Aural Candy / a j-rock blog

News: miyavi in NYC?!~

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:21:27 -0500

JRock Revolution is conducting a poll regarding whether to have miyavi do a live in New York City or not! I'm shocked (and of course utterly pleased) that NYC isn't getting screwed over once again because of a certain West Coast city that I shall not name (*points accusatory finger* =P).

If you live anywhere close to NYC, go vote!

At this point, I might as well admit that I'm now a full-fledged miyavi fan (musically, not fandom-obsessive-ly). I really hope that JRock Revolution give people enough time (at least 2 months!) to prepare and fit the concert into their schedules. Not everyone can pop over at the drop of a hat because, you know, we actually have lives outside of J-Rock like work, school, and whatnot. There are classes to attend, money to be made, so please be considerate JRR!

Now I'm off to wince over how Japanese anime/manga fandoms had totally infiltrated even original fiction writing. Why do I find Saint Seiya, Detective Conan, Naruto, etc. references everywhere?!

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Busy, Busy, Busy....

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:33:05 -0500

I figured that I should write something on the last day of the year 2007.

Despite the many going-on's in the J-Rock world that had taken place in the month of December, I've been preoccupied with rediscovering digital graphic art instead. I went through phases of icon-making, wallpaper-making, and now I'm working on learning vector drawing (aka. creating art using geometric shapes).

My first vector art, featuring the little girl on the cover of alice nine.'s TSUBASA single:

Vector Art: alice nine. / TSUBASA

alice nine. / TSUBASA - Process

What I did here was using vector (geometric modeling) to create layers of different shapes and stacking them on top of one another to produce this rendering (done in Paint Shop Pro). Since this was my first time attempting anything of this sort, it took me more than 12 hours despite using very basic techniques. I swear I'm going to master Bézier curves someday and get better at vector drawing.

Yes, so this concludes the last post of the year. Happy New Year, everyone!

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News: DYNAMITE TOMMY Not Guilty

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:05:38 -0500

How remiss of me to not follow up on the DYNAMITE TOMMY incident in which the president of Free-Will Records, a major visual kei label, was accused of $2.8 million theft. This news is 1.5 months late. I'm sorry. I kept on putting this off.

Phantasmagoria of Livejournal has (once again) graciously translated this article:

DYNAMITE TOMMY says, "F*** you!"

[...]
Tommy, who had been dragged into the fraud scandal, was arrested on September 14th. The police held him for more than twenty days at the Tsukiji office. Despite the result of the police investigation, which brought about no suspicion of fraud on Tommy's part, Tommy was indicted on these charges.
Tommy is enraged. "The police and the prosecutor performed a thorough investigation. The reason for my arrest was due to the asshole judge's assumptions!"
[...]

For translation of the full article, visit phantasmagoria's journal. There's an interesting bit about prejudice against rock musicians in Japan.

Honestly, the whole gleeful cackling of many people upon hearing DYNAMITE TOMMY's arrest back then annoyed the crap out of me. What is it about another person's misfortune that amuses and entertains you so much? What the hell has he ever done to you? This malicious aspect of human nature is revolting.

Personally, I'm glad for DYNAMITE TOMMY. I wish him (even more) success.

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News: Jrock Choice Awards 2007

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:01:49 -0500

The second annual Jrock Choice Awards voting has begun! This time, the awards is produced by Tainted Reality, Jrock Revolution, and purple SKY. Go vote for your favorite candidates.

http://www.jrockchoiceawards.com

Voting ends on Friday, December 21, 12 A.M. PST / 3 A.M. EST.

Here are the categories and nominees.

Best Album

Tenshi no Revolver - BUCK-TICK
MIRROR - D’espairsRay
THE BOTTOM OF CHAOS - Rentrer En Soi
STACKED RUBBISH - the GazettE
Nega to Poji - Plastic Tree

Best Song

FUZZ - MUCC
Alice in Wonder Underground - BUCK-TICK
WHITE PRAYER - alice nine.
BURIAL APPLICANT - the GazettE
Sakihokoru Hana No You ni - Miyavi

Best Mini-Album

7 SAMURAI SESSIONS -We're KAVKI BOIZ- - Miyavi
Lyrical Sympathy - Versailles
Reason for crying – girugamesh
THE BULLET STORM - Sadie
GLITTER LOUD BOX – LM.C

Best Artist

Miyavi
the GazettE
DIR EN GREY
MUCC
YOSHIKI

Best New Artist

UnsraW
LM.C
Sadie
Versailles
S.K.I.N.

Best Promotional Video

Kami Uta - Phantasmagoria
Returner - Yami No Shuuen - Gackt
MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM - L'arc~en~Ciel
FUZZ - MUCC
TRICKSTəAR - D’espairsRay

Best Dressed

An Café
Miyavi
Versailles
The Candy Spooky Theater
alice nine.

Best Full Length DVD Release

ECLIPSE OF MYTH - Phantasmagoria
HELLO, DEAR NUMBERS - alice nine.
Despair in the Womb - DIR EN GREY
Spiral Staircase #15 Final - D’espairsRay
TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY – Gackt

Best B-Side or Album Track

CHIZURU - the GazettE
Dress - abingdon boys school
Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai ni Hohoemi - DIR EN GREY
SCREEN - D'espairsRay
ANDRO METAMORPHOSE - Plastic Tree

Craziest English Title

EASTER FOR TREASON - Angelo
TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY - Gackt
AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS - DIR EN GREY
MISERY LOVE POISONOUS BLUE - Rentrer En Soi
ART DRAWN BY VOMIT - the GazettE

I'm really pleased by this year's nominee list. It sure as heck is more inclusive and perhaps more comprehensive than last year's. It's good to see Tainted Reality partnering with Jrock Revolution and purple SKY. Seems like this year's awards event is actually taken seriously, I'm glad! Let's hope these guys handle this properly so they don't give me any excuse to voice my skepticism over the legitimacy of the results (again).

Some of these categories were rather hard for me to pin down one nominee. After much deliberation, I think I ended up voting for the GazettE in all of the categories they appeared under (though Rentrer en Soi and Dir en grey put up a good fight). Then, miyavi, alice nine., and Gackt each got one vote from me.

Who and what did you guys vote for?

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Fandom Talk

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:29:01 -0500

Every morning I wake up these past few days, my eyes feel so dry and uncomfortable that I get the urge to gouge them out. No, really.

You know, it seems the J-Rock fandom is made up of pretty much the same people at every online social medium. I go to a forum, skim through a bunch of posts and realize: hey, haven't I seen her somewhere before? I post in a community and one of people who reply catches my eye because the username looks really familiar. Then, I have visitors commenting on my Last.fm account and say, "Hey, I read your blog." (Or, "Update, bitch!") And yes, once again, one of them is bound to be another frequent face in the fandom.

It makes me wonder, how big is the active part of the fandom? Is it made up of the same core people? These people are seriously everywhere! You see them in the popular J-Rock forums. You run into them in the numerous download communities. And then, you once again recognize them at various communities of a more... special interest nature. *coughs*

If we all meet in real life and divulge the different names we go by online, I bet we will all go, "Hey, we pretty much know each other already!"

Edit: By "fandom", I don't mean fanbase. I'm not saying the J-Rock fanbase is small. Rather, the core group of active, dedicated fans online is small compared to the overall J-Rock fan population. Please see my comment in this post for further clarification.

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This Thing Bugs me

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:15:15 -0500

Gackt - photobook press release

龍の化身 (Avatar of the Dragon) is Gackt's upcoming photobook and the man himself will soon be performing at the Japan-China Culture and Sports Exchange Year grand finale concert in Beijing on Nov. 29.

Am I the only one who sees something really wrong about 龍の化身, Gackt, and China in the same sentence? This has some serious potential for trouble if the Chinese press decides to go into this. The possible backlash won't be insignificant.

The Chinese have long thought of themselves as 龍的傳人, the descendants of the dragon. Indeed, in China, "Chinese" and "descendant of the dragon" are synonymous. For Gackt to claim to be the AVATAR of the dragon (I can only assume that's what he meant since he named his photobook 龍の化身, even though he was in the role of a character from a historical drama) is really troubling because he'll be performing in China. It's like Gackt declaring to the Chinese people, "Well, I'm your ancestor."

Oh, lord. Let's just hope I'm being paranoid.

(By the way, alice nine.'s new "Alpha" album disappoints me to bits and pieces. It completely fails to live up to my expectation set by their first album, "Zekkeishoku". I doubt I'll review it, so I thought to tack this on. I want to pretend the new album never came out.)

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PV Review: abingdon boys school / BLADE CHORD

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:55:38 -0500

aka the BEST DAMN PV OF THE YEAR *spasms*

abingdon boys school finally broke my months of no reviews because their latest PV is the awesomest thing made of awesome that ever graced the hall of awesomeness!

Caught between water and fire

Great closeup!

We're so hot we set things on fire

And, we own the world

The screencaps don't even do the PV justice. The video howls and roars. It's dynamic, raw, and utterly stunning. The water, fire, and spark effects are perfectly executed to add that electric charge to the entire presentation. The camera shots and lighting brilliantly capture the energy of the song.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a work of pure genius. The PV creation team should win an award for this masterpiece.

Rating: Fantastic

abingdon boys school / BLADE CHORD

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News: tetsu of L'Arc~en~Ciel Engaged... Sorta

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 11:51:14 -0500

tetsu of L'Arc and Sakai Ayana to marry, translated by Nanani

On November 17th, it was discovered that the leader and bassist of popular rock group L'Arc~en~Ciel, tetsu (age 38) and popular idol Sakai Ayana (22) are to be married. They began seeing each other during the summer of last year. Finally, they visited each other's parents and reported to their close acquaintances that they will marry. Sakai has said "When I get married, I want an audience to see it", but we are still waiting for official confirmation early this week.
It will be a shocking wedding to the young fans of both this charismatic musician and idol. The age difference between them is of 16 years. As a fashion model for magazine "Ray", Sakai had the opportunity to meet the members of L'Arc, or so her model coworkers have said.
[...]
Translator note:
To repeat : THEY ARE NOT MARRIED YET. The wedding dress picture of Ayana is from a fashion show.

Tetsu and Ayana

And the L'Arc~en~Ciel fandom's in upheaval! Congrats tetsu and Ayana!

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Artist Sample: Favorite D Songs

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:49:01 -0500

As requested by hana in the shoutbox:

i was wondering if you can recommend some good songs by D? coz i've heard them being mentioned a few times by Versailles fans. thank you ^_^

Ahh, D, they're one of the few bands out there that have always consistently released high quality works. While what is considered a "good" song is subjective, I'll do my best to recommend my favorite songs by them instead. My appreciation of music is driven, for the most part, by melody and then, by the vocals. So, you'll probably see some pattern emerge from my recommendations.

真昼の声 [listen]
Mahiru no Koe
- Track 1 from "真昼の声～Synchronicity～" [2005.04.06]

闇より暗い慟哭のアカペラと薔薇より赤い情熱のアリア [listen]
Yami Yori Kurai Doukoku no A Capella to Bara Yori Akai Jounetsu no Aria
- Track 1 from "闇より暗い慟哭のアカペラと薔薇より赤い情熱のアリア" [2005.06.22]
- Track 3 from "The name of the ROSE" [2006.02.08]

Sleeper [listen]
- Track 10 from "The name of the ROSE" [2006.02.08]

Leukocyte [listen]
- Track 4 from "Tafel Anatomie" [2006.10.18]

Ultimate Lover [listen]
- Track 1 from "Ultimate Lover" [2006.12.06]

桜花咲きそめにけり [listen]
Ouka Saki Some ni Keri
- Track 1 from "桜花咲きそめにけり" [2007.07.18]
- Track 3 from "Neo culture~Beyond the world~" [2007.11.07]

Follow [listen]
- Track 1 from "Neo culture~Beyond the world~" [2007.11.07]

Normally, I'd write a long-ass post talking in depth about each song. But these past few months, I've been in an odd mood and have been staying away from reviewing anything. Hopefully, the sample songs I uploaded can make up for it a little.

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the GazettE 2007 Europe Tour Roundup

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:20:53 -0500

I was going to write this entry earlier, but somehow when browsing the GazettE's homepage, I got distracted by the band's new image and started making icons out of the new photoshoots. ~~Ruki possesses the most enchanting lips and I'm only human.~~

Let's try this again....

Our Gazemen have returned to Japan after what looked like a kick-ass Europe tour. The fan reports have quite a number of interesting observations.

Berlin: 01 | 02
Cologne: 01 | 02 | 03
Munich: 01 | 02
Paris: 01 | 02A | 02B
London: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04
Helsinki: 01 | 02 | 03

Aoi's lip ring

Lip ring-less Aoi

Quick, what are the first things that pop up in your mind when you think of the GazettE members? More likely than not, they're Ruki's neck marks, Uruha's thighs, Reita's noseband, Kai's smile, and Aoi's lip ring! I'm dismayed he decided to get rid of his trademark. Aoi just isn't quite Aoi anymore without his lip ring. Why did he all of a sudden want to change his image? This is going to take a while to get used to, alas. May his lip ring rest in peace.

Fanservice
Ah yes, the ever controversial fanservice. I confess, I've always wondered what... activities... the final edits of Gazette live DVDs cut out. Whenever songs like SILLY GOD DISCO were performed, the camera always swerved away from Ruki and all you could hear were high-pitched mass screaming from the audience. Goodness, what in the world got the fangirls so excited? My inquiring mind was dying to know. Thank you European fans for satisfying my curiosity. I don't know whether to laugh or bang my head on the desk when reading about the exact activities Ruki engaged in to get the ladies riled up at lives.

Ruki fanservice

Fan behavior
Well, I'm proud of the GazettE fandom! I understand that at the band's first stop in Berlin, quite a number of fans got overexcited and screamed inappropriately during Taion. The news quickly spread on the net and, as if wanting to prove to Gazette that European fans know how to behave, everyone actually stayed quiet and listened respectfully during Taion at the band's subsequent stops. Great job, fandom~ you're wonderful!

Tour bus

the GazettE tour bus (photo by evespikey)

Holy mother, Gazette actually had a branded tour bus/truck! The band really pulled all stops and I'm flattened that that huge, conspicuous thing actually paraded all around Europe. I once again bow down to PS Company's marketing talents. PSC isn't my favorite J-Rock artist management agency for nothing. Highest regard from me, PSC. I tip my hat to you.

And finally, here's a fan-shot video highlighting the London live. Listen to Kai's "thank you so much" at the end.

the GazettE live at London Islington UK

Now, please pleeeeeease come to the United States, Gazette.

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