carddass

Yes it is the same vocalist. The only exception are two songs out of all mugen minus' output. Guitarist 朝比昴 provided vocals for one song off each of the albums: 夏の名残り 羊飼いだった少年

Mugen Minus started in 2006 and was a 4 piece electro folk band started by vocalist Jinpei Endo after his previous band Cock Roach ended in 2005. Cock roach was a musically dark and heavy whereas mugen minus was quite the opposite in terms of sound. It was acoustic and folky. I consider both bands to be two different sides of the same coin. Eventually mugen minus added Cock Roach's bassist Honda Chuya in 2007 to become a 5 piece. mugen minus released their first album '死んだはずの僕の旅行' or 'The journey in which I should have died' in 2006, from which shissha ressha was the opening track. The band released a single in 2007 with new member Honda on bass and then released another album 'Perfect World' in 2008. Unfortunately in 2010, percussionist 前川和磨 was arrested for internet fraud, the things I vaguely remember was that it might have been related to a pornography website, and in typical Japanese fashion, he left or was fired from the band, and the whole band paused activities. In 2008, shortly after mugen minus released 'Perfect World', Jinpei and Honda released a work under the name '博士と蟋蟀', hakase to korogi or 'The Doctor and the Cricket' which thematically was closer to Cock roach's harder and darker sound. Eventually mugen minus reformed in 2014 or 2015 but never recorded anything again and only played a few shows before Jinpei and Honda started officially reviving their high school band Cock Roach in 2017. More info here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaEPaEUJYJf_F-QP00b3qDQ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/COCK_ROACH https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/無限マイナス (I just realized I should make an artist thread for these bands as there's virtually nothing about them in English except through this connection from munimuni)

No problem~ Here's a translation for munimuni's He that I'm pretty sure I did. It's timestamped September 18, 2008....so it's been kicking around on my computer for a while and I probably haven't looked at it since then so I can't guarantee the quality but I would guess it's 90% there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ムニムニ ヒー ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The moonlight illuminates the sorrowful curtains. We dance around. Until we return to sand... On that day, I heard a Cry for the moonlight... It's you, just you, I want to know. The season's breeze sways the memories, the scents and the shadows We sing out loud, to the small star above us. On that day, we exchanged a few words. And even now I still can't forgive what you said. All of the future emotions pile up and begin to overflow. The moonlight, the smiling face, the laughter. All in that dark decadence. On that day, I heard a prayer. (he, he, he is xxx...) We were making love. (he, he, he is xxx...) I actually detest it a little. (he, he, he is xxx...) The sound of a broken music box (he, he, he is xxx...) imprisons your profile and fingertips... All of the painful emotions pile up and begin to overflow. It'll be forgiven in this nightmare's darkness. Words and memories burst open. On that day, I saw the tears flow. (he, he, he is xxx...) We were making love. (he, he, he is xxx...) I actually detest it a little. (he, he, he is xxx...) The sound of the broken music box (he, he, he is xxx...) imprisons that encounter to which I say goodbye... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm actually a huge fan of the original shissha ressha by mugen minus and I heard that version before munimuni released their cover. muni's cover was great too but the original is so epic to me that I consider it one of my top 5 favorite Japanese songs. While my Japanese comprehension is probably basic at best, I find the lyrics to be quite poetic. The whole train and death imagery really works well with the minimal folk electro sound mugen had. I liked it so much that I asked a former Japanese coworker to correct my translation which was quite rough back when I did it and he essentially translated it from scratch. I'm not sure if I ever shared this with anyone before: =================================================================================================== 黒蛾を散りばめた夜空 The black moth is framed in the night sky 喪服の行列が街を歩く A procession dressed in black walking the streets それぞれの色の風船持って Each and every one of them holding a different colored balloon 透明な僕をすり抜けた (they) slipped through me being transparent 手放した風船は空高く They release their balloons high into the sky それにつられ僕も宙に浮いた And I followed them (balloons) infectiously into the sky 誰もいない月の駅に着くと And I landed on an empty station on the moon 発車のべルー度だけ響いた the boarding bell lets out its sound just once 走り出した夜の空きれいで the view of night sky from the running train looks so beautiful 君を忘れくないよ I don't want to forget about you. 走り出した夜の空きれいで the view of night sky from the running train looks so beautiful 君を忘れくないよ I don't want to forget about you. いつ空けたか忘れたジャムパンの様に Just like a Jampan that I don't remember when I opened it, (bread with Jam -a popular sweet in Japan and it usually sells being packed with plastic bag.) 透明で乾いた冷気を吐き出して exhaling transparent, dry cold air, いつ空けたか忘れたジャムパンの様に Just like a Jampan that I don't remember when I opened it, 誰にも気付かれないまま旅立つよ I'm going to embark on this journey without anyone noticing! 走り出した夜の空きれいで the view of night sky from the running train looks so beautiful 君を忘れくないよ I don't want to have to forget about you! 走り出した汽車の窓きれいで The window (or view from the window) of the running train looks so beautiful, 君を殺したくないよ I don't want to kill you. もう僕はこのまま 死んでしまうのだろうな。 I guess I'm supposed to pass on as I am 流るる蛾の川を渡り Ferrying across the flowing swarm of a moth river 空より高い空を目指し High above the sky, aiming towards the Heavens =================================================================================================== Translator Notes: I think the tricky part was いつ開けたか忘れたジャムパンのように 透明で乾いた冷気を吐き出した I think what the writer is trying to say is Jampan was left a while ago and people don't care about it and nobody knows when it was opened. And this guy feels like that Jampan which is forgotten by people.. I guess. But then this line contradicts earlier part of the lyrics Just extra info on Jampan, maybe this is just me and could be very subjective but.. if a guy talks about jampan, then jampan often would reminds people of junior and high school era. Teenage boys would buy jampan at a small store in school as a snack. I dont know too many guys eating Jampan after they become adult. (well actually then they become older than 50 or 60, I can see them eating Jampan.) So, what i am trying to say is that "Jampan" could have a (nostalgic) nuance of school days. It is something teenagers used to eat before they get adult. But I am not sure if this nuance is intended in this lyrics, though.. =================================================================================================== And for anyone who hasn't heard the original: And extra bonus random information. Another band 'キアロスタミ' covered this song and released it a few months before mugen minus ever did. I've never listened to it as that band was very tiny and fell out of existence by the late 00s and the CDs are impossible to fine (I've been searching loosely for 15 years almost!) but it has to say something when 2 bands cover a song barely after it's been around.

Post-2010 would be: A Kills A The Doguu Song ウーピーハーピー shiranai no -kioque of bala I liked A Diary of Mr. Moonlight as a whole....but no one track gives me that ear-worm like the above mentioned songs. And just to round things out, here's my pre-2010 favorite list: -Neo Fuffu (this is the definitive version of the song for me - that scream at the end right before the last chorus is amazing) -Beat for you -He -Believe -magaru sekai -one day -spellbound -Moon & The Moonies -setsudan Also, for some more of Maternou's rapping 'skills' can be heard in the short lived 玉筋クールJ太郎 side project:

I just checked my e-mail and a munimuni newsletter arrived today stating that it is Ankou: "6/2の公演からアンクー(ギター/dummy-xD)再加入しましす・・・。 ※延期になってしまった「4/29ギタークレ卒業ギグ」は調整中です。（卒業ギグとしての開催をしない可能性もございますのでご了承ください。）" Also, I totally forgot there was an Artist thread for them! Should we be posting there or here for these little bits of news?

Thanks for the setlist Jigsaw! I missed the live broadcast as I was traveling at the time but I've downloaded it for safe keeping and just started watching it. The drums on this opening track really hooked me - can't wait to hear the studio version. Another nice thing about this live, the sound quality and editing/camera work are a whole lot better than some their previous DVD releases (excluding one-camera shoots). munimuni need to do more shows like this! And this image on Shintaro's twitter mentions the guitarist Ankou from dummy-xD was playing on this show. I just double checked and he's been doing support guitar work for munimuni through the years and since he's the vocalist and guitarist of dummy-xD who knows if he'll be permanent member or not?

Exactly. In this era, I treat nearly all small bands like a kickstarter / gofundme who need every little bit to get that next release out there.

Excellent. I'll have to throw them some money then!

I just this on my youtube feed and was going to post it here. I wonder if non-Japanese users can join ofuse in order to donate some money to them?

Nice! Sounds promising. Also, Ikebukuro Chop, the live house which I believe Matenrou works at, is posting alot of videos, some old and some live streamed. It's good to keep an eye out as there are some of his other session projects posted or streamed there occasionally: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaurCKh9jYtnpyxjMVMm20A/videos

It was pretty good. I always liked the idea of a one-camera live bootleg - it makes me feel like I'm there in the crowd. And any setlist where they play 'He' is a win for me. It's possibly my favorite track by them.

Looks like there will be an old munimuni live posted to youtube tomorrow! Edit: Here's the setlist from their website ※SE Warszawa / デヴィッド・ボウイ 01.NEO SONG 02.TIME IS FATE 03.&4 04.BIG MONEY 05.He

The other work definitely has a Junjo Ito / Francis Bacon vibe to it. I appreciate the fact that the band chose an actual hand-drawn artwork versus a photo or photoshop magic.

The full version of their PV was finally posted it. There is alot of animation in this video which probably took one animator a long time to finish. The results I think are pretty spectacular! If you want to order the album internationally, simply write them through their contact form and they'll work with you. I did and received the album promptly! http://cockroach.jp/contact

Hopefully they recorded that album before KLE leaves.

A new video featuring a new song 'Barairo no kimi', Believe and He. The newsletter has the lyrics which are chock full of Zi:Kill, Cure and New Order song and album titles: 「薔薇色の君」by M.C. Dance on dance. 今宵夢見る。 手を取りSLOW DANCE ドキドキしちゃってさ・・・。 My red shoes 赤い靴の秘密。 七回紐を結ぶと、 眞夜中、ざわめく。 Step to rain 孤高の雨が降る。 砂の音をCLOSE DANCE 無口なる囁き。 パーフェクトキッス・・・ お別れにはまだ・・・ 天国へSLOW DOWN 足跡、影踏み。 Blood flowers 夢幻のincense Will you そうさ幻影と踊る 似ているあなたの痛み。 行けよ、未だ逢えないのなら・・・。 似ている僕らの傷み。 行けよ、薔薇色の夜にさ！ うふふふ・・・ぐへへへ・・・。

Thanks, I like it. I'm sure the Depeche Mode comparison is an easy one. Ken Morioka even has that Martin Gore vibe! And I like DM so I should enjoy SB. And I just watched this video and found out Takashi Fujita from Doom was the guest guitarist for Soft Ballet for a few years!

Nice, I wish they did more thngs like this. Just post whole songs or encores or something! It's almost the cheapest thing a band can do to build their following, throw a camera on a tripod, press record, edit a bit and upload the video onto youtube! And I didn't recognize that last song - Soft Ballet is one of those bands I know I'll like once I start trying to listen to them.

Nice finds. Looks like there was some serious recording going on. And I didn't even know he had a twitter! After he removed the link from his blog years ago, I just thought he gave up that sort of thing. Seems like he just moved over to twtitter. Why he doesn't post the link on the official page is confusing to me though.

That's good to hear, hopefully whatever they did record gets released relatively quickly an ddoesn't suffer the same fate as the doguu album did.

Some unfortunate news that just arrived in the e-mail newsletter from the band / Canou: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2/7公演にて発表しましたが、ギターのKLEが脱退します・・・。 卒業公演は、4/27(moon)[顔面とサウンドが究極にかっこいいダンスパーティー part_01]公演と成ります。 最後まで応援よろしくお願いいたします。 ※4/27以降、ライブ活動は休止予定です。 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guitarist KLE announced during munimuni's 2/7 gig that he is leaving the band. He will be there until his 'graduation performance' on April 27th after which time the band pause live activities. This band's lineup had one of the longest runs together? Maybe as long as that initially lineup when the band first started. And I don't recall if they outright said in the past if they would pause live acitivites after former members left. They usually just had a new guitarist / bassist / drummer lined up already to make a seamless transition. What does that mean for all of those new songs? Did they even hit the studio to record them or will several of them go unused if they were written by Kle? Also there was one new song that was frequently the setlists recently: 薔薇色の夜 Barairo no yoru / Rose colored night

These articles reference other genres of music but you have to wonder how much of streaming is shaping the length of songs in Japan too. https://inews.co.uk/news/entertainment/music-charters-streaming-effect-no-1-singles-songs-shorter-638521 https://qz.com/1519823/is-spotify-making-songs-shorter/

I was hoping Dir's cover would sound more along the lines of what they did with sixugly. National Media Boys seems like a song ripe for that sort of style. And I'm looking forward to Der Zibet's and Cube Juice's contributions. The latter, along with a few other tracks on this one, are nice deviations from the expected rock cover treatment.

Nice, I Iike it. I always enjoyed his manic, sometimes excessive, design style that he does so well for the flzers.