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.

General Info

Songs: 2307 (+822)
Length: 6 days 19 hours (+2 days 13 hrs)
Size: 22.38 GB (+7.81 GB)

Sort by Name

First:

★Akogare My STAR★

Last:

5:09a.m.

Sort by Time

Shortest:

We will (4s)

Longest:

Requiem (10m 38s)

Sort By Artist

First:

Aa!

Last:

9mm Parabellum Bullet

Sort by Genre

First:

Alternative

Last:

Rock

Sort by Play Count

Top 10:
Killer Tune – Tokyo Jihen (310) (+79)
NAMUKIN Girl – CHERRY LYDER (289) (+69)
Omae wa Ushi ka!? – CHERRY LYDER (279) (+64)
Sorairo Days – Nakagawa Shouko (267) (+51)
Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai – Berryz Koubou (266) (+56)
21ji Made no Cinderella – Berryz Koubou (264) (+62)
Kirin no Kubi Yori Nagaku Naru – CHERRY LYDER (248) (+56)
1/2 – Nakagawa Shouko (245) (+55)
Warera! Berryz Kamen – Berryz Koubou (243) (+47)
16sai no Koi Nante – Abe Natsumi & Yajima Maimi (234)

Sort By Rating

4½ stars:
Rival – Berryz Koubou
Kirin no Kubi Yori Nagaku Naru – CHERRY LYDER
Togatta Teguchi – Shiina Ringo
Gunjou Biyori – Tokyo Jihen
One’s LIFE – °C-ute

½ star:
Making Songs – Mr.Children
Wishing On The Same Star – Namie Amuro
Ore wa Drummer – GO!GO!7188
Kozukai UP Daisakusen – Berryz Koubou

Find Common Words

“sex”: 19 (+11)
“death”: 1
“love”: 212 (+71)
“peace”: 2 (+1)
“rock”: 339 (+3)
Until next time…

General Info

Songs: 1485 (+741)
Length: 4 days 6 hours (+2 days 4 hrs)
Size: 14.57 GB (+8.18 GB)

Sort by Name

First:

★Akogare My STAR★

Last:

5:09a.m.

Sort by Time

Shortest:

We will (4s)

Longest:

Requiem (10m 38s)

Sort By Artist

First:

Aa!

Last:

9mm Parabellum Bullet

Sort by Genre

First:

Alternative

Last:

Rock

Sort by Play Count

Top 10:
Killer Tune – Tokyo Jihen (231) (+35)
Sorairo Days – Nakagawa Shouko (216) (+28)
Omae wa Ushi ka!? – CHERRY LYDER (215) (+29)
NAMUKIN Girl – CHERRY LYDER (212) (+30)
Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai – Berryz Koubou (210) (+44)
21ji Made no Cinderella – Berryz Koubou (202) (+30)
Warera! Berryz Kamen – Berryz Koubou (196) (+41)
Senkou Shoujo – Tokyo Jihen (193) (+13)
Kirin no Kubi Yori Nagaku Naru – CHERRY LYDER (192) (+31)
1/2 – Nakagawa Shouko (190) (+31)

Sort By Rating

4½ stars:
Darling I LOVE YOU (Berryz Koubou ver.) – Berryz Koubou
CLAP! – Berryz Koubou
Rottara Rottara – Buono!
Darling I LOVE YOU (°C-ute ver.) – °C-ute
One’s LIFE – °C-ute
Kirin no Kubi Yori Nagaku Naru – CHERRY LYDER
Ne~e? – Matsuura Aya
1/2 – Nakagawa Shouko
Come Together – Ongaku Gatas
Gunjou Biyori – Tokyo Jihen
Minna no Ki – Tomoiki Ki wo Uetai

½ star:
Wishing On The Same Star – Namie Amuro
Ore wa Drummer – GO!GO!7188
Kozukai UP Daisakusen – Berryz Koubou

Find Common Words

“sex”: 8 (+5)
“death”: 1
“love”: 141 (+56)
“peace”: 1
“rock”: 336 (+151)

That’s about it. Perhaps next time, it’ll be a little more comprehensive. I think there are some programs out there that will do all sorts of nifty library analysis and such. Until next time…

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.

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.

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.

WTF was that!?

Berryz Koubou – They released Dchingus Khan and then they had the nerve to offer up a crakafied remix. Well, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it and it was kinda unique turn in the H!PSphere at the time. One has to admit tho that covering an old German Pop band is a bit odd.

°C-ute – Edo no Temari Uta II didn’t feel too much like a cover really, but I guess it is what it is. Popifying an Enka song coud work I guess, but I didn’t really like the song too much.

GO!GO!7188 – Released a mini cover album, Tora no Ana 2, a sequel to Tora no Ana which they had released some time ago. There were a couple of songs that they totally made their own, while other songs were done a little bit of a disservice.

Anime songs desu.

Nakagawa Shouko – Another one with a mini album of nothing but covers. Released in late 2007, but it does kinda fit Shokotan’s style. Anime covers for a Seiyuu and otaku works.

Morning Musume – Pepper Keibu as a single, all right cool; it seems like Hello!Project was on a thing with each of the Wonderful Hearts releasing a cover song. Then they come out with an entire album devoted to covers… Morning Musume didn’t release a lot this year and what they did release was a bunch of covers. I’m not much of a MM fan anyway, and really wasn’t too impressed by it all. It may be an underappreciation of the source material, or rather a sort of ignorance.

We will remember you, always?

v-u-den – Their last song was a cover, for shame. I mean really, they should have gone out with something original, something that we would truly remember them by. Top top it off, it was a cover of a Morning Musume song, so nothing overly unique. Maybe there was some sort of significance in it all that just went over my head.

I’m sure there were a lot more out there. And again, while covers aren’t neccicarily a bad thing and can often produce entertaining results, Jamie and I both agreed that it’d be a good idea to cut back on them. We’ll see how things go, but I’m really rooting for Jamie to stick to her resolutions this year.

Meh… I’ve got some complaints, but I’m not one to complain, nor am I a perfectionist… enjoy.

1. Berryz Koubou – Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai (Instrumental)
2. Nakagawa Shouko – Magic Time – Ivy
3. Yum!Yum!ORANGE – ORANGE ROCK FES 33 – Shangri-La
4. GO!GO!7188 – Kataomoi Fighter
5. CHERRY LYDER – Kirin no Kubi Yori Nagaku Naru

Recorded with a Logitech Quickcam Orbit AF and edited with Adobe Soundbooth CS4, er for anyone who’s curious…