Profile: HINOI Team

If you're a EUROBEAT fan and love Jpop, I highly recommend you check out HINOI Team. They are my favourite Japanese dance/parapara group. HINOI Team often do covers for EUROBEAT songs. Some examples include "Night of Fire" and "King Kong."

What I believe makes HINOI Team so appealing is their great voices and energetic songs. I often prefer their EUROBEAT covers over the original.

The leader, Asuka Hinoi, has a great voice as she demonstrates in her early solo career. She sings the highly addictive song "Wanna be your Girlfriend."

Naturally, not all their songs sound great, but I have some that I would highly recommend.

2006 Album - SUPER EURO PARTY

An absolutely great album with a wide variety of dance songs. If I had to buy a HINOI Team CD, "SUPER EURO PARTY" would be the one. The album would be better if that male comedian Koriki was excluded from the album. Koriki ruins some of the songs, but he does provide the EUROBEAT atmosphere. Here are my recommendations:

Recommended songs
The following songs are all energetic and addictive. There's no need to repeat the same description for each song. If I had to choose two, they would be "Just for Me" and "Yeah," since both have amazingly addictive choruses.

• Hey Mr. DJ
  
• Night of Fire (with Koriki)
• Play With The Numbers
• Sing Na Na Na
• IKE IKE
• Just For Me
• Yeah!
  

Here are some of their music videos for these songs:

IKE IKE

Night of Fire (with Koriki)

Yeah

2006 Single - Now and Forever

"Now and Forever" is an incredibly catchy song and a perfect single to follow "SUPER EURO PARTY." Currently, "Now and Forever" is my favourite HINOI Team song. Here is the music video:

2007 Single - Dancin' & Dreamin'

Another great single from HINOI Team. I recommend both "I'M GONNA CARRY ON" and "Dancin' & Dreamin'."

Here is the music video for "Dancin' & Dreamin'"

Lyrics

If you'd like romaji lyrics for HINOI Team songs, I recommend you visit http://www.hinoiteam.glt.pl/.

Profile: Namie Amuro

Namie Amuro is one of my favourite female JPOP singers. When I was first introduced to JPOP, she was the third artist I heard. I really loved her hip-hop style and catchy songs. Even to this day, I am a die-hard Namie Amuro fan. The first music video I saw from her was Put 'Em Up, where Namie Amuro looks incredibly cute (I especially like her mechanic dance near her pimpin red car).

She has made tons of good music videos since then and they can be found throughout the web.

Images and wallpapers of Namie Amuro:






You can find more detailed information about Namie Amuro from the Namie Amuro Wikipedia article. I will simply state who I recommend Namie Amuro for and highlight some of my favourite songs. I believe that Namie Amuro's songs are getting better each time she releases new albums and singles. I'm not a big fan of her earlier work so I'm happy that her songs are always getting better.

I highly recommend Namie Amuro if you like:

• Hip-hop music. She is the "queen of hip-hop"
• Face-paced and catchy music
• Low pitched female voices. Namie Amuro's voice won't shatter your ear drums or break glass with high pitches. Her voice is low pitched when compared to some JPOP singers such as Ayumi Hamasaki and Aya Hirano

Song recommendations (click on the link if available for Japanese and romanji lyrics):



2003 Album - Style

• Put 'Em Up - a moderate paced hip-hop song. This is the first song I heard from her so I'm somewhat biased towards it.
• So Crazy - a moderate paced hip-hop song. The beginning of the song sounds really good and the song itself sounds very unique.
• Four Seasons - my absolute favourite song on this album. Namie displays her amazing voice by singing this slow song. Definitely check out this song if you hate hip-hop songs.

2005 Album - Queen of Hip Hop

• I Wanna Show You My Love - a catchy hip-hop song.
• My Darling - a catchy hip-hop song, which sounds a lot like a North American song because some random guy grunts and says "hey" and "yeah" every now and then.
• Ups & Downs - Namie does a duet with another male singer. The male singer, Nao'ymt, has an excellent voice and complements Namie's voice perfectly.
• ALL FOR YOU - my favourite song from the Queen of Hip Hop album. Namie's voice is amazing as she sings this slow song.
• No - a unique sounding song, which sounds like two songs in one. The song begins as a fast paced hip-hop song. At the 4:20 mark, the song changes to a slow song.

2007 Album - Play

• Hide & Seek - a really unique sounding song, which is quite catchy.
• CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK - one of my favourite Namie Amuro songs. This song is fast paced and really addictive.
• Violet Sauce (Spicy) - another one of my favourite songs from Namie Amuro. I didn't think that a remix of her song Violet Sauce would sound so funky. This song is full of energy and really interesting to listen to.
• Baby Don't Cry - a slow song, where Namie displays her great voice.

2005 Single - White Light / Violet Sauce

• White Light - one of my favourite Namie Amuro songs. I listened to this song way too many times. This slow song is very relaxing and displays Namie's excellent voice. Although White light is a Christmas song, it sounds great all year round.
  

Note: Profile last updated December 27, 2007.

Profile: Monkey Majik

Monkey Majik is my favourite Jpop group. I recommend them to all my friends because I think their songs are absolutely amazing. I have no idea how they make such good songs...it seems every new single keeps getting better and better.

Images of Monkey Majik members:



Instead of plagiarizing the hell out of the Monkey Majik Wikipedia article
I'll simply state who I recommend Monkey Majik for and highlight some of my favourite songs.

I highly recommend Monkey Majik if you like:

• Songs with lots of guitar
• Excellent background music. Most of their songs are really relaxing to listen to, so I always listen to their music when studying or doing homework :)
  
• Combination of English and Japanese lyrics. The two vocalists are Canadian (even better!) so they have songs with pure English, pure Japanese, and a combination of both
• Indie pop. A lot of their songs seem to fit the category of Indie pop. There is really distinct sound to it
• Songs that sound like North American songs! Some of their songs could easily compete against North American songs because the English lyrics and the beats are so good :) No high pitch squealing, cheesy beats, or Engrish here
  

If you are interested in Monkey Majik lyrics, visit my Monkey Majik lyric database by clicking here.

If you want to hear some of my favourite Monkey Majik songs, you can get the Monkey Majik Best 2005-2007 album I created here.

Song recommendations:

2005 Album - Eastview

• 1996 - an English song with excellent guitar.
  

2006 Album - Thank You

• Around the World - Probably their most popular song, since it was featured in a Japanese drama opening. Definitely a creative song.
• All By Myself - An English song, slower paced.
  
• Fly - The first song I heard from Monkey Majik. Almost entirely English, an excellent sampling song for anyone interested in Monkey Majik.
• Stay - A combination of Japanese and English. I really like the guitar in this song.
  
• Turn - A combination of Japanese, English, and interesting beats makes this song sound amazing.

2007 Album - Sora wa Maru de
I am a really big fan of Monkey Majik's Thank You album. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, they decided to release Sora wa Maru de which contained a lot of their new singles and is easily my favourite album of all time. It's rare for me to like so many songs on a single album. However, my most favourite songs are:

• I Miss You - A slow paced song with piano and guitar! Definitely a change in style and it works. This song is in English and nice lyrics.
• Long Shot Penny - Another amazing Monkey Majik song with their unique beats again. An English song with really catchy beats.
  
• Maybe - A fast paced English song.
• Mitsumoto - The chorus for this song is so catchy. This song is Japanese with bits of English.
• NO SNOW IN DECEMBER - Simply another great Monkey Majik English song with great beats.
• Picture Perfect - When I discovered that M-Flo was collaborating with Monkey Majik, I had to pinch myself. I didn't think that would ever happen but I was really glad it did. I am a huge fan of M-Flo collaborations, so I had some high expectations. Luckily, this song is really enjoyable so I wasn't disappointed. This song is a combination of English and Japanese with some rapping.
• Smile - A slow English song from Monkey Majik, which I find quite rare. Definitely a change in their usual style.
• Sotsugyou Soshite Miraihe - A collaboration with SEAMO. If you see the music video for this song you'll find this song slightly depressing. A mixture of Japanese and English with some rapping.
  

2006 Single - Around the World

• Falling - A really interesting song in English with some neat guitar.
  

2007 Single - Change

• Car Crash - I have no idea why Monkey Majik would hide such a good song as part of the Change single. Even worse, why they didn't add it to their recent album! This song is pure English and one of my favourite Monkey Majik songs.

Note: Profile last updated December 03, 2007.

For more information
Monkey Majik Official Site