Do you listen to Japanese or Western music more?
Which one do you like more?
Those who listen to Japanese music, who would you say is more known in the West?
If you've been to any Japanese concerts, how are they different from concerts of Western musicians?
It might be good to say your nationality so people know what point of view you are coming from. (You are Japanese?)
The only Japanese music I recall getting any airplay in my region (central Canada) is Puffy AmiYumi (PUFFY).
Japanese music I have in my collection is of Nobou Uematsu.
In USA and Canada we tend to only listen to English language music because of isolation from other languages and cultures.
Some concerts from various countries can be viewed online if one searches. Someone else would be better at suggesting musical acts.
I am American-Asian. So I suppose I can see things from both ends .__.
What's the difference in modern music really? Traditional music I understand, but the only difference I see in modern music is the language and local flavor. Is there any modern music genre that has roots in Asia? Rock, jazz, techno, hiphop etc. all have occidental roots (unless you wanna look as deep as Africa).
Just about all popular music today is technically "western music" ie: American music. But since its influences are so diverse and frequently "non-western", I guess you just have to call it "generic world popular music"
You don't have to look "deep" into West-African music to see its influences in American pop; it practically saturates it, but it's not its only ingredient.
I used to like Western music more, but since last December, I've been into a lot of Japanese-pop music. But I wouldn't really know which artists are popular in the western part of the world
I avoid most American music because it tends to have horribly shallow lyrics.
Of course, the reason why music in other languages probably appeals to me is because I don't understand the lyrics at all, but even in translation they seem to less often be about cliche subjects like boyfriends and self-hatred.
Blues and punk rock came from the West, so Western music has my vote.
I only listen to animu soundtracks because I'm a horrible, horrible weeaboo.
Japanese popular music, in my opinion, is nothing but bad imitations of American popular music (which is bad enough as it is). The only good "truly Japanese" popular music I can think of would be the Yoshida Brothers. But they're only good because they fuse their traditional Japanese music with modern WESTERN musical styles.
So it's a wash, I guess.
Western music, no contest.
Sometimes I feel like a lot of Jap music post 80s is more unique and impressive than Western equivalents - probably just cause I'm a big weeaboo, but they do have a way of coming up with new spins on something. Like Japanese new wave I sometimes feel like the songs are more energetic, well written, melodic than over here, or with VK I feel it's better than the scene/emo bollocks going on today or your typical poncy hair/glam metal. Even the really mainstream pop I feel is better than American pop - sugar high techno driven, anime style pop music probably grates on a lot of people's patience, but I like it and have no shame. Don't care if that makes me gay. Also, like the guy above said, Japanese-influenced Western music is normally a good idea. Never heard Yoshida Brothers though (sounds like I'd like them), but a lot of J-pop and artists like Ryuichi Sakamoto and YMO have Japanese melodic scale.
Still the fact remains that these people are aping Western sounds and that ultimately, without Western music Japan would still be playing shamisens and shit. Well that's daft but you know what I mean. They're better at taking certain genres we've done and going at it with more enthusiasm.
Honestly, I don't care. Why do a vs. thing? It's like Rock vs Electro. I think it's stupid, no offense hey?
There are multiple reasons to this; first, as someone already said in this thread, because of the cultural mixing, you can't really tell influences, even if different cultures will play the same genre differently because of said mixing.
I can say that for instance I love japanese punk rock. They have a tendancy to either go for more raw power (Guitar Wolf amongst others) or really groovy basslines and melodies (B-DASH and Mongol800, amongst others).
They seem to have a gift in sugary happy hardcore, too, and in low-tech music. Well that one is quite normal, given Japan is the land of the NES after all...
I listen to J-Rock and J-pop but when it comes to electronic stuff france is my man ;)
I don't know any electro artists from japan, maybe thats why.
help me out? :P
http://www.artskool.biz/jem Great site about old and new Japanese electronic music.
Japanese music will never be very popular in America because most Americans listen to music for the words...and often have rather strict opinions on what makes good music, sometimes excluding musicality itself. The bulk of Americans aren't musically educated and indignantly resist any attempt to make them so. And if they can't understand the words or the music, how can you blame them for not wanting to listen?
i prefer japanese style hip-hop (ex/ nujabes) compared to the more machismo-esque hip-hop/rap of western culture. It might be just because of the artist and my limited exposure to japanese hip-hop, but it feels much more relaxed and feminine(and much more in-common with jazz)than western-style hip-hop. I also tend to prefer japanese jazz over western jazz. When I listen to coltrane or benny goodman compared to yoko kanno's jazz band and the hiroshimas, it is much more mellow i believe
but then again, i really hate japanese rock
>>16
Japanese hip-hop is often closer to trip-hop, free jazz, and whatever, and also often has highly lyrical/poetic value. That's why it's great; but they also do have blingbling 'artists' that suck.
I disagree on the jazz though; they are different, but both have great musical 'value'.
Jrock, Jpop, and Jurban. NOTHING ELSE. Don't taint my ears with western...bleh
Japanese rap musician got their soul stucked in 90's hiphop era, and thats why its cool, oldskool leads !
The only Japanese bands/musicians I listen to are Merzbow, boris, susumu hirasawa and akira yamaoka.
>>21
No Masonna?
I listen to 403 and their songs are great except for the singing, it's very monotone. Only thing Japanese I really like it just their techno.
What about all of the amazing people from Europe? :/
IMO, they are way better than anyone from Japan.. but that's just my opinion.
Like I said, let Led Zeppelin force them to come to the dark side with the Beatles, Eric Clapton, and UK Subs. xDDDD
I used to listen to all sorts of Western music.. then 10 years ago I found Japanese, and I can't look back. Now, I love all sorts of J-music and now I think English lyrics don't fit well with music for some reason. I think it always sounds "off". Am I the only one who thinks this? And I really hate the repetitive sex and club lyrics and repetitive beats of Western pop, while I can stand repetitive "ganbare, go for your dreams" lyrics that come with Japanese pop. Huge cultural difference for sure..
I'm an Amerikkkan. I listen to a lot of music from all over the world, Japan included.
I'm a big fan of so-called "New Rock", which was the result of American psychedelic rock influence in Japan, characterized by bands like The Mops and Flower Travellin' Band. It really does seem to me to be uniquely Japanese in character; it reflects the situation of Japan in the late 60s/early 70s, and a lot of it draws from classical Japanese music. At the same time, the influence of American hard rock bands like Deep Purple is very clear.
It's hard to really say what I "like more", but I do count FTB as one of my favorite bands of all time.
I've seen a couple of Japanese groups in concert - ALI Project, Polysics, SCANDAL. It seems to me a lot of Japanese bands have a keen sense of showmanship which is lacking for a lot of American bands. I didn't know anything about SCANDAL when I first saw them (it was a double header concert with ALI Project which was what I was mainly interested in), but I became an instant fan after seeing them - it's so rare to see the sort of stage presence they had nowadays.
I listen to some Jpop and the rest is western music. As much as I like Jpop and think some of those shit sounds cool, I don't really like the fact that I don't understand what they are singing and I always have to look up translations, if I want to understand.
But what I hate the most is when these kids and teens tell me that somehow Jpop is just "sooooooooo much" better than their western counterpart, and give me reasons for them. eg "Ayumi hamasaki is just sooo amazing she writes her own amazing lyrics!" but they don't understand that... it's the same thing! it's only in Japanese! That irritates me the most.
I listen to pretty much only Japanese music. America, to me, has put out almost nothing but crap since I can even remember. Not to say there isn't some good American music, but I've listened to it so much I'm bored with it, so I turn to another country. Plus, Japanese music (J-Rock in particular) as much as I've heard almost always has amazing, beautiful lyrics, whereas every song here nowadays is about lovelovelove, hating yourself, breakups, lovelovelove, not caring about what anyone says about the person you're in love with. Honestly, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FREAKING RELATIONSHIPS. SHUT. UP. Oh, and let's not forget rap lyrics: sex, sex, sex, sex, drugs, drugs, cars, money, money, degrading women and various other people, etc. Just my opinion.
Looks like you've never heard Jurassic 5. Fuck all that mainstream shit you hear these days.
I only really listen to electronic music and it seems to me that Japan is just not very good at producing any serious house, techno, etc music. Everything that I hear from over there sounds like Euro Dance. Except Satoshi Tomiie, he's awesome.
>>29
Find some decent rap. I mean really. Check out Bliss N Eso, Lupe Fiasco, any of that stuff.
And I can think of a whole lot of western music with beautiful lyrics... Check out Under A Godless Sky by Rose Funeral.
Jazz, Rock, RnB, Blues, etc
These genres owe a lot to the West
I'm not that well acquainted with Japanese music though, besides obvious stuff like Sigh, Boredoms, Boris, etc
I don't listen to much Japanese music... only the Sex Machineguns and occasionally Onmyou-za... otherwise, I haven't found any good metal bands hailing from Japan, and thus my interests are drawn elsewhere.
>>34
Pretty much every genre of modern music was invented in the west. Japanese people just do their best to impersonate whatever comes out of Western Europe and America.
>>36
And they are very creative at that. Can't take that away from them.
Aye, that they are. Downright amazing sometimes.
Susumu Hirasawa is awesome, although I probably prefer P-Model to his solo career. "Sekai Turbine" though, what a song.
I was never able to get into FTB, but that album they did with Kuni Kawachi was great. Their singer sounds like bleeding Axel Rose though! A lot of those older 70s bands don't grab me - they sound too much like typical record collector / music-fan prog from any country. The main one I could never figure out was J.A Caesar - naff pretentious cult chant bonehead rock. He gets compared to Magma sometimes, but I like Magma...
That said, I like some Jacks, Hiro Yanagida, Happy End, Takeshi Terauchi, RC Succession, Hosono/Sakamoto/YMO, Sadistic Mika Band, Tomita etc. Speed Glue and Shinki are good too, I can't think of any 70s hard / blues rock bands that sound quite like them... there probably are, but I can't think of them. What would you say is good stuff with that Deep Purple and/or Japanese melodic influence?
Cmon, lets be honest, we all love Japanese culture here but is there really any genre of music which Japan can beat the west in? I honestly dont think so, im sorry.
America has a huge amount of shit pop music, and a small amount of some very creative stuff when you do a little digging (I'm not including all the legends, simply talking about 2008). Japan on the other hand has some pretty god-awful music too, but the ratio of shit:creative is a lot smaller.
I listen to both equally. As a long time musician, I can't say to myself or anyone else that I hate a type of music, I have to come to at least acknowledge it exist and there are some who like it. I listen to mainly rock/metal, mostly metal, but I do listen to Japanese music, that's like my secret type of music. I also listen to Jazz, classical, and the blues, and funk. I listen to almost anything.
i listen to a lot of japanese music, mostly jrock. i also listen to 'western' music. i actually listen to all kinds of music- japanese, korean, taiwanese, arabic, hindi, latin.... i span genres- mostly rock/metal, but with random pop thrown in, lots of dance/ hip hip/ techno etc. i have musical A.D.D. haha.
but i agree with >>44- music is music. even if it's not my thing, i understand that other people may enjoy it (like country music- i hate it, but whatever floats your boat...). why knock what someone else finds joy and meaning in?
as for the concert thing- in the past year i have seen miyavi and dir en grey in concert, and they were each amazing in their own ways. the difference from other concerts i've seen- not much is different... there was a much more close/ loving feeling in the audience, but that was probably because the venues were smaller than other concerts i've been to :0)
Japanese bands always take a soild genera and put a wierd sound to it. Like...they could be singing english clear as day, but the melodies...there is just this...unique shape to it, and it bugs me every so often. Not all the time. (Petty Booka for example. Polysics, too)
I think it's their love of 4ths
>>45, exactly you know. I've seen FLOW, Galneryus (amazing!!!) live and they both were awesome. FLOW is J-ROCK and it's a fun show, everyone is having a good time, it was awesome. Same with Galneryus. Being one of my favorites, they were awesome and the crowd was just great, one of the best shows. I've also been to see Metallica, Trivium, and Slipknot, and they were all awesome!!!!
>>43
Seconded. It seems like every Japanese rock band is at least mediocre. Most stuff from the west these days ranges from unpleasant to nauseating; but I don't like much of anything made after about 1975. :/
>>7
Haven't you listened to any of the J-pop lyrics? They are so bad, their existence itself is beyond joke.
I totally agree, and their aesthetic has never quite grown out of American 80's music. They are mostly cheesy party anthems and corny ballads.
And just like how all the Japanese girls look, they all sound impressively similar.
I can't stand Japanese music because I'm a musician, and when ever I hear them, I can't stop analyzing the structures and melodies.
It seems that almost all major key music has this "Omatsuri" or "Bon-Odori" lines, and minor key music carries the trait of "Enka."
>I can't stand Japanese music because I'm a musician, and when ever I hear them, I can't stop analyzing the structures and melodies.
Ironically enough, I love Japanese music because I'm a musician and can't stop analyzing the structures and melodies. So much fresh, unexpected stuff in the background layers, it blows my mind. Then again, maybe we're listening to different Japanese music?
I prefer Japanese music. I come from the UK, and I don't like the popular music here at all.
At least, I don't like the modern popular music - it's all Oasis and Lily Allen clones and similar, and manufactured bands like "Girls Aloud" and so on.
I can't say much for American music, but I'm not impressed with most of the popular modern stuff I've heard from america.
But I like a lot of popular music from the 80s/90s (from the UK/America/etc).
Old bands/musicians I like:
Genesis, The Police, Sting, Billy Idol, Racer X
But mainly, most of the music I listen to is Japanese, because most of the music I listen to comes from video games. I'm not sure why, but video game music seems a lot more interesting to me than popular music.
I think it might be because popular music is designed to sell well, while video game music is designed to fit a theme, or just designed however the composer felt like it.
Another thing is, I'm keen on the sound of synthesizers.
I'm enthusiastic about music, and I try to write music myself now and then, but I don't call myself a musician. I only do music for fun, and I don't have any musical training.
Well I definetly listen to western music more but i am becoming quite a fan of japanese music. Im not to big of a fan of jpop but some of the jrock artists ive heard are really good.
Japan is just like the west, it has epic music and shitty pop music.
Masonna, The Gerogerigegege, Boris, Merzbow, Susumu Hirasawa, Akira Yamaoka and Melt-Banana to name a few.
i listen to almost nothing but western music, however what i do have that's Japanese is Maximum the Hormone and DJ Sharpnel.
i also don't like the popular that we have here in the UK, and i do love to listen to japanese music, it is quite fresh.
I listen mostly to japanese music, and a lot of jazz and instrumental stuff from the west.
55 is right, Japan is the same as the west, they have shitty music and they have wonderful music on both sides of the ocean. top 40 is only so-so for both, but if you look for more unique and unknown bands there are real diamonds.
>>41
Enka, we can't beat them at that.
>>41
Soundtracks. Movies, anime, video games... sure, "the west" has the occasional prodigy (think Elmer Bernstein, Howard Shore, John Williams...) but most it produces still is watery junk or "ambient scores" (read: somebody holds a key on a pad synthesizer) and Japan wins by sheer numbers of awesome stuff if nothing else.
Also, I tend to like J-Trance more than its western counterparts, but I'd be more willing to recognize that as a matter of personal preference.
I listen to Asian music just about as much as I listen to American music. I don't like only Japanese music (though I love it <3) I also like Korean and Taiwanese music <3
I am a total fan of traditional Japanese music, and just two modern composers cut the mustard for me: Kenji Kawai and Yoko Kanno.
Most J-Pop is rather annoying for me, since I'm not comfortable with over cheery sugary tunes, but some of their most commercial metal (which is what I've gotten to hear - to be honest, haven't looked to deep into it) like Dir En Grey or Galnyerus has proven to be interesting, to say the least.
On the electronic scene (which I tend to think is a different beast on it's own given the variety of sub-genres), Japan totally stomps Western DJs. DJ Sharpnel, DJ Technorch, M1dy, TJ MS-DOM, DJ SoH or RedOgre, just to name some of the most popular, are constantly an innovative force, capable of breaking most of common trance's barriers. I used to listen to Tiesto, Safri Duo, and the like, but since I started with DJ Sharpnel, I've never looked back.
>>61
You are obviously more a fan of Japanese culture than you are of electronic music. Safari Duo and DJ Sharpnel are about as commercial and as shitty as electronic music gets, you should dig A LOT deeper before you can make any serious comparisons.
>>30, yes anything mainstrem is suxish, an when undergroudn stuff GOES mainstreem it soon becomes suckish too!
But, I listen to both J-rock an Western. Persoanlly I think Japanese scremo is kinda neat!
But i like a little bit of both and oh! Buck-Tick is pretty nice[though it's old] and Peral Jam as well
ALSO if u want good music listen to olderstuff, liek System of a Down has alot of good stuff in thier older albums alot of there new stuff isn't so great, it's usally liek that with alot of bands! Metallica is the same way, everythign after the Black Album isn's all the awesome, I liek the band better before one of thiere members died, also alot of stuff composed by Cliff was good[I think he was the guy who died btw] but he composed songs liek Master of Puppets, Orion!
I listen to American, European, and Japanese music. I can't pick a favorite.
European: Rammstein, Megaherz, Stahlhammer, t.A.T.u., Queensryche.
American: Disturbed, Slipknot, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Linkin Park, NickelBack, Avenged Sevenfold, stuff like that.
Japanese: BeForU, Kokia, Maximum the Hormone, Misato Aki, Mizuki Nana, T.M. Revolution, and insturmental like Hirano Yoshihisa, Hironosuke Satou, Iwashaki Taku.
I love Japanese heavy metal and sometimes i listen to Kanon wakeshima. she has an awesome voice
I love both. But I don't listen to alot of j-music, just themes from animes and a few albums from re-occuring artists. When >>26 mentioned that he felt that english lyrics don't 'fit' I definitely knew what he meant, english doesn't have the same flowing feel to it.
>>65
Queensrÿche belongs in the American category.
Also, you enjoy Nickelback... SERIOUSLY!?!
>>49
i think japanese music beat the west because american music is to repetivite epsecial rap now i used to love and still do listen to rap i used to listen to wu tang clan alot but the west turned rap into crap. so i listen to alot of jpop especial morning musume strange cuz i was born from listen to rap but i love to listen to them. i also love industrial metal and rock (NIN, Rammstein, Ministry, hanzel and gretel)
does anyone know how to find japanese pop acts that DON'T do songs for anime? I have found a few awesome bands, like Sleep Warp, and Pop Chocolat, but its hard to get more.
Niggur Ros - Untitled 6
Ayaka :D
Johnny's Entertainment :D
Yuzu :D
GReeeeN :D
I'm not a big Japanese music fan... I'm mostly into pretty low-fi indie rock, garage, and punk stuff, and almost all of the Japanese music I've heard sounds kind of overproduced to me. I like a few artists pretty well--the Pillows, Shonen Knife, Polysics, early Boredoms, and some of the Penpals are pretty interesting.
>41
Traditional Japanese music.
Honestly, western music has become a pale shadow of its former glory, especially the hip-hop and rap genres. Nowadays, all you have to do to make a popular song is talk about degrading women, selling illegal drugs, and killing others. It's nonsense how you can make a song where the entire point of the song is to get "licked like a lollipop". It's disrespectful to women, but no matter how vile and obscene the lyrics are, as long as they are presented by a popular urban music artist, the disrespect and vulgarity will continue.
>>77
dude you are such a faggot
vulgarity?
selling illegal drugs?
honestly man get the fuck off your computer and go outside. get laid or something.
you make yourself sound so fucking sheltered by making posts like that
download site
listin
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I'm Caucasian American and probably 70%-80% of the music I listen to anymore is foreign or at least in a foreign language. About 60% of that is Japanese.
Japanese rock/post rock/shoegaze band!!
Check it !!! Plzzzzzzzz
http://www.myspace.com/akafuku
and this is our MAD video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B21oK8D0_oA
Japan makes some of the best Rock I have ever hear.
I'm Jpanease girl.
Please follow up by a twitter!!!
My twitter ID:ricaricky7
>It seems that almost all major key music has this "Omatsuri" or "Bon-Odori" lines, and minor key music carries the trait of "Enka."
What's wrong with Enka? I love it, especially Yoshi Ikuzō.
>>81
Fuck yeah.
Japanese post-rock/math rock is the fucking best. I would take it over western rock any day.
I listen to about 80% western music, and about 20% Japanese music.
The western music I listen to ranges from rock to all types of techno (Dubstep, house, hardstyle, etc).
For Japanese music, I pretty much only listen to J-core. I love the fast beats, and how for lyrics it's mostly little sound-bytes from anime.
roujinkai dip.jp pass//// 4rfv6yhn1qak
japanese band.
Fantasia - Babel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h9eOClPUxY
Western though I've been meaning to look into koto music.
samurai girl