Comments on: Japanese downtempo

Question: Japanese downtempo

browolf — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:39:34 -0800

can anyone suggest some japanese bands in the region of chillout / downtempo / triphop with female vocals?

To get an idea of what I like, my western musical preferences in this area are Zero 7, Portishead, Goldfrapp, Nitin Sawhney, Massive Attack, Morcheeba, Mandalay, Lamb, Gotan Project, Telepopmusik

By: subtle-t

subtle-t — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:55:09 -0800

DJ Krush.

By: No-sword

No-sword — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:14:11 -0800

Fleckfumie are a German guy and a Japanese woman, and she does the vocals. Their music is hard to describe but they often get put in the "trip-hop" section.

Haco is an incredible musician. I wouldn't label her music "hip-hop", but a lot of it is downtempo and very little of it sucks. Given your list, I deduce that you might like her self-titled album or some of "Ash in the Rainbow" (with Sakamoto Hiromichi), e.g. the title track. Definitely a try-before-you-buy artist though.

Himawari also come to mind but, to be honest, they aren't very funky.

By: No-sword

No-sword — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:15:09 -0800

"hip-hop" -> "trip-hop"

By: edtut

edtut — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:35:48 -0800

if you want mainstream stuff, just go to tower records japan site. it will be a bit tricky but give you some ideas.
you will find cross over stuff but there is so much material here in jap that you will need to dig to find what u want
http://towerrecords.co.jp/sitemap/SiteManager.jsp

or flick through dusty groove, they often have good detail on jap stuff.
if u try shibuya jazz classics, kyoto jazz classics etc or ken kobayashi, the compilations cover a lot of varied materila. it is probably a bit softer than what you are into but will give u some ideas and leads

By: urbanwhaleshark

urbanwhaleshark — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:59:46 -0800

While classified as a pop act (by Wikipedia certainly), some of Pizzicato Five's tunes would fit the bill. Pandora put me on to them. It might be a good place to start, then let the system find new music along similar lines for you.

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:31:23 -0800

Shiina Ringo's "Baishou Ecstasy" album would probably count (although not most of her other material, which I'd say is "Bjorkish").

By: gnutron

gnutron — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:57:14 -0800

If I can be permitted a moment of blatant self-promotion, you might enjoy a song I recorded with my old band. The song is called 'Cross My Mind' and it's on this myspace page. I can share an mp3 if you'd like.

By: condour75

condour75 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:34:02 -0800

Kyoto Jazz Massive might do it for you. It's a little more fusiony though.

Also some of Towa Tei's stuff.

Interested to see what other people come up with.

By: robpongi

robpongi — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:57:39 -0800

For sure, check out the electronic, Avant-pop, neo-dada, pop, Japanese rock group known as Buffalo Daughter They've been together for over 10 years now and have established a very dynamic and strong sound that is somewhat like a mix of Pizzacato Five, Cibo Matto and Deerhoof all in one.

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:13:46 -0800

I can't think of anything that fits exactly, but you might check out Tenniscoats - it's definitely chilled out with female vocals, but less "downtempo" and more ambient electronic style indie pop.

Also Tujiko Noriko, but again less downtempo - she is pretty far out in experimental electronic territory.

Lastly, check some of Nujabes and his label (you can find a lot of their stuff at this shop) - probably stylistically more similar to what you want- jazzy hip hop, downtempo, etc., but not sure which records would have the type of vocals you want.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:26:39 -0800

Spangle call Lilli line.

By: SageLeVoid

SageLeVoid — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:30:58 -0800

Aco is a female singer, she started as a fairly standard jpop act but now she's doing much more interesting work. She worked with mùm on one of her last record. Not really trip-hop per say, more like Bjork/radiohead type of electronic music.

Cacoy might be very hard to find. There are an indie combo doing downtempo/electronica, it's very cool but they're not very popular. Their album is called Human is Music. No female vocals but i think you might like it.

By: clockworkjoe

clockworkjoe — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:59:31 -0800

I second DJ Krush. He is exactly what you want.

By: black8

black8 — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 00:41:41 -0800

United Future Organization is what you want, friend.

By: kepano

kepano — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:39:42 -0800

Seconding United Future Organization and Kyoto Jazz Massive.

You may also like Susumu Yokota which reminds me of Kruder and Dorfmeister in some ways. You should be able to find more by looking through the tags on Last.fm.

If you specifically want vocals in japanese you might enjoy Dimitri From Paris' album Cruising Attitude (particularly the tracks Merumo and Okinawa Love)

By: Large Marge

Large Marge — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:49:39 -0800

if you can find them, natural calamity

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:56:30 -0800

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Yoshinori Sunahara.