carddass

Yeah, I could see the part where he is the guest vocalist but he also composed the song? That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't have the remaining members composed the song for him to sing over???

That's a major bummer! His most recent blog post pretty much says "I'm tired of the music world", He has been pretty quiet with all of his projects in recent years.... http://ameblo.jp/kozybilly/ In unrelated linkage, but similar cover band awesomeness, here's a few videos of Ray / Koji in 2011 performing what might be the best sounding hide tribute:

That's an amazing lineup of guest vocalists! However, I didn't quite understand the original message. Has Ray completely withdrawn from the whole band / live or will he just not be singing the whole time?

RIP. I'm going to give Kokushoku Elegy's small but excellent discography a listen today in her honor~ The news actually hit pitchfork which undoubtedly is from the Boredoms connection: http://pitchfork.com/news/60455-ooioos-kyoko-has-died/

Just announced: Buy the new live CD at Disk Union and get a bonus DVD 『DISK UNION for YOU / MUNIMUNI』 with some live footage: http://diskunion.net/portal/ct/detail/1006723897

There is a download link on their official website: http://night-gallery.info/ex-ans/gldl.html

And they even posted a WAV version! This track is great and it makes me wonder how a second Ex-ans album might have turned out if they hadn't broken up. GL But!xxx and You are great proto-visual kei tracks. Also, the dynamic range of the original was 14, this new one is 8, so it's slightly more compressed but I'm liking this remaster anyway! The mid's and low tones are a little more present in the mix whereas the original felt treble heavy.z

I just created a Twitter account just to follow them and add to their numbers!

left to right, Masaru Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Kazama, Hajime Sato, Koji Kaziwara, Tetsu Takano Tetsu Takano (ex-Malice Mizer and Zigzo) has had many active projects in the last few years. Zigzo reformed in 2011, nil has been ongoing since 2002, The JuneJulyAugust started in 2010 and he's been apart of Sato Taiji's Indies Denryoku folk-rock trio. This all culminated in 2014 when each one of those bands released an album. It has been announced today that both of his main projects, nil and The JuneJulyAugust, have merged to form The Black Comet Club Band named after a JJA song 'The Black Comet Club'. The band consists of the following lineup: Tetsu Takano (vocal / guitar) Koji Kaziwara (drums: The JJA, ex-Redrum, Human Tail) Hajime Sato (piano: The JJA, opening, MAOW) Hiroyuki Kazama (drums: nil, Hansom Kyodai) Masaru Kobayashi (bass: nil, ex-SADS, The Cro-magnons) nil and TheJuneJulyAugust has played a gig together a few months back where both bands performed on stage which most likely planted the seed for this new merged band. A website has been opened so it looks like this will be a serious project and not just a one-off for a festival: http://theblackcometclubband.com/ Some song samples from both JJA and nil:

Buck Tick came out with a DVD release of their 2012 Parade lives. Although from the looks of it, it was more of a tease since it only contained one song from each guest act. However with torrenting what it is, you can find the a WOWOW broadcast with more than what the DVD ever offered. Likewise the Hide memorial was almost fully broadcast in HD and shared via torrenting so fortunately fans outside of Japan didn't miss 'seeing' that live. Although I foolishly never downloaded the HD stream (usually those are the first to die or disappear due to the size), the SD streams are pretty easy to find. Being that Luna Sea has to juice concert profits by selling broadcasting rights to all of their shows, I wouldn't doubt if the Lunatic Fest will be online soon enough like most of their other recent concerts in the last few years. To me a good 1080i satellite rip of an uncut live is infinitely better than a DVD, edited-down digest version or nothing at all. And while broadcasting rights might be easier to achieve, there's lots of roadblocks when it comes to negotiating with bands from different labels / managements in order to actually have their material be released under another label. Hence the Buck Tick On Parade DVD only features the BT covers the other bands did.

And it seems like the new DVD will soon be available for mail order from the Closet Child store: http://ameblo.jp/cccd-harajuku/entry-12027664237.html

Wow, this is pretty out-of-nowhere news. I know Deep did a revival a few years ago but then that band had been around much longer than Ex-ans and probably had more of a following. And it'll be interesting to see (hopefully through youtube) how Koji tackles this material since he's been a rockabilly guy for the last 10-15 years. Even though they said Autumn 2015, it would pretty amazing if they played that Lunatic Fest alongside Luna Sea next month.

It's all good, I know it was a whatever post and I really don't know you or your methods to take you seriously or not. But being that this might be the only active source in English information about the band, I felt it was more informative for fans to have something constructive and relevant to read. There's nothing worse than scrolling through a forum and seeing the majority of posts be filler comments. Unfortunately this rebuttal just added to the noise! Ah well.

Kanou/Munimuni is very referential toward visual kei. The names of their gigs and some advertising are completely taken from early-VK acts or Buck Tick / X / Luna Sea/ZiKill/kuroyume related works. Sometimes it's a mash-up of multiple names. The flyers showing pre-1991 Toshi versus his post 1997 cult-years is hilariously put to good use and maybe not even sensible to most fans now-a-days since X is pretty much a nostalgic act now. So while most bands keep a consistent visual throughout the release of an album or a period of time, Munimuni is off-the-walls and without a proper schedule or cycle, so they do these things for their own amusement. Overall I find the graphic design of the flyers to be amazing and it wouldn't surprise me if Kanou did some sort of design job on the side. That said, I find the 'coincidence' between the Merry ad and munimuni's recent flyer questionable at best. It's mainly just the pink coloring and, as far as I recall, munimuni doesn't really 'borrow' from contemporaries. Some of their recent work from last year is in black and white with a splash of color photoshopped into it. The band photo is an example of this: http://munimuni.ciao.jp/profile.htm So while the Merry one looks like actual real light projecting the color into the scene, munimuni's is just photoshopped color-overlays. And while munimuni is bringing homage to 90's VK, the Tamasuji Cool J tarou side project has him singing over shitty 90's pop / hiphop beats: https://www.youtube.com/user/tamasuji2014

80% !!! Wow, it's getting there at least. I thought they already have 7 or 8 songs recorded already and a few they haven't recorded. Maybe they're pushing for a full 10-track album? Also, does any munimuni fan have this bootleg they could kindly reupload? http://monochrome-heaven.com/index.php?/topic/5125-%E3%83%A0%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A0%E3%83%8B-20070606%E9%AB%98%E7%94%B0%E9%A6%AC%E5%A0%B4area-munimuni/?hl=munimuni Thanks!

Yeah, most of the previous live DVD/blu-ray releases contain tracks they've mostly played to death and are hardly different from each other minus a few key songs. This one is somewhat different in that at least they're playing the whole new album. But jeez, those price tags are not really fan friendly.

A third live DVD available only at shows was just announced in the latest newsletter: ◎MUNIMUNI DVD-R作品集[Я#3]・・・遂に発売するかも・・・。 究極のDVD-R・・・。 2014年サマーキャンプ公演を収録・・・。 加納/KLE/TOMO/SHINTAROによる四人の最新サウンド＆ヴィジョン！ ※完全プロショットによる編集作品です。 愛と憎しみの狭間で模索する彼らが放つ、 恐るべきライブＤＶＤアールが遂に登場。 （ロック評論家　菅原-cou-公平） 1.A KILLS A 2.BOYS 3.NEO SONG 4.& 4 5.Underneath the shadow -THE SHADOW 2- 6.FUFFU ■ショックプライス 2,200円(税別）　 □PYRAMID POWER - 002 □NEO TOKYO PYRAMID POWER FILM ◎2015/4/19〜ライブ会場限定発売予定！！

Hopefully the album / vinyl will be sold online - those tracks floating online are amazing.

Seems like there might be another new track on the Doguu Album tentatively called 'Love Ballad'. It was played as an SE after the concert and is almost finished being recorded. Here's the mail magazine from today: ====================================================== ◎ワンマンコメント・・・。 ・ブラックトリガータクミ 「キミを守りたい・・・アイムザトリガー・・・† と、俺のサイドエフェクトがSO云っている・・・。 などと、今の四人でやりたいバイブスを出せたかも・・・。 春にうっかりジャパンツアーをする予定かも・・・。」 ・くれ 「個人的にはネオ東京ボーイズギターコレクションでした。。。 次回ある時はジャニーズ並みの曲ごとの衣装替えにチャレンジしたいです・・・。」 ・とも 「ドグウアルバム発売祈願ギグ、ご来場ありがとうございました。 俺たち4人は曲が進むにつれ、カッコ良すぎるという罪を感じ過ぎてしまったけれど、 PAさんや照明さんそれとSLAVEの皆によって罪に拍車がかかってしまっていた事実は認識して頂きたいですね。 つまりはあの場にいた皆が罪人…† また罪を感じ合えたらいいですね。 ごめん。」 ・しんたろう 「僕個人的に初のワンマン、初のスティック投げ、あと薔薇も…† 今このmunimuniでワンマンを遂行出来て嬉しかったと同時に重罪を犯してしまったと、 罪の意識に苛まれています。 munimuniと皆様に感謝します。ありがとう。 あ、あと僕のスティックを受け取って頂いた方へ、使用の際は良く洗ってから使って下さいね…† ではまた…☻」 ---------------------------------------- ◎質問コーナー →Q;(1/27に届いたメールです。） 『ワンマンで ヒーの次だった曲と、 終演後にSEで流れた曲が 好きだなぁー良いなぁーと思ったのですが、 よろしければタイトルなど教えてください！』 →a;(加納) 『ヒーの次にお見舞いした曲は「ストレンジデイズ」と云います・・・。 ライブでしかやっていない曲です。(作品未収録) 3,4年CRY前に作成した曲を、エクスタシー酒井氏(G)が居た頃に大胆に作り変えまして・・・。 実は演奏する度に、あれこれアレンジ変えたり、こっそり歌詞を変えたりして居るのですが、 そろそろ良いところに到達出来そうです・・・†」 終演後に再生させたイケてる曲は「ラブバラード(仮タイトル)」と云います・・・。 ザドグウアルバムに収録される予定です。 この曲の録音作業はほとんど終了しています・・・。 シンタロウ氏加入後、一回しか演奏していません・・・。 今年やれたら良いかも・・・。 セットリストを、ムーホーに掲載しましたので、 ムーホーで一つに成ろう・・・。 http://munimuni.ciao.jp/gig_past2015_01.htm 』 ======================================================

And 6 new songs will be on the doguu album. They should've just aimed for a proper full album with those extra few tracks!

I haven't read Kanou Matenrou / Takumi's blog in a while but a few weeks ago he said the Doguu album wouldn't be out by the end of the year, but the live album would be out definitely and that the mix is done. http://yaplog.jp/sakujojo/archive/946 And I'm not quite sure but I think he's jokingly referring to himself as 'Yoshiki' in the way that he's been teasing this Doguu album for years. lol

It seems that the Doguu album is almost out. Here's an announcement from today's munimuni mail magazine: ■2015/1/26(mon)　NEO TOKYO IKEBUKURO CHOP DOME ■[MUNIMUNI 「THE DOGUU ALBUM」発売祈願ワンマン公演　 -誰か、土偶を・・・。-] It's a one man live to pray for release of the Doguu album.

Wow, that gives me some hope at least that this album might actually come out. It's odd at the sporadic nature of munimuni's news posting. The website is updated with concert enough, the mailmaga has quotes from the band members and lyrics (sometimes), his blog shows off various flyers, and now an album announcement via a live show flyer. And there's mention of a live album from 2011. That would be another nice treat to have as I'm pretty sure that was before their long standing guitarist and bassist left the band?

Finally! Can't wait for a new release. Where did that tracklist come from, his blog? He hasn't even mentioned it in the mailing list magazine he sends out every few days. In today's mailmaga he posted lyrics for Hayabiki: [HAYABIKI(new song)] lyric : CANOU / MUSIC : MUNIMUNI さぁ帰ろう。 猟犬の足。赤く染まる。 雨音、どこかに落とした・・・。 みんな消えた！ 甘い蜜を追い。 ここから先へは、 異様な姿で・・・。 「願い事。 少年たちの夢路に。 その道標・・・。」

I just got this album in the mail and it's good. The Japanese version of Paradise, compared to the English version available on the website, lost alot of it's power because of the production. MOG produced many of JJA's Kazi's former band Redrum albums and singles and he takes on responsibilities here. It's a little too sparse and of course the loudness war prevails with an average dynamic range of 7. And if you take this album, nil's granvia and Zigzo's Forever Young together, they form some sort of mega album by Tetsu that all compliment each other. You can buy the JJA and nil album from amazon: The JuneJulyAugust's Paradise available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NZCWOUY/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp nil's Granvia also on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Granvia-Nil/dp/B00MMJ58UO/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1412699429&sr=1-1&keywords=nil+granvia