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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Robert Berry <rberry@gandronics.com> |
| Subject | J-rock |
| Date | Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:38:22 -0400 |
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So my daughter has recently become obsessed with the manga series "Fullmetal
Alchemist" and its two anime adaptations (which, I must admit, are really
good).
One thing that has struck me is that both anime series use some really great
Japanese power pop as opening and closing theme music. My daughter, who
(bless her) has good musical taste, is almost as obsessed with this music as
she is with the shows themselves. And judging by what I'm hearing, there
must be some great, Audities-friendly music being made in Japan.
But from I can tell, most of this music is virtually impossible to get in
the U.S. (legally, at least) unless you're willing to pay exorbitant CD
import prices. Yeah, there are a few artists that have U.S. releases (e.g.
Shonen Knife, Puffy AmiYumi), but those seem to be the exception. I've had
very little luck finding the artists from the "Fullmetal Alchemist" show
(e.g. YUI, NICO Touches the Wall, SID, Miho Fukuhara, Porno Graffiti, Yellow
Generation, Asian Kung-Fu Generation ... those are just a few).
What's the deal? Why is it relatively inexpensive to get hold of, say,
Swedish power pop, but so difficult to find anything from Japan? Why isn't
this stuff downloadable from somewhere? (This is 2011 ... it's silly to ship
a disc halfway around the world!) Or is there some great domestic source for
Japanese music that I just haven't found yet?
Somebody out there must know more about this corner of the music world than
I do...
Robert R. Berry
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