through the looking glass

Disclaimer: I was kinda drunk when I typed this and 20mins late, but here are my notes from my mobile in all their erroneous glory!

Despairs aug 4th slims sf
Crowd only five rows deep. JRockRevolution dude fittin outside trying to get comped in.
Shit, I don’t know any thing from after Kamikaze, lol
15 min intermission at the 8:45 mark wtf
Baaaaai! is this korn? 8:59p hella feed back, going with it
Reset hahah. Oh shit again, sorry. Reset x 2
Karyu hella strummin tryin to keep the crowd going, lots of pitch shifting, nice recovery, crowd is hollerin… Nope hey guys. Our computer crashed. Wtf
Here we go, free style Karyu. Oh poor despairs. Zero is mad. Tsukasa is bowed. Karyu is pissed, looping the intro riff.
Comedy. Karyu just walked off. Hizumi is filming the crowd. Zero is misting, arms crossed. Karyu returns. Here we go 9:07p
Baaaaaii!
Track not so bad… they’re playing with hella anger
Forbidden! Fuck yeah!
Hollow!
SIXty∞NINe time!
Born!
Rocked
Hella good slow jam qne it becomes you…
Hizumi: I was inspired by deep deep sea at rest…
Ear hustlein: Nani kore? < Shaggy looking dude with hoe
Super short track!
More redeemer and after stuff I don’t know about
MIRROR!
Garnet!
Curtain down… oh shi- no Murder Freaks, ファシズム, 朧ノ月, quarter void… Nooooooooo
950 walk off…
Signing.
We’llllll fuck.

Damn, LA gotta a way better show =/

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Whilst driving through Oregon with Dr.Brown, I decide to cruise the local airplay and happened upon a metal station. The song had some killer drumming and the vocals were pretty visceral but not too deathy. The DJ actually named the band after the track, which never really happens when I hear a song on the radio and ask ‘who the fuck is this?’ So I went to Amazon, searched The Agonist and downloaded two of their albums. Kinda an impulsive buy but I’ve been listening to these albums on the daily.

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Baby daddy 雅-MIYAVI- is bringing his guitar to North America and rocking on a new tour. Select dates will have events which include meet and greets and all that fare.

NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK WORLD TOUR 2010

-North American Leg-

2010/6/10 San Diego, House of Blues EVENT
2010/6/12 Los Angeles, Club Nokia Live
2010/6/13 Anaheim, The Grove of Anaheim
2010/6/15 San Francisco, The Fillmore EVENT
2010/6/17 Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom EVENT
2010/6/18 Seattle, Showbox
2010/6/19 Portland, Roseland Theater
2010/6/23 Chicago, House of Blues
2010/6 /24 Toronto , Sound Academy
2010/6/25 Boston, Harpers Ferry
2010/6/27 N.Y., The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
2010/6/29 Washington, 9:30 Club
2010/7/01 Atlanta, Masquerade
2010/7/03 Dallas, House of Blues EVENT
2010/7/04 Houston,House of Blues EVENT

Source: MySpace / Official

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Today (in Japan) is ムックの日 (MUCC Day)! Released today is their latest single 約束 (yakusoku/promise) which comes in three variants, the standard limited, vanilla, and an anime covered one. Anime version is for 閃光のナイトレイド (Senkou no Night Raid) for which the single is the opening theme for.

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VAMPS duo HYDE and K.A.Z are returning stateside for a few select dates before moving on to the rest of their world tour.

As seen on their blog:

VAMPS LIVE 2010 WORLD TOUR

NORTH AMERICA

• FRIDAY, OCT. 1 – AVALON HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES
• SUNDAY, OCT. 3 – THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL, SAN FRANCISCO
• SATURDAY, OCT. 9 – ROSELAND BALLROOM, NEW YORK CITY
  (same weekend as the New York Anime Festival and New York Comic Con)

EUROPE

• TUESDAY, OCT. 12 – SALA APOLO, BARCELONA
  (Spain’s National Day, a public holiday)
• SATURDAY, OCT. 16 – ESPACE GRANDE ARCHE, PARIS

ASIA

• SATURDAY, SUNDAY, OCT. 23, 24 – SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL GYMNASTICS CENTER, SHANGHAI

SOUTH AMERICA

• SATURDAY, NOV. 6 – TEATRO CAUPOLICAN, SANTIAGO

Source: VAMPS Official / VAMPS MySpace

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Creator’s of the Rock Band franchise had approached Jrock Revolution asking which Japanese rock bands fans would want to see added to their playable track list. A great opportunity for Japanese music to entertain us, those who don’t live in the land of the rocking sun. Yes. And hell no. Harmonix has glossed over (perhaps accidentally) the fact that JRR is a site dedicated to the promotion of primarily Visual Kei bands. As a listener of VK (I’m listening to 9GOATS BLACK OUT – TANATOS while writing this), I’m not self loathing here, just simply pointing out the fact their question needs to go out to additional people. Results from the JRR fan poll:

1. the GazettE
2. Dir en grey
3. X JAPAN
4. MIYAVI
5. GACKT
6. An Café
7. D’espairsRay
8. Nightmare
9. L’Arc~en~Ciel
10. Versailles ~Philharmonic Quintent~

source

Okay, if Rock Band is going to add a VK Shock Pack with primarily VK artist, then hell yeah! But what I do know about the Rock Band folks is that they try and cover as many genre’s as possible to include as playable tracks as long they are fun to play and, well, rock. If Harmonix is looking for Japanese rock, they looked in the wrong place. Why not talk to the JaME folks or cruise last.fm? Well both are not exclusive to the US Japanese music fanbase. Judging from the reaction to Beatles: Rock Band, global community input would be a plus.

I decided to grab some data from Last.fm.
Ranked by number of listeners and using the larger of numbers for bands listed under different spellings:

1. L’Arc~en~Ciel 11,774,711 plays (184,009 listeners)
2. Dir en grey 22,851,599 plays (180,294 listeners)
3. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION 9,646,907 plays (157,400 listeners)
4. the pillows 9,488,349 plays (142,707 listeners)
5. X JAPAN 5,395,297 plays (116,097 listeners)
6. GACKT 11,093,197 plays (115,575 listeners)
7. Maximum the Hormone 5,879,766 plays (91,725 listeners)
8. Polysics 2,931,644 plays (87,277 listeners)
9. Nightmare 2,885,468 plays (84,215 listeners)
10. 雅-miyavi- 7,955,352 plays (81,931 listeners)
Miyavi 4,348,297 plays (55,203 listeners)
11. Shiina Ringo 5,713,815 plays (80,611 listeners)
12. ムック 8,041,826 plays (78,557 listeners)
13. PUFFY 1,243,935 plays (69,196 listeners)
14. D’espairsRay 7,065,326 plays (65,559 listeners)
15. the GazettE 7,508,947 plays (50,781 listeners)
ガゼット 7,679,897 plays (63,238 listeners)
16. OLIVIA 2,408,932 plays (62,947 listeners)
17. Mr.Children 3,890,571 plays (61,640 listeners)
18. Dragon Ash 1,382,356 plays (61,568 listeners)
19. B’z 3,797,961 plays (59,996 listeners)
20. GLAY 1,831,737 plays (55,517 listeners)
21. Versailles 1,945,444 plays (43,559 listeners)
22. くるり 3,500,454 plays (36,226 listeners)
23. An Café 1,407,565 plays (32,879 listeners)
アンティック-珈琲店- 2,559,837 plays (33,589 listeners)

I just grabbed random artist that tend to be popular in the US. Well not random, I didn’t include hip hop, R&B, or pop which would pepper this list with Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, Kanno Yoko, Johnny’s, and Hello! Project’s. I picked bands that Rock Band would consider.

L’Arc is listed as #9 on JRR’s poll while here they are #1 with three times as many listeners as The Gazette which is their #1. Adding non-visual artist pushes only four of their poll’s artists out of the top 10 which proves that JRR’s poll is still influential and shouldn’t be discounted.

Many Japanese artist are adored outside Japan and I’d love to see them in Rock Band.
I sincerely hope that Harmonix isn’t using only JRR’s community as their only source of possible artist suggestions.
Harmonix, hit up JaME, they tend to cover a wider variety of genres. Also cruise last.fm.
And to the folks at JRR, I still love you! Keep spreading the word on the music we love!

And for me, bands (non-indies)I want to rock the fuck out to on Rock Band:
Dir en grey, MUCC, Blue Hearts, BUCK-TICK, The Tigers, Kuroyume…
Though my last.fm may tell you otherwise.

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PENICILLIN‘s front man HAKUEI will be appearing at San Francisco’s Japan Town Nihon Machi Street Fair. Hosted by Black Peace Now, HAKUEI will be appearing for a brief autograph session and attendng a pre-launch party celebrating the Peace Now’s clothing store in the soon to be opened NEW PEOPLE shopping center in San Francisco’s Japan Town. NEW PEOPLE will be having it’s grand opening August 15th, housing a theater focusing on Japanese films, it will also showcase art, and bring to the US contemporary Japanese clothing brands with 6%DOKIDOKI, Black Peace Now, and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright retail stores.

Source: NEW PEOPLE Official

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According to Reuters, Michael Jackson was found not breathing in his home, suffering from cardiac arrest.

Taken to UCLA Medical Center hospital, one of the worlds most famous musicians is reported dead.

Despite his tabloid frenzied career and strange behavior, MJ knew how to sing, write hits, and entertained millions for decades. I personally didn’t like a lot about this guy but I always acknowledged his talent and success.

Reuters

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HYDE is coming back around and he’s teamed up with Oblivion Dust’s K.A.Z. in their joint project VAMPS.

I’ll be checking out the San Francisco show.

VAMPS tour dates and performance locations are as follows:

Saturday, July 11, 2009:
New York NY:  The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza

Sunday, July 12, 2009:
Hartford CT:  Warped Tour New England Dodge Music Center

Tuesday, July 14, 2009:
Columbia MD:  Warped Tour Merriweather Post Pavilion

Thursday, July 16, 2009:
Baltimore MD:  Sonar Baltimore

Sunday, July 19, 2009:
Seattle WA:  The Showbox at the Market

Monday July 20, 2009:
Portland OR:  Hawthorne Theatre

Saturday, July 25, 2009:
San Francisco CA:  Regency Grand Ballroom

Monday, July 27, 2009:
Las Vegas NV: Wasted Space at the Hard Rock Hotel
“VAMPS Official Party”

Wednesday, July 29, 2009:
San Diego CA:  SOMA

Saturday, August 1, 2009:
Los Angeles CA:  The Wiltern Theater

US site: www.vampsliveusa.com

Official: www.vampsxxx.com

Press Release Below

Read more

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(C) MAVERICK

ムック will be releasing their 8th full length album, 球体 (‘kyuutai’ but listed as Sphere on their English site), this March in Japan. 球体 will come in three flavors, vanilla, and two limited versions coupling with a DVD of a documentary or live footage of the Irving Plaza, New York live on Dec 7th 2008. No word yet on international versions at this time.

Track list:

1. 球体
2. 咆哮
3. アゲハ
4. ハイドアンドシーク
5. 陽炎
6. レミング
7. オズ
8. 浮游
9. 讃美歌
10. 空と糸
11. ｈａｎａｂｉ

Upcoming lives:

Nippon Budokan (Japan) on March 15th

Metaltown (Sweden) (with ギルガメッシュ) on June 27th @ the Tent Stage

Tuska Open Air Metal Festival 2009 (Finland) (with ギルガメッシュ) on June 28th

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BENTEN announced the return of Japan Nite Tour, featuring artist from Japan. Check out the tour when they drop near your town.

Japan Nite Tour 2009:

3/22 sun  NY    @  Bowery ballroom
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/
+GRAPEVINE  and  ASAKUSA JINTA

3/23 mon  Cambridge /MA  @ T.T. The Bears
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka +THE EMERALDS

3/24 tue  Chicago   @ Empty Bottle
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/

3/26 thu      Denver   @TBA
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/

3/27  fri  Seattle  @ High Dive -
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/
Opening band:  The Slants

3/28  sat  SF  @ Independent
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/

3/29  sun  LA @ Knitting Factory
with:  detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/

SXSW info:

*3/20  Fri Japan Nite 1  @ SXSW Austin TX
with: FLiP/ Dirty Old Men /HONEY SAC/ SPARTA LOCALS/GRAPEVIE/detroit7
*3/21 Sat. Japan Nite 2  @ SXSW Austin TX
with: Stereopony/SpethialThanks/The Emeralds/SA/Asakusa Jinta /quaff

Artist Info from the PR:

*detroit7: Edgy hard rockin’ trio led by bare footed left hand female guitar.

*SA:   The King of Japanese punk.

*SPARTA LOCALS: Post-punk and new wave influenced indie rock band.

*FLiP:  All girl band from Okinawa

*Omodaka:  a seamless mixture of Japanese traditional-flavored folk song
and Electronic music.

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Announced this morning, Anime Expo 2009 has stated that their first guest of honor for this years gathering of otaku tribes will be none other than the all-girl singing sensation Morning Musume. These love machines recently accepted two new members from China into their once soley Japanese ranks, tackling the great wall of China with their youth enhanced song and dance numbers. Morning Musume will be saying ‘Hello!’ to stoke your moe flame this July 2nd through Jul 5th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Photo by: Cicel C ZETIMA

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Ex-Luna Sea member Sugizo toured with electronic artist Juno Reactor, stopping by my neighborhood (literally) to preform at the Independent in San Francisco on September 23rd. The room was packed as Juno Reactor throbbed bass and shook the walls with four percussionist on modern and traditional skins as well as two vocalists, whom wailed intermittently and at times together, as synths, horns, whistles, and guitars clamored along. Sugizo’s ambient guitar play and experimental style meshed seamlessly with their trance grooves of Juno Reactor (whom, I must admit) I haven’t listened to since my early high school years. The entire band gave so much energy and the air of genuinely enjoying the night as the room danced along the evening.

Click here for photos of mic stands taken by me and Vanessa Antonio’s super high tech mobile phone cameras

Also check out an interview with Sugizo that occurred backstage prior to the live where he drops that super band project S.K.I.N. may continue: SF Weekly Interview.

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ムック will be returning to the US for two dates!

2008.12.07 Irving Plaza / New York
2008.12.10 House of Blues / Los Angeles

Following the recent release of the single アゲハ will be several items in the coming months:

Dec 2008 New DVD Release
Feb 2009 New Single Release
Mar 2009 New Album Release

Source: Official Web and Visunavi

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OVER SEAS (US/CANADA) TOUR08 THE ROSE TRIMS AGAIN

DATA	CITY / COUNTRY	VENUE
11/5(wed)	Ft. Lauderdale, FL / US	Revolution
11/7(fri)	Orlando, FL / US	Firestone
11/8(sat)	Atlanta, GA / US	Center Stage
11/10(mon)	Baltimore, MD / US	Rams Head Live
11/11(tue)	Philadelphia, PA / US	The Theatre of Living Arts
11/12(wed)	Boston, MA / US	Wilbur Theatre
11/14(fri)	New York, NY / US	Terminal 5
11/15(sat)	Montreal, QU / CANADA	Le Medley
11/16(sun)	Toronto, ON / CANADA	Kool Haus
11/18(tue)	Pontiac, MI / US	Clutch Cargo
11/19(wed)	Chicago, IL / US	House of Blues
11/20(thu)	Minneapolis, MN /US	First Avenue
11/22(sat)	Milwaukee, WI / US	The Eagles Club
11/23(sun)	Sauget, IL / US	Pop’s
11/25(tue)	Houston, TX / US	House of Blues
11/26(wed)	Dallas, TX / US	Palladium Ballroom
11/28(fri)	Tempe, AZ / US	Marquee Theatre
11/29(sat)	Los Angeles, CA / US	The Wiltern LG
11/30(sun)	San Francisco, CA / US	Warfield Theatre
12/2(tue)	Portland, OR / US	Hawthorne Theatre
12/3(wed)	Seattle, WA / US	The Showbox
12/5(fri)	Englewood, CO / US	Gothic Theatre
Source: Deg Official Web

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Huge update: My first trip to Japan.

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12012 vocalist Miyawaki Wataru was arrested on charges of assaulting a young woman. After a bout of drinking with several friends said woman states she was later strangled by Miyawaki, with wounds taking over a week to heal. Currently Miyawaki is in the process of reconciling with the injured woman, reaching a settlement out of court, and being acquitted of the charges.

Source

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Yoshiki took the stage last night during the Jrock Revolution Festival announcing more info on his recently revealed super band SKIN. The previous night, Yoshiki, Sugizo, and Miyavi announced their forming of the band SKIN along with Gackt. Last nights announcement further solidified the reality of the super band by revealing an upcoming performance in Paris. The probability of a world tour without any releases to date is unprecedented, intriguing, and ballsy. Let’s hear some music now.

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Received this PR to share with everyone, mind the glaring misspelling of names:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANIME EXPO 2007 ANNOUNCES J-ROCK CONCERT
OF THE CENTURY

J-Rock Gods Join Forces and Debut at Nation’s Largest Convention

Anaheim, California (May 25, 2007) As announced on the stage of J-ROCK
REVOULTION: SKIN performs June 29th, 2007 at Anime Expo 2007.

SKIN is Yoshiki, Gackt, Myavi and Sugiza!

Stay tuned for more info …

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