To be truthful, I had never heard of Polysics before until I read somewhere that one of their members was leaving although right now I can’t remember who. I don’t really know a whole lot about this Japanese group except that they are techno-y. Although this song “Catch on Everywhere” has these weird chipmunk voices, I really like this song. It might have to do with this song being super catchy!!! I also kind of think the voices are cute!!! More »

3 Comments

From Rekuru: As the international popularity of Japanese rock rapidly increases, 2009 can count itself amongst the most noteworthy years for the scene. Below is my list of the most significant events in the J-Rock world for the past 365 days. More »

Avast! Out from the rubble of Ellegarden’s passing comes a new band called Nothing’s Carved in Stone, and they’re nothing short of impressive in terms of musical prowess. More »

14 Comments

One of rock acts from Japan that I’ve been particularly fond of is Ellegarden, and although their indefinite hiatus disheartens many listeners of the band (including myself), what’s been born from the ashes is definitely catching my eye. More »

14 Comments

Dir En Grey is like a snowball–not because they’re nice and fluffy and are followed by the laughter of children, but because once they get rolling, they just seem to get bigger and bigger. After 12 years of existence, they’re now a snowball about the size of Montana, barreling down the street right towards you and your feeble little computer screen. More »

10 Comments

The Tuesday night before Thanksgiving I attended a Boom Boom Satellites (BBS) concert in New York City. I had no idea who they were before the concert but quickly grew in love with their music. 12 hours later, they were in the Ningin office lounge hanging out with the Ningin NYC staff. It was kind of surreal because it’s not every day we have rock stars just kickin’ it in our office and at the time I’ve yet to fully recover from the wild night of partying. It was a great experience and I was able to learn a lot about them through a somewhat informal interview. Again BBS is a two-person band, Michiyuki (right) is the vocalist and guitarist and Masayuki (left) is on bass. Mimi, their manager helped answer a few questions as well. Enjoy! More »

11 Comments

It’s kinda crazy but I knew nothing about Boom Boom Satellites (BBS) before last night. The experience of hearing them play live was similar to having chocolate or Breyers Vanilla ice cream for the first time. In other words, it was a “where have you been all my life” kind of experience. It was that good! More »

21 Comments

Do As Infinity (DAI), who made a recent return to the music industry, will get a second spin for the upcoming anime series; Inuyasha:The Final Act. This continues the over arching story and summarizes a compiled volume. More »

23 Comments

Photographer Tina Chou reports on the third and final day of mighty AnimeNEXT 2009! From Tina Chou: Hello again! Today was the last day of AnimeNEXT and this convention has definitely been an interesting experience. I’m a con n00b no more! The peak of the convention was clearly yesterday so things were mostly were winding down today. I was still able to get a full day in tho! More »

49 Comments

The day after an amazing performance, Tina Chou got a chance to sit in on the FAKE? Q&A session at AnimeNEXT. From Tina Chou: FAKE? was onstage and they are Ken Lloyd’s usual bandmates. He met them through friends of friends. Each member is in other bands making scheduling difficult — but they all made it to AnimeNEXT. More »

49 Comments

New York City photographer Tina Chou survived Day 2 of her first anime convention — AnimeNEXT! By now she’s got her Anime Con going on… From Tina: Hello again! Great to see everyone’s comments, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside! I realized I tend to ramble between the hours of 12 and 4AM so I’ll launch right into Day 2 now. More »

49 Comments

After surviving her first day on the AnimeNEXT con floor, Tina checked out the FAKE? concert — a kick azz Jrock group making a special US appearance.

From Tina Chou: If you’ve never been to a FAKE? concert before, it’s very difficult to describe in words. This may have been one of the best concerts I have ever been to, in terms of attending and taking pictures. It was AMAZING. More »

49 Comments

We sent our New York City photographer Tina Chou into the New Jersey suburbs for her first anime convention — the mighty AnimeNEXT! She’s doing double duty blogging and shooting this weekend. This is the 8th AnimeNEXT for the NY-NJ-CT tri-state area. Every year it gets bigger and better, and it seems Tina was a little overwhelmed her first day out there… More »

49 Comments

Oblivion Dust guitarist K.A.Z and L’Arc-en-Ciel vocalist HYDE, known together as VAMPS, are hitting 10 US cities July thru August. The duo teamed up for VAMPS in February 2008 and are finally dropping their self-titled VAMPS album worldwide on June 10! Then on July 11, VAMPS kickoff their American tour in New York City! With songs titled “Bite”, “Vampire Depression”, “Redrum”, and “Sex Blood Rock n’ Roll”, it’s gonna be a crazy live show! More »

19 Comments

No, they’re not disbanding. They’re just breaking their ties with Ken-on, their current management agency, along with Sowelu and Mai Hoshimura. More »

20 Comments

Mika, oh, Mika… I know you said that you were tired of the whole NANA thing. You did some Big Band sound with “Black & Blue”. Tried the Japanese Gospel fad with “All Hands Together” and “Cry No More”. A little reggae with “My Sugar Cat”. Rocked out again with NANA2 and “Hitoiro” even tho you might not have wanted to. Got romantic with “Sunao na mama”. Got a little dancey up tempo with “Life”. Crooned your way into my heart with “Sakura -Hanagasumi-” Got a little off track with “I Don’t Know”. Won me back over with “Orion”. I know Mika’s got nothing left to prove. Girl can sing. But “Overload”? Somehow this week’s new single sounds a little old and recycled. More »

29 Comments

Many learned about Do As Infinity through the anime Inuyasha and the creative trio quickly became a top choice for Jpop/Jrock bands. After a few good years they disbanded on September 29, 2005 and we were astonished to be left without any more of their great music. More »

25 Comments

“This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Sony Music Records Inc.” — I wanted to share the new YUI single with you but that’s the message all over YouTube. It’s also been yanked off of vodpod.com, dailymotion.com, and mefeedia.com! >.<

Sony Music is all up in anyone's grill that hosts the MV. A real shame cause "again" is another great YUI song that you probably aren't getting a chance to hear. It's the new opening theme song for the anime "Fullmetal Alchemist" Season 2, YUI's first new single since last year, and spelt with a lower case 'a'. More »

33 Comments

FINALLY! Joe Inoue (井上ジョー) has released his first full album! Titled “ME! ME! ME!”, according to Joe himself it has “something for everyone”, from “ballads” to “death metal”. (Yes, Joe said it’s got death metal on it — I assume he’s talking about “Rage -Twenty Four-” and “Kuruma”) More »

21 Comments

Much to my neighbors loss of peace and quiet, I just spent tonight getting rocked by Chatmonchy’s “Restaurant Main Dish”. The all girl trio of rockers released the two disc live DVD set in November 2008 and I finally got my hands on it! The first DVD is Chatmonchy’s concert from April 1, 2008, at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. More »

18 Comments