Jpop: Hajimetal (ハジメタル)

Hajimetal had Kaneko Rie from Ladybaby singing on his track "Giri Gal" before their career took of this spring, but he has several other odd and lovely songs to enjoy. He is really inventive and loves mixing the serene with the somewhat course (which betrays his punk background with Midori).

• Hajimetal ft. Kaneko Rie - Giri Gal
• Hajimetal ft. Mishio Ogawa, Kaneko Rie, hiropon - Hardcore Summer Vacation
• Hajimetal - Last Violence

Jpop: Top 10 of the first quarter of 2016

The jpop top 10 this spring has a mixture of stylish and nerdy, sometimes even in the same video,d epending on your taste. Being me, there is a bias towards the otaku favorites...

First the five follower-ups.

15. Perfume - Flash. Live, the queens of japanese electronic pop rule. Not live, it becomes to static.

14. Dempagumi.inc - STAR☆TT Shichauze Harudashi ne. A must watch video.

13. exist†trace - Dream Rider. Whatever old fans says, these girls still rocks!

12. SKE48 - Chicken LINE. Their latest single has a great Blade Runner reference.

11. Suiyoubi no Campanella - Chupacabra. The 'it' group in Japan right now. Crazy and cool as usual.

And so, we come to the best of the best, top 10;

10. Ladybaby - Renge Chance!. A heavy metal - trans - jpop celebration of noodles. Of course. Welcome to familiar jpop territory.

9. Diachi Miura - Cry & Fight. The dancer and singer is back and this time he focused on the dance number, but the song is pretty nice too.

8. Faky - You. They have delivered stylish looks and poses from the start, but this is the first song that actually felt better than average.

7. Dark DPG - Forever 88. The evil sister group of Natsu no Mamono, they delivers some fun idol songs that is great fun and cosplay to die for (die of?).

6. Natsu no Mamono - Tokyo Moso Forever Young. Well, having seen Dark DPG (above), Natsu no Mamono is a natural companion, with about the same levels of wild dressups and singing, so charming I can't get enough of it.

5. FEMM - PoW! and L.C.S.. Pow! gave us what we expected and L.C.S. gave us something new. I honestly think they need to evelve their concept for the third cycle, but for now this is still great in all its graphicness.

4. Sasanomaly - Synesthesia Ghost. Formally a video of 2015, this had to be here as it has a visual style that's unusual and perfect for the song it illustrates.

3. Metafive - Luv U Tokio. This is what the campaign Cool Japan would want to convey, a modern day metropolitan suaveness.

2. Babymetal - The One and Karate. The princesses of jpop metal are back! Suzuka's singing in english on The One gave me goose bumps the first time I heard it - finally they have that perfect live ballad, and Karate is another great song too.

1. Niji no Conquistador - ↓Alien Girl in New York↑. Yes, I know, it is a idol group, and the song is in some senses a run-of-the-mill idol song. But. But! They deliver it with personality, and the song actually is quite well constructed if you listen to it. All in all it is the perfect combination of typical jpop - charming, nerdy and special.

Jpop: Ladybaby - Renge Chance! (蓮華チャンス！)

No, this is not a bad taste copy of Babymetal. Well. The three members of Ladybaby may be riding on the waves that the idol metal girls of Babymetal has created, but Ladybeard has its own distinctive style that is one part beard, one part scream metal and one part kawaii Japan. This time around they have released two videos for each of the songs from the new single! The first song "Renge Chance!" is an ode to Ramen noodles (You can see the producer from many Dempagumi.Inc videos have been a part of the creation), and the second "C'est si bon Kibun" has been inspired and produced by clothes designer Higashi Kanae.

• Ladybaby - Renge Chance! (蓮華チャンス！)
• Ladybaby - C'est si bon Kibun (セシボン・キブン)

Jpop: Top 10 of the 3rd quarter of 2015

Not so many songs this quarter that I wrote about, but those that there were is very much worth the time.

10. Ladybaby - Nippon Manju. This was bound to happen sooner or later, a cross-dressing western man with ambitions to do growl jpop. Absolutely tasteful and low key. ;-)

9. Dempagumi.inc - various songs. So much to choose from, so much to enjoy of this colorful, nerdy over-energetic but warm jpop.

8. Dotama - Music Valkyrie 2. The rapper that makes me feel he really loves his language, every word of it.

7. Especia - Aviator. More tasteful 80s retro (yes you can use those words in the same sentence).

6. Towa Tei - Luv Pandemic. The rhythms, the sounds. Towa Tei in his element.

5. Meiri Alaha - Crave. A new star that seems very promising.

4. Ringo Shiina - God, nor Buddha. Hans down the most beautiful Japanese video this year with a track that is slightly to avantgarde for me.

3. Gesu no Kiwami Otome - Romance is too much for me. The song text is just perfectly matched to the melody, laid back bittersweet.

2. Sakanaction - Slow Motion. From their re-release album comes a lot of nice videos, this being my favorite,

1. Sakanaction - New Treasure Island. But it was this new song that actually ranks the highest this autumn. The clearity of sound, the rhythms. the song.

Jpop: Ladybaby

After the international success of Babymetal, many have tried to copy the formula, but I think the trio of Ladybaby may be the first to come near. They follow the same idea of a) crossing metal and idol pop and b) having young girls (Rie Kaneko and Rei Kuromiya) doing this, but - and it is a big but - there is a big difference and that comes in the form of its third member Richard Magarey who is a male cross-dressing, wrestling Australian known as Ladybeard who does the heavy metal roars. He has actually been doing this for a while and the cross dressing started a long time ago. It is more a question of that his and the girls time has come, and I actually find them quite charming. Read more at Dazed.

• Ladybaby - Nippon Manju (ニッポン饅頭)
• Ladybaby - Renge Chance! (蓮華チャンス！)
• Ladybaby - C'est si bon Kibun (セシボン・キブン)