Some of the non-Idol music release from 2017 I enjoyed.
This is a bit late, but I tend to write in spurts. I did an earlier post about my favorite 2017 idol releases. This isn’t necessarily a “top 10” or “my favorite things” post, just some things I bought and enjoyed.
More and more Japanese bands are available on Spotify and iTunes in the US. A lot still are not. I have a Japanese iTunes account and will use it with Japanese iTunes gift cards to buy music that is not availible in the US. For releases that I can’t get digitally in a timely and easy way, I buy from CD Japan.
(For Japanese iTunes, I have a work flow to get the songs onto all my devices. I’m not sure if it’s 100% legal, so I’ll just say it involves ffmpeg and manipulating metadata.)
Head Phone President / Realize
HPP has been one of my favorite bands since I discovered them. Their more recent releases have been more “straight ahead” rock with a touch of metal. While I think Folie a Deux and Prodigium are HPP at their finest, Realize is still a good rock album.
FROZEN CAKE BAR / BATTLE OF GUILD
Frozen Cake Bar is a band a recently discovered. Rock with metal and electronica. Two vocalists - one clean, one “harsh”.
Ghost Cries / Deorum Festum
I really enjoyed their first EP and saw on Youtube that they had a new release. They have put more emphasis on the “dramatic” aspects of their music.
BABYMETAL / LIVE AT TOKYO DOME
Though they have not released any new music in a while, Babymetal released DVS and Blu-Ray recordings of their 2016 two-night Tokyo Dome performances. This features longer versions of some songs on a huge two tiered stage.
BAND-MAID / Just Bring It
Band-Maid had a busy year. They released an album and an EP. “Just Bring It” was a bit “poppy” for me at times, but had plenty of rock that fans of Band-Maid expect.
MUTANT MONSTER / Abnormal
While not as “punk” as some of their other releases, Abnormal is a good Mutant Monster album.
DOLL$BOXX / high $pec
The second collaboration between Fuki and Gacharic Spin is a more rock oriented EP.
This video is blocked in the US, but you can see videos for each song on the EP at https://dollsboxx.sliptrickrecords.com