This is a pretty awesome video for "My Favorite Swing" by De De Mouse. It features the illustration by Final Fantasy artist Akihiko Yoshida, who also provided the artwork for the A Journey to Freedom album. It mixes Yoshida's original character design with a small bit a animation, combining some watercolor CG with more simplistic paper cut-out type stuff. We get to see the characters do a bit of Dragon Quest-like battling and there's even some hot keytar-sword action! Overall it's the perfect compliment to De De Mouse's playful yet futuristic sound.
There's more or less an entire live show from De De Mouse here. It features some songs from his new album Journey to Freedom as well as some older stuff. It's only four or five songs, but the video quality is excellent!
Here's the video for the new Gackt song used in the movie Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker. He also appears in the film. I always like Gackt's more rockin' songs, and this one fits the bill nicely. Not really a lot going on in the video, but seeing Gackt fighting and posing his ass off is certainly better than just watching him stand around in a forest looking sad.
Check out much more after the jump!
Scandal "BEAUTeen!!"
Here's the new Pocari Sweat commercial, featuring Scandal! OK OK, so gratuitous product placement in music videos certainly isn't anything new, but wow, this is a little over-the-top. I must admit though, it really makes me want some Pocari Sweat! As far as weird sounding drinks go, it's actually pretty good. Oh, and the song, well, it's another Scandal song, I suppose.
De De Mouse Live
Here's a cool new song from De De Mouse, performed live a few months ago. I'm never quite sure what it is he's doing behind that laptop, but he sure does seem to be having a lot of fun doing it. This track seems to have more discernible lyrics than much of his previous stuff, so maybe we can expect some to have something to song along to on the next album?
Nuito "NeKoMaJiN vs (β)"
If you've ever wondered what it's like to be at a band rehearsal, this video from Nuito is it. Small rooms. Crappy sound. Terrible lighting. Generally uncomfortable and usually stinking from the years of booze and ash (and worse...much, much worse...) soaked into the carpeting. I've spent far too much of my life in rooms like this, usually with a few more people both in the band and just hanging out. Anyway...
Becca vs Vocaloid "Shibuya" remix
Finally, here's a really cool remix version of the newest Becca single "Shibuya." It's sung by the idol-in-a-box Hatsune Miku. The cool thing is that it's an official release! You'll be seeing more news on all of that soon... :D
Without a doubt, 2008 was nothing short of amazing when it came to new albums. Not only were there a lot of new faces releasing thrilling stuff, but there were also many old favorites that continued to churn out fantastic records.
I could tell around the middle of 2008 that there was going to be way too much ground to cover in terms of a "Best Of" year end collection, so I put together my first list of 30 albums back on July. You might want to give it a quick read to get yourself up to speed.
We've finally lurched into 2009, so naturally it's time to take one final look back at some of the Best Japanese Albums of 2008. What a list it is! I've spent an incredible amount of time pouring over the list, mostly getting lost in the staggering number of great videos I've mostly forgotten about. Really, I could probably just keep listing to the stuff from last year all through 2009 and still be happy.
So, get comfortable, grab a tasty beverage and join me after the jump for the Best Japanese Albums of 2008 (Part 2)!
First off, I'll start with my absolute favorites. Just about any of these albums could have made the top of the list, so everything is simply listed in alphabetical order.
While these guys might not be the most creative sonically (every song sounds very much like every other song), they more than make up for it in sheer intensity. They are extremely sparse and focused, with performances that cut to the bone. Think Rage Against the Machine, only with even fewer frills. [BUY]
Another furiously performed album from possibly the biggest name in the new wave of indie rock. These guys have done nothing but great things right out of the gate, and Vampire is both their most mature and most exciting album so far. [BUY]
Combining their super-tight post-punk playing with spaced-out electronics and production, Avengers in Sci-Fi creating something unique. Both rock and dance, energetic and calming, they manage to push the boundaries without creating too much chaos. [BUY]
De De Mouse is a rare example of an artist who not only creates amazing music, but also creates entire worlds. His purely electronic style is also totally organic and absolutely original, full of fuzzy memories of childhood set in a Lisa Frank world. Absolutely wonderful stuff. [BUY]
Leave it to house/prog/trance masters Denki Groove to step away for a while, only to come back with two full length albums in one year! JPOP already made it onto the previous Best list, and they're back again with Yellow, their second release in 2008. It's actually a much more solid album, and totally infectious from beginning to end. [BUY]
Mo'some Tonebender have come such a long way over the years, but they've always churned out great sutff. Sing! sees them at their peak, with both great sounding songs and some really new direction. Very upbeat, yet still kicking all kinds of ass, as always. [BUY]
Combining operatic vocals, nu-metal guitars, rock piano and classical strings, it's safe to say the there isn't anyone quite like Mutyumu. Their second album pushed their sound even further, but in the death metal department as well as the profoundly moving softer, extended strong sections. A little something for every, just so long as you like things very very dark and brooding. [BUY]
Just one of many spectacular instruments band to release something great in 2008. Yet sgt. stands way above the crowd with their featured violin player and truly epic song structures. Like many other bands in this list, the mix a trancelike intensity with equally delicate details. While they've been together for a while, this is their first album. Let's hope for much more in the future! [BUY]
Few bands rise to prominence as fast as Versailles. With their very first song released, "The Revenant Choir," they instantly shot to the very top of the vis-kei scene. This is no doubt due to the fact that they are amazing players, packing in nothing but quality in each of their epic symphonic metal songs. Oh, and I suppose some people might like the visual side to them as well. [BUY]
Vola changed things up a bit on this album (essentially an EP.) While it's still very much the same band, they went in a slightly more dance-oriented direction. It's still pretty intense and fun though. The use of short electro tracks in-between the songs proper really makes for a solid release. This is another band that's really become an icon in the scene, so it'll be very interesting to see what they do next. [BUY]
Those are the top 10! Oh, but there's still so much more. In fact I had to sift though close to 110 albums just to make this list of the second half of 2008! Naturally there's just too much to go into great depth with. If you want to learn more about each band, click their names and check out more info and videos. They're all superb!
That's it! What? That's not enough? Sheesh, some people are never happy. Well, we'll all just have to wait and see what happens in the coming year. I expect great things.
Make sure to stay tuned to the blog and to Japanator Radio every week for more of the best music from Japan!
Taking a quick look at his influences, everything from Lizst to Brahms to Morricone to Venetian Snares to Audry Hepburn to YMCK and then taking into account that he's currently signed to Japan's massive Avex label after only a few years in operation, one begins to get an image of the very unique artist that is De De Mouse (aka Daisuke Endo). Indeed, the music that this one-man electro symphony creates is at once very musical and complex, yet extremely childish and innocent, bright and catchy.
While firmly planted in the cyber-soil of today's modern music making software and techniques, something about De De Mouse's '70 and '80 throwbacks make his music seem almost outside of our time. While nothing like Boards of Canada's muzzy, kaleidoscopic walks down memory lane, Endo does seem to be traveling in the same direction. From his excellent (not to mention colorful) album covers featuring young kids dancing with animals in dreamlike landscapes, to his signature use of cut-up falsetto lyrics in a beguiling non-language, the elements of his songs all work to create an idyllic world. Others have described his lyrics as "vocoded," but they aren't. They are actually more along the lines of those found in some of Nobukazu Takemura's work, or that of the popular Vocaloid software that spawned the omnipresent Hatsune Miku. They are totally synthetic, generated, cut up and manipulated through pitch bending software. This is yet another layer of twinkling magic added to the already thick and gauzy blanket of shimmering sounds.
While rather repetitive, the songs do slowly evolve, though not very far. They bounce along on their punchy-yet-pleasing beats, never glitchy or broken in any way (though Endo's first album is a bit more abrasive.) The clockwork synths run from one chord to the next, shifting the entire songs along with them in a rather robotic, auto-harp fashion. The vocals are more like a child singing their own traditional tribal anthems than actual words.
De De Mouse manages to ride that fine line between totally self indulgent trainspotting synth programmers and overly processed dance-pop idols. It's definitely art-house stuff, but its presentation and flat out jubilant, wide eyed innocence makes it instantly accessible to anyone looking for a quick shot of pure bliss.
J-Pop and J-Rock are only the beginning. The modern Japanese music scene is just as vibrant and varied as any other music scene in the world. I'm Zac Bentz, writer, musician, designer and all around Japanese music fanatic. Here I hope to share with you a comprehensive (!!) list of Japanese artists and bands (with a strong focus on underground and indie acts) that you may or may not have heard of, in the hopes of expanding our mutual awareness of Japanese music.
I don't mean to suggest that everything I listen to is great. Quite the contrary, I hope that you will take the time to recommend your own favorite artists in the comments so that we can all learn a bit more about the huge range of Japanese music that's out there.
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