Category: Music

Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf Connection is set to Feature the Musical Stylings of Kaede Higuchi and Kanae

There’s more than Dungeons and Dragons in store with Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! The music of Kaede Higuchi and Kanae will close off and may tie in to what’s going on when this anime debuts!

Kaede Higuchi and Kanae’s New Single Yummy YummyVTubing is very popular in Asia and they’re becoming much more mainstream. According to the latest news, the ending theme for the anime, Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! will be sung by virtual idols Kaede Higuchi and Kanae. These two talents from the Nijisanji group operated by ANYCOLOR Inc. are getting noticee, and their song “Yummy Yummy” is set to debut January 29, 2025 and the series will begin broadcasting that month.

As for when this phenomenon will be noticeable in the Western world, that’s still an uncertainty. I fully expect it to happen at some point, but for now, I will just watch what this fast paced industry is pumping out and offer some editorial when it’s appropriate. I’m more curious about the anime, hence my interest about this news!

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Mekakushe × Yuka Nagase Collaboration Live Announced! 

Mekakushe × Yuka Nagase’s latest composition is now available online to stream! And they got great news for fans living in Japan!

Mekakushe × Yuka Nagase “Katsute, Chikyuu wa Shirokatta” - Jacket copy
Mekakushe × Yuka Nagase

Fans of live action and virtual concerts (hololive) performances will be in for a treat next year! Mekakushe and Yuka Nagase have not only released their latest track online last week but also announced they will perform together at a special concert at the Shibuya Pleasure Pleasure Entertainment Palace! This last song of a three-part collaboration deserves to be heard alongside the other two, and what’s heard certainly brings hope for folks wishing for a better future.

Fans planning on visiting Japan or living there might want to buy their tickets for this show happening on February 7, 2025!

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All Macross All The Time with Macross Frontier Nyan Nyan Greatest☆Hits!

Macross Frontier Nyan Nyan Greatest☆Hits! will be released on Ranka Lee’s Birthday, on April 29, 2025.

Macross Frontier Nyan NyanMacross Frontier is getting a new album. Despite the anime series being off the air, the subsequent movies have kept the love alive, and with Macross Frontier Nyan Nyan Greatest☆Hits album, there’s new tracks! Included are the theme song from the film Labyrinth of Time, “Labyrinth of Time,” “Sacrifice,” and “Good job!”

This release will be available in three editions: a limited-edition “Deculture” boxset, a special-edition, and a standard edition. The limited-edition boxset comes in a memorial box and includes the new album, a bonus drama CD with cover songs, a blu-ray disc, and an acrylic figure. The special-edition comes with the album and bonus drama CD in a decorative case.

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At the Victoria Fringe Festival 2024, The Wasteland Preachers Shows How Life Doesn’t Have to Be Like A Castle of Glass

The hope here is that Wasteland Preachers can turn their live show Castle of Glass to a proper album for all to listen to!

Castle of Glass Publicity StillWhen a lonely young man is wailing over lost opportunities, including a failed marriage, just what else can he (Jeremy James Sinclair) do? Sing, of course! Here, the band Wasteland Preachers has a concept album that really needs to be put on CD or Streaming. Castle of Glass is an appropriate title about how fragile life can be.

What works the best is that the music will speak to you. These tunes are more than reflections on his journey, but also explosive revelations. It’s like hearing a different version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, without the Mother figure and Girlfriend as key antagonists. Well, technically, there’s a reference to both, but they aren’t as in your face as Roger Waters makes them out to be. His concept album concerned a persona going through the paces, and this show didn’t have a huge spoken narrative component.

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Introducing Chevon, Where Surrealism Meets J-pop.

Hopefully as Chevon continues to rise up the charts, fans of Japanese pop music world-wide will take notice. Their latest single has a great message and the music video is worth the watch!

Chevon Album CoverSapporo-based rising band Chevon, whose elceletic style of music, has a new track that they’re promoting as they tour Japan! They love it loud, and I first noticed them because in the music video, titled Daikoushin, featured kaiju, and has tones similiar to Blue Oyster Cult’s Godzilla!

Their latest digital single is ‘meimei’, released early this month and there’s no word about when they’ll bring their act to other countries. It’s rare for me to want to see a Japanese act, and this band has become the exception. For those in Japan, the dates listed on Shazam.com are known.

From the Press Release:

With their latest track,. ‘meimei’ means “darkness,” and Chevon’s message is that “in an era when it’s considered best to be bright, it’s also OK to be dark – and it’s the dark ones among us who truly understand the sadness of others.”

The music video expresses a uniquely Japanese aesthetic in a similar vein to the illustration artwork for the ‘Meimei’ tour, resulting in a video that embraces the chaos of Chevon’s ‘Meimei’ world.

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J-pop Star, Ai Otsuka’s Anniversary Gets An Art Exhibition, Fancy Album Release and More!

Ai Otsuka Publicity StillFrom the Press Release:

Since her debut in 2003, J-pop star Ai Otsuka’s numerous hit songs have included ‘Sakuranbo’ and ‘Planetarium.’ In addition to her career as a singer-songwriter, this talent has established herself as a unique multi-talented artist who not only creates music but also picture books, illustrations and stories. Now, as part of the ongoing celebration of the 20th anniversary of Otsuka’s debut, she will hold her first ever solo art exhibition at Tokyo’s Spiral Garden venue, titled AI OTSUKA 20th ANNIVERSARY ART EXHIBITION AIO ART, from July 18 to 29.

The booklet for this exhibition, titled ‘AIO ART’, presents a collection of oil paintings by Otsuka based on her own songs, as well as a CD of her first ever mini-album of piano instrumentals, ‘graine.’ The set will be sold exclusively at the exhibition venue and on the mu-mo shop online store as a limited-edition release.

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