Just posted yesterday, a brand new live track from The Wagakki Band I wanted to share here, even though it includes a commercial at the end for the new DVD the track will appear on, being released on June 21st. There was a 2 day celebration held in Tokyo in February, all the tunes on the new release were recorded there. If I am following this correctly, I believe it includes the Wagakki Band teaming up with a major Taiko Drum Troop for at least one performance. In English Wagakki Band means a band playing traditional Japanese instruments, which this band does with a unique style. The live track is Snow Dancing, the studio track after that is 2014s Senbon-Zakura.
Posted on May 10th the new Radwimps song Brain Washing passed 1,600,000 views at the two week mark. Two days later they posted Saihate Aini, the second track here, and that one hit 1,700,000 views in that shorter time. Which is pretty amazing, but don’t expect it to stop there. Their song Zenzenzense from last year’s runaway hit movie from Makoto Shinkai Your Name was at 133,356,652 views as of this morning. If you missed the multi-award winning film when it was in US theaters last month, they are now streaming it on Funimation; Radwimps translated four of their songs for it into English just for that release.
It has been a while since I posted about the Ulfuls, a band who got their name got their name because back in 1992 one of the band members misread the word Soulful on his favorite album and they went with it. They have put out a lot of great music over the years, so I thought I would re-share a few of my favorites, and finish up with their latest release. The first track came out in 2014 and seems to be channeling the Beatles and/or Chuck Berry, while the second, Bonzwi Wayawai has them Muppitized. The third is Baka Yaro, a track posted on May 9th from their latest album. In North America you can pick up their music through iTunes for MP3s or Amazon for import CDs.
They sounded so good the first time (if you missed it, scroll back three posts and enjoy some more great tunes from them) I had to add a few more from The Winking Owl. The first one is 2015’s Here For You off of their EP Open Up My Heart, the second is 2016s Bloom, and the third is Stars from their 2014 mini album Supernova.
The Winking Owl have a new mini-album coming out in another two weeks called Into Another World, and the first track here is also the first song on it: Now What?. After that is their 2015 debut EP Open Up My Heart, and we finish with my favorite track from their 2016 first full album This Is How We Riot. Luiza’s voice has range and power as she switches effortlessly between Japanese and English, showing off her European/Asian heritage. The band’s music is tight, focused and very well produced, and with their record deal with Warner Japan they are finally getting the exposure they deserve. I have found CDs released by them going back to 2010, so I am pretty sure the phrases Debut EP and first full album refer to their current record contract, and not their actual musical career.
It has been a while since we posted our last OreSka Band, and they have some great new tunes worth sharing. All of these are from their 3rd Full Album Slogan, which was released November 23rd, 2016. The first track is Free Now posted last November, the second is !Fiebre! from last May and pretty much the best example of Japanese Samba Ska I have ever heard, the third is NEXSPOT and includes a slice of Jazz I wasn’t expecting from them. This band has been growing into their talent nicely, with each album better than the one before.