Being a student in Kyoto

くるり　－　京都の大学生

Genre: indie
Song style: acoustic, bluesy rock

An song in honor of the time when I was a university student in Kyoto... feels so long, long ago. This comes from band Quruli, whose members all went to Kyoto's 立命館大学 (Ritsumeikan University). I'm proud to see some Kyoto-ites make it so far in the music industry. Actually, the Kansai area has a lot of successful musicians! This post is also to celebrate Quruli's new compilation album, out "僕の住んでいた街" which came out May 26 (okay so a little bit old news but hey), which this song appears on. Also haven't had enough chill music on this blog for a while. I miss Kyoto, Kansai, and Japan...

Piano interlude

batapy - 9mm Parabellum Bullet medley

Genre: rockin' piano!
Song style: a piano medley of post-hardcore band 9mm Parabellum Bullet's work

And now, for a brief piano interlude before the flood of new releases coming on May 12! I've really admired this youtuber for a while. He(?) makes amazing piano covers of 9mm Parabellum Bullet and other artists such as Muse and People in the Box. He's become so popular that he's starting to play some concerts in Japan. He really manages to keep the soul of the songs and make them sound very "rock" despite using the piano as the conveyor. Even if you don't like 9mm, you may enjoy this music and the talent behind it. If you're curious, the three songs in this medley are: Heart-Shaped Gear, 次の駅まで, and Punishment, three of my favorite songs from the band. I know you're probably sick of all the 9mm posts... don't worry this will (probably) be the last til a next release. But please check out batapy's amazing channel!

The new yes

Salyu - 新しいYES

Genre: indie, pianoy
Song style: beautiful, soft, and artsy

I was enraptured by this song when I heard it on an Oricon countdown a week ago. It comes off of her month-old album "Maiden Voyage" as the first single. She's just one of those women who seems so powerful and embedded in their artsy folksiness. She has been called the "Japanese Bjork" and her vocals remind me a bit of Ego' Wrappin. I don't know her other work, but I'll look into it someday when I feel contemplative and ready to be whisked away.

Who needs vocals

Pia-no-jaC - 台風　(Typhoon)

Genre: piano rock
Song style: powerful, jazzy, makes you want to flamenco!

I'm not much of a music-without-vocals fan, but I just couldn't ignore Pia-no-jaC. Every couple of weeks in Kyoto, I would buy a small pastry and stop by the sad and deserted shopping mall Shinpuukan. MTV Japan would blast on the large screen and vibrant, fancy stores were open to the nonexistent customers who came by. I always came here for this one gag-gift store on the second floor, to buy up weird goods like miso-flavored toothpaste or kanji-practice toilet paper. This song from Pia-no-jaC would always be playing. I thought it was cool but slightly a one-trick pony. I came back to Japan over half a year later, and visited this store again. The same song was playing and then I knew I just had to get their cd. This Osakan band does cool renditions of popular classical songs as well, and recently released a second cd on that theme. Please check them out!