Many people who know Marty Friedman recognize him for his work on some of Megadeth's most memorable albums such as Rust In Piece and Countdown to Extinction. What some people don't know is that after he left Megadeth he moved to Japan and got really entrenched the music scene there. In these 2 album, Tokyo Jukebox 1 and 2 he showcases that by producing instrumental covers of some of Japans most famous pops songs such as Polyrhythm from Perfume and Ai Takatta from AKB48.
Now I must say upfront that if you are expecting much Megadeth style metal out of these albums you will be disappointed. While he will sometimes bust out some riffs that remind you of his Megadeth era the majority of the albums are much more melodic and slower. Now having said that, it is still metal and rock driven. Marty Friedman still rocks at playing guitar as you would expect from the man leading to a very awesome and well composed pair of instrumental albums.
Now I know I said that he was covering Jpop songs earlier but don't let that make you think he himself is going in that direction with these albums. Even though they are pop songs Marty Friedman truly makes them his own and unless you have listen to the actual songs you will never know that he is covering a pop song.
However, if you are a Jpop fan you might have fun listening to these albums as well. While Marty Friedman does indeed make these songs his own he still keeps the integrity of the original songs and you still get a taste of the songs that you love.
Check some of the music shown below and if it suits your taste I highly recommend you get the albums. You can get these albums on Itunes, Amazon, Ebay, and Half.com.
I know YouTube is not always the best place to find new music. However, I believe that you can find all different kinds of music on YouTube if you just look a little bit. YouTube is how I discovered my current favorite band (The Gazette) and how I have discovered many artists world wide including this group, Love Planet Five.
Love Planet Five was created back in 2007 by the I've music production company in Japan. It was a special project where the label brought together five of their most famous artists to make a theme song for the anime Shakugan No Shana (Burning Eyed Shana in English).The single would come to be pretty successful reaching number 12 on the Oricon charts. Shown below are the members of the group.
Kotoko
Eiko Shimamiya
Mami Kawada
Mell
Kaori Utatsuki
I am typically not a big fan of electronic music because a significant amount of the music comes from a machine rather then an actual instrument. I like the synth in the song and think it works well. However, you can clearly tell that the drums are programmed in and I personally would rather hear a real drummer then a computer programming. The vocals on the other hand are a different story.
I like the voices coming from everybody singing in this song. They sound good, there is a good chemistry among them, and no one is overpowering everyone else. Kotoko did a great job with the lyric writing in the song, talking about over coming obstacles in your way and finding self confidence. (The translated lyrics are shown at the end of this post.) Sometimes bringing a bunch of artists together can come out bad because egos and personal ideas can get in the way and kill the project. Fortunately that doesn't happen here and they deliver a good song.
As for the video I would have done it a little different. I get that the video is trying to fit in with the electronic music playing and for the most part they do a good job. However, the one element in the video I have no love for is the dancers. I personally feel that they are an unnecessary addition and are a distraction from what you should be paying attention to which are the singers. I feel that with all the moving animations they were doing through out the video they could have kept it interesting without the dancers.
While I have a few minor problems with the song and video I believe that as a whole both are pretty good. The singers sound great and they deliver a great song making one of the few electronic style songs I love. With that I give the song a 4 out of 5
Song Lyrics (English)
Thrusting into the silent darkness, my blade screams out I'm burdened by this crimson flower, my eyes beginning to throb I chose the path of a distant fate But the flaming chasm engulfed everything in its path And I averted my eyes to the dancing of the dying flames The breath I let out was barely warm And now I believe that This is, without a doubt, what it means to "exist" The time I've been given in this divine place crumbles away But our encounter broke down the door of my resistant heart Just like your tears cannot be changed into untold truths I want to discover within myself a newfound courage At the ends of this glowing sky And surely tomorrow, those who come together to destroy the shadows, change nothing And will merely walk about without hearing the call of life I had quietly stood by your side since times past Your smiling face seemed to know it all But I feigned non-chalance, and turned my back to you You let out a carefree sigh And I feel in my heart That this could possibly be "love" I embrace you tightly as we're unleashed to the heavens above My small shoulders tremble like drops of water But the piercing reality thrusts into my heart And I want to find my courage, unbroken, Like a strong wind Sheltered by the light in the sky, I recover my dreams And a tiny flame is struck up in the bottom of my heart Bursting through the barrier I will become like your wings I want to find our courage bound strongly together At the ends of this glowing sky
I love movie soundtracks, John Williams is my favorite composer and I love his works. To me they are modern day classical music. However, I also love some anime soundtracks as well. One anime that does good emotional music is One Piece. From the emotional orchestra to a simple piano this anime has one of most emotional soundtracks I have ever heard. Check out the video below and see if you like any to the songs in it.
The Winking Owl, sometimes known as the Japanese Paramore has a new album out called Blooming. If you like Paramore or Flyleaf then this a band you should check out. With a good female lead vocalist and a great melodic guitarist this makes for an enjoyable experience. You can get the Album on Itunes, Ebay, and Amazon. Check it out now.
I have stated many times that I am a fan of the visual kei music scene in japan. While I do not always like the look the bands have, the bands still produce good music. I have come to like the scene because of how diverse it is. While each band has their own sound, they are not afraid to experiment and try new things and a lot of the time they do it well. I know their look can be distracting and scary but for me it is about the music. This time I will be counting down my top 3 favorite visual kei bands.
1. THE GAZETTE
I would like to start this off with my favorite band, The Gazette. I remember when I saw these guys at The Wiltern on May 3rd I was blown away by how good they sounded, how good their energy was, and how great they were getting the audience into their music. It was with out a doubt one of the best shows I have ever attended. Unlike most visual kei bands, I actually think these guys have a cool look. Sometimes I feel that their look is over the top and not something I would like but other times I think they look cool and would support it. Musically they are very diverse, depending which album you listen to you will get in your face rock n roll, sometimes you will get dark mysterious music, and sometimes you will get border line soft funk out of them as shown in some of the videos below.
As you can see they are very diverse musically but it is well executed. The singer Ruki, has a good voice, Aoi's solo in gentle lie is very melodic and Uruha's solo in vortex made great use of the whammy bar. Reita is good solid bass player, and Kai's drumming is very energetic and creative. These guys are not the fastest players I have ever heard but for me it is not about the speed it is about the melody and all five of the guys deliver that well.
2. UNITE
One of my favorite things about this band is how uplifting they can sound and yet still have a good heavy rock sound to their songs. Also, just like The Gazette they are not speedy musicians upfront but they are very good melodic musicians and that is what matters to me. However, this is one band I have a hard time supporting their look. I don't think the singer looks that bad but the rest of the band I can't support their look. Even with that though I still enjoy this band and love listening to them.
I think that the singer Yui has a good voice that works well with this band. While I don't think he is the greatest singer in the world he has created something that works well for this band that you wouldn't the same feeling with if another singer was in the band. The other great aspect of this band are the guitar players Lin and Shiina. What I like about them is that they don't try to overshoot their skills. They know what they are good at as musicians and they focus on that instead of trying hard to be something they are not.
3. NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST
I am not the biggest fan of death metal and hardcore but this one band that I openly am a fan of. These guys are amazing musicians and in my opinion their lead guitar player should be right up their with Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai. As far as their look goes, while there are a few times I don't think they look that bad I wouldn't support their look overall. With that though they are still very good musicians as seen below.
Like I said, these guys are great musicians and showcase it very well in their music. The singer Hiro, may do a lot of screaming and growling like most Hardcore singers but when he is not screaming he has a good voice which is something I wish he would showcase more often. The lead guitarist Cazqui is amazing, Even though he has the weirdest look of all the other band members his guitar playing is just insane. He is a good shredder and you can tell he is not playing fast just for the sake of looking fast. The guy actually knows his stuff and like I said he should be up their with all the known great guitar players. Even though on the hits he is mainly shredding he is actually very diverse and on alot of their songs that are not as well known he plays nice melodic solos. Last is the drummer Natsu, this guy is one of the fastest drummers I have ever heard. He would fit right in with bands like Megadeth and Dragonforce.
All 3 of these bands I admire a lot and I recommend you give their music a shot. The Gazette and Nocturnal Bloodlust are on Itunes but you can find all CD's and music from all the bands on Amazon, Ebay, and Half.com. Go check them out
For this list I am focusing on songs that in my opinion show cases the best guitar from 80's Metal. Check it out, let me know what you think of my list.
