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.
The Post Modern Jukebox invited singer/dancer/actor Emily Goglia to join them for a cover of the theme song to Pinky And The Brain, and the results were amazing. They spun it into the realm of the Torch Singers and added a bit of live action dialog in a bar/club setting that was absolutely definitive for the series, while still setting it apart. Watch and enjoy!
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!
A brand new song from Kisida Kyodan & THE Akishin Rocket, it is another great Anime OP track, this time from Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens. The Cd/DVD music video combo was released earlier this week (February 7th), and the anime series just started airing at the beginning of January. The series only has 5 episodes out so far, but more than anything else it reminds me of Cowboy Bebop, and not just because of the incidental music. I included one of their earlier Anime tracks, Blood On The Edge being the OP from Strike The Blood, just because I could.
I didn’t see anything in western releases, Anime has Kiddy Girl-AND, the sequel to Kiddy Grade. Taking place 25 years later, the galaxy is once more on the brink of chaos, and two new heroines need to step forward to save it. Squid Girl is also being released this week, silly fun for the aquatically inclined.
Topping the list, Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets was an instant classic that didn’t do well in the US, since almost no one here was familiar with the French comic it was based on. We get another French film this week as well in the form of the animation Leap!, original title Ballerina. Birth of the Dragon is also out this week, and while it isn’t genre, The Hitman’s Bodyguard looks like a fun film. The Korean action-thriller The Villainess also hits the shelves this time around, if you haven’t seen it, now is your chance. TV brings us a couple of comedy favorites in the form of The Librarians, Season 3 and Red Dwarf: XII