I thought it was time I posted again about TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA, since they continue to release song after amazing song. All of these were uploaded to You Tube in 2021, in celebration of this year’s Together Again tour and their new album SKA=ALMIGHTY. The first track is Mede Tashi Song feat. Muro Tsuyoshi, posted on June 11th and currently sitting at just shy of 160K views. That’s followed by I want to meet you Feat. Hasegawa blank paper uploaded in March, and we finish up with a live version of Paradise Has No Border recorded at the Great Conjunction 2020 event. If the crowd looks a little less dense than you were expecting it’s because the show happened on December 3rd of 2020, so it is set with Social Distancing seating (not that anyone is actually sitting down), and the audience are all wearing masks.
Wagakki Band continue to create amazing music using their blend of traditional Japanese instruments (the literal translation of the word Wagakki) and modern rock tools. The first track is Aria of Life, their theme song for the Anime series Mars Red, while the second, Starlight, is the theme for the Japanese TV drama “Ichikei no Karasu”. Their music certainly lends itself to TV and Movie production with its unique sound, so they have been getting a lot of work in between recording albums and doing world tours.
NECRY TALKIE is an interesting band, sprawling across Art Rock and J-Pop, with a few J-Rock tracks in their collection. The live video from their new album (their second album, they are still just beginning!) has been released on April 28th, the album itself is coming out on May 19th. Tonight I figured I would share a few of their more recent songs, Frog Quest Ⅱ posted on April 9th, Orenitoccha zenbu ga KUSO ni omoeruyo (AKA Mikagi Wants To Go Home) posted on April 30th, and Kininatteiku from May 3rd, all from this year. Enjoy!
One OK Rock’s song Renegades is not only their latest and greatest, but also one of the most socially important songs they have ever done. And this time we didn’t just get the final product; we got a small selection of Making Of videos that cover the engineering and artistic aspects of the creation process. And trust me when I say you need both of those aspects to get an actual viable product by the end of that process.
What you also get a sense of here is just how international a musical project of this magnitude is. When you get beyond a certain point, you aren’t looking for the best folk to collaborate with among your friends or countrymen. You need the best team members from around the world for your production to have a hope of making an impact on a global scale. I think Taka and his band mates have pulled together just such a team for this release. If you have any doubts, watch the second video followed by the final video for the evidence.
Post updated again, about a year later! Everything previously posted has expired, and all the videos previously linked have evaporated. But you can still read about it if you land on this post, just so you will know it happened. A lot of bands stepped up to the plate during the pandemic supplying free live concerts to help keep folks from going over the edge as part of the Stay Home! Stay Alive! project. BabyMetal posted some very high quality work that I am sure was being held in reserve towards a future Blu-Ray/DVD release, and while there is a good chance that may still happen, their generosity in making it freely available at a time when there were no live concerts to go to speaks volumes about their attitude. And if it was really all driven by a music company marketing rep trying to boost their market share, that certainly doesn’t do anything to lesson its impact and therapeutic value on fans worldwide.
Post updated, because they ARE SHOWING THEM AGAIN! It doesn’t end there, because on May 10th, 2020 – 11:00PM JST / 4:00PM CEST / 10:00AM EDT / 7:00AM PDT they will post another one: LIVE AT WEMBLEY – ONLINE LIVE. Recorded at THE SSE ARENA, WEMBLEY on April 2nd, 2016, this will be another streamed-for-free live concert available to watch for 24 hours only.
BabyMetal just posted (15 hours ago as I write this) their Live at Tokyo Dome – BLACK NIGHT and LIVE AT TOKYO DOME – RED NIGHT concerts, in their entirety, for everyone trapped at home around the world to enjoy! Part of their Stay Home! Stay Metal! project, this was recorded live over two nights in 2016, and is being streamed for this extremely brief period (about one day; the streaming schedule is 8:00 PM (JST) April 11th – 7:00PM (JST) April 12th, 2020, so you still have about 8 hours to enjoy it before it evaporates). The two shows had completely different setlists, so between them you get about 3 full hours worth of BabyMetal goodness! I hope you manage to find this wonderful gift before it is no longer available, and enjoy it as much as I am.