Source: Bounce.com
Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her singer Higurashi Aiha is set to release her first solo album on January 7, 2004. Titled Born Beautiful, the album is expected to contain 10 songs, including the pre-release singles “New Life” and “Fantasy”. A self-cover of “the end of shite”, which Higurashi wrote for ex-Judy and Mary singer Yuki, may also be included on the album. Higurashi will then go on tour for the album starting in February. For more information and tour dates, visit Higurashi’s official site.
Yerba Buena doesn’t care if you can’t dance. It doesn’t much matter anyway.
Because to hear the Latin collective’s debut album, President Alien, is to heed the call of the dance floor.
Taking a page from the Ozomatli playbook, Yerba Buena go for a kitchen sink aesthetic, combining African-influenced Latin music with hip-hop, soul and Afrobeat. It’s all blended seamlessly and shows just how much all these different musics have in common.
Which is a pussyfooted way of saying hell if I can pick apart which style is which.
But that kind of analysis is rendered moot. Music this rhythmic has only one message: “Shut up and dance.”
From the catchy opening of “Guajira (I Love You 2 Much)” all the way through to the children’s song quote concluding “Solar”, President Alien is relentless.
African rhythms and chanting vocals propel “Wassamatta Baby” and “Bote Bote Va”, while an arsenal of percussion drives the excessively busy “Definition of a Warrior”.
“Fire” layers a strange Middle Eastern section over a drum ‘n’ bass-styled beat, and “La Gringa” serves as a historical lesson on the origin of disco.
If anything, listening to President Alien can get pretty exhausting. Yerba Buena doesn’t have time to slow down.
Band leader and producer Andres Levin has cultivated a playground atmosphere on this album. He’s also gathered some of the most magnetic talents ever collected.
Xiomara Laugart’s smokey vocals are difficult to ignore. And the rhythm section of bassist Sebastian Steinberg, percussionist Pedro Martinez and session drummers Horacio Hernandez and Terreon Gully cram each song with an avalance of beats.
It can’t get any simpler — Yerba Buena’s President Alien is the perfect party record. It can make anyone get up and move.
Source: Bounce.com
Two years after suddenly ending her recording career, Cocco returns with a DVD release titled Heaven’s Hell on Dec. 24. TBS “News 23” filmed the singer as she campaigned to clean up Honshuu’s beaches at a special event this past summer. Cocco performed a short acoustic set, which included a new song, “Heaven’s Hell”. The DVD contains an hour’s worth of footage, and a limited edition version includes a CD single featuring two versions of the new song — a live performance recorded at a Kobe music festival, and a studio version.
Source: Bounce.com
Mukai Shuutoku’s post-Number Girl band Zazen Boys releases its self-titled debut on Jan. 10, 2004. On that same day, Zazen Boys embarks on its 16-date “Tour Matsuri Session” tour. Tickets for the tour go on sale Nov. 22.
Till then, Mukai will perform his “Acoustic & Electric” show at Quruli’s “Hyakkyagyoo” performance at Zepp Tokyo on Dec. 16, and a one-man show at Shinjuku Liquid Room on Dec. 15.
Source: Bounce.com
Dragon Ash will release a DVD video clip collection on Dec. 24. Details have yet to be announced, but the DVD should include videos from the band’s most recent album, Harvest, plus material released since the preceding video collection, Lily da Video.
Source: Bounce.com
Pop band Spitz will release a four-DVD box set of its best live performances from the past four years. Titled Hooro Hayabusa Junjoo Sugoroku, the limited edition set hits stores Dec. 17. Spitz recorded only two albums in that period but embarked on four different tours. Off-stage footage is included on each disc, and a 100-page booklet is planned to accompany the set.
Source: Bounce.com
Sugar Fields’ forthcoming album rainbow sports guest appearances by Suneo Hair and Quruli. The album will be released on Nov. 23 by Café Au Label. Suneo Hair worked with Sugar Fields’ previously on the band’s July 2002 album, Lemon Water. The indie folk-rock songwriter played organ and guitar on the album.
Source: Bounce.com
Quruli has added a second date at Zepp Tokyo for its “Hyakkyagyoo” tour. The Dec. 16 performance precedes the band’s all-night event at the venue. Mukai Shuutoku, Yugawa Chouon and DJ TSUCHIE also performs on that date.
Source: Bounce.com
Tommy February6, a.k.a. Kawase Tomiko of the brilliant green, has produced the debut single of 20-year-old singer Hinoi Asuka. “Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” will be released on Nov. 19 and features Tommy’s trademark 80s sound.
Of all the reissues in Capitol’s Duran Duran campaign, Seven and the Ragged Tiger offers the least incentives.
No extra tracks (you can find those on the singles boxed set), no interactive elements, no extended liner notes.
It doesn’t matter — the remastering of the album is worth the price alone.
Unlike Duran Duran’s first two albums with producer Colin Thurston, Seven and the Ragged Tiger epitomized the claustophobia of the band’s writing.
Keyboardist Nick Rhodes would later describe that period as five guys bashing it out for a piece of the spotlight — they all wanted some part of the sonic real estate.
What resulted was one of Duran Duran’s thickest recordings, a super glossy production that covered up some rushed writing. The closest Seven and the Ragged Tiger gets to a slow song is “The Seventh Stranger”, and even that song has a lot going on.
For the audiophile, Nick Webb’s remastering brings out all of the album’s nuances. If anything, a better appreciation of Seven and the Ragged Tiger derives not from the band’s songwriting but from its arrangements.
Just one listen to the album version of “The Reflex” is enough to show why Nile Rodgers’ remix of the song was necessary.
And yet, it’s great to listen to all the swirling effects of “(I’m Looking for) Cracks in the Pavement” or the layers of synthesizers on “Shadows on Your Side” or even Simon Le Bon’s reverb-drenched voice on “The Seventh Stranger” in full stereo.
The decision not to tack extras at the end of the album is something of a mixed blessing. It would have been nice to see at least the single version of “The Reflex” on the disc, but it’s also nice that nothing interferes with the poignant conclusion of “The Seventh Stranger”.
(If Duran Duran ever releases a rarities collection, how about including the demo of what should have been the album’s title track?)
Duranies may feel cheated by the fact this reissue doesn’t reveal more than what’s already public knowledge, but an A-to-B comparrison with the original CD release should quell any doubts.
Get this reissue if only to better appreciate the studio magic of the album.