Currently Listening To...

[deadgrandma]

YeYe

Awww, why noone mention YeYe before? Adorable.

[TurtleFu]

So! I need some suggestions. I am doing a presentation next week for my local Japanese club and I want to do it on lesser-known Japanese musicians. I kind of want to focus on currently-active Japanese musicians, otherwise I could talk about Flipper's Guitar for days, and I want to stick to recent releases.
I already showed them Zettai-Shoujo-era Oomori Seiko, I'm thinking Mariko Goto would be a good edition too? I would included Ringo but her recent output hasn't been great, maybe if I could scrounge some clips from the new live. Any other suggestions? I want a good mix of male/female artist and different genres.
Here are some thoughts: bomi, Sebastian X, Charisma.com, Komimami Yasuha, Wakusei Abnormal, Marion Hamada.
Maybe I should reach back, Midori might be recent enough, I could include one really good Shiina Ringo song, maybe do PE'Z, Asai Kenichi, Soil and Pimp Sessions, I'd like to do Galileio Galilei but they did a song for an anime so most of the club has already heard them before.

Hm, Polysics maybe?

[hoopra]

new Neon Bunnie

neon bunnie

[hoopra]

Originally Posted by deadgrandma

CLT:

Yasuha Kominami's "Do Do Airaku"

Seems they took the most generic and insta-hit rock song song for the single. The rest is much more interesting and progressive (at least to me). Though it's DAMN SHORT. Just over 20 mins (16 Mins if you don't count the bonus tracks). Made me crave more, so I had to listen to it twice.

Interesting that they made this a Tower Records exclusive, though then again, it harkens more to the indie sound she had (yet with A grade production, if that makes any sense). Now waiting for my own copy so I can hear it in non-transcoded full quality.

Just listened to this new YK mini, was such a let down

[Inseu]

^ Track 2 ボーダーライン is pretty enjoyable. Dunno what's all the other stuff.

Thievery Corporation - Shadows Of Ourselves

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by hoopra

Just listened to this new YK mini, was such a let down

A let down from what exactly? My first impressions? I wouldn't take anyone's first impressions on any album too seriously :-p

Been listening to it more (between bouts of Boris Archive sets- which I am obsessing over right now), I'd overall give it a 6.5/10... I actually think that these are Chimera leftovers, the recording dates of a few songs on here certainly suggest so...

I love track 2 like Inseu mentioned, but the best songs to me are the two bonus tracks- totally stripped back and beautiful to my ears. The ballad is a ballad (nothing too offensive here) and track 4 is boring as hell (So 4 out of 6 worthy additions to the Kominaimi playlist). The main single is still solid rocker too. I don't really know where Kominami is going to go from here... I actually have a feeling that the best thing for her is to just take a little break or get rid of the EMI production values (though that is highly unlikely). I had pretty high hopes for her, but now I'm more feeling that she will just be a provider of decent pop rock with a great, unique voice. Oh well. Still will follow her, just won't be holding my breath for anything groundbreaking anymore. Still love that breathy scream and her whole schtick. I will still be buying her minis and albums regardless. If you don't like her now, I doubt you ever will.

Still got 2 and a half (plus one new one) of my 'newbies of interest' predictions left haha:

Oomori- who I think is solid enough to consider the best choice out of all of the newbies
Maron Hamada- nothing bad yet, new single or album coming out soon...

Also (the half):
Wakusei Abnormal have one hit, one miss... so they're still in there.

I have added Hanae to my list- she's sounding like the best choice for cutesy pop for sure.

[Rhea]

I've been listening to Dodoairaku for a while now, and I'm really enjoying it. My favourite tracks are 3355411, Borderline (track 2) and Bishoujo Senshi Chameleon (track 6), but I like all of the songs of this mini. Except maybe Cat Diver (track 4). It's okay, I guess.

They do sounds like left overs from Chimera though, so I'm curious to see what kind of music she'll release next. My guess is that it'll be pretty similar to this, but I won't mind, since I already like this lot!

Oh, and Cocco is releasing a new mini album this week! After almost three years without any new releases! I'm so happy I could cry!

Ari to arayuru chikara no kagiri

[deadgrandma]

Handsome Kenya

This album is definitely worth checking out, grabbed it on a whim and was taken aback by the quality of songwriting here. That and the production is second to none. Cool PV too.

[hoopra]

Originally Posted by deadgrandma

A let down from what exactly? My first impressions? I wouldn't take anyone's first impressions on any album too seriously :-p

Been listening to it more (between bouts of Boris Archive sets- which I am obsessing over right now), I'd overall give it a 6.5/10... I actually think that these are Chimera leftovers, the recording dates of a few songs on here certainly suggest so...

I love track 2 like Inseu mentioned, but the best songs to me are the two bonus tracks- totally stripped back and beautiful to my ears. The ballad is a ballad (nothing too offensive here) and track 4 is boring as hell (So 4 out of 6 worthy additions to the Kominaimi playlist). The main single is still solid rocker too. I don't really know where Kominami is going to go from here... I actually have a feeling that the best thing for her is to just take a little break or get rid of the EMI production values (though that is highly unlikely). I had pretty high hopes for her, but now I'm more feeling that she will just be a provider of decent pop rock with a great, unique voice. Oh well. Still will follow her, just won't be holding my breath for anything groundbreaking anymore. Still love that breathy scream and her whole schtick. I will still be buying her minis and albums regardless. If you don't like her now, I doubt you ever will.

Still got 2 and a half (plus one new one) of my 'newbies of interest' predictions left haha:

Oomori- who I think is solid enough to consider the best choice out of all of the newbies
Maron Hamada- nothing bad yet, new single or album coming out soon...

Also (the half):
Wakusei Abnormal have one hit, one miss... so they're still in there.

I have added Hanae to my list- she's sounding like the best choice for cutesy pop for sure.

i considered it a letdown b/c it was nowhere near as good as 121212 and usotsukizumu but i didnt know they were left over chimera, i understand then, i shouldnt have expected more


i don't consider the second wakusei ep a miss at all
first and last tracks are absolute haymakers great enough to make up for the rest

[FadedSun]

Veltpunch doesn't get enough love. Definitely one of of my favorite alt-rock Japanese bands.

Crawl

Killer Smile

Kaion

The Sweetest