Favorite Japanese Record Labels?

[CAT5 9075]

Greetings, fellow monochromians. Do you all have any favorite Japanese record labels? Labels that boast a sound or aesthetic that you consistently agree with? Are there any labels with impressive rosters or labels that house most of your favorite bands? If so, what are they and what kind of bands/artists do they sign? What kind of sounds can others expect from them?

As long as I've been in this community, Visual Kei record labels have always been something that I've been fairly ignorant about, so I'd be interested to find out more. Although please feel free to discuss any other kind of Japanese record labels as well! I will certainly add in my 2 cents a bit later.

[Mihenno 4195]

I like CRIMZON because 少年記 and Purple Stone are fucking awesome.

I hate CRIMZON because 少年記 and Purple Stone don't have full length albums.

[nick 10212]

Definitely DangerCrue because of Girugamesh and Kameleo in particular. The rest are good bands too.

[Spectralion 394]

I'm in love and hate relationship with BPRecords. They got Kiryu, Royz, and Codomo Dragon in their management and they generous enough to put every music videos of their bands in YT. Also, I love them because they released the instrumental version of their bands songs.

 

...but, their multiple CD versions scam are just too hilarious.

[hiroki 5521]

I like CRIMZON because 少年記 and Purple Stone are fucking awesome.

I hate CRIMZON because 少年記 and Purple Stone don't have full length albums.

 

[2]

 

and also marvelous entertainment cuz they only have one (1) vk band and it's vistlip.

 

after that, i'll probably go for Zany Zap which has 3 bands i love and 1 band i can't take seriously

[Biopanda 2675]

01 COMPLETION :'3

 

I love them cus nobody know about them.

 

They were really popular back in the day(mid 90s-2003), hosting tons of events, showing up often in indies VK magazines and having a decently popular cast of bands. After they dissolved though, it seems like any trace of them was completely wiped away. A google search for them will net you MAYBE enough relevant links that you could count on one hand if you're lucky. I've had to piece together most of what I could from random old magazine articles and mail-order catalogs included with their releases, but there's still a TON of info that's left unknown about them. It just absolutely blows my mind that a whole label that was still active just a bit over a decade ago could completely disappear like they did.

[Nagisa 131]

For me it is PSC Company. Not just because of the GazettE, but also because Kagrra used to be under them, something which I was completely unaware of at the time.

[emmny 4139]

AINS AINS AINS AINS AINS AINS JOIN THE CULT OF AINS

 

also david skull no records/zoisite and donut records (RIP)

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I'm not that in-the-know with regular/indie labels, but speaking for visual kei, from the currently active record labels I really enjoy what Ains (Mad Wink!) puts out most of the time. They have a cool variety of "kinda almost old-school but fresh at the same time" bands... I guess you could say they're carrying the "O.G." vk torch through to the modern era or something like that. Also gotta echo @emmny on the david skull no records part, cuz, well... it's aie. Yeah. xD

 

From the defunct labels, my two biggest faves would have to be Key Party and UNDER CODE PRODUCTION. Both had a killer lineup of bands, each with their own unique styles (for the most part). UNDER CODE's latter roster was kinda iffy, but still, most of what they released in the majority of their existence was pretty cool stuff. Oh, and Key Party bands had really cool design and packaging! Totally made up for any shortcomings in sound production (which was kinda also their charm in a way).

[BrenGun 2261]

I hate all who overprice cd and dvd. lol

I love indipended labels the most. Bands who sell and create their own music. Even if they do overprice their shizzel sometimes you know that not a shit label takes the money. Labels doesn't make bands rich.

[anakuro 847]

Terakoya because ensoku & minus jin-say orchestra.

[Naaaaani 1173]

Matina ofc

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

AINS and all the sub-labels of AINS are my favorite (active ones).

For inactive ones: Matina (especially Eternal), Climax enterprise, Key party.

[Lestat 2167]

UNDER CODE PRODUCTION, Matina, Extasy Records and Key Party Records.

As for active labels? None.

[The Reverend 3566]

Matina ofc

 

Basically.

 

I also had a soft spot for Donut Records West. In addition to just liking Phobia and Lamiel a lot, they often had no rear CD case insert but rather full color band photos on the disc itself, which was neat.

[doombox 4421]

I wasn't really knowledgeable about labels back in the day until I got into PSC and Free Will. Then I got into Danger Crue and I've settled there pretty much ever since. For non-visual I am Zestone and Pizza of Death all day every day.

[CAT5 9075]

For me, Zankyo Records is a personal favorite and just a lovely, lovely label for J-indie fans in general. They operate in the realms of "indie-rock", post-rock, math-rock, and even the mildly experimental. 9mm parabellum bullet got their start here before they went major, same as cinema staff. Other fantastic acts on the roster include ハイスイノナサ, te', mudy on the 昨晩, 3nd, COgeNdshE, and more. Even their overseas artist roster is impressive with bands like Maps & Atlases, Tubelord, Rolo Tomassi, 65daysofstatic, and Memory Map!

I also love PROGRESSIVE FOrM - absolutely brilliant Electronic label with an amazing roster! AOKI takamasa, Ametsub, Gesikia!, mergrim, m-koda, LLLL, and the list goes on. Basically, your wet dream of Japanese IDM artists. On a similar note, flau is somewhat close in sound, but with more of a focus on ambient, dream-pop, and modern classical. They're not necessarily a favorite, but they have some great acts like cokiyu, aus, and cuushe. Interestingly, geskia seems to have a residency here too.

stiffslack is just a fantastic label for Japanese emo and math-rock - akutagawa, LITE, low-pass, MIRROR, PLAY DEAD SEASON, bed, climd the mind. And for non-Japanese bands, they've got This town needs guns, enemies, Football, Etc.

kiti is a great, small label for J-indie-folk artists. mmm(ミーマイモー), Kenichi Fumoto, Kyoko Mimura, Sachie Hiraga, and Nohtenkigengo. And along the same lines, cgcg (鳥獣虫魚) publishes a lot of CD and CD-Rs for the same, and similar folk artists.

 

Also, does anyone know if SPACE SHOWER MUSIC is an actual label or just a record company with many sub-labels? Or is it some kind of distribution type deal? Lot of good artists/bands connected there.

[Pretsy 1343]

 

 

Also, does anyone know if SPACE SHOWER MUSIC is an actual label or just a record company with many sub-labels? Or is it some kind of distribution type deal? Lot of good artists/bands connected there.

 

I think it's more of a record company with a number of sub-labels - e.g. Space Shower records which include artists such as Indigo la end, suchmos...etc. etc.  http://spaceshowermusic.com/lb/artist/?genre=1

 

Regarding my position, I am more or less developing a love/hate relationship towards Free-Will: while they are producing/managing my first all-time vk/non-vk favorites (Dir and Merry, duh), I still question their position regarding PSC (yup, sub-division!) and labels such as Resistar Records (goddamnit Yukari).

 

To be real frank, I never gave big thought to labeling outside of vk - considering that I tend to keep an eye on acts who are able to retain "double status" in terms of labels (indie AND Major* = more freedoms and wider market accessibility). I.e. labels matter to me in vk for the most part since that's where vk bands usually tend to lean into extremes once they sign their contracts.

 

*examples for such bands (off-topic): Dir en grey (Firewall/SMEJ), Enon's projects (Gesu/Indigo la End) (Unborde / Space Shower Records (their contract still exists!)

[saishuu 3220]

People always forget about SPEEDDISK, smh.

 

I don't really give much attention to labels these days, so I can't really answer this thread properly. But I did like a bunch of old SPEEDISK bands, as well as some from Timely Records. PSC and UNDER CODE from early to mid 00's were awesome too.

[The Reverend 3566]

On the non-VK side of things; I'll check out anything released on Virgin Babylon these days... home to experimental weirdos like Vampillia, World's End Girlfriend, Mutyumu...

[Chi 2624]

i usually dont pay attention to labels... i guess i like bp records the most because they happen to have codomo dragon and kiryu, and they upload vids of codomo dragon doing silly stuff (plus those dance videos lol)

 

other than that.... ains? i am only a fan of kuroyuri to kage but i think they have good artists under their label so i kinda "trust" them.

[MaikoMizu 167]

UNDER CODE PRODUCTION, Starwave Records, B.P. Records, Nippon Crown and Danger Crue.

[Ikki 807]

For nostalgic reasoning, I would have to go with Extasy Records.  That's because a lot of the VK artists I was first introduced to back in 1999 were from that label (Gargoyle, Ladies Room, GLAY, Tokyo Yankees, X Japan, Zi:Kill).

 

Now days, I would have to say Free-Will Records up until the label name change.  I love all of the early roster bands (Color, Kamaitachi, Decameron, ect) and I have a soft-spot for bands from the late '90s/early 2000s as they were also some of my first VK bands I fell hard for (La'Mule, Dir en Grey, Baroque).

[yakihiko 1480]

I would say Speed Disk, Danger Crue Records.

As bonus, my dislike label is PS Company, I know they give support to BORN, but they are cruel when a artist or band claim a hiatus, they fired KIFUMI, SuG and Alice Nine.

[enyx 903]

Cat already mentioned my two favourite labels; Zankyo Record and PROGRESSIVE FOrM. These are the only two Japanese labels that I follow in the sense that I always make sure to check out whatever new releases they put out. Other than that, I do think that kilk records is a pretty decent label whose artists tend to be at least worth giving a shot. Examples include Aureole, コッテル, ferri, and AUDIO BOXING. For the most part though, I tend to find new artists mostly via recommendations, word of mouth, etc rather than through labels.