Introduction Have you ever wondered what prompted the creation of your favorite Japanese music site? Who created it? Through this weekly series of interviews Keikaku hopes to shed some light on the motivation and driving personalities behind some of my personal choices for the best English language based Japanese music sites on the web. Created five years ago, Centigrade-J is comprised of Brian Stewart, Aaron Glickman, Joseph Holley and Gary Spillman. Centigrade-J is known for it's lyric translations from Japanese into romanji of such artists as Aikawa Nanase, Acidman, The Back Horn, The Brilliant Green, Supercar and Pierrot. Not to be over shadowed by the former, Centigrade-J also offers music reviews, forums, articles and news all delivered with an irreverent touch of humor. When asked "When deciding content what criteria and or who decides what your site will cover? What sources do you use for information?" Aaron replied,"If someone writes something and it doesn't suck too badly, at this point, it will go up. I don't know about the rest of the people at cent-j but I mainly talk out of my ass." Brian replied,"Hehe. That would be telling... What I can tell you is that I try to respond to what our readers want, in addition to covering what we ourselves find interesting. As for sources... na*i*sho." back to features		Best Japanese music sites... Centigrade-J Can you remember your first reaction to listening to a Japanese artist? What were your initial thoughts? As you've become more knowledgeable about the Japanese music scene how has that effected your personal choice of artist? Aaron Glickman [Centigrade-J]: I was intrigued. I remember two very distinct thoughts. 1) Why was Izam wearing women's clothing? (They rocked at the time, so I got over this one.) 2) Who is this Hide guy and why is SSTV running nonstop retrospectives about him. (He was the man, even though his Zilch project really sucked. I bought it because I didn't know any better.) I found I became more discerning when I knew the ins and outs of the industry and not buying every single thing that caught my fancy at first listen. Brian Stewart [Centigrade-J]: I remember clearly thinking Mr. Children was a poor man's Rolling Stones. Yup, absolutely thought they were redundant. Pizzicato Five I thought was seriously made by fun loving alien tourists. I tend to migrate towards stuff that just doesn't exist here in such a pure form. I like indies stuff, and some of the more easy listening pop music, but what really drives my passion is stuff that rests on the borderline, and as I've gotten to know Japan and it's music I've found this more and more. Some people say it's getting Westernized, and I guess I can hear that to a degree but it's really like the Japanese were given the same building blocks and just built something different altogether. Of course the overall idea is the same but what's built is very different. Did you ever have legos when you were a kid? My friend would take one set and build a spaceship, I'd take the same and build a clusterfuck. It's the same with music. Same stuff, different results. When you first looked for artist information on the web what type of English sites were available? What sites attracted you? What was it about these sites that made you a frequent visitor? What was lacking? Aaron: I was never big into knowing every single detail about a band. All I cared about was listening to the bulk of their musical output and possibly getting the chance to see them live. I used to be pretty big into wanting to know what they were saying and our site was perfect in this respect. Brian: Bonsai Jpop Hatch, or something. Ryuichi's Jpop Station, and a little later, j-seek. Plus like j-rock channel. But it was pretty worthless. I spent a lot of time digging out nuggets from Bonsai. When you're the only game in town... I never liked the lack of flow at Bonsai. It didn't feel like a site. Much in the same way J-ent feels like a supermarket flyer, with wall to wall information and no distinct difference between original exclusive content and "ripped from the headlines" type stuff. Or for that matter, fashion links. To go from fan to reporting on the artists is a big step. Please elaborate on what motivated your decision to create your site? What has been your biggest challenge? Triumph? Aaron: I thought I had something to say, at the time. My biggest challenge has been keeping the fires going while not being a resident of the country responsible for the music itself. In this respect, it's been a huge failure. I think it's pretty impressive that the site has been around for over five years, given the individual problems we've had as of late. Brian: When I started I just wanted to share my passion for the hobby and provide the fans a service. Eventually, I felt like the eventual Emperor of China uniting the warring states under one regime. There was too much scattered inaccurate information and lyrics on the web, and I thought I could help. Though I suppose I never actually united anyone. It's always been me and Takko. My desire to help the fans out has never changed. It's tough to satisfy everyone. Adding romaji was a big decision and one that has slowed updating quite a bit, but it seemed like something everyone wanted. So we did it. We can only cover a certain number of artists and requests are done very infrequently with us. We do try though. I think our Pierrot section is basically essential to the band's overseas popularity because the lyrics are so important to their work. I see that as a major triumph. When deciding content what criteria and or who decides what your site will cover? What sources do you use for information? Aaron: If someone writes something and it doesn't suck too badly, at this point, it will go up. I don't know about the rest of the people at cent-j but I mainly talk out of my ass. Brian: Hehe. That would be telling... What I can tell you is that I try to respond to what our readers want, in addition to covering what we ourselves find interesting. As for sources... na*i*sho. Have you noticed an increase in English pages being offered at many Japanese artist official sites and record companies? Do you have an opinion as to why this may be? Aaron: I think all Japanese artists would love to break through and now seems to be as good a time as any. Brian: I have noticed and there are two reasons. One, the Japanese companies are becoming increasingly aware of overseas fans because of exposure in Europe, Animecons in the US, and English activity in their official BBS. Two, it's the international language of business. With Korea and China opened up; it's a kill two birds with one stone scenario. Or thirty birds with one stone when you figure in the rest of the world. How do you see your site's contribution if any, in bringing recognition outside of Japan to Japanese artists? What does your site offer that other sites don't? Could you describe your dream site? Aaron: I don't think we've done much to bring much recognition to Japanese artists to the uninformed. I think we've mainly been preaching to the choir. Brian: "We bring the words that make the whole world sing... " Our site has shed light on what many people feel is an integral part of music, the words. We've also through our own passion helped spread the gospel of several, at the time, little known bands. One, we don't discriminate with our artist choice. When someone wants to see Orange Range, they get it. When someone wants to see Morning Mususme, they get it. We tend to cover popular artists but we're just as happy to cover some smaller artists should the occasion arise or the demand be there. Two, I believe our site has earned a lot of credibility as well. We are serious about what we do, but there is a real and tangible playfulness about us. Some might call it "snarkiness". We're also the only ones out there who would use the word "snarky" but that's cause we're all older and we value the power of expression. It's professionalism plus alpha. Finally, not to toot my own horn, but not many sites have people who are competent in Japanese, or actual Japanese people on staff. And I'm not talking about just language ability but SPIRIT. Hell, I doubt I'm the most proficient jpop fan out there. I can barely speak keigo. But I can almost effortlessly chat it up in Japanese, and I have no borders, none. If I dreamed about such things, I'd put myself six feet under. Finally I'd like to ask; what do you perceive to be the current state and focus of the Japanese music scene outside of Japan? Aaron: Lots of visual kei and Utada Hikaru. Brian: I think that's really obvious. Japan is looking to use soft marketing to get their foot in the door in the US. By getting that crossover anime crowd, and servicing the already existing internet savvy teens and college kids. Though Sony is pushing R&B, and electronica, it's becoming clear that Visual-kei will be the standard for some time. Though I suppose the success of the pillows should bode well for other forms of music that has a prominent role in anime. Interview from 2005.02.22.Keikaku.net staff would like to thank Aaron Glickman, Brian Stewart and Centigrade-J for their participation in this interview. - Denise Smith
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