91: J – Blood Muzik

J - Blood Muzik

Today's pick is obscure but full of awesome. J's Blood Muzik (2001) is one of my favorite albums since I first picked it up as an import at a local CD store in 2002. J was the bass player from Luna Sea, a Japanese visual rock band. His solo stuff is amazing. It's straight up rock with a lot of interesting bass hooks, naturally. Blood Muzik is highly regarded in Japan and is probably J's best known album. Although subsequent albums have been strong and I enjoy them. I highly recommend you check him out.

If you become a J fan, then you will find a couple of problems: searching for "J" doesn't help you much. So first of all, go to his website:

http://www.j-wumf.com/en/

Get familiar with his discography and then start to get them from eBay, which is where I started.The other problem is that good Japanese music is hard to find through traditional retailers, and previewing the music is nearly impossible. I was familiar with Luna Sea and started following J's career. So I know what I'm looking for with him. But there is a lot of excellent Japanese rock and metal that you have to work to seek out.

One place you can buy imports directly is through jPopHelp, who imports nearly all Japanese media. However I haven't found anywhere on their site where you can sample music.

Back to Blood Muzik: If anything pick this album up. You won't regret it. J's music reminds me of Velvet Revolver and Sevendust. It's straight up rock and roll with some cool surprising hooks and bridges.