[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khhtt1qrrMA”] Honestly the schoolgirl uniforms should have been a warning. Yet Osaka J-Rock group SCANDAL made such catchy music that I couldn’t help but be enchanted (not in a bound-for-a-database sorta way) despite the super-clear red flag being waved dramatically in my face. Their music for the most part sounded like more-than-competent J-Rock and once…
A friend and I ventured deep into the bowels of the Nagoya underground back in August, a place not quite subterranean as much as just a giant shopping mall with absolutely no natural light sneaking in. We came in search of sushi, but found ourselves staring down a Barbie-pink store entrance complete with window offering…
Though I hesitate to share this online because it reveals me to be a total social zero, I’ll cop to helping create a thread on a message board used by local English teachers snarking on Korean pop music. This board usually features discussions focused on the helpful…event listings, teaching advice…to more vacuous chats…a thread titled…
Johnny & Associates aren’t just another shadowy Japanese record label christening idols and telling them not to date anyone – Johnny goes WAYYYYY beyond that. The people running this company aren’t in the business of making musicians…they create IDOLS, all caps necessary. These people end up on the fronts of CD singles, folders, television screens,…
AKB48 “チャンスの順番” [youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONCCENIlSXE”] Since AKB48 usually ends up being my whipping posse whenever I write about them, let’s mix it up and start with some positives. The video for this new single isn’t nearly as creepily voyeuristic as some of their other 2010 clips. Plus, it even has a halfway decent idea…a giant rock-paper-scissors league/tournament…