I just saw the new Ghost In The Shell movie today, and it was every bit as good as I had hoped; firmly in that universe but from a parallel time line. I look for some Yoko Kanno music to post in honor of it, but didn’t immediately find anything posted by the copyright holders, so I thought I would share this new track by Q’ulle instead. The song is called Don’t Stop and was just posted in the last two weeks; it is their first single from their new release, and will go on sale this Wednesday the 5th. The second track is Heartbeat, their 3rd single from their 2015 project, and the 3rd tracks is 2016’s 5th Single, Alive.
GOOD ON THE REEL released their third full album this February, and since it has been a few years since I last posted about them I thought it was time to take a look at some of their recent work. The first track is the somewhat pop A Small Room from their new album Guanaco’s Feet, the next is the much more rock Keeping Rain in Line, or maybe Rain Keeping Lines; whatever it is called, I like it a lot. That one was posted in 2016.
DAOKO is an energetic J-Pop artist from Tokyo who recently had one of her songs selected to be the end theme for Shingeki no Bahamut Virgin Soul. Not bad for someone who posted their home made music videos to Nico Nico Douga, and had one of them take off. The first track is Daisuki with TeddyLoid, the second is If we are the Protagonists of the Game, the third is just called Bang. And I threw in a Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul trailer at the end.
Everything you need to know is in the title; the Hillywood Show is a brilliant parody presentation put together by Hilly & Hannah Hindi, some truly twisted sisters who combine music, dance, and video production to create some of the most amazing short films you can find these days. It shouldn’t be a shock that they have been parodying such pop culture icons as Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, Supernatural, and Sherlock. The real shock value comes from the fact that their fan base includes the casts of Supernatural and Doctor Who, actor/artists like Billy Boyd, Lady Gaga, and Sean Astin, writers/directors like Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and production houses including BBC America and MTV. With the key players you are creating your parodies from being in the front row of your cheering squad, you have to know you have gotten it right!
SECONDWALL is an energetic J-Pop-Punk band who formed in 2009, with their first major single in 2012 and the first mini-album in 2013. The first song here is At the end of love, the cherry blossom dances, which was the OP theme of the TV Drama Love That Makes You Cry on Fuji TV last year. The second track is 2015’s Identity, the third is Period filmed live at Otsuka Deepa on November 9, 2011, and posted by the director.
Have you read the Pitchfork article The Story of Feminist Punk in 33 Songs? If not you should read it now in honor of International Women’s Day, and then watch the songs themselves; you just might learn some interesting things.