When it comes to this challenge, I would usually go to YouTube and sit down for a while with the sole intention of listening to music by two of the new-to-me artists from my list (or any others that attract my attention in YouTube's recommendations)
This week, I ended up listening to new music completely unintentionally, thanks to two different friends who sent me links during chat saying 'listen to this!'
The two this week are both from Asia, but vastly different!
Para:noir
I heard this Japanese rock band thanks to my friend Sparrow. Thanks Sparrow!
Their music is kind of typical to the genre, with some screaming/shouting mixed in with the singing, and some synth(?) on some of the vocals too. To some this might sound like hell, but it works really well! The vocalist has a great voice that reminds me a little of another Japanese vocalist that I like, and the electronic effects on the vocals give the band a more unique sound--I haven't heard any others from this specific country/genre who use effects and shouting on their tracks.
I could ramble more because I'm a nerd for this genre, but I'll stop here.
No official site this time because they've disbanded. Boo.
Akdong Musician (AKMU)
So K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre I pretty much never listen to. But my friend Sazz linked me to this video and said the song was catchy and she wanted the girl's skirt. So I got curious!
This genre really isn't my thing, but the song is catchy. (And that is a nice skirt.) The video is really fun and entertaining, which goes for some of the other AKMU music videos I watched. These siblings have great voices, and the music is also good.
Whilst I can appreciate the talent in this act, they're still not my cup of tea. But I didn't hate them, either--if you like happy pop music, check them out!
AKMU Official Website (note: this site is slow)
And now, a BONUS BAND because they popped up on my Twitter feed right after I wrote this post:
Linaria
This is a shiny new Japanese rock band. So shiny and new that they haven't even played their first gig yet!*
The song in the video above is called 'akai ito', or 'red string of fate'. It's probably obvious from the video, but Japanese folklore says that lovers are joined by a red string of fate, tied at the little finger!
Obviously I can only judge this band on the one song, but whilst it has a pretty typical sound, it's an enjoyable typical sound, with some nice guitar riffs and some memorable lyrics (even if, like me, you can't speak Japanese, you can remember 'ichi ichi ichi, yon ichi ichi'!)
I actually liked this song better on the first listen, and hope to hear more of this band in the future!
Linaria Official Website
(*digging around on the internet gives me the impression that these guys were previously active under a different name.)
...I'm still on this run of liking only half of what I listen to each week, aren't I? I really need to stop with that!
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