Last year Kaya released a PV collection DVD, I'm guessing most Kaya fans remember that. And since it wasn't available on CdJapan, we fans outside of Japan was told to purchase it from Hora's online store. The bonus we would receive was a signed demo CD containing a live accoustic version of Memento Mori.
When we received our DVD however, the demo CD was not signed. Shit happens I thought (especially since Hora didn't seem to remember to sign his bonus cards for COCYTUS either...) BUT, then I and others who bought the DVD receieved a mail saying the CDs accidentely got shipped away before Kaya signed them and as an appology they would send us a signed photo instead.
This was sent in May 2015.
In October I had sort of forgotten about it, almost. I assumed it would never show up but then I saw that mail Kaya's staff had sent about the signed photo and it sort of pissed me off acctually. I'd rather they didn't say anything but to say they'll send something instead and then not do that.
So I sent a reply to that mail asking if they ever sent a photo.
Didn't get a reply, until yesterday (January 2016).
A new years card came, signed by Kaya.
I'm glad they finally did send what they originally said they would, but to take this long! I didn't even mind that much to begin with, that the demo wasn't signed. I understand if stuff like that happens, but don't promise something you end up not doing.
I'm suprised the PV DVD didn't seem to sell that much among international fans acctually, maybe because it wasn't available at the bigger record stores, and that's probably also why no one seemed to know about this demo "issue".
I'm guessing this is a card all the fanclub members get in Japan?
Dalle has got together again after many years of hiatus as many of you Közi fans might have noticed.
Dalle was just a live band to begin with so it suprised me big time when they made their own youtube channel, AND even announced a single! Fences was relased at their gig on the 3rd of december. In the online store Dorothy & Co you can purchase Dalle clothing (T-shirt or a onepiece) and the single. As far as I know they only ship within Japan so you'd need a shopping service for this. When I bought this they offered packages with either a t-shirt and the single or the onepiece and the single. If buying one of those you got the shipping for free. I got the one piece and the single with DVD. (You can get the single only for1000 yen instead of 1500yen) It said in the item description that you'd get a Dalle stickers which I didn't though.
The line up is ryo (HOLLOWGRAM,TAG,KEEL), Közi (ZIZ/XA-VAT/ex.MALICE MIZER),
Yugami (ZIZ), Rieu (4 A.D.), Mizuno Masaaki (MO'SOME TONEBENDER), Atsushi Hatta
(DEADLIES/ex.HATE HONEY/DEEP). Unfortunately Közi is not singing. I saw Hollowgram live last year in Tokyo and I wasn't that impressed with them. Ryo's voice is good, but I prefer Közi :P
Anyway, the single contains 2 songs, Fence and then a remix by Yugami. The remix was soso but the actual song, I'm impressed. I think Dalle has made a really good job with this and I'm really looking forward to future releases. Fences is mainly rock but they have some electronics in it too which makes the music match ZIZ a bit I think. So I doubt anyone who appreciate ZIZ would be disapointed, eventhough this is a bit rougher than their 80's rockpop songs. One complaint I got is the singing. Not Ryo's vocals, but the fact the song is completly in english. I don't want to be a bitch, english is not my native language so who am I to blame others BUT, I don't release cd's singing in my awful english... I listened to Fences while reading the lyrics and I can barely hear the words.
The CD was nothing fancy, just a case with the single and the DVD. The cover is acctually just a piece of paper, and then there was another piece of paper with lyrics on. Eventhough I like a good booklet I wasn't too bothered by this, I rather get a new release with a piece of paper than no release.
The DVD contains the PV for Fences, which is the same video Dalle shared on their youtube channel (except that they cut out like 1 minute out of the video)
Lyrics for Fences:
I'm waiting for
Our hearts make noise in some days, and you fall in to dizzy.
Our hearts make some faulty days, and you fall in to misery.
Rosemary can't save you, lost you in new world.
So sorry for my "bad days"
I have to void you because you round and round in my mind.
The sand castle Disappeared
I Stay dead.
There's no reason.
#You said at that time "But if it's your dreams"
Your future of ideal has gone in truth.
Get one's wish in someday.
So let me meet you with love.
Escape from this sad realities.
from this sad realities.
We got dizzy, and disappear
We started to believe that dreams will come true in misery.
To reach out to over the fence.
But it was arose by misunderstand.
I never stop to pray.. but I can't see it.
Escape from this sad realities Because I'm waiting for you.
There's No reason.
#repeat
I can't have a lot of love,
I choose only you from those who among many.
I still stay dead.
Make your this day. Make your this day. Make your this day.
Dalle announced that a new single called Asphalt will be released on their gig on the25th of february. Background: Dalle was created in 2008 by Közi and Atsushi Hatta but their activities has been irregular until 2015. On the charity event Hope and Live 2015 (for HIV and AIDS) Dalle announced their comeback with additional members. (source:http://www.excite.co.jp/News/music/20151122/E1448119607938.html) Link to the online store: http://dorothy.buyshop.jp/
Happy New Year!
I haven't really felt like making any new year's resolutions, I still don't. Really. I know I would never tell myself to start doing something on the 1st and acctually stick to that. That's why I never made any, but this year I felt like sort of trying.
Acctually I've already started the resolutions in 2015 (see what I mean, you can't just stop and begin, all changes has to come when you feel like it :P).
My first resolution I'm going to try to keep is to do my best at taking care of my hair. Might sound easy, but not with my hair. My scalp gets oily within 1 day and the hair is dry like like a fucking desert. So I used to wash it every day which made the quality really bad and I ended up cutting it.
My hair is still pissing me off but then I look at Atsushi Sakurai from BUCK-TICK and feel; damn, I want that hair! So by the end of this year I want to look like:
Second resolution is to work out! That's a classic. And I have started this one aswell. I began in the begining of December and I'm still going! So what might have triggered this... of course a man did. A very funny story I might tell later made me find the below video and I did not just think the vocalist, Morrie, was one of the hottest Jrocker's I've ever seen but when I googled him and saw that he turns fucking 52 in a couple of months I was so impressed I decided to work out!
This probably sound really shallow, I'm gonna be honest, he wasn't the only triggering factor. There was other things playing their part in me deciding to work out, like the fact I can barely run to the bus or that I'd love to be healthy even when growing old but that's beside my point.
When I feel like falling down dead on the floor at the gym I just imagen shirtless Morrie and I'm up on that fucking bike again.
I've been terrible with updating here, even when I've been to events related to Japan! ごめんね( ﾉД`)
This autumn the composer of Final Fantasy, Nobuo Uematsu, toured together with pianist Hiroyuki Nakayama and fortunatley they made a stop in Stockholm!
This was my first time to see Nobuo acctually, so it felt really special for me since I've admired his work for over 10 years! Just as the title implies the music was just played on piano, so no flashy effect etc. we might be used to in te original scores but I have to say the concert was beyond my expectations! I have a bit of a hard time just listening to piano or only guitar music. I think it's amazing to be able to enjoy a full set of instruments, it creates a completly different dynamic, but they had done an amazing job with re-working the songs, making them into longer scores mixing different songs. While playing the music we, the audience, got to watch various scenes from the games which I think added a good feeling to the experience.
The music which was performed was from Final Fantasy I to IX, I felt a bit sad they didn't include X which is my favorite game but しょうがない...
The most interesting part about this concert was the fact that inbetween the medleys Nobuo came up on stage and talked a bit about the songs and other various stuff. They also asked for special memories connected to Final Fantasy music from fans, and Nobuo picked some of those out and talked about them on stage. The weirdest moment was probably when a guy went down on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend! Afterwards they got to hear Melodies of Life from Final Fantasy IX.
Another fun part was when Hiroyuki got the question how it felt to work with Nobuo and he replied "like meeting God". He told us he'd been a fan of the Final Fantasy games and the music since he was a teenager, and even then he began playing the songs by himself on his piano.
If you bought a more expensive ticket you'd get to stay for a meet and greet with questions to Nobuo. I didn't, I had a Madonna concert 2 nighs afetrwards so I needed to save money. Hopefully I can attend something similaranother time!
Overall it was a very nice evening, I just can't get tired of anything related to Final Fantasy!
I'm so bad at updating with stuff, but it's just not as fun when I'm not in Japan (I feel like I have less to talk about since my source for information is just the same as everybody elses...)
Anyway, just in time for Christmas I finally got my "serious bear parkas"!
For those who doesn't know, Yutaka (bassist in BUCK-TICK) has designed various merch with a bear on, called "serious bear". And in the past Fish Tank magazines they've showed the designing process of this sweatshirt (they call it parkas, I've never in my whole life seen a parkas looking like this though..)
They only had 2 sizes available, M and L and they also had a Fish Tanker's only version and a regular version. The difference was that the limited version had the serious bear in glittery stones on the arm while the regular version had it in fabric. I ordered the limited one and in M.
The release was acctually in November, and as far as I could see it sold out even before that. The reason I got it this late was because I'm cheap, fufu. (stuff ordered from BUCK-TICKs webshop tend to get stuck in customs since they acctually say it's merch inside the package aswell as the actual price and on top of that it's shipped with EMS) Since I'm sick of paying tax for my packages and expensive shipping I decided to try a new thing.I had the package delivered to my tenso address in Japan (I realised I should make a post about different ways of shopping online, so I'll explain tenso there more thoroughly).
It took about 1 month for my package to arrive, but it was worth the money I saved :P
Back to the parkas.
The best part is, it's made so you can wear it inside out! So one side it fluffy and white with serious bear's face (including ears!) on and also a tail! The other side is black, still with the ears but not the face. Instead it has the serious bear in glitter on the arm. Both sides has pockets and I have to say it's very well made! I work for a clothing company and they've had several garments which you can wear inside out over the years but, usually small details show it's the reversed side. This did not! The only down part was that it had very detailed washing advices (like handwashing in 30degrees, use powder, don't let it hang etc.). To begin with I thought it was a bit expensive (right under 9000yen) but concidering the quality and also since it's a bandmerch it was totally worth it. (I mean a tour t-shirt costs 3500yen:P and it acctually costs quite a bit to sew on just 1 pocket on garments)
I won't wear this as a jacket like they mention...(I live in Sweden for god's sake, my winter coat is barely enough when it gets cold here:P) but it will be good either under my coat or as it is during spring.
( I'm sorry but I can't help but to think the hood is slightly too pointy...reminds me of something else...)
For the last couple of years I've attended a swedish gamefair called GAMEX (except for last year since I was in Japan then), unfortunately this year they had it togheter with a comicfair.
Usually you get to try different games, they hold tournaments etc. This year I felt like most of the fair was dedicated to the comics though, I realised today I didn't even see any Nintendo games!! I was acctually very disappointed, leaving the event with only having tried the demo of the new Dragon Quest game.
I mean sure, it's not Tokyo game show but I expect to see a big variation of games...and A LOT of games not a bit less than half of the area with the most popular titles like Mirror's edge... I was acctually hoping to see a demo or at least a commercial for the newest Final Fantasy game.
Overall I did enjoy my visit, but I'm giving my friend credit for that :P
I always enjoy watching people who cosplay though and I found some pretty good Final Fantasy cosplays! (I was drawn like a moth to flames to Vincent Valentine <3) Something that really impresses me is the ability to make weapons... how do you even make that...
For those who follow Közi on Twitter it's not that much big news to say that he once again made a piece for an art exhibition.
This time it's for a Czech artist and filmmaker named Jan Svankmajer. I made a quick search and he's making short films which recembles Dali's art (seems interesting and Közi-enough).
I don't know how many remember Közi's last piece of art-music, but in short it was an almost 20 minutes long piece of sounds. Yes, I do not want to say piece of music because he worked with a lot of sounds, creating a sort of horror feeling. Same with this.
17 veins spliced an ecstatic mind is about 17 minutes long and sounds pretty much like it's from a horror movie (not the over dramatic american ones of course). A lot of squeaking noises and dripps of water, and we even get to hear Közi this time, making some atmospheric sounds.
I wouldn't recomend this to those who just think Közi's an okey musician and likes to listen to him at times, probably not worth the money since you're not likely to put this on that often, but of course I want everyone to support Közi's work, so concider buying it if you want to hear it at least. Of course a must have for all Közi fangirls though.
So, how did I buy it?
To be honest, it might be tricky for those who do not speak japanese since their whole webpage is in japanese and I'm not sure how well the staff manage english. They offered SAL and EMS shipping, and also only credit card payment.
Here's a link to their webpage , click on the こちらのメールフォームより>> in the square which mentions this cd and just write what it is you want and they'll reply with shipping method and payment. The price of the cd itself is 1500yen.
I visited Tokyo for the first time almost 4 years ago, and before that trip I collected as much information as possible as I thought I probably wouldn't go back for perhaps another 5 years or so (hehe, I went back the following year). One of the things I added to my lost of doing was to visit the 8bit café I've read about in a gaming magazine. I never went though, nor did I go the following year. Now there's only 2 weeks left for me in Japan so I try my hardest to fill my days with fun stuff. and last night me and a friend finally visited the 8bit café in Shinjuku!
I'm terrible at finding stuff and this place had the tiniest sign outside an entrance with a huge sign for an erotic clothing store. The café opens at 7pm and closes at 5, so we tried to get there as soon as they opened and I'm glad we did because it filled up kind of quickly.
As soon as we reached the right floor the door opened and a girl from the staff welcomed us (she acctually stood there and held the door eventhough I stood in the middle of the stairs trying to take a photo of their awesome sign). As soon as we got in they told us to have a seat and another girl from the staff came with menu's and explained the "rules", which was that you have to pay the entrance fee of 600yen, order a drink every 1½ hour to stay and that photography was allowed.
This really was the cutest place ever! It felt like sitting in someones living room, so many games and a very nice atmosphere. One of the "tables" in the back was acctually an old arcade game, so you could play as you were sitting down!
They offered a small amount of desserts and snacks, but what's most appealing are their special cocktails! They cost about 700yen each and all are refferences to games!
I tried a Dr. Mario first, vodka with Dr Pepper and Coke, and on the side you get a testtube with 2 pills inside which I was told to put in the drink.
Then there was time for some gaming! They had Gameboys and stuff lying around and tons of games and guides you could read, but I went for the Super Mario! It was so much fun, I haven't played Super Mario (the old ones) for about 12 years so it felt very nostalgic.
After 3½h of gaming, drinking and looking through their stuff it was time to go.
The staff was very nice and this is a must for every gamer in Tokyo! But highly recomended to go as early as possible because after 1h it was more or less full.
Don't forget to leave a drawing or a note in one of their notepads!
Webpage: http://8bitcafe.net/index.html
My menu for the evening~
Dr.Mario (vodka, Dr. Pepper and Coke)
Donkey Kong, (can't remember the ingredients but it tasted like banana)
And a cake cheese, yes you read it right, not a normal cheese cake. It acctually tasted a lot cheesier, not as sweet.
Last night was my final Velvet Eden gig!
I was cursing over how hard it was to find Chop last time, and was sort of happy when I got home thinking now I don't have to worry about that again... so of course I had to go back once more.
It went a bit faster this time, BUT I did get lost, again.
There were 5 bands playing, Rapunzel (female vocalist and male bassist with fairytale inspired lyrics to the regular kind of visual kei rock), Howling (regular rock band with members looking slightly visual kei, seemed to be older than average and their fans were too, I've never heard of them though), Benisemi (angura kei band, some songs were kind of interesting so I'm gonna check them out later), Kalavinka (barely saw anything of them since I left Chop) and of course Velvet Eden!
I was looking forward to seeing the new costumes and I've also heard that they played Sad Mask at their last gig in Osaka, so I assumed they'd play it here aswell. But no, the setlist was almost identical to the previous gigs I've been to, except that they played No15 this evening.
I stood on Dada's part of the stage, and since it was my last night I tried to focus and remember as much as possible (Velvet Eden and Dada plays a big part of my life, so this live was very important for me).
As soon as the live started I noticed Dada's fingers weren't doing that well, to be honest they were kind of broken. The middle finger on his left hand was almost completly off. Don't worry, I'm not talking about his actual fingers, but his claws. He mentioned it in his MC, and I think it happened during their last gig in Osaka in December.
One big thing was that Dada announced that their working on a new cd! I don't remember where, but I think I saw that the one man they'll have in May will be the release for their 3rd DVD, and now we have a cd to look forward to aswell. I'm really glad things are going so well for them.
The song which has impressed me the most is Toxic Queen, and I've been able to hear it all 3 times I've seen Velvet Eden live which has been completly awesome. But all good things come to an end.
Setlist
Intro
One Caress
Luzifer
Toxic Queen
MC
No15
Confession of mask
The bathroom at CHOP (just because I didn't have nything else to share this time...
