To commemorate Tower Records’ 25th anniversary, Cocco will release a new version of “Sing a Song ~No Music, No Life~” on Nov. 23. Tower Records Japan adopted the song as its theme in 1996, when Cocco first debuted on the chain store’s label, bounce records. “Sing a Song ~No Music, No Life~” was one of the tracks on her self-titled indie EP.
For the new recording, Cocco has translated the English-language song into Japanese, and she enlisted Quruli guitarist Kishida Shigeru to produce. Cocco makes a slight alteration to the song, renaming the subtitle “No Music, No Love Life”. Cover art for the single was also done by Cocco.
The single will available for sale at Tower Records stores, at its web site and through Tower Mobile.
Cocco announced she would retire from the music industry in 2001. But starting in 2003, she started to release special projects, including a DVD documenting her efforts to clean Okinawa’s beaches and a limited edition single available only to people who buy her latest picture book.
The Mad Capsule Markets will release two career-spanning retrospectives on Dec. 1. The first volume contains tracks starting with the band’s 1990 independent debut, Humanity, to 1994’s Park. The second volume covers material from the album 4 Plugs to its most recent album, CiSTm K0nFLiqT. Mad Capsule Markets, which has been together for 14 years, participates in Rising Sun Rock Festival’s “Countdown 04/05” event later in the year.
m-flo will release a new single on Nov. 17 titled “let go”. The single’s coupling track, “The Other Side of Love”, is a Ryuichi Sakamoto cover featuring singer Sakamoto Miu. The vocalist for the title track has yet to be announced.
DJ Krush will release his newest album in two years, titled Jaku. Already released in Europe and the US, the album gets a Japanese release date of Nov. 3. Based on the concept of “Wa == Eiwa, Choowa”, the album features a number of traditional Japanese instrumentalists, including Morita Fukuyama, Kinoshita Shinichi and Sakada Myo. Shakuhachi, Tsugaru shamisen and wataiko figure into Krush’s sound. Jaku will be released as an super audio CD hybrid and contain two bonus tracks.
With her switch to a new label complete, Onitsuka Chihiro is slated to release a new single, “Sodatsu Zasoo”, on Oct. 27. At a recent live performance at a Hibiya concert hall, Onitsuka performed a Nirvana cover, and now, the singer-songwriter’s newest material shows a more rock influence. “Sodatsu Zasoo” reflects this new change, and a slight portion of the single can be heard at Onitsuka’s new official site, onitsuka-chihiro.com.
Continuing the resumption of her activities, Yuki will release a new single, “Hello Goodbye”, on Nov. 10. The song is featured on the currently aired commercial for Kaou Essential shampoo. Yuki will also commence her “Sweet Home Rock ‘n’ Roll Tour” on Sept. 22. The former Judy and Mary released her first single in two years, “Home Sweet Home”, back in August.
UA will release a live album on Oct. 20, documenting the tour to support her most recent album Sun. Tenatively titled Live Tour [UA Sun] 2004, the album includes 11 tracks and features a lot of improvisation by her touring band. This time around, UA was supported by the likes of saxophone player Kikuchi Seiko (Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden), bassist Suzuki Masato (Little Creatures) and drummer Toyama Miyoo. The album is expected to include such tracks as “Lightning”, “Joonetsu”, “Milk Tea” and “Skirt no Suna”.
Tokyo Jihen releases its first album, titled Kyooiku, on Nov. 25, the band’s official site announced. In addition to pre-release singles “Gunjoo Biyori” and “Soonan”, the album also includes “Ringo no Uta”, which band leader Shiina Ringo recorded under her own name in 2003. The first pressing features a 3-part index of the album’s 12 songs.
The band also releases a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl single on the same day. The vinyl single, which contains a total of six songs, includes the singles “Gunjoo Biyori” and “Soonan”.
With its debut single hitting stores today, Tokyo Jihen is offering a trial broadcast of its first promotional video clip on the Toshiba-EMI web site. The video features the band performing “Gunjoo Biyori” and its cover of “The Lady is a Tramp”. Starting next January, the group embarks on its nation-wide “dynamite” tour.
Nananine releases a third limited edition single through Tower Records on Oct. 13, titled “a must buy II”. The three-song release costs 315 yen (tax included). Then on Nov. 3, the band releases a new EP, expected to contain 6 songs. Tower Records released the band’s previous limited edition single, “a must buy”, and DVD, “a must buy! Live at Stage One”.