Polish-Japanese radio
I got a word from a friend, that on a Polish internet page called "city of music", organized by one of more popular (albeit sh*ttier if I am to express my personal opinion) radio stations, there's a station dedicated fully to contemporary Japanese music. Free to listen, 24 hour non-stop streaming internet radio in good quality, huh? Much more than I have ever accomplished in good old days of Sunday evening lemontune, so I run to the page ASAP to check it out.
I did.
So far, my verdict is 4 out of 10, Taec won't show you his teeth.
First of all, it's only music, not a word of even prerecorded news, gossip, what's-the-best-riceball-stuffing-ever or I-actually-feel-like-ironing-now (I love your late night radio, KREVA-sama, please get better soon) radio talk, nothing. Oh, excuse me, commercials. But aside from that, it sounds like someone has turned on their Winamp and went away. There also seems to be no themes, while styles, artists, release dates, all changes very randomly. So this someone has apparently set their playlist on shuffle before going away. OK, you might be thinking, but maybe I can at least listen to something new, original, get to know some cool artists I've never heard about? Sadly, no such thing either. Their playlist reeks of anime convention dance parties. Not that I have anything against those, Hell, used to DJ them myself and I had a lot of fun doing so, even though my heart kinda hurt when I was deleting all the cool music in favor of anime-openings-and-Hamasaki's-alikes-hits-that-everybody-knew.
Well, there's a difference between a dance party (you play songs for everyone to dance together, so the tracks have to be well known and liked, or the party dies) and a radio show. Especially a 24-hour-non-stop radio. It really could afford an indie hour once a week (and I mean Imai LEO or Miho-like indie, not some random visual kei bands that have nothing but looks*, looks sorta don't make it on the radio), or if that's too much, then at least something new? Where's Iconiq? She's all over Tokyo, you can't get more mainstream than her, but she doesn't seem to exist on that radio. Lecca made her major debut this year, but they don't know her name. Jasmine has new hair and an album finally. immi rocks the clubs, and her new album gets a special display at Tower Records, but... yup, you've guessed, not on this radio. And yes, I could go on.
After all that whinnying of mine you may wonder why the hell do I give them those 4 points anyway. Well, basically, for the idea. For recognizing the fact people in Poland want Japanese music, and making it official, even if in a very fanmade, missing-the-point way. For the fact someone is spending their time compiling that playlist, even if it runs on shuffle, because most likely, they are not getting paid a broken yen. So it's actually very cool that they do spend their time delivering j-pops and j-rocks to hungry ears all around.
Even if just to thank them for that, you might wanna go and give them a listen. They don't speak a word, so you don't have to worry about not understanding Polish either. And they do play some old hits. So if you ever miss Gackt...
RMF Nippon
waits for you I guess. And who knows, maybe it will get better with time?
*EDIT: Since what I have written initially sounds like a bad example of generalizing indeed, let me explain that I do not mean visual kei equals bad music. What I meant is that the term indie stands for so much more than just VK, and if anyone were to create a j-music-indie-show on the radio, they should be careful of that. VK bands are easy to find and confirm, cause they stand out (duh! they're meant to), and you can create a several-hour-long playlist consisting only of them, over lunch. But if you're aspiring to be a radio host, you should by no means limit yourself to a bunch of guys in dresses *just* because they are Japanese and wear lace. This though, sadly, takes place very often at least in Polish fandom, and that's yet another reason why I used Visual Kei as an example. I might as well have written exactly the same about shibuya-kei, only I have no experience of ever stumbling upon a shibuya-kei party/panel/fanclub/whatever in Poland. As for 'jrock indie' (read: obscure Visual Kei mostly very random) - I have a lot. I'm sorry for writing sloppily in the first place ;).
***
PS: I turn out to be desperate enough to buy a ticket to d&n 10th anniversary event at ageHa even though it's on freaking Wednesday and it's very likely I'll end up going there alone. I'll still go tho. Jazztronik, Genki Rockets, Daishi Dance, Taku Takahashi, Morita from Studio Apartment, SUGIURUMN, Nakamura from i-dep, and Jazzin'park all playing one night one place? And, like 20 other people? Hell yeah!
I did.
So far, my verdict is 4 out of 10, Taec won't show you his teeth.
First of all, it's only music, not a word of even prerecorded news, gossip, what's-the-best-riceball-stuffing-ever or I-actually-feel-like-ironing-now (I love your late night radio, KREVA-sama, please get better soon) radio talk, nothing. Oh, excuse me, commercials. But aside from that, it sounds like someone has turned on their Winamp and went away. There also seems to be no themes, while styles, artists, release dates, all changes very randomly. So this someone has apparently set their playlist on shuffle before going away. OK, you might be thinking, but maybe I can at least listen to something new, original, get to know some cool artists I've never heard about? Sadly, no such thing either. Their playlist reeks of anime convention dance parties. Not that I have anything against those, Hell, used to DJ them myself and I had a lot of fun doing so, even though my heart kinda hurt when I was deleting all the cool music in favor of anime-openings-and-Hamasaki's-alikes-hits-that-everybody-knew.
Well, there's a difference between a dance party (you play songs for everyone to dance together, so the tracks have to be well known and liked, or the party dies) and a radio show. Especially a 24-hour-non-stop radio. It really could afford an indie hour once a week (and I mean Imai LEO or Miho-like indie, not some random visual kei bands that have nothing but looks*, looks sorta don't make it on the radio), or if that's too much, then at least something new? Where's Iconiq? She's all over Tokyo, you can't get more mainstream than her, but she doesn't seem to exist on that radio. Lecca made her major debut this year, but they don't know her name. Jasmine has new hair and an album finally. immi rocks the clubs, and her new album gets a special display at Tower Records, but... yup, you've guessed, not on this radio. And yes, I could go on.
After all that whinnying of mine you may wonder why the hell do I give them those 4 points anyway. Well, basically, for the idea. For recognizing the fact people in Poland want Japanese music, and making it official, even if in a very fanmade, missing-the-point way. For the fact someone is spending their time compiling that playlist, even if it runs on shuffle, because most likely, they are not getting paid a broken yen. So it's actually very cool that they do spend their time delivering j-pops and j-rocks to hungry ears all around.
Even if just to thank them for that, you might wanna go and give them a listen. They don't speak a word, so you don't have to worry about not understanding Polish either. And they do play some old hits. So if you ever miss Gackt...
RMF Nippon
waits for you I guess. And who knows, maybe it will get better with time?
*EDIT: Since what I have written initially sounds like a bad example of generalizing indeed, let me explain that I do not mean visual kei equals bad music. What I meant is that the term indie stands for so much more than just VK, and if anyone were to create a j-music-indie-show on the radio, they should be careful of that. VK bands are easy to find and confirm, cause they stand out (duh! they're meant to), and you can create a several-hour-long playlist consisting only of them, over lunch. But if you're aspiring to be a radio host, you should by no means limit yourself to a bunch of guys in dresses *just* because they are Japanese and wear lace. This though, sadly, takes place very often at least in Polish fandom, and that's yet another reason why I used Visual Kei as an example. I might as well have written exactly the same about shibuya-kei, only I have no experience of ever stumbling upon a shibuya-kei party/panel/fanclub/whatever in Poland. As for 'jrock indie' (read: obscure Visual Kei mostly very random) - I have a lot. I'm sorry for writing sloppily in the first place ;).
***
PS: I turn out to be desperate enough to buy a ticket to d&n 10th anniversary event at ageHa even though it's on freaking Wednesday and it's very likely I'll end up going there alone. I'll still go tho. Jazztronik, Genki Rockets, Daishi Dance, Taku Takahashi, Morita from Studio Apartment, SUGIURUMN, Nakamura from i-dep, and Jazzin'park all playing one night one place? And, like 20 other people? Hell yeah!