Archive for November, 2007

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Cornelius on Darfur Benefit CD

November 28, 2007

Now you can support a good cause and J-rock at the same time!

“Causes 1 is a limited edition charity CD to benefit Darfur, which includes exclusive and rare tracks donated by Animal Collective, The Black Keys, Bloc Party, Bright Eyes, Cornelius, The Cure, David Sylvian, Death Cab for Cutie, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Shins remixed by Clint Mansell, Spoon, Teargas & Plateglass, Thievery Corporation and Travis.

100% of the proceeds from the sale of this CD will go to three non-profit organizations: Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam America.

We urge you to help those working in Darfur by picking up your copy of the album.

Although estimates of the number of people killed by the conflict in Darfur vary widely from 200,000 to 400,000, what is certain is that more than 2 million people have fled their homes because of the fighting, and 4 million are now in need of humanitarian assistance—making this one of the worst crises in the world today.”

Order the CD here

Download off iTunes 

http://www.myspace.com/corneliusofficial 

Posted in Cornelius, US Release | Leave a Comment »

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MUCC and D’espairsRay on Taste of Chaos 2008

November 28, 2007

It’s confirmed, MUCC and D’espairsRay will play 46 unconfirmed dates on next year’s Taste of Chaos festival. Warcon Records released Dir en grey’s Withering to Death album after they played at Taste of Chaos.  Does that mean these two bands will be seeing American releases as well?  MUCC have already announced they’re new album will be seeing a March 2008 release in the U.S. and Europe.  No further details are available.  I’ve never listened to either of these two bands but it’s always exciting to see more Japanese bands touring in the states.

http://myspace.com/muccofficial

http://www.myspace.com/despairsray 

Posted in D'espairsRay, Jrock Revolution, MUCC, tour | 6 Comments »

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Happy Thanksgiving, all

November 24, 2007

A few days late but better than never.  I hope that everyone had a blessed holiday of stuffing their faces full of turkey.  Last week, this blog hit 20,000 views, a milestone perhaps.  Thanks to all the people who visit this site everyday.  You’d be happy to know that I do intend on posting a mixtape here within the next few weeks, depends on how many papers I need to hand in by the end of the semester.  In the meantime, here’s a humorous video I found the other day.  Backstreet Boys vs. SMAP.  It’s from some kind of music show from Japan, I don’t care to figure out which.  The look on Nick Carter’s face when one of the SMAP guys rubs up on him is priceless.

 

  

 

Posted in announcements, jpop | Leave a Comment »

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Polysics-Rocket

November 21, 2007

Here’s this week’s release of the week.  Polysics new single “Rocket” comes out in Japan today.  It is used as the end theme song for the anime  Tales of Agriculture.  From what I gather at Anime News Network, the premise of the series is a college student who “can see and communicate with bacteria and other microorganisms.” Sounds trippy.

Posted in anime themes, Polysics | Leave a Comment »

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Yakkun Sakurazuka- Geki Maji Mukatsuku

November 17, 2007

Long story short, Dish Network has provided us with a free preview of IMF (International Music Feed) the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen many Japanese bands on the channel except this one. Yakkun Sakurazuka was apparently an anime voice actor (seiyū) before starting his musical career. Now he plays in a punk band and…cross-dresses. This is a very interesting video indeed.

 

 

Posted in Yakkun Sakurazuka | Leave a Comment »

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DRUMKAN 1995-2007

November 14, 2007

Tonight, DRUMKAN will play their last show at the Tokyo LOFT in Japan.  You can read more about their split here.  DRUMKAN was one of the first bands I listened to when I first started getting into Japanese music.  It’s a shame to see them break up.  Later I’ll post their song “Who Saves the World” on my Box.net player, in remembrance.  I urge you to pick up their only U.S. released album As Life, their final album, on Interpunk.

http://www.myspace.com/drumkan 

Posted in DRUM:KAN | Leave a Comment »

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purpleSKY- it does exist!

November 6, 2007

So, over the weekend I stopped by the Hot Topic in my mall to look for some new band t-shirts. Sadly, I haven’t found a good one there in years but I did find purpleSKY! I haven’t gotten around to reading many articles but it’s pretty cool so far. There’s a lot of visual kei coverage but I assume that was because they interviewed just about everyone from the Jrock Revolution festival. The album reviews are nice even though the Beat Crusaders review for EPopMaking was terrible. The Bleach 03 feature has also got me interested in learning more about the band.

Recently, they released pre-order details on myspace for their Fall 2007 issue. On the cover is the band The Captains whose “best of” album Last Group Sounds in now available to purchase from Tokyo no Records. I received the album last month and was pleasantly surprised by it. Highly recommended. More details about this issue’s content is available on their myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/purpleskymagazine

Posted in Beat Crusaders, Bleach 03, Jrock Revolution, purpleSKY, The Captains | 2 Comments »

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This Is Our Year

November 2, 2007

Love Me Butch has a new song up on their myspace player named “This Is Our Year.” The song is a collaboration with CHICOSCI, a Filipino punk-rock band. “This is one of the most FUN song we have ever written. Not angry anymore!”

http://www.myspace.com/lovemebutch

Posted in Love Me Butch | 1 Comment »

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ORESKABAND the Musical

November 2, 2007

More details have been released regarding ORESKABAND’s movie Lock and Roll Forever. The musical feature will be produced and written by the same guys as High School Musical. Check out their myspace blog for more details.

http://www.myspace.com/oreskabandus
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975075.html?categoryid=19&cs=1

edit: Is it just me or does this remind anyone else of the old Fox Family show S Club 7? A group of seven young British hipsters take their pop group to America in hopes of making it big. I USED TO HAVE ALL THEIR ALBUMS. *sigh* good memories.

Posted in Oreskaband | Leave a Comment »