Lullatone
This indie-pop band uses all the endearing instruments out there. They play glockenspiel's, ukulele's topped up with strange keyboards and electronic sounds. Their music is mostly instrumental, which is sort of a shame, since good vocals could really do this band some good.
Hearsays
Hearsay is an indie rock band that sounds incredibly non-Japanese. Of course you can hear the Japanese accent in their vocals, but the band sound is very melodic, kind of rough around the edges and very pleasant. they seem to have influences from Radiohead's first albums.
Shugo Tokumaru
Shugo Tokumaru plays modern indie-pop with mixed folk and electronic influences. The songs have great melodies, but the main input can be found in the carefully crafted sounds and strange instruments used in his music.
LITE
LITE is one of the very few bands that I already knew before I started my work on this blog. They play quite loud progressive rock with some post-rock influences. They merely play instrumental songs and the electric guitars take the main stage in their music. The drums are also quite phenomenal.
Toe
Very much like LITE, Toe also plays progressive post-rock that's mostly instrumental. The band makes carefully composed songs where the band works brilliantly as a team knowing every single rhythm change and pause.
Mouse on the Keys
One more progressive rock band. Instead of electric guitars, however, Mouse on the Keys uses piano as its main instrument. The pianos range from jazzy to post-rock and the drums are keeping wild drum beats alive on the background.
Cruyff In the Bedroom
The instruments used in this band's music are the same as the ones used in most post-rock bands. Electric guitars, treble-filled bass and wild drumming make great big sounds. At the same time, the songs are more pop-tuned in their structure and vocals actually have a big part to play.
Jizue
This band plays jazzy post-rock where piano has the lead giving from time to time the stage to electric guitars. The sounds are more authentic than with most other bands of this genre. Very pleasant and highly skilfully played music.
3nd
I think the name of the band illustrates the music quite well. It's all about progressive rhythm patterns and skilful solo performances. The baselines really stand out, which I really like. This is a proper trio making excellent and complicated music with guitar, bass and drums.
Envy
This post-rock band comes closest to familiar Western post-rock bands like Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky, but in the loud parts they use similar growling vocals you normally only hear in metal music. The music itself is quite far from metal with it's clear electric guitars and beautiful melodies.
Okamotonoriaki
This electronic band captures the feel of post-rock into keyboard and sampler filled sound world. Blinking loops come together with rhythmic hypnosis and there are also some melodies to be found in the midst of that celebration of sound.
Sakai Asuka
Sakai Asuka's music is all about masterful piano-playing. Still, it's not just the piano, there are beautiful string, bass and percussion performances built on top of it. This sounds at parts like Sigur Ros' newer albums, which is further enhanced by the dream-like vocals in the background.
Susumu Yokota
Susumu Yokota's electronic ambient music is not as calm as most of the music in this genre. there is more going on and electronic sound patterns are beautifully combined with classical music elements and strange percussion sounds.
DJ Okawari
DJ Okawari makes melodic songs that use masterful piano playing together with electronic beats and space sounds. This sounds a lot like film music, but really good at that. The melancholic melodies carry out a wide spectre of emotions purely instrumentally.
DJ Krush
DJ Krush makes melancholic electronic music that gets more power from a variety of wind instruments. This is perfect music for lazy Sunday lounging. There are some jazz elements in the music, but it's not complicated at all.
Tico Moon
Acoustic guitars and glockenspiels make up endearing melody patterns. I think I even hear Japan's national instrument koto used in some places. They also play some banjo every now and then. Instrumental bliss.
Yuko Sasama
Piano-led songs remind me of film score music, but there are some beautiful melodies in there. It's quite amazing how wonderful sound worlds can be created using just one instrument and one player. I can hear the spring in this piano.
Anoice
Anode plays extremely beautiful piano songs. The songs have dark and melancholic undertones which are further enhanced by subtle string arrangements. This is the kind of music that makes you weep from mere beauty of the sound.
MONO
MONO plays quiet and beautiful post-rock-like music with classical music instruments. Piano, strings and wind instruments really create beautiful sounds, but the tone of the songs is closer to pop-music than classical in my view.
Hiromitsu Agatsuma
This guy plays extremely beautiful and unique music. His main instrument is Shamisen, which could be called the Japanese banjo. He plays really masterful solos above atmospheric and melancholic backgrounds. Hypnotising and beautiful stuff.
Takasago Katsumasa
Katsumasa is a master of koto. A Japanese string instrument that is a couple of meters long and resembles the Finnish national instrument kannel. The songs have fairly traditional Japanese melody structures, but the masterful solos are very hypnotic and mesmerising.
Hiromi
Hiromi plays jazzy piano ballads. The music combines jazz structures and modern classical music. It is once again a masterful example of the great Japanese pianists. This music is perfect for just lying still and listening to the fingers on the keys.
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Sakamoto is a modern classical music composer. Probably the best known Japanese one out there. He has made film scores for a lot of films. His music is beautiful and you can really recognise his sound. He's a breath of fresh air compared to many Western film score composers with his minimalist sounds.
Akira Kosemura
Akira Kosemura's piano ballads are beautifully played and they carry an air of drama rising from minimalist piano sounds to big string arrangements. This is the kind of music that carries emotion in every single note.
Yonin Bayashi
Yonin Bayashi makes beautiful progressive rock with some psychedelic rock elements. The rock organs are played beautifully alongside guitars and strange sounds, such as that made with rolling a glass bottle on a stone floor.
Matryoshka
Matryoshka's music is close to classical music, but it's much more modern and uses a variety of strange sounds. There are some electronic elements there as well. There are some beautiful vocals that are mainly used as and instrument instead of singing audible lyrics.
Yoko Kanno
Yoko Kanno is a film score composer that makes beautiful piano songs. She has worked with many singers and I think her work is best appreciated with great vocals. This is some atmospheric stuff. Best enjoyed in Sunday afternoons in sunshine.
Meiko Kaji
Meiko Kaji became familiar to larger audiences through Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill. Her music could be described as Japanese schlager, but her beautiful vocals and melancholic melodies of her songs set her above many other acts in the same genre.
Furukawa Honpo
Furukawa Honpo composes excellent songs combining classical elements with electronic and contemporary sounds. Some of the songs sound a bit like the French band Air. There's some great instrumentation in these songs.
Eyllie
Ellie plays beautiful pop-songs that are mainly played by ukulele. There are some other instruments there, but the main stage is reserved for her vocals and subtle ukulele strumming. The melodies are beautiful.
Aki Yashiro
Aki Yashiro is a lounge jazz singer who sings old classics with a raspy voice. She does versions of old classic songs but she changes the language between English and Japanese. The band is playing high-quality jazz-standard style.
Mayumi Kojima
Mayime Kojima plays bluesy indie pop. There's something very seductive in the way she sings. I can see in my mind a stage with velvet curtains and people in round tables sipping their cocktails, while I listen to this music.
Kikagaku Moyo
This is probably the closest that any Japanese music comes to Americana. Rocking electric guitars stomp giving background for melodic high vocals. The sounds are very authentic and honest, but there are some strange effects used in the guitars every now and then.
Shoukichi Kina
This is truly unique sounding music. Wild use of traditional Japanese instruments with aggressive female vocals screaming Japanese lyrics. The backgrounds resemble pot-rock tunes spiced up with shamisen.
Cornelius
Cornelius plays quite aggressive rock with some grunge vibes. The tempos are quite high and the singing is sometimes a bit off-key. They also use some noise instruments to give their music an air of originality.
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
This band plays aggressive and fast garage punk with overdriven guitars and fast drumming. The Japanese vocals sometimes actually sound like Spanish because of the hard r's. This music would, no doubt, work brilliantly in a small club full of Japanese punks.
Shonen Knife
Shonen Knife is one of the classiest acts on this list. They play melodic first wave punk with female singers. They play quite a lot of covers from Ramones, but also from not quite as self-evident bands, such as the Carpenters.
The 5.6.7.8's
Again, here's a band that Quentin Tarantino made famous with the film Kill Bill. this female trio's wild rock n' roll punk is extremely danceable and enjoyable. This music runs on pure attitude and it has just the right kind of lo-fi aesthetics.
Nagisa Ni Te
Nagisa Ni Te plays shoegaze rock n' roll with some surfer-rock influences. The guitars, and all other instruments for that matter, sound really lo-fi, but in a good way. This is what rock n' roll is all about, just having a good time without too much care for details.
Asobi Seksu
This artist plays fast and melodic shoegaze with synths. It kind of sounds like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart with Japanese lyrics. The drummer and bassist keep to what is important, pounding away. Guitars are excellent.
Yui Suzuki
Yui Suzuki has kind of annoying voice, but her music is great. Pop-oriented rock music with some shoegaze and indie spices. The choruses are very catchy and there are some fantastic synth sounds in there.
Luminousorange
Luminousorange plays 90's style indie rock taking influences from bands like The Posies. It's not quite as melodic, but the guitars do their trick. The female singer is not necessarily the right person to headline this band, but she's alright.
Monoral
Monoral is a fantastic grunge band that sounds a lot like Pearl Jam or early Foo Fighters. The guitars growl and the vocals are full of rock. in the choruses while singing high notes the singer actually sounds a bit like Matthew Bellamy.
Mass of the Fermenting Dregs
This great lo-fi shoegaze band plays peculiar melodies with buzzing guitars. The vocals are quite laconic but just right for this kind of music. The choruses can get really big in sound. The electric guitars take the main stage with their wild solos.
Andymori
Andymori sounds like many of the 90's indie rock musicians. The songs have clear melodies and his vocals are clearly audible. It sounds like the emphasis is on the lyrics, so it's a shame that I can't understand Japanese.
Kicell
This indie-pop-rock act plays quite calm songs with emphasis on melodies. The lead singer has a strange high-pitched voice. Again, it's a bit disappointing not being able to understand the lyrics, since it sounds like they take the main stage.
Miyagi
This rough voiced guy plays interesting lo-fi acoustic rock guitar sounds. i would like to hear his voice in some more aggressive band, but Spotify doesn't offer any other songs from him.
Clams
Clams plays indie rock with etheric and dreamlike vocals. There are some strange electronic sounds on top of fairly average lounge-pop instruments. They use a lot of echo in the songs and the sound production seems to be the main thing.
Isao Tomita
Tomita is one of the most legendary synthesiser artists in the world. His space sound symphonies are epic. This is what the future sounded like in the 70's. I can picture the flying cars and huge sky-scrapers while listening to this.
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Again, one of the greatest electronic bands that ever existed. These guys' electronic music is filled with computer sounds from the 70's. It's like the first stage of techno music. These guys come right after Kraftwerk in developing the world of electronic music.
Super Mario Bros
Now, this is not exactly a band, but I thought this playlist wouldn't be complete without some great Nintendo music. And what is a better song than the classic Super Mario theme. It just takes me back to my childhood immediately.
Kashiwa Daisuke
Kashiwa Daisuke plays extremely classy modern jazz with excellent performers in each instrument. I especially like the clear sound of the double bass and fantastic piano stylings.
Soil & "Pimp" Sessions
This very peculiarly named band plays hot latin style jazz music with fast drumming and brass instruments. The album covers are absolutely amazing. The feel that these guys can create is not easily topped.
Monocism
Monism plays jazzy post-rock/shoegaze with etheric vocals and buzzing electric guitars. It's very subtle and beautiful at the same time as they are loud and aggressive. Truly exceptional sound.
Hartfield
Hartfield is quite average shoegaze band where the buzzing electric guitar walls hit you on the background and the vocals are hidden behind that wall. They also use some strange sounding electronic sounds.
Kitaro
Despite of the name, this doesn't have that much to do with a guitar, This is beautiful electronic music with some string arrangements. This sounds like walking in a Japanese bamboo forest in the mist.
Aus
As plays classy lounge ambient with excellent DJ work. I don't normally listen to this kind of music, but I can still appreciate the music as a really professional piece of art.
Piana
Piana is ambient music with childlike vocals singing without lyrics. The whole thing is topped with electronic sounds and subtle acoustic guitars. This is great music for being with your own thoughts.
Color Filter
Color Filter plays electronic indie pop with synthesisers taking the main stage. It's calm and easygoing, but interesting enough because of the sounds used. The honey like vocals also give their own spice to the concoction.
800 Cherries
This band sounds very comforting. Their endearing soft vocals are accompanied by soft organ sounds and melancholic melodies. I would like to understand the lyrics, since they might make it all even better.
Small Color
This sound is a rarity in the Japanese music scene. Clear acoustic guitars accompany clear and beautiful female vocals. It has some electronic sounds to give it and air of uniqueness. Breath of fresh air in the middle of all this noise driven peculiarity.
Far East Family Band
Far East Family Band plays calm and moody progressive rock with strong psychedelic sounds. Some of the guitar solos are quite astonishing. The album covers are just as amazing as you might expect from a Japanese psychedelic rock band.
Flower Travellin' Band
This progressive rock band sounds a lot like Uriah Heep or Deep Purple. Buzzing electric guitars, raunchy rock organs and high rock vocals. The best parts are the ones with amazing solos.
Speed, Glue & Shinki
This psychedelic rock band has gotten its name from its favourite drugs, really. They play very sticky psychedelic rock in the style of Jimi Hendrix or Cream. This is what rock sounded like in the late 60's and early 70's.
Shinki Chen
A member of the previously mentioned band in his solo career. The vocals are sung through early vocoder sound, much like in Black Sabbath's Planet Caravan. Excellent psychedelic rock jams that hypnotise you immediately.
Blues Creation
This psychedelic rock band is one of the best ones I've heard from this genre. Their album Demon & Eleven Children is pure iron from start to finish. Fantastic solos and bluesy hard-rock. The solos are fantastic.
World's End Girlfriend
This indie band plays mainly instrumental sample filled pop-melodies with strange sounds and noises. Just when you think you've gotten the hang of their sound they add something weird into the mix.
School Food Punishment
One of the best band names I've heard. This band plays great indie pop-rock with stylish instrumentations full of space sounds, but also authentic guitars, drums and bass. The lead vocalist sings beautifully with her clear voice.
Maid Boys
This band plays up-beat indie pop with danceable beats and catchy melodies. The music is mostly instrumental, which is probably a good thing, because I sense the vocals would sound quite bubble gummy.
Strawberry Machine
This strange shoegaze pop band plays Nintendo style computer sounds on top of their fast pop songs. This just sounds so ridiculously Japanese that I had to include it on the list even though I'm not so sure how much I would actually want to listen to this.
Naivepop Or Petitfool
This is what Japanese music seems to be all about. A bit off-key vocals on top of catchy and naive melodies played with tacky instruments and childlike vocals. Great way to end the list with pure Japanese sound.
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