THE JAPANESE INDIE THREAD
This thread is for the discussion of Japanese “indie” bands and artists in general. So feel free to discuss whatever J-indie bands you like that may not be popular enough to warrant their own topic.
So instead of just dropping links, why don’t you all tell us a bit about your J-indie journey, your outlook on the scene, and some of your favorite bands? That way, we can all gain a better understanding of each other.
I’ll start.
I suppose what everyone would consider “indie” varies. My J-indie journey began way back in 2007, as I was transitioning from a brief fling with VK and a love affair with the greater J-metal world. So my understanding of what constitutes J-indie may differ from younger or more recent fans.
While I think there is a definite “indie-rock” sound, I come from a school of thought where J-indie was considered more of an umbrella term (much like VK is). So this J-indie umbrella consisted mainly of non-mainstream, (mostly) indie-label and completely underground bands spanning genres like indie-rock, indie-pop, folk, post-rock, math-rock, hardcore/post-hardcore, punk, post-punk, emo/screamo, experimental and other odd sounds…(even certain kinds of jazz, funk, and reggae).
Back then, there was an actual “J-indie” community, so everyone was more or less on the same page about this. So when you said “J-indie”, all of the things that I just mentioned were pretty much implied. Since this was the zeitgeist that I was “raised in”, so to speak, I still carry this idea of J-indie with me til this day. Not sure if this matters or not, but the founder of the NMFT (NEXT MUSIC FROM TOKYO) tours also subscribes to this idea of J-indie and was someone I fellowshipped a lot with back in those days.
I would be interested in hearing everyone else’s thoughts on this as well. Especially since there truly isn’t a central “J-indie” hub anymore. I’d like to know how everyone else has experienced the scene as well.
Some of my personal favorite “J-indie” bands would be: downy, toe, THE NOVEMBERS, lostage, 八十八ヶ所巡礼, ハイスイノナサ, and most recently peelingwards. There’s tons of amazing J-indie stuff out there tho.
Let’s get into it!