The boys of Comeback My Daughters are back in NYC recording their major label debut for Columbia. Look familiar? That’s because they reshot the exact same scenes in the exact same locations as their for video “Why” in reverse order. New hairdos, great new song.
DQS- “Rescue featuring Kondo Tomohiro”
How many drummers does one band need? This supergroup has 10, plus a guitarist, bassist and keyboardist, all from bands I’ve posted about before that I’m not listing off here. Of course, it kind of takes the wind out of DQS’ sails when only 4 of them show up to film a PV that mainly features their special guest vocalist, but I’m sure it’s amazing when they all perform live!
The Cherry Coke$- “Drunken Pirate”
A little late for St. Paddy’s Day, but The Cherry Coke$’s swarmy pirate theme has finally been realized. Grab your accordions and flutes and join them at the Jolly Roger.
The hardcore jazz trio 385 finally released their first album earlier this month and it’s as crazy as its lead single. Don’t let the slow piano intro fool you!
sloppy joe- “Once and For All”
It’s hard to tell what’s going on in this video with all the washed out colors, but that’s not going to matter when euphoria strikes after the trumpet hits its stride.
Momo Kazuhiro- “Rock’n’roll Heart (Is Here To Stay)”
Mo’some Tonebender’s fearless leader is once again on the road in support of his second solo album. This extra long single has plenty of rock’n’roll staples, such as the never ending do-do-do’s.
“Dogma” is one of The Novembers most hard rocking singles and they invited the scariest looking dudes to pose for the PV. Are they in the mafia or do they just hate smiling? I wouldn’t want to cross them either way!
FoZZtone- “Go Way Go Way~No Way No Way”
A two part video from FoZZtone! “Go Way Go Way” is the new ED to Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal and is as fun as any other anime theme. “No Way No Way” is the darker of the two singles and gets a little weird in the middle.
CreepHyp- “Yu, Sansan”
Hey, mister. Thanks for putting the making of segment at the end instead of the middle of the video this time. Here we have a pregnant woman with an abusive boyfriend. Instead of fighting back, she takes it out on CreepHyp’s singer. Productive.
Although this week’s storms and floods continue to knock off my internet connection every few minutes, it’s Friday and I have a thick stack of new J-Rock videos for you!
Bugy Craxone- “Iikagenna Blue”
Hello, darlings. Bugy Craxone has a charming new video in which they spell out the lyrics in cue cards and t-shirts. A lot of work went into timing this just to make you smile!
Gotch- “The Long Goodbye”
It’s been a while since I’ve cared for Asian Kung-Fu Generation, but Masafumi Gotoh’s solo project Gotch is a pleasant surprise. “The Long Goodbye” has a more chill approach than AKFG’s stuff and will be released as a 7″ for Record Store Day. Hopefully he’ll have a more substantial release in the future.
illion- “Beehive”
In other solo news, Radwimps’ Yojiro Noda has released his second illion video. “Beehive” is a creative piece with exploding fruits that swirl around like paint in this dusty studio apartment.
Another column of videos I already featured on Tumblr! It’s okay, but I’d like to get some love on my real blog every once in a while too. By the way, I finally added “J-Rock Explosion” to our header image. Maybe I’ll change it again in another 6 years…
a flood of circle- “Dancing Zombiez”
The Walking Dead may have ended its season last Sunday, but the walkers have decided to “dance” for a special J-Rock video. Will a flood of zombies eat this rock trio or get a drum stick to the eye?
uhnellys- 「体温」
Rap/rock duo uhnellys takes us on an emotional ride as a man says goodbye to his wife on her deathbed. We see him breakdown and eventually accept her passing, a very moving and accurate portrayal of anyone who has lost a loved one.
sugardrop- “Love Scene”
Fall asleep where you are. The lead singer of sugardrop performs his version of planking with a blanket, which includes some humorous locations such as an escalator and the middle of the freaking street. He better be careful or this will turn into a crime scene!
In volume 93 of J-Rock Fridays, we have serial killers, crossdressers, a hair salon for children, wind instruments, big meat and more!
uminote- “Words Kill People (Cotodama the Killer)”
Cotodama may be a ruthless killer when he has his Casshern mask on, but he’s just a teary eyed father when his baby girl confronts him. I knew uminote could make an epic video if they had a budget!
The SALOVERS- “Yuka ni wa Kimi no Cardigan”
Vinyl records, rock posters, ramen. Just your average hipster’s college dorm room taken over by The SALOVERS. Pick your cardigans off the floor, they’re clean enough to wear to English Lit.
Her Name In Blood- “We Refuse”
HNIB’s new singer looks a lot like Andrew W.K. when he’s wearing that dirty white shirt. He didn’t come to party but I think Andrew would be proud.
New video Friday with some of your favorite J-Rock bands and quite a few new ones!
Nile Long- “Rush To the Groove”
Last year The Brixton Academy reformed themselves as Nile Long. Their first EP was a solid collection of 80s inspired synthpop, not a huge departure from TBA but a little bit more dance oriented. “Rush To the Groove” is the first single off their first album and although it’s certainly dance worthy it manages to be melancholic at the same time.
One OK Rock- “Clock Strikes”
One OK Rock switches from English to Japanese vocals seamlessly in yet another single that will dominate the J-Rock airwaves. You can find it along with the theme song to the Rurouni Kenshin movie on their new album Jinsei x Boku released this week
Bigmama- “Kimi Omou, Yue ni Ware Ari”
A serious song calls for a serious video and this is the most emo we’ve ever seen Bigmama. Tons of sad staring off into the distance closeups and the singer finally breaking down in front of a bouquet of roses. Dramatic, much?
Hello all! I had a wisdom tooth pulled last Friday and am still on a lot of pain killers so forgive me if I’m more incoherent than usual. I was thinking it’s time to start doing individual video posts. Let me know what you think!
Elen Never Sleeps- “Shine On Me”
“If you love me, don’t fall asleep.” My favorite track off Elen’s new EP, “Shine On Me” again borrows footage from some old black and white film. A reflective video with plenty of dancing, kissing and bare breasts.
The fin.- “Glowing Red on the Shore”
The fin. takes us on a grainy chillout session at the beach as the sun’s going down. A very literal interpretation of the song title but a great second track from the band. Looking forward to more from these guys.
Hotel Mexico- “A.I. in Dreams”
Two videos in one month, Hotel Mexico is really making up for lost time! There has been a live studio version of this song kicking around since last year but this Richard Law directed video really cranks up the creepy.
Hotel Mexico is back! It sounds like the singer decided to switch up his vocal style from high pitched to typical indie mumble for their first ever music video. See if you can make sense of the dolphins, fireworks and lesbians.
White Ash- “Would You Be My Valentine?”
It’s hard to call White Ash’s “Would You Be My Valentine?” romantic when I can’t understand a word he’s swooning, but a timely Valentine’s single nonetheless! A cute video about a girl who somehow finds time to make her boy chocolate while walking backwards and waving at babies. Hopefully White Ash reciprocates on White Day!
0.8 Byo to Shogeki.- “10050 Cielo Drive”
Slow motion bounce balls! If you needed more proof that 0.8秒と衝撃。are insane, they named their new single after the address of one of the Charles Manson “family” murders (but also where Trent Reznor recorded platinum Nine Inch Nails album The Downward Spiral!)
Now that we’re done with the best videos of 2012 we can get around to dedicating this column to new J-Rock videos! By coincidence there was a new J-Rock Fridays every week in January. I don’t know if you enjoyed that but we’ll probably go back to biweekly from now on even though I have to cut a lot of videos each time (I guess that’s what Tumblr’s for).
sakanaction- “Music”
Get your headphones ready it’s the time of the year that sakanaction releases new music. Here we’ve got a bit of a split screen video with the vocalist tiredly watching a cute girl running away from handsy dancers.
Man With A Mission- “Emotions”
When emotions run dry, the wolves come out to play! I can’t tell if their English has gotten progressively better overnight or if they hired a foreigner to sing the verses but this song is pretty tight.
Baroque- “Tatoeba Kimi to Boku”
If you enjoy watching women wrestle each other in wet bikinis then “Tatoeba” is your new favorite J-Rock video. I was shocked by the negative reaction over at Tumblr, but still this is the first visual kei video I’ve watched all the way through in a long time.
J-Rock Explosion 