To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Speedstar Records last year hosted a special concert featuring artists on the label’s roster paired off in duets. The Back Horn’s Yamada Masashi joined Tsuji Ayano, UA paired with Hosono Haruomi, while Cocco and Quruli’s Kishida Shigeru revived a bit of SINGER SONGER. That concert is being released on DVD on March 26, so says Bounce.com.
Here are the featured performances:
"Yume no Hana" by Tsuji Ayano and Yamada Masashi
"Ikareta Baby" by Tsuji Ayano and Yamada Masashi
"15sai" by Tsuji Ayano and Yamada Masashi
"Edelweiss" by Cocco and Kishida Shigeru
"Tsuyoku Hakanai Monotachi" by Cocco and Kishida Shigeru
"Arushu Mash" by Cocco and Kishida Shigeru
"Super HACCHI Lover" by Cocco Kishida Shigeru (Not sure what ハッチ transliterates to)
The last peep we heard from ACO was the best collection she released in December. We’ll, she’s duetting with a fellow Sony Music artist, Takacha, on his next single, "Namida", so says Bounce.com. It’s something of a bouncy tune, but it’s pretty much mainstream J-pop. Nothing particularly remarkable. According to the article, he does a cover of MISIA as a coupling track. Sure …
Right now, I’m listening to the demos of golden pink arrow, ACO’s band with producer Taeji and lostage members Tanaka-kun and Simmy Hendrix. There’s some promising stuff here, very electronic and gritty, with a taste of rock guitars to make ACO sound the toughest she’s ever been. Wish they’d release an album or an EP already.
Since the demise of ICE Magazine, I’ve not yet found a new release resource that really fills the void. I visit Pause & Play regularly, and while the site lists release dates months in advanced, there are a lot of holes in its coverage. I had to find out the hard way — i.e. by visiting the music shop — that Molotov and Atercipelados had new releases. The accuracy of their information can also be spotty. The new Madonna album was listed as Licorice, even though Madonna’s publicist chided the radio announcer who mistakenly assumed that was the title.
So I’ve tried AllMusic and New Music Tipsheet. Both are very thorough, but neither has the longer view as Pause & Play.
Even after exploring all those options, it was disheartening to find the very packed first quarter of 2008 would give way to a slimmer second quarter. Personally, I didn’t find much in the next three months that would really draw me into the store on release day.
Former Supercar bassist Furukawa Miki releases her second album, Bondage Heart, on April 23, so says Bounce.com. It’s been a year and 9 months since the release of her solo debut album, Mirrors. Furukawa expands her collaboration with artist/director Ukawa Naohiro on this album, which has been described as mixing psychedelic rock, punk and pop. In other words, a lot like Supercar.
A limited edition first pressing includes a DVD with video clips for the tracks "Candy Girl", "Blur Blue Wave" and "La La La".
Considering most of the singles released in the past year have been double A-sides, it’s not surprising only half of the album is entirely new. "Flavor of Life", in fact, is represented by two versions. Still, Heart Station continues the more ethereal sound Utada fashioned on Ultra Blue, and while I don’t expect to be blown away, I’ve already liked what I’ve heard so far.
Billboard.com reports Gang of Four is working on a new album with an eye for a self-release. The band’s original line-up reunited in 2005 and toured behind a rerecording of their earliest work. In the article, guitarist Andy Gill says the band was at first hesitant to record new material, but they ended up having so much fun playing together again, they started working in Gill’s studio. Drummer Hugo Burnham, however, is not participating due to unspecified health issues.
Gill describes the new material as more akin to Entertainment! and criticizes rock music in general for losing focus on the issues. "Rock ceded our voice to underground hip-hop, speaking out about social issues and American hegemony, but now even that’s gone," Gill said.
As scooped by Kevin in comments, Bounce.com also reports the release date for Utada Hikaru’s new album is March 19. The article doesn’t go into much detail, instead opting for a lot of excited language about how anticipated this release will be. No doubt EMI Japan is excited to have a big title ready for Q1 of 2008, given the woes of the recording industry worldwide. (The Economist says CD sales in Japan fell 9 percent in 2007. I guess that’s better than the 19 percent in the US.)
I’ve been enjoying the recent singles, but I know enough to keep my expectations in check. Ultra Blue has the kind of clarity that even the best artists achieve rarely, so anything that comes afterward will almost certainly pale by comparison.
"Flavor of Life" and "Beautiful World" maintain that ethereal sound she mastered on the last album, but it took a while for those songs to grow on me, which wasn’t the case with "Passion" or "Keep Tryin’". It’s almost the same kind of effort I had to put into "Be My Last", but neither song reached the same level of favor.
With two Japanese-language albums following her English-language debut, it makes me wonder whether any of this work spills over into her next English-language album.
[UPDATE, 01/28/2008, 21:05] Utada Hikaru’s official site announced the title of the new album is HEART STATION, making the upcoming single the title track.
I could just update the most recent "Looking Ahead" entry to include the items listed here, but it looks like the first quarter of 2008 actually looks promising. It’s far, far more interesting than what passed for a fall 2007 release schedule. When your Q4 hopes ride on James Blunt, something is really wrong.
Port of Notes commemorates its 10-year anniversary with a career retrospective titled Blue Arpeggio ~Own Best Selection~ to be released Feb. 2, so says Bounce.com. As indicated by the subtitle, the duo of singer Hatakeyama Miyuki and guitarist Kojima Daisuke oversaw the track selection of the collection. Each song will be remastered for the release.
Although the duo debut in 1998, the past few years have found them pursuing solo careers. The last Port of Notes album, Evening glows, was released in 2004. Hatakeyama last year released Summer clouds, Summer rain, produced by Jesse Harris, and Watashi no Uta, a collaboration with ASA-CHANG and the Blue Hats. Kojima has played solo as DSK and with a new band, MODEST.
Speedstar Records has announced the release of a live DVD from Cocco to be released in the spring. The DVD covers the last two dates of Cocco’s Kira Kira Live Tour 2007/2008, which actually ended yesterday in Japan. (It’s now Jan. 11 there.) The Jan. 9 set showcases her full band, while the Jan. 10 date is an acoustic. Footage from both nights will be edited and compiled on the DVD.
Back in November, Cocco reissued her Okinawa-only release, "Fuuka Fuusou", on DVD, once again restricting the release to Okinawa. I saw this news on Oops Music a few weeks back but forgot to post about it.
I wish her Spaceshower TV performance from 2000 would be released on DVD.