I subscribe to the school of putting multiple tracks by fewer artists onto a CD. Hearing more than one song by a given band is always a better way to get to know them. If there are 20-odd tracks, each by a different group, then the music, no matter how good it is, jumps from one to the next to the next without really sinking in. Putting multiple tracks by an artist on the mix creates a feeling of familiarity when the listener hears a familiar voice (most likely) and thinks "huh, this sounds like ____. And when I look at the tracklist, I see that it [i]is[/i] them."

For my mix, I chose to use The Pillows and early PENPALS in this way, two bands I consider to be fairly accessible to newcomers.

Pillows-Carnival
Last Dinosaur
Runner's High
Kanojo wa Kyou
Kim Deal
Rush
Beutiful Morning With You
Juliet
Asian Kung-Fu Generation- Kimi to Iu Hana
Loop and Loop
Haruka Kanata
Sambomaster-Oh Baby
Sayounara Baby
Rie Fu- Life is like a Boat

= first CD

Second,

the pillows- Stalker
Fool on the Planet (accoustic)
Tiny Boat (accoustic)
Strange Chameleon (accoustic)
Ice Pick (accoustic)
AKFG- Siren
Rewrite
Mugen Glider
Guitar Vader- The Time Slips Away
Perfect Bird
Baby T
Magical Girl
Die Happy!
Hey
Kuroneko
Rainbow Color 98

1. Ride on Shooting Star - the pillows

[i]On repeat.[/i]

[quote="Jomei"]1. Ride on Shooting Star - the pillows

[i]On repeat.[/i][/quote]

Wins.

the pillows-happy bivouac
the pillows-ROSS
the pillows-sleepy head
the pillows-little busters
the pillows-crazy sunshine
the pillosw-hybrid rainbow
puffy ami yumi-cake is love
larc~en~ciel-Heavens Drive
Yoko Kanno (seat belts)-tank!

I sometimes give mix cds to my friends trying to get them into J-rock but it seems to have mixed results. I think people in America are generally to ignorant to accept something sung in another language.

The Seatbelts are awesome.

But um, I think the best intro to japanese music would be traditional koto stuff.

Old school.