Koda Kumi, w-inds., Hoshimura Mai, Tackey & Tsubasa, Kelly Chen, AKFG, Koichi Domoto, SweetS
Hello!! First of all, apologies if you visited J~melody on Saturday and found the site was down, LJ was doing some system maintenance affecting J~melody's page which may have blanked out for some hours or in read-only mode.
Back to the songs!~ There were quite a few requests last week, all are granted except for a few that were requested on Friday/Saturday 5th-6th November, so if you requested a song on one of those days they will appear in the next entry providing that I have or found them.
The J-music releases this week was nothing too exciting, unless if you're a Tackey & Tsubasa or SweetS fans in which you'd please to know they've finally released a new single. Hopefully there will be some better exciting new releases in the J-music scene next week =P
I've set up an AudioScrobbler page recently, you can see what I'm listening to and request a song from the list if you like, songs not on the list may also be requested.
Any requests are to be left in your comments, I'll try my best.
Enjoy!!~
> Right click on files and choose 'save target as' to download.
> Do Not Hotlink.
> Rotated Weekly (Saturday/Sunday)
> Please leave a comment regardless of how many songs you take. No comments, no mp3s.
> Support the musicians - Yes Asia | CD Japan | Amazon Japan | HMV Japan
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Koda Kumi ~ life ~ SNATCH
Single - Kiseki [奇跡]
Style - Pop
Language - Japanese
Release - 2004.09.08
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★★☆
Official Website
Koda Kumi first made her debut on 6th December 2000 after spending most of her life going to singling auditions. Kumi's mother wanted her to go to college, and told her if she didn't make a final audition just before she graduated, she would have to give up her dream for good.
Fortunately for her, she came 2nd at the 'Dream' audition by avex where around 130,000 people showed up, finally gaining the recognition she longed for.
Koda Kumi has attempted to break America, and her single 'TAKE BACK' reached number 18 on the US Billboard chart and the follow up 'Trust Your Love' reached number 1 in Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles chart.
'Kiseki' is Kumi's latest single, someone requested Kumi's newer songs last week so I decided to pick a song from this single to upload. 'Life' seems to be the better track out of the three with a nice catchy chorus.
Kumi's next 14th single, '~girls~Selfish~' is due out this month on November 25th.
[Requested]
w-inds. ~ Because of you ~ SNATCH
w-inds. ~ Because of you ~j'adore party style~ ~ SNATCH
Single - Because of you
Style - Pop
Language - Japanese
Release - 2002.08.21
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★★☆
Official Website
w-inds. are Ryohei, Keita and Ryuichi, all whom have come from a long way to achieve their success today, it was Keita's [lead vocalist of w-inds.] childhood dream and ambition to become a successful singer and in 1999 at the very young age of 14 he entered 'ASAYAN' idol audition, with his harmonious vocals exceeding to 5 octaves he managed to succeed. Ryohei and Ryuichi were discovered in a seperate audition and had taken up training since a young age at their home town's 'Hokkaido Junior Actors Studio' [HJAS, now known as 'Japan Actors Studio].
w-inds. were chosen by the leading director of Vision Factory, who had also produced DA PUMP back in 1997.
In 2001 w-inds. were formed and before their debut single 'Forever Memories' released on March 14th they had spent most of their time performing street lives in Tokyo, their last performance before official debut was on March 11th and attracted an amazing 8000 people in the audience.
During the same year 2001 on December 19th debut album '1st Message' released storming straight to number 1 on ORICON. On December 31st w-inds. received three major awards including 'Japan Records Awards' for best new comer, 'GOLDEN ARROW Awards' and 'JAPAN GOLD DISC AWARD' for the same category.
w-inds. have since released 13 singles with 5 number ones, including their latest new single 'Shiki', 3 albums and have held 3 major tours across Japan.
They celebrated their 3rd anniversary this year with the release of their best album '~bestracks~' in June.
'Because of you' is w-inds. 6th single released two years ago, one of their high ranked singles, an upbeat track with the raps of Ryuichi.
The remix was not requested but I thought I include it as well since its one of their better remixes worth checking out.
[Requested]
Hoshimura Mai [星村麻衣] - Himawari [ひまわり] ~ SNATCH
Single - Himawari [ひまわり]
Style - Ballad
Language - Japanese
Release - 2004.06.09
Quality - Medium
Rating - ★★★★☆
Official Website
Mai, also known as 'piano girl' first came in contact with the piano at the age of four and had started composing her own music since her early school days.
Her debut came in 2002 when she released 'Stay With You' on October 23rd.
Mai had also performed for several live events they were so popular that she even has her own monthly show titled 'PIANO GANG STAR' which recently started this year and was reported to have sold out every time.
Mai has graduated from university this Spring and is now set to focus on more musical activities.
'Himiwari' is Hoshimura Mai's 5th single. The song was requested last week, I'm glad to have discovered her from this request, however, I initially thought I had found the CD-rip of the song, but when I listened to the whole song later in the week I realised the quality isn't too good, I spent the past few days searching for a better version to download and ended up with 5 different files, all of which sounding like PV rip quality. But since I had promised to upload it I picked out the better one out of the 5. However, if any of you have a good/better quality version of this song please let me know!
Tackey & Tsubasa ~ Aiso kyoku (Serenade) ~SNATCH
Single - 愛想曲(セレナーデ)
Style - Pop
Language - Japanese
Release - 2004.11.03
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★☆☆
Official Website
Tackey & Tsubasa are Imai Tsubasa and Takizawa Hideaki, the duo unit from Johnny's Entertainment who releases records under Avex.
Their debut release was the album 'Hatachi' in 2002, September 11th, 'True Heart' from the album became their first major hit. 'Hatachi' was also released in six other asian nations including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
Aiso kyoku [愛想曲] is their 4th single released almost aftft nine months since their third single 'One Day, One Dream'.
New song 'Serenade' is the CM song for 'Olympus mini Digital' camera, similar style to their last two singles, 'Yume Monogatari' and 'One Day, One Dream'.
Kelly Chen ~ 情不自禁 [Self Un-stoppable Love] ~ SNATCH
[Cover of Utada Hikaru's Automatic]
Album - LOVE KELLY
Style - Pop
Language - Mandarin
Release - 1999.05.25
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★★☆
Official Website
Asides from Cantonese, Kelly can also speak Mandarin, Japanese and English, she studied in Japan during her early teenage years which later continued in American. She also travelled to New York to study Graphic Design at 'Parsons School of Design'. After graduating Kelly returned to Hong Kong where she was spotted and approached to become a model in a credit card advert, this was followed by appearing in a music video. Soon she met her present manager, Claudia Chung who signed Kelly up with her first record company, 'Go East', Kelly released her debut album in 1995 and had since become huge in Hong Kong and other neighbouring Asian countries.
Her first live tour was held in 1997 proving to be a big success. In the same year Kelly released her first Japanese single in Japan although it failed to hit the high on the charts Kelly's image and style was admired but the Japanese, being 180cm in height [about 5'8"] with attractive and elegant features as well as being able to speak Japanese it was not hard for Kelly to go unnoticed in Japan. She appeared in Japanese CMs and fashion magazines which later progressed to starring in a J-drama with Kyoko Fukada, the two have become good friends ever since.
Travelling back and fourths to Japan at the time Kelly became more exposed to J-music, in 1999 when Utada Hikaru released her debut single 'Automatic' followed by the album 'First Love' it attracted Kelly's attention straight away, she admired Hikki's R&B style and especially the song 'Automatic', hence it inspired Kelly to have a go at doing a cover of the song as well as to try the R&B genre for the first time. Kelly's version released in the same year featuring as a special extra in her first 'best-of' mandarin compilation album.
Regardless of how popular the cover was Kelly's popularity had already been rising and continued to rise. She later released another single in Japan followed with an album in 2002 as well as starring in the movie 'Calmi cuori Appassionati' with actor Yutaka Takenouchi. With all this happening at the same time she was still able to keep up her achievements back at home in Hong Kong as well as Taiwan, Singapore, China and Malaysia.
Kelly's hetic schedule started to slow down at the end of 2003 as her record contract with 'Go East' was coming to an end. I'm not quite sure if she had decided to move record companies or not though finally after another 'Best-of' collection released in December 2003 brand new album 'Stylish Index' released after much anticipation in September this year with positive reviews.
Back to the song uploaded, a cover of Hikki's Automatic which you may or may not have heard of, without a doubt the original is obviously better, the main difference being both cover and original have their own feel and emotions, Kelly's version sounds more mature particularly in the lyrics and in the way she manages the song with her voice.
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION ~ Mirai no kakera [未来の破片] ~ SNATCH
Single - ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
Style - Rock, Punk
Language - Japanese
Release - 2003.08.06
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★★★
Official Website
The band was formed in 1996 by Masafumi, Kensuke and Takahiro. Ichiji, their drummer, joined later. Their first works were sold exclusivley online and their debut album released in the year 2000 was entirely in English.
In 2001 the band began self promoting by sending tapes to radio stations which finally led them onto some success, 'Konayuki' was Asian Kung's first aired song. In the same year they released their second album with Japanese lyrics.
In 2002 mini album 'Houkai Amplifier' was released ranking no. 1 on the 'High Line Record Sales'. During the same year the song 'Haruka Kanata' became the opening theme tune for anime NARUTO. Their success and popularity steadily began to rise along with increasing record sells.
Their single 'Rewrite' released on August 4th became the opening theme for the anime 'Full Metal Alchemist'.
AKFG's 3rd album 'Sol-Fa' [ソルファ] released on October 20th had hit number one on debut, currently ranked first position on Oricon's Weekly Albums charts.
'Mirai no kakera' released last year and can be found in their 2nd album, a personal favourite of mine, both second and third album rocks.
[Requested]
KOICHI DOMOTO ~ Temperamental Fool ~ SNATCH
Limited Edition Single - KOICHI DOMOTO LIVE TOUR 2004
Style - Pop/R&B
Language - Japanese
Release - 2004.10.14
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★☆☆
Official Website
Koichi Domoto is a member of the most popular 'Johnny's Entertainment' duo Kinki Kids with Tsuyoshi Domoto. They made their debut in 1997 with the single 'Garasu no Shounen' [Glass Boy] hitting number one on Oricon for several weeks. Kinki Kids have since entered the Guinness Book of Records for a record ranking of number one for all the singles they've released.
In the recent years the guys have started to concentrate on solo projects.
'Temperamental Fool' is a track from the limited edition DVD of Koichi Domoto's Live Tour 2004 where a bonus CD of four songs were included. Temperamental Fool consists of repetitive chorus and a slight touch of R&B.
SweetS ~ into the daylight ~hikari sasu hou he~ ~ SNATCH
single - Sky
Style - Pop
Language - Japanese
Release - 2004.11.03
Quality - High
Rating - ★★★★☆
Official Website
SweetS are Aki, Aya, Haruna, Miori and Mai, a group of five girls aged between 12-13 at present. The girls were chosen in 'Avex Audition 2002'.
The producer BOUNCEBACK recognised by his work with BoA and Ayumi Hamasaki was invited to p pduce for SweetS, surely enough SweetS made their debut in August 2003 with 'Lolita★Strawberry in Summer' ranking high on the charts for a consecutive five weeks and even making the TOP 100 ranking for that year.
Their First mini-album 'SWEETS' released on March 2004.
'Sky' is SweetS 5th single, highly anticipated though somewhat disappointing, the coupling track 'into the daylight' composed by BOUNCEBACK seems better than the A-side in my own view, nothing too exciting though reasonably enjoyable nevertheless.