At least what was played at the club I went to tonight. I wasn't a fan of the vocals, but the guitar/percussion was astounding. Any recs for non-vocal j-rock?

J-Rock without vocals is hard to find, and I've actually tried. So I gave up.

J-Rock is obviously too broad of a genre. I'll tell you to listen to 'Feedbacker' by Boris and your brain will explode.

J-rock without the Japanese vocals would just be rock, yes?

X Japan - Vanishing Vision and Blue Blood bring da pain without trading riffs away for vaginas, although they both have vocals.

and I agree that J-Rock is far too broad a term, it's like lumping Lynyrd Skynyrd and Slayer together as A-Rock (for AMERICA )

WE MUST HAVE THIS EMOTICON

And the pillows are an amazing band, and rank in my 3 favorite bands of all time. Just make sure you ignore any album that came out before 1997. Please Mr. Lostman is where the band suddenly decided to stop sucking. Also, they have several songs that are partially or wholly in English. If you ever get over your need to have all English vocals or none at all, check them out.

Agreed on both points, especially on checking out The Pillows, great stuff.

RIDE ON SHOOTING STAR!

Good, but I like Carnival, Blues Drive Monster, Midnight Down, and Hybrid Rainbow better.

Yeah, because Japan is totally as diverse as America.

bump of chicken~

When it comes to music, it pretty much is. Japan has a vibrant and respectable musical presence, especially in the rock spectrum. Some of the best of everything from grindcore to noise rock came from Japan.

...

Two bands that are frequently identified as J-Rock are X Japan and Dir en Grey. The difference between them is that X Japan plays heavy/power metal in the vein of Fates Warning (U.S.A.) while Dir en Grey plays nu-metal that sounds pretty much like a Japanese version of Mudvayne (also U.S.A.). They aren't similar enough to be accurately defined in the same genre, nor are they different enough from the counterparts I provided to be quarantined off as "J-Rock."

The term doesn't make any sense; the only reason it's employed is because popular Japanese rock/pop have scores of rabid foreign fans that absolutely must identify the media they enjoy as Japanese if it is, in fact, Japanese. There are terms that draw attention to the location of bands (New wave of British heavy metal, for instance) but J-Rock is the only one that I know of that says bands are inherently similar, actual sound be damned, because they are from the same area.

Are you one of those assholes who insists on telling me the difference between dozens of sub-genres?

yeah i guess so

here you go

don't hate da player, hate da game

Gazette
Bump of Chicken
Dir en Grey
Malice Mizer
Moi Dix Mois
Mucc
Psycho le Cemu
Miyavi
Hide
L'arc en Ciel
X Japan
Phantasmagoria
12012
Girugamesh
Alice Nine
As meias (very hard to find, j-indie with only an ep out)
Asian Kung-Fu Generation
COBRA
D'espairsRay
Des-ROW
Glay
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
Janne da Arc
Kagrra,
Stance Punks
Tetsu69
Ulfuls
Vidoll


Ok, get to it.


edit: "while Dir en Grey plays nu-metal that sounds pretty much like a Japanese version of Mudvayne"

actually only Diru's last 3 albums have been a more american nu-metal sound. Their previous 6 are completely different

yeah, you can't go wrong with Dir en grey's first 3 albums.

Beat Crusaders!!!

Spam's list is awesome but is missing UVERworld.

I'd also reccomend a band called Sadie. They've got a Dir en grey like sound, but they're a little more mellow.

Anyone else here like Shiina Ringo as well?

Something about her voice really irritates me, makes hard to enjoy the Tokyo Jihen.

Dir en grey are my boys. Their most recent album, Marrow of a Bone, has really grown on me.

I sware, all asians are girly men.

Most Asian men aren't girly. The average Japanese guy in my town looks like this:

I'm not girly

I saw some pretty fucking awesome clothes when I was in Japan, but I never saw any guys wearing clothes that were particularly "girly". Though there was one guy who was wearing a pair of your standard pre-ripped, pre-faded jeans, but with this beautiful gold and blue and purple embroidery down the leg, of a very detailed flower. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it.

She is amazing, her variety in music and original sound is great. Example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=AIg0bgzQs30

To personally recommend, B'z is good 80s rock. http://youtube.com/watch?v=MT_2HhmeCBY

Asian Kung-fu Generation and The Pillows are both amazing, my personal favorites. AKFG: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_9QvdGR8yPg Pillows: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8My5Qub9AVY

Stance Punks is a great heavier rock, almost punk rock. http://youtube.com/watch?v=4UAi1SEXtV8

Where were you, Tokyo?

City boys are pretty boys. It's out here in my neck of the woods with all the farms and tractors and huge ass bugs and shit where the men live.

And I like Glay a lot, and B'z, Glay, and Luna Sea seem to be well liked among Japanese people.

PUNKS IS HIPPIES

That song is great, probably her most popular as well.

not computing