Music
I’m a very passive fan of music, meaning I don’t follow the “popular” music all that easily. I’m a sucker for deep loud and energetic riffs, calm melodic strings, and lots and lots of bass. Gotta love bass. No doubt about it, I also love my hip hop influence, but I’ve strayed away from the mainstream rap/hip hop bandwagon. Most of what I choose to listen to comes from anime (which indirectly means japanese bands). Many new bands in japan get their songs released as opening/ending songs in anime, and it really helps. Most of the time lots of effort goes into finding a cover song that fits a particular show, so if I like the show and I like the music, I can usually tie the two together and enjoy it more. It’s also great when you can listen to a song and relate the melody to a drama or action scene and relive the moments, I really dig that. Games will sometimes have a great soundtrack, but I’ve yet to find anything truly awe inspiring besides Utada Hikaru’s double home runs with Kingdom Hearts.
Every now and then when I feel the need to express my creativity I’ll sit back and listen to some of this music. I find it much more exciting to put down ideas at at the rate of certain rhythms. It’s almost as if the wave of ideas flows with the music I like to listen to and helps put ideas down on paper much easier.
To listen to a few of my favorite songs click here.
Linkin Park is possibly my favorite band of all time. Ever since their album Hybrid Theory hit I was hooked. I was way too young and distracted to follow them in their path to stardom, but I can honestly say Linkin Park is a key element of my youth. “In the End” was such a powerful song that I just couldn’t enough of it back in the day. Nobody else seems to sound just right like Linkin Park.
Notable favorites:
Hybrid Theory:
Papercut
In the End
Crawling
Pushing Me Away
Reanimation:
By_Myslf
KRWLNG
WTH>You
Pts. Of. Athrty
P5hng Me A*wy
Meteora:
Somewhere I Belong
Collision Course:
Numb - Encore
Utada Hikaru or “Hikki” is one of the most popular japanese J-Pop artists of all time. If you ever have any interest in japanese music you will hear about her and Ayumi Hamasaki, her biggest rival. One of the best things about Hikki’s style is that she doesn’t copy american music, her good stuff can stand on it’s own. Her stuff is definitely original and poetic, but you have to look for it. I first got a taste of Hikki’s music with Squaresoft’s (now Square Enix) Kingdom Hearts. The cover song “Simple and Clean” was such a dramatic song, even if the music video was retarded (she was washing dishes and singing her song for 5 minutes). They scored and produced and remixed in so many ways but I don’t think they could break the song even if they tried. Kingdom Hearts 2 had Utada to redo the magic with “Passion,” a very soothing song that fits the game well as well. I’ll admit that Utada’s library is not impeccable and unfortunately a lot of her older stuff flat out sucks (never release an English CD again, please!). Putting that aside though, she constantly makes isolated gems that just make her hard to resist.
Notable Favorites:
Deep River:
Traveling
SAKURA Drops
Hikari / Simple and Clean
ULTRA BLUE:
Keep Tryin
BLUE
COLORS
Be My Last
Passion / Sanctuary
WINGS
I got into Orange Range after I started watching Bleach. The first Bleach opening was their single “*~Asterisk~” which heavily influenced the style and presentation of the anime in my opinion. Beyond Asterisk I found a lot more to like and I continue to follow Orange Range’s music. They they sound great, and although they may not be the most original band in japan, they’re better than a lot of J-rock/J-pop bands out there. They’re better at cheerful songs with lots of high strings and softer melodies. When they try to rock it usually comes out ok, but I wouldn’t listen to Orange Range if I’m looking for more powerful songs.
Notable Favorites:
1st Contact:
Mission in Poppiple
Ambienta
kirikirimai
musiQ:
Chest
Papa
yumekaze
Natural:
*~Asterisk~
RE-CYCLE
WINTER WINNER
UVERworld is awesome. I also got introduced to them through anime (BLEACH!! w00t!) and will probably continue to listen to their stuff as long as they keep working on it. UVERworld’s style is very dark and uses heavy bass and lots and lots of inter combing strings. Sometimes I get confused because their lead singer sounds a lot like Orange’s lead. The sound, however, is way different if you pay attention. They will use engrish like Orange Range every now and then, but they stick to pure japanese for the most part. They have the most powerful, energetic, dark sound of all japanese bands I’ve heard.
Notable Favorites:
Timeless:
CHANCE!
D-tecnoLife
Rush
Burst
Frou Frou
Ghost in the Shell featured Frou Frou’s “Must be Dreaming,” a very fitting song for what Ghost in the Shell is all about. I finally got around to listening to Frou Frou’s other stuff and must say I’m impressed. It’s too bad the duo isn’t permanent, but if Frou Frou ever releases another album I’ll check it out. Imogen Heap’s work as a solo artist lacks a lot of energy. Frou Frou definately carried a punch in a few songs in a style that I really like.
Notable Favorites:
Details:
Must Be Dreaming
Only Got One
Let Go
Hirano Aya became known to be thanks to the great anime The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi came out. Her songs in the anime are just really awesome, and you can really feel the emotion coming through when they’re in the show. Hirano is also the voice-actor for the main character, Haruhi, so it’s really authentic. She’s done singles and other voice-acting work and is very famous for it. Her J-pop style is ok, but her J-rock is just too awesome. I’d wager if she can find a deal and make a J-rock band she can be just as great or better than Tomiko Van in Do As Infnity. Her voice is just as powerful its amazing.
Notable Favorites
Suzumiya Haruhi Theme Songs:
God knows…
Lost my music
Hearts Grow is a new band in japan that I feel has lots of promise. Their single “Yura Yura” is very fitting for Naruto and I expect great things from their upcoming album.
Notable Favorites
Yurayura:
Yurayura
Grrr.. frou Fr0u soo hott… ( weettt… )
i love hikaru utada
i have hikaru utada
at asia star
Hikaru Utada