Today: FEBRUARY 2
Today's jrock birthday is: HISASHI
Band: Glay
Position: lead guitar
Tonamura Hisashi was born in 1972 in Hakodate and is 30 today. He joined Glay in 1989 after his old band, Ari, broke up. A self-proclaimed computer geek, Hisashi's songs use many more special effects and electronic noises than the other band members'. He also like shopping. Until about a year ago, Hisashi was the member of the band known for having blue hair and makeup, but he seems to have toned down his look recently.
Link: Glay to be Glay
|
|
I'm your average rock and roll freak with some music training added in. I'm more fascinated with the technical part of music and more than anything I enjoy a great guitar solo, a strong bassline, a talented drummer, and especially vocalists who can sing! The jrock bands I enjoy listening to the most are the more old-school ones such as Glay, L'Arc~en~Ciel, or X Japan. And don't try to tell me who can and cannot sing, because I have perfect pitch XD XD
On the other hand, it's not to say I don't enjoy the emotional part of music as well. That's the primary reason I love jrock so much; it's the music, not so much the words, that convey the feeling of the song. Good lyrics help, of course, and being a writer, I can appreciate the beautiful lyrics in the jrock genre. It's hard to say what it is about music that can move the human spirit; why just a chord or phrasing bring out hidden emotions within us.
My love for jrock extends even to my other pursuits: my favorite anime is (surprise, surprise) Macross 7. And while I'm writing this, I can't forget to thank my brother, without whom my jrock obsession would have never happened. And now my picks!
TOP 10 JROCK ARTISTS
1. L'Arc~en~Ciel
2. Gackt
3. Glay
4. Luna Sea
5. X Japan
6. Lareine
7. Siam Shade
8. Himuro Kyosuke
9. Transtic Nerve
10. Janne da Arc
TOP 5 JROCK SONGS
1. However [Glay]
2. Gold [B'z]
3. Butterfly's Sleep [L'Arc~en~Ciel]
4. EMU ~for my dear~ [Gackt]
5. Pink Spider [Hide]
TOP 5 JROCK ALBUMS
1. Mars [Gackt]
2. Ark [L'Arc~en~Ciel]
3. fierte no Umi to Tomo ni Kiyu [Lareine]
4. Merveilles [Malice Mizer]
5. Recall [Transtic Nerve]
TOP 5 L'ARC~EN~CIEL SONGS
1. Butterfly's Sleep
2. Natsu no Yuutsu
3. Blurry Eyes
4. Driver's High
5. Snow Drop
TOP 5 GACKT SONGS
1. EMU ~for my dear~
2. Asrun Dream
3. Cube
4. Kimi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto
5. Saikai ~Story~
TOP 5 GLAY SONGS
1. However
2. Be With You
3. Rain
4. Biri Biri Crashmen
5. Neuromancer
TOP 5 HIDE SONGS
1. Pink Spider
2. Flame/Misery
3. Rocket Dive
4. Hurry-Go-Round
5. LEMONed I Scream
TOP 5 LUNA SEA SONGS
1. Into the Sun
2. Sweetest Coma Again
3. Tonight
4. Rosier
5. Forever and Ever
TOP 5 LAREINE SONGS
1. Fiancailles
2. Emeraude ~umi ni misarete~
3. Suna no Shiro de Nemuru Koibito
4. Romancia ~la diacorde~
5. Ano Hito o Aishita Hito nara
TOP 5 X JAPAN SONGS
1. Say Anything
2. Tears
3. Dahlia
4. Scars
5. Celebration
MP3 LIST
MUSIC VIDEO LIST
EMAIL GT
|
|
|
Thursday, January 31, 2002
|
|
REVIEW: STYLE [NEW SODMY]
Released: 2001.01.23
Guest Review by inertia
"Cat Walk" has a kind of cool extended jam feeling, like I can imagine Aya, Mayu, and You jamming for 10 minutes on this during a concert while Kamijo sits offstage smoking a cigarette and chugging sports drinks. It's not an instrumental but it seems like there are a lot of places where it could be extended. And there's this part in the middle with a lot of distorted spoken stuff in English... I think there's something like "gonna make a revolution..." and a lot of "sexual ~" stuff. I've concluded it's not actually as explicit as my perverted mind immediately assumed (like the last thing is "let's get *black*", not "let's get naked" ^^;), but overall that section with all the whispered "sexual pleasure"s ranks up there with Advent's "fucking Jesus" as one of the most surprising things about New Sodmy. Both "Cat Walk" and "Phantom" have a very driving rhythm, which makes sense since I believe both of them were brought to the band by You.
"Phantom" is kind of techno/electronic and would go well in a dance club. I'm not sure how they'd do it live because there are so many effects... drum machine, synthesizers, voice morphing... This one is probably my favorite. Although... where's the guitar? I wonder if you can make those sounds with synth guitars.
"Audrey" is midtempo and relaxed in feeling. It's a pretty song that's a soothing way to end the CD. The bass seems kind of loud, but maybe that's just my crummy disintegrating headphones. (^^;)
[MS: As far as first press goodies...]
There isn't one. What it comes with is a postcard to which you attach the corner thingys from "White Lie" and "Jealousy", to qualify to win one of three kinds of prizes. The postcard has an enquete and quiz. I'm kind of confused about the quiz... I think you're supposed to find the place in the lyrics from each single where the given part is, and fill in what's around it, but I'm not exactly sure. You have to mail it in by February 12, I believe.
The individual stores have gifts, though. Like an Edison (where I went) has a message video which you get if you bought both "Style" and "Jealousy" from them. I wish I could do screencaps! because you guys are going to have heart attacks when you see Kamijo's multi-colored hair. ^^; It's still the same haircut and style, but the only part that's still blond is on the left side towards the back. The rest is dark... I'm still trying to figure out if it's all one solid shade of dark, or if it's darker in the front. (It's kind of hard to tell with the bad lighting in the video.) Anyway, when he looks to the left, it looks like he has all dark hair, and when he looks to the right, it looks like there's 3 different shades going from light in back to dark in front. Aya seems to have lightened his hair to a medium brown, and You and Mayu look the same.
Thanks inertia! ^_^
I was also told that Third Stage also offers this Message CD if you buy all three New Sodmy releases from them, either in-store or through mail order. This may be the only chance overseas fans have to get this CD.
New Sodmy is performing this Saturday and will have an in-store event at Like an Edison on March 3rd. For more details, *cue corny Glay pun* ~ Stay tuuuuned... ~
- MS -
Jiro: "OH! It's 02:47 p.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
Thursday, January 31, 2002
|
|
LOOK-ALIKES
Click HERE.
Oh who oh who can that be?
Highlight below for the answer. And no cheating by changing the picture URL to look at the main band page! [picture from http://my.dreamwiz.com/2luv/frame.html]
That's actually Ken Lloyd, vocalist of Oblivion Dust, in one of the CD jacket pictures for their album Reborn. Why is he in that costume? Hide was to OD and Ken and Kaz (guitar) in particular what Yoshiki was to Glay and Dir en Grey...namely, he made them big. Ken dedicated the song Future Womb to Hide after his death, and Kaz was a guitarist in Spread Beaver.
- Gerald -
Jiro: "OH! It's 12:05 a.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
|
|
DIR EN GREY NEWS
Well, whatever they're doing, they must be doing it right. ^_^ Dir en grey's latest album, Kisou debuted at #2 on the daily Oricon. I've been told that the entire lyrics sheet is in English O_o and the Japanese version is hidden under the CD case. Innnnterestingggg...
To promote the new album, band members will be hosting meet and greet sessions at the following locations:
2/03 (Sun.) Sapporo 14:00
Die & Shinya
2/06 (Wed.) Sendai 17:00
Die & Shinya
2/09 (Sat.) Nagoya 13:00
Kaoru & Toshiya
2/11 (Mon.) Osaka 14:00
Kaoru & Toshiya
2/12 (Tue.) Fukuoka 17:00
Kaoru & Toshiya
2/16 (Sat.) Tokyo 14:00
Kaoru, Kyo, Die, Toshiya, & Shinya
They will only release the names of the venues to the people who manage to get the tickets. For the first 5 appearances, there is a list of stores at the Official Site who are participating in the event. I think you had to buy Kisou from one them yesterday though to try for a ticket. ^^ Visit the stores for more info.
For the Tokyo event, it looks like you have to buy the CD from Shinseido. The link to buy the CD is here. You can win either tickets to the event or an autographed clear file. Again, they're only releasing the actual location to the people who win.
Oh, you lucky, lucky fans in Japan... if anyone can get to any of these and come back with a live report, I'd love to have it... *puppy eyes*
[2001.01.31 EDITED: Thank you to inertia for the corrections on the info! ^_^]
- MS -
Jiro: "OH! It's 11:07 a.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
|
|
RANDOM JROCK CONVERSATION #10503234
And when you get us started, there's no stopping us...
Moonsong and I were bored yesterday, and when we're bored, it means random talk about jrock in general. I've saved our chat transcript for your reading pleasure. It's kind of long, so the link is below.
RANDOM JROCK CONVERSATION #10503234
Umm...have fun? ^^;
- Gerald -
Jiro: "OH! It's 11:49 a.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
|
|
OFFENSIVE BAND NAMES: TAKE 2
Here are some more entries on the Offensive Band Names (TM), submitted by Megami Camui. ^_^ enjoy! You can find the original "offensive band names" post in the archives here.
1. Baiser
An interesting visual band whose name, like most visual bands is French. As you all should know, "Baiser" means "kiss" when used as a noun...but it means "to fuck" if used as a verb. Poor Yukari. Then again...who knows if it wasn't intentional?
2. Medical Trance Peach
The new and improved hypnosis technique, using organically grown fruits! 9 out of 10 doctors vouch for it! Actually, (or unfortunately) it's nothing that strange...Medical Trance Peace is another visual band. They broke up in 2001.
3. Sex Machineguns
This one shouldn't be too hard if you can read. The band name is actually a spoof of the American band, the Sex Pistols. Funny how what goes around comes around...I guess this makes the Sex Machineguns a more "lethal" band?
And finally, another one from yours truly...
4. Tetsu69
I don't know how I missed this one (or the previous one, for that matter) on the first time around, but I did. The symbolism of the number 69 in American culture, at least, is a shady one if you really haven't a dirty mind, but look hard enough at it and you should be able to figure it out. If not, take the first number and substitute an "e" in for the vowel. Now do you get it? ^_^ I don't know if Tetsu meant this, and I don't want to know. Knowing him, he probably did. XD
- Gerald -
Jiro: "OH! It's 12:56 a.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
YOSHIKI NEWS
Yoshiki hosted his second Extasy Night last night at the Harujuku Astro Hall. Bands featured include some of the current hottest names on the Extasy label: LADIES ROOM, BEAST, and PICK2HAND. Yoshiki was supposed to be on hand for this event- any one who has live reports or more info, please email me and I'll gladly put it up. ^_^
Here's an article on Yoshiki's performance and meeting with Japan's prime minister. He performed "Forever Love" for the first time (I think) since hide's passing. *sniff*
Yoshiki also has a cameo appearance in the newest Abandoned Pools video, "Remedy." This Los Angeles based band just released their debut album on Extasy Records International but since this is a jrock site, I won't go into it. ^_~ Yoshiki has a rather... steamy little 2-second scene in the vid and looks... pretty much the same since X Japan disbanded, and is still favoring those open shirts. *L* Some things never change...
- MS -
Jiro: "OH! It's 12:20 p.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
ALBUM RELEASES
I archived.
There are a few albums coming out in the next few months or which have just come out that I haven't mentioned yet. I'll do so now. ^_^
JUST RELEASED:
BOOWY: Moral Trance Mix
Release date: January 23, 2002
A remix of the album Moral by 7 different DJ's. Limited first press edition comes with a bonus CD.
JANNE DA ARC: Gaia
Release date: January 23, 2002
Janne da Arc's third album, with twelve songs, including their three latest singles: Feel the Wind, Sylvia, and Seed. The official site (Japanese only) has short band commentaries on each song. This is a really good album and I plan to review it here sometime. ^_^
COMING UP:
BUCK-TICK: Untitled Single and Album
Release date: Feb 20 (single), March 6 (album)
A 15th Anniversary album and pre-album single. Apparently, tickets for their Budokan concert were sold out within 20 minutes.
FAKE: Taste Maximum
Release date: February 27, 2002
First maxi single from Ken Lloyd's and Inoran's new band.
/\UCIFER: Regret (single) and untitled album
Release date: Feb 6 (single), March 13 (album)
New single Regret c/w Heavy Style. Both single and album are produced by Seiji Kameda.
LUNA SEA: Another Side of "Singles II"
Release date: March 6, 2002
A B-side tracks collection with the c/w tracks from Storm to Love Song.
TAKUI: Fork in the Road
Release date: February 20, 2002
A new maxi single.
Also, ZIGZO (with Laruku's ex-drummer Sakura and Malice Mizer's ex-vocalist Tetsu) is disbanding. Their last live "The Last Scene Zigzo" will be from March 8-16. Go to the official site for more details.
Hmm...one of their locations is in Sendai...maybe I can get a random member of my family to go tape it for me or something. XD
- Gerald -
Jiro: "OH! It's 02:00 a.m., and Teru just broke another window!"
|
|
|
Week of: Jan 27-Feb3
When Spread Beaver was founded, they didn't have a bassist. hide ended up playing bass for Spread Beaver until they found Chirolyn.
|
|
I'm the more experimental of the two of us I suppose. While I can groove to a solid bassline and headbang like the best of 'em, I'm more fascinated when artists paint mental and emotional pictures with music. I love it when music tells a story. I suppose that's why I like Malice Mizer and Lareine so much. Both are "concept-oriented" bands, musicians who aren't afraid to play with different sounds and styles to transport listeners into another world.
On the other hand, I'm also a big 80's hair band fan so anything remotely sounding like hard rock or heavy metal will appeal to me. There is no deep emotion involved in listening, just the overwhelming need to bang your head and just jam. I'm also the one more likely to fall prey to a sappy ballad just like any other fawning fangirl. Interspersed between my Malice Mizer and Penicillin tracks are SMAP and Kinki Kids songs. Truly opposite sides of the spectrum but hey, I'm not too discriminatory when it comes to music. I don't care what style, what genre, or what category something falls in. What is essential, is that it moves me in some way. With that in mind, on to my picks!
TOP 10 JROCK ARTISTS
1. Gackt
2. hide
3. X Japan
4. Malice Mizer
5. L'arc~en~Ciel
6. Dir en grey
7. Lareine
8. Siam Shade
9. Glay
10. B'z
TOP 5 JROCK SONGS
1. Cube [Gackt]
2. Ain't Afraid to Die [Dir en grey]
3. Misery [hide]
4. Le Ciel [Malice Mizer]
5. Dive to Blue [L'Arc~en~ciel]
TOP 5 JROCK ALBUMS
1. Mars [Gackt]
2. fierte no Umi to Tomo ni Kiyu [Lareine]
3. Merveilles [Malice Mizer]
4. Psychommunity [hide]
5. Gauze [Dir en grey]
TOP 5 GACKT
1. Cube
2. uncontrol
3. dears
4. Mizerable
5. Vanilla
TOP 5 HIDE
1. Misery
2. Flame
3. Hurry-go-round
4. Beauty & stupid
5. Rocket Dive
TOP 5 X JAPAN
1. Say Anything
2. Drain
3. Kurenai
4. Tears
5. Rusty Nail
TOP 5 MALICE MIZER
1. Le Ciel
2. Bel Air
3. Brise
4. Color Me Blood Red
5. Kioku to Sora (Klaha Version)
TOP 5 L'ARC~EN~CIEL
1. Dive to Blue
2. Blurry Eyes
3. Snow Drop
4. Winter Fall
5. Pieces
TOP 5 DIR EN GREY
1. Ain't Afraid to Die
2. egnirys cimredopyh +)_____ an injection
3. I'll
4. 24ko Cylinder
5. embryo
TOP 5 LAREINE
1. fierte no Umi to Tomo ni Kiyu
2. Fuyu Tokyo
3. Lillie Charlotte
4. Suna no Shiro de Nemuru Koibito
5. fiancailles
TOP 5 SIAM SHADE
1. Tears I Cried
2. 1/3 Junjou no Kanjou
3. Dreams
4. Setsunasa yorimo tooku e
5. Dear
MP3 LIST
JROCK VIDEO LIST
EMAIL MS
|
|
Weblog courtesy of Pitas.Com.
