Sheesh Y’all, It’s More Than Just Anime
One thing I like about albums that consist of the artiste singing their versions of songs done by other artistes is the exposure to songs from the past which you might not have heard of.
An example was Shimokawa Mikuni’s Reprise album released last December, with half of it featuring many classic anime theme songs. Although most of them were brought over from her 2003 Review album, there are a couple of new cover songs.
There are some people who just watch anime, and the only music that they like and tune in to are the anime opening and ending theme songs. There are also others who watch anime, but their choice of music they listen to does not end with just anime songs, but expands on to a wide range of Japanese Pop.
I watch anime, but my music library does not end at anime-related songs. In fact, about 50% of my music library is Japanese Pop which has no link to anime. The other 50% is anime-related music, such as OSTs and theme songs. And yes, all I have are Japanese music, Japanese music and more Japanese music.
Even though I lack the skills to play any musical instrument and have no sense of rhythm, I love listening to music, especially good music. Good music does not necessarily have to be popular music. I know of obscure artistes who compose and sing songs which are much better than the mainstream pop songs. Not that I am saying that mainstream is bad.
For example, has anyone heard of Tsubaki? No, not that animeblogger Tsubaki, but the Japanese Rock band. You would probably not have know this rather unknown band, especially if you only listen to anime songs. That’s because all their releases were not even remotely connected to anime. I too, did not notice the existence of this band till one fine day, when I chanced upon one of their newer singles.
I listened, got hooked, and moved on to more of their music. Their latest full album release, Portrait+, has a rather awesome compilation of songs. What attracted me to their songs would be the laid back feeling that their music possesses. Their style of music reminds me of Bump of Chicken.
I shall take this opportunity to promote one of my favourite Japanese bands. I have done so with Bump of Chicken, but it was a pity I did not have any sample tracks. This time, however, I shall provide some tracks for you to judge whether their music suits your taste.
Here are some of my favourites in Portrait+ :
Continue reading ‘Is Your Entire Musical Preference 101% Purely Related to Anime?’
