016 2:05 pm
Location: Narnia

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby Rose Faerie » Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:08 pm

I like UVER World, LiSA, Kalafina, Scandal, Asian Kung Fu Generation, and Sayuri at the moment. From what I've heard of their songs I've liked them.
User avatar
Rose Faerie
 
Posts: 173
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 8:31 pm

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby ClaecElric4God » Fri Aug 27, 2021 8:21 pm

I'm gonna have to repost here because my Japanese music library has expanded drastically in the last 6 years.

Kokia is still at the top of my list. Sound-wise Song of Storm and Fire is my ultimate favorite, but lyrics-wise I'm in love with Ningen the Sonna Mono Ne. If you understand Japanese or can find a subtitles version I highly recommend it.

Also like a lot of Spyair and Radwimps. I Wanna Be... by the former and Daijoubu by the latter are personal favorites.

I'm getting more into non-anime Japanese music as friends introduce them to me. I really like Spitz and Gen Hoshino, as well as Maiko Fujita. Oh, and Kenshi Yonezu! I know there are others but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Here's another favorite song, with my favorite video game. I've listened to it so many times it regularly comes up in my Youtube recommendations :lol:

Original Japanese version
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j78ua9fpJ70

Not too shabby English translation
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HZyOMZaOFRc
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? -Micah 6:8 KJV
They have shewed thee, O teen, what is good; and what doth the world require of thee, but to fit in, be wealthy, have good looks, and be rebellious? -Peer Pressure 1:1
"I hate milk; it's like drinking vomit." -Edward Elric and me. :fmed:
Image

ClaecElric4God in regards to Wolfsong - You're the coolness scraped off the top of this morning's ice cream, after being pulled out of a beautiful summer day!
User avatar
ClaecElric4God
 
Posts: 2090
Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 9:02 am
Location: By the time you read this, I'll probably be somewhere else...

Re: Favorite Japanese music?

Postby Kaori » Sat Aug 28, 2021 11:04 am

Unlike Claec, the Japanese artists I listen to haven't changed a lot in the past 6 years. I still listen to all of the artists I listed above (in 2015), some more than others (Sakamoto Maya is still my favorite; I still like the one album each that I own of Mizuki Nana and Arisaka Mika; but I only occasionally listen to Hirasawa Susumu). But I want to add some more thoughts on Yamazaki Masayoshi, since I've listened to a lot more of his music since 2015:

Yamazaki Masayoshi
-Writes his own music and has songs in a variety of genres including rock, blues, and pop; I gravitate towards his more energetic early-career albums.
-Despite the fact that I don't like all of the musical genres he plays, his music-writing, lyric-writing, and text-setting are all excellent, and that's why I listen to him.
-His lyrics are interesting in that they're always, infallibly, from a very male POV, which is not always the case in Japanese music (male singers often sing from a female perspective, and vice versa).
-Content warning: though his lyrics are never explicit (that I've heard), some of them do lean towards the erotic.
-Favorite songs: "One More Time, One More Chance" (5 cm/s ending); "Menuet" (メヌエット) (Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song opening song); "Hoshi ni Negai wo"; 心拍数 ("Heartbeat"), but only the version from his Blue Period collection, not the original version.
-Recommended starting point: Blue Period (2-disc early-career best collection).

There are also a few artists I can add:

Kokia. I think I got into Kokia because of people's recommendations on CAA, so thanks to whoever kept recommending her. Remember Me is probably my favorite album of hers--there are a few songs on there I always skip, but also some of my favorite songs are on that album (esp. "Daiji na Mono wa Mabuta no Ura"). "Transparent" from her outworks collection (also recommended by someone on CAA) is also a really incredible song that rips my heart to shreds.

Tamaki Nami (玉置成実): I've mentioned this before elsewhere, but I like hear early albums. She has a lot of high-octane dance tunes, and I really like the positive, encouraging, and forward-looking vibe of her lyrics.

The album Dream Field by See-Saw is one of my favorite albums. See-Saw is a sort of off-and-on Kajiura Yuuki project, and this one album has numerous excellent songs: 千夜一夜 (a song I thought I wouldn't like at first, but really grew on me); 記憶 (a personal favorite); 優しい夜明け (used as either the OP or ED of .Hack//Sign, I forget which); indio (the more I understand the lyrics to this song, the more it rips my heart to shreds--although, or rather perhaps partly "because," musically, it's incredibly beautiful).

下巣の極め乙女 has several songs that I really like a lot, but it's hard to enjoy their music because of something that happened in the personal life of one of their members. But I like the mixture of jazz and rock and would like to find something else like that.

Jizue (speaking of jazz rock) is a great instrumental jazz rock band, but I don't listen to them all that often because if I'm listening to Japanese music, usually I want to hear the Japanese language.

Looking back over everything, although I was at one point hoping to discover some Japanese music outside of anime/game music, still almost everyone I listen to is someone I found out about through anime or game music. (E.g. getting into Yamazaki Masayoshi through "One More Time, One More Chance" and "Menuet," though in general he is not an "anime music artist," just someone who happens to have a couple of songs used in anime/games.) This might be partly because it's just very common for Japanese artists to have their songs used for anime/games even if that's not the main thing they do and partly because I just like the style of music that tends to get used in anime more than generic pop/rock. But I've come to more or less accept that that's okay and there's nothing wrong with that.
Let others believe in the God who brings men to trial and judges them. I shall cling to the God who resurrects the dead.
-St. Nikolai Velimirovich

MAL
User avatar
Kaori
 
Posts: 1463
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:48 pm
Location: 一羽の鳥が弧を描いてゆく


Return to Jam Session

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 72 guests