26 November, 2005

Coldplay encounters another kind

Coldplay recently revealed their new music video of Talk, song from their latest album, X&Y. The video is something different what fans have seen ever.

The story is like "Coldply's encounter of another kind in the galaxy". They lands on a planet and meet a giant robot. They communicate throught music and make friends. But when Coldplay leaves with a spaceship, the robot eats it in the end.

Their videos have been always more "experimentally artistic" or more "straightforward as a rock music video". Like "The Scientist" - Chris Martin literally goes back in time in the video - and "Speed of Sound" - the band simply plays its tune.

But, this time is neither of the above. It can be described as funny (?). I've know the band since I bought their first album, Parachutes. But this is the first time to see the band, especially other three except for Chris Martin, acting like that.

Coldplay has won many awards and had a huge success so far. They are not just one of the British bands. The band is now known around the world. It is time that the band wants to see theirselves in another kind, isn't it?

» Coldplay

18 November, 2005

This is really Takk - Sigur Rós' new video

Oh my god... I just want to introduce this music video and share the excitement with you. The video is an Icelandic group, Sigur Rós' Glósóli.

Its set looks somewhere in Iceland or maybe not. Maybe somewhere in Northern Europe. Very picturesque. The video starts with a boy carrying a drum. He walks in a bleak field and meets many other kids. And they keep travelling and finally they ... I don't want to say how it was now. You watch it. Something beyond words waits for you. It took my breath.

Since I bought their latest album, Takk, I have been a big fan of them. And it is sure that this beautiful video made me even a bigger fan. My heart is captured.

» Sigur Róōs | Glósóli

23 September, 2005

On The Outside

September. It is getting cooler with every rainfall. Summer has ended and autumn has come.

I always feel like listening to my favourite band Starsailor when autumn comes. Their songs suit this autumn atmosphere. In fact, two of their albums were released in autumn. Love Is Here, the first album, was released in October 2001, and Silence Is Easy, the second, was released in September 2003.

This autumn is no exception. They are going to release their theird album, On The Outside on October 17th.

Starsailor / On The Outside
1. In The Crossfire
2. Counterfeit Life
3. In My Blood
4. Faith Hope Love
5. I Dont Know
6. Way Back Home
7. Keep Us Together
8. Get Out While You Can
9. This Time
10. White Light
11. Jeremiah

You can now watch a video of In The Crossfire, a song from the new album. I tried it. And I can say this is going to be as good as the master piece Silence Is Easy or even better.

***In spite of saying "two upcoming albums" in the last entry about Franz Ferdinand, two weeks has passed after it. Anyway, Starsailor's third album is another one I'm looking for.

11 September, 2005

You could have it so much better

I'm very excited about two upcoming albums that my favourite bands will soon release.

The first one is Glasgow's rock quartet Franz Ferdinand. They are going to their second album You Could Have It So Much Better on October 3th in the UK.

Franz Ferdinand / You Could Have It So Much Better
1. The Fallen
2. Do You Want To
3. This Boy
4. I'm Your Villain
5. Evil And A Heathen
6. You're The Reason I'm Leaving
7. Well That Was Easy
8. Eleanor Put Your Boots On
9. What You Meant
10. Walk Away
11. You Could Have It So Much Better
12. Fade Together
13. Outsiders

As the review by Amazon.co.uk describes, the second album is "pretty much everything a band’s second record should be". As far as I listed to the first single "Do You Want To", the upcoming album will be what I expect or even more than it. So can we have it so much better than the first album?

5 July, 2005

The Beautiful Occupation

I'll write more later.

4 July, 2005

Japan ticket confusion

» The Age | Japan ticket confusion
4 July 2005
By Deborah Cameron

Ambitiously the organisers had booked one of the city's larger venues, a 20,000-seat auditorium, but it was only half full when performers, including Icelandic singer Björk and Japan's most popular rap musicians took the stage.

» Reuters | Björk rocks Tokyo as Live 8 marathon kicks off
2 July 2005
By David Dolan

While awareness of Live 8 is high in Britain, other countries on the concert schedule have had little time to prepare and faced public apathy.

The lack of publicity in Japan, the world's second largest aid donor, restricted the size of the audience early on, but fans at the Tokyo concert said they sympathised with its aims.

If I tried every means available for a ticket, there would have been a chance for me. However, you know, I was too busy to do so. What a shame.

3 July, 2005

Do they know it's for Africa?

» Reuters | Björk rocks Tokyo as Live 8 marathon kicks off
2 July 2005
By David Dolan

In Tokyo, the 10,000-seat venue was full by the end, although many in the crowd said they came mainly to see headline act Bjork give her first live performance in two years.

» Reuters | Björk rocks, but did Live 8 Tokyo crowd get point?
2 July 2005

Japanese rock fans flocked to Tokyo's Live 8 concert on Saturday, but it was Icelandic singer Björk more than the more serious message about poverty that seemed to be the main draw.

"If Björk wasn't here today ... I wouldn't have been that thrilled about getting a ticket," said 27-year-old Tsunenori Sakai, one of around 10,000 people who filled the sweltering convention center.

Hanae Aoki agreed. "Today we are here because of Björk," she told Reuters. "I've been a fan of hers for years."

During the Tokyo concert, Japanese subtitles running below documentary excerpts about poverty were so small that many people in the crowd could not read them.

However, the message was not totally lost. Björk, for one, expressed the feeling of hopelessness she felt in the face of Africa's crippling poverty and disease.

Here are some quotes from bjork.com:

I look at the news, I see people starving, I am crying. I'm a total mess. You try to think how you're going to break through this cobweb of problems and bureaucracy and how on Earth anybody is going to make any change.

I guess sometimes I feel there's not much hope to change anything... but I have to say, when I started to see in the news that Bob Geldoff was gonna get people together, it sorta felt that maybe there was about 5% hope -- which is better than zero!

It seems to me that the politicians of the rich countries are almost like this VIP that are untouchable - and then the rest of the public of their own countries and of all the other countries of the world are like the "other" chunk that don't have a voice... so, I would like to say that I am part of that huge chunk, which actually is about... 95% of the world!

2 July, 2005

Countdown to Live 8

» BBC News | Countdown to Live 8 shows begins

21 June, 2005

Tokyo is on the Live 8 list

Tokyo is added to the list of the cities that host the Live 8. And so is Tronto. In addition, Live 8 Africa will be staged in Johannesburg.

The other cities inlcude London, Philadelphia, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Cornwall. The live will take place on 2 July.

» BBC News | Three more Live 8 gigs revealed

19 June, 2005

Stereophonics took me away from the office

I enjoyed their awesome performance last night. They played songs from their latest album. The an hour-and-half-long live rocked Japanese fans.

18 June, 2005

Stereophonics takes me away from the office

I'm going to see Stereophonics live tomorrow night. They now come to Japan as part of the tour of their latest album, Language. Sex. Violence. Other?.

I'm looking forward to the live. It's my first time to see them. At the same time, however, it's a bit bad timing for me. My work is very hectic and is about to drive me crazy. Tomorrow it's saturday, but I have to go to the office. I hope I can finish what I have to finish before I go to the live. I didn't expect that I'd be this busy, when I got a ticket.

15 June, 2005

Live 8 related news

» BBC News | Live 8 logic attracts criticism
» BBC News | London Live 8 gig gets 2m texts
» BBC News | Geldof blasts 'sick' eBay sales

I haven't read all of them yet.

9 June, 2005

Memo (2)

I haven't read this, but seems an interesting article.
» BBC News | Biting the hand that feeds you
7 June, 2005
By Stephen Evans

1 June, 2005

Live 8

Sir Bob Geldof has unveiled the plan of "Live 8", aiming to repeat the success of the Live Aid concert in 1985, which raised millions of round s for African famine relief.

The concerts will take place on 2 July in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philadelphia. And here is a list of performers. (from
BBC News)

Hyde Park, London
Mariah Carey, Coldplay, Dido, Keane, Sir Elton John, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Muse, Scissor Sisters, Sir Paul McCartney, Joss Stone, Stereophonics, Sting, Robbie Williams, U2, REM, Velvet Revolver, Bob Geldof, The Killers, The Cure, Snow Patrol

Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Will Smith (host), Bon Jovi, Maroon 5, P Diddy, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, The Dave Matthews Band, Sarah McLachlan, Rob Thomas, Keith Urban, 50 Cent, Kaiser Chiefs

Eiffel Tower, Paris
Jamiroquai, Craig David, Youssou N'Dour, Yannick Noah, Andrea Bocelli, Calo Gero, Kyo, Placebo, Axelle Red, Johnny Halliday, Manu Chao, Renaud

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
A-ha, Crosby Stills and Nash, Brian Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Bap, Die Toten Hosen, Peter Maffay

Circus Maximus, Rome
Duran Duran, Faith Hill, Irene Grandi, Jovanotti, Tim McGraw, Nek, Laura Pasini, Vasco Rossi, Zucchero

» BBC News | Geldof unveils Live 8 show plans
» Guardian Unlimited | Geldof announces Live 8 stars

10 May, 2005

A time to be back

My respect, the living legend, Stevie Wonder is finally back to the music scene, after an almost ten-year absence. He is going to release his 28th album, "A Time to Love", on 25th of May in Japan. In fact, the release date seems to have delayed several times, keeping fans in suspense. But it's been fixed, finally.

I love Stevie Wonder. That's because of that golden period which is nothing less than miraculous. In the 70's, he produced successive albums, Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Lifem, which gave him Grammy Awards. Each of them is still fadeless and strikes me. Secret Life, released after Key of Life, is also good.

In the 80's he started to use synthesizers, which people either like or don't like. Perhaps, owing to the use of synthesizers, his music can be slightly more commercial that what used be. After he released several albums in that period, he was going to be away from the mainstream.

But he's back finally. So it's time to love him again.

Stevie Wonder / A Time to Love
1. If The Creek Don't Rise
2. Time To Love
3. Forever Is How Long
4. What The Fuss
5. I Can't Imagine Love Without You
6. How Will I Know（Duet With Aisha）
7. If Your Love Cannot Be Moved
8. Moon Blue
9. The Future
10. Giant Steps
11. Sunshine
12. Tears
13. The Well
14. Songs Of My Father

» Stevie Wwonder Official Site

» Amazon.com

7 April, 2005

Coldplay and Glasto 2005

After almost three year silence, my favourite British band, Coldplay, is going to release their new album X&Y on 6 June. They have recently revealed the jacket of the new album. As to the album's artwork NME.com says; "there are currently no clues to the meaning behind the image that resembles 1990s computer game 'Tetris'".

Finally I can hear their new songs. Really looking forward to the new album.

Coldplay / X&Y
1. Square One
2. What If
3. White Shadows
4. Fix You
5. Talk
6. X&Y
7. Speed Of Sound
8. A Message
9. Low
10. The Hardest Part
11. Swallowed In The Sea
12. Twisted Logic

» Coldplay: Official site

And the world's biggest music festival, Glastonbury Festival is coming this year, too. It will be held on 24, 25 and 26 June. The festival tickets started to be sold four days ago (on 3 April). But they've already been sold out and appeared on auction website eBay. According to NME.com, "people were attempting to sell their passes soon after the event sold out in three hours on Sunday". And it says; "As of April 6, the highest bid so far for a pair of Glastonbury tickets was £2050". Coldplay, The White Stripes and Kylie Minogue will perform.

» Glastonbury Festival

17 March, 2005

"Are you eccentric?" Independent asked Björk

I like Björk. Her music, fashion and style - I'm interested in all of them. But her avant-garde style can be described "eccentric". When I showed her music video "Cocoon" to my mum, she lost words. I don't know whether it was because she was moved or shocked. Probably, scared, but I like the video.

Anyway, Independent has offered a chance for its readers to ask their questions to Björk. Here are selected questions from the original article. Some are pretty outspoken.

Do you believe in magic?
Nicholas E Gough, Swindon

Of course. It's up to the individual. If you want magic to be in your life, you will have magic in your life. It's about faith really. As I get older, I am experiencing a lot more little abstract moments. For example, when you're stuck at a red light in a taxi, you stare into the sky and experience a bit of magic. It's just a little buzz. It's not about red sparkly shoes or Santa Claus. It's more in between the clouds, more invisible.

Do you consider yourself eccentric?
Holly Brightman, London

I personally don't. People in Iceland don't think so, either. I went to a birthday party in Manhattan recently where there were only Icelanders. I was talking to a clerk who said he often just jumped into a taxi in the middle of the working day with no money and asked the driver to drive to the ocean now or he'd suffocate. Icelandic people are not like most people.

The British have always been very fond of you and your music. What do you think of us? How would you describe the British?
Frances James, by e-mail

Top sense of humour. I really like the British character. They're not emotional on the outside, but I don't mind working at getting to know people for a while. I lived in Britain for three years. I lived in Little Venice in London. Back then, it was a granny area and I liked it. But I had to move away because of the tabloids. There were 20 photographers sleeping in my bushes and I didn't like it.

» Independent | Björk: You Ask The Questions

14 March, 2005

Don't mix up, Moby

Moby is going to release his new album, Hotel on 22 March. Like Doves' album, Some Cities, I recently knew about the release of Moby's new album. I don't catch up with music scene lately.

Along with the release, Moby.come has established the special site, called Moby Hotel - www.mobyhotel.com. You need to resister yourself with the site, but it's free. After you've got a room number, you can check in, that is, log in at the reception of the site. Then, the site leads you to a twelve-story hotel, which offers various amenities, like listing, movie clips, wallpaper download, etc, in each floor. One of them is called MEDIA SUITE, news section. We can pick one of the selected countries, depending where you are situated, and can get related news to US, UK, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Australia and my Japan. I clicked a button, which represents Japan, with enthusiasm. But what's that!? It's Chinese. We don't use it and so cannot understand what it says. Meanwhile, Chinese people don't use Japanese and so cannot understand it. This misunderstanding often happens to someone illiterate or stupid or indifferent to this kind of stuff. Don't mix up Asian languages. Japanese have own language, and so do Chinese. So do Koreans.

Apart from that, the site is beautifully done. And the hotel layout is pretty unique.

Moby / Hotel
1. Hotel Intro
2. Raining Again
3. Beautiful
4. Lift Me Up
5. Where You End
6. Temptation
7. Spiders
8. Dream About Me
9. Very
10. I Like It
11. Love Should
12. Slipping Away
13. Forever
14. Homeward Angel

» Moby Hotel

24 February, 2005

Doves' new album

Doves, my favourite Manchester-born band, announced their single, Black and White Town, while I was away from the media. I didn't know that, of course.

In addition, to my surprise, a new album is out now. Wow! I know nothing. The new album is called Some Cities.

It's been quite a while since they released their latest album, Last Broadcast. Since then, I've rarely heard of their news. But they've finally come back.

Doves / Some Cities
1. Some Cities
2. Black And White Town
3. Almost Forgot Myself
4. Snowden
5. The Storm
6. Walk In Fire
7. One Of These Days
8. Someday Soon
9. Shadows Of Salford
10. Sky Starts Falling
11. Ambition

By the way, is this their official website? Is this just under construction?

If this is completed, I want to undertake redesigning it.

» Doves

27 January, 2005

Björk's new video

Again, Björk surprises us. From last year's groundbreaking album, Medúlla, Triumph of a Heart will be released as a single. Along with the single release, she has created its music video, which is supercool.

In the video, Björk lives with her partner, but he is a cat. And one day, they had an argument or boredom. Don't know exactly what happened from the video. Then Björk leaves home and goes to a small bar in a town. After making a racket there, she get's too drunk to walk and falls down, then gets a scrape on her forehead. This scene, really, is similar to what I was doing in Cardiff and her dynamic slip reminds me of myself...

This video is produced by Spike Jonze, who has also done Björk's It's Oh So Quiet. The video of It's Oh So Quiet is one of the best ones and is also said that it motivates Björk to undertake a heroine of Dancer in the Dark, Cannes' Palme d'Or winning film.

But I saw something strange at the end of the video. After Björk comes back home from last night's party, she kisses the cat and makes up. Then suddenly the cat becomes as big as her, and then starts to dance together. This scene looks as cheap as 80's SF movies. There should have been CG technology to make it look better. Don't know. Spike Jonze might have done so on purpose. But that cat-dancing scene was enough shocking to wipe my memory from the first half of the video. What do you think? See and judge.

» Björk | The Premiere of Triumph of a Heart

24 January, 2005

Tsunami Relief Cardiff

After I left Cardiff, somehow, many things are happening there. Don't know. Japanese football player, Junich Inamoto, is one. He now belongs to Cardiff. I've missed it and am missing it now.

The other is this tsunami relief concert in Cardiff. If I still were in Cardiff, of course, I would have gone to the concert. Look at its lineup. Eric Clapton, Manic Street Preachers, Charlotte Church, Keane, Embrace, Craig David, etc. Umm, personally, I wanted to see Badly Drawn Boy and Snow Patrol.

Moreover, here is more news, which can makes me envy. Travis are confirmed to play at a Tsunami concert in Glasgow, Scotland. The concert will be hold on the 19th of February and includes Franz Ferdinand, Idlewild and others. Each of them is my favourite band.

I kept saying I envy those who can go to the concert, but this is at the simplest level and I understand this is for the victims of the tsunami disaster. I shouldn't have said like that and should have been stupid, but it is true that I hope this will help to raise money for the victims.

According to BBC, the concert was the biggest since Live Aid 20 years ago and raised £1.25 million on the night.

» BBC Wales | Tsunami Relief Cardiff
- you can watch streaming videos of the concert

» Travisonline | Travis to play Tsunami Aid Concert