After a marathonofwriting earlier in the month, I managed to get my audition playlist down to about 14 hours. It usually averages around the high 20s or low 30s, but it can peak into the 40s. (That sounds like a weather report.)
It feels kind of weird not spreading my listening time over many days’ worth of material, but I’m taking care of that right quick.
This time around, I’m listening to multiple releases by a number of artists. It wasn’t planned.
I wonder if Hajime Chitose needs to get out of Onitsuka Chihiro’s head. Because like Onitsuka, Hajime is also contributing a song to a film, and it’s also titled "Hotaru", says Bounce.com.
The new Hajime song serves as a theme for the film Climber’s High, based on a book by Yokoyama Hideo. Yokoyama is a fan of Hajime and wanted her sing the film adaptation’s title song. Sukima Switch’s Tokita Shintarou writes and produces. Climber’s High opens July 5.
The article doesn’t mention whether the song will be released as a single.
There are two things you can count on with Leo Imai’s debut album, FIX NEON:
The prodigious use of the syllable "Oh!"
The recycling of melodic material for his choruses
You needn’t look further than two consecutive tracks toward the middle of the album, "Metro" and "Karaoke". The choruses are practically identical. As for the "Oh!", they appear most frequently between the end of a chorus and the start of a verse, but you can pretty much put them anywhere.
This … economy of musical ideas can get alternately tiring and endearing. It would be nice if he didn’t sing "Oh!" so much, but at the same time, the songs would be so empty without them.
Those are pretty much the only significant issues holding FIX NEON back from greatness. Set them aside, and the album is perhaps one of the most confoundingly appealing releases this year.
The first three-quarters of 2001 would be the most prosperous I would experience. The last quarter of 2001 was the polar opposite.
Most folks would set the turning point at 9/11. Mine was 8/31, the day I lost my job. Till then, I was burning my cash on Japanese CDs with a sense the other shoe was about ready to drop at any time.
File sharing was starting to put a chink in the irrationally exuberant sales of recordings, and my own exploration of Japanese music would signify a larger change in music consumption on the whole. Listeners sought what they wanted to hear, whether it be Japanese pop, Italian film soundtracks, indie rock from the UK or old Roberta Flack hits. Strong-arming a song onto a radio playlist was no guarantee for success.
The Internet allowed me to ignore the domestic market that year. That wasn’t possible before.
If her album releases are any indication, Utada Hikaru would make a lousy poker player. Between double-A sides and coupling tracks that turn into album tracks, she has a habit of revealing her hand before it’s ever shown.
Seven of the 13 tracks on HEART STATION were released as singles, and after the release of "Prisoner of Love" in May, she will have made 60 percent of the album available.
The Japanese music industry still adheres to a model to which the US industry is heading back — driven by singles with albums treated as after-thoughts.
This tactic is good for building hype where it’s warranted. It certainly worked (on me) for Utada’s previous album ULTRA BLUE.
A new three-piece band named GENERAL HEAD MOUNTAIN has recorded a cover of Shiina Ringo’s "Tsumi to Batsu" for its first full album, reports Bounce.com. Titled Tsuki Kanashi Blue, the 13-track album has a June 4 release date. Comic book illustrator Nananan Kiriko provides the cover art.
I’m not sure how that cover would sound, judging by the one 30-second sample posted on the band’s Myspace page. GENERAL HEAD MOUNTAIN sound a bit mainstream, although singer Matsuo Akihiko (I’m guessing the Romanization here) has the kind of raspy voice that might make it work.
Honestly, I’m not sure who really could cover Shiina Ringo songs. Can you picture Hatakeyama Miyuki singing "Odaiji ni" or Tokyo Jihen’s "Keshounaoshi"? How about Cocco covering "Koufukuron" or "Gips"? I bet Chara could do something with "Superstar".
I would still love to hear Shiina herself cover some NUMBER GIRL and not just 10 seconds of "Frustration in my blood". She could probably do an awesome rendition of "TRAMPOLINE GIRL" from SAPPUKEI.
Bounce.com reports "samurai jazz" group PE’Z has teamed up with alt-folk singer suzumoku to form a special band, pe’zmoku. The band releases its first mini album, Gallop, on July 9 through DefStar, which signed PE’Z to a new contract. suzumoku himself releases a new album, Propeller, on May 14. It’s not the first time PE’Z has released a collaboration. In 2006, the quintet released an EP, Live for the Groove, with Nate James.
I’ve always liked PE’Z’s performances, even if they’re music can get rather homogenic. suzumoku, on the other hand, couldn’t come from a more distant aesthetic, as evidenced by this video clip. It’ll be interesting to see how the two meld.
In February 2000, I took a trip back home to Honolulu that would permanently shift the focus of this website. I came back from that trip with CDs from the brilliant green, Utada Hikaru, L’Arc~en~Ciel and Shiina Ringo. The following month, I picked up more CDs by NUMBER GIRL, Dr.StrangeLove and FEED at various SXSW showcases.
My fascination with the Japanese music scene began in earnest.
That summer, I would order regularly from online shops overseas, and I would eventually embark on relearning a language I went through the motions of studying back in high school and college.
That period of discovery was pretty fertile, and most of my favorite albums stem from the early part of the decade. I’m a lot more skeptical of newer artists these days, so that adventurousness has significantly waned.
But its coverage of music from Japan that makes this site somewhat distinct. I’m hoping newcomers still find it somewhat useful.
I visit the Nonesuch web site from time to time to see what’s listed in its upcoming release section. The label now lists upcoming albums by Bill Frisell and Emmylou Harris.
History, Mystery by Frisell hits stores on May 13. According to Frisell’s official site, the album features an octet of strings, horns and rhythm section and includes new compositions as well as arrangements of his favorite pieces by other songwriters. The track listing on the Nonesuch site shows it’s a two-disc set.
All I Intended to Be by Harris arrives June 10. Nonesuch has no information at this point, but in an interview with Billboard many months back, Harris said, "You’ll get both Emmylou the interpreter and Emmylou the songwriter." The McGarrigle sisters and Seldom Scene singer John Starling both make appearances on the album.
Chara releases a new album, tentatively titled Honey, on June 25, so says Bounce.com. The new album arrives a year and 4 months after her previous album, Union. Honey contains 12 songs with production from Kameda Seiji, Shimada Masanori, and Noda Youjirou from RADWIMPS. The pre-release singles "TROPHY" and "Cherry Cherry" are expected to be included on the album, as well as new tracks "Hoku no Koto wo Shitte" and the News Zero theme song, "call me". A limited edition first pressing includes a DVD with video clips.
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION quickly follows up the release of World World World with a mini-album, titled Mada Minu Ashita ni, on June 11. According to Bounce.com, Mada Minu Ashita does not have an overall concept the way World World World does. The six-track mini-album has been described as containing fast rockers and medium-tempo ballads. The band embarks on a tour to promote both albums at the end of April.