Girly Gangsta J-Pop: Hi-Prix
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 9, 2008 in Music
This girly gangsta J-Pop band is called Hi-Prix and features Miki (who is 18 years old) and Hina (who at age 17 is the younger of the duo). I’ve been listening to people tell me that “hip hop is dead” for over 20 years now, but I fear that Hi-Prix could be the one act to put the nail in that coffin… Found via Zaeega. Apogee & Perigee
Posted by Guest Author on Jul 23, 2008 in Music
Some years after Star Wars, but 24 years before a very similar looking robot from Pixar came along, a pair of Japanese robots named Apogee & Perigee released an album of songs that tell their story. Entitled “Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki” it was released in fairly small quantities as an LP and soon became a sought after though obscure rarity. Unfortunately, in 1984 YMO had retired and the small label was running on a shoestring. Aside from this promotional video I don’t think the release got much publicity. A CD reissue from the 90s exists but it was only sold part of a high priced 18 album set. Though I don’t think it’s a big surprise, in reality really it wasn’t a pair of robots making the album, it was semi-anonymously made by the short lived band Testpattern (Masao Himura and Fumio Ichimura), who were signed to Yellow Magic Orchestra’s ¥EN Records label. For this, their second project, they made a concept album billed to a pair of robots. On it they recruited many labelmates to contribute songs and perform more or less uncredited. It’s kind of sad that maybe with a bit more publicity and spinoff media they could have had more success with a fun concept like this. This track is sung by Jun Togawa. She began her career as an actress in the early 1980s and soon found many singing opportunities. She was able bridge the gap between performance art and rock. She often appears but not exclusively with her band the Yapoos. Neko Jump: Ultra Cute Thai-Pop Duo
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2008 in Music
Neko Jump (translation: Cat Jumps) is a J-Pop inspired duo from Thailand — too cute, no? Here’s another music video which is also quite silly: Nick’s Nippon Notebook: Maywa Denki
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 21, 2007 in Music
Is Maywa Denki a company making electrical products? Are they a band? Sculpture? Performance art? Multimedia? Well probably all of the above. Maywa Denki was a company run by Sakaichi Tosa making electrical components for a decade starting in 1969. About a decade later changes in the economy likely due to the energy crisis at the time bankrupt the company. In 1993 his by then adult sons Nobumichi and Masamichi revived the company introducing some peculiar, whimsical and sometimes even somewhat disturbing inventions: Nick’s Nippon Notebook: Limited Initial YMCK
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 20, 2007 in Music
Many bands and their graphic designer friends dream of doing something special when designing the packaging their new album release only to be told “no” by their labels that the cost would be too prohibitive. A popular win-win style strategy in Japan is to press up just one run of special, more deluxe packaging to coincide with an album’s release and then revert to standard packaging for the rest of the album’s run. This is usually referred to as “Limited Initial Packaging”. Sometimes it can mean a larger picture booklet, different case or maybe a DVD single. Sometimes it’s something more unusual like Cornelius including a pair of album cover color matching ear buds with the first copies of his “Fantasma” album. Tanpopo: Morning Musume Subgroup
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2007 in Music
Tanpopo (タンポポ dandelion) was the first official subgroup of J-Pop girl group Morning Musume. They sang slow and mature songs and, eventually, the style of their songs changed. As with all things J-Pop their lineup changed over the years, and ended with fifth lineup of the group in 2002 before they went on an indefinate hiatus. But looking back to the good old days, here is a super cute commercial for “Koi wo Shichaimashita!” which came out in early 2001: Akihabara48: An Army of J-Pop
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 12, 2007 in Music
Akihabara48 (often shortened to AKB48) is an idol girl group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. Though their name implies they have 48 members, they started in December 2005 with only 20 girls. Currently, AKB48 has 53 members divided into 3 teams: Team A, Team K and Team B. Right now DoCoMo mobile phone in Japan has an American Idol style commercial which features A48: Berryz Koubou
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 27, 2006 in Music
This is a very surrealistic appearance by J-Pop idols Berryz Koubou on a Japanese kids show: So who is Berryz Koubou? Berryz工房 (Berryz Koubou or Berryz Kobo) is a Hello! Project group featuring seven Hello! Project Kids. The name Berryz Koubou, which means “Berryz Workshop”, reflects the initial idea that the group’s line-up would change from time to time, with each of the Hello! Project Kids eventually participating in the group. However, this idea was apparently dropped and in 2005, the other seven Hello! Project Kids ended up forming their own group, °C-ute. Berryz Koubou debuted at a concert on March 3, 2004, and they often perform as backup dancers for W’s promotional videos. Even though there are exceptions (such as album songs) the lead singers in Berryz Koubou are always Natsuyaki Miyabi, Sugaya Risako,Tsugunaga Momoko and sometimes Kumai Yurina.
Above: Berryz Koubou, 2007 ; Top: Shimizu Saki, Sudou Maasa ; Middle: Kumai Yurina,Sugaya Risako , Tokunaga Chinami ; Bottom: Tsugunaga Momoko, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Majokko Rikachan no Magical Biyuuden
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 24, 2006 in Music, Television
It can’t get any cuter than this! Majokko Rikachan no Magical Biyuuden is a Japanese TV show that ran for 60 episodes in late 2004. It featured the members of v-u-den along with other Hello! Project members. The series seems to be the opposite of a reality TV show: J-Pop singers v-u-den are Ishikawa Rika (石川梨華, leader), Miyoshi Erika (三好絵梨香), and Okada Yui (岡田唯):
Kid Koala: Fender Bender
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 20, 2006 in Music
This is a nice animated video from DJ Kid Koala: So who is Kid Koala? “Kid Koala, is a Montreal, Quebec based DJ and turntablist. He is signed to the British Ninja Tune record label and also tours and performs with a jam band, Bullfrog. He has also made appearances with many other artists and has made major contributions to Deltron 3030, Gorillaz, Lovage and numerous other bands.” Cinta Hello Kitty
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 12, 2006 in Music
From Malaysia diva-in-training Karen Kong has created a sappy yet wonderful Hello Kitty tribute song: From the video description: “This is the story about a girl falls in love online and naively ran away from home, bringing with her nothing but her precious Hello Kitty doll – only to find out the cruelty of the world when she’s all alone celebrating her birthday, finally … after travelling to many different places, she finally whispers to her doll ‘hello kitty, please help me, i was wrong and i miss my parents, i wanna go home now ‘.”
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