--

feral philosopher bug

I don't seem to be able to stop making things and putting them on the internet

--

fiction

The Dragon Racer (webnovel)

Heaven Can Wait (novel)

Smashwords

Itch

Fanfic (Ao3)

--

music
Bandcamp

Soundcloud

--

podcast

(about Japanese RPGs)

Youtube

Libsyn & RSS

--

streams

Twitch

Youtube (archives)

--

#all my made-up mech pilots

(h/t: @Making-up-Mech-Pilots / @Scampir)

#Denis Urban, fictional sports pundit


or Bandori: It's Mygo!!!!! or Bocchi the Rock

and you're curious about what the Japanese guitar music scene is like, here are some bands I like.

(disclaimer: what happened is that a few years ago I more or less inadvertantly taught youtube to recommend me Japanese guitar bands and just sort of started collecting them, I make no claim that this list is systematically representative or necessarily even materially responsible, these are just bands I listen to a lot that are from Japan)

(second disclaimer: my Japanese is very limited and all translations are my own best efforts, to be taken with a pinch of salt >.>'')

List, divided into genre sections, after the cut:


Rock

Bray Me
Maybe my favourite of all these bands, just a super passionate, committed vibe to their songs, powerful vocals, big crunchy guitar sounds, look like they'd be great to see live especially in a tiny club somewhere. Favourite Song: an agonising decision for me but I think ballad 明日になれば ('Ashita ni Nareba', If Tomorrow Comes) clinches it. For something a bit more like their core sound, though, The Way To That Town is also up there. Bonus shoutout to アンダー・ザ・ドッグ, the title of which I'm pretty sure is read 'Under the Dog'.

Hakubi
Another 'big voice, big guitars' kinda band, with a bit more orchestration around the sound. They've had a few licenses for anime/games, but idk if any of them have been a big deal in the West. Favourite song: Eye

GIRLFRIEND
Sadly, this band seems to have gone inactive since the start of the pandemic, but they were one of the first bands youtube surfaced to me and I was floored by the intensity and energy, and the intricacy of the music for a band where all four members have lead-quality vocal ability too. Favourite song: ミライリスト ('Mirai (future) List' (I think?))

Feelgood/vibes

Chili Beans
Pretty well-known now after doing a recent ED for One Piece, I had to include them anyway bc I'm not sure I've ever seen a band look like they're having more fun than Chili Beans. A mix of pop sounds, rock instrumentation and some hip-hop influences that results in a wide but pleasantly cohesive range. Favourite song: you n me

Homecomings
Mellow, emotional sounds with a bit of ambient, post-rocky guitar jangling over the top. Very easy to listen to for hours on end and with a deep backlog to draw on. Favourite Song: Perfect Sounds Forever

黒子首 (I -think- this is read 'Hock Rock', but I'm not sure)
Gently upbeat and not over-ornamented, occasionally flirting with some smooth-jazzy stylings. Do a lot with minimal instrumentation. Favourite song: やさしい怪物 ('Yasashii Kaibutsu', rough tr 'Gentle Monster')

Post-rock/ambient

Hitsujibungaku (p sure their name means 'Sheep Literature', which rules)
I just learned that this band is doing the ED for Oshi no Ko season 2 (the MV is literally premiering as I write this), and that's not their first licensed song either, so they may already be on your radar, but I come back to them time and again so I'm including them anyway. Haunting harmonies, especially in the vocals, jangly chords with a bit of edge to them, and in their more recent releases also a bit of bite. Also they just did a cover of Shaun the Sheep (Life's a Treat) from the TV show, one of the bigger musical curveballs I've been thrown this year. Favourite song: probably OOPARTS

揺らぎ ('Yuragi', 'Quake')
Fully into the ambient zone, one of the more experimental bands on this list. Super atmospheric; I wrote a lot of the back half of The Dragon Racer while listening to them. Favourite song: hard to pick because their albums each fit together very well as complete sequences of sounds ('Still Dreaming, Still Deafening' and 'For You, Adroit it but Soft' are both amazing album titles), but I think I Want You Buy My Side stands alone quite well.

Seventeen Years Old and Berlin Wall
Definitely the most post-rock-ass-named band of this group, I've been listening to their live album, Act, on bandcamp for the low low price of 700 yen on repeat for like the last six months. That album covers basically their whole repertoire and I don't know that I can pick a single song from it to highlight. This is the band that finally got it through my thick skull that sometimes it's ok to do the same thing on guitar over and over for two minutes instead of neurotically overcomplicating everything.

Metal

I don't listen to so much metal (nothing against it, I just find it harder to concentrate with metal as background music), but I had to include a few bands at least.

East of Eden
Absolutely sumptuous, built as much around a violin as a lead guitar. Not a lot of music out yet but I've loved every bit of it. Also, I'm trying to keep on the down-low how thirsty I am for, like, every musician, but I am SO GAY for this band, y'all, absolutely excellent looks all round. Favourite song: Evolve

HANABIE
I don't quite know how to characterise HANABIE's deal. It's very self-aware, ironic, there's a bit of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to the playfulness with the iconography of kawaii culture here, but it definitely goes beyond a shallow 'haha what if a metal band was girly' bit. The overall effect is great, with some real aggression to it. Favourite song: お先に失礼します ('Osaki ni shitsureishimasu', 'Pardon Me, I Have To Go Now').

Personal Mentions

Last but not least, a couple of bands that were a big part of my road to these other bands but that might be more familiar due to having been around longer (and, to put it bluntly, based on the apparent average age of my chosties, more timed-up with when we all went through our big anime phases).

Chatmonchy
Now sadly defunct to the extent that this youtube channel is a bit of a spectre, Chatmonchy were my gateway band to all of this. A mix of simple pop-y guitars with high vocals that manage to sound simultaneously delicate and powerful, with occasional endearing touches of humour too. Favourite song: 恋愛スピリッツ ('Renai [love] Spirits').

SCANDAL
Topping the list for 'you've probably heard of them already', SCANDAL have been big for a while, including contributing one of the better known entries in the OST for the original Bleach anime. I'm including them, though, bc with the success of bocchi, mygo and girls band cry, someone should really just license the rights to make an anime of SCANDAL's career.

The short version is this: they were attending a dance school, basically learning to be idols, when their teachers more or less handed them guitars and said 'you're a rock band now' (this same school produced GIRLFRIEND, listed above, about a decade later). That origin shows pretty clearly in some of their older MVs, some of which are a bit unpleasant to watch in terms of sexualising of Japanese schoolgirl uniforms, but the band managed to hold a clear musical identity while growing beyond their exploitative origins and went on to massive success; five years ago they finished out their major label deal and launched their own label to continue releasing under. They're now three albums into that arrangement and still kicking. Favourite song: Masterpiece, but honourable mention to the MV for Koi suru Universe for... well, I did say I'm gay >.>''

Again, this is not an authoritative list or survey, this is just a bunch of bands that I liked that might be of interest if you've watched some anime shows I also liked.

(also plz be nice to me, years of hanging around a student music scene that actively scorned anything perceived as 'pop' or insufficiently experimental has left me with a bunch of anxiety around saying I like any band >.>'')


You must log in to comment.