Kalafina x Tanimura Shinji ~ Alcira no Hoshi (short version PV & cover art released)

Universal Music Japan has released a short version MV for the soon to be released Tanimura Shinji x Kalafina collaboration.  It's the same section of the song that they released for the preview earlier.  The videos are updated though and it's quite lovely. 

Well, it's not exactly an outstanding MV by any means, but I like it mostly because it shows Kalafina at work in the studio and recording together.  They seem happy and relaxed.  So it made me smile.

NOISEMAKER ~ A-Sketch Showcase- live in Singapore, Millian soft opening

Last night, I went with a couple of friends to the opening of a new live house + nightclub called Millian in Singapore.  We were there partly to check out the place and to check out this Japanese band called NOISEMAKER.

The band was brought in to perform at the soft opening of Millian.  And it was a free live so we thought, we'll check it out since we like Japanese music, we like lives and from what we could tell from the music videos on YouTube, they seem interesting.

Millian is located at St. James Power Station.  Now if, you have never been to St. James Power Station, it might be a little tricky finding the place.  We got a little lost, not terribly, but there's no signage once you get to the building, so instructions would be useful. So I'll give some simple instructions here, should any of you ever need to find Millian, you will be able to.

『Fate/Grand Order』×『空の境界』コラボCM

ufotable released a CM announcing the Fate/Grand Order x Kara no Kyoukai collaboration today.  Man!!! Shiki looks sooooooo badass in this video. :)

Fate/Grand is a mobile game which isn't available in the Android Play Store for Singapore.  Although there are ways and means to get it to work on an Android phone which isn't tied to the Japan Play Store, my mobile phone won't run it properly so I've never played it.  From what I can tell, it seems that Shiki will be available as one of the servants in the Assassin class.

Ieiri Leo ~ Obake no Namida - web only 30s trailer

This is kind of cool for Ieiri Leo fans. :)  If you do read the blog, you'll know that in an earlier post about my experience at Ieiri's Zepp DiverCity live in Tokyo, I also talked about her new song Obake no Namida.  At that point in time, I said that it would probably be hard for international fans to see the MV for that song because it's for NHK's Minna no Uta program and will screen on NHK.

Well, that hasn't changed.  BUT what they did release is a special web only 30sec video clip that previews the Obake no Namida song.




Ieiri fans should watch this. :)  Because the little girl in the video clip is Ieiri herself. It's edited from home videos of her when she was a child.  She was a very cute child.  Not that she's not cute now, just that she had really pinch-able cheeks as a kid.  I'm certainly not going to be trying to pinch her cheeks now. :)

My CDs of Hello to the World have shipped.  :)  I'm not sure when I'll get them.  I was kinda broke then, so I picked one of the cheaper methods of shipping.  So it'll be a while before the CDs reach me. If I'm lucky, it'll reach me by the end of next week.  If not, fingers crossed, it'll be here by the following week.  Can't wait. :)

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu ~ 5th Anniversary World Tour - Singapore

Maybe about 2 weeks ago, KPP said during an interview that Singapore will be one of the stops during her 5th Anniversary World Tour.  And now the details have been released.

Her live will be held on the 13th May (Friday) 8pm at the Esplanade Theatre.  Wow!! That's a nice location.  The ticket prices are also very decent and cheaper than her previous concerts in Singapore too.

CLICK ME to go to SISTIC booking page

She's coming as part of a larger festival called the Super Japan - Japanese Festival of Arts 2016. Here's the link to information on the rest of the acts in the festival.  CLICK ME.

I'm going to try and go with my friends. While I do listen to electronic music and bubblegum pop, they aren't not my favourite genre.  But I don't mind KPP.  Her lives are quite fun and I have several friends who like her so it's fun to go together. :)

NOISEMAKER ~ free concert in Singapore

[ MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ]Exclusive VIP Event at MILLIANWe are inviting you, our fans,to the soft opening of MILLIAN,a...
Posted by Amuse Inc. Asia on Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Oh!!! I almost forgot to talk about this.

Japanese music fans in Singapore should really take note of this event.  Amuse is a Japanese entertainment company that manages various artistes.  They manage several artistes that have thrown lives in Singapore before and I quite like them because they are one of the few Japanese entertainment companies that actually seem interested in marketing to the South East Asian market.  THANK YOU!!!

Ieiri Leo & 家入レオ LIVE at Zepp 2016 ～two colours～ -- impressions of the live

source

It's no secret that I rather like Ieiri Leo.  Although I'm not as crazy about her as I am about Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction or Kalafina, I still like her enough to buy her albums and singles.  Kajiura Yuki's mixed genre work and the lovely and complex harmonies brought to live by some quite capable vocalists will likely reign supreme in my heart for quite some time yet because it's an unusual mix and I like it largely because of that.

Now usually, I'm not a fan of the average Japanese female pop star because they tend to be pretty high pitch and some of them sound quite thin to me.  But some of the garage rock girl bands aren't too bad even if some of them can be a little too high pitch for me too.  I had a particular fondness for Stereopony but they broke up. :(  I used to be fonder of Scandal in their earlier days too because I felt they sounded edgier then, now they sound too J-Pop and a little higher pitch then I like.

So I eat the Kalafina Christmas cookie on the 3rd day of CNY

Hahaha.... that title for this blog post is the best that I can do. :P  I have no talent for writing titles.  It must be why I don't write for a living. :)

Well, so it's the third day of Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year as it's known in some other parts of the world, and I will have to return to work today.  It has been a relatively long and very good break from work and I would be lying if I said that I can't wait to return.  Since the restructuring at work, I think none of us who remain really feel like going to work anymore.  The trip to see Kalafina four times live and Ieiri Leo live once in Japan couldn't have come at a better time.  I really needed to escape from reality and although this trip wasn't planned at a time when I felt like I needed to run away for a while, it was timed perfectly for it.

But it's the third day of CNY and most of us will return to work today because we only get two public holidays for CNY.  So no matter how much I would like to avoid the changes and the stark reality that many of those that I have worked side by side with for years are no longer there, I must go back to it and face it head-on because one cannot escape forever.

Hence, on the third day of CNY, I decided I needed to eat something sweet and something that would cheer me up.  Unlike Keiko, who only needs a cheery "good morning" to change her mood for the day, today requires much stronger medicine than that.  So with Kalafina's music playing in the background and steaming hot coffee in my cup, I eat their Christmas cookie on the 3rd day of CNY. :)

Kalafina VEVO channel on YouTube

Oh.... I wanted to write about this earlier but forgot.  A good friend and a fellow Kalafina fan informed me in Jan while I was in Japan that there have been some massive updates to Kalafina's VEVO channel on YouTube.  (Thanks for the tip, buddy. :) )

And just as I was about to go to bed, I got another notification in my email that even more video clips have been added on the 6th Feb. :)

source

It's all pretty cool for us international fans because VEVO should be legit and it's not IP locked to Japan. :)  THANK YOU!!!!!! It's a little late but it's a good start.  I hope this bodes well for the future. Please stop IP locking these to Japan, Kalafina has a pretty big following outside of Japan and IP locking 15-30 second CMs and short version PVs makes no sense to me.

Perfume, KPP, Ieiri Leo, angela, Suiyoubi no Campanella etc have quite a lot of material that isn't IP locked to Japan.  It's time that more and more Japanese music companies work out better licensing agreements that will allow promotional material to be accessible outside of Japan too.  These are promotional material, it's meant to promote the music, so use it to promote the music to the world too, not just Japan.

Now I can actually share their MVs on Facebook, twitter and even on this blog without worrying about copyright restrictions. :)

Please, please, please do not IP lock future CMs and MVs so that I can help you promote their music without breaking copyright restrictions. Thanks!!!!! :)

Okay... now I MUST sleep.  Good night!!!!

[WANT TO SELL] Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2014 at Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall A LE CD

WANT TO SELL (edit 18th Feb)
1 Copy - SOLD (thank u!)
1 Copy - SOLD (thank u!)

I have two copies of this release that I wish to sell. They are sealed copies which I brought back from Japan.  I already own a copy and opened that one and did an unboxing of that release on the blog.  CLICK ME to look at the unboxing.

I picked these up at the concert venues themselves which means that I picked these up at 3400 yen which is inclusive of goods tax.  If you buy them from places like CDJapan etc and you're shipping them outside of Japan, you won't be charged the Japan sales tax, which will make this release 3148yen.

Using XE Calculator and the most current rate. 3400yen works out to be SGD41 rounded down and 3148yen is SGD38 rounded down.

Kajiura Yuki ~ Sword Art Online Music Collection - unboxing

AMEND: 18:30pm
Huh....after I posted this very long post which included a bit about me moping about Keiko not at vol.13....the FJC sent out an email and it seems Keiko is not well. She's suffering from mild bronchitis and will take some time off to concentrate on her treatment.  It seems though that it shouldn't affect her apperances at the Kalafina lives.  Just that, I think that's why she won't be at the Yuki Kajiura vol.13 lives.
Ah.... at least I understand why she won't be there now.  It doesn't make me less disappointed.  But I really rather she take time off to heal.  GET WELL SOON KEIKO!!!!!! お大事に!!!

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As a big Kajiura Yuki fan and someone who's a bit of a completist, I just had to also pick up this OST boxset simply because the music is composed by Kajiura Yuki.  To be completely honest, SAO isn't my favourite anime.  Actually, to be brutally honest, I don't even like the anime at all. :(  I couldn't even finish the first season even though I was maybe only three episodes away from the end. I only enjoyed the first arc and thought the second arc was horrible and only endured as much as I could just for Kajiura sensei's music.  Then I gave up and never even attempted Season 2 or Extra Edition etc. :(

Kalafina 8th Anniversary Special products The Live Album "Kalafina LIVE TOUR 2014" at Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall A ~ unboxing

Now that I'm back from Japan and seem to be recovering from the cold that I caught in Tokyo, I figured it's time I get around to doing the unboxing for this item. :) I don't think it'll be a very long post and will probably have more photos then text.... probably.... since I can be terribly verbose. :P

This was released on the 20th Jan and I picked up three copies in Japan because I was trying to get different tokutens.  So yes, I will be trying to sell two of the three copies but I'll write out those details in another post. :)

Anyway, without too much ado, let's have the photos. :)

Japan Day 3 ~ Nagano - Jigokudani, Snow Monkeys (back track)

I originally started writing this post before the Kalafina "far on the water" and after the Kalafina "8th Anniversary" lives.  But I was travelling quite a bit and it was cold so I ended up sleeping more than writing. :P  I come from a tropical country, so although cold weather is nice, I'm not used to it being so cold all the time. :P

So now that I am at the airport and have some time, I thought I'll just try and finish this post in Narita and then maybe try and get to an Ieiri Leo live at Zepp DiverCity post after this when I return to Singapore. :)

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After two very awesome Kalafina lives on Day 1 and 2 of my trip to Japan, it was time to do some sightseeing. I had about a week before the Kalafina "far on the water" SP Final lives at the end of January so I had options.  One of my friends, SY who loves travelling to Japan like me decided to join me for the week and so we headed off to Yudanaka, Nagano.

Kalafina ~ far on the water ~ SP Final lives in Tokyo Day 2 (31st Jan 2016)

Once again I'm still too high to sleep even though I am physically tired. Kalafina lives hold so much power over me. LOL

Today's live end the "far on the water" Japan lives.  Originally this weekend was suppose to mark the end of the "far on the water" tour, till they announced Mexico and also confirmed the Shanghai leg of this tour.  Sadly, for us in Singapore, we have to still wait for a time when Keiko makes good on her word at AFA 2011 that they will be back. :'(  I suppose they have a lot of concerns and places to visit which would make it hard to come back to Singapore.  So for now, I can do nothing but to hope and hope.  Maybe someday my dream of seeing them live in the Esplanade would come true.  I don't really think it would but one can always dream. :)