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ONE OK ROCK – Renegades

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.

Amy Lee and The Wagakki Band

I was not expecting the fusion of Evanescence and The Wagakki Band, but they have put together some really tasty music. The first track is the Evanescence hit Bring Me To Life posted on their YouTube Channel, with the two lead singers sharing the vocals and Wagakki Band bringing their unique sound to the party. The second track is Sakura Rising from Wagakki Band’s new album Tokyo Singing, which just came out a few weeks ago.

There has been some amazing music released during the pandemic, which has been one of the main things helping me get through the year. So far, the tracks from this session have been the best of them from my perspective.

TANK! Virtual Session 2020 by SEATBELTS

Yoko Kanno is doing the soundtrack for the Live Action version of Cowboy Bebop, and produced SEATBELTS doing this Virtual Session of the shows original theme song TANK! That wasn’t SEARBELT’S only recent virtual session, they also did Space Lion from the same show, LION, The Real Folk Blues, Don’t bother none, and the list goes on. Having the iconic compositions of Yoko Kanno (with possibly some new tunes when the show finally comes onto the small screen) and the Jazz presentation of Seatbelts in the new incarnation of Cowboy Bebop is just one of the reasons I can’t wait for this program to finally air.

Stay Home! Stay Metal! …BabyMetal

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.

GOOD NIGHT BABY

GOOD NIGHT BABY

Yes, this is basically a Reebok commercial, but it did give media exposure to a rather tasty musical artist to pull that off. Pop sadly rather than Rock, her voice has enough power to overcome that deficit in style. I look forward to seeing what she creates in the future.