Japanese Music
 

I was recently trying to download any Happy Days TV episode. And accidentally, I downloaded a music video for a Japanese band. The song was entitled "Happy Days". I have no idea when this was released or what the name of the band is...If you've know, do tell. The singer was female and she had a punk-grunge male band behind her.

Also, if you can make any more recommendations of this type of music, do tell. This is something I really want to get into. (Japanese punk-dance)

This was the best mistake I've ever done!!!! :)

Is that the Barbarellas?

Here some other bands you might like from Japan:
Guitar Wolf
Melt Banana
Polysics (japanese devo)
Teengenerate
Shonen Knife
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
5.6.7.8's (these first seven are the most obvious)
The Bunnies
Rockbottom
High Vox
the Gimmies
the Neatbeats
Jet Boys
Mach Pelican
Registrators
the Mad 3
Boyce
First Alert
the Havenots
Gasoline
Permanent Voltage
Great Moongoose
Pebbles
Sweet J.A.P.
The Intimate ****
Thee 50's high teens
Stalin
Lizard
Hijokaidan
Gai
Swankys
The Mirrors
Star club
SS
Modern dolls
Continental kids
Rabbits
Les rallizes denudes
Gaseneta
Roosters
Inu
Crazy S Ken
Sken
Ultra Bide
Super Milk
Kimura & the Distructions
High Rise
Mainliner (not to be confused with the swedish Mainliners who have one of the best garage records of last year)
New Direction Band
Genbaku Onanies
Idiot o Clock
Fushitsusha
Mobs
CCCC
Masonna
Mach 1.67
Friction
Sekiri
Sob
Systematic Death
Confuse
YBO2
Laughin' Nose
Mods
Hanatarash
Zeni geva
Mr. kite
Tori Kudo
The Spiders
Golden Cups
Samurai
SA
Mops
Gunjo Gacrayon
King Brothers
Sheena & the Rokkets
Carol
Howling Guitar
Loods
Ryders
Kenzi and the Trips
Boys Boys
EDPS
Strummers
Auto Mod
Allergy
Phew
Jacks
Lost Araaff
Anarchy
Vampire
Cobra
Kuro
Jagarata
Vickers
Chelsea
Group Ongaku
Taj Mahal Travellers
the Rockers
Cool
Psychedelic Speed Freaks
Aburadako
Warriors
Willlard
Gauze
KGGM
Space invaders
Zett
POGOS
Factotums
Falsies on Heat
the Detroit 7
Google-A
Cruyff
Last Target
Fuck you Hereos
Raw Gauge
Texaco Leathermen
Watusi Zombie
the Vickers
the 88
Atomic Fireball
Mummy the Peepshow
the Shock
Blue Beat Players
Mama Guitar
Dee Dees
(I am going to quit right now for I am tired of looking at my collection for japanse stuff right now)

You should buy stuff from UndergroundMedicine.com or something of that nature for a ton of those bands have just released 7"s and such. Oh yeah, do you have a record player?

Here is something from Simon Factofum of the Factofums and his top list to help you out:
Simon Factotum, vocalist of, errr, yes, you guessed it, Factotums, talks about his top 10 (11, actually) Japanese albums of all time. Why is a member of such a new band in the Japanese music scene writing this? Well, being Welsh he can string a few sentences together - just about - in English so it saved us getting a translator. (Because badbee is desperate for translators - Badbee Ed). As it seems Factotums are using badbees BBS as their message board right now it seemed only right he should sit on his ass and type us out this list. And, of course, he was happy to oblige.

1/ Murahachibu - Live 72 (Good Lovin)
My ex-girlfriend Yuri introduced me to this band and I am forever indebted to her for that, even though when she left my home she took the rare vinyl copy of my favorite Murachabibu album with her. Well, it did belong to her, but it was the one thing I hoped she might forget. I wish Factotums could write more stuff like this as I count Murahachibu as the biggest influence on me forming the band, but we always seem to end up making shouty, punky songs. Probably because I cant sing. But I managed to get a copy on CD and a couple of years back when they released a lot of this early 70s bands stuff on CD including rare studio cuts. But Murahachibu always sounded best live in front of an audience. So raw and passionate. Very Rolling Stones-like but with a rough punk edge like The Stooges. Ive played this album every week for about seven years. And I am not joking! If anybody has a vinyl copy of this - or any Murahachibu record - I want to strike a deal to take it off your hands.

2/ Guitar Wolf - Loverock (Ki/oon Records, 2004)
The first band I saw live when I arrived in Japan about 8 years back. They were playing with ace U.S. band Oblivians at Shimokitazawas Club 251 and, after so many years of mostly boring Britpop, I finally got a major overdose of rock n roll bedlam, and I have never looked back. I remember it was deafening and my ears were ringing for about a week afterward. This is last years album and I think its Guitar Wolfs best - which is good, because it's the last one on which bassist Billy played. Billy became one of my best friends in the Japanese music scene and I was devastated when he died a few weeks back. I still cant listen to Guitar Wolf right now because of that. But I love the Guitar Wolf crew, and when the time is right I will tell you a few funny stories about Billy. But not right now.

3/ 54 Nude Honeys - Drop the Gun (U.K. Project, 1998)
Funnily enough, I first got to know Billy as a friend through the Honeys many years ago. At the time me and Billy would hang out with Honeys guitarist Kotome and singer Yuri. The first Honeys album on Sony wasn't so good, but since then they have released three independent albums and they are all brilliant! But this one, the first, is my favorite, because its more, how can I say, um, well-balanced than the other two. Kotome rustles up some great surf guitar riffs, Vivi is one of my favorite bassists and the sneering punk-rock vocal attack of Yuri is just mental, but she can also sing too. I still play this now and it still gets me dancing like mad in my living room. I actually think it's a sad reflection of the Japanese mainstream music scene that this band is not the most famous band in Japan because they have such catchy pop-punk-surf tunes combined with a real in-your-face attitude.

4/ Anadorei - Pussy Cannibal Holocaust (Captain Trip Records, 2001)
You either love or hate them. I love them and I was sad when they split up in the summer of 2004. It's the mot insane punk rock I have ever heard, with about 13 songs crashing in a total of 11 minutes and then they do a 15-minute version of Sister Ray at the end. Its basically a manic screamfest and I like girls screaming so long as I am not the reason for their screaming! Unless they are watching Factotums, of course!

5/ Shonen Knife - Heavy Songs (Warner, 2002)
I admit I am not too familiar with their early stuff, but I have heard most of it. Heavy Songs is when I really fell in love with them though. Its an album that seems to have everything - sweet pop tunes, melodic rockers, a loungey chanson song, and even a disco number, although that's the only song I don't like on it. Also, they've been really sweet when Ive met them. They are not friends of mine or anything but its really great when you meet your favorite bands and you realize that they are really cool, friendly people too. Sometimes when you really like a band and you meet them and they are assholes you kind of reject their music too. It's a strange but true phenomenon. But the Shonen Knife girls are as sweet as the strawberry and chocolate cakes that they so adore and love singing about.

6/ Chelsea - Chelsea (LDK, 1999)
I first saw these guys at Kawasaki Citta years ago and the singer Baba stormed on stage waving a Japanese flag and immediately jumped into the crowd before singing or screaming a word. Chelsea was pure mental noise with a speedy psychedelic edge. Factotums used a track off this album as the music to be played when we walked on stage at our recent Koenji gig. It really gets me focused, gets me aggressive, and in the mood to perform, although Im not sure what the rest of Factotums think about it. I followed Chelsea round and then when Baba left to form Kubikarizoku I followed that band round. I eventually got to know Baba - which often happens if you go to all the shows - and now count him as one of my best friends in Japan. Hes a hardcore hippie-punk warrior-poet from Kyoto who takes no bullshit and retains the true Samurai spirit. I swear he sleeps with a copy of Hagakure under his pillow at night. I feel like hes probably my brother in an alternative universe. I have total respect for the man.

7/ Teeny Frahoop - 2nd Hospital (K.O.G.A. Records, 1999)
Together with the excellent mummy the peepshow from Osaka, these girls - Noriko on guitar, Yoshiko on bass and Masako on drums - have made the best indie records I have heard in Japan. I was really sad when one of the girls had to return to her hometown in Hokkaido a few years back due to personal problems and the band had to split up after just two albums. The melodies on this are killers, with Noriko singing her songs and Yoshiko singing the ones she wrote. Yet another band that never got the recognition - even in the underground scene - that they fully deserved.

8/ Thee 50s High Teens - Thee 50s High Teens (P-Vine, 2003)
You just got to see this band live. They were great when I first saw them about 15 months ago and now they are even better. Kei is just amazing on her organ the way she snarls and attacks it with a gusto I have never seen before. Im surprised her organ survives each onslaught. And Tomos growling/shrieking vocal is like a cross between a Japanese schoolgirl and a grizzly bear and I love it. Not forgetting Honey laying down those guitar melodies and new recruit Sue on drums. The best band in Fukuoka, no doubt about that. Factotums got invited down to play a show with High Teens and Yokkaichis Gasoline but we couldn't go. I could go, but the other Factotums were unable to because they couldn't get time off work. I was gutted. Its one of my ambitions to play in Fukuoka with the High Teens, especially as one of our songs called Kabukicho includes a few lines where I repeatedly scream Fukuoka Baby. Im sure the crowd down there would love it. Hahahaha!

9/ The Syrup - Ai-No-Shibire (The Other, 2002)
I don't know too much about this band. My girlfriend introduced me to them and together we went to see them play with the High Teens in Osaka last December. I wasn't impressed so much at the time, probably because it was New Year and I was just a little drunk and was there to see the High Teens, but my girlfriend repeatedly played the album when she moved in with me, but now its me every single morning over the past month telling her, Hey baby, can you put The Syrup on please. Its kind of moody, loungey Showa pop. It really chills me out before I have to go to work, but its great at night too and you could probably have great sex to it too, but I haven't tried that yet. I love the understated sax, the flowing rythym, but best of all for me is Kazumis vocal. Its so soft and soothing while remaining upbeat and just reminds me of a beautiful butterfly fluttering around my room, if that makes any sense at all!

10/ Dry and Heavy - Dry and Heavy (Olive Discs, 1997)
I love 60s Jamaican ska and rocksteady and 70s reggae and I think Dry and Heavy are the only Japanese band that have really got that Jamaican sound nailed down. There might be others out there that I just haven't heard. Apparently, I heard that Dry and Heavy might have split up, which is a bummer. This is my favorite of all their albums.

11/ Supersnazz - Diode City (Timebomb, 1998)
I know I am supposed to list 10 albums, but I have to sneak in an extra one, cos I just could not leave this out. A 19-track pop-punk classic, and for this album alone I will be forever grateful to Supersnazz.

Oh crap, I almost forgot about DMBQ. They are like the japanese Comets on Fire.

Jesus, Chris, all of that and you miss the Boredoms? Pizzicato Five? DJ Crush? Buffalo Daughter? C'mon my man, you're slipping.

Some of those names are ridiculous. Do you think they have any idea what they mean or do they just think he names look cool?

The name of the singer is Ai Otsuka, its off her 2004 album called Love Jam. The Happy Days video is pretty popular on IMF (some music chanel I have on Dish)

Yeah, I was mostly going with bands with that rock n roll garagepunk sound or neat beat beat or power-pop or something similar to that. Plus, I really don't care for much of those bands except for the Bordedoms but their accesiablitly might be an issue. Other bands I just remembered off the top of my head right now are early Love Love Straw (Red, I think, is there really good album), the Beat Crusaders (very hit or miss), 3 Minute Movie, and Pear of the West (japanese Tsuanami Bomb).

Guitar Wolf! Play it really loud.

I'd say that Boredoms are more accessible than Masonna or Hijokaidan.

I prefer the relaxing sounds of Merzbow myself. ;)

How about the horror punk of Balzac (maybe a bit too heavily influenced by The Misfits though).

Or CCCC for that matter (from what I've heard). :)

As long it isn't "Merzbuta," that is ok. I really don't think Merzbow has done anything that worthwhile since "1930." Man, I haven't listened to Masonna in a while. I thought "Inner Mind Mystique" was an understated record when I listened to it a few years back. Isn't there some members of Hijokaidan in Mainliner?

Balzac is actually on the Misfits label imprint but you probably know that. I still think Balzac is doing a better job than Tiger Army is.

Too bad their greatest hits comp that just came out by Narnack doesn't include songs from their albums, "Kung-Fu Ramone" or "Wolf Rock" otherwise I would reccomend someone to start out with that. I also wish they would release a singles comp because I don't have too many 7"s by them (as much as I want to) and want to hear their cover of Joan Jett's "Bad Repuatation."

Looks like a slipped a few noise artists in. Here is the dusted review that made me check out some Japanese noise stuff a couple of years ago:
Dusted Reviews


Artist: V/A

Album: Japanoise

Label: Little Mafia

Review date: Jun. 5, 2003


Snapshot of Unforgiving Audio Experimentation


It's been a while since I ran across a status check on the state of noise works in Japan, so it was nice to get this one in the mail. From the middle of the U.S., Little Mafia Records herein give us a rundown from some of Japan's best-known purveyors of unforgiving audio experimentation.

Stand back, clear your mind, and ready yourself for distortion, white noise, electronics, metallic smashing, and the occasional moments of actual beauty shining through the chaos. While making noise may be "easy," making noise that actually communicates something is an altogether different deal. Therein lies the difference between art and, well, rubbish. This album thankfully is pretty much the real thing, as you might expect from names like K.K. Null, MSBR, Masonna, and Incapacitants.

Pain Jerk kicks the album off with rhythmic thumping, metallic crashings, and grindings. It's all electronics, no synth, but it sounds more like a kitchen dishpan disaster. The piece later turns into white-noise whooshes and walls of noise static. K2 follows, as always using metal junk effected and recorded onto a multi-track, then mixed down using sudden movements and abrupt shifts between sounds. Though the sound source is metal junk, this actually ends up sounding less like metallic sounds then the Pain Jerk electronics did! The joys of noise.

C.C.C.C.'s piece has the thick sound they always manage to deliver, like being inside a jet engine while it's running. A surprising inclusion here is Melt-Banana, not generally considered a noise group. This piece, though, is rather like a weird "noise remix" of one of their songs, with extra-added editing and sound effects.

Using his "nullsonic", often just a patch cord played through an array of effects, K.K. Null serves up a collection of shimmering, throbbing sounds, like crystalline shards of electronic humming. Some parts end up sounding a bit like shortwave interference. I was surprised to find MSBR's piece actually rather tame compared to many of the other tracks here, though that's not a bad thing. He'll usually deliver the harsher side of noise, but here he slowly percolates, like rumbles and fuzzes stirred slowly in a pot.

Masonna's track, though, is another dose of intense screaming cathartic noise, repeating loops of static, shouts and yelling through filters and distortion and who knows what...if a little baby threw a tantrum with a fuzzbox, maybe this is what you'd get. Never a disappointment, the Incapacitants are a relatively underappreciated quantity in the noise scene despite being one of the longest-running projects in Japan. Vocals echoing out to space, distorted rumbles and creaky static-laden trains cascade through the headphones. Look out.

It's always tempting to look at a compilation as a state of the union address from a particular genre, or location, or otherwise-delineated category, and the title of this release almost encourages it. But most often it's not that easy; and without names like Merzbow, Hijokaidan, Astro, Guilty Connector, and so many more, this compilation couldn't claim to cover the whole of the Japanese noise territory. But as a snapshot of a number of expert contributors, it's a fine sample to enjoy. And as an introduction for newcomers, it would make a great start.



By Mason Jones

Wow...after listings like all of the above, I feel woefully inept to add to the list. I'll say the only one I can think of now...Mad Capsule Markets.

I guess a cross between pop, industrial, punk and electronica maybe? It's some wacky stuff. Osc-Disc is the only album I have of theirs...

Truthfully, I haven't listened to any Mad Capsule Markets passed their EP which had that one song from Tony Hawk in it. Actually, I sort of want to check out more of their stuff. The kids in the Japanese Indie room probably have it.

This marks the first and only time someone calls the Boredoms "accessible" --- I recommend a hip-hop group called m-flo. Very good.

People might also want to check out the movie Wild Zero just to see Guitar Wolf.

There was a comp. CD of Japanese and American noise bands called "Japanese/American noise treaty" released about 10 years ago that had some crazy stuff on it.

Yeah, Wild Zero is pretty awesome. I forgot 2 post-Teengenerate bands, Raydios and Firestarter. Both are great.

Not entirely sure if this would fit in with punk-dance, but a band I recommend is Go!Go!7188 - kinda punky, garage-y.

I suppose Gargoyle if you wanted Metal with a vocalist that sounds like the Dead Kennedy's guy.

Yep, I know it. :) I've never heard Tiger Army. Ahh, when it comes down to it, nothing can substitute for Danzig-era Misfits.

You should check out Tiger Army's first few records. If you like AFI or some of that whole horrorpunk / psychobilly / 90's Epitaph or early Nitro style punk with emotional yelping, it is worth listening to except I think I might have grown out of it by their 3rd album.

quote: I've never heard Tiger Army. Ahh, when it comes down to it, nothing can substitute for Danzig-era Misfits.

Sure there is, Danzig touring with Doyle, at least the last 2 tours, usually 20 minute misfits set in there.