Not so obscure J-Metal

For those of you who might not be aware, it is sometimes a point of mine to listen to foreign music. Sadly, I'm not as indulgent in this pursuit as I would like to be - most of my 'foreign' comes from Japan. I've dabbled in French, German, Korean... but only dabbled. I do firmly believe in a diverse musical palette, however. I think other countries of course have a lot to offer... they have thriving music scenes of their own, that we're not a part of. Even if you can't understand the language, the music will be just as beautiful, especially if it's electronic. Metal's kind of big for this though, so I suppose I listen to some foreign bands. Not nearly enough. I remember I had a liking for French pop one time when I heard it... anyway, it always irks me when someone says they have a diverse musical palette, and have never heard anything outside of their country of origin. Or when people claim they listen to German music, and then cite Rammstein as a key band. Ugh. Of course, everyone listens to J-music of some degree... anyway, enough on that.

Way back in the day when I first started to get into music, I happened upon a lot of J-Rock. That's exactly what it sounds like... Japanese rock music. It can very in intensities... I've mentioned one of my favorite bands, Glay, before... so today, now that I've gotten some more of artists I vaguely remember, I thought I'd take that Japanese in a different direction...

Today's song of the day is Kodoku Ni Shisu Yueri Kodaku by Japanese rock/metal band Dir en grey. Yes, their name is not supposed to be capitalized in the latter half. Japanese people do weird things with capitalization... This is off their 2005 album Withering Death (apparently they have cliche' metal names in other countries too), and let me say... if I was listening to these guys at that time, this would have been a top contender for album of 2005. Well, one of, anyway. It's one of those groupings of tracks that contains nothing bad - you could just sit and listen to the whole album, and have a condensed appreciation for the entire thing. Therefore, it was difficult to pick a particular track - the above nomination may have been partially at random. Megaupload link is here.

Dir en grey has gone in a lot of different directions since they first came about - and while they maintained a wholly 'dark metal' atittude, it's only in recent years that they've seemingly discovered what that means. While not as industrial tinged as, say, D'espairsRay, they've got a very heavy sound. Growling vocals (which are delightful on this album) are interspersed with high-pitched male singing, creating a very unique sound - at least in the scope that North American listeners will recognize it. This track in particular is just.. well, there's nothing I can say about it that I can't say about the album as a whole. The pounding background and death vocals are just intoxicating - and the mellow, almost choral segments in between are just as delightful. There's a grungy, pinched riff the song is based off, and it's also wonderful. Really, this song might be the best on the album. I highly reccomend this band's later albums - earlier stuff was still good, but not in as much the same style. If you like this band, also, check out girugamesh... yes, again the capitalization thing. A friend turned me on to them, and they're a pretty good and heavy Japanese indie-metal band. Definitely worth a listen.

Over the next week or so, expect efforts on my own part to expose myself to a more musically diverse grouping of artists. Recent downloads indicate a trend in that direction, anyway. I'll give no overt previews, but for anyone interested... Chester Thompson. That's all I have to say.

I swear I'll get to more than this...

Track of the day: Beloved by Glay. Now, don't be concerned if you've never heard of this group before - I wouldn't blame you. They're a Japanese rock band that I got into way back in my hey-day of loving Japanese culture - in case I haven't mentioned, at least 15% of my available music library (probably) is Japanese stuff. I was convinced that J-Pop was the thing for me - sadly, eventually my loathing of everything pop carried over, and I stopped listening to it. J-Rock, on the other hand...

Anyway, about the track. I've loved this track ever since I first heard it, and if there's something I learned, it's that no new song can compete with an old one that's been rediscovered. This is one of the only songs I've ever found to touch me emotionally - it has one of the most beautiful guitar breaks I've ever heard. Understanding the lyrics isn't necessary - though, for J-Rock that's mostly in English, check out X-Japan. Since I stopped listening to them, Glay seems to have developed into more of a 'real' rock presence than the usual pop-rock thing that the Japanese seem to be addicted to. Though, they are also huge fans of Swedish and Finnish death metal over there, so I don't know... in any case, this track has always spoken to me. Everything about it... I even love the acoustic intro, which is saying a lot for someone who's never been a fan of the acoustic guitar. There's a specific point in the guitar interlude that I'm in love with - everytime I hear it I want to get a little weepy. There's nothing good I can't say about this track, but for the fact that it's not exactly head-banging material. A rare exception for me. Megaupload link is here.

All that being said, we may have a new contender for Album of the Week. I don't know how I'm going to make that decision, but I'm sure I'll come to something. The problem with 'anything' of the week is that I'm trying very hard to make sure I'm not exposing people to things they know I'll like - nothing I have an artist for in the 'essential artists' list, anyway. Also, I can't shove overly popular things in people's faces - I considered a Misfits track for a track of the day, and decided that if other people talk about a band on a regular basis, it has to get discarded. There are one or two exceptions, just because they're such good songs, but still, it's a tricky business. I'd also like things I haven't heard a thousand times before... sure, I could post a list of my favorite songs from way back when that I've had forever, but that would be pointless - because as much as this blog is about showing people new things, it's about discovering new things myself. Right now my bandwidth for the month is pretty much dried up, but I have a lot of new music to go off of. Most of that is Neo-Classical metal though, and I know how much people hate that unless they're old-school rockers trying to look avant-garde, or people who love virtuosos. Indie kids and Post-Grunge kids will never give it a chance, so I might be in a bind here.

Plus, it feels like all that's already been done before. I don't want to give reccomendations about Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai or Joe Satriani, because maybe I feel they're not the right 'feel'? I have no idea, honestly. I'm trying to promote the lesser known stuff in the world, and all three of those guys have gotten a lot of publicity in their fields - so therefore, they're pretty much off-limits. That's a shame, because I just downloaded a 1.73 GB discography for Yngwie... most of it sounds all the same to me. Mistake? Maybe. I did the same thing with Vai. Luckily DragonForce's discography wasn't that large.

I will continue to sort through new things as I acquire them - I'm willing to bet I haven't listened to over half my music collection. Hopefully I won't have to resort to posting the same old stuff - and besides, just because it's a classic to me, doesn't mean other people have heard of it. I have a back-log just in case I run out of ideas, though I've got some cool new contenders for the rest of the week. Today's choice was a close call.

I'm considering posting upload links for all the songs of the day - I would if anyone let me know they were going to download them. If I get any indication of real interest or traffic, I'll start posting links - because so far, from outside reflection, my taste in music has not gone awry.

That's all for now.