Miyavi - 一匹狼論

There is a story behind how I got into this artist’s stuff. Oh yes. One night in 2005 or so I was surfing a message board for Korean pop culture, and saw a banner in someone's profile that had a gothy-looking picture of someone in heavy black makeup and with many-a-facial-piercing, and, being the shallow creature I am, I went, "Ooooh, who's that pretty person!?" So I looked him up and ended up staying up ALL NIGHT listening to his music. I became a fan literally overnight. What can I say? The quirkiness of the music hooked me and has never let go.
Note: Wow, despite how notoriously difficult it is to find Japanese music uploaded in good quality, I found this in HD!
 
Miyavi A.K.A. 雅 - 一匹狼論 [Ippiki Ookami Ron - The Lone Wolf Theory]:

Miyavi - 愛しい人（ベタですまん。）-2006 ver.-

Whoooo, it’s been too long since I posted a song by this Japanese artist, who’s near the top of my list of favorite artists of all time. This time I’m going for an uncharacteristically quiet song of his, a ballad of sorts. I’ve tried to round out my posts of the rocker’s music by using songs from different albums of his, so this time I’m drawing from an album I haven’t posted anything from before, which is more pop-oriented than a lot of his others. I’m including the music video because it’s both pretty and odd, and exemplifies how weird this guy is. PLUS, I just found out that this artist is becoming known to a mainstream American audience thanks to an acting role he played recently… and even was interviewed on Ellen! So as a longtime fan I’M FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW.

Miyavi A.K.A. 雅 - 愛しい人（ベタですまん。）-2006 ver.- [Itoshii Hito (Beta de Suman.) -2006 Ver. - Beloved Person (Cliché, Sorry.) -2006 Ver.-]:


Here’s the music video:

Miyavi - 君にファンキーモンキーバイヴレーション

This eccentric artist has always had the guitar skills on lockdown, but his vocals often were unique but left something to be desired in terms of skill. When his acoustic album was released and I heard this song, though, about his singing I finally thought, “Now he’s getting it.” He goes through phases of different types of music and genres he focuses on, and this song marks the period when his music became clearly blues-influenced.

Miyavi A.K.A. 雅 - 君にファンキーモンキーバイヴレーション [Kimi ni Fyankii Monkii Baibureeshyon - Funky Monkey Vibration for You]:


Hey, it’s a video of him playing this song live!:

Miyavi - ♂パパママ♀～望まれヌBaby～

This artist likes to try making music of different genres, which annoys some people but I kinda like the versatility.  This is a darker song than the ones I posted by this artist before. Despite much of his music falling under the broad label of “rock,” a lot of it’s quirky and upbeat. This, however, is clearly angsty and more typical of the genre, I suppose. As far as I can tell, it’s about a child raging about an unhappy home life. There is profanity in English, which is weird because most of the song is in Japanese. Go figure.

Miyavi A.K.A. 雅 - ♂パパママ♀～望まれヌBaby～ [Papa Mama ~Nozomare Nu Baby~ - Papa Mama ~Hoped-for New Baby~]:

Miyavi - 嗚呼、悲しきかな雇われの身のブルース

This favorite artist of mine makes a return to this blog! For the longest time I didn't even understand what this song is about (and when I asked my friend who speaks Japanese as a first language she also had no idea), I just thought it sounded hilarious. More recently I came to find out it’s about hating your job. It’s basically the movie Office Space, in song format.
Note: This really should be listened to in HD, because it allows you to better appreciate the weird sounds.

Miyavi A.K.A. 雅 - 嗚呼、悲しきかな雇われの身のブルース [Aa, Kanashiki Kana Yatoware no Mi no BURUUSU - Oh, the Blues of Being Employed in Sorrow]:

Miyavi - 死んでもBoogie-Woogie

Ahh, it’s time for more of this artist’s very special, very awesome brand of crazy. This time it’s a single, though, so it’s a little more… palatable? Anyway, as I’ve said before, he’s first and foremost a guitarist/songwriter and his voice can take some getting used to, but I love the weird sound effects he makes, and he’s a very talented musician. I believe he played all the instruments on his first album, and this single is from that time period so I highly suspect that applies to this song as well.
Note: OK, so normally I try to avoid posting videos that show the artist if I think people’s perception of the artist’s appearance will get in the way of the listener’s perception of the music, and in the case of Miyavi this is especially true since it’s jarring that that scratchy voice comes out of his freakishly pretty face, but I really can’t resist posting the MV this time because it lets the wackiness shine through. I used to watch this to put myself in a good mood because I found it so funny.

Miyavi - 死んでもBoogie-Woogie [Despite Death Boogie Woogie]:


And the highly amusing MV:

Miyavi - 阿呆祭 -アホまつり-

I tried to post this like 200 times yesterday, but the website was down so it wouldn't let me.  I guess I'll just post 2 today to make up for it.  Pretend this was posted Thursday, May 12, 2011.

WTH?  How have I gone this long without posting anything by this artist?!  He's one of my absolute favorites because he is, as one fan put it, "insanely beautiful and beautifully insane," and this is one of the first songs I heard by him.  His scratchy voice takes some getting used to, but his energy is incredibly infectious and his musical talent is undeniable.  Somehow, his weirdness is confidence-inspiring and his music has an effect on me like nothing else.  This is one of the first songs I heard by him.

Miyavi A.K.A. 雅 - 阿呆祭 -アホまつり- [Aho Matsuri -Aho Matsuri- - Festival of Fools -Festival of Fools-]: