BIG BANG (빅뱅)? Who the heck are they? BIG BANG is the biggest boy band act in Korea at the moment. They released their first album in 2007, and just recently released their second album, “Remember”. Korea isn’t the only place where they’re a hit… They returned to Japan for their single, “Number 1″ off [...]

Photo Credit: Jalapeño It’s been a while since I posted the last Ni-Ongaku Spotlight feature. In this post, let’s take a look at the upcoming all-girl J-Rock group, ORESKABAND (オレスカバンド). The 6-member band, who got their start during middle school in 2003, first preformed at Anime Expo in 2007 with their hit song, “20 Tips” [...]

Next, there’s the J-Rock group that helped make Fullmetal Alchemist a legendary anime. L’arc~en~Ciel’s “Ready Steady GO!” is the second opening to the series. L’arc has been around for a long time–since 1994, to be exact. Older hits include “Fourth Avenue Cafe”, “Spirit Dreams Inside” (as heard in the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within movie), [...]

The next Ni-Ongaku Spotlight features Jero (ジェロ), who made a strong impression among young and old Enka fans alike — even overseas. Enka is a style of music in Japan that is similar to country music in the United States. When a Enka singer preforms, he/she wears a kimono. Jero’s choice of clothes is special [...]

The next song in the Ni-Ongaku Spotlight series are the Heartsdales featuring Soul’d Out with “Candy Pop”. Soul’d Out consists of MC Diggy Mo, the Human Beatbox, Bro Hi, and DJ Shinnosuke. They provided beats for the Japanese version of The Boondocks, and did the ending theme for the anime Yakitate JAPAN! with the song [...]