[opinion + pv review] Aira Mitsuki - Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 & China Discotica

I don't know much about Aira. According to her theppn wiki article, she won her way to stardom via the 2007 MEGA TRANCE Singer Audition. She debuted with Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9 back in mid 2007 but she totally slipped passed the musical radar. I found out about her from the contemode livejournal community. I haven't read too much on her either but from what I've heard, she wasn't welcomed into the techno-pop fandom all that well. Some say she's trying to steal spotlight from Perfume and by steal, they mean dance moves and everything.

Fast forward 2 minutes in. Does anything look familiar? I don't think so. It's like saying two hip-hop songs are ripping each other off except that they aren't. Aira and Perfume are both in the same genre of music. Moves are going to be similar. Deal with it. Some others are saying that her producer Oonishi Terukado is ripping off Nakata Yasutaka. I wonder if they ever listen to electronic music in general.

I'm a decent fan of electronic music (mostly Drum and Bass and Hardcore/Trancecore) and I'll be honest, it all sound the same without a trained ear. Most Drum and Bass songs used the exact same drum pattern unless they're diving into a more breakbeat kinda sound. The basic formula for Happy Hardcore is kick and splash on the quarter, bass and hi-hats on the eighths, snare every second kick, piano melodies with chipmunkish vocals, all at 170-190 BPM. But I digress.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't think Aira is making any sort of attempt to mimic Perfume nor her producer to Nakata. Aira's just another artist in a genre that is currently being dominated by Nakata and his crew in Japan.

Personally, I love Aira's sound. Her vocals, however, kinda have the same effect on me as MEG does - both aren't anything particularly spectacular but I just can't get enough of them. I still haven't been able to put my finger on it.

Anyway, onto the videos:

Colorful Tokyo Sounds NO.9

I adore this song but seriously, what is up with the 32 beats of absolutely nothing at the start? (0:27-0:42)This video is far too artistic for me. I like watching girls dance. Especially when the songs they make are dance type songs. If they're trying to sell her music on looks alone, I don't know if it'd work that well. She claims to be 20 but if I were a bouncer in a club somewhere, I wouldn't as her for ID. If I were to pit her against Perfume looks-wise, she'd get destroyed. Perfume confidence also radiates more than Aira's. Anyway, needs more dancing and less of someone puking all over flash.

China Discotica

Yes, you look cute from the eyes down and have better teeth than a lot of other famous Japanese people. Random panda holding a singing sign. The panda should dance like how the nekos dance in MEGs PVs. Then, we'd have a rivalry. Were you a witness in a crime and want your identity to remain a secret? I don't know about you but that eye visor is a lot better than basic black, also better than that dude from Star Trek as well. Random martial artist. Coloured plastic, fantastic sheets. She doesn't even dance though she's on a "dance floor" with a "disco ball" hovering behind her. What must one do to make this girl dance in her PVs?

Oh well. There's some proof that she's not trying to mimic Perfume. Perfume would NEVER release a song like that without an equally cute dance.

Buy from CDJapan:

China Discotica

Aira Mitsuki

[remix] Morning Musume Meets DJ Hazard and Distored Minds - Onna Ni Sachi Are (Mr. Happy Mix)

Download Here!

Remixing Notes:

- This is a mashup between Morning Musume's Onna Ni Sachi Are and DJ Hazard and Distorted Minds' Mr. Happy, Mr. Happy probably being my most favourite Drum and Bass song... ever.

- The only changes I made were tempo matching for Mr. Happy to 155 BPM which is Onna Ni Sachi Are's original BPM. Oh and a few volume and EQ controls were fiddled with to optimize the sound.

- I cut up Mr. Happy so it would better fit Onna Ni Sachi Are but wouldn't it be a perfect world if I didn't have to?

Enjoy!

[review] Ami Suzuki joins Yasutaka Nakata (capsule) - FREE FREE / SUPERMUSIC MAKER

Welcome to the end of summer 2007! My TBYB grace period has gone on for far too long. A special little package from CDJapan came in earlier today. Can you guess what it is?

If you said the best single of 2007, you would be correct. I've never really talked about this single on this blog though I did review it while it was still fresh back on my older blog... which shall remain nameless. Hop onto the dance floor and join me on an adventure FREE FREE-ing your inner SUPERMUSIC MAKER!

Out of all of Nakata's harder house tracks, I believe that FREE FREE is one of the more emotional and infectious tracks. Sorry Toshiko, Ami's voice was made for this song. As much as I love capsule, I don't think Toshiko could've pulled it off. Ami's voice sounds more commanding and definitely has more presence. Toshiko's voice is more relaxing, like I've said before in the MEG review, and suits songs like Glider, dreamin dreamin, and I'm Feeling You. I digress.

From the opening arpeggios that persist throughout the entire song, to the fuzzy bassline that rumbles my walls, and the extra background percussion that I really need to start incorporating into the tracks I make, FREE FREE is a musical journey from start to finish. Ami delivers the Japanese lines with such force and a sombre feeling, it's almost intimidating. FREE FREE is serious business, folks. It's great for listening to when you're down and need some empowerment. Go FREE FREE yourself from dancing to his tune!

On the flipside, I get more of a fun, party vibe from SUPERMUSIC MAKER. I like the suggestion limejam from the contemode livejoural community posed in the lyrics article:

"And I totally think he wrote SUPER MUSIC MAKER for Ami....to sing about himself."

SUPERMUSIC MAKER definitely captures the club sound with the deep kicks and catchy bassline. It makes me want to explore the mysterious world around me and find some excitement. Everything about this song is catchy to my ears. It's happy and upbeat and an awesome listen when you feel like something good's about to happen.

Enough about the songs themselves, let's get to the beautiful packaging.

This insert picture is easily one of the most beautiful pictures ever, and I'm not even a Suzuki Ami fanboy. Likewise, I think she's really sexy in the video. The electricity she emanates is probably second only to the amount of electricity was used to power the light walls and TVs surrounding her in the PV. Probably not. I think her suggestive dancing was powering the room. They just hid the wires really well. Oh, the magic of television...

Cute shot of the two in the booklet. Oh, and PINK CDs! YAY?! I think so.

Bottom Line: 5 out of 5 little red dresses. *heart*

Buy via CDJapan:

Free Free / Supermusic Maker [CD+DVD]

SUZUKI AMI joins NAKATA YASUTAKA

Free Free / Supermusic Maker

SUZUKI AMI joins NAKATA YASUTAKA

[news] Happy Birthday International Wota! Enjoy your Wonky Cake!

Hello IntlWota! MaiZe and I threw a mini party for your 1st anniversary with our closest friends: my iBook, A&R and Buono! The theme of the party was "Be Wonky!" so we baked a wonky cake! Please enjoy it with us!

Baking it was quite fun! We didn't use too many dishes and oh was the cake batter yummy!

Gotta have the top shot! And finally,


Click here to view the complete album

[remix] C-ute vs Ongaku Gatas - Insert Clever Title Here & Athena & Robikerottsu vs Sanxion7 - EternuS! LOVE Lunch

It's Double Feature Monday here at BLM, not that it'll be happening regularly but I thought it had an nice ring to it...

Anyway, two mashups for you right now:

Firstly, sorry I couldn't think of an appropriate title for the first track but props to whoever can make one up in the comments. The first comment I find to be the "cleverest" will get the mp3 renamed in their honor for everyone downloading there after.

For a little background, I managed to not acquire a bunch of not flac files and not vocal rip a few of them and not layer them with a bunch of not instrumental tracks and the first track is not what I found to be the most interesting combination of the night. Tokaikko Junjyou's vocals to Yattarouze!'s music.

C-ute vs. Ongaku Gatas - InsertCleverTitleHere.mp3

The second track was an idea I came up with after a random meeting someone with a similar love of my own for 12th notes during a random ITG session at my local arcade. I have a slight obsession with Seishun! LOVE Lunch. My expert stepchart consists of 12th note stream. EternuS is a DDR SuperNOVA 2 song which also has a lot of 12th notes depending on how one happens to chart it. I thought, "Hey... why not?" And the rest is history.

Athena & Robikerottsu vs. Sanxion7 - EternuS! LOVE Lunch.mp3

Also, Happy 20th Post to me!

[remix] johpan vs. Perfume and Buono! - Baby cruising Rider

People seem to be enjoying the original content c/o Kawaiirrhea around the International Wota blogosphere. I've been into doing remixes as a hobby for a few years now though, mostly doing happy hardcore and hardstyle remixes for the lulz. I've actually been working on this for a bit over a week and wasn't planning on releasing it to the masses but since I wouldn't mind some feedback on this one, here it is!

A few notes before the link:

- This is a mashup using the music from Baby cruising Love by Perfume (so basically Nakata Yasutaka's work) and the vocals from Renai Rider with some added instruments by yours truly.

- The song's BPM is 160. Renai Rider's BPM is 174 while Baby cruising Love is 128.

- I used Utagoe to rip the vocals from wave files and FLStudio7 to do the recording, arranging, and mixing.

- All the guitar in this song is me.

- I also did a little extra keyboard in the verses.

- I used a few stock instruments from VIPZONE and the drum loop during the middle part (you'll know it when you hear it) was from a Drum and Bass Soundpack I just had lying around. Can't remember who to credit for that one.

- Cover Art (for the lulz) by me using pictures obviously not by me. Special thanks to Perfume and Buono! for looking hot.

UPDATE 1: upon some further beta testing (listening on the commute to school) there are a few things I'll probably be changing. I'll keep this version up though and see what kind of feedback I get until I post up the newer ver. I'll have to wait until I get home to start making changes though so there'll be more than enough time for some to get their word in before Baby cruising Rider v2 comes out.

And without further ado...

Download Here!

[live review] MAXIMUM THE HORMONE @ Kathedral - March 8th, 2008

Still kinda starstruck and getting over the whole experience but I'm going to try blogging about it while it's still fresh in the head.

I gotta start off by saying HOLY FKN CRAP. I SAW MAXIMUM THE HORMONE.

Now that that's out of the way...


I took the train downtown because it's been snowing penguins and polar bears all day. I picked up a friend and met another friend in the subway system and, together, we enjoyed an awesome dinner and some hot sake to warm ourselves up from the trek from the subway station to the venue. We arrived at a small but cozy club and they were, just chilling in a corner prepping.

While the first band in the showcase came on, I decided to go up and ask MTH to sign my CD. The language barrier was a bit of LOLful. I walked up to Nao and I just pulled out the my sharpie and CD and did the mock signature hand wave over the paper and said "Sign, please?" And she asked if I spoke Japanese, I said No :( But then, one of their people came up and said something that sounds like "official" which ended up being "after-the-show" but Daisuke-han came up to me and said "After the show, I promise!" full out english which was awesome. Then Nao high-fived me and said "OK!"

BTW, it's Canadian Music Week in Toronto which is kinda funny depending on how you look at it. It should be renamed to something like Music Week in Canada since with Canadian Music Week, one could assume all the bands are Canadian which is far from the truth. It was this time last year when I was first introduced The Pipettes via the Toronto Star (one of the city's most read newspapers) and they're totally from the UK. *shrug*

So the first band in the Kathedral CMW showcase was this Australian band called Late Nite Access and they were pretty cool. The funniest thing was that everyone was a good 3-4 metres away from the stage as they performed. The second that they finished, everyone moved up. It was pretty clear that everyone was there for MTH. That and looking in the audience, there were enough Asians and even a few DeathNote fanboys/girls in gothy cosplay. Skipping to post MTH, there was practically no one at the stage. Everyone was off getting their stuff signed by the four and taking pics. My friends, who were waiting for me to get my stuff signed, said that the band going after MTH didn't even do anything since there was no one really paying attention. After I got my stuff signed, we ducked out but I had a good reason: The last train out of Toronto back to eastern suburbia left at 12:15am. MTH's set ended at 11pm and I still had to get my stuff signed which took a little bit considering everyone else in the venue was trying to get their stuff signed as well. I made it back to the train station a good 15 minutes early and everything turned out great.

Rewind two hours. Everyone rushed up to the stage and I managed to get a front row spot on the right, right in front of Ryokun. I can't quite remember the whole setlist but they played all the ones I really wanted to hear minus the classic ROLLING1000tOON. I can remember What's up, people?!, Buiikikaesu!! Zetsubo Billy, Koi no Megalover, and a few songs I recognized but just can't quite recall. They're totally fkn awesome live. My words definitely can't bring put the experience to justice... Just go watch them. Totally high energy. Totally high everything. Everything was perfect.


Post show, the roadies were taking their amps off the stage and one I noticed a pick fell off one of them which my friend picked up. Totally awesome. Except that she got it signed by Ue-chan. Completely awesome. Then she gave it to me. For the win. This all happened while I was off getting pics and my CD signed by Daisuke-han, Nao, and Ryokun who were at the other end of the club. Totally awesome people. Daisuke said "We'll be back soon!" after he signed my CD and I snapped my pic. When I walked up to Nao, she's like "OH! YOU! I REMEMBER!!" She asked "Not Japanese?" I said yes. "Uhh, chinese?" I said No and replied with "Filipino." She said "OHH. So like Japanese then?" I said yes XD. Then I snapped my pic and shook her hand and said arigatou! Ryokun was awesome enough to draw the dude on my CD and I snapped the pic and said arigatou and went on my merry way back to the pals who were around where Ue-chan was. Then I did the signy thing with Ue-chan and snapped the pic and my friend presented me with the pick.


I smiled all the way home. The trek through the snow back to the subway station was nice and warm since all the rocking out got all of us worked up. I'm still all starstruck and in awe of what just happened... Hands down, AWESOME NIGHT.



I can't say anymore other that I have to leave for work in 2 hours and I haven't slept. Damn you, Daylight Savings Time.

UPDATE: What fun would this post be without a little video...?
Koi no Megalover. Visit the youtube page for a short description of the story behind the taping. Sorry for the shakiness. You can't rock out standing still. It's just impossible.

UPDATE 2: Other videos are starting to come up including this one filmed from the left side, backstage.
Here's them doing What's up, people?! I actually regret not recording this myself but thanks youtube user! I'm visible for most of it in my Raptors (red) 7 Bargnani Jersey with my Black Argyle Hoodie.

UPDATE 3:

Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by VAP INC. claiming that this material is infringing

on both videos. The funny thing is that the 2nd video I put on this entry was from the people traveling with MTH probably for a Special Edition or Limited Edition release or whatever and they put it up on youtube and their record label took it down.

[mv review] Nicole Atkins - Maybe Tonight

Maybe Tonight is, hands down, my favourite Nicole Atkins song. Seeing videos for my favourite album songs always scares me because some videos alter my attitude towards the song, as odd as it may sound. In the case of Maybe Tonight, I'm indifferent - it doesn't really add anything to the song, but at the same time, it doesn't take anything away from it.



This isn't really what I had in mind for this video. From the looks of it, the architect behind this building that Nicole is to perform in should get sued. It takes her a whole 3 minutes plus scene changes to reach the stage from her dressing room. That's ridiculous. Also, the staff isn't very helpful distracting her along the way. Don't get me wrong, they seem like nice people but come on, she's got a show to do.

I really wanted more of a story with this video. About a love. Not necessarily destined for failure. But one where both parties had to work together to actually meet for this big date they were planning. Life throws a few wrenches in the dating machine of the two characters in the story. I'm not actually sure where that idea's going but the more I listen to this song (I'm watching the video on repeat while writing this post), the more I'm wanting to go into a stalker type setting... or maybe one like one of those lovesick Japanese girl J-Pop songs, I forget which one I'm thinking of but I remember one talking about how this one girl waits at the train station platform for this one guy (because she stalks him and knows his schedule) just so she could see him though he doesn't notice her. Then, the girl looks around and notices that she's not the only one waiting there for him to appear... (The fact that other girls check out the guy had nothing to do with what I see for this music video but I had to complete the story)

"I know we'll meet again, maybe tonight, just tell me where and when. I know it's never sure. Maybe tonight, maybe tonight." kinda sounds like something a lovesick girl would say in a situation like that. The verses are awfully poetic in such that I can't quite fill in the blanks or direct the story any further without pulling things out of the air. I guess it'd have to be something I talk with Nicole about over a cup of coffee. lol.

Enough of talking about what isn't there and time to hit up the good points of the video. Her dress is cute. Heck, anything she wears is cute. The circusy costumes are awesome and fit the whole Nicole Atkins mood. Nicole reminds me of what one of the Canadian Idol judges said to a semi-finalist from a few years back, Teresa Sokyrka. They said that it's like there's an old soul in the her body that comes out in her singing style which sounds so vintage and genuine. Nicole's vocal style is definitely vintage and genuine. That's probably why I love her so much.

So things didn't turn out my way, oh well. The music video doesn't particularly add anything to the Maybe Tonight experience but it doesn't take anything away at the same time. More of a story would've been nice seeing the verses are so poetic. Overall, the presentation was top notch and I can't wait for her next album and video and when she visits Toronto again. MAYBE THIS TIME, I'LL REMEMBER TO GET A PICTURE WITH HER.