Favorite Japanese Band/Artist

My favorite would have to be Hinoi Team because of the Japanese Pop that they have -- it's good.

 

Correct, four girls.

There's also this odd guy that wears tights, which makes the group really funny.

 

I am torn between Ali Project and Yoko Kanno.

Ali Project has produced the ending songs played in various anime.

Here is their song, Waga Routishi Aku no Hana as played during the credits of Code Geass.

Spoiler

[video=youtube;bQMkDJ1wwdY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQMkDJ1wwdY[/video]

As for Yoko Kanno, what doesn't she do that isn't amazing olol?
She's composed the songs fr anime such as Baccano!, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Cowboy Bebop.

Spoiler: Tank

[video=youtube;T6zDfxZ4NcE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6zDfxZ4NcE[/video]

Spoiler: Inner Universe

[video=youtube;EIVgSuuUTwQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIVgSuuUTwQ[/video]

 

Hmm . . . Well, I really like Home Made Kazoku because I have five of their albums, and I also like NICO Touches the Walls, I have all three of their albums, but . . .

I really think I'd have to go with NICO Touches the Walls, if it hadn't been for "Broken Youth" as a Naruto Shippuden ending, I might have not listened to the rest of their awesome music.

 

ONE OK ROCK for me. Favorite Song would be Kaimu

Spoiler

[video=youtube;BbHPwEIjU3U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbHPwEIjU3U[/video]

 

Oddly enough, while Japanese music appears to be most known for their pop nowadays, I can't figure out for the life of me why everyone thinks its so much better than other Japanese music, especially now that I've noticed that plenty of Japanese pop singers have adopted Autotune almost to the extent of American pop stars. Granted, they're still a step above the ****** hip hop inspired club pop.

Personally, I find that Japanese metal bands tend to be more inspired when it comes to song writing (as opposed to the more or less identical and endless waves of bubble pop) to the point where they created their own style of power metal in only a few years.... Even if Japanese power metal is a rather blatant offshoot of European power metal.

For example, take bands like Concerto Moon and (early) Galneryus, both of which are strongly inspired by European bands like Stratovarius and Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, but have similar influence from early Japanese metal bands like Loudness or X Japan, causing a mix of sorts between European neo-classical and power metal with the progy traditional metal that Japanese 80s metal bands were famous for and creating something uniquely Japanese. Its a similar phenomenon to the differences between the thrashier and more aggressive American power metal and the proggier and more melodic European power metal. Even bands that don't follow Stratovarius' example (such as Versailles and (late) Galneryus) still have the influence from Loudness and X Japan that makes them "feel" Japanese.

For some real irony, however, is that every one of Loudness' and X Japan's key influences are American and European bands. Hell, Loudness took it the logical conclusion by actually hiring Michael Vescera, an American, when they found themselves without a vocalist in 1989. Similarly, outside of X Japan and their contemporaries, Japanese power metal is just as influenced by western music as the older bands. Despite this irony, I have to say that it makes sense.

Japanese pop culture is very much like this. Even though it seems alien and strange to the outside observer, when you break it all down, you realize just how westernized Japanese pop culture is. Its simply a matter of the context they put it in, or, in some cases, fail to put it in.

That said, with this long winded rambling out of the way, here's a small list of Japanese metal bands I would wholeheartedly recommend:

X Japan (should be quite obvious as they're the definitive Japanese 80s metal band)
Loudness (though more popular in the west than X (to the point of having three albums managing to chart in America, a feat even the otherwise legendary X Japan failed to accomplish), they're not really as definitive as X, but I'd still say they're a very important part of Japanese metal)
Versailles (not only did they manage to make some damn good music, they did so despite being a BLATANT marketing vehicle with their insane amount of media coverage, even outside of Japan (their debut album charted at 42, a year after they formed) and a ****ing TV show based on them, even though they've only been active for four years)
(early) Galneryus (Galneryus' first three albums are some of the best neo-classical metal albums I've ever heard. Specifically, Beyond the End of Despair continues to be among my favorite power metal albums of all time. Unfortunately, their guitarist, Syu, wanted to go in a different direction and abandoned neo-classical power metal for a softer form of power metal)
(current) Galneryus (I can't recommend their last three albums nearly as much as I could the first three, especially with Yama-B's absence from Reincarnation, but they are by no means bad albums)

 

oh jeez, I've got a lot of favorites, because I watch a lot of anime and stuff. Ok, so I don't know about bands, but my favorite artists are definately Gackt(I heard them from Dirge of Cerberus), Utada Hikaru, Jade Valerie, Manami Kuribayashi since she did my favorite song is My-HiME, a lot of intros to Bleach and Naruto, and things like that. Usually it's intro songs and stuff. There's Daia No Hana, the intro to Black Cat. I've got so many and some I don't know the artist to

 

Heroes Comeback is just an awesome song. Nobody Knows+ really have great music!

My Fave Band: Nobody Knows+
Fave Artist: Utada Hikaru, Eiko Shimamya

 

Cloud3514... I just want to say that I immediately respect you. I've just punched Concerto Moon into youtube, and have started listening to them. I can truly hear the blend of Far East and European influences. It makes for an incredible sound. So I can solidly say that such an artist is one that I could easily immerse my interests into.

I think, at this point in time, I think my favorite Japanese musian is pianist Hiromi Uehara, and her band, Sonicbloom. She, and her band by extension, draws influence from progressive, fusion and jazz genres. When I first listened to them, I likened it to Pat Metheny and Dream Theater blended together (basically, my two favorite American artists packed into one). It makes for a very interesting sound. Driving in the manner that a prog metal/rock band would be, but with that laid back sound of Metheny's fusion music. And of course, there's certainly a callback to Hiromi's Japanese roots put into the mix.

Have a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkL6hwj91UM

 

Midori -

Plastic Girl in Closet -

Kalafina -

 

Dude, you're blowing my mind here.

I don't go browsing for Japanese music if it wasn't featured in an anime of some sort, but I have stumbled across a few interesting names that I've taken time to look further into. These would be Nujabes, The Pillows and Ellegarden.

Nujabes was probably one of the greatest hip-hop DJs I had ever heard. Sadly, he died in a car accident last year, which I find very sad because I feel like he had so much more to offer the world. It was his music that inspired a taste for Hip Hop in me.

Ellegarden was a Japanese punk group, and what made these guys unique was that a vast majority of their songs had English lyrics, and well-spoken English at that. They've been on hiatus since 2008, and I haven't checked to see if they've gotten together for anything productive recently.

Finally, The Pilows are a somewhat Beatles-influenced rock group whose music I discovered watching the anime FLCL (because the soundtrack consists of pretty much just their songs). They've produced quite a few albums and I feel like I should look them up again some time soon.

 

I don't really listen to a lot of Japanese music, but I do really like Asian Kung Fu Generation and Flumpool

[video=youtube;2Tu7UimiqsE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tu7UimiqsE&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;CzwJ-B3JpxI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzwJ-B3JpxI[/video]

 

Boom Boom Satellites or Dir En Grey. BBS because they know how to keep it interesting with each new album. They're willing to experiment and I love that. Dir En Grey because of the raw emotion and passion put into their music. Plus, the vocalist has great screams.

 

My fav japanese band or group is Perfume. (the 3 girls in my sig) I'm obsessed with them! Their music is so catchy and addictive.