Berryz Koubou - Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance

WTF is this? Seriously?

When I saw the cover of the single, I thought - Oh Good! Maybe we’re going to be treated to a cool, upbeat pop song! Then I saw the title - and I thought - what the hell is this song about? And then I saw the PV and heard the song.

Now, I know in general the Japanese buying public is obsessed with all things cute. This is a cute, novelty song, but there is no way they are trying to market this song to the record buying adult public, the general non-wota public - it’s clear this song is marketed at kids. But that’s ok! They are young idols, so it would be smart to be marketing to the young ‘asking Mom to buy it for you’ public.

This might be fun for the younger set, but myself - I’ll have to pass.

Goto Maki signs with Avex!

Congratulations to ex-H!P member Goto Maki for garnering a deal that could only rocket her to even greater heights. Hello!Online has the full details here including a full translation of an article that appeared in newspapers on June 19.

Shame on H!P for letting a person of such talent as Maki go, I don’t want to take away from any of the girls who sing for H!P, but Maki was one of their real and true singers. The girl has a great voice. And considering she seems to be the one person from Momusu everyone in Japan names immediately once you say you are a fan or Morning Musume, double shame on them for letting one of their most recognizable talents go. What on earth prompted them to waste her so? She has some great singles, but they really seemed to be letting her go right before she decided to leave. Did they think she was old hat or something? That there was no where else they could take her? I’d really like to know the business decisions behind their move.

Whatever the case this is fantastic news for Maki, and I am so very excited to see what she has in store for us and where she can go from here. With Avex she’s at the starting line and she’s going to be with us for the long run yet. She might be one of the few “talents” who break away from their parent agency only to find even greater fame and fortune in the embrace of another.

Go Maki-chan! Go!

Sakurai Atsushi - Ai no Wakusei (It’s hypnotic!)

Sacrifice (Last Confused Mix) - This is just a fantastic song. I love it, and the perfect song to open the album with. It does a great job of showcasing Atsushi’s powerful vocals. His voice is almost like a drug. You have no idea how much I love this man.

Anyway this song was arranged by Wayne Hussey, formerly of Sisters of Mercy! (Oh yeah!) You can check out the video here.

Yellow Pig - A collaboration with Raymond Watts of KMFDM (and also of Schwein), this song shows it. It’s a very hard sounding song with heavy guitar work. Very industrial, the most hardcore song on the album.

I would love to have Atsushi and Raymond collaborate more, as the Schwein album has some really kick ass rock songs on it. (They’re not all gems, but the opening track in particular is ecstasy).

X-Lover - Holy damn is this song sexy. Incredibly sexy. Like dirty talk, using his deep and whispery voice, Atsushi is beyond hypnotic. Ah, I’m breathless. Video here but be warned, NSFW.

I Hate you all - This is really kind of an odd track on the album. With Big Band era percussion, strange build ups in music, strange video game-esque background music (it sounds like the music from Zombies ate my Neighbors), odd scatting and then Atsushi’s filtered vocals. This is the only track on the album I tend to skip.

Wonderful World (Injection to UK mix) - Another favorite track on the album. Very soothing, almost like a lullaby. Nice guitar work, switching back and forth between chords almost like you’re being rocked. (I fell asleep on the train last week listening to this album, at this song). This would definitely top my list of songs on this album to cruise to on a warm summer night, also a walking song. One of those songs you sing when you’re out walking by yourself.

Smell - One of the singles released off the album. The chorus is the best part of the song (as Atsushi is singing more than speaking the lyrics). The guitar work here is a little, I’m not quite sure how to describe it, plucky? Not strumming but plucking the strings. It doesn’t flow but each note is distinct by itself. Another song I find myself singing while working.

Märchen - A beautiful song and a collaboration with Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins! Gorgeous guitar work, very hypnotic and dreamlike, though if you’re familiar with the Cocteau Twins you wouldn’t expect anything less. Another cruise song and one that definitely gets play a lot.

Fantasy - I absolutely adore the music box sound of this song, it’s almost a visual sound. I love Atsushi’s bad ass songs, but damn, if his voice isn’t the most hypnotic thing ever when he’s singing softly. Definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album. Live version here.

Taiji - This song is incredibly sad despite the harder rock sound it has. Basically a goodbye song to his Mother who died when Atsushi was 25, the resounding cry of “Aishiteru!” really grabs at your heart. With lyrics about never hearing his Mother’s voice again, and watching the sky alone….. I’m actually a little disconcerted by how happy the guitar player is while rocking out to a song with lyrics like this.

Hallelujah - The song is a come down after the emotional intensity of Taiji, though it does take a harder turn right as the song ends.

Shingetsu - Atsushi and Masami Tsuchiya have worked together before on two incredible pieces from Tsuchiya’s “Mori no Hito” album. (My favorite of the two being Manatsu no Yoru no Mori). While this song doesn’t stand out as much as their previous works, it is an incredibly solid song, and just as atmospheric.

Yokan (2004 re-construct) - I would be entirely surprised if this song wasn’t inspired by The Cure because it sounds like a lost track off Disintegration. The charms start up in the beginning and you think you’re about to launch into Plainsong or Pictures of You…. except it’s not a Cure song. Really good nonetheless. This is a… not quite a remix, but as the title suggests, a re-construct of Atsushi’s first solo song release.

Wakusei - Title track! This is a solid rock song, great guitar and a great drum beat. I like the echoing effect as well on Atsushi’s voice, it gives the song a rehearsal at the concert hall feel to it.

Neko - This song reminds me a lot, emotionally, of one of my favorite Buck-Tick tracks of all time, Cosmos. A really great track to end the album with, as once again, Atsushi is at his hypnotic best here.

When I first bought this album, I’ll admit, I had some trepidation. Everyone knows a band they absolutely would die for, only to buy the lead singer’s solo works and be seriously underwhelmed by it. coughDaveGahancough. However upon first listen I was blown away by it. It’s remained on constant play for over a month now. Ai no Wakusei is so far the only complete solo album released by Atsushi. It stands up extremely well on it’s own against his Buck-Tick work, at times even surpassing it, and I would definitely recommend this album to anyone.

MAKOTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ogawa Makoto is coming back to H!P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello!Online has all the info, so you can check it there. Or here at HNPH

Needless to say I am freaking ECSTATIC!

Even though Gatas is awesome, I demand Mako, Yossie and Konkon unit! And Tsuji too! Come back soon Tsuji!

Mitsui Aika winamp skin for you!

It’s been 3 and a half years since I last made a winamp skin, what with iPod being invented, mp3 players on your computer don’t really get used that often (by me at least). But I’ve been getting back in the habit and thought it might be fun to do a Momusu skin. I wanted to do something other than one of the girls against a white background, and when I saw this pic of Aika, it really jumped out at me. So here it is!

For Winamp Classic I guess.

Shuffle and repeat buttons are visible when turned on, EQ and Playlist buttons appear when turned off. The load button is in the vicinity of her left eyebrow. I left it out to try and not cover her face. I had to chuckle at myself when making it. Back in the day images 275 pixels were 1/2 of your monitor resolution, now-a-days that’s incredibly tiny!

I might be doing more of these.

Utada Hikaru - Heart Station

I’ve had this on my iPod for a while now, needed something to write about, and decided this was a good idea. I ended up buying it on iTunes as I end up ripping all my CDs to my iPod anyhow, and it’ll take up less space in my room. Plus, it’s supporting Utada here in the States. Win-win!

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Fight the Blues - I was kind of surprised she didn’t open the album with it’s title song. When I first listened to it, I was kind of indifferent to this song, I thought it was too slow to open with. After a while though it won me over. Not my favorite track on here, but Utada’s vocals are, as always, beautiful and soothing, and the hook is really nice. It really does set the tone well.

Heart Station - I am so in love with this song. When the PV was first released I could not stop watching it. When listening to it now I cannot stop myself from lip synching (or if alone, singing along). It’s such a calming song, and invites such a warm feeling. Utada’s vocals and the synthesizer really blend together well. It’s interesting when she speaks English (and I’ve noticed this in interviews as well), her voice is much lower pitched.

Beautiful World - Probably my favorite track on here, probably one of my top 3 favorite Utada songs. I love the lyrics, love the marching quality of it, I love the piano, I love the deep bridge. I freaking love this song.

Gentle Beast Interlude - Not sure this was really necessary, but it sounds nice. It’s a nice transition from Beautiful World to….

Celebrate - Another favorite track from the album. A great dance song, it’s got great bass and a great hook.

Prisoner of Love - I had been hearing all over the place how this the best new track of the album, but once I heard it I was kind of disappointed. I don’t know what I was expecting. It’s since grown on me immensely, and I will include it as one of the best tracks on the album, just not THE best. One of the problems with reading reviews is getting the other person’s opinion implanted within your mind before you even sample it. This sounds like vintage Hikki.

Take 5 - Another favorite song off the album. If I had an anime series, I would so request this was put on the soundtrack somewhere. The only complaint is the abrupt ending. I love the melody though, a very emotional song.

Boku wa Kuma - This is an ADORABLE song, however it feels really strange on here. I tend to skip it as it gets stuck in my head incredibly easily.

Nijiiro Bus - I seem to be prone to loving Utada’s piano featuring songs. I LOVE this song. A very cool feeling to the melody and Utada’s vocals. It strikes me as a feel good rainy day song. I don’t know why. Another one of the top new tracks off this album.

Flavor of Life - Before I bought the album I had only heard the ballad version, which was a bit too slow for me. The regular version though is pretty stellar. I love the chorus. A nice song to end with!

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Overall a terrific album and another strong release from Utada Hikaru. Highly reccomended!

Canary Club - Nishikikazare

First thought: Those are some MIGHTY short shorts.

I’m not sure the name of this girl, is she Mana? But she has a really cute and well polished voice. Color me surprised to read on the official site that one of the girls (Ayumi) is 23! I don’t know why I find that kind of surprising but I do. There’s almost a 10 year age difference between herself and the younger members.

The song is really pleasant, from what I’ve heard I’d guess this is where Tsunku is focusing his old school “cute” style. Just before I watched this I was listening to Momusu’s 4th and 6th albums, and this song really reminds me of that period in Hello! Project song styling. I’m more than a little taken with the upbeat-ness of it all though, and as average as it sounds, it is incredibly charming and will probably get a lot of playback from me.

Revelation! I think that’s the thing that seems to be missing from Momusu as of late, at least for me. As rocking as they are, and as much as I still love them, all the original innocent school girl charm seems to be gone. Don’t get me wrong, as a pop group they need to change their image to stay fresh. Listening to Canary Club made me suddenly realize what was missing as of late from H!P’s flagship group. I don’t mean to keep looking for something that has obviously passed, maybe marking changes in style…. but what drew me to them in the first place seems to be over. If I can catch a little of that with someone else, then I’m going to go for it.

Anyway, the video isn’t much, and looks like it could have been shot in less than a day. It mostly consists of the girls dancing on a parking garage roof or a helipad. I wasn’t quite sure. Then again they’re not dealing with the kind of cash that H!P pulls down so I imagine the budget was severely limited. It doesn’t detract at all, but adds to the charm. (I’m using that word a lot, but it’s accurate and the thesaurus provided me with no other viable alternatives.)

Other than Gyaruru (who sadly appear kaput), this is really my first honest attempt to delve into TNX territory. After this single I’ll definitely be checking out Canary Club’s other releases and see what else Tsunku’s side projects have to offer.

Sorry for the neglect

I’ve been severely restless, suffering from spring fever I guess, and have neglected the hell out of my Jpop fandom. I’ve had Ongaku Gatas’ debut album for over a month now and though I’ve ripped it to my ipod, I haven’t even listened to it yet. I’ll take a moment to slap myself awake and then promise to get my act together and post some stuff worth reading.

On a related note I’m about half way through the subbed release of the Ohmynews Kago Ai interview. Even though I may have had negative thoughts of him in the past, I’m going to turn around my opinion of Ishimoto. I’m more than a little ashamed that I let a scandal rag’s rumors form an opinion in me of a man I didn’t even know. I was quite surprised by Kago’s statements that he had stuck by her and helped her through her darker times, and is still with her. She doesn’t come out and say they’re still a couple, but you really can infer it.

I’ll have a more in-depth article about the interview tomorrow. For now all I want to do is hug Ai, she looked ready to break down in tears a few times, but held it together and showed us how strong she is. She’s really digging through the dirt and revealing a LOT of extremely personal information that we never knew or could have guessed before, her struggles as an idol and finding her own identity. It takes a lot of guts to do that and I admire her 1000 times more for being able to do it.

Zwei? A little help please?

I’ve been listening to DJ Amaya’s Hitsuzen Radio podcasts this week at work, really great remixes of all kinds of songs, including jpop & anime, as well as original stuff.

One remix that really caught my attention was for Zwei’s single, Dragon. I’ve heard of the band before, but never heard them. Looking around online I found a wiki article, but it was woefully lacking in information. Their official site also seems to be static as it appears there’s been no updates since 2006.

Can anyone reccomend some songs to check out? Which album is best to start with (as they only have 2 currently) or even where to find some more information?

Just for fun

Which Morning Musume Member Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Mitsui Aika You are most like Mitsui Aika! She is the most recent member of Momusu, and the only one to join in the 8th generation. Little is known about her personality so far, however she comes off as being friendly, nervous, and somewhat spacey. Time will tell if this will change. Mitsui Aika 100% Yoshizawa Hitomi 75% Kusumi Koharu 63% Michishige Sayumi. 63% Tanaka Reina 56% Fujimoto Miki 56% Kamei Eri 50% Takahashi Ai 44% Niigaki Risa 19%