BANDMAID‘s Best Music Ever is the only way I can describe their latest tracks, including Secret Maiko Eyes! Posted on YouTube just a week ago, it keeps their driving energy but brings traditional instruments into the mix, in a departure from their previous pure Metal style. They haven’t abandoned their previous personas, BANDMAID still exists and has their World Domination Tour ongoing, as well as an appearance on J-Melo this week (although it might be a few weeks before it airs on their NHK World broadcasts). The latest tracks from them, Domination and Dice, also show growth and improvement, as this great band becomes truly amazing. BAND-MAIKO may be a single album project, but I really hope they return to bring us more excellent music like this.
Terrestrial Human
Japanese performance powerhouse World Order has a new song online called Let’s Start WW3, and while I usually avoid anything political here (being rather seriously apolitical myself), this video is just too good to pass up. It features as always their amazing dance routines combined with excellent music and great singing, all the things a quality music video requires. And then there is Singularity, posted on the same day earlier this month, every bit as good, and in fact it includes a group dance-off that is just amazing. To round off the set I had to include their 2014 track Informal Empire filmed in London, UK, and the 2013 song Imperialism filmed in Washington, D.C.; they are both a lot of fun to watch but also present additional food for thought.
Japanese art-rock band Perfume has been very busy lately, and this time around we have a few of their Perfume x Technology project videos. These are a series of live presentations using prerecorded audio tracks, combining the music with dance, stagecraft, and computer displays, to render a truly unique theater experience. They are not set to allow embedding on other pages, so you will want to go to the Perfume x Technology project page yourself to watch them. Reframe was posted just last week, with a show segment three songs long, you should start with that one and work your way through the collection; enjoy!
Perfume started life as an electronica oriented art-rock band, and they have grown since then. Mugenmirai, in English Flash, is the theme song of CHIHAYAFURU, a movie about the card game that is at the core of so many Asian games, and of the spirit of competition it brings. I intend to see this movie, but while I am waiting I have to post the full length version of this song, which was only released on line this week. Enjoy!
Radwimp has done the music for another feature film, the Live Action Legend of the Demon Cat, and it looks amazing; the title of the theme song is Mountain Top. The movie was made by major Japanese film company Kadakawa, includes a substantial Japanese cast, and is based on a Japanese novel by Yoneyama Mineo. Which is a bit unusual for a film that takes place in China. I am definitely looking forward to seeing this one.
The Art-Rock band Inshow-Ha have been making music since 2009, and I wanted to share a few of their tunes so you could get to know them. They are office workers who only do a few live shows a year, but they have still developed a fair sized audience of fans in Japan. Lemon is the first track, Kirei (Pretty) is the second, and the third is Kyujo.