The YUKI and JAM Thread

[kuro_neko]

Originally Posted by s3r3nity

thanks for the info and PV Kuro!

your welcome!!! I know there are a few of us YUKI fans here so I like to keep everyone in on what is going on. I'm almost more excited about YUKI's new single and album than I am about Jihen's new album.

[lazer85]

dude I was totally doubting your tastes (which for the most part I think are pretty great) for a while when I got yuki and yui mixed up. I dont know if I'm into yuki but I certainly see the value. I would always hear her and be like hmmm she could be good and she sounds exactly like joanna newsome. Is there an album I should start with?

[mizer_unmei]

JUDY AND MARY 'cause they're the best:

<3

JAM was the first Japanese artist I've ever heard, and that's actually the first Jpop song I've ever been obsessed with. It's still perfect.

This one's good too.

mottooooooooooooooooo

[kuro_neko]

YUKI and yui, lol. I don't listen to yui and I know almost nothing about her. YUKI is really apart and aside Ringo in my mind in withstanding and changing while managing to define the Japanese music industry. She has run the gambit of almost every type of style you can associate with "pop," even including more punk rock sensibilities back during Judy and Mary days. I personally prefer her solo work, there is some true innovation and it isn't defined by a certain sound, whereas when I hear Judy and Mary, with the exception of a few classic songs, I immediately think of Japanese Rock in the 90's (but that is because they largely defined the scene, they were HUUUUGE. YUKI is probably more prolific and definitely has been around longer than Ringo. She has been a giant in the recording industry since the early 90's, when Ringo was still a preteen...)

YUKI is definitely best when she is just being wacky. Her music runs the gambit and her debut album, Prismic, is more experimental alt rock with some strong ballads, while her more recent stuff is a bit more experimental electro pop. If your interested in checking her out I'd get ahold of five-star-, which was the album she released about two years ago to celebrate her 5 years as a solo artist and it contains all of her single a-sides up until wonderline. it will give you a taste of her breadth and you will manage to hear most of her singles (with the exception of the last 4/5 singles), so I'd start there. Since each album and era of hers tends to be quite different it is hard to pick any one album to start with because she has truly changed.

but basically she has Prismic, Commune, Joy, and Wave for original albums. Prismic is a mix of experimental alt rock, ballads, and overall is most similar to the Judy and Mary mix. Commune is a continuation of Prismic with a transition to a more defined sound and less crazy disco/rap/experimental breakout moments and a more streamlined sound. JOY is when she started to make the transition towards a more defined pop sound, away from rock, and WAVE is where she really reached her current image of electro pop princess. But with songs like Fugainaiya she still rocks pretty hard, even JOY has funky rock songs (Wagon). YUKI is just really eccentric and versatile. She is a hard cookie to sum up. Her singles are great and listening to five-star- is a great introduction, but man, some of her greatest songs aren't singles, naturally, so thats when I would start to venture into the albums.

five-star- is missing wonderline, kisha ni notte, rendezvous, cosmic box, and ureshikutte dakiauyo for singles. all of the above mentioned are on the new original album except wonderline. If you watch the videos for those four I think you can get a sense of the way her sound is changing, she seems to be making a progression back towards a more organic pop rock sentiment, almost like a mix of commune and WAVE.

rendezvous is a favorite of mine, the video is a lot of fun

http://www.im.tv/Vlog/personal/3002882/5618838

kisha ni notte is also my favorite straight up ballad she has done since Prism on Prismic (her second single from the first album). the video for this one is a really good representation of her as a person. no wig, just her being herself.

http://v.ku6.com/show/0KW9esrwEROhL5CR.html

EDIT: oh and for the record YUKI >>>>>>>>>>>>> Judy and Mary

oh and this is why YUKI is amazing. David Lynch would be honored. the dude with the cloud on his head scares the shit out of me.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...76094795367842

[kuro_neko]

double post for the win:

just announced that for Music Station's 1000 show they are having YUKI as the guest of honor to perform. This is the first time in 5 years YUKI has had a live performance on television, kinda big news. go YUKI!

[BanFan]

Originally Posted by lazer85

Is there an album I should start with?

YUKI's solo material is definitely more varied than the band's, but you can't ignore JUDY AND MARY's The Power Source and WARP albums. I think those two albums are better than any full-length albums she's released.

POP LIFE is good too, but the last couple of songs are kind of boring.

[ecogazoo]

Originally Posted by kuro_neko

oh and for the record YUKI >>>>>>>>>>>>> Judy and Mary

I know it's just opinion, but that's crazy. It's almost exactly like saying Tokyo Jihen >>>>>>>>Shiina Ringo solo. YUKI is interesting and better than the average JPOP diva, but her solo work doesn't hold a candle to the unique, functioning rock band of Judy and Mary.

[kuro_neko]

YUKI's solo work is innovative, creative, and miles beyond JAM's rock music. Compare JAM's style to what was coming out of Japan in the 90's and then YUKI's to what is coming out of Japan in the pop industry now. YUKI as a solo artist is closer to an artist like Bjork than JAM as a rock band is to someone like Tokyo Jihen. YUKI had less control in JAM and as a result her solo act is 110% unadulterated YUKI. The little hysteric fits, the tears, the interpretative dance, the bizarre but endearing quirks. Her pop music is also miles above and away from JAM's, I mean, when I first heard JAM it was through FRESH and as each track came on I was disappointed with how typical it sounded for japanese rock music. you can't possible say the same for YUKI's pop music, its like crack.

[ecogazoo]

Again, I like YUKI better than most (who couldn't love her?), but her solo work is more like 60% YUKI, because she still doesn't write most of the music. She really needs the other guys in JAM to give her an edge, because an edge is largely missing in her solo stuff.Especially post-Joy.

I listened to the YouTube link for Ureshikutte Dakiauyo yesterday, and I have already forgotten the tune. I've also forgotten almost all the songs she's done since Joy. I could hum (almost) any JAM tune after hearing it once. Another plus is that very few JAM songs exceeded 5 minutes. YUKI was "bizarre and quirky" within JAM. The only thing I can figure she was missing was control and profits.

As for Bjork-like artistry, is there anything in YUKI's solo catalog to compare to the experimentation of "Music Fighter" or "Rainbow Devil's Land"? There are some nice tunes with good writing & playing (in her early solo days), but nothing like these.

I agree that JAM used a well-worn template, but the group-wide songwriting, the rock unit, and YUKI's vocals make JAM's music stand in bold relief to the legions of imitators which they spawned. But I don't consider Led Zeppelin to be "typical blues-rock", either.

For the most part, YUKI has abandoned rock and punk, and even her constant barrage of middle-of-the-road ballads are inferior to JAM fare such as "Atashi wo Mitsukete" or "Kaerenai Futari". But I will always love her nonetheless.

[kuro_neko]

I typed out a HUUUUUUGE long response and then was like "ehhhh whats the the point" and deleted it, haha.

I personally prefer YUKI over JAM any day of the week and I could go into specifics, but I don't think JAM is nearly as innovative or original as YUKI manages to be. As far as the band is concerned, I'm only interested in JAM, the same reason why I'm interested in NiNa, Mean Machine, and other YUKI side projects, because she has played a part in them. I'm not a fan of Takuya or the other guys in JAM, and as such, I'm not a huge fan of the coloring they add to the band. YUKI uses the same BAND ASTRO to perform solo lives and record most of her solo material, which she produces and hires people to write based on her concepts and ideas, so its very similar to JAM in that it is a collaboration, but with YUKI she is hiring various writers to work under her rather than have one set of peers in a band to bounce songs around. in that sense it seems like YUKI would have less control, but she definitely has a lot more control over her YUKI career than she did over JAM. When you have various producers and writers to bounce concepts and ideas off, it creates a more varied and eccentric catalogue, which is exactly what YUKI has and which is exactly what I like in my music. JAM was a bit one-note to me. As far as her as a person, I much prefer her authentic and natural smile and warmth present in recent videos and appearances over anything. I'm not a huge fan of every single single (I mean, who likes EVERYTHING an artist releases?) but I do think her WAVE era-singles were probably some of the best modern pop to come out of Japan in a while and it were those which made me a fan (Nagai Yume, Melancholinista, Dramatic, Yorokobi no Tane, Fugainaiya). Out of her recent singles the one one I'm not enjoying is Cosmic Box. Kisha ni Notte is the best ballad she has released since Prism and Rendezvous is infectious and feel good. Cosmic Box and Ureshikutte Dakiauyo are both a little bit more formulaic but Cosmic Box is the only one that suffers from it, whereas Ureshikutte Dakiauyo actually makes me feel happy, which is kinda the point considering the title....

either way, we all have our own tastes and if someone is interested in YUKI coming from Ringo and Jihen I'd say JAM is something they might be interested in, but it does feel a bit dated from today's perspective, whereas YUKI feels fresh and innovative. That's why I'd recommend her over JAM. Her personality and her as a person is what makes YUKI so awesome.