THE JAPANESE INDIE THREAD

[Tokage 5930]

the pv reminds me more of something up usotsuki barbie's alley...

[whitegrey 115]

just stumbled upon some new electro-pop/rock with female vox that looks kind of interesting/nice;

パスピエ (passepied) http://passepied.jp/

here's a full (animated) PV;

(direct embedding somehow doesn't work on that one?)

and a preview to their 1st full album, out last month;

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ok, I wouldn't call it "special" from how it sounds (reminds me of some other artists [like Tamurapan at times, but electrified of corse]). Anyways - I think it's worth a shot… Hopefully I can get my hands on the CD soon.

[toshii9245 0]

Did some search through last.fm's similar artists recommendations (although it's often inaccurate), and finally managed to get a hold of 里帰り. Very relaxing. Recently, I just stumbled across Anrietta, Nunu, Little Folk and PawPaw, too.. So much good music. <3

[byudie 0]

Hi. I'm new to this site and have spent many hours searching through this thread, listening to the countless number of bands.

My introduction into J-Indie has only recently begun over the past two months where I finally found avenues in which to explore the scene itself.

My roots in music have always leaned towards traditional pop so as I got into Japanese and Korean music I leaned heavily towards mainstream pop (SNSD, Perfume, Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, Kana Nishino etc.) One of the first Japanese singers I got into was Shiina Ringo and respectively her band Tokyo Jihen. My musical tastes are inclined towards female vocalists so I leaned heavily on pop for the most part.

I started to really drift towards rock and the indie scene when my good friend Fitear showed me the band Negoto. Negoto had the qualities of what I truly like in music female vocals with solid guitar and drums work. My love for Negoto led to many more bands such as Noanowa, Spangle call Lilli Line, and Fukurouzu. So gradually I drifted into a subset of mainstream japanese music until over the past two months I have drifted into more of the indie scene.

I first started to get into it with the band Rin Toshite Shigure which for me personally was like the holy grail in reference to my musical tastes. High pitched male vocalist TK along with my favorite singer at the moment Miyoko. This led me to Haku and Arukara only a couple of weeks ago. Over the past couple of days I have been listening to the band Joy which CAT5 so graciously provided me.

I still have a long way to go in my exploration of japanese music which I believe more than any other nationality has the most to offer in which every kind of music is available and I am glad that this thread and forum exist to help me along the way. If anyone has any suggestions I will gladly take a look into any band.

[Aion 184]

Well since you mentioned Japanese female fronted bands I guess I can help you...

But first, since you stated you like RTS, maybe THE UNIQUE STAR would be a band something for you. This band is on vocals quite on par with RTS (in which I mean the squeaky vocals xD). Music-wise the band tends a bit more to the poprock side (like RTS did in Telecastic Fake Show...

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As for female fronted bands. My all-time favourite would be me-al art. Really an awesome band with a more than awesome vocalist, Satoko. Her voice is so strong yet sweet at the same time. Too bad they aren't really that active in releasing stuff (last album is a year old already, and nothing released afterwards, and seeing that the last and the one had a timespan of 2 years, I guess we're at least a year away on a new album) Their stuff is pretty easy to find, and as for their last album, it's definitely here as I posted it here over a year ago.

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Along that same line you could try out うるふ (urufu). They haven't released anything in the last 18 months, and even though their stuff is pretty hard to get, I would still recommend them to you. Their vocalist has a more feudal style to her voice so to speak. Her voice isn't that well-developed as me-al art's satoko, but she has something that really attracts me to their music.

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Then we could go more ways on with this one. If you'd like the voice of urufu's vocalist, you could also try テルコハイメン (terucohaimen). Of the above vocalists, I would reckon she's the least talented, but as a whole this might be the band I enjoy the most. Too bad they lost 2 of their members over the summer and haven't released all that much in the past year besides one demo. I did share their album and DVD over here somewhere

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If you'd like to go more pianopop (since you mentioned fukurouzu), I guess ]b\オトハネコモレビ (otohanekomorebi)[/b]. They're a band which I find very addictive. Their album is definitely one of my favourites of this year (I shared it over here some months ago).

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More on the rockside I can recommend you Heavenstamp. A band that made it quite big in just over a year with 3 more than successfull and good to listen to mini-albums.

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Could go on and on if wanted

[Slsr 207]

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Anyone know anything about this band? Seems beautiful anyways : ).

[CAT5 9075]

Some good shit from last year....

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[Saaam-chan 50]

I really like jenna majestic and specialthanks

Japanese Indie is still an open wild for me... So much to see there...

[Guest Magatsu]

"THE VACK'S" Just a Rock'n'Roll band

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However they didn't release a CD.

>_< so for us it's only possible to check them live at youtube T_T

[fitear1590 2414]

Discovered a nice new band: neue nahel (read: ノイエネール)

They're an electronic/ post rock-ish band with beauty-full female vox. There are apparently some members from the band "audio safari" if that means anything to you. They just released "acid film ep." last month. Highly recommended!

last.fm

website

Check 'em out:

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My favorite song so far is "hou":

[toshii9245 0]

Oh, yeah. I remember getting a hold of their e.p at around April yet haven't got the chance to listen to the songs ever since. I was mostly interested because of Audio Safari.. Will give it a spin asap.

Anyway... You guys should check Low-Pass out. Discovered them recently and decided to buy 'Trimurti' - real talented guys.

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[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

Some good shit from last year....

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HOLY... any ways to aquire this perhaps??

[Number Girl 48]

As Meias broke up . . .

[toshii9245 0]

As Meias broke up . . .

What the.

[Number Girl 48]

Well, its not like they did much at all . . . but still, they were the best legacy of Bluebeard left.

[Monochromelove 6]

As Meias broke up . . .

What the.

...hell!

[CAT5 9075]

New lostage out on Wednesday! W000000000000000000T!

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[saishuu 3220]

^ Saw the video a couple of days ago and YEEEEESSS

[Number Girl 48]

Cinema Staff and Caroline Rocks are also planning new releases this year. 2012 may finally redeem itself for me!

[iSin-Sama 4]

Love some good Japanese Indie music. Better then major shit like GazettE or something. Troll? Lols.

[fitear1590 2414]

Anyone checked out the new solo album of 後藤まりこ (vocalist/guitarist "Mariko Goto" of Midori)? When it was announced, it was advertised as a pop album, so don't be expecting the second coming of Midori (or rather, the third coming, since 385 is the second, ). Despite that, it's a pretty cool album. There's still moments of creativity and weirdness, but it's just not as loud as Midori. Definitely worth at least a listen, imo.

In other news, I come bearing a Japanese music gift from Spotify. I know Hotel Mexico was featured on this forum at one point, probably on one of Aion's mixes. Well, while I enjoyed some of their songs, I thought their release "His Jewelled Letter Box" as a whole wasn't that strong... Mostly marred by really strange vocals. Well, they have a new single that's actually been released on a Western label (and that's probably why it's on spotify!) A good single, I enjoy both tracks. The music seems more lush and beautiful this time and the vocals are more buried in the mix, giving them a more ethereal edge.

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/3KUlCxQkLOD9YQ1thFaWWd

(hopefully that link works)

[Kuro/Shiro 1]

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Anyone know anything about this band? Seems beautiful anyways : ).

Yep! They released 2 singles and recently their first album.

Album on Amazon.co.jp

[Aion 184]

In other news, I come bearing a Japanese music gift from Spotify. I know Hotel Mexico was featured on this forum at one point, probably on one of Aion's mixes. Well, while I enjoyed some of their songs, I thought their release "His Jewelled Letter Box" as a whole wasn't that strong... Mostly marred by really strange vocals. Well, they have a new single that's actually been released on a Western label (and that's probably why it's on spotify!) A good single, I enjoy both tracks. The music seems more lush and beautiful this time and the vocals are more buried in the mix, giving them a more ethereal edge.

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/3KUlCxQkLOD9YQ1thFaWWd

(hopefully that link works)

Don't think I've ever put them on a personal mixtape, but I remember that they were on VA I once bought and shared on here (Style Band Tokyo comp. Vol.1)...

niw, one band that has a release next week I'm looking forward to

AQATUKI (previously known as akatsuki)

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got their album pre-ordered and looking forward to it =)

[Guest Magatsu]

Hibiki's other band. THE HIGH GRIP.

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I still have to remake this pv one time.

You can buy the single BROKEN (3 songs) via a Japanese friend only.

Maybe you could ask Closet Child to help out. since they know Hibiki.

if you need more info, just be free to ask me.

[Guest Magatsu]

thehillbilly

myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thehillbillyvelvet

I can't find anything of them at youtube so myspace only ^^"

But I think, it's pretty good music.

So I just bought a cd at CDJapan : http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.htm ... JETT-15026

I notice them because of THE VACK'S / THE HIGH GRIP

^^"