SiM

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I couldn’t really find much information about SiM, but what I do know is that their name stands for Silence iz Mine (clever and edgy) and they’re a punk-rock/ska-band formed in Shonan, Kanagawa, Japan. Here’s a link to their Last.fm page. Also the above song is hands down my favorite song by them.

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This one is a bit more toned down than the last one, and I think you can definitely feel their ska influences here a bit more. Maybe. Also have you noticed how the bassist dances in each video? He’s pretty talented at the dancing. And by talented I mean entertaining. They dance in a fun manner. I enjoy it.

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Small children be warned: he says a naughty word in this song! Oh no! Anyway, this song is pretty good too. Not quite as awesome as the first video by them in my opinion, but still pretty solid nonetheless. Did you enjoy it?

New Breed

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Based in and spawned by the underground industrial-metal scene of Tokyo, Japan, New Breed’s music is a mixture of catchy metal riffs and techno tunes. Here’s a link to their Last.fm page if you’re interested. They’re definitely a bit auto-tune heavy, so I’m sorry if that’s not your bag.

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They sound a little bit like a slightly edgier Japanese Panic at the Disco here, but I like the song regardless (I don’t like Panic at the Disco). No screaming in this one, which is a bit of a letdown, but oh well, it’s still a pretty good song. Definitely a bit more upbeat and happy feeling than the other two.

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“We want to continue making music that will change the Japanese music scene someday. We don’t want to limit ourselves to Japan anymore,” says lead vocalist, Toyo, “and we hope that our music will someday find itself in the hands of music lovers around the globe.” This is probably the reason they, and many other bands, choose to sing in English instead of their native tongue.

Japanese Bands Singing in English

Singing in English is like ganguro – not always a good idea.

There are some bands that I don’t think should be singing in English. When their accents are so poor or their music in general is bad, I think they should stick to the language they know. There are a lot of Japanese bands that I really enjoy that sing in English. Boom Boom Satellites sings in English like all the time, and most often I can’t really understand what they’re singing but the music is so awesome that I don’t really care.

But probably the reason so many Japanese bands get into singing in English is for that global appeal. So many people speak and understand English so it makes sense for them to sing in English to appeal to everyone. However, this can also turn people off as people really interested in the Japanese language can tend to be disappointed when Japanese bands didn’t actually sing in Japanese. I know I’ve felt that way before.

But like I said, some bands can get away with it. I believe that both SiM and New Breed are such bands. If they were singing in Japanese I doubt I’d like them any better than I do now. Have you ever felt this way about Japanese bands singing in English? Like I said, it really only irks me when the singer’s voice/accent is atrociously annoying, or the music itself is junk.

ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

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And here’s another Perfume PV because, well, I love Perfume. Enjoy!

So tell me, what did you think of SiM and New Breed? Have you heard of them before? Which one did you like better? Does it bother you when Japanese bands sing in English or do you not really care? Let us know in the comments!

“Oldies” but Goodies

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Most of the bands I choose for these musical Saturday timewasters are relatively new bands and the tracks I post from them are within the last year or so. This is not the case with -OZ-. Surprised? So am I. The songs included here range from 2007-2011. The band itself formed way back in the year 2004. That’s like, ancient.

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Through my YouTube adventures over the years, I’ve learned that a lot of visual kei music (rock music together with the visual style you see here) sounds about the same, right down to the vocalist. Sometimes it can be very hard for me to differentiate between bands in the genre. What really sets -OZ- apart in my opinion is how the vocalist sounds when he screams. It sounds good. And their music has an overall heavier feel as well, I think.

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And this brings me to my love/just-like-okay relationship with -OZ-. When it’s just the music and the vocalist singing clean vocals, they sound like a solid visual kei band. Nothing special, but definitely listenable. Only when the vocalist Natsuki starts growling into the mic does it become really awesome. I kind of wish he would just do it all the time.

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So far they’ve released two studio albums (VERSUS and ROUGE) along with a slew of singles and a handful of music DVDs. Do I own any of them? No. I just listen to their stuff on YouTube when I remember that they’re a band and I’m in the mood for some heavier Japanese tunes. The video above is from 2007 and it’s definitely one of their darker tracks in my opinion. Crazy kids and their outfits.

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This right here is why I think they’re just okay about half the time. Natsuki doesn’t growl at all in this song. Honestly, it’s a little boring and pretty average. I realize that it’s a slower song and that guttural vocals might seem a bit out of place here, but it really lets you notice how his clean vocals are nearly interchangeable with a lot of other visual kei bands. At least I think so, anyway. I mean, it’s not bad, just nothing special.

And Now For Something Completely Different

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As I mentioned above, sorry for all the heavy rock, so here’s something else I found recently. I’m still not really sure if I like them, or kind of hate them. They all look like host-club dudes (or Final Fantasy characters) and I can’t tell if I like the unique sound of the vocalist or if I want to punch him straight in the vocal cords. You tell me.

So tell me, which band did you like better? -OZ- or D=OUT? Do you think -OZ-’s guttural vocals set them apart from the usual visual kei crowd or do they fail to escape mediocrity? Also have you heard of -OZ- before? I was under the impression that they weren’t all that popular. Let me know in the comments!

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Okay, well maybe they’re not that hardcore, but they’re at least a little hardcore (I promise). I’ve heard a handful of pretty decent bands from the genre lately and I’ve collected some of them here for you today. There’s not too much to say about each of them, so just scroll down, give them a listen, and (hopefully) enjoy.

Dazzle Vision

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Dazzle Vision is a four member hard rock band with hints of emo, pop, and heavy metal making for a pretty unique sound. They’ve been around since June of 2003 and have been on a handful of tours since then. They released their first album Origin of Dazzle in November of 2006, and their latest album, Shocking Loud Voice, was released on May 4, 2012.

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Okay, so Dazzle Vision isn’t an all-female group. You got me. But you have to admit that girl is pretty badass all on her own. Sometimes I think Dazzle Vision is pretty cool, but other times the music seems kind of sloppy or not really “in the groove.” I don’t really know how to explain it, but maybe you’ll know what I mean. It could also be due to the band going through so many lineup changes, perhaps the members just haven’t quite gotten used to each other yet. What do you think?

Exist†trace

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And now onto the all-female groups as promised. Exist†trace is an all-female visual kei band. They started out in 2003 and received lots of attention for their harsh and dark sound in their earlier releases, but have since moved on towards a more melodic tone which is kind of too bad for hardcore metal fans, but oh well.

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Like I said, their songs range from relatively melodic (top video) to super duper harsh (bottom video), which is even too harsh for me I think. They certainly are capable of a wide range of sounds though. Which do you like best?

Cyntia

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Cyntia is relatively new to the music scene and I couldn’t find too much regarding the band other than this website here (which is in Japanese). Their sound is pretty good though and they’re arguably the cutest group out of the bunch, don’t you think? I’m looking forward to seeing their new stuff as it’s released.

Aldious

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Aldious is another all female metal band. They started to form in 2008 and have been collecting members and releasing new songs ever since. That’s pretty much all you need to know about Aldious, really.

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I think Aldious is a pretty strong entry into the all female heavy rock band genre in Japan. They’ve got solid music and good vocals to go along with them. Not bad. Not bad at all…

>.>

And then of course there’s Baby Metal.

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So tell me, which one of these bands is your favorite? Know any other good Japanese heavy rock bands with all female members or at least a female front(wo)man? Share in the comments!

(Also, if you hate metal, I sincerely apologize. Better luck next week.)

Saturday Timewaster is a weekly post that features Japanese videos, music, images, or games that will certainly waste your time (some weeks more than others). We hope you enjoy!

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But for me, instrumental music is great. Once the lyrics get out of the way, you can really zone out and get into the music itself instead of focusing on a singer’s words or ideas.

That’s why I was really happy to find the Japanese band LITE.

LITE is a sparse outfit: two guitar players, a bass player, and a drummer. In an age where a lot of music is created by an army of producers and engineers, LITE is refreshingly simple.

It’s especially cool when I stumble upon instrumental musicians from another country or culture. My Japanese isn’t always good enough to follow along with Japanese lyrics, but I don’t have to worry about it with LITE.

LITE is really interesting to me because they fall under a musical genre called “math rock.” Math rock has weird, irregular time signatures, and really focuses on technique over lyrics or showmanship. With no lyrics whatsoever, you can definitely say that LITE sweats the technique.

Ultimately though, who really cares what genre LITE is? People can get really caught up in classifying music and miss out on the actual music.

LITE has been around since 2003, and has a pretty extensive catalog. With four LPs and a smattering of EPs and miscellaneous releases, there’s plenty of LITE to go around.

Their newest release, “Past, Present, Future” came out earlier this year, and can be found on iTunes.

Saturday Timewaster is a weekly post that features Japanese videos, music, images, or games that will certainly waste your time (some weeks more than others). We hope you enjoy!