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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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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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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Director Kaneko Shusuke's OHP Updated

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:47:48 -0400

Remember my report of the New York City premiere of the movies DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE II a few months ago?

It looks like director Kaneko Shusuke's homepage has been updated with his visits to NYC and Montreal for the movie screenings/premieres. And hey, one of my photos was actually used on the page! The photo they picked got cropped and I almost didn't recognize it though I was puzzling to myself about how familiar it looked.

Kaneko Shusuke Homepage

(I just noticed: you can see my workplace in the page header. One of those buildings contains my firm's Americas headquarter. *is amused*)

I knew the homepage was going to be updated a few months ago, but totally forgot about it until I saw an old e-mail in my inbox and decided to check the site out.

Anyway, cool! I feel as if I contributed to Japanese film-making history somehow by helping to document events such as this. XP

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News: R:ID Mega Event feat. PSC

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:56:37 -0400

PS Company

~~This is still not confirmed by official sources yet. I'll update this when more information become available.~~

According to a concert-goer to the GazettE's live in Berlin today, in one of the flyers handed out after the concert, PS Company bands alice nine., Kagrra,, Kra, SuG, and SCREW will be performing at R:ID Mega Event in Cologne, Germany on December 29, 2007.

Ticket sales begin on November 1.

My favorite record label/artist management company! Ahh, how I want to live in Germany!

Update: Confirmed by Kagrra,'s official homepage. Merry Christmas, Germans.

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JRockRevolution.com

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:05:18 -0400

JRockRevolution.com is now one of the indispensable J-Rock news resource sites that I check regularly. If this site still isn't under your radar, I recommend keeping an eye on it for the latest news on developments in the scene.

If you have a Livejournal, you can friend jrockrev so you'll be alerted every time the site updates the news section.

Incidentally, there are 3 latest updates from JRockRevolution worth noting:

1.
X Japan will be releasing a new song called "I.V." as the ending theme song to the upcoming movie "SAW IV". This song features all 5 members of the band for it contains unreleased material by hide. See the FAQ for the release for more details.

2.
Part 1 of the interview with Kai of the GazettE is now up. It's actually quite well done, informative and humorous.

Now that you mention him, why does REITA wear the handkerchief on his nose?
KAI: Oh… that’s like his trademark now, it’s like a part of his body. That is REITA.

Does he wear that normally?
KAI: *Laugh* No, but as the bassist of the GazettE, that is the way REITA is.

Isn’t it hard to breathe like that?
KAI: Well… I guess since he’s still alive it mustn’t be too bad.
*Everyone laughs*
If we think about it, we do start wondering, but since he hasn’t complained about it I guess it’s alright.

3.
Last but not least, there's also an interview with SUGIZO of SKIN and ex-LUNA SEA. Definitely detected a bit of ego there, but at least it didn't incense me like Gackt's interview on his concert in Korea. These are great musicians, but sometimes, things just come out sounding arrogant. >_>

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News: YOSHIKI to Collaborate with Paris Hilton

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:42:57 -0400

From Jrockrevolution.com:

YOSHIKI and Paris Hilton

[...]
While YOSHIKI won’t be acting in a movie, he will, however, be the producer of Lionsgate Entertainment’s next film, “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” a horror musical directed by “Saw II” and “III” director, Darren Lin Bausman, starring Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman. It was revealed that YOSHIKI will also be producing the soundtrack for this film.
[...]

...

Oh damn, he really is going to work with Paris Hilton of all people. Really, I respect YOSHIKI, but to actually work with Paris Hilton? There's no way for me to put this in polite terms, so all I'm going to say regarding this is, I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

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News: YOSHIKI's Catacombs Soundtrack to be Released

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:14:06 -0400

Yanked word-for-word from JRockRevolution.com:

EXTASY Records is set to release the original motion picture soundtrack for Catacombs, the dark thriller from the producers of the SAW series about to make its theatrical debut in Japan.

Why is this soundtrack a landmark for jrock fans? Because YOSHIKI (X JAPAN), as executive producer, has delivered an album unprecedented in music history for its collaboration of Japanese and American rock bands on a multinational release. His own involvement itself was unprecedented, as he was heavily involved in hand-selecting the artists featured on the album.
Most significantly, this soundtrack includes the first song by VIOLET UK to be released on an album. YOSHIKI wrote and produced "Blue Butterfly" as the End Title song for the film. And one of YOSHIKI's personal choices for the album was "Psyche" by hide's band zilch.
The album also includes artists such as gothic/industrial greats Peter Murphy (ex-Bauhaus) and Skinny Puppy, digital soundscaping wizard BT, and musical juggernaut Ministry. The soundtrack will be available in Japan at retail and online stores nationwide on October 2. But how can you be the first to own your own copy of VIOLET UK's album debut?
Look no further, because Jrock Revolution will be the first exclusive retailer of the Catacombs movie soundtrack outside of Japan.

Tonight, as in Thursday, September 20, we open the doors to a pre-sale of this groundbreaking soundtrack, right here at JRR. And the first five hundred pre-orders will ship with a special bonus gift included!

The pre-sale begins at 8:59 P.M. PST/ 11:59 P.M. EST. Check back here for more information about how you can place your pre-order!
Continue for the full track listing and more about the Catacombs movie itself.

Catacombs Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

1. “Blue Butterfly” - Violet UK
2. “Lie” - Black Light Burns
3. “Smartbomb” - BT
4. “Magnifishit” - Skinny Puppy
5. “Badass(Rogue Element Mix)” - The Crystal Method
6. “Unholy Confessions” - Avenged Sevenfold
7. “Twist Your Fate” - Peter Murphy
8. “Please Myself” - Shawnee Smith
9. “Psyche” - zilch
10. “Bleeding Mascara” - Atreyu
11. “Vela, Together We Await The Storm” - The Human Abstract
12. “Die In A Crash” - Ministry

So, Violet UK has surfaced again. I'm still waiting for the day that YOSHIKI finally, FINALLY release a full VUK album. Not one track, not demos, not snippets, but a full-blown, REAL album.

Think this will ever happen in the next... oh, 3 years?

...
...

That's what I thought too.

Edit: You can hear bits of the soundtrack (and the VUK song) by watching the Catacombs movie trailer on JRockRevolution.com.

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News: DYNAMITE TOMMY Suspected for $2.8 Million USD Theft

nobody@vox.com(Aural Candy) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:31:56 -0400

News courtsey of phantasmagoria of LJ.

Former employees of the major advertising company Asatsu DK, INC and the executive of a music label were arrested in connection with fraud totaling 320,000,000 yen. In 2001, Kaku Kouichi* (39), a former employee of ADK, Tomioka Yuu [DYNAMITE TOMMY] (43), the president of the music label FREE-WILL, and Murasaki Ittoku (35) of the same firm placed an order for costumes, concert costs, music video costs, and other overhead costs for the popular band Dir en grey, and are suspected of fradulently taking 324,000,000 yen from Asatsu DK, INC. The majority of the money was given to Tomioka by Kaku*. In regards to the investigation, Kaku* confessed to the charges while Tomioka denies them.

Phantasmagoria will probably update that entry when more news come up. Keep an eye on it if you care to.

Well, talk about shitty luck. First KISAKI earlier in the year, now DYNAMITE TOMMY. I hope this doesn't affect Free-Will, the label itself. Because if Free-Will goes down, an entire slew of today's top J-Rock bands will be dragged into the mess.

Free-Will Record Label

Free-Will - Rentrer en Soi, Bis
Firewall Div. – Baroque, Dir en grey
Ism – Kannivalism
Lizard – Kagerou
PS Company – alice nine., the GazettE, miyavi, Kagrra,, Kra
Indie PSC – Screw, SuG
S'Cube – Eile de Mu, Puppet Mammy, Ruvie

This ain't gonna be pretty.

Edit: Hmmm, if I were a private equity firm or maybe even an established record company, I'd probably take advantage of this and buy Free-Will from DYNAMITE TOMMY. Hmm... hmm! Though, I don't even know if it makes strategic sense to purchase Free-Will since I don't have a team of research analysts at my beck and call. :D

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