A Big Year for Indie Music

Date: 12/31/07
Writer: Wonsan Underground


2007 was yet another big year for indie rock in Japan. The old guard of Japanese indie rock all came out with new material this year, and a few bands put themselves on the map, not only in Japan, but across the globe too. The world has its sight set on Japan and it’s acknowledging bands that aren’t all out crazy, such as Merzbow, Boredoms, Ruins, etc.

The big alternative bands of the 90’s all came out strong this year. Bloodthirsty Butchers released their 13th album, yes 13th album, "Guitarist wo Korosanaide". Their rough, raw sound was still there. It was another solid album from the Japanese indie rock legends... Hisako Tabuchi’s relatively new band, toddle released what some may say is the best indie album of the year with "Dawn Praise The World..." Eastern Youth bounced back and found their form again (at least to me) with "Chikyu No Ura Kara Kaze Ga Fuku" which was released late this year. Ex-Number Girl and ex-Zazen Boys drummer (although now guitarist/vocalist) hit it big with his new band Vola & the Oriental Machine. They immediately hit the Liquid Room when they were first formed, a pretty big venue for an upstart band, and haven’t turned back. This year they released their first full-length album, "ANDROID ~like a house mannequin~", the first in what will hopefully be many albums.

Enough about the old guys, let’s get to the new generation of indie rockers. We’ll begin with who I believe will be the next big band, Ogre You Asshole. They released their second album, "Alphabeta vs. Lambda" (another Revenge of the Nerds reference), which got them an opening spot on Art School’s nationwide tour... Condor44 released "good bye 44th music", which was one hell of an album, reminiscent of Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo. Crazy punk rockers Ging Nang Boyz released one hell of a single with "I Don’t Wanna Die", which has a pretty crazy 20 or so minute video... Emoish band 9mm Parabellum Bullet released their first full-length album with "Termination", yeah it’s only their first. Shocking... Veteran noise core band Melt-Banana released another crazy album with "Bambi’s Dilemna". They also got to open for Tool’s North American tour. That’s big (take that Dir en Grey).

One artist has really stood out outside of the US. Besides Cornelius, who got his masterpiece album, "Sensuous", released in the US earlier this year, another indie pop artist got some great reviews and a boost in popularity around the US and Europe. Shugo Tokumaru. His indie pop masterpiece, "Exit", hit our shores this year, released off of the tiny New York-based label, Music Related. It seems the press was just raving and raving about how great an album it was. The indie blogs and newspapers were going pretty crazy for it. It actually went up to #9 on the Oricon charts. All he needs to do is tour the US! Please Shugo, we’re begging you. Tour.

Happy New Year everyone, and may 2008 bring us a good Zazen Boys album and good indie rock music. Oh, and a decent Sparta Locals release. They’ve sucked for the past two years. Anyways, maybe 2008 will be better.

JMIgnited.com is not affiliated with the artists presented on this website or their representatives. All images are the property of their respective copyright owners. Images are displayed for educational and decorative purposes only under the "fair use" clause.

All music samples are property of their respective owners. All music featured are samples only! If you enjoy a particular band, please help endorse them and buy their music! No copyright infringement is intended.