Well, let's see. I think it's near impossible to find things that exactly match J-rock, so I'll just name some things I listen to that aren't Asian.
My three favorite Western bands are
David Bowie
- who has been suggested on this thread already, but I'll have to suggest him again. He has such a wide variety of sounds and is always evolving. His current sound (on the Reality album) is very close to what he sounded like on Heathen which is very mature, well put together rock. Hours is kind of a quiet album, mellow, but good if not somewhat depressing. His earlier stuff is far rougher in sound (as most musicians are when they are newer in their career) but I think its all worth a listen.
Queen
- has also been mentioned already in this thread IIRC. Also had a dramatic change from beginning of career to end of career. One of their newer songs was in an episode of Sailor Moon live action which was cool, I could tell it was a newer song, but I didn't recognize it (newer not really being new as Freddie Mercury died in 1992) But you know about them so, I'll move on.
They Might Be Giants
- TMBG has been around for over 20 years, but their music is pretty close to when they started, I think. They are a genre shifting band, so it's really hard to say what they sound like. They range anywhere from rough indie rock, to emo-ish punk, to techno, to metal. I can't really say they are similar to any J-rock bands that come to mind, but if you were to listen I would suggest the Apollo 18 album first which, I think, is from the early 90's. My favorite song they do is Turn Around, which does make me realize they have really odd lyrics (which is cool), but that is a similarity to much of the J-rock I listen to.
Those are my top 3 western bands, now I will just think of some other music I enjoy.
My favorite female singer is
Sarah McLachlan, in the beginning she was really folk/Ren-Fair-ish music, but has evolved to atmospheric, full sounding, mostly piano rock. Some of her atmosphere MAY be similar to lighter Malice Mizer stuff, but that's just in my head, probably not in anyone elses.
Sarah Brightman, is another excellent female singer. She does a lot of music from musicals, but has a wide variety of large scale songs, with a lot of instruments and excellent singing.
Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy (kind of Goth fan staples) are two of my older favorites that I listened to years ago. They could be very, very distantly compared to early Kuroyume (again, this is in my messed up head) but Kuroyume was always heavier than both of these bands. May have similarities to Luna Sea too, but the vocals in Luna Sea, I think, are superior.
I have to agree with whoever it was that suggested Yngwie Malmsteen also, as he is an excellent musician.
Let me think...
Rhapsody is one of my favorite bands, they are a power metal/symhonic metal band from Italy. They tell stories with their albums that are like Dungeons and Dragons campaigns set to metal music. Similar to the sound of Sex Machineguns.
Garbage is worth a listen too, (everyone knows what they sound like... probably)
and Moonspell comes to mind too, they are a deep vocal'd, goth-metal band.
But its hard for me to make this list because all I really listen to is J-rock and videogame covers that I get off of www.ocremix.org
Well, there ya go, you might like some of those... maybe not.
