Open Minded Music

Either you’re searching a specific genre played in a different key, or you’re tired of the same old stuff you can listen to everywhere, Japan is the right placewhere to satisfy all your music needs.

Due to its huge dimensions, the Japanese music industry is unavoidably filled with standard sounding groups, but also (and in a pretty large part) with original artists, and this is definitely one of the things that will drag you the most into the depths of this music scene. While many bands represents clear genres and don’t necessarily create something innovative, many others can really stand out of the water thanks to the amount of creativity in both the musical and artistic side. You can find many bands playing a classic genre in a very personal way, or other ones mixing completely different influences together obtaining innovative and valid results. While there are many artists doing the same thing around the world, many Japanese artists seems to be more open minded than certain western artists, avoiding to impose themselves limits of any kind.

There are many examples to understand what I mean. Sakanaction, one of the most successful Japanese acts of the last years, is one of the greatest groups to take in consideration when talking about innovation: they mix many different genres together (Electronic music, club music, rock, pop rock, progressive and more) under a quite easy listening key, showing impressive skills and a boundless approach to music composition; I genuinely think the most important things in music is to convey feelings, and artists like Sakanaction do it by embracing music as a unique entity, instead of imposing themselves limits that would only get in the way of their creativity.

It’s usually hard to see particularly innovative groups gaining popularity and reach the top of the charts in the western side of the world. Yet, the Japanese audience can get to know and recognize acts like Sakanaction thanks to the exposure bands like them can achieve, reaching the top of the charts and bringing fresh and innovative music to the masses; as consequence, more people have access to sophisticated and valid music, resulting in an overall richer musical culture that’s free of boundaries. Pretty great, isn’t it?

– Alex