I've never hated anything so much as I hate Blogger right now for erasing my saved post. I just had to press the "Publish Post" button when it suddenly discarded everything, without even giving me the option to undo it. Basically, this post you're going to read is the second edition of SID's post. Anyway, I can't let my horribly bad mood affect my readers right? Just enjoy the reading ^^''

    Formed in 2003, the J-Rock band debuted with their complete line-up only in 2004, releasing the first single "Kaijou-Ban". From that year until 2008, SID kept on producing nonstop as an indie band, making many people notice them for the hard work. Such effort led them to perform at the famous Nippon Budokan Live Hall in 2006, also helping them reach Oricon's top ten for the first time.

    In 2008, the band announced they would be going major. The debut single, "Monochrome no Kiss", was chosen as the opening theme of "Kuroshitsuji". It's definitely one of their best songs to date, especially if you hear it while watching the animation sequence rather than the music video...

    The following year was full of new songs, including "2ºC Me no Kanojo" in January, "Uso" in April and the first major album "Hikari" in July. All those releases proved SID's popularity by continuously reaching the top three on charts. Before ending the year, the band produced yet one more single, "One Way", which I personally love :3      

    As you probably noticed, this J-Rock group doesn't know the meaning of a break, and 2010 wasn't an exception for them. "Sleep" hit the stores in March, just after the announcement of a massive concert at Saitama Super Arena, which would happen in July. But the most important achievement of that year was the release of "Rain". This single was the first to reach #1 on Oricon Daily charts. It's really an awesome and catchy song, despite the not-so-great music video. I mean, Mao's vocals are superb, but he just doesn't know how to act in ANY music video. xP

    The successful year was more than enough to showcase the band's incredible quality, making SID win the Top Pop Artist Award from Billboard Japan Music Awards 2010 in the beginning of 2011 (although I still consider them J-Rock even with their slight change of style compared to when the band was created).

    I can't believe they're going to release a new single! I thought they were dead or something... Anyway, this is some awesome news, therefore I'm going to dedicate this post to these twins, ON/OFF~

 The ON/OFF twins

    2008 was definitely their year. Getting an opening song tie-in for the absurdly famous manga series "Vampire Knight", the boys were put under the spotlight. "Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi", an spectacular single by the way, was released in June and peaked at #19, an astounding achievement!

    2009 was a really calm year. Too calm, actually. Only one single was produced, entitled "Hana Kagari", which was released in March and had mild sales. The first album "Legend of Twins I: Futago Densetsu" was also released, but just a few songs were actually new.

    This week's Japanese artist is best known for her songs that got tie-ins with animes. After some time without releasing anything new, she's back for another single this month and that's why I chose to talk about this young singer: Shion Tsuji!

    However, Tsuji got her big chance in 2009 with a tie-in for Bleach. "Sky Chord (Otona ni Naru Kimi e)" was released as the anime's ending theme, selling three times more than her debut single.

    With the successful song, other good opportunities were presented to the singer. She released two more singles that year: one for the "Tokyo Magnitude 8.0" anime, entitled "M/elody", and a film insert song called "Hoshii Mono". Both had moderate sales.

 

 "M/elody"s promotional video

 

 "Hoshii Mono"s promotional video

    In May 2010, Shion Tsuji released her first full album "Catch!". The promoted track, "Hello Goodbye", had been previously distributed as a radio single. A video was shot for the song and the album reached the #31 spot in the Oricon charts.

 

"Hello Goodbye"s promotional video   

   

    After the album, the girl spent a long time without releasing anything new. It was just in 2011 that a new single was announced for March 9. Entitled "Ai ga Hoshii yo", the new production will hopefully bring Tsuji back to the music scene.

    With a style similar to YUI's, Shion Tsuji captured my heart with the soothing vocals and relaxing guitar. She still has a long way to go, but I'm sure that the talent is there! Please support her if you liked the videos~ ^^

    Hello, soshite Goodbye~ *-*

    I finally got time to post this weekend, yay! I'll post the Korean artist soon too, just wait a little longer. Anyway, this time I chose a lovable Japanese pop duo which just recently achieved great success: moumoon.

    moumoon is a two-member group formed in 2005 by vocalist Yuka and composer Kousuku Masaki. They first signed with an indie label in 2006, releasing their debut single "Flowers/Pride". Later, the group produced a mini-album, which was released in that same year.

    In the following year, moumoon got a major contract with Avex Trax. From 2007 until 2009 the duo produced six singles and their first full album entitled "Moumoon". They were a fairly known group, but the breakthrough had yet to come.

    With "Sunshine Girl", a single released in May, 2010, moumoon achieved huge success, reaching the top 10 for the first time. It established their music style and put them in the mainstream market.

    After ending the single's promotions, the duo produced songs for children, which would then be gathered in the single "Let's Dance in the Moonlight". Finishing the year of 2010, moumoon made a surprising move by announcing a triple side-A single, "Moonlight /Sky High / Yay". Music videos were shot for "Moonlight" and "Yay".

    The soft vocals and calming yet bright music that characterized moumoon is awesome. While it took some time for them to be known, this boost of popularity is well deserved and I hope it still takes a long way to end. 

    Happy day, Summer day, Sunshine Girl~

    This week's J-Artist is full of cuteness and bouncing fluffiness. Directly from Hello! Project, it's S/mileage time!

    Still, this first year of their existence as a group was surprisingly good, with many fans cheering for them from YouTube. The second single "Asu wa Date nano ni, Ima Sugu Koe ga Kikitai" brought attention to the group for their charisma and overloading cuteness.   

    The girls then started to regularly produce new singles. "○○Ganbaranakutemo Eenende!!", my favorite song, was released in July, followed by "Onaji Jikyū de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama" and the first album, "Warugaki 1". 

    Wow, it's been a long time since the last artist. For this week's Japanese artist, I chose an amazing hidden gem: Kokusyoku Sumire (pronounced as Kokushoku Sumire).

 Yuka and Sachi

    Formed in 2004 in Tokyo, Kokusyoku Sumire is a group composed by Sachi (violin and chorus) and Yuka (vocals, accordion and piano). Presenting themselves with an extreme gothic lolita image,  praised by the most important style magazines in Japan and Europe, this duo also has a remarkable musical uniqueness. 

    With a mix of classical music, chansons, opera, folksongs and gothic appeal, these girls make sure to leave an unforgettable impression on you. Their first album "Zenmai Shojohakoningyo", released in their debut year, expresses an awesome creepy atmosphere that really got my attention, especially with the superb vocals from Yuka!

"Circus no Uma"s Promotional Video - opera gothness!

    It was only in 2006 that Kokusyoku produced their first album "Anderumeruhen Kakyokusyu". This released was followed by three albums in 2007, one being a repackage of Anderumeruhen with two bonus tracks.  

    The group's first DVD was announced in 2008. After a while without new releases, focusing on performances all over Europe, Kokusyoku finally released a new album in 2009 called "Gothlolic". This album featured some songs in french (chansons) and was officially released in France.

    In 2010, the group made a promotional video for "Gekko Renka", an unreleased track featured on their DVD concert. A very interesting album, "ALICE IN THE UNDERGROUND", was also produced using the once again popular Alice in the Wonderland theme.

    There's definitely nothing similar to Kokusyoku Sumire. The group's identity is so strong that even famous Tim Burton is a fan of the girls, always visiting their cafe in Tokyo. Gothness is everywhere when talking about these girls and I hope they won't be so underrated in the future. It's a hidden gem that more people should know about! 

    Opera-goth-crazyness FTW~ ò.ó

Jasmine You, Teru, Kamijo, Yuki, HIzaki

    The concept of the band was created in 2006 by Kamijo and Hizaki (vocals/guitar). After deciding on making a group focused on the relation of music and image, they started looking for more members that would fit the idea. 

    In 2007, the foundation of Versailles was announced with Teru (guitar), Jasmine You (bass) and Yuki (drums) as the other official members of the band. In June of that year, Versailles released their first single, "The Revenant Choir". This single perfectly expressed the sound that the founders had in mind for the group. With good reviews, Versailles produced their first EP "Lyrical Sympathy" in October and even released it in Europe.

    In the following year, the band toured in Europe and debuted in the USA. After the successful lives, Versailles released their first full-length album, "Noble". Promotions for the album were made in the USA. In December, the band produced a maxi-single "PRINCE & PRINCESS", which led to their first national oneman tour. At the tour final, Kamijo announced that they would go major with Warner Music Japan in June 2009.

    The first major single, "Ascendead Master", was released as expected in June 2009. Versailles' popularity was skyrocketing. Taking advantage of that, Kamijo announced that a new full album was already being produced. Unfortunately, Jasmine You had to stop activities due to poor physical conditions. In August it was announced that the bassist had passed away.

    After the sad news, Versailles decided to postpone the album to January 2010. Hizaki had to record the missing bass lines for the new songs. With their strength recovered and with Jasmine You as an "eternal member", Versailles finally released "Jubilee". The album even sold out in some online stores as international fans were strongly supporting the band.

"DESTINY - The Lovers-"s Promotional Video - With Masashi! 

    For 2011, there's a single scheduled for March called "Philia". The title track will be used as the theme of Versailles' comedy mini-drama "Onegai Kanaete Versailles!". I can't wait to watch it!

    Despite going major and the hard times that the band had in 2009, they kept the same sound in the new songs and that's really, really good. Teru and Hizaki are one of the most awesome guitarists out there, Kamijo's vocals are amazing, Yuki simply doesn't know what is to make a mistake at live concerts and Masashi is certainly following Jasmine's steps to be a great bassist! Versailles is just the perfect visual-kei band for me and I hope you liked it too.

    When talking about japanese music, you can't forget about Tomoko Kawase, singer of the band "the brilliant green". This time I'll talk about one of her solo projects, "tommy heavenly6". Don't worry, the time to write about "tommy february6" and "the brilliant green" will surely come! ^^

    It all started in 2003. After years of successful releases with "the brilliant green", Tomoko Kawase was experimenting synth sounds with her cute-self, "tommy february6". But she felt something was missing. In that same year, in one of february's live concerts, Tomoko took off her glasses during one song and revealed her new solo project, "tommy heavenly6". The new image was created from february6's repressed emotions, which ended up in this rock-ish, rebel girl.

    The following three years had few releases from heavenly6 as Tomoko was still defining her style. Three singles and one eponymous album gathering those singles were produced.

    After the successful start of the new project, the singer decided to dedicate 2006 and 2007 for tommy heavenly6. Four singles, including "Pray", used as the opening for the "Gintama" anime, "Lollipop Candy♥BAD♥girl", the famous Halloween song, and "I♥Xmas", were released just in 2006. The following year had an album production.

  "Pray"s Promotional Video

    In 2009, the singer released best-albums for both solo projects, containing all the singles released for each one. The "Gothic Melting Ice Cream's Darkness Nightmare" album pleased fans, especially because it featured the 2008 limited single "Unlimited Sky" and its video. Another album, "I Kill My Heart" was also released, composed most of unused songs from past productions.

   

    While I'm not really in the mood to write anything today, I just couldn't let the blog without something new. Therefore, I made a "simple" but interesting post about angela (by the way, it isn't Angela Aki).

    angela is a band formed by atsuko (vocalist) and KATSU (guitar/keyboard). The group debuted in 1999 but only signed with a major label in 2002. Their first single "Asu e no brilliant road", released in 2003, achieved great success and was enough to put the band in the spotlight as an important anime songs performer.

    Having established their "song style", angela continued to release anisongs singles through the following years, all with moderate/good sales. But another boost for their career came in 2004 with the single "Shangri-La", used as opening and ending theme for the anime "Soukyuu no Fafner".

    After the massive success, the band released an album. In 2005, more singles. Despite the increasing broadcast of new animes, angela did not release any single in 2006, although a best-album was produced in March of that year. 

    Coming back with full power, the duo released the single "gravitation" in 2007. As expected after making fans wait for a whole year, this single was another hit, even if the anime that used it wasn't.

    Starting to steadily release singles once again, angela produced two singles in 2008. In 2009, a double side-A single called "Spiral/Link" was used as theme for the anime "Asura Cryin'". If the last singles were considered great, this one was EPIC. A promotional video full of special effects was also released for "Spiral" and got the attention of viewers.

     Of course that after the "Spiral" boom, the producers of the anime called angela once again to sing the theme, this time for the sequel, "Asura Criyin' 2". The song "alternative" was released in November 2009 and, as I'm almost tired of saying, was a success among anime fans.

    As you've probably noticed, angela releases non-stop. 2010 wasn't an exception, with two more singles. The first one, "Aoi Haru", showed a very exotic face of the duo with a funny and really fast singing. The second one, "Soukyuu", contained two songs that were used as insert songs for the new "Soukyuu no Fafner" movie, a sequel to the series that made "Shangri-La" famous.

    I've been waiting for this moment! Today I'll write about an awesome and very gothic band: Yousei Teikoku. (first post of the year!)

    Formed in 1997 as a project of Team Fairithm, Yousei Teikoku, an indie band at that time, composed and performed songs mainly for games. The uniqueness of the group is in their creation concept. Meaning literally 'Fairy Empire', the band was formed in order to revive the empire that exists between the human world and Spiritua, the spirits realm. Therefore, their music intends to make people recover their belief in the fairies so the Yousei Teikoku can rise again.

   After releasing albums for almost 10 years, the group finally signed a contract with anime label Lantis and became a major band. Since 2006, their singles are almost always related to an anime and eventually some songs are released for video-games. The first major best-album 'Gothic Lolita Propaganda' was well received among lovers of the gothic and J-Pop worlds. But it was with the first original album 'Metanoia' that Yousei received greater attention, especially with the track 'Wahrheit'.

    After the successful releases, the group spent the year of 2008 producing only songs that wouldn't be used as any theme. Three singles with one Promotion Video each were released. It was definitely a great year for Yousei Teikoku's fans (and for the fairies, I believe).

    In 2009, the group started once again to produce anime songs. This time they focused on ballads, as it can be noticed in the maxi-single 'Irodori no Nai Sekai' and the following single, 'Gekkou no Chigiri'. The band also released one single for a PSP game and a best-album, 'Gothic Lolita Doctrine', revealing a strong military image that would be used in their first big live tour in 2010. Fans were only a little disappointed since none of the tracks got a video.

    To end the year, Yousei Teikoku produced 'Gothic Lolita Agitator', their third best-album, which contained unreleased songs. The first live DVD was also released in the same day as the album.