Let's BABYMETAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a new BABYMETAL single out and all is right with the world.

FUN FACT (DID YOU KNOW?): All the members of BABYMETAL have the name metal in their, er, name? It's true: Suzuka (SU-METAL), Yui (YUIMETAL) and Moa (MOAMETAL).

Yes.

New album from Matryoska / Free song

It's been five years since we last heard the super lush, whispery, twee sounds from Matryoska. So what have they been up to? Something huge, it would seem. Their new album Laideronnette is due out on 12/12/12. The first track "Monotonous Purgatory" (above) is a sad, expansive, glitchy orchestral dream. The rest of the album (see the sampler below) looks to be more of the same, which is all fine by me.

You can download "Monotonous Purgatory" for free direct from their site and order the album there as well. You can also get it at CDJapan.

10 Japanese acts that would have been way way better choices than AKB48 for the Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack

I just saw that the super-creepy Japanese pop act AKB48 is on the soundtrack for the video game themed animated film Wreck-It Ralph*. While I suppose it should come as no surprise that such factory processed mega-sleaze could manage to shlerm its way onto the soundtrack (we are talking about Disney here after all), it does send this fanboy into something of a tailspin. Because for God's sake, there are exactly ONE ZILLION better Japanese acts to choose from for this sort of fun, nostalgic, vibrant love letter to video games. (I'm assuming most of that. Haven't seen it.)

So I took two seconds and wrote a list of the first ten acts I could think of. HERE IT IS, in order of relevance and everything, just in case you get bored of listening to incredibly awesome music halfway through like a moron who deserves total junk like AKB48 forced into your slack jaws and down your bloated food-chute.

*Looking up the correct punctuation is the beginning and ending of the research I did for this post.

#1 Sexy Synthesizer



If you get 15 seconds into this and don't know why it's number one then stop reading and smash your damn fool face into a brick wall until it's nap time. COME ON. Sexy Synthesizer is amazing and uses a handful of Namco arcade game sounds in just about every song he writes. Including Galaga which is the best game ever made. Disagree? See above advice.

You can hear his entire ROCK album below.



#2 Plugnet



THIS IS THE COOLEST CHIPTUNE ALBUM EVER CREATED. Why? LISTEN TO THE RAPPING OH MY GOD. Oh, and it should be obvious unless you're a dummy but Sexy Synthesizer had a hand in its creation. GOT MORE SPICES.

#3 Omodaka



OK, so we've been pretty spastic right out of the gate. Maybe what you'd expect. And then BOOOOM. Omodaka. That's right, funk-tastic chip driven funky funk courtesy of a Stevie Wonder bass line and some wickedly weird traditional folk singing layered over the top. If Disney really wanted to blow people's minds, THIS would be playing through Wreck-It (I'm too busy to bother with the Ralph and more) non-stop.

#4 YMCK



"Y! M! C! K! Let's go! Let's go! *clap clap* Y! M! C! K! Let's go! Let's go! *clap clap* Y! M! C! K! Let's go! Let's go! *clap clap* Y! M! C! K! Waaaaaaaa!"

I rest my case. (They also built their own chiptune software.)

#5 Perfume



I mean come on, it's called "Electro World" for crying out loud. And Perfume is HUUUGE. And waaay less creepy than those dead-eyed AKB slaves. Much more family-friendly and all that. And the bass line rules my soul.

#6 The Aprils



Alright, if the over-the-top commercialism is getting to you, then The Aprils are here to wash it away with a blissful wave of super duper cute synthpop. Absolutely non-ironic and just plain happy. All in a way only Japan can pull off. This should be the ending theme to every happy animated film, in my totally factual analysis.

#7 Halcali



Remember when people made good, clever videos? This is one of them! And it has blurred out Super Mario Bros in it! And it's an amazing song! COME ON GUYS JEEEZUS! AKB48? Really? When THIS IS A THING THAT EXISTS???

#8 Capsule



Screw Tron. THIS is what living in a video game from the 2000s would sound like.

#9 Floppy



Sorry if I fell off the chiptune tip for a second there. Back on track! Floppy brings a more rock/punk/weirdo vibe to their tunes. A nice foil to all the happy crappy girls, am I right? Look, we can all get along because chiptunes!

#10 Polysics



BECAUSE I WILL NOT REST UNTIL POLYSICS RULES THE ENTIRE WORLD. Because reasons, that's why.

So there you go. Take your stupid factory-pre-set J-pop and CHOKE.

Listen to the new Polysics single "Lucky Star" while you still can!

Not sure how long this video will last, so enjoy it now!

New Polysics! "Lucky Star" is the first single from what is presumably their next album. The song is a snappy, poppy one along the lines of "Black Out Fall Out" and "You You You." Fumi is no Kayo when it comes to pop vocals, but she has always been able to hold her own and does so here just fine. But I miss Kayo.

Anyway, it's Polysics in a nutshell. Chugging synths, retro blips, odd patterns and pure energetic fun. It's a bit repetitive, a bit shallow on a surface level, but there's plenty to dig into on repeat listens. The CD/DVD version includes what seems to be a full live show. Well worth it!

(via @Mistabeen)

[Update: According to the above mentioned Mistabeen, the DVD is actually a collection of short clips totaling 20 minutes. Bummer!]

L'Arc~en~Ciel tribute album...wait...WTF?

When I first heard that Polysics was going to be on the new L'Arc~en~Ciel Tribute album, I was excited. Of course I'm always excited about Polysics. Then I saw the rest of the line-up and, well, I had to triple check.

Listed among a hand-full of other Japanese bands were rather more incongruous names. Names like Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks), Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and John 5 (Marilyn Manson) (itself a head-scratching paring), Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe), TLC and, get this, Boyz II Men.

Yep.

If that all sounds a little weird, well, so is the album. I'm not a huge L'Arc fan, but I do like some of their more rockin' songs. This album is not rockin'. In the slightest. It's mostly washed-up has-beens sucking the life out of songs that didn't have much life to spare. For crying out loud, Vince Neil sings the super-saccharine "Blurry Eyes" and not "Shout at the Devil." Sure, it's not the same iconic metal anthem that Crüe rode high on through the '80s, but still it was a giant missed opportunity. (I should also point out that much of this tribute is sung in English. Another jolt to the system.)

Ah well, at least Polysics managed to produce a really heavy, noisy take on "Seventh Heaven," a track otherwise totally out of place in this collection of zombies sluggishly devouring L'Arc's brains.

Listen to more of the carnage below.

Babymetal demands you bang your head!

Dear Gods of the Great Head-o-bang! Please! Here my plea! Bestow unto me your Sacred Neck Brace so that I, your mortal servant, may continue to bang my head long after my unworthy neck muscles have slackened and withered. Grant me the power to headbang long into the night, my hair tracing your sacred symbols in the air, my limbs beckoning others into your glorious mosh pits. HEAR ME, OH GREAT ONES!

HEAD O BANG!
HEAD O BANG!
HEAD O BANG!
HEAD O BANG!
HEAD O BANG!
HEAD O BANG!
BANG! BANG! BA BANG!

VIDEO: Ai Otsuka "I Love XXX"

It feels like it's been years since I listened to anything by Ai Otsuka. I know it hasn't been, but considering how much I used to like her music it still feels a bit strange. I've never really been into her super ballady ballads, and that's exactly what "I Love XXX" is. She loves everything! But the video is pretty cute, at least. Who doesn't like penguins?

VIDEO: Perfume "Voice"

It's a new Perfume video! Watch it while you can!

This time around we've got a little more to look at than just the girls walking around and shopping, which is always nice. There isn't really much more going on here, but at least the backgrounds are interesting. There are a few quick little vignettes sprinkled throughout. You might recognize the "human Tetris" bit that became a full-fledged game show for about ten seconds. There are a few other simple little visual tricks, but an OK Go video this is certainly not. (Which is just fine since those things are a little on the over-hyped side anyway...but I digress) I think my favorite part is when all three girls walk off a cliff.

I'm not so sure that brown on brown is really the best color for the girls, but hey, at least the skirts are short, right guys?

As for the song, it's surprisingly soft compared to all of the hard-hitting, razor sharp bass and pummeling beats we've been subjected to lately. Their voices are also almost in the realm of reality, something we haven't heard for a while. Overall it's a nice enough song but it seems a little weak for a single, don't you think?

VIDEO: Gackt "Ever"

New Gackt video! Now, I'm something of an unapologetic Gackt fan-boy. I know a lot of his stuff it crap, but what can I say? I like it.

With that in mind, here's the new video for "Ever." If someone totally unaware of his previous years of material were to see this, they might think it was a metal band's parody of modern pop idols. In this, a boy runs into a concert hall where the band is playing a pretty intense metal song. He seems to really want to see what's going on inside, but "the man" is keeping him out. Once inside, he's mesmerized by what he sees.

The singer (Gackt) is high up on a platform in center-stage posing with a silly hat and shaking like Ricky Martin. He's got Adam Lambert hair and make-up. The song has a hook that might fit in a more down-tempo party jam, even complete with a few horn stabs, but really it's all heavy metal, just super over the top and upbeat. It ends with the kid getting close to the stage, Gackt throwing an amp, and everything disappearing. The video surveillance that's been folowing the action turns out to be controlled by the guy at the door. He mumbles "Ever." The end. I always like Gackt's faster, more rock oriented tracks so obviously I really like this song. But man, the video is terrible!

I'm really looking forward to what Gackt's next proper, new studio album will be like. (It's been forever. Hahagetit?) It'll be more of the same, I'm sure, but I guess that's OK just so long as he continues to be the king of silly.

Calendar 2010 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - US Tour

October 17 - November 5
Ryuichi Sakamoto
US Tour

October 17 2010 - Keswick Theatre/Glenside, Pennsylvania
October 18 2010 - Skirball Center For the Performing Arts/New York City, New York
October 20 2010 - Berklee College of Music/Boston, Massachusetts
October 22 2010 - Outremont Theatre/Montreal, Quebec
October 24 2010 - Queen Elizabeth Theater/Toronto, Ontario
October 27 2010 - Vic Theatre/Chicago, Illinois
October 30 2010 - Moore Theatre/Seattle, Washington
November 1 2010 - Vogue Theatre/Vancouver, British Columbia
November 3 2010 - Regency Ballroom/San Fransisco, California
November 5 2010 - El Rey/Los Angeles, California

SOURCE: Official Site

VIDEO: Kanon Wakeshima "Lolitawork Libretto (Storytelling by Solita)"

Here's a new video from Kanon Wakeshima. In it, French singer Solita reads a book and Kanon is the girl acting out the stories. It's all got a pretty Alice in Wonderland feel (not surprising) but there is a bit of original style to it as well. The one thing I can't get past though is how terrible Solita looks! It's like they intentionally make her look oily and grumpy just to make Kanon look better. I mean that lighting under her face! Those makeup-less closeups! Her total lack of emotion or movement! What's going on?! Otherwise it's a perfectly passable Kanon song just like all her other stuff. Oh, and I still wish they'd do more with Kanon's cello playing. They really seem to be phasing that out, despite every promo of her prominently featuring the instrument.

VIDEO: Scandal "Namida no Regret"

Warning: Japanese schoolgirls in super short skirts ahead!

OK, now that the Google baiting is out of the way, here's Scandal. Looking all sad again. What's the deal with sad girls lately? I don't know. Anyway, here that are slowly rocking out in the library, you know, like you do when you're a rock band. Turns out that someone's boyfriend is now interested in some other girl because apparently he suffered major head trauma and no longer wants to hang out with a hot chick in a major-label rock band. What's the deal, dude? I mean their tiny skirts poof out and everything! Sheesh. Anyway, I'm sure the girls will be OK since they have about 18 million other guys waiting in line to carry their books and tell them jokes.

VIDEO: Ayumi Hamasaki "Moon"

"M-O-O-N. That spells overblown!"

Here's something new from J-pop super idol Ayumi Hamasaki. OK, sure, this is the "short" version and even ends with an ominous "to be continued," but come on. They really try to make this out to be much deeper and arty than it is. As it stands, it looks like the just bought a bunch of stuff, filled up a room with it and stuck Ayu in the middle for a few seconds. A few flashes of her falling over into some paint and voilà! Instant "depth." Well I'm not buying it!

VIDEO: AKB48 "Anata Ga Ite Kureta Kara"

In this new, tear-jerking video from Akihabara's super-idol-group AKB48, we see how the girls struggle to keep their chins up and smile but ultimately break down after coming to the realization that the best they can ever hope to achieve after they hit 16 is maybe a long, drug-addled career in the porn industry. Faced with the massive debt owed by their families to their gangster "agents," the young girls have no other choice but to remain in the seamy world of massage parlors, host clubs and human trafficking. Sure, maybe some day they will be able to climb out of the gutter, but memories of their daily brutalization will haunt their every move, causing them to fall back, time and again, into a downward spiral of fear, shame and crippling sadness.

At least that's what *I* think about when I watch this. You might have a slightly different reaction.

Calendar 2010 - Yoshida Brothers - US Tour

August 1-14
Yoshida Brothers
US Tour

08/01 Washington DC
08/03 New York, NY
08/05 Boston, MA
08/07 Chicago, IL
08/10 San Francisco, CA
08/11 San Francisco, CA
08/12 San Francisco, CA
08/14 Los Angeles, CA

More info TBA

Source: Domo Music Group

Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル)

Utada Hikaru is possibly the biggest pop idol in Japan today. With an estimated 50 million chart-topping albums sold worldwide, she certainly has the numbers to prove it.

Born in America to Japanese parents who were themselves steeped in music, Utada has a multifaceted appeal. While her American album releases have been a relative flop (Exodus selling only 55,000 albums and This is the One failing to chart well for the first time in 11 years) her Japanese fan base has remained rock solid. She isn't as traditionally Japanese sounding as some other R'n'B and pop acts. Her singing style, while not overly adventurous, has a deeper and more mature diva-like quality than, say, some of the more cutesy, pre-teen idols.

Her music contains much of the usual cardboard-box production heard in the pop world. (Is there really any reason that the biggest artist in Japan has to use fake strings and factory pre-set beats?) While her albums may disregard musical sophistication, they do a good job of focusing almost entirely on her stronger vocal skills. Her early releases have an R'n'B feel to them, but much of that seems to have changed as time went by. Today her production seems to conform to more traditional J-pop standards, leaning toward a darker, almost trip-hop feel at times, countered with dance beats, pretty twinkles and electro flourishes. Utada has occasionally experimented with slightly heavier rock sounds, but they feel a bit lifeless when compared to more experienced pop-rockers like Ayumi Hamasaki or even Mika Nakashima.

Despite struggling for an audience overseas, Utada Hikaru is an undeniable force. Still in her 20s, she has a lifetime to evolve as an artist and she's already well on her way in developing her own voice, both literally and figuratively. Whether or not she chooses to continue following that path, you can be sure she will have a million people in step close behind her.

BUY UTADA HIKARU RELEASES AT AMAZON AND CDJAPAN

"Come Back to Me"



Official Site

Albums:
Precious (1998)
First Love (1999)
Distance (2001)
Deep River (2002)
Exodus (2004)
Ultra Blue (2006)
Heart Station (2008)
This Is the One (2009)

"Easy Breezy"


"You Make Me Want To Be A Man"


"Beautiful World" (Live)


"Traveling" (Live)

Calendar 2010 - AKB48 - Anime Expo

July 1
AKB48

Anime Expo 2010
Los Angeles Convention Center - Nokia Theater

The members will also participate in attendee panels, meet-and-greets and autograph sessions.

Source: Anime Expo

Calendar '10 - Dazzle Vision - Sakura-Con

April 2-4, 2010
Dazzle Vision
Sakura-Con - Seattle, WA

Source: JapanFiles

FLOPPY

FLOPPY is a chiptune/8-bit/electro project from Sharaku Kobayashi of Metronome and Hiromu Toda of Shinjuku Gewalt. Since 2004, they've been producing some of the best and craziest chip-fueled electro mayhem around. Their somewhat retro-futurist sound is highlighted by their goofy no-budget sci-fi costumes and the music's dreamy yet chaotic atmosphere.

Their songs are mostly made up of fast beats and stuttering lo-bit bleeps, burbling with video game blasts and arpeggiated bass-lines. FLOPPY has always put a little extra effort into their programing, never relying too heavily on loops and factory pre-set sounds. This serves to give their songs a more organic feel, though it can be hard to hear through all the electronic cross-talk. They are able to restrain themselves at times, occasionally achieving something along the lines of a grand Susumu Hirasawa epic. Most often though, they stick to their usual cartoon cat chasing a cartoon mouse sort of vibe. Stompy, silly and fun. Of course thought it all Sharaku Kobayashi's voice adds another level of geek-pop, what with his whiny pitch and pouty delivery.

FLOPPY managed to transcend the usual chip-tune stereotypes. They make genuinely good music using tools more often used to make much more trendy and obviously niche tunes. It proves its members are actually songwriters and musicians, rather than gamers who just happen to be able to mash a few notes together.

BUY FLOPPY RELEASES AT JAPANFILES, HEARJAPAN and CDJAPAN

"Everything"



Official Site

Members:
Sharaku Kobayashi - Vocals, Programming
Hiromu Toda - Programming

Albums:
PROTOSCIENCE - 2010
Deus Ex Machina - 2009
Sine Wave Orchestra - 2006

Hosome

If Melt Banana and The Aprils had sex at a carnival, Hosome might have been their bouncing baby beast. Given an overstuffed toy-box, some half-broken electronic gadgets and a metronome better suited from some sort of Lovecraftian ritual, that child would grow and produce this sort of childish yet intricate music.

Slathered in a thick layer of echo and reverberations, it's a bit tough to pick out any sharp outlines in Hosome's music, though that's probably for the best. There is so much going on in each short slip of a song that trying to focus only causes the listener to miss out on most of the track. The keyboards pump out a drunken carnival stomp, while the guitars swing along with the unpredictable drum lines. The dual male/female vocals also keep things swirling and spinning around as they interweave, calling back and forth to each other across the midway.

Another interesting aspect of the band (as if they need anything more) are their live shows. In a live setting, all of the haziness is stripped away and the band is a much more raw and powerful force. They play virtually non-stop, and the light-speed sonic barrage is overwhelming. Live, they transform from a swirling, art-rock technicolor, pop roller-coaster into a seething, math punk, blistering fury of sound. Hosome is the real deal.

BUY HOSOME RELEASES AT HEARJAPAN, CDJAPAN AND ITUNES

"You Want To Be A HEN"



Official Site
MySpace

Members:
Hayato Nakajima - Vocals, Guitar
Shikiko Osawa - Vocals, Keyboards
Yoshifumi　Kuwano - Bass
Ryohei Toda - Drums

Albums:
Jakamashi Jazz - 2009/09/09
New Fascio - 2007/12/12

"Venetian Acrobat Son"


"Nihilistic Country"


Live


Live


Live