New Japanese music blog - ZB's A-Z of J-Music

[Mr. Tadakichi]

http://www.xeromusic.com/azimages/zbsatozofjmusicbutton.jpg (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com)

Hello! I've been around for a while, but since I never post, here's a very brief reintroduction:

My name is Zac Bentz. I'm a writer and editor over at Japanator.com (http://www.japanator.com). I mostly stick to the music side of things and various weird cultural stuff from Japan.

I've now started my own Japanese music blog called ZB's A-Z of J-Music (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/). Basically, it's a large collection of brief band profiles and music reviews. I cover every genre imaginable, but I focus mainly on indie bands and some of the more unknown groups...because the world does not need another L'Arc fan site. (No disrespect to the fans though, because I am one myself!) The whole purpose of the blog is to help expose the English speaking world to the vast array of excellent Japanese bands. This is NOT just a dry Wiki copy/paste deal. It's my own personal views on the world of J-music.

So far I've covered 160 bands, most recently Abingdon Boys School (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Abingdon%20Boys%20School) (I'm STILL waiting for the album to arrive!) 9mm Parabellum Bullet (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/9mm%20Parabellum%20Bullet) (my new favorite band,) Moi dix Mois (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Moi%20dix%20Mois) (see, I DO cover popular bands!) and The Brown (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Brown%20The), an excellent new indie trio. Oh, and I wrote a review of the new Buck-Tick album (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Buck-Tick) that sparked a lot of debate with some B-T fans. ;)

I'd love it if you could take a second to check it out. I'm alway open to, and looking for, new music and ideas. By all means let me know what you think is missing from the list, either in the comments here or on the blog.

Thanks!

*back to ultra-lurk mode*

[Flame-X]

can i suggest bands/artists that arent listed in your site? ^^;

[firestingerx]

Hi there....nice blog you have there...wonder how much time u have put into it.

Anyway, will you be accepting links to anime sites/blogs? :D

[Mr. Tadakichi]

can i suggest bands/artists that arent listed in your site? ^^;

Yes, of course!

One disclaimer, just because it's not on the site doesn't mean I don't like the band or think that they don't deserve to be listed. I'm just one guy, so I'm doing the best I can!

So yes, please let me know of any band or artist you think should be listed and I'll get to work!

[Mr. Tadakichi]

Hi there....nice blog you have there...wonder how much time u have put into it.

Anyway, will you be accepting links to anime sites/blogs? :D

Well, I started writing the entries for Japanator (http://www.japanator.com) quite a while ago. I then just transfered those entries to the new blog (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com) and started adding to that. I started them on Japanator six months ago. This new blog has only been up for about a month.

As for links, yes, I'd be happy to trade links to your site or blog if it has any Japanese music related content. Just let me know!

[Flame-X]

For Jrock:
girugamesh
Dir en grey
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
ACID
Nightmare
Lucifer
D'espairsRay
D
alice nine
12012
kagrra

For Jpop:
Suara
Schwarz Stein
Ryohei Yamamoto

i still have a crapload to list but i'll add more next time. XD

[Mr. Tadakichi]

Thanks! I'm a little familiar with most of those (I even have a few albums), and yeah, they definitely deserve some love. And thanks for the new names too.

Oh, and Schwarz Stein is up there (http://zbsatozofjmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Schwarz%20Stein). ;)

[Flame-X]

awesome. here's some others:

I've Girls
move
UVERworld
CHEMISTRY
Psycho le Cému
FictionJunction YUUKA
Jukai
Ayumi Hamasaki
Nami Tamaki
Mikuni Shimokawa
m-flo

[dmckafka]

As a fellow J-music blogger (granted, my subject is far narrower than yours) I wish you luck in your endeavour, however if you allow me this nit-pick regarding your entry for Kahimi Karie I'd like to note that any mention of Karie is incomplete without mentioning her collaborations with Scottish songwriter Momus, who has written what would seem to be at least half of the songs Karie's sung up to this point and essentially created her trademark Shibuya-kei sound on Karie's "I am a kitten (Kahimi Karie sings Momus in Paris)" EP.

Also, as the poster above me stated the girls of the I've Sound musical collective would definitely be nice to see, however I would like to request personally that, if you go into any aspect of I've, that you focus your attention first on the talented composer/singer C.G mix - too often I find people are fixated exclusively on the girls and never give much attention to the men behind these songs, and with C.G mix having a solo album of his own I'd say he makes an ideal under-exposed artist to focus on.

Finally (sorry for being a bit on the bitchy side), my blog is Aibu -I've Sound Blog- (http://aibublog.wordpress.com/), and if you linked me I'd be more than happy to return the favour.

[Jyukai.]

awesome. here's some others:

I've Girls
move
UVERworld
CHEMISTRY
Psycho le Cému
FictionJunction YUUKA
Jukai
Ayumi Hamasaki
Nami Tamaki
Mikuni Shimokawa
m-flo





Haha holy shit yes this list is great.

[Mr. Tadakichi]

Finally (sorry for being a bit on the bitchy side), my blog is Aibu -I've Sound Blog- (http://aibublog.wordpress.com/), and if you linked me I'd be more than happy to return the favour.

Great! I've added you to the blog-roll.

Yeah, I think I'll leave the I've Sound info to you. You seem to have it under control. :)

And thanks for the support and Kahimi info. I often don't get too in-depth with my profiles, just because I'm trying to cover a lot of music. It's more of a starting point than a detailed Wiki. An easy way to find other artist you may like. As time goes on I'll be able to update entries and pick up any pieces I may have missed.

Thanks again!