Kida Taro

This is the LAST POST TODAY. I promise!
I noticed that the third Okeihan (who has the cute looks of the first one) is paired with Japanese composer Kida Taro (who is known for his outrageous toupee) in commercials.



He has composed hundreds of jingles in Japan (and especially the Kansai area) and is an altogether cool guy. He also used to be in one of my favorite Kansai based TV shows Saigo no Bansan (The Last Supper) with Nakajima Ramo and a few other Kansai celebrities (Including a very young Hirai from American Zarigani and not Ishino).



Anyway, here is a video of him conducting the music he created, and it is all very catchy stuff - all of his commercial music starts around 3:00. Especially the "Toretore Picchipicchi Kani Ryori" for the legendary Kansai crab restaurant Kani Doraku (3:55). He has a Aaron Copland sound that makes him instantly recognizable.

Shinichi Osawa

Of course, the guy is from Kyoto (where Kiseru and a lot of other alt. groups come from):

His kick ass track in Lumines



He can do some deadly remixes:



And his own stuff is killer as well:



Damn I love good electro...

Speaking of Morning Musume

They piddled around in the late 90's and were never really that famous until the song "Happy Summer Wedding," in 2000, when Tsunku figured that by splitting the girls into different groups, he could rake in even MORE cash.

I have seen this song sung by 50 year old black guy in a bar in Kyoto before, and believe me, IT'S MAGIC!!!!

SAMBOMASTER PART 2

Forgot the best video they ever did.

SAMBOMASTER

I shouldn't be up this late...but I was listening to Sambomaster. How can you not be positive after hearing their music???

"The days of a beautiful human being"


"Becoming a flower that blooms in the moonlight"


And God forgive the Japanese record company bastards that never released the band with at least 30X the amount of talent that Sambomaster had: Clingon.



僕らはきっと　変わらずにずっと

Supercar - the best Japanese music group.

This group of four from Aomori were my favorite when I was living in Japan, along with Rip Slyme, Sambomaster, and a few other small indie bands (Art School, Kiseru, and so on). You can't find a ban with abject originality like Supercar in Japan - most groups like Orange Range, Gackt, Dir en Ciel, and the like are just cut copies from either visual-kei molds or industry inspired groups that are one step away from being the rock version of Morning Musume.

I was in a bar in the Kansai area in 2000 when this song came on and I fell in love:



I can remember what I was drinking (Yebisu draft) and what I was eating (shelled peanuts) and what the bartenderess looked like, only because the music was so new to me that it made an indelible impression of that particular moment.