Tokyo's Coolest Sound

Misswonda has a 2nd album coming on new label flawless world (post-Usagi-chang Records)! It's already been 5 years since "Wonderful Tangent" (2005). The album takes inspiration from UK new wave and various rock/pop/dance influences from the 80's and 90's, and is co-produced by Suzuki Akira (label boss, ex-Sonic Coaster Pop). Listen to the digest clip below!

This comes as a generous package of 2 CDs! Disc 1 is the album itself, and disc 2 contains 7 remixes by the likes of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, st.classics (aka Suzuki Akira), Tremorela (aka Tanaka Tomonao), Cherryboy Function (eXt Recordings), Spikewave (Crue-L Records), and more!

Misswonda "In Flawless"

CD 1
1. I am a moon
2. Blue, blue in the world
3. Second Blooming
4. Rain Drops Dances
5. Tsuki ga michita tokini...
6. kirameki no tsubasa
7. ningyo hime
8. Love Fish
9. suisei no Waltz
10. Hanon

CD 2
1. Blue,blue in the world (Plus-Tech Squeeze Box REMIX)
2. Rain Drops Dances (st.classics REMIX)
3. kirameki no tsubasa (TREMORELA REMIX)
4. ningyo hime (SPIKEWAVE REMIX)
5. Love Fish (CHERRYBOY FUNCTION REMIX)
6. suisei no Waltz (takuya REMIX)
7. Hanon (aM REMIX)

flawless world XQJE-1002
Out 2/9, ¥2381 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†, YesAsia,
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

Digest sampler clip

The Suzan played an acoustic show last January 9 at Apple Store Ginza, and it's now available on iTunes Japan at a nice price! All tracks are from their album "Golden Week For The Poco Poco Beat" which has just been released in Japan at the same time. The album is also available worldwide from U.S. label Fool's Gold.

The Suzan "iTunes Live"

1. Home (Live)
2. Devils (Live)
3. Into the Light (Live)
4. Ramble (Live)
5. Nice Codes (Live)
6. Rondo (Live)
7. Neverland (Live)
8. Come Come (Live)
9. Uh Ah (Live)
10. Rainy Day (Live)

Hostess
Out now (1/26), ¥900
Sample/buy:

How to buy from iTunes Japan from overseas

Here's a new mini-album from Halcali! Included are several new songs, a remix by 80KIDZ and a self-cover of early song "Strawberry Chips". Shibuya-kei fans will rejoice that new song "Girl!Girl!Girl!" is produced by Nakatsuka Takeshi with lyrics written by Nomiya Maki! "Roman hikō" is a cover of Kome Kome Club previously released as a single last september.

Find details about each song over at fan blog Halcali Sensation.

Halcali "Tokyo Connection"

1. Roman hikō (feat. Your Song Is Good)
2. Girl!Girl!Girl! (2011) (Produced by Takeshi Nakatsuka / Lyrics by Nomiya Maki)
3. giri Choco (Produced by Yōsuke@HOME & Halcali)
4. SUPERSTITIONS (Produced by Yusuke Tanaka / Lyrics by Ishiwatari Junji)
5. Hey My Melody (Produced by Nakamura Hiroshi (i-dep))
6. Strawberry Chips (Sweet Blue Beat ver.)
7. Marching March (80KIDZ Remix)

Epic ESCL-3567
Out 2/9, ¥1748 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Play-Asia, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records ^†, YesAsia
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

"Roman hikō"

Perfume has a new DVD coming of their concert held at Tokyo Dome on November 3 last year. Their biggest yet show for an audience of 50000 fans marked their 10th anniversary (and also the 5th of moving to a major label). A must see!

(You can watch a tiny bit of the show on YouTube here, though this might not be the same edit as included on the DVD.)

Perfume "Perfume Live @ Tokyo Dome '1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11'" (DVD)
Perfume 「結成10周年、メジャーデビュー5周年記念!Perfume LIVE @東京ドーム『1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11』」 (DVD)
(Region 2 NTSC)

1. GISHIKI
2. Secret Secret
3. fushizen na Girl
4. GAME
5. One Room Disco
6. Natural ni koi shite
7. love the world
8. I still love U
9. 575
10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11. Perfume no okite
12. VOICE
13. Computer City
14. Electro World
15. Perfect Star Perfect Style
16. Dream Fighter
17. "P.T.A." no Corner
18. Jenny wa gokigen naname
19. (Computer Driving Intro) ~ Perfume
20. Chocolate Disco
21. Puppy love
22. wonder2
23. nee
24. Polyrhythm

Regular edition (1 DVD)
Tokuma Japan TKBA-1147
Out 2/9, ¥4000 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Play-Asia, Amazon (27% off *), HMV (21% off *), Tower Records ^†, YesAsia
* Discount at time of writing
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

YesAsia alone still seems to take orders for the limited edition, that sold out quickly elsewhere. It includes a bonus disc with alternate versions, and comes with a replica staff pass and a poster. Hurry if you want it!

Limited edition (2 DVDs + goodies)
Tokuma Japan TKBA-1143
Out 2/9, ¥6191 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Play-Asia, HMV, YesAsia

HNC (aka Hazel Nuts Chocolate)'s new offering is a 7" of "Witches' Party", a track from album "CULT" (2009). The B-side is a remix by Threepee Boys, said to be borrowing a sample from a well-known witch.

This actually comes with a bonus CD of all brand new tracks, including a cover of UK band Noah and the Whale's "5 Years Time".

Audio samples at Jet Set, and check out the video below!

HNC "Witches' Party EP" (7"+CD)

7"
A. Witches' Party
B. Witches' Party (Threepee Boys Remix)

CD
1. I Dream I Dead
2. Night Thoughts
3. Floating Bananas
4. 5 Years Time
5. Witches' Party (Threepee Boys Remix)

White Lily Records WL7S001
Out 2/4, ¥1500 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Jet Set

"I Dream I Dead"

Toki Asako (ex-Cymbals) has a new album coming, a collection of cover songs plus some recent songs for TV commercials (for Shiseidō, Uniqlo, Nissan and DoCoMo).

Lead song "Gift ~anata wa Madonna~" has been released as a "one coin" ¥500 single 2 weeks early, details below.

Toki Asako "Toki Asako Light! ~CM & Cover Songs~"
土岐麻子 「Toki Asako Light! ~CM & Cover Songs~」

1. Gift ~anata wa Madonna~
2. How Beautiful
3. Waltz for Debby (Bill Evans)
4. All You Need Is Love (The Beatles)
5. i-ke-na-i Rouge Music (忌野清志郎+坂本龍一)
6. komugiiro no Mermaid (Matsuda Seiko)
7. Reach Out, I'll Be There (The Four Tops)
8. Summer Nide (Magokoro Bros)
9. Human Nature (Michael Jackson) with Wada Shō from Triceratops
10. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles)
11. aozora no kakera (Saitō Yuki)
12. Come On A My House (Eri Chiemi)

Rhythm Zone RZCD-46733
Out 2/2, ¥2096 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Play-Asia, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†, YesAsia
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

Toki Asako "Gift ~anata wa Madonna~"
土岐麻子 「Gift ～あなたはマドンナ～」

1. Gift ~anata wa Madonna~
2. Medley of CM & Original Songs 2008-2010 ("All You Need Is Love" ~ "Waltz for Debby" ~ "How Beautiful" ~ "ranhansha Girl")
3. Gift ~anata wa Madonna~ (Instrumental)

Rhythm Zone RZCD-46767
Out now (1/19), ¥477 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Play-Asia, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†, YesAsia,
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

"Gift ~anata wa Madonna~"

This first album by singer-songwriter and model nAo is produced by Moonriders' Okada Tōru, who is recently also active as CTO LAB. Included are two songs involving The Aprils' Imai Kentarō (also of CTO LAB.), "My Sunshine" in which he co-wrote the music with Plus-tech Squeeze Box, and a cover of The Aprils' "boku uchū".

nAo "Strawberry Heart"

1. Across the Horizon
2. Espresso de nemurenai
3. 16 yoru usagi
4. sayonara wa yoake no yume ni
5. my sunshine
6. ameagari ni kaerō
7. Something for A Girl
8. boku uchū
9. sora no namae
10. I want to hold your hand

Strawberry Heart DDCZ-1730
Out 1/26, ¥2000 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records ^†, YesAsia,
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

"Across The Horizon"

"Espresso de nemurenai"

The Suzan (MySpace) have been enjoying a lot of success and good word-of-mouth since the release of this album last year on A-Trak's Fool's Gold (U.S. edition this way), and now here comes an overdue Japanese release. This includes 4 bonus tracks, and a bonus DVD with the "Home" videoclip (watch below) and some 30 minutes of live and documentary footage from a recent U.S. tour.

Jet Set gives away a bonus "Suzan Box" CD-R containing various photos, while Tower Records offers a CD-R of a live version of "Rainy Day".

The Suzan will tour Japan and the U.S. over the next month. Check their official site for dates.

The Suzan "Golden Week For The Poco Poco Beat (Japan edition)" (CD+DVD)

1. Home
2. Ha Ha Ha
3. Come Come
4. Rainy Day
5. Secret
6. Rondo
7. Uh Ah
8. Devils
9. Nice Codes
10. Into The Light
11. Neverland
12. London Tonight
13. Ramble
14. Paranoid (Bonus track)
15. Take It Or Leave It (Bonus track)
16. Moskow Diskow (Bonus track)
17. Animal (Bonus track)

Hostess Entertainment HSE-50062
Out 1/26, ¥3048 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Jet Set, CDJapan, Amazon (20% off *), HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†,
* Discount at time of writing
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

"Home"

Osaka cute-electro-punk-future-pop indies artist EeL has a new album on the way, full of brand new songs! This comes on post-Vroom Sound label Stubbie Records.

Check out the new video and sampler clip below.

Also if you missed it, last month was released a collection of best tracks from her early albums, titled "Kung-Fu People Etcetera".

EeL "for common people"

1. cherche bien!
2. wonderful ability
3. guruguru
4. come out of a sleep
5. hungry panda
6. for common people
7. inter1
8. cherry blossom
9. foolish swines
10. inter2
11. I know everything
12. everyday
13. yurayura

Stubbie XQIV-1004
Out 1/26, ¥2000 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†, YesAsia,
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

"for common people"

Digest sampler

A sequel to her cover album of Japanese songs, "picnic album 1", here pianist kotringo interprets favorite foreign songs! Features are songs originally by Björk, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, The Jackson 5, The Buggles and more.

kotringo "picnic album 2"

1. Downtown (Petula Clark)
2. Video Killed The Radio Star (The Buggles)
3. Let Down (Radiohead)
4. I Want You Back (The Jackson 5)
5. Hyperballad (Bjork)
6. Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)
7. She's Like A Rainbow (The Rolling Stones)
8. Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer)

commmons RZCM-46713
Out 1/19, ¥1905 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Play-Asia, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†, YesAsia
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

Following last year's popular "Animentine", French bossa nova singer Clémentine has a new cover album coming this week. This time she covers both Japanese and French famous songs. Included are Yamazaki Masayoshi's "futari de Paris ni ikō" (feat. daughter Solita), Suzuki Masayuki's "Glass-goshi ni kieta natsu", Pierre Barouh's "Un homme et une femme", Charles Trenet's "La mer" and "Route Nationale 7", Claude François' "Comme d'habitude" (the original behind Sinatra's "My Way"), etc.

Clémentine "Covermentine"
クレモンティーヌ 「カヴァメンティーヌ」

1. Un homme et une femme -Grandis Mix-
2. Glass-goshi ni kieta natsu
3. akujo
4. Season In The Sun
5. Les Champs-Elysees -Sweet Mix-
6. La mer
7. te no hira o taiyō ni -Japanese Ver.-
8. futari de Paris ni ikō
9. Besame Mucho
10. Route Nationale 7
11. Romance d'autrefois
12. Comme d'habitude

Epic ESCP-5
Out 1/12, ¥2914 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records (Japan only) ^†, YesAsia
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

(Heads up to Mexican Flyer for noticing the release.)

Trying to move on to 2011 but here's something I had failed noticing from last year. 25-year-old hostess Nakano Aya has a debut album released at the end of November that was produced by Hase Hajimu, consisting of various covers done in jazz/latin styles. Artwork is by Sally Kubota.

Check out the video clip below, and find more audio samples at Jet Set.

Nakano Aya "zurui hito"
なかの綾 「ずるいひと」

1. hisame (Kayama Akio)
2. koi ni ochite (Kobayashi Akiko)
3. tasogare no Beguine (Mizuhara Hiroshi)
4. keiken (Henmi Mari)
5. aijin (Teresa Teng)
6. Last Metro (Wada Akiko)
7. zurui onna (Sharam Q)
8. Una Sera Di Tokyo (The Peanuts)
9. funauta (Yashiro Aki)
10. onna to osake no Blues (Aoe Mina)
11. aitakute aitakute (Sono Mari)
(In parentheses are the original singers, not official.)

highcontrast recordings VSCD-9705
Out now (11/24), ¥2300 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Amazon, HMV, Tower Records ^†, (World), (Japan), Spotify, YouTube Music
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

"koi ni ochite Fall In Love"

Usagi-chang Records fans rejoice! The label's boss Suzuki Akira has started a new label, named flawless world. Now that's something exciting to look for in 2011 already!

The first release is by new electro-pop unit erectricmole (MySpace). The unit is formed of songwriter/producer Karino Nobuhiro and singer Nagai Maiko. This debut album is co-produced by Suzuki Akira.

Download a free track on the label's site (valid only until Jan. 11, so hurry!). Also check out the sample digest clip below, and official mini-site. Facebook users, the label's official page is here.

erectricmole "hōka no hirune"
erectricmole 「芳香の午睡」

1. tamayura
2. nekoyanagi
3. minamo
4. suisō
5. aohotaru
6. kōwa
7. suiren
8. dōkei
9. yukigōri
10. shōka
11. ukigumo
12. yurikago

flawless world XQJE-1001
Out 1/12, ¥2300 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: CDJapan, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records ^†, YesAsia,
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

Digest

2011's first release is from indies electronic artist Cherryboy Function, a new 5-song EP coming 3½ years after 1st album "Something Electronic". Since the album release Cherryboy Function has been acclaimed for his DJ and live performances as well as the various remixes he's made. Coming this week on Nagata Kazunao's ExT Recordings label.

Jet Set and HMV both offer a bonus promo CD-R with an extended mix (while supplies last).

Audio samples at label's MySpace

Cherryboy Function "suggested function EP#2"

1. pulse of change
2. distopia
3. tornado
4. plan E
5. another side

ExT Recordings EXT-0014
Out 1/5, ¥1429 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Jet Set, Amazon, HMV, Tower Records ^†,
† Tower Records ships directly within Japan only. International orders are available via WorldShopping.

Cuts from Dorian's excellent first album "Melodies Memories" are being released on 12". This first EP contains "Shooting Star", the collaboration with Nanao Tavito and rapper Yakenohara, song from 1st video clip "Morning Calling", the cover of Denice Williams' "Free", and a remix. A 2nd EP is expected later in January.

Audio samples of all tracks at Jet Set

Dorian "Melodies Memories EP.1" (12")

A1. Shooting Star feat. Tavito Nanao & Yakenohara
A2. Morning Calling
B1. Free
B2. Disco4.5 (ASYK Mix)

Felicity / Jet Set JS12S063
Out 1/7, ¥1600 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Jet Set

"Morning Calling"

"Shooting Star"

Rocketman (Fukawa Ryō) has done a non-stop mix of his own tracks, available now for download on iTunes Japan. Included are songs from his recent greatest his album "thank you for the music!" as well as latest single "Happy End of the World".

Rocketman "re:dancemusic ~rocketman non-stop mix~" (Download)

1. korekara otozureru subete no kanashimi e
2. dancemusic
3. LOVE IS ALL / COSMETICS
4. LOVE IS ALL II ~korekara hajimaru story~ / COSMETICS
5. LifegoesON2.0 (album edit)
6. tomorrow / COSMETICS
7. Happy End of the World
8. thank you for the music!

Victor VEAML-24542
Out now (12/22), ¥762 (excl. 10% tax)
Sample/buy:

"Happy End of the World"

Techno-pop idol unit Cutie Pai (MySpace) has a 2nd album out now, with the theme of a full course at a restaurant. The title translates to "The dolls and the magical restaurant". Featured "dolls" are Mayu-chan, eye-taso (aka Julie Watai), Kaori★n、Suzy, Candy, and Kiwa-saso. Elektel's polymoog has arranged the song "Yellow". The album is currently only available at Amazon and at Cutie Pai's live shows.

Check out the video below, and also more audio samples at MySpace.

Cutie Pai "oningyō to mahō no Restaurant"
Cutie Pai 「 お人形と魔法のレストラン」

1. Open
2. Techno*Doll
3. tururun Telephone
4. SA
5. Spica
6. PlaMoGa
7. Desktop my Girl
8. Yellow
9. MAGNET LOVE
10. Propeller
11. eve
12. Close

Cutie Pai Records CTPR-1001
Out now (12/22), ¥1905 (excl. 10% tax)
Order: Amazon

Album digest

"PlaMoGa"