Supercar is one of my favorite J-Pop bands. Like many otakus I usually hear about a band through anime. I was first introduce to Supercar when they did a song "Storywriter" for Eureka Seven. After listening to that song I was hooked. I decided to give you guys and gals my favorite top five songs from Supercar. You can check out the player below and here is a brief history on Supercar.
Hailing from Aomori Prefecture, Supercar was formed in 1995 when bassist Miki Furukawa placed an advertisement in a local magazine seeking fellow musicians. Junji Ishiwatari responded and convinced childhood friend Kōji Nakamura to join as well. Junji and Kōji soon recruited drummer Kōdai Tazawa, an acquaintance from middle school. After writing songs and recording demo tapes, they received a record contract. In 1997 they released their debut album, Three Out Change, and their second album, Jump Up, in 1999. This album was followed by Ooyeah and Ookeah, both also released in 1999. With the 2000 album Futurama, electronic experimentation took a larger role that would characterize the band's sound for the rest of their career. The 2002 release Highvision continued the electronic development, and the single Strobolights did not even contain a guitar. They released their last album, Answer in 2004. Perhaps their most experimental album,Answer contained balance of both rock and electronica.
They are famous for their 2005 song featured in the animeEureka Seven, "Storywriter".
In 2005, Supercar broke up following a final concert, released under DVD as Last Live. Following the breakup, Furukawa and Nakamura have pursued successful solo careers.
Despite the break-up, Supercar released two remix albums named RE:SUPERCAR 1 and RE:SUPERCAR 2 in 2011. The albums are redesigned version of some of their tracks throughout their career together with never before heard songs. The limited edition of these albums sported a different CD jacket and bonus CD containing some of their untitled tracks and demos.
Here at Otakus and Geeks we are huge fans of Japanese Pop Culture. From Anime, Music, Games and Films. We love Japan stuff over here. We are even planning a trip to Japan in 2012. Just to give you a taste of Japan music. We have gather some of our favorite artist music videos or songs for you. Check out these great artist. Bio credit goe to Wiki. Do As Infinity - is a popular Japanese band which debuted on September 29, 1999 with the release of their first single, "Tangerine Dream". Their name is sometimes abbreviated as D.A.I., revealing that Do As Infinity was named after the band's guitarist and composer, Dai Nagao. With the release of their A-side compilation album Do the A-side, Do As Infinity disbanded on September 29, 2005, after a career which spanned six years, six albums, twenty singles, seven compilation albums and eight live DVDs. The band reformed on September 29, 2008, and had their first new single release, "∞1" in June 2009. Here are is our favorite song from Do As Infinity.
Nice & Easy - This Our Favorite Song From The Band!
Supercar - was a Japanese rock band active from 1995 to 2005, and who made their debut in 1997. Consisting of songwriter and vocalist Kōji Nakamura, guitarist Junji Ishiwatari (いしわたり淳治 Ishiwatari Junji), bassist Miki Furukawa (フルカワミキ Furukawa Miki), and drummer Kōdai Tazawa (田沢公大 Tazawa Kōdai), Supercar is best known for combining alternative rock with electronic music. Internationally, Supercar is best known for providing much of the soundtrack for the Japanese film Ping Pong, as well as being featured in the anime series Eureka Seven.
Last Scene
Field Of View - was a popular Japanese rock band formed in 1994 by vocalist U-ya Asaoka, guitarist Takashi Oda, keyboardist Jun Abe and drummer Takuto Kohashi, with Jun Abe leaving and Kenji Niitsu joining the following year. The group's tenure lasted until their break up in December 2002.
One of their hit singles, Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku, was used as the opening theme for the popular anime series Dragon Ball GT. Another single, 「渇いた叫び」(Kawaita Sakebi), was used as the opening for the original Yu-Gi-Oh series from Toei in 1998.
Last Goodbye
Tsukiko Amano - Now known as Tsuki Amano. Amano has been playing music since the age of 5, when she started taking piano lessons. She was part of her junior high school chorus club as a soprano, and in high school she began to experiment with various musical instruments and joined the theatre group. It was also in high school where she bought her very first guitar, which is now her primary instrument.
As Amano grew in her musical experience, she began to play in clubs, bars and on the street having gigs almost every day. She even joined a band for a little while, however this venture eventually failed, and the band broke up. Her major break came when she sent a demo tape to a close friend, who managed to get the tape into the hands of one of Otokura Records' producers.
Although she is considered more of an underground artist in the Japanese music industry, she has been slowly been finding herself in the spotlight, especially in 2001 with her smash hit 'Bodaiju'. Many of Amano's songs have also been used as theme songs for commercials, television shows, movies, and video games. Tsukiko Amano is primarily a solo alternative artist, but has been known to team up with other artists on the Otokura label.
Besides writing all of her own songs, Amano also designs and makes most of the unique costumes in her videos (and for her performances) herself. She loves to draw and has a unique artistic style. Not only does she publish a comic on Otokura.com's website, she's published a storybook she wrote while recording her Ningyō video. A variety of her artwork can also be seen on singles, albums, and posters promoting her stage performances.[1]
Tsukiko recently announced that she would retire from her old name, as well as singing. As of 2008, she wanted to be recognized as Tsuki, not Tsukiko. This is because 2008 was the year of the rat, and in Japan "ko" means rat. Since it is no longer the year of the rat, the year for new beginnings, she would like to retire from the name. And since it's the year for new beginnings, Tsuki would like to begin a new name. On January 10, 2010, she announced she would be returning to music.
Zero (Just Call My Name English Version)
Chou (Butterfly)
Ningyou
Utakata
Utada Hikaru - Our favorite of all the one who got us into J-Pop. The one and only Utada Hikaru. (宇多田 ヒカル Utada Hikaru), known by her stage name Utada (English pronunciation: /uˈtɑːdə/) in America and Europe, and as Hikki (ヒッキー, Hikkī?), is a Japanese American singer and songwriter, arranger, and record producer.
Since the release of her debut album First Love, which went on to become the best-selling album in Oricon's recent history, Utada has had three of her Japanese studio albums in the list of Top 10 best-selling albums ever in Japan (#1, #4, #8) and an six overall of her albums (two English-language and one compilation) charting within the 275 Best-Selling Japanese albums list.
Utada has had fourteen number-one singles on the Oricon Singles chart, with two notable record achievements for a female solo or group artist: five million-sellers and four in the Top 100 All-Time Best-selling Singles. In 2009, she was considered the most influential artist of the decade, in the Japanese landscape, by The Japan Times. For her achievements, she was described by Time Magazine in 2001 as a "Diva On Campus," while attending Columbia University for a brief, career-break semester in 2001.In 2003, Utada was ranked #24 in the survey of Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists of All Time by HMV,#10 in HMV's Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time in 2006.
Additionally, Utada made two theme song contributions to Kingdom Hearts video game series, a collaboration between Square Enix and Disney: "Simple and Clean"[12] and "Sanctuary". In 2007, her single "Flavor of Life" reached #2 in worldwide digital download yearly single chart with over 7.2 million downloads,[14] and contributes to 12 million digital sales for her over the same year. Utada in her Cubic U Days.
Close To You
Ticket 4 Two
100 Reasons Why
Utada Exodus Days
Easy Breezy
You Make Us Want To Be A Man
About Me
Utada This Is The One
Come Back To Me
Of Course We Can't Forget The Two Songs From Kingdom Hearts Series
Simple & Clean
Sanctuary
Finally Beautiful World
We know she has great Japanese songs as well but this blog can only have to much Utada. Check out back on January 19th For Utada Day. It's her B-day on the 19th :).
