m-flo has been holding it down on the Japanese popular hip-hop scene since the turn of the century. Since 1999, the iconic group has released 5 full-length albums, remix albums, 2 best-of collections, over 20 singles, and more.
Here at SparkPlugged, I compiled a list of my favorite m-flo LPs countdown-style. My thoughts on each [...]
Who isn’t a fan of Rush Hour? Better yet, who isn’t a fan of Jackie Chan? Everybody likes Jackie Chan! It’s like a prerequisite for being normal.
Rush Hour 3 is no let down. Being a instant fan of anything Jackie touches and the Rush Hour series on top of that, how could I be [...]
Johnny’s has been supplying Japan with gooey bubblegum pop music for years now. One of the acts under Johnny’s Entertainment, Tackey & Tsubasa have tried to make things a little less sticky with their latest single, “Samurai”.
Say the name “Johnny’s” and watch my face pucker as I step back with repulse. While I have [...]
One of the most poignant stories that I’ve read recently was the short story, On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning by the great Japanese author Haruki Murakami. 1500 words (approx.) have never moved me so much. The story about lost love [...]
The English language has an interesting place in Japanese society. Roman characters show up all over the place — in the form of English words or romanized Japanese. English is prevelent in Japanese music as well. Whether it’s in lyrics, song titles, or band names [...]
Following the successful December release of RADWIMPS’ 4th album “Okazuno Gohan” (”おかずのごはん”), the band is back with some semi-new coolness.
Almost exactly 2 months after “Okazuno Gohan” hit store shelves, RADWIMPS released their first feature DVD, “RADWIMPS 4.5″ (”RADWIMPS Yon ten Go”) on February 6th. The new and exciting DVD features information on RADWIMPS and [...]
It seems like many pianists who are good musicians, songwriters, and vocalists can often find much success in the realm of popular music. Suemitsu Atsushi (末光篤), aka: SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH posseses those “good” abilities and more.
SUEMITSU in ROCKIN’ON JAPAN Magazine
Originally from Hiroshima, the graduate of Nagoya Music University has recently burst into [...]
There’s going to be a double (or triple, quadruple, depending) review of the album later up on the site, but not till Shay gets his copy of green chord since, in his words, he’d “like to save his ears for the CD” instead of succumbing to the necessary evil of internet piracy. God bless his [...]
With green chord, ACIDMAN’s latest album just around the corner — it’s due for a February 7th release — it looks like their promotional efforts are in full force, trying to get the word out to any unfortunate souls who haven’t heard of them. green chord looks set to be yet another successful concept album [...]
I stumbled into many interesting shops while cruising the downtown shopping district of Kumamoto. From designer clothes stores to hip-hop boutiques, there was a store for every style I could think of. The clothing shop that caught most of my attention was a t-shirt store named graniph.
graniph logo, graniph.com
I was walking by the stores, [...]
