One main musical passion of mine is for '80s synthpop, and as an offset of this I have discovered a bunch of delicious Japanese artists from that wonderful world. Here is a nice selection of some of my favourites. Please enjoy these grainy music video screencaps I have provided alongside links to music videos.
MENU - ナンキンテリアでドテカボチャ
MENU are a really cool duo with a kinda cutesy plinkety plonkety sound and I guess you can see some of the wonderful playfulness in their sound that you find in modern artists like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Kero Kero Bonito. Sort of along the same lines but with less of a pop focus are Masakosan and Picky Picnic, who both lean towards a more experimental sound but still retain a healthy does of silliness (Masakosan are an all-girl Devo fanatic group so of course they're bound to be pretty silly in that particular sort of way). In any case, when I listen to MENU I feel like a toddler with a very delicious apple, or something like that.
有頂天(Uchoten) - BYE-BYE
Silliness will be something of a theme here because I am a big fan of Devo/Talking Heads style amusingly weird post punk bands. Uchoten remind me of my favourite NZ band, Split Enz. Both bands share a really entertaining theatrical style and again Devo comparisons are very possible, but I don't want to be too one note here! Devo are just really important to me and clearly, many other people.
ACCESS - MISTY HEARTBREAK
ACCESS are an adorable duo and are pretty much the epitome of synthpop, à la Howard Jones & OMD. I just love the pair of them so much. Their music videos are incredible and of course, quintessentially '80s. Most of all though, their songs are just amazingly catchy. Like my ultimate fave. SYNTHPOP. Both members have also had quite interesting solo careers.
REBECCA - Vanity Angel
REBECCA are essentially a straight up pop group and they are great. I really like this music video and the big rock-pop style of their songs.
P-Model - 2D or not 2D
The graphics for this video are beautiful (as the spooky skeleton above shows). P-Model are giving off a great Kraftwerk vibe here and I fully support it. I'm too distracted by this skeleton to say anything more worthwhile, but they're pretty great.
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Other Japanese artists worth mentioning:
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