Indie Corner Week 23: Ai Namida

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Ai Namida is a singer-songwriter who launched her career in 2014 while she was in middle school, getting noticed from her cover songs. While in high school she started performing lives and even published her first song, “虚と花” (“Uso to Hana”), which became Tower Records' number one indie song six weeks in a row.

Her latest song “夢月写” (“Mudezuki Utsushi”) shows off while having a very simplistic singing style and composition. It complements her melodic voice very nicely, just whisking the listener away to a calming state of mind.

Currently she has one mini-album titled,“虚と花” (“Uso to Hana”), which was released late last year. With her latest single titled, “夢月写” (“Mudezuki Utsushi”), that released in September of this year.

Check out her official website here, and her official Twitter here, and check out her song “Mudezuki Utsushi” below!

Indie Corner Week 22: showmore

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showmore is a two-man pop unit formed in 2015 that mixes the genre of neo-jazz and hip hop. It flips both genres on their heads with their catchy beat and mature themes behind their lyrics. Vocalist Minami sings with all of her emotions no matter what beat Atsushi composes for her, be it a slow and somber beat in “Dryice” or a more upbeat melody in “Circus”. Currently showmore has released only one physical single titled “恋をした (Koi wo Shita)/ circus (2018)", along with several digital singles throughout 2017 and 2018--you can find these on both iTunes and Spotify. They also released their first album, overnight, back in May.

showmore stars Minami Nezu (Vocals)

Atsushi Inoue (Keyboards)

Buy their album overnight here, and check out the music video for their song “circus” below!

 

Indie Corner Top 20 Ranking Part Two!

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We’ve introduced many types of artists for our Indie Corner and this week we wanted to rank the first twenty artists we’ve covered. This list is purely based on our opinions.

This is part two of two, if you want to see what we ranked from twenty to eleven check it out here!

10. Emerald 

This is the band that gave us the idea to start this corner. We love their style and beat and still haven’t found anyone else that even comes close to their uniqueness. It will be interesting to see what comes next for the group, though they haven’t released anything new since we published an article on them back in April. If they had released something in the meantime they would most likely be higher on the list.

Check out their song “Holiday”

9. sone+Jittery Jackel

We really love sone's vocals; her voice is truly something amazing. Jackel is also a very talented musician with a wide range of sounds he is able to bring together and form something positively compelling. Luna commented, “sone's voice is sweet and smooth and in combination with Jittery Jackal they make a perfect team. There was another band with a singer and a DJ  (MAY’S) that were major and done relatively well, so I can see this group succeeding easily with their style and combo.”


Check out their song “Diorama Tokyo”

8. Aoharumaki

This group is awesome, full of energy which we just love. They have also got a really good style of rock/pop that is fun and catchy. Their lead singer is great and the drums are a lot of fun, too. We are hoping they get picked up soon. Due to their style of music and how young they are, we can see them being marketed very easily. We are actually surprised they have not been signed to a major label already, though they fit the look and sound a lot of record companies are looking for.

Check out their latest song “Kimi no Shampoo”

7.Hiromi

We (especially Luna) love her vocal style so much with her gorgeous voice and wide vocal rang--what more could you want? She has the voice, the looks, and the experience. However, due to the R&B style being more difficult to market in Japan, it is easy to see why she has had such difficulty going major.

Check out her song “Tequila Sunrise”

6.Boundary

We love the way they are able to bring out various emotions. Through the power of the music alone they are able to draw out all these feelings, and that is the mark of true talent. We are super eager to hear more of this group. Gray noted, “These girls are amazing and if I was the head of a major record label I would be at their door today trying to get them to sign on.”

Check out their latest song “Timer”

5. Stella

Working with that 90s nostalgia, we love the great blend of rock and techno that the band creates.We are looking forward to everything this band will have in the future after having witnessed the new EP they just released. We also think that stella is very marketable as they have a distinct late-90s sound that many people adore.

Check out the trailer for their latest mini-album Night City Lights

4. BabySitter

This band’s style has everything going for them: looks, sound, and an appeal that just makes them more loveable. We chose to rank them so high because of the "idol" image they portray. With the release of their latest mini-album we cannot wait to hear more from them. There are plenty of bands with a similar style to theirs so we could totally see them landing a record label very soon. Typically, major record labels do not like to take risks, but with this group we believe they could find an audience that would really embrace them.

Check out Babysitter’s latest song “Nagareboshi Kitto”

3. Dizzy SunFist

We love this band and their sound and they have been our favorite for awhile. We love the fact that they follow in simllar punk bands’ veins by singing in full English, and we also love that similar style that lead singer Moai has to Aya Kamiki.

Check out their song “Life Is A Suspense”

2. Necry Talkie

This is such a light and fun group. We absolutely love the lead vocalist’s style and all the energy that she and the rest of the band give. We anticipate the release of their mini-album for sure. Necry Talkie is a diamond in the rough--perhaps if you can tolerate Mossa’s particularly youthful-sounding voice (which some may not be fond of),If you do not mind this, you will probably just end up falling in love with this band more and more. When they go major we can see them becoming extremely successful.

Check out their latest song “Meccha Kawaii Uta”

1. ecke 

We love this band. This was the band that convinced us we can do this week after week, always looking forward to Indie Corner. Their sound is something that is so simple yet surprisingly unique at the same time that we are compelled to listen to them everyday. Their vocalist Nao is outstanding and the synergy in their fusion of R&B and rock is satisfying. The videography in their music videos is outstanding as well. All around, this is such a fantastic band that is totally worth giving a chance!

Check out their song “Classic”

Indie Corner Top 20 Ranking

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We’ve introduced many types of artists for our Indie Corner and this week we wanted to rank the first twenty artists we’ve covered. This list is purely based on our opinions.

This is part one of two, check out what took first here!


20. Tendre

We love his unique jazz fusion style he expresses in his tracks and we could have seen him having major success back in the 90s to mid 00s—however, his style is very dated. As much as we like it, we personally would not actively search for his songs.  His work instead might be better suited for background music, not so much an ‘everyday’ kind of music.

Check out his song “Ride!”

19. eill

We love this newcomer’s R&B style and we love her voice, and we cannot wait to see where her career will go. However, Gray states, “eill’s style just typically is not the type of music I tend to listen to. She does have something special but this isn’t much for me.”

Check out her latest song “Future Wave!”

18. Kasa

The band has grown since we last covered them and we love their very simplistic sound and vibe that they give off. You can tell the vocalist still puts a lot of emotion into her singing style. Kasa is only ranked so low due to them just emerging this year. If we are able to come back to them sometime in the future then we can give a much more detailed overview.
Check out their latest song “Love Letter”

17. Layla

Ken states, “Their style is something I personally just love and is just the meaning of what indie is. It’s got great sound and lots of passion. With the promise with the release of their latest song “emma” in mind, I look forward to the release of a mini-album soon.”

Check out their song “Emma!”

16. Penguinrush

The band has a great jazz sound mixed with superb vocals. Luna adds, “Jazz is a particular genre that doesn’t always sell, but Penguinrush has a good jazz fusion so I can see it being extremely popular or more likely to get a record label with this particular fusion style.

Check out their song “Resentment”

15. CHI-NA

Their mixing of genre is so interesting that we wished more bands did it even more. The vocalist has the perfect style to complement this band. Grey added, “I really like it when groups experiment with the sounds of particular genres and I welcome any group that tries to bring in instruments usually reserved for a more orchestral sound.”

Check out their song “Ohe sono mezasu katahe”

14. SWEESWEESWEETS

We love the “perfume” style and the type of genre that they are going for—however, because they are just starting out, we will have to keep more of an eye on them in the future to provide a more thorough opinion.

Check out their latest song “Super magic!”

13. the shes gone

They have such a great sound and memorable lyrics. Ken loves their songs so much that he ends uphumming their songs while at work. He also added, “I’m surprised that they are not major already, what with the first physical release of their single.” We look forward to what they have planned for the future.

Check out their song “Omoi Ai”

12. Flue

This band stands out very much so due to their interesting style, a surprising sound with a premise that hasn’t been done before; what more could you want from a band? Especially when they are high energy as they are. Luna thinks that due to the style of music and how unique it is, Flue is bound to stick in people’s minds. Their short songs leave a huge impact on you, leaving you wanting more.

Check out their latest song “True Calling Suru Douri!”

11. JYONGRI Her voice is soft and sweet, creating a relaxing type of music. She has an amazing trait of mixing R&B with piano-based music. However, she has been out of the music industry for a little while and is just getting back in, but we can see her snatching success again as she releases more songs. Check out her latest song “Unhappy”

Indie Corner Week 21: Chapman

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Chapman is a four-member neo soul band originally formed as an acoustic duo in 2013, the rest of its members forming in 2018. They conjure up an interesting crossover of soul and Japanese style pop music. Keyboardist Jyuisha’s hypnotic melody takes the listener for a ride that redefines soul style music.  Their song “I’m just a kind man” flaunts vocalist Yutaka’s soft vocals that mesh well with the band’s overall chemistry.

This August the band released the music video for “I’m just a kind man”—their first music video—along with the announcement of an EP coming out by year’s end.

Chapman stars Yutaka (Vocals)

Jyuisha (Keyboards)

Doi (Guitar)

Kidokuro (Bass)

Check out their official Twitter here and their video “I’m just a kind man” below!