3 of the best JRock songs from October

We’ve made it to another spooky season and through a month that felt both very quick and very slow at various different points. However, no matter how strangely time appears to be working at the moment, there is always time for a JRock roundup. (Nice – Ed.)

Do you need some new music for your playlists? Or something from one of our old favourites here at Rice Digital? Be sure to check out our JRock Playlist on Spotify, which is jam-packed with music from some of the best acts in Japan.

Sense – Band-Maid

The full version of this song might have only hit YouTube and Spotify this week, but there is no way we couldn’t include a new song by Band-Maid on our JRock playlist this month. This is a song that is immediately dramatic and raw, with an opening riff that would be at home coming from any metal band. It sounds both fresh and familiar, with a slightly different sound coming through compared to Band-Maid’s previous work, but with the soaring vocals and incredible guitar work we’ve come to expect from them.

Kanami Tono is one of the best guitarists in the world and Sense is the perfect song to display her skills. Miku Kobato can sing almost any note you put in front of her. If you’re sleeping on this group because of the cute outfits (Who is reading Rice Digital and dismissing cute girls in cute outfits?! I’ll ‘ave ’em – Ed.), then you are doing yourself a severe disservice.

One More Time – Scandal

It is a good month when we get new music from both Scandal and Band-Maid, but in October we were well and truly spoiled. I am continually surprised that Scandal is able to change their sound so readily, but they somehow make all their new music sound so different to what they’ve done in the past while also feeling true to themselves. This is a group that is getting better and better, despite spending the last fifteen years touring together.

There is a sense of fun to One More Time that bleeds into almost everything else that Scandal does. The music video gives the impression of a group who are still happy to be finding out more about themselves even this far into their career; it’s something I really enjoy seeing, as watching people love what they are doing is one of life’s great joys. There is a reason these four are one of the biggest names in JRock right now and look to stay that way for a long time.

I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Shintenchi Kaibyaku Shudan ZIGZAG

I have a lot of fond memories of I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith, so I was excited to see this cover pop up on YouTube. I want to start by saying that this a very good cover of a great song. IF anything, I think it might be a little too close to the original. We don’t get to see as much of the group’s unique sound come through, though singer Mikoto does a great job of emulating Steven Tyler’s vocals, a tough feat for any singer.

We definitely get to see the band’s unique style in the music video, though. It plays out like someone put the plot of Armageddon through Google Translate a few dozen times, opening with Mikoto shooting lasers from his hands at asteroids before they hit the city and getting weirder from there. (Sounds like an improvement – Ed.) Again, there is great joy in seeing artists having fun. This trio is clearly very talented to be able to pull this song off, but the fact that they play their roles in this video so straight and over-the-top makes everything that happens in it that much more wonderful.

That’s it for another of our favourite JRock songs for October. Be sure to check out our Spotify Playlist for even more of the best music Japan has to offer at the moment. And feel free to let us know your favourites down in the comments or in a letter for the Rice Digital Friday Letters Page!

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Trent Cannon

Trent is a fan of anything that doesn't take itself too seriously. He is frequently hilarious and adorable. If 240 character takes on gaming, anime, or rat pictures are your thing, follow him on Twitter.

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