Feb201025

It’s been a while since I did one of these, about a year actually. I generally listen to at least a few songs every day, driving to school or waiting between classes and what have you, tho some days are more packed than others, like when I’m working from home and such. About 10,000 songs in a year, average 28 songs per day, that’s alright.

Some new artists include Leona Lewis, PUFFY, BAReeeeeeeeeeN, Mr.Children, 4minute… I haven’t been keeping up with a lot of artists or seeking out anything too new as of late, but I hope to get back into exploring some more in the future.

Mar200902

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20,000 and an iTunes Survey

Well, it’s been 4 months and 5,000 plays since I did my last iTunes Survey and my music library has grown quite significantly since then. I’ve picked up a lot of new artists from the wotasphere, iTunes and last.fm recommendations. 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Base Ball Bear, Ikimono Gakari, Rei Okamoto, SCHADARAPARR, Tomoiki Ki o Uetai, and W just to name a few. Even with that doubling of the size of my music library, I still feel, and I know that there is so much more out there that I have yet to discover. Survey starto!
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Feb200908

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GO!GO!7188 – Futashika Tashika (+Antenna)

Futashika Tashika

GO!GO!7188′s 15th single, released January 14th, 2009. Futashika Tashika is a fairly mellow song and I really like the flow of it . It concludes with a nice three minute instrumental, one that I can just sit back, listen to and enjoy.

The second track is a bit more upbeat, as is the third, which is more in line with their usual fanfare. Interestingly, the single features the track Bariburi, which has their drummer carrying the lead vocals. GO!GO! have done this before and it seems to work okay in this case. Overall not a spectacular release, but I still enjoyed it.

30 Second Previews:

I’m sure there’s some deep meaning behind the video, but I’m not too keen on catching that kind of stuff. The cover of the single has an Ashura which is also featured in the PV. It seems to illustrate some sort of life death evolution or some such. I’m sure that bit has some link to Ashura as well.

Antenna

Antenna was released on February 4, 2009. Their 7th album features their latest singles Futashika Tashika and one of my favorites, Kataomoi Fighter, plus 10 new tracks. I have to say that I get the feeling of more of the same from this album, but at the same time, the tracks are unique and enjoyable enough that it doesn’t really matter.

The beachy surf rock style can be heard throughout, although only subtly at times. It’s this style and along with Yuu’s vocals that make the band for me, so it’s all good. I think someone new to GO!GO! can get a good feel for what this group is all about through this album. Their Best of from a few years ago has a good sampling as well.

Outside of the great single tracks, Chinton shan, Kuwazu Girai and Ame no Hi Dake no Koi stand out. Chinton shan and Kuwazu Girai for their upbeat tempo and familiarity, then Ame no Hi Dake no Koi for the interesting vocals.

With Ame no Hi Dake no Ko, GO!GO! again throws out some vocals to their drummer, Turkey. He doesn’t carry the whole song tho which creates an interesting dynamic between the whole of the composition. I’m really starting to like his voice, which I was a little bit hesitant on back when I first heard it on their cover album Tora no Ano 2. Hopefully they continue this trend, as it adds a good bit of variety and spice.

On the whole, good stuff.

30 Second Previews:

Jan200917

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Wota Wonderings 1

Welcome to Wota Wonderings! We are a group of english-speaking Japanese music bloggers brought together once a month to answer questions posed by johpan. We strive to be creative and entertaining, and we may even shed a bit of new light on interesting musical and cultural topics. Any questions about how we work should be directed to johpan. Don’t forget to check out the other posts from this month at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

New Year’s Resolutions

If you were someone in the Japanese music industry who could influence a change, what would your New Year’s resolution be?

So over winter break I was having a good long chat with my buddy JMI. Jamie, as she likes to be called, is a big time player in the Japanese music industry, heck you could even say that she is the Japanese music industry, from a female pop vocalist’s perspective anyway. In any case, I rarely get to talk to her anymore since she’s becoming so popular over in Japan and around the world really, so I was glad that were able to both find a little down time to reflect on the past and coming years.

At one point in our reminiscing, Jamie and I switched gears and began rattling off a list of resolutions that we’d like to stick to for the coming year. You know, loose a little weight, kicking off an image change, looking to the future and blah blah blah. We had been batting around quite a few ideas but one of hers really stuck out for me. Jamie was somewhat disappointed with some of her performances over the last year or so. Specifically, she has been releasing a lot of cover songs lately and felt that she was lacking in originality, she wasn’t singing her own voice so to speak.

On that point, I countered by admitting that covers can be fun, but in the end realized that I too was ready to move on. While we must always remember where we started, we must also push forward with great innovation. If I were in Jamie’s shoes, I’d probably have the same feeling. I mean, the list of covers wasn’t too grandiose, but a lot of other Japanese artists had released cover songs too.