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Category Archives: J-Pop

New Dempagumi.inc: “Sakura Apparition”

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Geez, man, I don’t even know, ya know? I tweeted out something about Dempagumi.inc being the most based idol-pop group in Japan right now…a group whose background (or gimmick) is that the members all are former/still sorta are otaku, one of the more loathed sub cultures in Japan today. One of them, Moga, used to be a hikikomori. Yet here they are now, in an idol-pop group creating music that revels in being alive and, most importantly being themselves and spreading that message all over the world. Just…I don’t know, it feel so alive. Tara wrote something that really hits on it, read that. This is music for celebrating you.

Oh, and it sounds good! This isn’t the most manic they’ve been, but it still moves at a sugared-up hop. It’s less dramatic than either “W.W.D.” and less neck-wrecking than “Den Den Passion,” but it might be the most poppy thing they’ve done yet. With plenty of strange little twists to boot, whether it be the yells of “justice!,” the summer-festival-dance interlude or the way they say “breakdown!” before the breakdown. Thank you based Dempa.

New Kyary Pamyu Pamyu: “Yume no Hajima Ring Ring”

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If every artist has to have a “sakura song” – a single (usually) that comes out around the time the cherry blossoms bloom and EVERYTHING CHANGES (school graduation, company reshuffling) – might as well not make it suck. Most J-pop artists stick to tepid ballads for this season, so thank goodness we have Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to make it bounce a bit. It’s her most reeled in track yet, which is appropriate given it is a song about graduating (“goodbye teacher/my friends”), but never melodramatic, just sort of resigned. But chin up. Plus, that understated guitar.

New Kindan No Tasuketsu: “Manatsu No Boyfriend”

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J-Pop doesn’t need to be torn down and built back up. There are lots of bad projects selling lots of albums – this week, Kanjani8 moved more than 200,000 copies of a song, making it the highest-selling single of 2014 thus far – but plenty of great stuff appears on the charts too…and even just outside of it, on the prominent displays in music retailers and on the bills of big music festivals. No, what J-Pop needs is to have its borders expanded, because only a handful of acts are racking in impressive sales and (more importantly) appearing on festival posters. Basically, more acts should be sought out and given a chance…if nothing else, Bump Of Chicken can take a month off in the summer.

Kindan No Tasuketsu has been one of Japan’s best pop-music performers of the last year, releasing a flurry of fantastic songs (some hyper upbeat, other meditative) and a full-length album at the end of 2013. Her first new track for this year, “Manatsu No Boyfriend,” is a pumped-up electronic number featuring her familiar nursery-school-sing-song delivery and a big ecstatic chorus. It’s not quite as punch as some of her other dance-inspired cuts from last year…tough to keep that energy going for over five minutes…but still a very strong. And the video (below) is being pushed by TV station Space Shower TV. Here’s hoping this is an opening up.

You Should Go Listen To The New Especia Single Now: “Ya Me Te”

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I’ve already written a bit about one of the three new songs to appear on Osaka idol group Especia’s latest single, and now you can hear all three songs over at SoundCloud. Let’s focus on the pair I haven’t had a chance to virtually blab about yet. The titular track, “Ya Me Te,” is a horn-heavy number that’s one of the liveliest pieces of music to emerge from this group’s small (but great!) song catalog to date. The singing members of Especia take turns stepping into the spotlight to do their thing, with the music itself pulsing forward and offering up spots seemingly built for dance-offs (which, well…I saw Especia live and they do actually do this, the non-singing members breakdance and stuff during these moments, it is great). That leaves “Ame No Parlor,” the longest and most laid-back song of the three here. It’s also the weakest moment here, but pleasant enough, and the still has some great horn sounds and synth droplets. Listen below.

New Sakanaction: “Eureka”

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Don’t expect regular updates until I’m back in Japan this weekend…but before savoring the last few days of vacation, I did want to post the new Sakanaction song “Eureka.” Watch the video above.

The Kohaku TV show (a yearly program where some of the most popular singers from Japan perform on New Year’s Eve) and, as it always did, it brought about a variety of high profile folks out of the woodworks to moan about the state of modern Japanese music. Well,, ignoring the baby-level complaints of most commentary (“uggggggh POP!”), Sakanaction is right there topping the charts and appearing on Kohaku. And here is a very, very popular band releasing a skeletal ballad that sounds like it was recorded underwater.