5 Great Songs from Supercar

Supercar is one of my favorite J-Pop bands. Like many otakus I usually hear about a band through anime. I was first introduce to Supercar when they did a song "Storywriter" for Eureka Seven. After listening to that song I was hooked. I decided to give you guys and gals my favorite top five songs from Supercar. You can check out the player below and here is a brief history on Supercar.

Hailing from Aomori Prefecture, Supercar was formed in 1995 when bassist Miki Furukawa placed an advertisement in a local magazine seeking fellow musicians. Junji Ishiwatari responded and convinced childhood friend Kōji Nakamura to join as well. Junji and Kōji soon recruited drummer Kōdai Tazawa, an acquaintance from middle school. After writing songs and recording demo tapes, they received a record contract. In 1997 they released their debut album, Three Out Change, and their second album, Jump Up, in 1999. This album was followed by Ooyeah and Ookeah, both also released in 1999. With the 2000 album Futurama, electronic experimentation took a larger role that would characterize the band's sound for the rest of their career. The 2002 release Highvision continued the electronic development, and the single Strobolights did not even contain a guitar. They released their last album, Answer in 2004. Perhaps their most experimental album,Answer contained balance of both rock and electronica.

They are famous for their 2005 song featured in the anime Eureka Seven, "Storywriter".

In 2005, Supercar broke up following a final concert, released under DVD as Last Live. Following the breakup, Furukawa and Nakamura have pursued successful solo careers.

Despite the break-up, Supercar released two remix albums named RE:SUPERCAR 1 and RE:SUPERCAR 2 in 2011. The albums are redesigned version of some of their tracks throughout their career together with never before heard songs. The limited edition of these albums sported a different CD jacket and bonus CD containing some of their untitled tracks and demos.

VAMPS Reveals New Cover Art For Upcoming Album "Bloodsuckers"

J-Rock band VAMPS recently unveiled their new cover art for they upcoming album "Bloodsuckers." The artwork was done by artist Rockin Jelly Bean. In addition the official tracklisting has been released which you can see below. VAMPS "Bloodsuckers" will be released on October 29th. 

BLOODSUCKERS
Tracklist
CD
01. Reincarnation 
02. ZERO 
03. LIPS 
04. AHEAD 
05. EVIL 
06. GHOST 
07. VAMPIRE'S LOVE 
08. DAMNED 
09. GET AWAY 
10. REPLAY 
11. Bloodsuckers 
12. THE JOLLY ROGER 
13. INSIDE MYSELF

ヴィジュアル系: Visual Kei- Bands with a True Japanese Feel

Most of the time, when you read the name "Visual Kei" (ヴィジュアル系 or "bijuaru kei" romanized) your mind goes to outrageous outfits,  incredibly styled and colored hair, makeup that is beyond crazy, and music that is not only catchy, but somewhat reminiscent to metal and rock music. X Japan, The GazettE, and maybe Dir En Grey pop into mind. Yet there are many genres of Visual Kei, and new ones pop up into existence every year.

Cue in the bands Memento Mori and Kiryu. Both bands active since around the late 00's, they alone have helped create an entirely new genre of Visual Kei that from what I know of, has no name. What this genre has though, is an interesting twist on Visual Kei style, by pulling from elements of Japanese culture, music, and dress while still incorporating the elements of rock, bizarre hairstyles, androgynous looks and crossplay in their videos and performances.

Memento Mori (メメント・モリ) was a band formed back in October of 2010. When I first heard of them, I was certainly confused, since the only Memento Mori band I ever knew of was the Swedish Doom Metal band and so for sure I thought it was a mistake. But Memento Mori was for sure also a Visual Kei band, whose music certainly fit their Latin name's meaning; "Remember that you will die". Their music is interesting, and certainly a different sound from Kiryu, as they take more to the elements of death metal, such as the guttural growling and headbanging, the morbid makeup used such as fake blood, cuts, or scars, and a heavy guitar and bass focus. With the head of the band and vocalist Ai (哀), the strong guitar players Tsubaki (椿) and Jin (潯), and Yohan (夜半) as their bassist, their music is powerful and filled with dramatic images of a dark and dismal Feudal Japan. Dancers, women in masks, use of native instruments in the background, the traditional outfits, and the scenery itself all scream Japan.

Now, you're probably pausing here and asking, "Wait Liz, if you look at the music videos, or even listen to the music, they have a drummer. Why didn't you mention one?" Originally the drummer of the band's name was Karua (刈愛) but quickly left in 2011 and was replaced with Yue (悠依). However, in September of 2013, Yue also left the band, leaving them without an official drummer. Perhaps this is the reason behind their disbanding coming after their last performance on August 17th, held at Birth SHINJUKU.

Kiryu (己龍) is a little different from Memento Mori. Formed in the good old days of 2007, this band also incorporated the same elements of of dancers, use of native instruments, Japanese styled clothing, Japanese settings (such as sights that look like a shrine, or a town), all just once again giving us a feel of listening to Japan itself with their music. In fact, Kiryu's whole goal with their music was to make music that fit well with the prospect of an older era of Japan; meant to be more relaxing and calm over anything else, despite the occasional heavy metal tones in their music. Surprisingly, the leader of the band is not the vocalist, but rather one of the guitarists, and something rather interesting about the band is that each member each wears a corresponding color in most mvs. The main vocalist, Kurosaki Mahiro (黒崎眞弥) wears purple in nearly all music videos, while the band leader Sakai Mitsuki (酒井参輝) provides a guitar and only wears red. Kujo Takemasa (九条武政) also plays guitar for the group, and wears green while Isshiki Hiyori (一色日和) (who if I may say is not a girl despite appearances) wears pink and is the band's bass player. Finally the group is rounded out by drummer Tokai Junji (遠海准司), who wears the color blue.

One other thing I did not know until recently, was the fact that Kiryu has made an alter ego band called "My Dragon" (which is Kiryu translated into English), which more so focuses on fairy tale-esque characters singing and was thought up by Isshiki Hiyori, the bass player. Each band member (they are the exact same members of Kiryu itself), then takes a character, such as Isshiki being Snow White. Overall, they would be more of a Pop group rather than a metal or rock group, and really is just meant to be more so comedic rather than anything else. Only one single has been made as the band "My Dragon", the strange song being "Nijigen Complex" and it is...strange is a good way of putting it I think!

With both of these, a proper warning that sometimes these videos or songs can be gory is only proper to say, and with "My Dragon", their only single is...a little explicit appearance wise. Nonetheless, it is interesting how two bands can utterly help create an entirely new subgenre of Visual Kei with traditional elements of Japanese culture that somehow other bands did not come up with. My only hope is that more bands pour into this subgenre and more amazing music will be made!

Memento Mori (メメント・モリ) band members from left to right: Jin (潯), Ai (哀), Tsubaki (椿), Yue (悠依), and Yohan (夜半).

Kiryu (己龍) band members from left to right: Kujo Takemasa (九条武政), Isshiki Hiyori (一色日和), Kurosaki Mahiro (黒崎眞弥), Tokai Junji (遠海准司), and Sakai Mitsuki (酒井参輝).

 My Dragon (Kiryu) band members from left to right: Kujo Takemasa (九条武政) as "Beauty Tama" the mermaid, Tokai Junji (遠海准司) as "Pretty JuJu" (Little Red Riding Hood), Kurosaki Mahiro (黒崎眞弥) as "Dandy Maro" the bee, Isshiki Hiyori (一色日和) as "Panty Hiwai" (Snow White), and Sakai Mitsuki (酒井参輝) as "Charity Miki" the witch.

L'Arc~en~Ciel Make Annoucements At Tokyo's National Olympic Stadium Concert

On Saturday March 24 2014, I had the pleasure once again to watch L'Arc~en~Ciel in concert. I first saw them in 2012 for they live tour when they played in Madison Square Garden. This time I watch one of my J-Rock favorite bands on the big screen. I attended a live satellite screening of the concert in Time Square. The concert was amazing as always. Hyde and the gang really know how to put on a show. I'm happy one of favorite songs from the Butterfly album XXX was played. The concert also had a couple announcements from the band. One of the announcements is that they new single entitled "Everlasting" will be released on August 13th. The new single was the closing song of the concert and trust me it's awesome. Another announcement is that the concert will be available this fall for those who missed it. Finally L'Arc~en~Ciel will be releasing a new documentary about they 2012 world tour. The documentary is due to be released late December. One more thing to add about the concert is Tetsuya has green hair. It actually looks really good on him.  

Songs Played
01. CHASE 02. SEVENTH HEAVEN 03. REVELATION 04. GOOD LUCK MY WAY 05. BLESS 06. HONEY 07. winter fall 08. NEXUS 4 09. READY STEADY GO 10. metropolis 11. Mirai Sekai 12. kasou 13. MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM 14. the Fourth Avenue Cafe 15. XXX 16. shade of season 17. DRINK IT DOWN 18. EVERLASTING (NEW SONG) 19. Blame 20. Caress of Venus 21. Driver's High 22. Link 23. Anata

Yoshiki Of X Japan New Album Yoshiki Classical Is Now Available

The anticipated new album from Yoshiki entitled Yoshiki Classical is now available in North America.

Yoshiki Classical, released digitally today August 27^th, sees one of Asia's most influential musical artists collaborating with legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Symphony and the Quartet San Francisco.

Fans can purchase Yoshiki Classical at iTunes, Amazon and other digital retailers.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/yoshiki-classical/id688431015

Due to the controversial nature of its overseas skeleton album art, Yoshiki Classical's worldwide digital release has been delayed to September 24^th, the same day as its North American physical release.

With Yoshiki Classical, Yoshiki is bringing and illuminating the beauty in classical music to rock and pop audiences around the world. With songs like "Miracle" and "The Golden Globes Theme" what Yoshiki created is a beautiful symphonic collection driven by soaring strings, smart piano pieces and the melodic style of his earlier work with bands X Japan and Violet UK.

Yoshiki has made an impressive mark within the rock and classical genres. X Japan has sold 30 million singles and albums combined, and completed several sold-out world tours. Yoshiki's double album "Yoshiki Presents Eternal Melody" remains one of Japan's top-selling classical albums.

Yoshiki made his debut solo performance in Los Angeles yesterday with a sold-out show at The GRAMMY Museum. An Evening with Yoshiki is part of the highly regarded series at the Museum, which has seen performances by Lady Gaga, Brian Wilson, Muse, Ringo Starr with Ben Harper, and Natalie Maines.

Listen to Yoshiki's stunning Golden Globes ® theme song, set to Hollywood's best moments here: http://www.goldenglobes.org/2013/02/yoshiki-video/           

Listen to "Miracle" here: https://soundcloud.com/yoshiki/miracle-yoshiki-classical
 
Watch the Yoshiki Classical teaser:www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTXATRHX8f0


http://www.yoshikiclassical.com
http://www.yoshiki.net
www.twitter.com/yoshikiofficial 
www.facebook.com/YoshikiOfficial

X Japan's Yoshiki Announces New Classical Album

Yoshiki, one of Asia's most influential musical artist and biggest rock icon, is proud to announce the release of his new classical album Yoshiki Classical. Set for an August 27th digital release, Yoshiki Classical sees collaborations between Yoshiki and legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Quartet San Francisco. The end result is a beautiful symphonic collection driven by soaring strings, smart piano pieces and the melodic style of Yoshiki's earlier work. Physical release of Yoshiki Classical will be September24th.

A prelude to the highly anticipated and long awaited new album from X Japan, Yoshiki has released "Miracle" from Yoshiki Classical as the first single, which is the opening composition of X Japan's World Tour. Yoshiki's Classic music will be available to purchase worldwide for the first time outside of Japan.

Listen to "Miracle" here: https://soundcloud.com/yoshiki/miracle-yoshiki-classical

Click here for Yoshiki Classical teaser video: 

X-Japan's Yoshiki Golden Globe Theme To Be Released On I-Tunes January 15th 2013

In celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Golden Globe Awards®, the show's musical theme, composed by Japanese superstar Yoshiki, will soon be available for download on iTunes. Written for the awards ceremony by the classically trained multi-instrumentalist and leader of one of Japan's most successful rock groups, X-Japan, the theme will be available for download as a full-length digital single in 111 countries starting January 15, 2013. All proceeds from sales of the single will be donated to charity. YOSHIKI (X JAPAN) answers questions about composing the theme song for the Golden Globes "It's such an honor to be a part of this esteemed event which is enjoyed by hundreds of millions around the world," said Yoshiki. "Composing this music was a journey that involved creating numerous versions in order to arrive at just the right sound to capture the unique combination of glamour and edginess that makes the Golden Globe Awards so entertaining. I'm very proud of the result and am thrilled that Warner Music has chosen to make it available around the world." Yoshiki recorded the theme, which opens the show and is used at other key moments during the broadcast, in his native Japan. 

He played many of the instruments himself before adding a full string orchestra. "To have world-renowned musician Yoshiki compose the theme song for the Golden Globes is an honor for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and we are delighted that the single is now being released worldwide," said HFPA President Dr. Aida Takla-O'Reilly. "Our international organization recognizes the most accomplished entertainers in film, television and music, and Yoshiki certainly fits right in among our honorees," All profits from the iTunes sales of the single will be donated to charities chosen by the HFPA. The 70th Annual Golden Globe® Awards will air LIVE coast-to-coast on NBC on Sunday, January 13, 2013, with the pre-show from 4:00-5:00p.m. (PST)/7:00-8:00 p.m. (EST), and main telecast from 5:00-8:00 p.m. (PST)/8:00-11:00 p.m. (EST) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The Golden Globe Awards will be seen in more than 192 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements. The special will be produced by Dick Clark Productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

 Yoshiki talks about the Golden Globes

Music Monday: Top 5 Singles On Oricon Chart For Week 43

Music Monday is here and you know what that means. It's time for the top 5 singles on the Oricon Chart. This weeks artist Kara, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Tokyo Girls Style and more. Check out the top five of the week.

Music Monday: Top 5 Singles On Oricon Chart For Week 42

It's Music Monday and we are going to be doing things a little bit different. Starting today we will be counting down the top five singles on the Oricon Chart every Monday. This week top five comes from artist ClariS, Morning Musume, Shinee, The Yellow Monkey and Fukuyama Masaharu.

GLAY Concert Film Premiere Review

On Friday October 12th I had the pleasure of watching the GLAY: STADIUM LIVE 2012 THE SUITE ROOM in OSAKA NAGAI STADIUM film. The movie showcases the legendary J-Rock band in of there biggest concerts yet. The 3-hour film can be described in one word FUN! This movie is a must watch for any fan of GLAY or any fan of J-Rock period. It was pure entertainment from the opening sketches with GLAY blowing up the old GLAY hotel, to revealing a new one. The film also does a good job of showing the band in other forms of medium like acting. There is a sketch that involves the band in a nightclub and I won't spoil it but it's pretty funny. The concert featured some of your favorite songs from GLAY such as, Beautiful Dreamer, Winter Again, Glorious and many more. The concert itself was amazing, the stadium was huge, the props was on point and of course the performances was top notch.

For a three hour film the pacing is done very well. It doesn't get exhausting or make you wish the film was shorter. That is mainly due to the great performances, sketches and fan interaction. Once the movie starts it takes you in for a great ride. This is a must see film for those who love GLAY or someone looking for a good concert film.

J-Rock Band GLAY Concert Film To Premiere In NYC

Hey J-Rock/J-Pop fans living in NYC here is some cool news for you.

Live Viewing Japan, a distribution company focused on bringing Japanese entertainment media to an international audience, brings a new live-concert film performance to U.S. movie theatres as it presents GLAY: STADIUM LIVE 2012 THE SUITE ROOM in OSAKA NAGAI STADIUM. The 3-hour film incorporates footage filmed during a blistering live performance by the bestselling J-rock band that took place this past summer in Osaka, Japan and attracted more than 100,000 people.

GLAY: STADIUM LIVE 2012 THE SUITE ROOM in OSAKA NAGAI STADIUM will have its U.S. theatrical premiere in New York City on Friday, October 12^th at 8:30pm at the Big Cinemas Manhattan Theatre, located at 239 East 59th Street (between 2^nd and 3^rd Ave). Advance tickets are $20.00 and are available at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/279390. Additional U.S. cities will be announced shortly.

As an added incentive, the first 20 people to show up for the GLAY concert film in New York City will also receive a special commemorative GLAY notebook that was originally only given to concert goers that bought a GLAY CD at one of the band’s live shows.

GLAY’s original 4-hour live performance took place on July 28^th and 29^th and was adapted into the special 3-hour concert film, depicting the best moments of the legendary performance on July 29^th and featuring many of the band’s greatest hits. Additional information on this special event can be found at: http://www.liveviewing.jp/glay-screenings/.

Since their debut in 1994, GLAY has led the music scene in Japan to become one of the best-selling rock acts in the country and has also garnered a substantial worldwide following. To-date, the 4-piece band has released an astounding 45 singles and has sold more than 40 million albums in Japan alone.

“GLAY is a truly amazing band to see live and we know U.S. rock and Visual Kei fans won’t want to miss this very special theatrical premiere,” says Live Viewing Japan Executive Director Hiroki Kotani. “Drawing from a prolific career that spans nearly 20 years, GLAY has impressed millions with their powerful and dynamic live shows. We look forward to existing fans being captivated by the GLAY’s music and also to the group finding new U.S. fans through the power of this new concert film that Live Viewing Japan is pleased to present.”

The band name “GLAY” is a deliberate misspelling of the word “gray”, which represents the style of music the members wanted to play; a mixture between rock (black) and pop (white). Takuro, the band’s founder and leader, writes most of Glay's songs and music and is an ardent Beatles fan and the group’s music is heavily influenced by English as well as American rock fans. Although GLAY primarily composes songs in the rock genre, they have also written songs in styles ranging from reggae to gospel. Due to their musical diversity, beautiful lyrics and wonderful melodies, the band has emerged as one of the most successful and well known bands in Japan, and most of Asia. The members of GLAY are also heavily involved in a variety of social and charitable causes.

GLAY is also known its massive live shows. On July 31^st 1999, the band held a huge show called “GLAY EXPO '99 SURVIVAL” in Chiba, Japan that became the largest single concert event ever held in the country, attracting over 200,000 people. GLAY EXPO 2001 “GLOBAL COMMUNICATION” was held at 3 venues and presented to over 280,000 people while GLAY EXPO 2004, held at Universal Studios Japan™ drew more than 100,000.

About Live Viewing Japan:

Live Viewing Japan is a Japanese-based media distribution company focused on bringing a variety of entertainment properties to a global theatre-going audience. More information on the company and its projects is available at: www.liveviewing.jp.