bands from Japan - 'indies'

[Sukotto]

after reading a couple threads on music from Japan, I decided to start a new one.


Bands from Japan - all rock style, more or less.
Most are on independent record labels, so naturally, you'll probably have to go to a non-chain store or order online.
I will start with the ones I heard first


*Shonen Knife - pop punk, mostly in English, but a few early or imports in Japanese

*Boredoms - umm noise, then artsie noise, now trippy techno? talk about evolution. (saw them at some huge rock festival - so)
*ufo or die - Boredoms 3 piece side project. my darn roommate actually found their cd at a local used cd store. but i got a 7 inch so i can't complain. if you like earlier Boredoms, you'll like this.
*the Hanatarashi - pre-boredoms by EYE the vocalist. very f-d up. very f-d up.
*Space Streakings - very hyper, very twitchy, noisy. in Japanese, if you can hear the lyrics

*Cibo Mato - actually hip-hop, in english
*Butter 08 - technically not a Japanese band, but girls from Cibo Matto do a rock band with Blues Explosion drummer. their one cd is awesome
*Guitar Wolf - garage rock?(whatever that is) lo-fi recordings (are better live)
*Teengenerate - punk rock (missed them when they were in town - but they rock)
*Jackie and the Cedrics - bought one 10 inch record from the 'indy' section. surf & 50's style rock and about half instramental

*Melt-Banana - very hyper, very twitchy speed rock (if you will) (live show is awesome, except the set was short due to the other bands taking too long)
*Spoozys - electro-surf half the time, and kinda quirky the other. cool live. this band actually played in my town, when we had a venue/people showing up at shows.
*ooioo - drummer from Boredoms makes trippy music. very good. missed their Chicago show. dag nabit.
*Eastern Youth - very good rock. IN JAPANESE, with lyrics printed in Japanese & English translation. you can feel the emotion these guys sing with. (isn't all reAl music emotional?) come play Green Bay some day!!

i think that about covers it.
anyone else know any interesting music?

[Winter]

Thanks for the heads up on some other bands than the usual that get attention 'round these parts.

I've heard quite a bit about Eastern Youth. This post has persuaded me to finally get off my sweet arse and look them up. Thanks.

[infinitijapan]

geeze i just posted a thing on lolita 18 a underground jpunk band and now i look down and see this post lol.
i myself like these underground bands
lolita no.18
nostop body
hnaging on the box

[Sukotto]

I could be wrong, but isn't Hanging on the box a Chinese band?

[Twisted]

Yes, they are and Nonstop Body is Korean. They're on the Japanese Benten label though. There's some pretty good stuff on that label. Mummy the Peepshow is one of my favorites.

As for other indies, you might also want to check out eX-Girl. They're very extravagant.

[Sukotto]

Thanks for the bands names.

Just downloaded some mp3's of these bands, well partial songs anyway. After seeing their name enough times online just now, the 18 stuck out and sure enough, they are in this rock magazine I bought in Chicago in '97 called Doll. Nihongo wa heta da kara, sono zassi o yomananakatta, kedo katakana wa yomeru.
(My Japanese isn't that good so I didn't read that magazine, but I can read katakana [Lolita is written using katakana] )

[meomi]

Is Baroque still 'indie' ? :roll:

[Sukotto]

What is Baroque?
I did a web search thinking it was a band name
(maybe it is?), and came up with a style of music.

[Twisted]

Here's Baroque, but according to this website they're not indies anymore. Actually, this is a Visual Kei band, which is totally different from the bands you mentioned above. Still, you could give it a try.

http://www.geocities.com/jrocknosekai/baroquekagerou.htm

[Gaki]

CrossCradle - J-Goth band (http://www.geocities.jp/crosscradle)

UK based J-Indie bands:
Mikabomb - Pop/Punk band (http://www.mikabomb.com)
Electric Eel Shock - Pop/Punk/Metal band (http://www.electriceelshock.net)
YumiYumi - Pop/Punk band (http://www.yumiyumi.com)

[michi]

*Melt-Banana - very hyper, very twitchy speed rock (if you will) (live show is awesome, except the set was short due to the other bands taking too long)


Melt Banana = great

[sepp]

Melt-banana IS great!! I'm going to see them in ApriL here in washington, ..can't wait! also, check out NYC based indy jrock band called Mono, instrumental madness...

for more indie rock in melt-banana style, check out Lori's Radio show on XMU (xm 43), *North America only 8(

there's tons of good stuff on it... it's called Virus,
the following pasted from the website:


Thursday - 9:00 PM ET

Encore Presentations:
Tuesday - 1:00 AM ET
Friday - 4:00 AM ET
Friday - 1:00 PM ET
Sunday - 3:00 AM ET

Virus
If you crave indie rock, you must hear Virus. Lori knows your hunger and - lucky for us - can round up an average of 10.3 good new CD's per second when unleashed in a local record store, including the likes of Melt-Banana, Black Eyes, Erase Errata & Lightning Bolt.

[TwistedMac]

NYC based indy jrock band called Mono, instrumental madness....

YES! great band.. NYC based? dudes are jap, neh? atleast they spoke jappernees when i saw em live...

[SupAhSusHi]

cibbo matto is hiphop? i didnt know that, i only have a few samples of them and they sound more like indie/retro rock group

[Sukotto]

cibbo matto is hiphop? i didnt know that, i only have a few samples of them and they sound more like indie/retro rock group


uh, maybe you are right. A couple songs sound kinda "rappish", if that is a word. I listened to "Viva! La Woman"




OH, did I foget....

ZENI GEVA

ah...., metal - heavy.
Maybe "metal" should be left out of the discription and just more "heavy"?
My only exposure is the album "Freedom Bondage" released in the States
on Alternative Tentacles Records.