Japanese Music Redux

[DianaF]

I'm interested in becoming more familiar with J-Pop as well as with the more traditional forms of Japanese music...folk and classical. Can anyone out there point me in the direction of internet resources related to these topics and that I might find interesting? Also, where can I purchase CDs from Japan at a reasonable price? Can they be found in the U.S.?

I recently discovered the website http://mumix.net which has been my introduction to J-Pop and J-Rock. I don't consider myself a big fan of rock or pop music from anywhere. Being an older learner of Japanese and a baby-boomer influences my preferences, I am sure. However, I find that I really like some of the music I've heard on Mumix. It has long samples from albums of a wide variety of J-Pop and J-Rock artists.

I've now listened to samples of every male vocal artist in the Mumix database. Among the many interesting offerings, my favorite songs so far are from Kine Naoto's "NAOTO KINE CONCERT 2009 Talk & Live Vol. 9." I love the songs with their simple accompaniment of guitar, piano and sometimes harmonica. "NEW TOWN STREET" has many of the same songs but with more orchestration. The sound of Kine-san's voice is so clear that I feel I'm right on the verge of understanding what he is singing about. If only my vocabulary were a little larger! I'm still a beginner. Argh!

A close second to my favorite is Miyamoto Kohji's music from "HARU NO KIOKU"...really fun...crazy fun. Some of the artist's personality comes through in a big way, I think. I just wish I could understand what he is saying. Thanks to Miyamoto Kohji, I've now added some aerobics to my yoga and tai chi routine. I'm feeling healthier already!

The female artists come next. I'll be listening to them soon. There's a song I heard on Sankakuyama FM one night that I'm hoping to find. Sankakuyama [ http://www.sankakuyama.co.jp ] is also where I first heard Kine Naoto although I couldn't catch his name at the time. I was lucky enough to stumble across him on Mumix much to my delight!

Besides their music database, Mumix has radio podcasts that I sometimes listen to to practice my listening skills. Each time I listen, I understand a little more.

Maybe you would enjoy Mumix as much as I have. I'm not a fan of techno or electronic music at all, but there is plenty of that there too. Anyway, I hope that at least some of you will find something to enjoy there. For me it's been an entertaining resource. Please let me know what you think, and post any interesting sites that might be of interest.

Dee

[Jessi]

Hmm, I consider myself very well-versed in J-pop, but to be honest with you I think all of the artists on the Mumix site are either indie artists or just very, very obscure. I have not heard of any of them I'm now really curious as to who all of these artists are I read the About page on the site but couldn't find out much. Hmm...

So unfortunately I can't comment on any of the artists there (I will give them a listen when I have time though!), but I can recommend a really good online radio station that plays a great selection of old and new J-pop/J-rock.
http://en.j1fm.com/
They play brand new music that is currently on the charts in Japan and I am always amazed by their great playlist. You can also easily see the artist and title for any song that's playing

If you live in or near a big city (New York, LA, etc), you will be able to find some imported CDs at Japanese bookstores (Kinokuniya) and they like, but they are likely to be marked up and quite expensive. I know a lot of people abroad use www.yesasia.com or www.cdjapan.co.jp for ordering Japanese music online.

[DianaF]

Thanks for the radio website, Jessi. I'll try to visit it tomorrow. By the way, I had planned to order some books from Kinokuniya, so I'll tack on a question about the CDs I want.

For anyone interested... To see and hear the playlist for a particular artist on Mumix.net, when you arrive at Mumix, click on the tab at the top that says "Artist" or follow this link: http://db.mumix.net:8080/fmi/xsl/mumix/ ... x=IN&-find
You'll see a directory on the left side with "Male Vocal," "Female Vocal," "Instrumental," etc. Click on the category you want, and a list showing the names of artists in that category will appear. Click on the name of the artist that interests you (and not on the green download arrow which is only for purchasing and will not take you to the sample tracks). A playlist of that artist's sample tracks will appear. You may have to scroll down a bit to see it. Use the grey arrows to hear the tracks. Hope this helps.

Kine Naoto's samples are here: http://db.mumix.net:8080/fmi/xsl/mumix/ ... 0088&-find

Miyamoto Kohji's are here: http://db.mumix.net:8080/fmi/xsl/mumix/ ... 0002&-find

Is anyone at all familiar with these artists? What do you think of their music? Know of any other artists in a similar vein? Are they way out of the mainstream of J-Pop?

Dee

[KeithMcCreary]

When I used to live near San Francisco, I used to go to Kinokunia to buy CDs pretty often. I thought they were pretty expensive at $35 each, but now that I live in Japan, I'm finding it's almost the same price here. I'm sure Kinokunia marked them up a bit, but since I was there anyways, it wasn't a problem to pick them up. I've used YesAsia in the past and my friend bought stuff from CDJapan pretty regularly, but if you're ordering from Kinokunia anyways, you might save on shipping.

[nilfisq]

Is anybody familiar with the Korean indie band Nell (see here or here and knows a good Japanese equivalent?
I like indie music, but more the "softer" (balad) style and so far I find it difficult to find something. Music that comes close to my preferences is L'arc-en-ciel. Hope to hear from the specialists soon