carddass

I like how they have been writing stories for each song on both of their albums. They're chock full of 80's references and influences: http://cqband-jp.com/prot2_eng.html Here's the plot of the first album which they took off their website: Introducing the different stories at “what a Wonderful World,” which is influenced by the feeling of the end of the world after the numberless of nucleus satellites have left the orbit. Episode 1. Morse Morse is Ian’s older twin brother (identical twins). He sends the signal continuously every night with considering of Ian, who lost the reality, from the place far from him. Morse is not his real name and is his handle name. Episode 2. Leos Leos is a musician, who is fascinated by Kevin Shields and Shuji Terayama. He used to shut himself in his room and quitting an acquaintance with the outside world but deeply impressed by Roxanne. He burns the “loveless,” and opens the door. He threw books and came up to a town (*this is a title of a famous essay with criticism which is writtenby Shuji Terayama.). Episode 3. Roxanne Roxanne is a musician, who distributes songs via internet while roaming around the world. She accepts the end of world as it is with not being pessimism nor optimistic. She cannot forgive her mother, who left with her little brother when she was young, but she hopes that one day her mother will find her via internet. She loves and respect Patricia Lee “Patti” Smith and Lou Reed. Episode 4. Emil Emil travels with his girlfriend Angie, who is his childhood friend. He captures matters optimistically by gazing the reality He thinks that his meaning of life is to make Angie happy. In the past, he left his house by having discord with his politician father. He met Roxanne during the travel. Episode 5. Angie Angie travels with Emil. Her heart has been caught from a kind of trauma that she called WHITE DARKNESS, which she saw in her dream when she was young, so she captures the scenes completely different by how Emil captures. She considers Emil as someone irreplaceable to her, but sometimes feels unpleasant since his personality is completely opposite from hers. Episode 6. Alex Alex travels to the place where the world ends, while he is trying to find his sister who was separated when he was young. Although he was young and his memory was vague, he thinks with confidence that Roxanne is his sister. He loves a girl called Eli. Episode 7. Ian Ian is a younger twin brother of Morse. He disappointed at the reality and he stables his mind by under the impression that this world is in his dream. He also is deeply impressed by Roxanne’s songs. Ian, who is confused the reality and the dream, go toward to the top of the building. He realizes that the world where he exists is the reality while fluttering down the sky.

Yes, there's MM too. If talking about past projects you'd have to throw in Mega8Ball's funk-rap-rock stylings as well. But I was talking about his current projects and the 4 albums he released this year. More productive than all of the rest of the former MM members combined!

Wow. that was good. That's 2 for 2 from this new JJA album for me. I think Tetsu has finally separated all of his rock personas and never shall they meet again: JJA - artsy rock Zigzo - pop rock nil - punky rock Indies Denryoku - acoustic folk

I'm really looking forward to this one. Tetsu will have released an album from all 4 of his bands after this (Zigzo, nil, Indies Denryoku, JJA) and I'm hoping this will be make up for Zigzo's Forever Young. That Zigzo album was a huge disappointment for me and I think it has to do with the fact that Tetsu wrote the album himself before going into the studio with the rest of the band. Because of this the album suffers greatly and feels like a Tetsu solo album. You barely hear any moments or signature sounds from Ryo, Den and Sakura. I think the JJA album will be more balanced and have better songwriting since Tetsu treats that more collaboratively. Paradise has been released a while back in English form on their website and it's excellent: http://www.afro-skull.com/jja/?page_id=651 Direct Download: http://www.afro-skull.com/cms_jja/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/jjacd_3_new_2.mp4

Skin's not going to happen ever again. It was done as a cash grab for Anime Expo that year, pure and simple. And from what I heard Yoshiki was the least prepared and committed to the project and only showed up a few days before the actual live for rehearsals with the others. Miyavi wrote more songs for the project too but as we all know, only 4 songs ever were performed by the band, and he was burned by the whole project. Besides he's better off on his own. Of course in typical Japanese fashion, noone will ever talk bad about Yoshiki-senpai so we will forever hear comments in interviews like "We're just all too busy with our schedules to coordinate again".

They used to be a band called Invisibleman's Deathbed:

Wait, they have 2 guitarists now!? They've been sitting on a bunch of songs for years now and I really hope something gets released. Wasn't the doguu mini album mentioned on the homepage a year or two ago? Maybe some are compositions by past members that they can't really record as munimuni's? I'm starting to think that proper CD releases are just not financially feasible for a small band like them. If only more Japanese artists used a service like bandcamp!

I'm not so much of an artist myself but I think the motivations come less from trying to cover up a 'lack of skill' and more from a desire of artistic expression, which really has no right or wrong way of doing it.

I thought the tribute album was just alright, despite having been blown away by the lineup, which if I read correctly from that Morrie x Kiyoharu natalie.mu intereview, took upwards of a year to assemble. I think tribute albums can fall into two categories, ones that try to faithfully reproduce the songs they are being covered and ones that try to actually put their own spin on a song. This album was mostly the former with the exception of the tracks written primarily by one person or band (Kiyoharu, Cali Gari and Boris). It was largely a cut-and-paste affair by the producer where the artists involved got to add their own flair but for the most part had to stay within the lines of what the original song was. You could almost feel like the musicians, while amazingly talented and varied in their own right across the Jrock / Vkei spectrum, weren't even in the same room together when recording these songs and just individually came in and recorded their parts. Maybe I'm wrong about this but considering the lineup, I'm a bit doubtful these sessions had everyone in the room at the same time. So yea, it's enjoyable in an all-star cast sort of way but I think no artist really got to take control of the song they were covering with the exception of the ones mentioned. That said, I did appreciate the vocals of Hyde, Tetsu and Baki, who I'm most familiar with, and the other musicians spotted throughout. Hyde is a dead-on replica of Morrie especially with the reverb cranked to 11 like most the covers off Dead End's first album. I'm a huge Tetsu fan and although I've heard him sing like that on some songs he rarely does so for a whole song. It either shows that he's trying too hard or just having fun with it. Who knows? I didn't care for the Serafine cover. It had no power to it and seemed like it was being different for the sake of it. "How would this sound with female vocals?!" Why not have Morrie sing a Utada Hikaru cover next! And in defense of artists reliving their past glories or just leaving it behind, I don't think it's a fair to suggest they should leave it behind just because we personally don't think it sounds any better than the original. If anything, as fans, if we don't like newer renditions or newer work we should simply just leave the artist behind. Move on, that's it, no need to tell new fans they're stupid for listening to the artist now. There's plenty of bands that I only like a certain style of. It would be foolish, and ultimately frustrating, to think that one could possibly like every path of artistic growth of a musician or any artist for that matter. Anyway, most of these artists are creating new work on their own and so what if they go back and relive or try to recreate their older work? Whether it's a cash-grab move or a legitimate artistic one, so be it. Sure, they don't have the power they used to and I totally agree that Morrie's voice is weaker now, Ryuichi doesn't sing like he used to, or Hyde doesn't wear white frock gowns, etc. but does that mean they can never touch the past again just because it doesn't please fans now?

He also produced L'arc en ciel's tracks kaze ni kienaide and I'm So Happy from the True era when they were trying out different producers. I saw Masahide's blog posting on twitter somewhere and was wondering why he titled it 'Goodbye world'. Damn... http://www.masahidesakuma.net/ He says at the end of it that he would be undergoing surgery for the brain tumor on 8/14. Hopefully he's doing as well as can be now!

Damn, despite all of the guitar and drum lineup changes, I'd always thought Kanou and Eden were the constant keeping the group going. It's a shame to see him go. At this point I'm sure Kanou/munimuni could just settle with session guests to help contribute to an EP or album and just release it as a CDR to sell at shows. We should all spam his inbox with bandcamp links which I feel more Japanese artists should do. It would make things cheaper for him to sell and cheaper for us to all buy! And thanks for posting that munimuni clip. Hearing this NEO song makes me excited again to know they haven't lost that certain something that made me love em in the first place.

Yes, the band went on hiatus after their temporary drummer left. It's a shame that so many of their guitarist and drummers leave! Their website says the 'next chapter' will be in December. Can't wait for them to release anything! And from what I could gather, it seems that the DVD was hastily being edited and that perhaps it would not be ready for the 9/28 gig. Sometimes I wonder about this band...do they not release records more frequently because they do not get studio time or is it because they can't get studio time? I mean, they've been writing new songs for years but if anyone remembers their first full album, the webpage was teasing it for about a year and a half before it came out. It sounds to me like they're just financially unable to get into the studio!

Hey everyone, I'm selling off my La:Sadie's collection including objexxx, Lu:Ciel, ketsumatsu, flyers and a signboard. You can find them here: http://shop.ebay.com/rizotonero/m.html I've also got a few other CDs for sale: Cockroach - aoku marui hoshi ni umarete - $10 - shizukanaru mushitachi no wakare - DVD - $20 Malice Mizer - Memoire - $5 (box is beat up) Gastunk - Midnight Rain + 2 - $15 - The End $20 - Mother - $10 - Under the Sun - $10 - Midnight Rain - $7 Sugizo - Parallel Side of Soundtrack - $10 X Japan - Art of Life - $5 (not the special edition) Kuroyume - mayoeru yuritachi - $5 Media Youth - Jesus Christ Rockn Roll $5 each or $16 for all 4 - shikeitai no Elevetor - Spirit - The Shameless Dog Show & Cool The Ask - Wall $3 And I have the following which are brand new/unopened goods. Redrum - Cherpy Pie 2005 Ver -utsukushii kaze -Jellico -bessekai -himitsu -070422 -Mad for Sandess -End of Dogma DVD -Sad Song Classics - DVD tetsu takano - the ball & wall nil - Tears for Killers DVD - Agape - Thank You FC CD - Stronger Than paranoid DVD Please contact me if you are interested in anything or if you need prices on the new goods. Thanks, cardy

The latest news on munimuni can be found here too: http://community.livejournal.com/beatforyou/