HearJapan

Japanese

HearJapan To Go Unheard

June 18, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this HearJapan To Go Unheard

We received some sad news over the weekend.

HearJapan, a digital music distribution service with a lot of Japanese pop/rock, as well as some interesting game and anime soundtrack selections, is closing down on June 30, 2012. In a statement on their website, they explain that one of the reasons they have to close down is that they invested a lot of money into a “2.0” site redesign (which launched back in February), and they’ve been unable to recover the costs for that update.

On a personal level, I’m saddened about this. They’ve released some good albums to the English-speaking market, including some we’ve reviewed over the last couple years.

Again, however, we’d like to note alongside the folks at HearJapan that there are still two weeks left. So be sure to scour the site and purchase anything you think you might want before the site shuts down!
Japanese

Help Japan With HearJapan

March 14, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Help Japan With HearJapan Share this Help Japan With HearJapan

We’ve all heard about the devastation in Japan, and people are likely wondering how they can help. Our friends over at HearJapan have just announced a fundraiser that will be running all this week where 50% of all sales will be donated to the charitable group Japan Platform. This is an easy way to give, and while you may be asking yourself, “Why only 50%?,” HearJapan will actually be taking a loss on this and writing it off as their contribution to the relief efforts.

Check out the HearJapan catalog which features over 5,000 artists and 40,000+ songs, all with streamable clips. You can also learn more about Japan Platform here.

Hit the jump for the official press release from HearJapan. (more…)
Chip Music, Japanese

I Herd U Liek UwakiP: “Uwanosora” Review

May 22, 2010 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments Share this

I’m not a huge fan of those fancy-shmancy Vocaloid sound banks, such as the surprisingly popular Hatsune Miku voice. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to make good music with vocaloid. Rare, in my mind, yes. Nico Nico Douga is flooded with Hatsune Miku stuff.

But a lot of it is just crappy covers. I’m willing to give someone writing original music the benefit of the doubt.

That’s why I checked out artist UwakiP’s EP, “Uwanosora,” available digitally at HearJapan. A nice mix of standard synth pop, chip tunes, and *sigh* Hatsune Miku is what I found across this album, which features pretty cutesy cover art. To learn more, read the review in full, which appears after the jump! (more…)
Japanese, Reviews

Elektrifying! ElektLyze’s Intolerant Space (Review)

April 3, 2010 | Surasshu | 3 Comments Share this

I don’t know about anyone else, but to me, the Japanese vocaloid scene is truly an amazing phenomenon. It shows some of the best sides of Japanese indie spirit, which is marked by a huge supportive community and a sort of pride in being small-time. This is especially interesting when compared to the relatively small music communities you see in other countries–they tend to focus on making it big above all else. While there are certainly downsides to this underground spirit, one thing you can’t deny them is productivity. Hundreds of songs are being made by the various composers of the vocaloid scene. Apparently all the Japanese composers needed was someone who could sing… like a robot.

Anyway, ElektLyze is a group of three people: composition by Treow, lyrics by NaturaLe and art by Ichijou Meguru. Their best-known work (and the one I know them from) is on the superlative collection of vocaloid tracks called Supernova. Their track, “Blindness,” which was also their debut track as a group, is one of the darker and edgier tracks on the album, employing some great jazzy melodies and very creative sound effects to build a sound that strays quite far from most of the piano-rock that you hear in the vocaloid scene from the likes of supercell and iroha. It’s certainly one of my favorite vocaloid songs. I can’t say much about the lyrical content, since I’ve never seen a translation of their songs, but I’m sure it’s solid.

So will Intolerant Space measure up to the standard set by “Blindness?” Find out after the cut! (more…)
Featured, Game Music

A Man Named Hirokazu Tanaka: Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta Interview

January 28, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Before you get too excited, this is not Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka we’re talking about. While Hip Tanaka was responsible for the music on the Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta single that we reviewed last month, it turns out that he wasn’t the mastermind behind the project. It was actually another Hirokazu Tanaka who isn’t a musician at all!

Thanks to the folks at HearJapan, we’ve been able to get in touch with this Hirokazu Tanaka to talk about this single, how he came to organize the Hirokazu Tanakas for this project (he even has a website for people named Hirokazu Tanaka), and his thoughts about Hip Tanaka, names, and what’s next for the group. It’s pretty wild, and be sure to pick up the single from HearJapan if you haven’t gotten around to it yet!

Our interview with Hirokazu Tanaka, after the jump! (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Hip Tanaka Finds His Voice: Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta (Review)

December 12, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Hip Tanaka Finds His Voice: Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta (Review) Share this

We recently posted the announcement from HearJapan that Hip Tanaka is back in town. Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta is his new single featuring a choir of Hirokazu Tanakas along with some quirky chip music reminiscent of his old days at Nintendo, and supposedly is has Tanaka in newspapers in Japan.

While the bulk of Hip Tanaka’s music was created during the early Nintendo era on titles like Metroid, Kid Icarus, Mother, Donkey Kong, and Mario Bros., he hasn’t been completely absent in recent years, creating several arrangements for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and even having a track featured in Beatmania. This is the first original track I’ve heard from him, and yes, from the description above, you can probably gather that it’s pretty strange!

Read more about Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta in our brief review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka Finds 10 Guys With His Name, Releases New Single on HearJapan

December 8, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 5 Comments Share this

Yes, Nintendo legend Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka is back, and this time with a project that has nothing to do with videogames. “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta,” or “Hirokazu Tanka Song,” is a short and unsurprisingly quirky single featuring the voice of Hip Tanaka himself along with 10 other dudes named Hip Tanaka. See the above video for maximum weirdness! It’s apparently all the rage in Japan right now. It’s a fun concept, and this announcement is made even more exciting by the fact that it’s being made available online a whole week ahead of the official Japanese release date of December 16, 2009. We haven’t heard from him since Super Smash Bros. Brawl where he arranged a few tracks for the game, so this is big news!

As it turns out, he’s teamed up with HearJapan, an online music store based in Japan that caters to an English-speaking audience. They’ve been around for two years and already have a massive catalog of videogame, anime, J-pop, chip, and even vocaloid music to supplement the standard rock, jazz, and classical releases. I can’t believe we haven’t heard of this site before, but we recommend heading over and checking out the Hip Tanaka single along with the rest of their catalog.

Do you have a favorite Hip Tanaka soundtrack from his early days at Nintendo? Will you be picking up his single, and what do you think of the rest of the music that HearJapan has to offer?

Check out the official press release regarding “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta” from HearJapan after the jump. (more…)