Release Date: February 3, 2010
Track Listing
- Shunkan Sentimental
- Hoshi Furu Yoru ni
- Yumemiru Koro wo Sugitemo
- Shunkan Sentimental (Fullmetal Alchemist ED version)
- Shunkan Sentimental (Instrumental)
Review
Scandal’s 5th single Shunkan Sentimental is the 4th ending theme song for Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It’s a high energy song that fits well within their now well established sound. The same can be said for Hoshi Furu Yoru ni.
Both tracks are definitely something to crank up to 11 and rock out to. Shukan Sentimental is probably the more aggressive of the two since it doesn’t slow down in parts like Hoshi Furu Yoru ni does.
Yumemiru Koro Wo Sugitemo is mellower than the tracks before it. While not as instantly engaging as the songs before it, it does have a charm of its own and is a nice change of pace after the sonic bombardment before it.
Shunkan Sentimental LE
Shunkan Sentimental Normal Edition
JapanFiles is now offering tour goods from girugamesh’s “NOW” tour, including T-shirts, phone straps, and the hoodies worn by the band in their “BORDER” and “Crying Rain” music videos.
These items are available to ship worldwide. Supplies and sizes are limited. Check the JapanFiles Merchandise Store for details. The band has recorded special videos to promote their new tour goods.
Videos are available here:
girugamesh’s latest album NOW is available at Hot Topic stores nationwide and comes with a girugamesh Japanese tour poster (see your local store for details).
ABOUT JAPANFILES:
Supporting Japanese artists since 2004, JapanFiles specializes in digital sales and media promotion for indie and major Japanese music artists. Music downloads at the JapanFiles Digital Music Store are DRM-free and only 99 cents each.
JapanFiles has sponsored Japanese artist appearances at Sakura-Con, Anime Boston, A-Kon, FanimeCon, Anime Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Media Expo, Anime Vegas, Animex (Mexico), SXSW, Slim’s (San Francisco), and Knitting Factory (New York City).
JapanFiles has produced 18 USA CD releases for Japanese artists, including Morning Musume, girugamesh, LM.C, Hangry & Angry, ketchup mania, Swinging Popsicle, LiN CLOVER, Budo Grape, BESPA KUMAMERO, and three volumes of the “Fresh Cuts from Japan” compilation series.
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JapanFiles is a division of Japanese education website YesJapan.com.
JapanFiles Digital Music Store releases two albums by Japanese rock unit SAWA today, “Figure and Shadow” and “333.”
SAWA (the group) features Sawa (vocalist), who performed the theme song to the hit Nintendo DS game “The World Ends With You.”
SAWA Profile
SAWA is: Sawa (Vo.), Zizi (Gt.), Hizmi (arrangements)
Sawa began her career in November of 2006 as a solo singer and songwriter. A few months later, she got the chance to be a part of the soundtrack project of the well-known Nintendo DS game “The World Ends With You.” Sawa wrote the lyrics for 18 songs and sang 8 songs including the opening theme “Twister.” In November of 2009 Sawa participated in the movie project version of the game, “Movie001″ by MMM that was released through iTunes.
In 2007 Sawa and Hizmi began to create original songs together which became the beginning of the unit SAWA. When they created enough songs to put together an album, they released the album titled “333″ in December 2008.
They started performing their first live shows together in 2009. In October 2009 they released their first EP “Figure and Shadow.” Right after the release of the EP they welcomed Zizi as an official member to SAWA.
SAWA links!
SAWA on JapanFiles Digital Music Store
SAWA official website
SAWA official
J-Pop World Interview with SAWA
ABOUT JAPANFILES:
Supporting Japanese artists since 2004, JapanFiles specializes in digital sales and media promotion for indie and major Japanese music artists. Music downloads at the JapanFiles Digital Music Store are DRM-free and only 99 cents each.
JapanFiles has sponsored Japanese artist appearances at Sakura-Con, Anime Boston, A-Kon, FanimeCon, Anime Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Media Expo, Anime Vegas, Animex (Mexico), SXSW, Slim’s (San Francisco), and Knitting Factory (New York City).
JapanFiles has produced 18 USA CD releases for Japanese artists, including Morning Musume, girugamesh, LM.C, Hangry & Angry, ketchup mania, Swinging Popsicle, LiN CLOVER, Budo Grape, BESPA KUMAMERO, and three volumes of the “Fresh Cuts from Japan” compilation series.
JapanFiles Digital Music Store
MySpace
LiveJournal
Twitter
Facebook
JapanFiles is a division of Japanese education website YesJapan.com.
Release Date: October 21, 2009
Track Listing
- Scandal Baby
- Shoujo S
- Doll
- Koi Mayou
- Yumemiru Tsubasa
- Anata ga Mawaru
- Space Ranger
- Ring! Ring! Ring!
- Maboroshi Night
- Kimi to Yoru to Namida
- Hitotsu Dake
- Sakura Goodbye
- Kagerou
Review
Scandal is an all girl pop/rock group from Osaka, Japan and Best Scandal is their first major label release. Their sound is described as “The Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock”. While that may sound odd it actually is fitting.
Their songs are not overly girlie like say other artists within the same genre (I’m mainly thinking Avril Lavigne). Scandal has a bit more edge to their music which is a good thing in my book. Some of the songs on this album (Space Ranger, Koi Moyou, Kagerou, Doll, Sakura Goodbye, Shoujo S & Yumemiru Tsubasa) are previously released singles.
From the album tracks I found Anata ga Mawaru and Maboroshi Night to be the most interesting. Anata ga Mawaru is a simple, straightforward track with a catchy as hell hook. I can’t put my finger on it, but the song reminds me a lot of some of the indie rock I briefly listened to before getting into Japanese music.
Maboroshi Night has the most distinct sound on the album. It’s kind of got a swing vibe that adds that extra bit of awesomeness to their already catchy groove.
Normally a group such as this would have a front woman singing the majority of the vocals but Scandal is different. The leads are shared amongst the 4 members which is a pretty cool idea as each is certainly vocally capable. It’s something I found quite interesting since not many bands actually do that. And if some do, they don’t do it on a regular basis like these women do.
Overall I think this was a great major label debut. I can’t really find much fault with it since I felt the entire album flowed perfectly from beginning to end. Perhaps a few newer songs would have been nice in place of the single tracks but that’s not really a big deal.
Highly recommended.
Best Scandal (Jacket A – CD+DVD)
Best Scandal (Jacket B – Normal Edition)
I was surfing the net recently & stumbled upon a Taiwanese band called Nekojam. Their official site is all in Chinese so I can’t really say much about their bio since I can’t read Chinese. From what I can gather they’re an all female band that plays a blend of Chinese Pop, Rock and Folk Rock.
Their MySpace page has 6 full-length tracks to listen to. I didn’t understand any of the lyrics (I don’t speak Chinese either) but it didn’t stop me from appreciating the music. I liked what I heard. This group has a great pop sense & their songs reflect that quite well. My favorite of their tracks being Love Trilogy – Date. I’m not exactly sure why, but I found myself putting that on loop more than their other songs. I guess I’m just a sucker for those type of ballads.
Anyway, it’s unfortunate I no longer have any contacts in Taiwan, I think it’ll be kind of hard getting a hold any of their other material without one. Oh well, I liked what I’ve heard from them so far, hopefully their stuff becomes more widely available.
VAMPS is a group formed by L’arc~En~Ciel’s vocalist hyde & former Oblivion Dust guitarist KAZ. This is their first single release.
When I first heard this song I thought, “When did Velvet Revolver become a bunch of Japanese dudes?” because this song sounds a lot like one of theirs. I even think that hyde’s voice has a similar tone to Scott Weiland’s, but maybe that’s just me.
Anyway… This is a hard rocking track that immediately grabs your attention from the opening guitar & doesn’t let go. What’s most surprising (for me anyway) is that the all the lyrics are in English. Again maybe it’s just me, but I found that a little strange at first. After a few more spins I barely noticed it & just soaked the song in. Great stuff.
Hopefully this band sticks around for a while. They sound like they could release some really kick-ass songs.