Mitsui Aika winamp skin for you!

It’s been 3 and a half years since I last made a winamp skin, what with iPod being invented, mp3 players on your computer don’t really get used that often (by me at least). But I’ve been getting back in the habit and thought it might be fun to do a Momusu skin. I wanted to do something other than one of the girls against a white background, and when I saw this pic of Aika, it really jumped out at me. So here it is!

For Winamp Classic I guess.

Shuffle and repeat buttons are visible when turned on, EQ and Playlist buttons appear when turned off. The load button is in the vicinity of her left eyebrow. I left it out to try and not cover her face. I had to chuckle at myself when making it. Back in the day images 275 pixels were 1/2 of your monitor resolution, now-a-days that’s incredibly tiny!

I might be doing more of these.

Utada Hikaru - Heart Station

I’ve had this on my iPod for a while now, needed something to write about, and decided this was a good idea. I ended up buying it on iTunes as I end up ripping all my CDs to my iPod anyhow, and it’ll take up less space in my room. Plus, it’s supporting Utada here in the States. Win-win!

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Fight the Blues - I was kind of surprised she didn’t open the album with it’s title song. When I first listened to it, I was kind of indifferent to this song, I thought it was too slow to open with. After a while though it won me over. Not my favorite track on here, but Utada’s vocals are, as always, beautiful and soothing, and the hook is really nice. It really does set the tone well.

Heart Station - I am so in love with this song. When the PV was first released I could not stop watching it. When listening to it now I cannot stop myself from lip synching (or if alone, singing along). It’s such a calming song, and invites such a warm feeling. Utada’s vocals and the synthesizer really blend together well. It’s interesting when she speaks English (and I’ve noticed this in interviews as well), her voice is much lower pitched.

Beautiful World - Probably my favorite track on here, probably one of my top 3 favorite Utada songs. I love the lyrics, love the marching quality of it, I love the piano, I love the deep bridge. I freaking love this song.

Gentle Beast Interlude - Not sure this was really necessary, but it sounds nice. It’s a nice transition from Beautiful World to….

Celebrate - Another favorite track from the album. A great dance song, it’s got great bass and a great hook.

Prisoner of Love - I had been hearing all over the place how this the best new track of the album, but once I heard it I was kind of disappointed. I don’t know what I was expecting. It’s since grown on me immensely, and I will include it as one of the best tracks on the album, just not THE best. One of the problems with reading reviews is getting the other person’s opinion implanted within your mind before you even sample it. This sounds like vintage Hikki.

Take 5 - Another favorite song off the album. If I had an anime series, I would so request this was put on the soundtrack somewhere. The only complaint is the abrupt ending. I love the melody though, a very emotional song.

Boku wa Kuma - This is an ADORABLE song, however it feels really strange on here. I tend to skip it as it gets stuck in my head incredibly easily.

Nijiiro Bus - I seem to be prone to loving Utada’s piano featuring songs. I LOVE this song. A very cool feeling to the melody and Utada’s vocals. It strikes me as a feel good rainy day song. I don’t know why. Another one of the top new tracks off this album.

Flavor of Life - Before I bought the album I had only heard the ballad version, which was a bit too slow for me. The regular version though is pretty stellar. I love the chorus. A nice song to end with!

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Overall a terrific album and another strong release from Utada Hikaru. Highly reccomended!

Canary Club - Nishikikazare

First thought: Those are some MIGHTY short shorts.

I’m not sure the name of this girl, is she Mana? But she has a really cute and well polished voice. Color me surprised to read on the official site that one of the girls (Ayumi) is 23! I don’t know why I find that kind of surprising but I do. There’s almost a 10 year age difference between herself and the younger members.

The song is really pleasant, from what I’ve heard I’d guess this is where Tsunku is focusing his old school “cute” style. Just before I watched this I was listening to Momusu’s 4th and 6th albums, and this song really reminds me of that period in Hello! Project song styling. I’m more than a little taken with the upbeat-ness of it all though, and as average as it sounds, it is incredibly charming and will probably get a lot of playback from me.

Revelation! I think that’s the thing that seems to be missing from Momusu as of late, at least for me. As rocking as they are, and as much as I still love them, all the original innocent school girl charm seems to be gone. Don’t get me wrong, as a pop group they need to change their image to stay fresh. Listening to Canary Club made me suddenly realize what was missing as of late from H!P’s flagship group. I don’t mean to keep looking for something that has obviously passed, maybe marking changes in style…. but what drew me to them in the first place seems to be over. If I can catch a little of that with someone else, then I’m going to go for it.

Anyway, the video isn’t much, and looks like it could have been shot in less than a day. It mostly consists of the girls dancing on a parking garage roof or a helipad. I wasn’t quite sure. Then again they’re not dealing with the kind of cash that H!P pulls down so I imagine the budget was severely limited. It doesn’t detract at all, but adds to the charm. (I’m using that word a lot, but it’s accurate and the thesaurus provided me with no other viable alternatives.)

Other than Gyaruru (who sadly appear kaput), this is really my first honest attempt to delve into TNX territory. After this single I’ll definitely be checking out Canary Club’s other releases and see what else Tsunku’s side projects have to offer.

Sorry for the neglect

I’ve been severely restless, suffering from spring fever I guess, and have neglected the hell out of my Jpop fandom. I’ve had Ongaku Gatas’ debut album for over a month now and though I’ve ripped it to my ipod, I haven’t even listened to it yet. I’ll take a moment to slap myself awake and then promise to get my act together and post some stuff worth reading.

On a related note I’m about half way through the subbed release of the Ohmynews Kago Ai interview. Even though I may have had negative thoughts of him in the past, I’m going to turn around my opinion of Ishimoto. I’m more than a little ashamed that I let a scandal rag’s rumors form an opinion in me of a man I didn’t even know. I was quite surprised by Kago’s statements that he had stuck by her and helped her through her darker times, and is still with her. She doesn’t come out and say they’re still a couple, but you really can infer it.

I’ll have a more in-depth article about the interview tomorrow. For now all I want to do is hug Ai, she looked ready to break down in tears a few times, but held it together and showed us how strong she is. She’s really digging through the dirt and revealing a LOT of extremely personal information that we never knew or could have guessed before, her struggles as an idol and finding her own identity. It takes a lot of guts to do that and I admire her 1000 times more for being able to do it.

Zwei? A little help please?

I’ve been listening to DJ Amaya’s Hitsuzen Radio podcasts this week at work, really great remixes of all kinds of songs, including jpop & anime, as well as original stuff.

One remix that really caught my attention was for Zwei’s single, Dragon. I’ve heard of the band before, but never heard them. Looking around online I found a wiki article, but it was woefully lacking in information. Their official site also seems to be static as it appears there’s been no updates since 2006.

Can anyone reccomend some songs to check out? Which album is best to start with (as they only have 2 currently) or even where to find some more information?

Just for fun

Which Morning Musume Member Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Mitsui Aika You are most like Mitsui Aika! She is the most recent member of Momusu, and the only one to join in the 8th generation. Little is known about her personality so far, however she comes off as being friendly, nervous, and somewhat spacey. Time will tell if this will change. Mitsui Aika 100% Yoshizawa Hitomi 75% Kusumi Koharu 63% Michishige Sayumi. 63% Tanaka Reina 56% Fujimoto Miki 56% Kamei Eri 50% Takahashi Ai 44% Niigaki Risa 19%

Kago interviewed!

As reported at Hello!Online Japanese news media site Ohmynews.co.jp is posting video clips of a six part interview with ex-H!P idol Kago Ai.

She looks so mature now. Life has thrown so much crap at poor Aibon, she was down for a while, but she’s picked herself up and is going to keep trying.

I almost want to start crying. I’m just so happy to see her again and see her smiling. It’s amazing how much devotion you can feel to a person you’ve never met. I want to support you Aibon, I want to help you become a star again. Even though you’ve had it hard and made some mistakes we all love you so much!

Ganbatte Kago Ai!

Bromide Scans

Recently I acquired 2 packs of the 2002 Bromide trading cards. These cards are huge! Approximately 3″x5″, and very nicely made. The printing is really clear and sharp.

Here are scans of the cards for you! The actual scans are more than twice the size of the image or Mari above.

Click here to download. Approx. 3 megs.

Enjoy!

PS - I scrapped the review of the Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! Bomb concert as I was actually severely underwhelmed by it. Most of the song selection and placement was really kind of lackluster. Plus why the hell did Biyuden get so much stage time?!

Public Service Announcement

I have a post in the works reviewing the Bon Kyu! Bon Kyu! Bomb concert DVD which I just received yesterday in the mail. But I had to take a break and bring up something that has really become a pet peeve lately and bothers me to no end.

 This would be the use of the word “yens” by several people online when referring to plural use of japanese currency.

There is no such word as “yens”. The Japanese do not say “yens”.

Yen is a singular and plural word at the same time, much like moose, deer and sheep. You can have 1 yen and you can have 100 yen.

 Please stop saying yens.

Holy Hell it’s Resonant Blue!

Hello!Online has the PV up right now, via DohhhUP! My reaction after the first viewing is something along the lines of O_o

 Holy shit!

First the positive things:
- The outfits are really stellar looking, they make the girls all look way more mature. I feel like I should take them a hell of a lot more seriously when dressed like that.
- The dancing is FIERCE! Definitely one of the most complicated and awesome choreographies pulled off in a Momusu video to date.
- The setting of the video, concrete floor and huge puddle of water, gives the video a nice edge to it, while reflecting the girls movements and adding to the overall effect
- The cool wave effect thing they do in the middle of the instrumental = FREAKING AWESOME
- I cannot WAIT to see this performed in concert.

Now the not so positive things:
- I love all 3 girls, but when did this become the Ai, Reina and Koharu show?
- Aika, Junjun and Linlin looked freaking AWESOME in the 2 second opening shot they got, they definitely needed more screentime (Aika in particular)
- I’m hoping will end up being the dance shot version, close up shots would be appreciated
- The jump cuts off Risa and Eri when they are singing their parts are too abrupt!

I honestly can’t think of another Momusu video like this, save possibly the dark room dance shots in Shabondama. Overall, I think this is a wicked awesome START to the video. Add in some close up shots and it could be AMAZING.