SAWA - Stars (contemode LJ Community)

terror_trials shares the latest from SAWA - her latest PV from youtube! Yay! Not much more to say other than to watch it yourself. I’ll probably be making a post about it so I won’t share anything here other than it’s worth the watch.

So, do it!

portable x2

クリスチイー (Christie) of the contemode LJ Community shares two new technopop acts. The strange thing about these acts are that they share a common name, “portable”. Both are not affiliated with contemode but the community is open-minded like that. The first of the acts is signed and has a MEG-like style with a Perfume-like image while the second is unsigned remains an enigma with no images of themselves and a PV showing various artistic and abstract images and situations.

Personally, I’m a more of a fan of the first portable but the second shows promise to an edgier style. I love watching new groups flourish.

Also, if you didn’t understand the title, it’s the signed portable’s tagline on their official site. The enigma is explained above.

ENJOY. I know I did.

Perfume’s first photo book: PERFUME PORTFOLIO

ekuseru of Perfume City shares info about Perfume’s first Photobook entitled “PERFUME PORTFOLIO” and is to be released December 17th. Mark your calendars, Perfume fans.

One might wonder, or well I do anyway, doesn’t fan service -bitter- count as a photobook? Also, fan service -sweet- also came with a (small) photobook. I guess that this one is going to be the first that isn’t associated with a single or live performance. Yay Perfume!

SAWA meets MEG! (& new SAWA release) (contemode LiveJournal community)
SAWA’s MySpace

Here’s a bit of old news but still worthy of being mentioned. prismboy reports that SAWA and MEG met at an event. Maybe foreshadowing a certain meeting of a certain someone else? One can hope.

Anyway, there is also news of SAWA’s new Mini-Album to be released Dec. 12 called 『Time & Space』. Check out the previews on her MySpace.

Perfume First Tour “GAME” DVD release

ekuseru of Perfume City reports that sales for the Perfume First Tour “GAME” DVD have hit the #1 daily spot on its release. He also provides many links to various promotional videos for said DVD. There are also links to buy said DVD (but who hasn’t already? ^^; j/k). Finally, my favourite part of the post and also my favourite compound word when it comes to my favourite girls: eyecandy.

After doing a bit of research on oricon, it made #2 on day 2, and then went back up to #1 for the 17th and 18th. Yay!

On a more personal note, I received my copy on the 17th. IT. IS. FABULOUS. <3

COVER!!!!!
Some Live pics !
‘more more more’ on iTunes
Capsule report (marquee magazine)
capsule Archive - on sale 11/19!!!

The contemode LJ Community has been bursting with capsule news and eyecandy in the past few posts.

Amanda shares the cover of capsule’s latest album, “more more more”, which drops November 19th. She also provides a link to the Yamaha Music Japan site with the official tracklisting.

Next up, we have linza_yoshizawa sharing a bunch of photos from some live performances! My personal favourite has to be this picture because of a) the shirt b) the glowyness of his mixer and deck. Credits to frenchcapsule for collecting and the venue sites (all in the post).

JELLYFUSH provides the link to the ‘more more more’ single on the Japanese iTunes store. It makes me cry since a) I can’t purchase it due to not having any ties to the Japanese store b) It sounds like yay c) It’s another month before the album drops. Good thing I pre-ordered it. You should too.

Next, linza_yoshizawa returns with news of the duo being interviewed in volume 69 of MARQUEE magazine. The translation provided reports that there are pictures from PV shoots and promo shots and it looks like something I’d love to read… if I could read Japanese, that is. Nakata’s lookin’ pretty badass in the front cover shot, while on the back, Suzuki Ami’s looking quite sexy from the cover of her ‘can’t stop the DISCO’ single.

And finally, クリスティー brings news of a special edition magazine called “capsule Archive” to be released simultaneously as their album. According to the description, it goes over the past 6 years of the duo’s career. Weighing in at 176 pages, there should be a lot of eyecandy for those interested.

And breathe! All of these promotional goodies just make me want the album more… more…. and… more.

Tegami ~Haikei Juugo no Kimi e~ [Angela Aki - 8th Single]
MAGIC [MEG - 11th Single]
can’t stop the DISCO [Ami Suzuki - 30th Single]
BEAUTIFUL TECHNO [Compilation Album] (Special Review)
Love Story [melody. - 10th Single]
HEART [MEG - 12th Single]
READY TO GO! [melody. - 3rd Album]
STEP [MEG - 5th Album]

Selryam seriously reviews too quickly for anyone to catch up with. That said, he has many things to say about the various albums and singles, so you might find a gem or two amongst these releases.

Not everything said is good though, as can be seen here:

It still carries the little bit of horrid that MEG usually brings to a song with her odd vocals, which does get more grating throughout, so I’m not a huge fan. It is cute, though. In a creepy way, if you consider her overall image.

Ouch.

And may I just add, I still think Suzuki Ami is too old to be a pop idol. Or too old-looking at least. D:

New single, Dream Fighter (Perfume City)
Perfume NEW SINGLE! “Dream Fighter” & GAME DVD Tracklist! (contemode LJ Community)

TechnoPop darlings, Perfume, have announced their latest single entitled “Dream Fighter” and (coincidentally… or not) has a common release date as capsule’s latest album. Mark your calendars for November 19th!

Better yet, go pre-order it already! I have. So should you

On a little side note, I’m kinda disappointed that there aren’t more GAME songs on the tracklist (I only see Take Me Take Me, Secret Secret, and ceramic girl). I’d love to see plastic smile and Puppy love. *sigh* Watching them live will help me get over it.

Latest capsule screenshots

At the contemode LJ community, ekuseru (yes the ekuseru in charge of Perfume City) posts some screencaps of Capsule performing.

Techno-Jabber (a.k.a The Current State of T-Pop)

Selryam has posted a primer of sorts on technopop artists. It has short bios for Nakata Yasutaka, Perfume, MEG, Suzuki Ami, Aira Mitsuki, SAWA, Momoi Haruko, COLTEMONIKHA and Genki Rockets. Selryam also explains where these artists fit within the technopop landscape. I feel this also sort of creates a hierarchy of each individual act’s importance to the technopop boom, with Nakata and Perfume being at the top and the likes of MEG, Suzuki Ami and Aira Mitsuki being a rung below those two. It is a great read, whether you are already into technopop or wanting to get into it.

COPY - Aira Mitsuki
Namida no Saki ni - Crystal Kay

Ethan of Radiantdawn takes track-by-track look at COPY, the first album from Aira Mitsuki. The conclusion is that the album is a solid effort and Aira Mitsuki is “one of the best technopop artists out there.”

Furthermore, Ethan also reviewed Namida no Saki ni, a single from Crystal Kay. Ethan enjoys it for its remixes as well as the a-side.

Yumi Yoshimura MC’s Girl Pop Factory 08

It’s a meeting of the new school girl idol rulers and the old school not-quite-idol, still-ruling-to-some-extent Yumi of PUFFY! I’d say the maturity level between the two is quite literal, gotta be a 10 year age difference there at least. PUFFY were just as cutesy in their own way, back when.

Anyway, there’s a short live clip of PERFUME and the interview is unsubbed, maybe it’ll get done later.

Aira Mitsuki - C.O.P.Y (Kurayami Monogatari)
Airi Mitsuki - COPY (Both Editions) (Lost Wing)
COPY [Aira Mitsuki - Debut Album] (Vitamin Drop)

Three blogs tackle technopop artist Aira Mitsuki’s first album, C.O.P.Y, and I’m honestly amazed that they all found so much to say about it as they did. Not that there’s anything wrong with the album, but technopop can be hard to write about, especially if you don’t have the ear for it (if you find yourself zoning out or dozing off while listening, I guess), so kudos to the bloggers for being able to scrutinize every track without resorting to “it’s got a good beat, it’s fun, I liked it” over and over again. Everybody seems to enjoy it in the end, although the level of enthusiasm varies–Megumi (of Lost Wing) makes sure to note that she feels Aira’s success is due to a good producer, while Selryam hands out a fair grade of B to the release. So if this is your kind of thing, you’ve got three reviews to pick from, and a ton of different opinions to read.

SAWA’s rainbow (unchained)
Sweet & SAWA (johpan’s SAWA worship blog)

SAWA is a new technopop/electropop artist who just released her first mini-album in June. Our own pengie has a very positive review of it on her blog, greatly appreciating the fact that her vocals aren’t drowned in vocoder. She also links to SAWA’s first (and only?) PV which looked quite amazing to be honest. You should check it out, especially if you’re into balls. There’s lots of balls involved. Lots of hot balling. Okay, I’ll stop.

pengie also links to johpan’s worship blog dedicated to SAWA and personally I hadn’t learned of its existence until now. So far, this blog with an awesome name has an introductory post, the same PV plus pictures of her mini-album johpan has already managed to get.

Well, these two along with the great PV with its balls has already gotten me quite interested in SAWA. I’ll have to bother either pengie or johpan about sending me the mini-album…

Aira Mitsuki “Robot Honey”

chipple shares information on Aira Mitsuki’s latest single coming out a few days before Hallowe’en. I find it surprising that the single information came out before her debut album released. She’s been a pretty busy girl.

Just wondering but who else is confused on what single number this is? I’ve seen sites call it her 2nd single. It IS her 4th in reality, but I also read somewhere that she released her 3rd single as an independent single from her label making Robot Honey her 3rd official single. Anyone else want to take a stab at it?

Either way, more technopop means more love! I’m still waiting for my copy of COPY in the mail…

“GAME Tour” live DVD!!

ekuseru shares the latest news coming from the technopop trio, Perfume. Their 2nd live DVD is due to release as soon as October! As a Perfume fan, I couldn’t be more excited!! I’ve gotta see if they’re accepting pre-orders…

Breaking news: MEG’s nasal sister found

limejam of the contemode LiveJournal community shares who he considers to be the technopop singer, MEG’s, nasal-sounding sister. Personally, I don’t hear much MEG but I think SAWA is too beautiful for adjectives. He posts the PV to a song from her mini-album, COLORS, entitled “ManyColors”. It’s a very catchy, light technopop track and is SUPER CUTE.

Check her out!

Hamasaki Ayumi - Bold & Delicious / Pride [38th Single]
Perfume - ポリリズム [10th Single]

Amaiyume reviews these singles from Hamasaki Ayumi and Perfume. The review of Polyryhthm surprised me a bit as amaiyume finds “SEVENTH HEAVEN” to be “a little forgettable.” I’m just used to most people loving that song.

Perfume’s Gravity, Before They Took Over Japan

Ken M takes a look at a video of Perfume performing “Inryoku” at a 2006 event and focuses on how far they’ve come since then. These were the type of events that started a buzz about Perfume. However, if they were to perform this type of event (a release event at an Apple store), and it were announced ahead of time, the place would be swamped.

Hamasaki Ayumi - Mirrorcle World
Aira Mitsuki - Darling Wondering Staring / STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER

Jin takes a look at Hamasaki Ayumi’s Mirrorcle World and is really in love with the single. Jin also looks at Aira Mitsuki’s Darling Wondering Staring / STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER and finds it to be Aira’s best effort.

『COPY』

ky_chin of the contemode LiveJournal community shares details about the technopop artist’s debut album from her official site. It releases on the 3rd of September so mark your calendars! This album would definitely be a welcome addition to the CD collection, though I’ll wait until I hear some reviews. I don’t exactly see this one flying off the shelves so I won’t have to worry about availability, unlike that other technopop group that recently released its first real album. *cough cough* I hope I get proved wrong.

Either way, times are getting interesting in the technopop world…

capsule - S.F. sound furniture
capsule - NEXUS-2060
capsule - L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer
capsule - FRUITS CLiPPER

Truthfully, I get a little overwhelmed when it is this many reviews in such a short itme. Of the albums that Megumi reviewed, not much stood out. That probably made it easier to cover all of them. The only exception to that is L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer, which is loaded with synths that please Meugmi.

[album review] MEG - STEP

Johpan of boylikesmusic does a track-by-track review of MEG’s STEP. Johpan lists the tracks down from worst to first instead of in order of the CD listing. The review focuses on two parts of the album, MEG’s voice and Nakata Yasutaka’s music.

With Nakata producing for more and more acts, I think it is legit to ask what really separates the acts from each other. Is it simply the sound of the act’s voice or does Nakata make different music depending on the act? Or is it a combination of the two? Johpan indirectly provides an answer to this question while talking about “SEARCHLIGHT”:

It oozes Nakata and capsule but for some reason, MEG just turns it into something completely her own.

Hey! Say! JUMP - Your Seed / Bouken Rider
High-King - C\C (Cinderella\Complex)
Aira Mitsuki - China Discotica

Jin at Sora to Kujira is reviewing a pretty diverse range of J-music. The first review covers Johnny’s/boybands with Hey! Say! JUMP’s Your Seed / Bouken Rider. A slightly more mature sound by HSJ stands out to Jin. The second review meets the H!P/girlpop needs by taking a look at High-King’s C\C (Cinderella\Complex). Jin is really impressed by this lead track, calling “one of the best H!P songs released ever.”, and enjoys the b-side (”Kioku no Meiro”) just as well. And finally, Jin touches on electropop in this review of Aira Mitsuki’s China Discotica, which Jin enjoys.

Aira Mitsuki - China Discotica (Kurayami Monogatari)
[single] China Discotica (Radiant Dawn)
Darling Wondering Staring / STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER [Aira Mitsuki - 3rd Single] (Vitamin Drop)

Kurayami Monogatari reviews Aira’s second single, “China Discotica,” and enjoys it.

Radiant Dawn also reviews - and also enjoys for that matter - “China Discotica” as well. RD finds the song to be “so fun and upbeat” that “you can’t help but dance to it.”

Selryam of Vitamin Drop reviews Aira’s 3rd single, “Darling Wondering Staring / STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER.” Selryam gets more in-depth in discussing each track. While Selryam does seem to enjoy Aira and this single, the review is critical of the effects used on her vocals.

capsule - Cutie Cinema Replay

Megumi of Lost Wing reviews capsule’s 2nd album, “Cutie Cinema Replay,” finding the first half of the album preferable to the second half.

Sora to Kujira

As the blog’s header states, Sora to Kujira is a blog focusing on “up to date j-pop reviews.” True to its word, the posts focus on reviews of recent single and album releases, including (but certainly not limited to!) alan, Buono!, Perfume, Kalafina, and misono. Releases are given a rating at the end of the post, and the wide range of artists covered makes this one worth checking out.

Perfume - Love the World

1337rice gives a quick and honest, yet fun, review on Perfume’s latest chart topping single and even goes on to say that Perfume reminds him of a techno Morning Musume. Tee hee! 5 stars all around for this review. Buy links are at the bottom, but seriously, who doesn’t have this single already…?

[single] BRILLIANT
[single] HEART
[single] MUSiXXX / I’m Feeling You
[album] AROUND
[single] love the world
[Album] GLITTER
[album] Life Album
[album] HEART STATION

Ethan has a review of D’espairsRay’s BRILLIANT single, enjoying the less agressive a-side for the most part, and also finding the screamo b-side to be something of a joy, too.

The next review is MEG’s HEART single, which uses synth and vocoders. Ethan’s enjoying the cute chorus and finds the remix tracks to be alright.

Now here’s a single that got it’s tracks mixed up. Capsule’s MUSiXXX has the most woefully boring, monotone single you’re ever likely to hear from the duo, but the b-side is the saving grace, with a down-tempo, cityscape-esque vibe running through it. In fact it’s pretty similar to Perfume’s Take me Take me. Anyway, I totally agree with Ethan on this review.

Next up AAA’s AROUND album is put under the spotlight, and Ethan takes a look at a few of the tracks that weren’t released as singles. I like Ethan’s enthusiasm for Body Talker because I feel the same way. One of my favourites off the album.

Ethan takes a look at Perfume’s love the world single - the single that actually kick-started his love for the three girls - and he gives a nice view of the title track before going onto the others.

A detailed analysis of Kaya’s GLITTER album is a real effort to read. The layout is uninviting, and it’s all rather daunting after you’ve spent time reading the previous posts. But if you stick with it, Ethan does a good job at describing the sound and direction of the album, and it’s certainly worthy of convincing a few unsuspecting readers to get into Kaya. Still, two sides of a coin. It’ll probably ditract a few readers aswell.

Ethan’s generally pleased with Ikimono Gakari’s Life Album, selecting a few tracks for futher inspection. Whilst he’s enjoying the album, he hopes that their next one will include a little more experimentation.

Malorie gives her thoughts on Utada Hikaru’s HEART STATION, picking out a few tracks an generally telling us how good they are. The post has a nice excitement about it because the writing isn’t rigid or formal. Sometimes it’s nice to see someone go ‘haha with people’ during a review.

[single] JYONGRI - Unchanging Love ~Kimi ga Ireba~
[single] Miyu Nagase - Akane
[album] Perfume - GAME

Recommended reading. Lex gives us three track-by-track reviews with JYONGRI’s lastest single, Miyu’s recent single and Perfume’s first original album, giving the high points and the low points of the songs, all leading to an out-of-five rating.

For JYONGRI, Lex likes the A-side, despite the poor vocals in the verses, but thinks the single was ruined by the accompanying B-sides. He also thinks the Elton John cover to be an AWFUL (in big letters) rendition and believes a rap shouldn’t have been in the song.

He also takes a look at Nagase Miyu’s recent release, giving it a nice 4-star score and saying that the lead song was a soothing ballad and that the B-side had a nice funky attitude to it.

My favorite review was (of course) Perfume’s GAME. Lex goes on to review each song, giving a highlight of each song. Although he finds the album high quality, he thinks that “take me take me” and “Butterfly” provide a weird and somewhat offensive vibe to the album. On my part, I thought those two were very good songs on the album, but despite those two, he likes the album and recommends it, which I totally agree to!