Poll: Why don't you listen to Asian music more?

[Joseph]

I'm doing a little consumer poll... the topic is "Why don't you listen to Asian music more?" Please vote now:

www.audioasia.net/news/p001.html

I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.

Please let me know of any technical problems.

[Mystical Sand]

Hey, Joseph, long time no see.

How's life?

Did your poll. I listen to a fair amount of Japanese music, if not Asian music overall, but the prices, coupled with how often singles and albums come out for all the groups I like, makes it hard to keep up a very big collection.

[Joseph]

Hi Liz! How are you? Things are going fine at AudioAsia. Wish I heard a little more from Andrew, though.

Since we're entering the summer session, work at the university has been quite slow lately.

I decided to conduct this poll because I really wanted to understand why it is that Japanese music is still really far removed from the mainstream West, even though Japanese anime and manga are extremely popular. I guess that's why I joined AudioAsia, lol.

Believe it or not, I've actually been getting into Enka lately. I don't know if you know what Enka is, but it's basically traditional Japanese vocal music. It's sometimes hard to find music I like, especially among all the commercialized fluff, but I find Enka to be really beautiful music with great instrumentation.

I actually just ordered two singles by the Enka singer Aki Yamamoto. Out of the Enka samples I heard, hers were my favorite. One of the good things about singles is they usually have karaoke versions, which is true for Yamamoto. That means I will try my hand at being the Enka singer, hehe.

In the same order, I also purchased Dixanadu by Moi Dix Mois, and an Overhead Champion (trance) CD set.

[foosh]

i dont think japanese music is easy to obtain legally. compared to anime/manga, you see them everywhere now just about. goto the video section, theres usually some anime dvds even if the selection isnt too great. anime is airred on tv as well so theres more exposure. however, rarely will you find japanese music in the music sections. especially since groups like MOVE have no US distributors, everything has to be imported.

only a small percentage of people order music/videos online.

[Mystical Sand]

@ Joseph - I was going to say almost exactly what foosh said before my internet kicked me off: Most foreign music, with the exception of that Spanish/Latino music craze that happened a little while ago (seems to have lost some steam now), and that brief stint with TATU, seems to be confined to the background here in the states.

Anime and manga are getting to be widespread; every B&N or Waldenbooks or Borders that I go into has a pretty decent manga spread, and anime's all over television, now, and has its own sections on digital cable. Japanese music, on the other hand, is pretty much seek-and-find on an individual basis. Some states have stores that stock them; nowhere around where I live does, especially now that Suncoast went out of business. The best shot I have at buying Japanese CDs over here for any decent price is at anime conventions. Other than that, it's basically buy online or pirate. :/

To answer your question regarding how I am at the moment - I'm okay; surviving, heh. Been kind of hectic lately, since I went back to work for the summer after only being out of school for five days. I usually give myself a little more of a break, but I'm going abroad starting in August, and I need the money. Gotten more papercuts from filing and fighting with the copy machine in the last week than I got the whole rest of the year combined, but other than that... lol.

*keeps editing* I'm sorry, I'm a bit slow and tired. XD;

Yes, I have heard of enka before; a friend of mine at college is really into it. I think I've heard him drop Aki Yamamoto's name before. My Japanese pop culture professor mentioned at one point that appreciation for enka over in Japan is considered a something of a sign of maturity, since most of its fans are getting on in years (the idea being that the older you get, the more you appreciate tradition). I haven't heard enough of it to have a particularly solid opinion on it yet, though.

I recently got back into listening to Janne Da Arc's stuff in preparation for going to Hirakata-shi, which is where my Japanese university is, and the city where they debuted, but to my great sadness, they disbanded in January. They're all doing solo projects now, but my hopes to see them in concert have been rather smashed. ; . ; I'm keeping every crossable appendage crossed that I get to see m.o.v.e while I'm there. XD;

[Joseph]

Oh, you're going to Japan next semester? My cousin Erica Ward is too! Are you going with her??

Um, since you're studying Japanese, I wonder if you might help me look at a webpage:
www.kissdum.com/spe.html

It's a new, if long, interview with my favorite music group Two-Mix. I'm so ecstatic that II Mix Delta is coming out with a new single on July 4 called "Toki wo Koete"! I tried translating the first quarter of the page or so, but I got stuck in a few places. Apparently, Minami Takayama and Joe Rinoie are going to be doing "twin vocals" now (I guess that means singing together at the same time), which they have never really done before.

One of the most interesting parts of the interview was when Rinoie mentioned that early in Two-Mix's career, because of their association with Gundam W, Two-Mix featured 'battle speak.' Out of seven years of listening to Two-Mix continuously, I've never really thought about it like that before.

I'm so sorry to hear that Jeanne d'Arc has been disbanded. Speaking of mourning things, my favorite Japanese translation service Japengtrans.com, seems to have gone down. =( I was going to ask them for help with translating this interview.

[mr2nsane]

i remember two-mix from somewhere, i remember i have one of their songs stuck in my head called rhythem emotion.

[Mystical Sand]

@ Joseph - We're going at the same time, yes, but different schools. Erica's going to Kwansei Gakuin, I believe, and I'm going to Kansai Gaidai.

Not sure how much help I'm going to be with the interview, but I'll see about looking at it sometime when I'm not at work. My break's not long enough to sit down with the dictionary, lol.

I haven't listened to Two-Mix in a while. Miss 'em. Probably ought to remedy that. XD Miss Gundam Wing, too, for that matter...

Erk, that sucks about the translation site. I know the feeling. Any time Jim Breen's site or that JEDI place goes down, I start freaking out, haha.

@ mr2insane - "Rhythm Emotion" is one of the Gundam Wing theme songs. :) They also had songs for that show called "Just Communication" and "White Reflection," if you've ever heard those.

[Joseph]

Both Erica and her older sister have been to Japan before. Both of them are great at Japanese. Erica stayed with a host family once I think 2 years ago. Erica's older sister Emily actually trudged her way through a Japanese science class. She actually managed to get by, but still .

Rhythm Emotion is on their second album BPM 143. BPM 143 is actually my most favorite album. It has my most favorite song "Eternal Motion."