Chiptunes and Japanese (Anime, J-Pop) music (Page 1 of 2)

It's been a while since I've seen a question about Japanese pop harmony come through reddit's music theory sub and it's probably because I keep giving the same reply. Your question isn't exactly the same, but my answer to it is similar.

As for harmony, Japanese harmony question is that the harmony in J-pop used to be present in American (and rest of world) pop too, but gradually fell out of favor, coming to a head around the time of yacht rock and lasting a little longer in R&B than in rock.

Here are some songs that are as melodically and harmonically fluid as the songs you shared, hopefully these are playable in your country, and yes, they're intentionally old and chronologically ordered as best I could:

Skip to 3:36:

Of course, artist's selection and your own subjectivity from the anime and video game subject matter are the sources of much of the bittersweet feelings, and that's not a bad thing: the music works because it augments that feeling instead of diverting or diminishing it.

As for the name of the style, there's nothing wrong with simply calling these anison (anime songs) or VGM, people who know what those are will understand what you're talking about.

I have found more examples in soundcloud of what I'm looking for:

https://soundcloud.com/t4n3/namachuukei … et-scc-ver

https://soundcloud.com/sarasaneia/hydli … of-freedom

Also this tunes by this J-Pop bands (all compositions by Nakata Yasutaka):

Last edited by Delek (Apr 8, 2016 7:21 pm)

Delek, you're far from crazy. I completely agree with you.
While I'm not a learned musician as far as theory is concerned, I'm almost positive that it goes beyond chord structure, progression or scales used in specific ways and stretches into the territory of "feel" or "intention".

I've been an avid fan of anime since childhood, so music from and related to anime has been a huge influence on my ear/sensibilities. It lead down the rabbit hole to checking out a lot of great Japanese bands/musicians and totally opened my mind to listening to music with lyrics outside of my native tongue.

CCS has some great op/ed jams. I'll see your GROOVY and raise you one Catch You!

https://youtu.be/KFlkdNGVJHA

Love that smooth cheesy jazzy guitar/bass interplay. The horns really make things pop.

City Hunter was part of my introduction to anime as a kid, so it holds a special place in my heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re8d36wQy9w

My dad brought home a tape of "Bay City Wars" with Korean subs he found in a totaled car at work. I'm pretty sure that was my introduction to J-Pop with the excellent syth-funk ED by Yoko Onigome "Rock My Love"

https://youtu.be/Xj0XzpcKuE0

(Sadly the only video I could find is no longer viewable in the US, but maybe somebody outside of ol 'murrica will get lucky.)

Macross was my other first, best love. This jam from Flashback: 2012 is an almost perfect balance between cheese and melancholy.

https://youtu.be/m1sBNUq4hQ8

While the watchability of certain later iterations remains hotly contested, the sound directors and composers have continually served up gooey-sweet blobs of steaming cheese that are hard not to enjoy.

https://youtu.be/mip7Kx4o7Lw

Modern anime soundtracks are kinda hit or miss these days, but nano.RIPE's squeaky post-pop-punk hits the proverbial ball out of the park of my heart every time.

https://youtu.be/SvoQtRDaIkg

Which kind of leads me to the other logical place I'd go musically, given my background. Japanese Punk, most of which leans heavily towards the "Pop" side of the spectrum.

Often described as "The Japanese Ramones", The Blue Hearts are a personal favorite.

https://youtu.be/YivPA-TT_eE

Touching on aspects of new-wave, punk, 50's-60's rock & roll, hard r&b/soul and pure saccharine pop music, Sheena & The Rokkets were a powerful one-of-a-kind brand of weird.

https://youtu.be/OAosNoQYUAs

Gotta kick props to the bad 90's pop-punk homies too. Hi-Standard kept it (relatively) classy.

https://youtu.be/7IcFhKHtyoE

The passion, intensity and dedicated, yet unforced oddness of POLYSICS has made them an all-time top-ten band for me.

https://youtu.be/wO9jTVO_XRA

Tons of love for classic synth sounds and they even incorporate chip (fakebit?) elements like their spiritual predecessors Yellow Magic Orchestra.

https://youtu.be/LmtoiRyPS3o

Okay, back from the tangent and on to the topic. What does all this music have in common besides being Japanese? A certain sort of wistfulness, or melancholy underscores the sweetness for the most part. A lot of it is rooted in the popular music of the day, but goes an extra step towards pure melody that would often be seen as cheesy. A lot of the time the music comes from the heart, (or is written to sound that way) but is also unabashed in it's tendency to deliver a cheapshot to the melody-based pleasure centers in the listener's brain.

It's the cheese that binds us.

That is my point, there is more to what you're asking than instruments and notes, so the answers are subjective, and there are thousands of songs that qualify.

Last edited by chunter (Apr 9, 2016 2:03 pm)

Cool, I think I understand what you're talking about a little more. How about these songs? I think japanese music from the 70s/80s really shows the formation of this style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-xf5Pt1NrA (Edit: whoops, this is the wrong song Most of Yamashita's good shit isn't on youtube. I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Q8GNy186s works a little better tho, mainly the chorus)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf8QzEHCzDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zVoOHgqj9k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRNobgLHRzA (Again, there're better examples from Matsushita but none are on youtube)

Also, from what I've seen, that sort of feel has kind of become a trend in recent japanese & western electronic music, and I definitely think it stems from electronic music artists that grew up listening to japanese video game & anime music. Some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaIoTmn29Gc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHkZPGgDb-U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbD_AJAgp8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftSUchAdVTE (I think this one gives more of a gospel vibe harmonically, but the fast, almost cutesy instrumentation sort of pushes into the territory we're looking for)

Like what Imaginary said, I think what you're looking for is something that other genres have fucked around with, but not really exploited so unabashedly until it became a trend in japanese pop music. Although I disagree with him that it's all in the attitude; I really think it has something to do with melody and chord progressions that I could maybe explain if I knew anything about music theory.

My guess is that it has something to do with taking normal, "happy" chord progressions/melodies and sticking in sharps & flats in a way that begs for resolution, a little bit like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJCI2jxrIq8). I've noticed that sticking accidentals in otherwise "happy" chords and melodies in my own music sort of brings out the feeling a little. Although I'm not sure how it technically differs from the similar but different vibe I get from certain american gospel, soul, & disco songs.

Also, I remembered this great video that touches on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtPx6WdNM30

One last thing, I feel like playing a shit ton of snowboard kids as a youngin really made me have an attachment for this style and I think its soundtrack really fits under what you're looking for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkH0qjQ8GNw

Last edited by Cooshinator (Apr 9, 2016 3:20 pm)

There's a wealth of links in that article!
Not sure about our guy, but I've checked out some of the classics like Pizzicato 5, and had traced back other outfits like Perfume and Capsule to their roots in the later half of the movement.
(I've also heard people mention that Boom Boom Satellites were big fans of early Shibuya-Kei, and that's where their jazzy leanings come from, but who knows.)

If you're looking for a similar geographically-based movement with more of a rock & roll/early synth flavor, check out the Mentai Rock movement.

You're totally right. I think that for the most part, the composition delivers the backbone of the musical experience. My point was just that there are definitely also other less tangible elements at work. Say instrument choice, or vocal/lyrical themes.

Great set of links there by the way man...

WOO SNOWBOARD KIDS!

Bomberman 64 has some absolute jams too.
https://youtu.be/kLU2JA1XBG8

We must think alike! When I saw this thread it was 6am, and I had to go to work, then to the dentist after, and all day long the thought of this thread kept popping into my head. I kept thinking "What am I doing here, I HAVE SOMETHING TOPICALLY RELEVANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO AN INTERNET FORUM." Haha.

As far as giving it a concrete label, I'm more or less at a loss myself.
I've read somewhere somewhere about early J-Pop/Idol Music as having themes of, or relation to "oriental sentimentalism" or "oriental sensibilities". Google turns up little to nothing music realted on either term, so It was probably just somebody talking out their ass.
The term "Melodramatic Popular Song" has also crossed my radar once or twice, but also not much there either I'm afraid.

Like Coosh pointed out, I think we may just be looking at something that falls outside of the bounds of an easy label.

Is it just "Japanese pop sensibility"?

Dude.
Emmanuel Horvilleur!

Super entertaining video. Awesome homage to MPB in the bridge! Maybe not quite a perfect fit stylistically, but the feeling is spot on. I'll be looking into more of this...
Totally reminds me of Os Mutantes, who I'm sure you know of, but let's enjoy some anyway!

https://youtu.be/WxwQhrfTEc8

Last edited by Imaginary (Apr 10, 2016 10:31 pm)