Best of 2012: J-Rock Fridays Part II
January 18, 2013The last batch of the best J-Rock videos of 2012, although hopefully not the last list of the year. We’ve been to many places this year and it’s time to revisit.
The Novembers- “Harem”
Starting off part II of the best J-Rock videos of 2012 is another “weird stuff happens in the woods” video! The Novembers’ follow a mysterious gypsy into the woods where she does a sword dance while they look on like Twilight vampires. Haunting!
Aureole- “Live Again”
I really do love these woods videos! This time a mysterious schoolgirl stumbles into the woods and finds a magic sword while Aureole plays their flute song behind a bed sheet. She will protect them from harm.
matryoshka- “Monotonous Purgatory”
A beautiful animated video about a soul leaving its body that could have probably been expanded to a short film and submitted to certain film festivals. A wonderful treat for the 5 year album wait.
NOKIES!- “Oslo”
A depressing tale of unrequited love that most of us can identify with. Even not, you gotta admit that movie projector stuff is pretty darn creative!
nego- “Dog Sweeper”
Tired of that Swedish House Mafia vodka commercial? Nego has a different kind of dog racing video, or at least a starving dog wandering around the desert. The cinematography, wow!
oono yuuki- “Lotus”
So many talented musicians in one room! I don’t know how oono yuuki gathers these people together, but I wish people would flock like that to me.
sakanaction- “Yoru no Odoriko”
It just wouldn’t be a video countdown without sakanaction. “Yoru no Odoriko” has the band dressed in traditional Japanese garb while geishas do the dancing for them.
Love Me Tender- “Mescaliter”
An old fashioned gangster movie shot Instagram style! Will the couple escape before the jazz music ends?
Hisashi Suto GATALI ACOUSTIC SET- “Weekend -Theme From the Great Escape-”
An electronic beat is not what I’d expect from an artist with “acoustic” in their name, but here we are with this sweet voiced angel helping out Mr. Suto. I wish she was on the album clips I’ve heard but I guess I’ll just watch her dance here.
kindan no tasuketsu- “Toumei Kan”
Kindan released almost as many videos as Holidays of Seventeen this year and they’re all worth a look. “Toumei Kan” doesn’t have a lot of weird things outside of editing, but it’s the fun on the beach video for those who don’t want to be anywhere near the beach.
uminote- 「もはや平和ではない」
Probably the video with the smallest budget on this list, but uminote still managed to pull off a clever one-take PV. Just imagine if someone like Quentin Tarantino got his hands on this. Real heads getting bashed in!
Pay money To my Pain- “Sweetest Vengeance”
It’s sad knowing that K died just two months after this video was released, but revisiting it reveals some incredibly insightful lyrics about life, friendship, depression. Not many vocalists have left us with such great clarity.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Band Links
Hisashi Suto GATALI ACOUSTIC SET: web, CD Japan
kindan no tasuketsu: Tumblr, CD Japan
Love Me Tender: web
Pay Money To My Pain: web, CD Japan
uminote: blogspot
See you next Friday for new videos or every day at Tumblr!
J-Rock Explosion 
Many thanks for taking free time in order to publish “Best of 2012: J-Rock Fridays Part II |
J-Rock Explosion”. Thank you yet again -Dusty