Chara is a pretty prolific and popular alternative J-pop singer. She's been around since the early 1990s and still going. The most outstanding part of her act is definitely her voice. Sometimes I find it hard to listen to depending on my mood, but you can't deny her unique whispery style.
Also of note she was married to (one of my favourite actors) Tadanobu Asano for fourteen years. She has also done some film work herself and currently hosts a TV Show Ongaku Baka. Keep an eye for her 2011 release Dark Candy.
Technically this song is a remix by Nujabes of a Clammbon song - so it's a good thing. Nujabes is amazing (R.I.P.) and check out his stuff. But this post will focus on Clammbon, another amazing alternative pop band from Japan. I think this group has a lot of character in their sound. At times it's jazzy, at others just pop, rock, techno and altogether fusion. The singer is also very unique as well (though personally I can only listen so long myself). They've got a large discography with lots of different sounds throughout, so it's worth an exploration.
I love Quruli. I...could listen to them for ages. Only now am I getting off my lazy butt and...years after having a bunch of their music am I combing through to make sure I have it all. And I don't. Bad fan. What I do have of theirs, I loveee. Every track, I tells ya. So invest in Quruli. There's not much to say about them. They're quite successful, one of the top pop bands in Japan. The sound is nothing spectacular in and of itself - simple guitars, drums, singing, etc. But there is magic to their work, I think. Just the right emotions, solid songwriting, carefree singing and technical instrumentation: it all works so well.
I haven't bothered to watch many of their videos, but from what I see they're fun too! I'll post another good one below, but make sure you listen to much more than this!
Chitose comes from Amami Oshima, which is responsible for the style of singing you will notice about her, as it is particular to that region. She uses various falsetto effects to achieve this sound; I don't know what a proper term for it would be, but I simply call it "fluting." This song is Kataritsugu Kotou and was the first song I heard from her and fell in love. Her voice is just stunning - a true instrument.
Kousuke sings in virtually the same fashion as she. I joke that he is the male version of her, though he is not as popular (but deserves to be!). His voice is just as finely tuned, and definitely has a smooth texture that makes me melt. Here is his song "Hana."
The song and video I have uploaded here is "Over Load" which is a decent song, but definitely not her absolute best. I'm using it because most of her music seems to have been removed from Youtube (so...yeah). Her most famous track is probably "Yuki no Hana" which is a damn good ballad that I still enjoy from time to time. I love all the songs she did for her movie "Nana" a couple years ago.
Well, let's introduce her properly. Mika is a pretty well-known J-pop artist. I latched on to her right away when I was first learning about Japanese music. When you first dig into another culture's music, you're most likely to come across pop, pop and pop. So having alternative pop artists like Mika are great gateway artists for better stuff (not that pop is necessarily bad). Mika's earlier stuff definitely had more jazz, reggae and big band influence which I also liked, but she has evolved with lots of different pop sounds and harder rock sounds. She's a bit weird at times, especially in her aesthetic, and she is also so very beautiful. In Nana, she wasn't too bad an actress either. So if you're interested in J-pop and wanted someone a bit meatier, please check out more of her!
Arabic music might seem a bit intimidating to listen to. First of all if you don't speak Arabic you probably don't read it, and unlike the Cyrillic alphabet, it's not a script that can be picked up quite easily. But thankfully there is a lot of Romanized access to Arabic music, so long as you learn a few "numbers" that are incorporated.
Arabic pop is fun. It's usually emotional and dramatic, but still enough easy listening to get into comfortably. A good example is Sherine. She's not my favourite Arabic singer, but her pop songs are definitely a joy for me. I simply chose this song because it's got an English translation, but as with most pop her songs are mainly about love and loss.
I have the album "Habeat" and it is a very good pop record. Good for some dance and some ballads. Enjoy!
To introduce Katya Chilly, let's remark on what genres wiki has to represent her: Folk, New Age, Dance, Pop, Rock, and Jazz. What does that sound like? Well, I suppose Katya is another one of those genre-defying artists that I love. She comes from the Ukraine and sings in Ukrainian as well (which is a little different as many Ukraine artists uproot to Russia and sing in Russian). The most striking thing about Katya's music is her voice. She often sings in a very high, operatic style which greatly contrasts the sometimes folk, pop, rock, whatever music beneath. She also sings other songs in a more traditional style (very reminiscent of Bulgarian folk singers like Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares). From what I know, she is pretty well known in the Ukraine, mainly beginning from her collaboration with a very popular Uk. band (whose name escapes me). She apparently has released quite a few albums, none of which I own (maybe I ought to go try looking again, as her popularity seems to have grown since I last researched her) but I do have one of her singles Pivni ("Roosters"), which I absolutely love and really demonstrates her unique style. I think something also ought to be said of her songwriting style which is also very commendable.
Another one of her songs that I really love is Молодая or "Young."
I have the lyrics and a proper translation:
Ой петрівняя зозуленько, ой! (Oy petrivnyaya zozulenko, oy!)
Oh cuckoo bird, oh (she refers to the bird which is singing on a particular day which is a religious holiday if I am not mistaken)
Та не літай рано по діброві, ой! (Ta ne litay rano po dibrovi, oy!)
Do not flit in the grove in the morning
Такая... молодая... (Takaya... Molodaya)
So.... young
Та не куй рано по діброві, ой! (Ta ne kuy rano po dibrovi, oy!)
And do not coo in the grove in the morning, oh!
Не збуди мене, мене молодої, ой! (Ne zbudi mene, mene molodoyi, oy!)
Do not wake my young self up, oh!
Бо єсть у мене кращі тебе, ой! (Bo est' u mene kraschi tebe, oy!)
Because I have better than you, oh!
Що збудять мене раніш тебе, ой! (Scho zbudyat' mene ranish tebe, oy!)
Who will wake me earlier than you, oh!
Молодая! молода-я! молодая!
Young! I am young !! Young!
Here also is a remix of her song Krashen Vecher. Her singing live of the original is also worth checking out on Youtube.
How 'bout something a little more light-hearted? I loved this song and video as soon as I heard it. It's fun to dance to and just plain hilarious. J.Y.P. (Park Jin-Young) is a very well-known producer and singer in South Korea. His style is hip-hop, pop mix. His company JYP Entertainment is very successful, producing such acts as Wondergirls, 2AM and 2PM and Miss A.
I love Korea, I want to and plan to live there eventually. I love the language, the food, the people, the culture in general. But what to say about its music? It's a smaller industry, so there is not nearly enough variety as there is in Japan which is only across the water. In fact, any successful Korean group transplants to Japan eventually, simply by necessity to actually profit. So the Korean music industry (thought experiencing success overall in Asia grace a the Hallyu wave) is limited. Want rock music? You'll have to dig. Even "alternative" or "indie" Korean bands are copies of copies. What really reigns on the charts is pop music. So you're probably going to have luck finding good hip-hop and rappers (there are many great Korean rap and hip-hop artists) or else resign to enjoy sugary, tooth-rotting K-pop.
As for this song, it's on the good side of K-pop. It incorporates lots of hip-hop elements, but is definitely presented as tongue-in-cheek. A kind of campy, 90s revival tune with tons of attitude. The song is talking about 이태원 (Itaewon) a district of Seoul known as the foreigner's haven. Hence all the foreigners in the video.
And yes, I DO know Namsan Tower! I loved it there, in fact!
