Toe. That's the name of the band. I can listen to them endlessly.

Most J-pop artists are totally unoriginal. Shiina Ringo 椎名林檎 is the only one that comes out with any good stuff.

If you want to listen to good Japanese music, get into the sounds of the tsugaru shamisen. The Yoshida Brothers are worth a listen.

God Bless what the Japanese are going through!

70's music

The rock music that western critics obsess over I generally find a bit boring and just copying western models. Critics and many western people only seem to be interested in things that have obvious western models, from beat groups to punk bands etc. The pop music though has been the heart of Japanese music and led the way in the far east in the 70s and 80s. Since then I think it hasn't been as good but still some great songs now and again.

I only really listen to J-Pop and J-Rock of the 90s, purely for nostalgia, not that they're innovative or anything great

currently into the Boredoms and Boris

Innovation by itself doesn't mean much, people often grossly inflate how original and groundbreaking artists are anyway.

For the 90s I like more music from Thailand, and in the 2000s Thailand is easily my favourite country for music in the far east, might have more good pop than anywhere over the last decade for me.

^^I only really listen to Bird Thongchye Mackintyre, if you're talking Thai

that guy's octave range is delirious

Yeh I like some of his songs and he is probably the most famous Thai singer (perhaps alongside Tata Young). But it's a shame they don't promote more of their music outside of their country like the Koreans and Japanese do.

can't stand Tata Young, much like I can't stand Coco Lee

just sort of using their bodies for attention, stead of their music or their singing abilities

I like some 90s songs by her, but later stuff seems too much in the western mainstream pop style (unlike much of Thai music)