Olivia Lufkin, often known simply as OLIVIA, born December 9, 1979, in Okinawa, a bilingual Japanese singer (her first language is English). The daughter of an American father and a Japanese mother, she sometimes writes about being mixed-race in songs such as “solarhalfbreed.” Her sister Caroline Lufkin is also a singer (under the name Caroline).

Olivia attended the Okinawa Actors’ School and was there discovered by the director of “Rising Productions” (Vision Factory) and signed to Avex Trax as part of the Japanese idol group D&D. Then, the famous producer Tetsuya Komuro heard of Olivia one day and decided that she would be perfect for a project in which he was planning along with Jean Michel Jarre. The project was to make the theme song for the France 1998 FIFA World Cup entitled Together Now. The single was released a month after D&D’s 1st and one album. After it was decided that D&D would disband and separated into two different groups; ‘OLIVIA’ as Olivia’s solo-project and Aya & Chika as Aya & Chika from D&D.

In 2004 she released her second album The Lost Lolli. The primarily featured the best material from her four mini-albums except for two new tracks “Alone in Our Castle” and “Fake Flowers” (as well as two re-arrangements). This album was released nation-wide (though with a limited first press version available at Tower Records Japan), this album used “SpidERSpins (Lost Lolli Mix)” as a radio single for the release. The song also had a music video to go along with it. This album peaked at #111 on the Oricon. However, Avex Trax released an overseas version of this album, reflecting Olivia’s increasing success outside of Japan; typically, only chart-topping artists release overseas versions of their albums.

After releasing The Lost Lolli, Olivia went on an unofficial and long hiatus (except for a performance at the “Halloween of the Living Dead” hosted by Hyde on October 30, 2005) and worked as a model on fashion magazines. In March 2006, it was announced Olivia would once again be releasing music in the Japanese music industry. She would play the role of the rival band Trapnest’s lead vocalist Reira Serizawa, for the anime adaptation of Nana as her first release for this role, Olivia sings the first ending theme song entitled a little pain. This was alongside fellow avex artist Anna Tsuchiya, who plays the role of Nana Osaki, the vocalist for Trapnest’s rival band Black Stones. Similarly, Tsuchiya sung the opening theme song. The manga’s author, Ai Yazawa, asked Olivia to sing for the anime when a staff member at avex gave her a copy of Olivia’s Sea me and Into The Stars singles. It is reported that she exclaimed, “It can only be her!” when she first heard the music. For a little pain, Olivia first made the general theme to the lyrics, then wrote the song in English. Later on she would change the lyrics into Japanese. The single is about “Reira’s loneliness, pain and strength,” as Olivia found that she could relate well to the character.

Olivia has said that her musical expression has now changed, that the hiatus was because at the time of The Lost Lolli’s release, she was “feeling pretty depressed”, and “started to notice and realize a lot of her faults”and her style “has gotten a lot more detailed”, it’s “pleasing to the ear” and “a lot cooler”. She had to do a lot of research into Reira’s character, as she “never really read manga”. She specifically wrote the song tailored to the point of view of Reira. She states, “It was fun to sing as another person. Like an actress”. She said that she “wrote many different songs”, but they sounded too “western and dark”, whereas a little pain had more of a feeling of a top Japanese band”.[1].

When a little pain first was released, it reached a position of #8 (her first top 10 position), and two positions below Anna’s single (the opening theme song), which had been released on the same day. After the second week, this single had outsold the total sales for her debut single, I.L.Y.~Yokubou~ (which was her highest selling single to date at the time).

Olivia would continue to release Nana-related music. The next opening and ending theme songs used after Tsuchiya Anna’s rose and Olivia’s a little pain were both Olivia songs. The single Wish / Starless Night, was released in October and peaked #7.

Then, OLIVIA’s first US appearance was at the animation convention Pacific Media Expo held in Los Angeles, California in October 2006.

In early 2007, Olivia released The Cloudy Dreamer in January 17, 2007. The album debuted at #15 on the Oricon Weekly Charts; her highest ranking album to date. In addition to the several songs she recorded for the Nana anime, the mini-album also featured a new song called “Dream Catcher”, which was used as the ending theme for the live action television drama series of Jigoku Shōjo.

In February 2007, OLIVIA released an album called OLIVIA inspi’ REIRA (TRAPNEST) which contains singles from the show and some new songs; then was released an album called NANA BEST includes popular and some unreleased songs by both Olivia and Anna Tsuchiya from the Nana TV series. Both Olivia’s and Anna Tsuchiya’s songs from these albums were played in the Shibuya, Tokyo pedestrian area in March 2007.

Taken from Wikipedia

Song:SpiderSpins

Song:Dress Me Up

Song:A Little Pain

Ami Suzuki (鈴木 亜美 Suzuki Ami, born February 9, 1982) is a female singer and songwriter from Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Suzuki was one of the most popular female singers between 1998 and 2000 and the known rival of Ayumi Hamasaki, but in 2000 after legal problems with her management company, she was dropped from her label and fell from popularity, becoming widely unnoticed in the Japanese entertainment business for several years.

With the help of Max Matsuura, Suzuki finally returned to the music scene under the Avex Trax label in 2005 with her comeback single, Delightful, a dance song that reached No. 3 on the Japanese Oricon charts and became one of 2005 summer’s hits. In October 2005 the singer released her first studio album on Avex entitled AROUND THE WORLD, which has sold over 62,000 copies. Her second studio album, titled “CONNETTA”, was released on March 21, 2007.

While she was attending the high school Ami auditioned for the Japanese talent show Asayan, which was looking for young girls who could sing. The grand prize winner would be rewarded with a contract with Sony Music Entertainment Japan and a high-profile music career.

The TV show became very popular and the number of viewers watching it grew and grew as the series progressed; its popularity was such that soon it was aired in other Asian countries. From 13,500 contestants, only five girls were chosen to be in the final round, and Ami won the competition supported by 802,157 phone calls from the audience. She was only 15 years old.

Song: Thank you for everyone for everyday

Song: Nothing without you

Song: Be Together

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! :)

Yes, YouTube rocks.

And a live version of Sakura Drop from her tour in late 2006 :)

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.

Video of Shining (Live):

Video of Evolution + DA solo (live)

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

here are some of their videos:

Title: UMO

Title: Open your eyes, you can fly

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.

Check out his official website: Fantastic Plastic Machine

All you electronica fans out there of FPM, here are some videos for your viewing pleasure … we love pleasing you at 3yen :P

Title: Beautiful Days

Title: Don’t you know?

Title: Electric lady land

eX-Girl is a Japanese synth pop band. They claim to hail from the planet Kero Kero. They are described as psychedelic, space rock, jazz fusion, jagged alternating vocal harmonies, sugary synthesiser pop, punk, prog, epic/atmospheric, noise-rock, wavering 3 part a capella, borderline operatic vocals, often in the space of a single song. Live performances are known to include home-made costume during the show, synchronised robot dancing and frog-related items. Enthusiastic supporters include Mike Patton and Jello Biafra:

“eX-Girl are a beautiful example of information overload. Jagged 3 part vocal harmonies, adventurous arrangements, and songs that hook you like the sucker that you are. Take all of these treats, wrap it in an ultra-bright technicolor live show with surreal homemade costumes, and you’ve got the sensation of being strapped in on an out-of-control carnival ride that will leave you standing in line waiting for another turn.” - Mike Patton

Alternative in every sense of the word they bear no direct similarities to other artists as a whole.

eX-Girl formed in late 1997, the brainchild of Hoppy Kamiyama who gathered a trio of females, each with a strong singing background. Despite having no previous musical instrument experience, the girls were already touring after a minimum of practice, even releasing their first album Heppoco Pou in 1998, six months after being founded by Kamiyama. A brief tour to the United States followed due to Heppoco Pou being accepted warmly on a San Francisco college radio station.

By 2002, eX-Girl had a new lady on guitar in the form of Keikos, formerly of Super Junky Monkey and were touring Finland to support the release of “Back To The Mono Kero” over there. Following this was possibly the biggest break for the band, being invited by Siouxsie & The Banshees to open for them for their United Kingdom tour, after having impressed them during their opening slot in the US tour leg. Further solo touring came afterwards along with recording of the Luna Rose single, used in a COSE lipstick commercial in Japan.

2003 saw another member, drummer Fuzuki, part ways with the band. Her replacement was Chapple, who brought another new dimension to the band’s sound. Keikos too parted ways after new material for the fifth album was completed, being replaced by Zorek. During a festival in San Francisco, former Dead Kennedys frontman and Alternative Tentacles label owner, Jello Biafra saw eX-Girl’s performance and praised the band greatly, offering to release their next album in the United States. In 2004, eX-Girl’s latest (and most polished) album, Endangered Species was released on the AT label.

This year sees the return of Keikos to the fold and new drummer Yoko, taking over duties from a departing Chapple.

Kirilo/Kirilola - Bassist, synth player, vocalist and co-writer of all material with band manager/producer Hoppy Kamiyama. The only remaining original member left, she tends to be the leading figure of the group and comes up with most of their costume designs.

Keikos - Guitarist and vocalist. Her entrance into the band brought a meatier guitar and more aggressive guitar sound, most likely due to her time in Super Junky Monkey. Replaced Chihiro, departed, returned to the fold again.

Yoko - Drums and vocals. The latest addition to the eX-Girl lineup, replacing Chapple.

eX-Girl in Helsinki

pop muzik

Tofu Song

Source: Wikipedia

Yui is a Japanese pop artist who writes her own songs and plays acoustic guitar. Since the age of 16 she’s been writing her own songs and performing. She hails from Fukuoka, Japan. She is still relatively unknown outside of Japan, but her song “LIFE”, from her single by the same name, was the 5th ending theme for Bleach, a popular Japanese anime series, which has brought her some international fame.

Upon leaving Fukuoka for Tokyo, YUI wrote the song “feel my soul”. She was planning to release it on an indie label as a tribute to her hometown, when the song caught the ears of Fuji TV producer, Mr. Yamaguchi, who happened to see the demo video clip. He claimed YUI’s voice haunted him so much that he went out of his way to visit the recording studio himself. He even made his channel’s prime-time drama “Fukigen na Gene” an extraordinary tie-in with YUI’s debut track.

Check out the official site of this beautiful 20 year old artist: Yui

I also brought some of her youtube videos to you:

Title: Life

Title: Feel My Soul

Title: Rolling Star

Source: wiki.theppn

Namie Amuro - the dethroned Queen of Pop after her fame was eclipsed by Ayumi Hamasaki. Ouch. But that hasn’t stopped Namie from performing and churning out music over the years. She was noted in her early years for her Westernized dance music and popularized fashion whose followers came to be nicknamed Amurā (Amurer in English). Debuting in 1992 as part of the quintet, Super Monkey’s, she later debuted solo in 1995 to phenomenal success with producer Tetsuya Komuro. Severing her ties with Komuro in 2001, Amuro has reestablished herself as a R&B artist. Her last album, Queen of Hip-Pop (2005) debuted at #2 and has been certified double platinum since its release. She has nine #1 singles, five of which have sold over 1,000,000 copies.

Namie Amuro was born in Naha City, Okinawa, Japan. She is the daughter of Emiko Taira who is Japanese-Italian. Emiko’s father’s identity is unknown. Amuro is the last of three children Emiko had with her biological father before their divorce. Amuro’s parents divorced when she was a toddler.

Amuro got her start when she was discovered by Masayuki Makino, the president of Okinawa Actors’ School, after coming along with a friend who was currently enrolled in the school. It was him who later at the age of 14 placed her in a group called Super Monkeys along with Minako Ameku, Nanako Takushi, Hisako Arakaki and Anna Makino. They left the school and made their major label debut with the double a-side single, “Koi no Cute Beat / Mr. USA” on September 15, 1992 on Toshiba-EMI.

After she got out of the band, Namie became a single artist and a succesful one at that. She took a little hiatus in the year 1998 to give birth to her baby, her fame declined. Mostly due to the fact that she hadn’t done any promotional work and the fact that being married with a kid takes a blow on your music career as you are longer as cool as a young, chic and hip popstar.

However, in 2004 until present, Namie’s stardom is on the rise again and she is back in full force armed with new genres (she immersed herself in R&B in the interim period) and a new look. Read more about it here.

I think her songs are pretty good. Check them out:

Baby Don’t Cry

Can’t Sleep

No

Enjoy!

Source: Wikipedia