Category: music review

Amatsuki to release second album Hakoniwa Dramatic on 29 July

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Brilliant new vocal hero Amatsuki will unleash his second major album Hakoniwa Dramatic in Europe from 29 July courtesy of JPU Records. The Japanese star, who first began posting cover songs on video sharing websites a few years, has now accumulated more than half a million followers on Twitter, was awarded “Breakthrough Artist 2015” by NHK World’s English language music show J-MELO, and has already topped the charts of Japan with his first live DVD and original songs.

Outside of Japan, Amatsuki fever is already hotting up with millions of hits and comments flooding his YouTube channel from overseas. Due to popular demand, earlier this year Amatsuki was invited to perform in front of thousands of people at MCM London Comic Con, the biggest event of its kind in Europe, and third biggest globally. There, he gained many new fans and sold hundreds of CDs before running out of stock entirely.

Highly influenced by Japanese pop culture, particularly anime, video game and vocaloid – a music phenomenon that has swept Japan involving synthetic vocals and virtual pop icons – Amatsuki’s music packs a powerful dose of energy, charm and imagination that’s resulted in him winning fans the world over, regardless of language barriers.

Hakoniwa Dramatic is Amatsuki’s second full length album since joining Japan’s massive King Records, and consists of 13 original tracks. Several videos from the album have also been uploaded to YouTube and experienced more than a million hits, including latest video Nagareboshi.

Download (from 29 July):
Amazon Music 🇬🇧UK / 🇩🇪DE / 🇪🇸ES / 🇫🇷FR / 🇮🇹IT
iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft Store

Stream (from 29 July):
Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Tidal

Via JPU

Following on From Doll$Box

I asked my contact in gun-toting USA if he’d ever heard of Doll$box and he sent me the following advisory:

“Doll$Boxx was a one-time-only unit with members of Gacharic Spin + the lead singer of LIGHTBRINGER.

This was result of Gacharic Spin touring with different lead singers after their own singer suddenly quit the band before a scheduled tour. They liked [F]uki best and created an album & videos to capitalize on the momentary popularity. No plans for reunion or tour so far. Lot of different labels/management involved”

Bugger. I really liked the singer; she’s got one hell of a voice.

Mr Contact continues:

“Fuki is great — recommend checking out the LIGHT BRINGER videos for her best work (epic keyboards too)”

 

He’s not wrong. The keyboards really are epic!

 

Yeah yeah I know the formatting is totally screwed on this post. Sometimes WordPress likes to be a douche bag.

Doll$ Box Are My New BiS

Doll$ Box have been around for ages and ages (2012) but I’ve never paid them much attention until researching interview questions for Broken Doll. And I hate to admit it: this band is fucking awesome.

Merrily High Go Round (above) is a case in point; a super well crafted song with solid instrumentals (yes, that guitar solo modulates all over the place) and world class vocals courtesy of classically trained Fuki.

Maybe not as heavy as BandMaid, but with -I think – better song writing, I wish I’d listened to more of Doll$ Box a bit sooner.

Album Doll$ Apartment is on my playlist ‘natch along with BiS, BABYMETAL, BandMaid and er, Cliff Richard.

Hook me up on Twitter, bitches.

the GazettE Unleash UNDYING Preview


WORLD TOUR BEGINS ● BACK CATALOGUE NOW AVAILABLE

the GazettE will release three track maxi-single UNDYING via JPU Records on 27 April 2016, the same day as they perform in Toronto as part of their world tour.

UNDYING contains three entirely new songs; UNDYING, MALUM and VACANT and has been mastered exclusively for iTunes, offering crystal clear 24-bit audio. The three track single is available now to pre-order: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1099538074?ls=1&app=itunes

UNDYING is the 6th movement of PROJECT:DARK AGE, an artistic venture involving 18 creative professionals spanning Japan’s fashion, design, photography, sound, film and stage industries, with the GazettE’s five members at its centre. DOGMA, the GazettE’s latest album, was the first movement;UGLY, the first single was the third movement; and the current world tour makes up movements 7, 8 and 9.

the GazettE
UNDYING

27 April 2016

TRACKLIST:

01. UNDYING

02. MALUM

03. VACANT

[Pre-order now]

Additionally, the GazettE’s back catalogue under King Records has also been made available world wide (except Japan, Korea, Taiwan and South and Central America) through JPU Records.

Artist Page on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gRFSxjAcJkb54BDjqo7Bc

Artist Page on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/artist/id308794328?ls=1&app=itunes

TOUR DATES:
The Americas:
15 April – Teatro Metropolitan – Mexico City
20 April – Teatro Vorterix – Buenos Aires
22 April – Audio Club – Sao Paulo
25 April – Bomb Factory – Dallas
27 April – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto
29 April – Playstation Theatre – New York
1 May – Regency Ballroom – San Francisco
3 May – Wilterm Theatre – Los Angeles
5 May – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver

The Far East:
13 June – TICC – Taipei
21 June – Q.Hall – Shanghai

The Continent:
3 June – Le Zenith – Paris
5 June – E-Werk – Cologne
8 June – Tonhalle – Munich
10 June – The Circus – Helsinki
12 June – Izvestia Hall – Moscow

So Uhhhh There’s a New Album By A Certain Band Coming Out

There are loads of really cool albums due for release shortly; one for a certain Japanese band I’ve followed for a while. All I will say is that if you’re a fan of this group, you’re in for a treat. That’s all I’m saying. And this is my blog so I can say what the fuck I like.

Is it better than the first? No. It’s just very very different.

 

6 Random Music Acts To Watch In 2016

I wrote this blog post last year about 7 Japanese acts to watch in 2015 and was all super happy when the likes of BABYMETAL went onto become global superstars so I thought it would be appropriate to do a similar piece this year, except this time I’m even going to include some Western music! So why don’t you join me for a cup of coffee and a run-down of six acts I think are set for bigger things this year. Continue reading →