12012 (イチニーゼロイチニ, ichi nī zero ichi ni) is a Japanese rock band. Formed in 2003 in Osaka Prefecture, the group centers its work around the concept of “madness inside a human” (人間の内面における狂気 ningen no naimen ni okeru kyōki). 12012 is also the penal code for the possession of a dangerous weapon in California. The group sometimes performs as “kyōki shoji” (凶器所持), which is a translation of that offense. Originally part of the visual kei movement, the band has recently been opting for less flamboyant attire. In 2007, the band performed the ending theme, Cyclone, to the Gonzo anime TV series, Romeo x Juliet, its single being released by Universal Music Japan on June 13, 2007. The group has also performed to several live concerts across Japan as well as numerous international locations.
This is another Utada Hikaru video. I just love this song, Flavor of Life. She is indeed a great singer :)
You know there are so many wannabes out there who wants to sing like her on Youtube. Some of them are pretty okay some of them just makes me cringe…holy cow. I just wanted to stab my ear drums with a pencil when I hear them.
I am all for freedom of expression but…you know…sometimes it’s just so bad, you feel bad for them LOL. And what’s worse when you want to hurt yourself just to stop the pain….
Anyway, this version of Flavor of Life is the ballad version. I just love the whole orchestra and song thing going here. I hope you enjoy it :)
Coco d’Or is a jazz band, with Hiroko Shimabukuro as a singer. Hiroko Shimabukuro, also known as hiro, is a former member of a Japanese girl band, SPEED.
Their first release is a self-titled album “Coco d’Or”, which has been released in 2004. Their latest release is “Coco d’Or Parfait”, which contained same songs from the first album and extra three new songs. There is also a DVD of the promotional videos and making-of shoots included. Their new album will be released on July 26, 2006. The title is “Coco d’Or 2″. There will be a CD+DVD version too like before.
Coco d’Or songs are modern-remake version of popular classic jazz songs, such as “Misty” by Ella Fitzgerald and “Fly Me to The Moon” by Frank Sinatra.
I am a big Utada Hikaru fan and all her songs, I love. And thanks to Alan Petroline for pointing it out, Sakura Drops (one of her latest songs) have been out a while now and I am sharing it with you guys here! :)
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (and subsequent offshoots) is a Japanese psychedelic band founded in 1995 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple soul-collective. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career featured many musicians but by 2004 the line-up had coalesced with 4 core members and frequent vocal guests.
The band have a reputation for phenomenal live shows[1] and releasing frequent albums on a number of international record labels, as well as the Acid Mothers Temple family record label which was established in 1998 to document the activities of the whole collective.
In 2004 long-time vocalist and synthesizer player Cotton Casino left the group to concentrate on her own group and imminent motherhood.
In 2005 a new group Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno formed, starting their first European tour in June.
There seems to be a bit of confusion in regard to the name of the bands. Kawabata Makoto explains,
Though we shall henceforth be Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, the new group will also be known in short as Acid Mothers Temple and this will no doubt sow confusion in the minds of many. But the true manifestations of Acid Mothers Temple are many - Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, Acid Mothers Temple SWR. The future may see yet other groups bearing similar names. But each and all of them will be true manifestations of Acid Mothers Temple.
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.’s last release before a year long hiatus in 2005 was the live bootleg ‘Goodbye John Peel: Live In London 2004′. In 2006 they returned with the album ‘Have You Seen The Other Side Of The Sky?’ as well as a tour of the US. They toured the UK in October/November 2006 and will begin another US tour beginning in Los Angeles at The Troubador. This will be the first US tour with their newest member, vocalist Kitagawa Hao.
acid android (yes, spelled without caps) is a solo project formed by yukihiro, the drummer of the popular japanese rock band L’Arc~en~Ciel. acid android releases, as with the other members solo projects, take place inbetween L’Arc~en~Ciel albums releases when the members are on haitus. To date acid android has released one album, one single, an EP and a live DVD. The band, in contrast to L’Arc~en~Ciel uses a harder, faster sound, more stage-lighting and American-styled mechanics to further energize their concerts.
acid android/faults feat.toni halliday
Perpetual Motion
I seriously think acid android is very good. Better than the crap MTV feeds us these day. Check out his songs, they’re very unique and very genuine, without being affected and emo. I really like this.
No, not the Iceman from Marvel comics but an ex-Japanese J-Pop boy band of the same name. Iceman was a three-man Japanese J-pop music group, consisting of Daisuke Asakura (keyboards), Kenichi Ito (guitar), and Michihiro Kuroda (lead vocals).
They officially came together on June 5th, 1996, when a press conference was held in Tokyo to announce the two musicians who would accompany Daisuke Asakura in his next musical venture after the break up of Access
Between 1996 and 1999, they released six albums, a multitude of PV and live videos, and even a video game. They had a unique and varied sound; sometimes hard electronic rock (Shining Collection), sometimes soft pop (Edge of the season), and even techno sounds (Caution).
Iceman is probably most well-known for “Shining Collection”, a song used in the anime OVA Gravitation: Lyrics of Love by Asakura during his time as music director and composer for the series. The song has enjoyed a small spike in popularity outside of Japan thanks to its use in the anime, as well as a cult flash cartoon hosted on Newgrounds called “A Sticky Night of Love”[1].
The majority of the music was written by Daisuke Asakura, with several exceptions by Kenichi Ito. And though Michihiro Kuroda was the lead singer, Kenichi Ito and Daisuke Asakura had their hand at performing many of the songs.
The group was rumored to have broken up around 2000 when Michihiro Kuroda left the group to pursue a solo career. The split became official on 2001, when funding issues arose.
OOIOO is perhaps the best known side project of Japanese rockers Boredoms. An all-female group founded by Boredoms drummer (and sometimes trumpeter and vocalist) Yoshimi P-We, OOIOO shares much of the musical style of the better-known Boredoms.
I have posted about Boredom before and this is like a side project for them. So far so good, their popularity has been gaining and their songs are not bad at all :) And the girls are pretty attractive too! :P
Tomoyuki Tanaka (田中知之, Tanaka Tomoyuki?) is a J-pop artist/DJ, better known by his stage name of Fantastic Plastic Machine. He is considered to be part of the Shibuya-kei movement, drawing heavily from bossa nova, lounge music, house music, and ’60s movie soundtracks, but he also incorporates many other types of music. Tanaka was born in Kyoto, Japan.
In the late 1980s, Tanaka played as the bassist in a rock band called Margarine Strikes Back. Then in the early 1990s, Tanaka became a regular club DJ in the Kansai area, working as part of a DJ team known as Sound Impossible. While playing with Sound Impossible, fellow artist and friend Towa Tei convinced Tanaka to go back to recording music, and in 1997 Tanaka created his solo project Fantastic Plastic Machine under the Readymade Records label in Japan. His first two albums, The Fantastic Plastic Machine (1997) and Luxury (1998), were critically acclaimed and gained him international recognition. The albums were distributed in the United States under the Emperor Norton label, and in Europe on the Bungalow label. In Japan, he is currently under the cutting edge label.
At one point, Tanaka hosted a pop culture show on national radio, and in 2004 he hosted another radio show called “Sound Concierge.” He also once served as the editor for the Japanese fashion magazine Brutus.
Tanaka’s song “Electric Lady Land” has been featured on the movie soundtrack of The Girl Next Door. He has also been featured on some of DJ Stephane Pompougnac’s Hôtel Costes CD series. His song “Bachelor Pad (f.p.m. edit)” was featured on the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack. A short edit of his song “Beautiful Days” is featured on the Japanese music game beatmania IIDX 6th style. As well, “Theme of Luxury”, “S’Il Vous Plait”, “There Must Be an Angel” and “Warm Up Music” are heard in the British sitcom Spaced.
Melt-Banana is a Japanese noise rock band that was founded in 1992 by friends attending Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. These friends were Onuki Yasuko (also known as Yasuko O. or just Yako), Agata Ichirou, Rika mm’ and later on Toshiaki Sudoh (more widely known as simply Sudoh).
Melt-Banana have released eight full-length albums and 23 EPs (primarily split releases with other bands, most of which were compiled onto one disc in 2005). In 1997, they created their own recording company, A-Zap (formerly Iguana Coax), and re-issued most of all their early albums. During this time, drummer Toshiaki Sudoh quit. Since then, the band has had different drummers helping for tours and recordings. They do massive U.S. and U.K. tours yearly and do smaller Japanese tours (the reason for this, according to them, is that travelling in Japan is quite expensive). Most recently, Melt-Banana recorded the song “Hair-Cat (Cause the Wolf Is a Cat!)” for Perfect Hair Forever on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup. The new album, Bambi’s Dilemma, was released on April 24, 2007.
Melt-Banana’s music falls under what many call “noise rock” . The term refers to music that blends rock, noise music, and other genres. Agata plays highly unorthodox guitar with extended techniques. For instance, he overlaps two different guitar riffs, simulates lasers and sirens, and has an impressive arsenal of effects, almost all made through his guitar and large amount of effects pedals.
Here are some of their videos.
Song title: Free the Bee
Song Title: Shield for your eyes, a beast in the well
- 
