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silver
Admin
Japan
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894 hardcore releases
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 Posted - 2008/11/17 : 11:59:09
Actually if you really want to get technical, oldskool was creeping into Japan at a famous club called Juliana's Tokyo in 91-93, avex (record label) were releasing alot of XL recordings stuff, which included SL2 and The Prodigy...
Check this CD release from 92, has SL2, The Prodigy, Channel X etc on it...
http://www.discogs.com/release/243987
Also released this is 93
http://www.discogs.com/release/221288
avex never touched happy hardcore or drum n bass, they totally skipped it... instead avex 100% invented their own music called para para and sold millions of CD's and started making J-pop to much success... Para Para was actually extremely cheesy fast euro music with a set dance routine....
Q-records opened in 95-96 and distributed happy hardcore and drum n bass to Japan they were the only company to do it and distributed all over Japan, they went bankrupt in 2000-01 because they couldn't get out of their 10,000 pound a month buying contract with alphamagic, which most likely sent alphamagic bankrupt as well.
Metropolis in 96 was one of the first hardcore parties, I don't have the details anymore but here is the 97 event details:
http://www.happyhardcore.com/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=33795
Hardcore Kitchen started after or around the first Metropolis party in 96...
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skellus
Starting Member
Poland
6 posts
Joined: Nov, 2008
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Posted - 2008/11/20 : 20:09:18
quote:
Originally posted by ferocious:
AFAIK Ultra-Sonic played in Japan of 1995. Their Tekno Junkies LP was released to the Japanese market at that same time. Unsure on Scott Brown, though could of done.
Maybe. It is almost impossible to track Japanese hardcore to its beginnings, especially with lack of cooperation from most known J-Core artist (at least towards me).
EDIT:
Thanks Silver! I find it very interesting, trying to get to the beginnings, even though I am not that very big fan of hardcore music it still is quite fascinating.
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Edited by - skellus on 2008/11/20 20:56:33 |
silver
Admin
Japan
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Posted - 2008/11/21 : 09:21:30
I just told you where it began, that is the facts there :)
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ferocious
New Member
United Kingdom
73 posts
Joined: Nov, 2005
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Posted - 2008/11/21 : 10:02:25
Yeah but I don't get how Avex never touched happy and drum n bass when Ultra-Sonic and Scooter albums were on this label and there's several jungle compilations. Their latter "Rotterdam Techno" compilations have a few things like Scott Brown, Paul Elstak and Bass Reaction on them.
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silver
Admin
Japan
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Posted - 2008/11/21 : 16:18:00
Ask avex, they have release a few to experiment nothing major major, they were making too much money from para para and jpop...
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JAKAZiD
Junior Member
United Kingdom
80 posts
Joined: Dec, 2005
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Posted - 2008/11/22 : 01:47:55
A couple of Japanese hardcore producers have said to me that the first defining J-Core track (ie hardcore music with Japanese vocals) would be Luna-C's track "Ataru" (catalogue number KFX3): http://www.discogs.com/release/192951
Though of course as silver mentioned, rave music already had a following in Japan through clubs such as Juliana's Tokyo, then later on Velfarre (though 'Velfarre' was more famed for eurobeat music).
1. What are the tools/software used by Hardcore music makers?
The same as producers here, though I would say that there is a tendency more to use hardware over there. For example DJ Shimamura is still using a hardware sampler and most of his sounds are coming from rack-mounted synths. Same as kors k/Omega Force/Teranoid and Buzzmasta. Doujin artists are a bit different though; I can tell that many of them are using VSTs since I've heard distinct preset sounds in a few releases debuting at Touhou and Comiket events.
2. How popular is J-Core in Japan? What is the media response to it? Are there broadcasts of "concerts" (can't find better word)? How often such events are held? How "safe" are such events? What about in other countries all over the world?
It's less popular than in the UK for sure; very much still an underground area. Several record shops, such as LPU Records, have closed down (though their web-store is still open). The more popular events, such as Xtreme Hard, Happiness and Happy Jack are held monthly. Others are more sparse.
I would say that they're safer than events in the UK since the Japanese police are much more heavy-handed when it comes to drugs (numerous times it's been reported that police have waited outside a party and demanded a urine sample from anyone acting too oddly).
As for events being broadcast, there has been a couple though they aren't distinctly hardcore. A couple of notable ones I can think of are Da/Le's "Intersect Fractional." (shortened to In/Fra) parties, which have live audio and video feeds online, and the annual Hado Channel broadcasts. Hadoch isn't actually set in a club; it's just an online party (complete with VJ and chat room!) in which Japanese hardcore DJs perform, probably from the comfort of their own homes. Certainly worth checking out next year though.
3. What are the genres represented by J-Core musicians (question is how much should I trust Wiki in understanding the description and choosing a good representative)
A huuuuuge variety of genres. Take this CD for example:
http://www.discogs.com/release/1368136
UK hardcore, makina, freeform, gabber, speedcore and breakcore all on the same disc! Pretty much mirrors the diversity of their events, and why I'd prefer to go to one of theirs over 8 hours of the same ~170bpm kick-drum-led hardcore they play here any day.
More recently there's been a bigger influence of doujin on the Japanese hardcore scene. Doujin music (fanmade arrangements/tributes/homages to music from anime/otaku culture) existed a long time before J-core, but with people like REDALiCE, Minamotoya (源や) and DJ 92/Muzik Servant having interests in both areas, a lot of doujin items end up getting sold at booths at the big doujin events, such as Comiket, M3 and Reitaisai.
4. And finally, what is the most popular J-8-Bit-Core artist (if any?) The only I know is Sabrepulse and he isn't J- ^^;
Not really an expert on this. To be honest, though they're not particularly hardcore, I recommend YMCK, who are a 3-piece band that make very happy, cute J-pop style music in 8-bit style. Might not be your cup of tea though!
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[url]http://www.jakazid.net/
http://www.cillitbangremix.com/
http://downloads.imorecords.com/label/?id=260
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silver
Admin
Japan
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 04:21:28
It depends what you call hardcore, Juliana's Tokyo was most certainly "rave" music and even when hardcore was breaking the UK it still stuck to the rave side of the sound. But with that said certain tunes we would call hardcore outside of Japan were played and released on Juliana's CD's...
Japanese probably don't see Juliana's Tokyo as hardcore because what we call oldskool or early hardcore never came to Japan, the closest to that was Juliana's Tokyo which did play the odd oldskool tune here and there.
Most Japanese might say hardcore music basically started with happy hardcore is 95-96 with DJ Uraken and DJ Ryo and soon after Q-records, but I do say that had Juliana's Tokyo did touch on some elements of early hardcore.
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MAtRiCks
Advanced Member
Canada
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Joined: Sep, 2006
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 05:36:37
quote:
Originally posted by silver:
avex never touched happy hardcore or drum n bass, they totally skipped it... instead avex 100% invented their own music called para para and sold millions of CD's and started making J-pop to much success... Para Para was actually extremely cheesy fast euro music with a set dance routine....
I would like to tie some loose ends here:
AVEX did not invent Eurobeat (Para Para is the name of the dance you refer to, not the music genre, which is named Eurobeat). They simply took over the Eurobeat market.
Eurobeat goes as far back as the 80's so it's actually older than Happy Hardcore. It's very hard to give a clear and precise definition of the whole genre, but let me try: It's an evolution/fusion of 80's italo-disco and pop-rock music, and is produced almost exclusively in Italy, by a select group of music labels: Time Records, A-Beat-C, Delta, Boom Boom Beats, Hi-NRG Attack, SCP and Vibration to name the most important ones. It is sold almost exclusively in Japan, where clubs (promoted or not by AVEX) pay groups of young dancers to choreograph original routines for each Eurobeat songs.
The ParaPara dancing phenomenon isn't exclusive to Eurobeat, and close variations of the dance have also been adapted to Trance and Hyper Techno music, and are referred to as TraPara and TechPara. Heck, even our good old Shooting Star has gotten the ParaPara treatment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqrniwMo-dU&feature=related
for music samples of Eurobeat, I suggest visiting the MySpace pages of some of the main Eurobeat labels:
http://www.myspace.com/deltadance
http://www.myspace.com/scpmusic
http://www.myspace.com/abeatc
the label Hi-NRG Attack also sells their back-catalogue on Juno. Here's my favourite song from them: http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/products/1284612-02.htm
For more informations about Eurobeat, I suggest visiting http://www.eurobeat-prime.com/
NOW we can get back to J-Core music :P
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DJ MAtRiCks - http://www.rave.ca/member/matricks
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whispering
Moderator
Finland
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 06:43:14
quote:
Originally posted by MAtRiCks:
AVEX did not invent Eurobeat (Para Para is the name of the dance you refer to, not the music genre, which is named Eurobeat). They simply took over the Eurobeat market.
Japanese and European Eurobeat arent the same thing really.
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Edited by - whispering on 2008/11/24 06:44:08 |
MAtRiCks
Advanced Member
Canada
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 14:38:39
quote:
Originally posted by whispering:
quote:
Originally posted by MAtRiCks:
AVEX did not invent Eurobeat (Para Para is the name of the dance you refer to, not the music genre, which is named Eurobeat). They simply took over the Eurobeat market.
Japanese and European Eurobeat arent the same thing really.
I hope you aren't mistaking Eurodance and Eurobeat here.
There is very few Japanese Eurobeat, and it's comonly called J-Euro. It sounds pretty much exactly like regular Italian Eurobeat, because the J-Euro producers tend to emulate the sounds of the Italian Eurobeat labels like A-Beat-C. remember, even if Eurobeat is produced almost exclusively in Italy, it's sold almost exclusively in Japan, where 99% of its fan base resides. It still is totally European music, only with a strong japanese influence and a lot of Eurobeat is still deeply rooted in the Italo-disco and pop-rock sound.
Here is a good example of J-Euro: Mioco - Reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTKORx_Uwo
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Densetsu13
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Canada
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Joined: Oct, 2006
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 15:30:33
quote:
Originally posted by whispering:
quote:
Originally posted by MAtRiCks:
AVEX did not invent Eurobeat (Para Para is the name of the dance you refer to, not the music genre, which is named Eurobeat). They simply took over the Eurobeat market.
Japanese and European Eurobeat arent the same thing really.
Like Matricks is trying to explain, Eurobeat is not Eurodance. J-Euro is a part of the Eurobeat genre only that it differs in language (J-euro is sung in Japanese of course) and that the producers and labels are actually Japanese themselves for the most part.
Despite Eurobeat being almost exclusively marketed in Japan there are only a handful of Japanese Eurobeat labels (such as Plum, Fantasy, Akiba Koubou, etc.) compared to the major Eurobeat labels from Italy.
Also note that the link he posted above from 'mioco -Reality' is a track from the label Plum.
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whispering
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Finland
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 18:58:45
quote:
Originally posted by MAtRiCks:
I hope you aren't mistaking Eurodance and Eurobeat here.
There is very few Japanese Eurobeat, and it's comonly called J-Euro. It sounds pretty much exactly like regular Italian Eurobeat, because the J-Euro producers tend to emulate the sounds of the Italian Eurobeat labels like A-Beat-C. remember, even if Eurobeat is produced almost exclusively in Italy, it's sold almost exclusively in Japan, where 99% of its fan base resides. It still is totally European music, only with a strong japanese influence and a lot of Eurobeat is still deeply rooted in the Italo-disco and pop-rock sound.
Here is a good example of J-Euro: Mioco - Reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTKORx_Uwo
Ive been listening Eurodance for 15 years, i know what it is :p
Eurobeat was known as Italo Dance/Disco, Avex Trax started releasing stuff after that (from Italian producers, that differed from the other stuff). It isnt the same genre really (Like UK Hardcore and HHC arent the same). Eurobeat (The genre name) doesnt exclusivly mean the stuff in Japan. Thats why i sayd its not the same. As th stuff produced for the Japanese market is diffrent from the "European" Eurobeat.
quote:
Originally posted by Densetsu13:
J-Euro is a part of the Eurobeat genre only that it differs in language (J-euro is sung in Japanese of course) and that the producers and labels are actually Japanese themselves for the most part.
Despite Eurobeat being almost exclusively marketed in Japan there are only a handful of Japanese Eurobeat labels (such as Plum, Fantasy, Akiba Koubou, etc.) compared to the major Eurobeat labels from Italy.
Also note that the link he posted above from 'mioco -Reality' is a track from the label Plum.
There are loads of albums that are sung in Japanese, but are still produced by Italians. What i'm trying to say is that Eurobeat does not equal to the stuff produced for the Japanese market. E.g. by a quick search theres a compilation from the 80's that uses the term and was released in Germany:
http://www.discogs.com/release/625052
Also a vast majority of the Eurobeat in Japan is sung in english.
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Edited by - whispering on 2008/11/24 19:15:10 |
MAtRiCks
Advanced Member
Canada
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Posted - 2008/11/24 : 23:50:28
You're right Whispering, and that's why I said Eurobeat is ALMOST exclusively marketed in Japan. Back in the 80's and early 90's, Italo Disco was still popular in Europe and the rest of the world, and even in recent years some albums filled with Italian material were compiled and released in Russia: http://www.eurobeat-prime.com/database.php?album=549#a549
Since most people on these boards aren't familiar with Eurobeat, I tried to give a modern explanation of the genre, and nowadays Eurobeat unfortunately has close to no exposure outside of Japan.
Also, I looked at the tracklist of the 80's album you posted, and I recognize a lot of producers/vocalist that are still active and kicking in the Eurobeat world right now, such as Ken Laszlo. The stuff that AVEX started liscencing in Japan during the 90's isnt all that different from the stuff that was super popular in Europe in the late 80's...
By the way, I like your analogy to UK/Happy Hardcore, but in my book these two genres aren't that different either.
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DJ MAtRiCks - http://www.rave.ca/member/matricks
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Jackol
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United States
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Joined: Nov, 2008
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Posted - 2008/11/25 : 01:37:50
Regarding question 4, you'll wanna check out Reformat the Planet.
It's a documentary about 8-bit, and there are a bunch of japanese artists in it.
Most notable are A.O.M.A.N.I., Bubblyfish, U-SK, & Meso Kasumi.
Also look up 8 Bit Peoples.
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kawaiietly please
New Member
United States
22 posts
Joined: Sep, 2008
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Posted - 2008/11/25 : 02:33:20
DJ Sharpnel / Killingscum (same group/person) are the first that come to mind.
Mad Invaderz is the best track ever. bzzzzzzzzrp
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