Solo Space » Namie Amuro

30k+ iTunes Survey

solo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:23:06 +0000

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.

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…

Wota Wonderings 3

solo — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:01:50 +0000

After glancing over the questions for this months Wota Wonderings, I quickly came up with the response “No.” But well, that wasn’t going to cut it…

Tie-Ins

The music industry has had many tie-ins with animes and doramas. Of those tie-ins, did one manage to capture your interest and get you hooked on their music? Or, did one manage to change your perspective of a musical act? Did you end up watching the anime or dorama in its entirety or give up once the musical act’s tie-in ceased?

So how’s that formula work out anyway. I had to ponder that for only a short while. The type of tie-in I was thinking about was an artist promoting a product for an anime or a drama. That is, rather than promoting the anime directly. The product in this case however, is the artist/song themselves. A bit quick to jump to the response of no, it didn’t take too long to come up with one of the biggest artist tie-ins that’s grabbed me.

Shokotan as Yoko from Gurren Lagann

Nakagawa Shouko did the opening to the epic anime, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. This was literally right around the time I started getting into Japanese music. Shokotan could be considered a product herself, being sold as a gravure idol, actress, singer, illustrator and then some. And as she is a self proclaimed otaku, she fits right into the genre. I have to stay, I love it; I am definitely hooked on Shokotan.

Sorario Days, the opening theme to Gurren Lagann, was only my first introduction to Shouko, but the tie-ins didn’t end there. More recently, she also did the theme song for the Gurren Lagan movie. Both were hits from my standpoint. Her discography is filled with this stuff and generally speaking, it’s all pretty good. Of note was her single Shiny Gate, which was used as a theme song for Tokyo OnlyPic 2008. That’s a seemingly huge tie-in, tho I don’t think it received much fanfare.

Another example tie-in that has kept me hooked on their music, is D-51 and One Piece. Their song, Brand New World, was a nice upbeat song used as the 6th opening and coincided with an awesome point in the amine. It wasn’t played for long, but it really stuck.

Then’s actually a laundry list of artists I discovered through tie-ins or are otherwise attached, each with varying degrees of replay value. Ai Otsuka with Hanazakari no Kimitachi e; Buono! and Shugo Chara Egg, Shugo Chara!; Diggy-Mo’ and Nishino Kana, Soul Eater; Ikimono Gakari and nobodyknows+, Naruto; Kusumi Koharu and MilkyWay, Kirarin Revolution. I’m sure there are many others I’ve enjoyed listing to as well. Actually, looking into this, it’s a little bit surprising but I guess it was inevitable, all part of the discovery process.

Of the anime/doramas listed, only Shugo Chara! and Kirarin Revolution have dropped in interest. It’s a case of enjoying the music, but not having interested in the thing it’s used to promote. I’m a ways into Shugo Chara! but it’s gotten somewhat repetative. I’ve not seen Kirarin Revolution at all, but from the snippits, I don’t think it’s something I’m too interested in seeing anyway. I’m glad the groups are there tho, even if in my case, they’re not really working fully for their intended purpose.

Have there been any CM tie-ins that had a similar effect on you?

Not to the same extent as the others mentioned, but Namie Amuro’s tie into Vidal Sassoon with 60s 70s 80s was a great tie-in. I had already been familiar with her work by the time this was released. This little campaign rekindled my interest a bit after the relatively long break after she released her album, Play. I still follow her today, but it’s not as enthusiastically as I perhaps once would have.

Wota Wonderings! 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.

Wota Wonderings 003 – The Ties That Bind (Selective Hearing)
Wota Wonderings: Mendol – where the guys are girls and the girls are hot. (boylikesmusic)
Wota Wonderings 003: It’s All Yui Horie’s Fault (Somewhat) (The Groove Music Life)
Wota Wonderings 03 – Anime, Dorama, Video Game Tie-Ins (fields of maize and berryz)
Wota Wonderings 003: Kirarin Revolution and Hot Guys (Merry Go Round)

20,000 and an iTunes Survey

solo — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:35:23 +0000

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!

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…

15,000 and an iTunes Survey

solo — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:44:38 +0000

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