MoreTokyo 1,008 Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 J-Rock Reboot: 8 Bands Plugged Into Japan's Future by Patrick St. Michel Japanese rock music occupies a weird space in 2013. In terms of sales, pop music still holds a stranglehold on the charts. The J-Rock albums moving the most units today come from bands that have been around for a really long time – 1990s staples like Mr. Children or 2000s’ juggernauts Bump Of Chicken. But the scene isn’t all throwback acts. A new wave of groups that incubated during the mid-00s are coming into their own now: hard rocking outfits like ONE OK ROCK and Maximum The Hormone, along with groups blending guitars with dance music like Sakanaction have made big splashes nationally this year. Yet none of those bands are particularly new, they’ve been working away for some time, and are just hitting their stride now. What does the future of J-Rock hold? Here are eight bands we think have potential to be the next generation of great rock music in Japan. Mitsume https://soundcloud.com/mitsume/utsuro Tokyo’s indie-rock scene is a sprawling, fragmented beast, and it can be tough for a band to breakthrough and attract more widespread attention. Yet quartet Mitsume did just that over the past couple of years. They’ve gone from playing tiny clubs in the hipper parts of town to having their albums on sale at national chains and appearing at this year’s Fuji Rock Festival. Even more impressive, they’ve been grabbing more attention using repetitive grooves that hide experimentation beneath hypnotic melodies. A song like latest single “Utsuro†is deceptively simple, but they work in interesting electronic sounds and a pretty sweet guitar solo into the whole package. White Ash One of the best ways to gauge what direction a rock band is trending is to check Japanese summer festival line-ups. Raucous four-piece White Ash can proudly say they are on the upswing – they appeared on the bill for several prominent fests in 2013, including the huge Rock In Japan and Summer Sonic events. They pulled this off thanks to an aggressive approach that shows off their technical prowess without overdoing it. They might do the whole start-stop thing, but they make sure the hook is a big shout-along. Applicat Spectra https://soundcloud.com/applicat-spectra/sample-40sec Formed in 2010, Applicat Spectra are supported by the same label that helped make groups like ONE OK ROCK and Flumpool some of the biggest names in Japanese rock. They are being positioned as a big name for the next wave of J-Rock, and are off to a good start. They released their debut album “Spectacle Orchestra†in 2012, grabbing listeners thanks to a sound unafraid to bring in dance elements and arena-ready hooks courtesy of lead singer Shinichi Nakano. Homecomings https://soundcloud.com/secondroyal/i-want-to-back-acoustic Over the past few years, indie-pop music — simplistic, guitar-driven stuff usually featuring lovelorn lyrics — has experienced a boom. Of all the bands to pop out of this scene, Kyoto’s Homecomings are among the very best. The quartet don’t introduce anything particularly complicated into their music, they just do it better than most. This year’s debut album “Homecoming With Me†finds them flexing their ability to write hoppy tunes bolstered by choruses featuring lovely harmonizing. Cero https://soundcloud.com/kakubarythm/cero-my-lost-city-digest-1 Cero, at one point, didn’t seem all that intriguing. Their early material was a mix of mid-tempo rockers and slower tunes bordering on being sea shanties. Then, in 2012, they released their sophomore album My Lost City. It was a blast of color from the trio – all handclaps, vocal harmonizing, horns, crisp synth lines, and all-together-now singing that made the whole package feel inspired by a DIY drama club. It was a wonderful record that brought about increased sales and media attention. (And it makes them worth keeping an eye on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoreTokyo 1,008 Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 Moscow Club https://soundcloud.com/wearemoscowclub/peoples-potential-unlimited Earlier this year, young Tokyo outfit Moscow Club pulled off something few small bands in the Japanese capital’s indie-rock scene could pull off – they crowdfunded their debut album Station M.C.C.B. And they deserved every bit of that financial support – Moscow Club is one of the most versatile projects going in Japan today. They can swing between synth-driven pop music suitable for the dancefloor (“Peoples Potential Unlimited,†the Ray-Bradbury-homage “Fahrenheit 451â€) to guitar-anchored tunes built for summer afternoons (“Lizaveta,†“Bikinikillâ€). The people have spoken and they are right about these guys. Merpeoples https://soundcloud.com/merpeoples/picasso This four-piece primarily deals in herky-jerky, locked-in grooves guided forward by entrancing vocals. The actual music sounds like it is seconds from falling apart — guitars sound harsh, keyboards sound chintzy, yet Merpeoples pull it all together to form irresistible songs. They also make sure to just have fun sometimes. Their most well-known song is a of ’80s J-Rock number “Ikenai Rouge Magic.†Sekai No Owari https://soundcloud.com/mp3roll5/sekai-no-owari-starlight Every other band on this list has yet to climb to the proverbial summit of J-Rock, all of them heading in the right direction but not quite in the spotlight just yet. That is not the case with Sekai No Owari. This four piece has achieved a lot of success in only a few years…they’ve grabbed top chart positions, prestigious Japanese awards and played huge shows. MTV Iggy even interviewed them late last year. They might be showered in accolades, but they are still very young and very much part of the J-Rock’s future. Source! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaya 543 Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 really nice suggestion I really enjoyed all of the song great stuff! Will follow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Majesty Robosexual 446 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 I like Moscow Club. Want to like Mitsume but the singer has a bored voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocumentaLy 6,033 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Ughh, Mitsume... I've been pushing them quite a bit in the JRock thread and I'm glad to see them included here. Moscow Club has quite a bit of buzz around them for quite a while. Glad to see them on the list too. I feel as if Sekai No Owari has made it in comparison to these other bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuromitsutou 84 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 My current profile vid is Applicat Spectra's . Won't deny that I got interested in them cuz they are from the same label as my niichan WEAVER and my babes flumpool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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