A Tale of Two Goth Bands - Japan's "X Japan" and "Suicide Ali"

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China earthquake

And if you're reading this blog, please send your 'good thoughts', prayers (any religion) and 'hope for the best' to the people of China and especially hope for the ones caught in the central China earthquake.

Be safe and well.

Link to AP story from Google News site below:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBr_dOzJ9Pnc_U9gSgtTgE-cR-KwD90K62E80

CG Anderson

MUSIC REVIEW: Hinata and Over Limit hidden and not-so-hidden Japan Music Gems

Sorry for the wait! Better late than never, of course!
Happily, I found two offerings that I think will please the palate. One is another J-POP singer, minus the pink pig outfit. The other is a Indie Rock band, though the band does have some pop-like overtones.

Hinata


Hinata is a J-POP and easy-listening vocalist. Though she calls herself J-POP, again, I would typically disagree from what I heard. She would be more akin to a ballad singing pop artist and vocalist in the US and Europe, ala Celine. Perhaps the category of J-POP has nuances that I don't understand, or perhaps, it just seems more convenient for most Japanese singers to list J-POP to help get them some recognition. After all, at its base, J-POP means POP, aka popular style music. Music that doesn't neatly fit into other genres and has a more ballad and/or trendy feel to it.

Regardless, Hinata's voice is lovely. It is a blend of breathy, fragile melodies and raw, exposed feelings, almost husky at times when she is hitting the lower registers. She is wonderful in the arrangements with a full instrumental backing, but I found I liked her best during her LIVE performance. The exposed fragility and vulnerability was particularly apparent in the live mix and lent a gentle hand to the delicate songs she so beautifully captured.

Hinata is easy on the ears and as you can see from her picture, just as easy on the eyes. (This is always helpful to a vocalist but especially in the competitive J-POP arena, where standing out from the crowd is a daily struggle.)

However, it is her voice that captured me. If you'll forgive my maudlin next lines...
Hinata is like Cherry Blossoms floating on a gentle breeze -- flowing, delicate and heartfelt.

Check her out at (sorry for the earlier typo on the myspace address!)
www.myspace.com/hinatacom

Over Limit
Then again, perhaps Cherry blossoms on a gentle breeze aren't your thing?

How about some Rock then?

This indie band's translated bio said that they 'touch the heart' and 'transcend boundaries.' Would I feel that way when I listened to them? Hmm...

From their (unfortunately limited short version) musical offerings, I would agree that this is a definite rock band with promise.

My biggest criticism is that their quick snippets of music aren't really enough to fully enjoy this band or figure out whether they are worth buying. Hopefully, they will recognize that fact and post some full length songs on Myspace. Especially since they wish to reach a worldwide audience.

What I did hear was professional and dynamic. Good vocals, good musicality, catchy melodies and driving rock beats that get your blood pumping and send your adrenal glands into overdrive. They were exceptional, in fact; in both instrumentals and vocals as well as the song choices (even though I can't understand Japanese lyrics). It was a perfect rock/pop/indie blend.

I include indie and a bit of alternative in here because the vocals do show that remarkable 'alternative-esque' searing, heart-rending quality that is so often found in bands that tend to break out of conventional genre molds.

Lots of emotion and catchy tunes--but without losing that "driving, intense" quality of rock.

Worth a listen...but also worth a scolding since they don't include complete songs. In fact, if you like them, let them know it, but chide them as well for holding out on us. Put up some full length songs, Over Limit, so we can decide whether or not we want to buy your CD or download you on iTunes.

But no matter what, keep up the good work!

Over Limit is at
www.myspace.com/ovlmcjr

Enjoy!
CG Anderson

歓迎される日本のbloggers!

歓迎されるブログ作成者仲間!
Iは、私の悪い和訳が時々読まれると推測します。
ブログ作成者スペース、ガル氏へ非常に歓迎されます。

http://musicfever555.blogspot.com/
.....(そのブロッグ上の日本語のすべて。)

他のものがそこにあることを知るのによい。
IはIが望んだほど多くの電子メールやコメントを受け取りません。
また、Iも多数として得ません「heads-up」Iが望むだろうとして。
そのように、歓迎、隣人!


CGアンダーソン

Welcome fellow bloggers, I guess my bad Japanese translations are read occasionally.

Well, I wasn't sure they were out there, you see.
So welcome to the blogger space, Mr Galle,
at,
http://musicfever555.blogspot.com/

(all in Japanese on that blog, folks.)

Nice to know others are out there. I don't get as many emails or comments as I would wish, nor as many heads-ups as I would wish.
So welcome, neighbor!

CG Anderson

修士ウェッブカメラ・プロジェクト。この驚くべきサイトはウェッブカメラへのリンクでいっぱいです。単なる日本ではない、しかしどこでも。Fantastic! Cool!

楽しく素晴らしい。
ウェブカム・ネットワーク。
Iは日本のウェッブカメラを捜していました。
しかし、それらはもっと(これほど多くの)持っています。
さらに、それらは都市とエリアをアルファベット順に並べます。
その後、1つ選びます。

結果は、それらがあなたにそのエリアへの最も近いウェッブカメラを示すということです。
Iはsekigaharaとosakaを捜していました。
面白い。
非常に涼しい。
チェック・イット・アウト。

http://www.the-webcam-network.com/countries/Japan/s.html

ニュー・ミュージック調査は今週末記入されるでしょう。
CGアンダーソン

And I've found the Master WebCam Links Project Page, not just Japan, but

Pretty cool. The Webcam-Network.
I was looking for Japan webcams, but they have so much more. They also alphabetize the cities and areas. Then you choose one. The result is that they show you the nearest webcams to that area. I was looking for sekigahara and osaka. Interesting.

Very cool. Check it out.

http://www.the-webcam-network.com/countries/Japan/s.html

New music review will be posted this weekend.
CG Anderson