I can blame learning a new programming language for the dearth of content on this site.
A few weeks ago, I downloaded Visual Studio Express on a lark. I’d always casually thought about experimenting with developing desktop applications, even though my bread and butter is web development. I didn’t anticipate the rabbit hole through which I’d be falling.
I knew it was bad when I saw news about a new Cocco single, and I was too busy coding to post about it.
I think I’m starting to come out of that obsessive haze, if the fact I’m posting again is any indication. So here’s the release news I’ve missed since then.
I’ve been lazy with posting the release news — well, posting in general, really — but a few items popped up on Bounce last week that caught my attention.
Kicell is releasing a new album on June 2 titled Kaze. Members of SAKEROCK and tico moon make guest appearances on the album. The duo tours behind the album starting in July. It’s been 2 1/2 years since Kicell released their previous album, magic hour.
Original SUPERCAR member Ishiwatari Junji and Sunahara Yoshinori have teamed up for a single to be released on May 26. The single will be featured as the ending theme for the anime series Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei.
I’ve been pretty neglectful keeping up with new releases. I let a new album by STRAIGHTENER and a new single by the brilliant green go by without any notice. Well, I did notice them — I was just too lazy to post about them.
I think part of the difficult with compiling these entires is the slow pace of the release schedule. Since the last time I posted a round-up, I would visit my usual sources for news and be totally underwhelmed by the offerings.
I didn’t report anything because there was nothing to report. And I just get this sense that the malaise of the recording industry’s woes is coming through in the release schedule — why bother putting out product few customers are buying?
The Rest Is Noise author Alex Ross announced on his website that he had sent off the manuscript of his next book to his publisher. Titled Listen to This, the book offers what Ross describes as a panoramic view of the music scene. "In the Preface, I say that the aim is to ‘approach music not as a self-sufficient sphere but as a way of knowing the world,’" Ross writes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishes the book at the end of September 2010.
The unfortunate death of Fuji Fabric’s Shimura Masahiko pretty much overshadowed another bit of news released on Christmas Day: Furukawa Miki is releasing a new album on Feb. 17. The 14-track album is titled Very and includes the single "Saihate", which was released on Dec. 9. Not much information is available beyond the brief post on Furukawa’s official site, but I noticed the catalog number looks like she’s back in the Sony field. Her first two solo albums were released by BMG Japan.
ZAZEN BOYS’ mastermind Mukai Shuutoku produced and mixed the debut album of newcomers SuiseiNoboAz, reports Bounce.com. SuiseiNoboAz formed in 2007, performing steadily and gaining enough of a reputation to land a spot on the ROOKIE-A-GO-GO stage at the Fuji Rock Festival. The band recorded its 10-track self-titled debut, slated for release on Jan. 20, 2010, at Mukai’s Matsuri Studio.
SuiseiNoboAz’s Myspace page contains excerpts from the album, and the band shares quite an affinity with ZAZEN BOYS. The tracks certainly have that Matsuri Studio sound. (It’s in the drums.)
MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS returns with a new single, "Hikizuru Beat/Made.", on Feb. 10, reports Bounce.com. The double A-side single features drummer Yoshino Kou, who became a full-time member of the group after serving as a support musician. The single, to be released on EMI Japan, marks the major label debut for the newly-minted trio, which will embark on a tour in March.
Tokyo Jihen’s next album, titled Sports, comes out on Feb. 24, reports Bounce.com. It’s been 2 1/2 years since the band released its previous album, Goraku (Variety). The 13-track Sports includes the pre-release single, "Noudouteki Sanpunkan", as well as "Senkou Shoujo", the title song a 2007 DVD release. A tour to support the album begins in March.
(Is it sick of me to wish this album were a track-by-track cover of the Huey Lewis and the News album of the same name?)
When was the last time I looked ahead to new releases? April? You mean to say I have not previewed upcoming releases in eight months?
I guess I ought to fix that, but the first quarter of any year is going to be slow, and 2010 is so far shaping up to be no exception. There’s not much to report.
Cocco’s new four-song EP, Cocco-san no Daidokoro, gets a physical CD release on Sept. 6, reports Bounce.com. The EP is currently available through online retailers and coincides with the publication of her latest book by the same name. Cocco also performed an acoustic set at Tower Records in Shibuya on Aug. 15 to promote the release of the book and EP. (Her hair is really short now.)