Toko Furuuchi Interview – Round 2 by Dennis A. Amith (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)
October 14, 2010 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment
Toko Furuuchi is one of the more recognized names in Japan when it comes to singing and also creating songs for a good number of music artists in Japan.
With a new album in Japan and a recent performance in New York City, J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recent followed up with a second interview with singer/songwriter Toko Furuuchi in regards to her new album “PURPLE” and getting to know the music artist upfront and personal.
Make sure to read our first interview with Toko Furuuchi before reading this second interview.
Download our second interview with Toko Furuuchi here!
a-nation ’09 Best Hit Live (a J!-ENT Music DVD Review)
January 19, 2010 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
a nation ’09, the summer music festival for one of Japan’s largest music labels avex entertainment, inc. featured surprise performances, especially the return of musician/music producer Tetsuya Komuro. If you are a fan of avex artists/groups especially Ayumi Hamasaki, “a nation ’09 Best Hit Live” is definitely worth the purchase!
BUY THIS DVD at CDJapan:
ARTIST: Various Artists
TITLE: a-nation ’09 Best Hit Live
DURATION: 169 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Region 2, 16:9 LB, Dolby Stereo
Released on November 18, 2009
COMPANY: avex trax
TRACK LIST:
- AAA – Break Down
- Ami Suzuki – Delightful
- GIRL NEXT DOOR – Be your wings
- Do As Infinity – Saigo no GAME
- Ryuichi Kawamura – Brilliant Stars
- hitomi – WORLD! WIDE! LOVE!
- DA PUMP – We can’t stop the music
- LINDBERG – Ima Sugu Kiss Me
- My Little Lover – blue sky
- Ai Otsuka – Bye Bye
- Boa – Eien
- Every Little Thing – Dear My Friend
- globe – FACE
- Kumi Koda – ECSTASY
- Tohoshinki – Survivor
- TRF – Samui yoru Dakara
- Ayumi Hamasaki – Rule
- Ayumi Hamasaki – A Song for XX
- Ayumi Hamasaki – BLUE BIRD
- Ayumi Hamasaki – Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~
- Ayumi Hamasaki – TO BE
- Ayumi Hamasaki – Boys & Girls
- Ayumi Hamasaki – Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~
- Ayumi Hamasaki – July 1st
- JURIAN BEAT CRIS – Go! Let’s Go!
- TRIPLANE – Ai Kotoba
- moumoon – Haleluiah
- J-Min – One
- Nana Tanimura – JUNGLE DANCE
- May J. – Garden
- alan – Kuwon no Kawa
- Maki Goto – Candy
Starring:
BoA
AAA
Ami Suzuki
GIRL NEXT DOOR
Do As Infinity
Ryuichi Kawamura
hitomi
DA PUMP
LINDBERG
My Little Lover
Ai Otsuka
Every Little Thing
globe
Kumi Koda
Tohoshinki
TRF
Ayumi Hamasaki
JURIAN BEAT CRISIS
TRIPLANE
moumoon
J-Min
May J.
alan
Since the early 1990′s, I have been a big fan of the Japanese music label avex trax and throughout the years, I have owned many of the label’s live performances on VHS and LD.
From the TK Dance Camp music festival from 1995 featuring mostly artist that were affiliated with producer Tetsuya Komuro, in 2002, avex began Summer music festival known as “a-nation”.
a-nation would be a summer music festival held in several cities throughout Japan and would feature the top artists from the avex trax and the various labels of Avex Entertainment, Inc.
Each DVD that has been released thus far featured several performances by an artist but at the same time, each release has been a mixed bag. Primarily because a-nation features so many talents and a few of the artist would be featured performing up to three songs with Ayumi Hamasaki being the final performance and having the most songs featured on each DVD release.
In 2008, avex entertainment celebrated their 20th Anniversary but the celebration for the label that year featured the reunion of the band Do As Infinity, a live performance at a-nation by Namie Amuro but most noteable, the celebration was not the greatest as it was marred by the arrest of Tetsuya Komuro (TK) on fraud charges.
And here we are with “a-nation ’09 Best Hit Live” with an impressive lineup as we saw old and new return for the latest music festival. Most notable was Do As Infinity returning to a-nation for the first time since their breakup, Lindberg celebrating their 20th Anniversary performing at the even for the very first time but most noticeable was the appearance of Tetsuya Komuro which was unexpected.
After receiving a suspended sentence in May 2009, Komuro made a surprise appearance at a-nation on August 22nd and apologized to all his fans for disappointing them. Komuro played the piano which received a standing ovation but also featured his band globe performing “FACE” at the music festival.
But this latest “a-nation” DVD was quite impressive as it featured many performances from a variety of artists. Typically, you would have a lineup with an artist performing one song (with the exception of Ayumi Hamasaki) and a an artist or group that were OK but this time around, performances were solid.
From AAA’s performance of “Break Down”, definitely one of my favorite performances by the group at a-nation, a good intro to celebrate the reunion of Do As Infinity and the 20th anniversary of LINDBERG, former Every Little Thing member Mitsuru Igarashi joined the group onstage for the performance, fantastic performances by Ami Suzuki, BoA, Tohoshinki, Ai Otsuka and many others.
Awesome choreography from Tohoshinki and Da Pump and also, great to see some of the former TK family members onstage again. But the most energetic performance definitely goes to Ayumi Hamasaki who performed in front of an excited and enthusiastic crowd.
VIDEO AND AUDIO:
Fortunately, there was good weather (where in the past, some performances were hampered by thunderstorms or rain). Editing focused on the artists from a variety of angles and camera work and editing was well done as we got good closeups from various angles, a camera above and overlooking the audience. But performances selected for each artist were fun and energetic.
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital and for a more immersive soundtrack, I chose to have my home theater receiver set on stereo on all channels. But overall, audio is clear and understandable.
I do wish that avex would release their a-nation music festivals on Blu-ray and release them with a lossless audio soundtrack and also the whole concert in 1080p.
SPECIAL FEATURES
“a-nation ’09: Best Hit Live” comes with a few special features. Limited Editions of this DVD release also comes with an a-nation ’09 T-Shirt.
- “a-nation ’09 Live Digest” – (13:58) These are short clips of avex artists who performed on the smaller stage such as TRIPLANE, moumoon, Nana Tanimura, alan, May J., Maki Goto and JURIAN BEAT CRISIS. There were some artists on the Live Digest that I wished they showed the full performance of.
- a-nation ’09 Documentary – (23:53) The following documentary featured the artists in their green room before heading onstage and talking with the artists and group after they left the stage. Also, seeing the fan interaction with the music artists/groups plus behind-the-scene clips and onstage clips during the artists and band talking to the audience.
This is the eighth “a-nation” that I’ve watched and definitely one of my favorites. I felt that the 2007 release was very well done especially with the special features but in terms of performances, “a-nation ’09″ felt more lively and energetic. I also felt the lineup was much more exciting with this year’s offering (featured on this DVD).
The additional documentary was very cool as it showed how various artists and the groups did before they went onstage such as AAA playing video games to Tohoshinki working on their Japanese and much more. It was pretty cool to see the various artists coming to see other bands perform. Especially Ayumi Hamasaki who came to see Tohoshinki and TRF perform. Unfortunately, not everyone who performed are featured on the documentary.
But if there was one major thing missing from this DVD and I can understand why, was Tetsuya Komuro’s piano performance and apology. Granted, people can find this on YouTube but that piano performance and to see everyone so shocked that TK was back was priceless and to see the standing ovation. Unfortunately, this is not included on the DVD, only his performance with globe is featured.
“a-nation” is one of those DVD releases that people are split 50/50. I felt that considering the space on the DVD, it would have been nice to have a a two-DVD set, in order to get more performances but seeing that there is only one DVD, viewers are going to complain about the one song per singer versus eight songs for Ayumi Hamasaki.
There has always been a bias towards Hamasaki’s performances on the a-nation DVD’s and I can understand why those fans or concert-goers are upset each release almost every year. I’ve asked the same questions many times of why Hamasaki is given so many tracks and I understand its her popularity and her dedication to avex but I would love to see other artists/bands given two songs each to make the playlist much more balanced.
But if you have been following a-nation DVD’s, that’s the way things have been with these releases. One should expect mostly Ayumi Hamasaki performances and I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.
Overall, I enjoyed “a-nation ’09 Best Hit Live” and seeing the various performances of artists that I enjoy. Yes, I would love to see more songs from the artists, a full performance by those who performed on the smaller stage and a little less of Hamasaki. But in the end, I did enjoy this latest music festival and for avex trax fans, definitely a concert DVD worth having in your J-Pop DVD collection.
BUY THIS DVD at CDJapan:
miray – Foreplay (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)
November 28, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
miray’s third mini-album for the year and for the most part, there are cool collaborations and really cool upbeat pop/reggae dance hall tracks but where the mini-album starts off quite well, is hampered by its final three tracks. Otherwise, an average at best mini-album.
ARTIST: miray
ALBUM: Foreplay
LABEL: Rhythm Zone
CATALOG #: RZCD-46276
DURATION: 30:57
RELEASE DATE: Novemer 25, 2009
BUY THIS ALBUM from CDJapan.com:
- Proof of Love
- Tek Weh Yuh Self (feat. DOMINO-KAT)
- Foreplay (feat. CORN HEAD)
- タイミング
- 恋しくて ～You’re not here～
- Just Listen (feat. DJ KAORI)
- 涙
J-Pop/reggae dancehall artist/producer miray is back with her third mini-album (all mini-albums were released in 2009) titled “Foreplay”. miray is an Osaka native who came from a dancing background in classical ballet.
She became a reggae dancer with HOTTIE CAT and both released a single titled “Summer for Life”. She made her official debut in 2009 with her mini-album “Jump Pump” and her latest mini-album features her ability to sing reggae dance hall songs but also showcasing her as a J-Pop artist.
The mini-album kicks off with her J-Pop track “Proof of Love” produced by Daisuke Imai. A pretty awesome pop track and it suits her vocals quite well. Upbeat, cool grooves, cool song!
The second track “Tek We Yuh Self” is a reggae dance hall track featuring DOMINO-KAT and music by DJ YUTAKA. Music that we are usually used to hearing from artists like ARIA, miray does a good job but where ARIA and even PANG’s vocals are more suited to the reggae music, miray comes off well but more of a J-Pop vocalist compared to her other female reggae counterparts from the avex sub-labels.
The third track “Foreplay” features a collaboration with CORN HEAD which is more of a J-Pop track than a reggae dance hall track. But it’s a catchy pop song with CORN HEAD just yelling “yeah” or “what” in the background and lends his rhymes to the bridge. Overall, a good, catchy pop track.
Probably the most surprising track on the album is reggae version of the Black Biscuits hit “Timing”. Sung in a J-Pop singsong style with a reggae groove courtesy of Dub Master X. Pretty cool cover!
The fifth track “Koushitekute ~You’re not here~” is a ballad with a reggae groove courtesy of miray, kors k and K.Ando but sometimes miray sounds flat at times.
The sixth track “Just Listen” features a collaboration with DJ KAORI. An upbeat pop track with cool beats and it’s an OK track but DJ KAORI’s beats doesn’t have the balance with miray’s vocals. It’s OK but the balance is not there.
The final track on the mini-album is “namida” (Tear) which is an acoustic guitar track courtesy of Akira Tatsuwaki. Overall, it’s another average song at best. I wish Akira Tatsuwaki kept the track to an acoustic guitar and not put the UFO sounds in the background.
The CD insert features lyric from miray and production credits. Also, quite a few photos of her and a rhythm zone insert.
Overall, “Foreplay” was a mini-album that starts off well for the first four tracks but then the last three started to go downhill. Was not digging the miray/Akira Tatsuwaki collaboration and as much as I love DJ KAORI, the beats and miray’s vocals didn’t go off so well. But there are solid songs on this album and if you are purchasing this album digitally, I definitely recommend the first four tracks.
Otherwise, as a whole, it’s a good mini-album from miray that has its positive, awesome tracks and some that just didn’t go well at all.
BUY THIS ALBUM from CDJapan.com:
or YesAsia.com
moumoon – On the right (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)
October 17, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“moumoon experiments with a different style of music with their fifth single ‘On the right’. Featuring a more mellow, happier upbeat pop track, the single also features a solid rock track and an all English track as well. Overall, a solid single from the duo.”
GROUP: moumoon
CD SINGLE: On the Right
LABEL: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVCD-31654/B
DURATION: 21:16
RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2009
BUY THIS CD SINGLE:
- On the right
- ハレルヤ
- Philia
- On the right ~instrumental
- ハレルヤ – instrumental
DVD: Region 2, Duration: 10:20 minutes, 4:3
- On the right – MUSIC CLIP
- FULL MOON LIVE TOUR 2009 DIGEST
- FULL MOON LIVE TOUR 2009 Special Animation 01
- FULL MOON LIVE TOUR 2009 Special Animation 02
In 2004, singer/songwriter YUKA and musician/composer Kousuke Masaki were introduced by a mutual friend. Eventually, the two appreciated each other’s music and in 2005, the two would form the rock unit, moumoon.
The group based their name from the French world “mou” and the English word “moon” which literally translates to “soft moon”. Two words that would describe the two individuals of the group.
YUKA who was born on Dec. 3, 1985 in Tokyo is a big fan of Michelle Branch and Des’ree. Although, known for her vocals, YUKA is actually an accomplished violinist and played for an orchestra. She learned English while living in America where she lived in Michigan and Illinois. Kousuke Masaki was born on June 22nd, 1977 in the Ishikawa Prefecture and is a big fan of The Neptunes and Alanis Morissette. Kousuke is an accomplished musician who grew up learning the piano and at the age of 13, learned to play guitar and at 15, started playing the synthesizer.
The group has managed to capture my attention with their Japanese and English releases and have felt that this band has a good presence to perform outside of Japan based on the releases and live work they have done thus far.
Their fifth CD single “On the right” is quite interesting because the band sports a different style of sound that moumoon is known for.
The single kicks off with “On the right”, a softly sung pop track that is a happy style of song that really doesn’t showcase the bands rock sound but if anything, shows that the band can utilize different styles. In a way, I find this quite interesting because moumoon kind of reminds me of the 90′s pop group My Little Lover who were known for their rock sound and then wanted to experiment with different style of sounds and it will be interesting to see if the group pursues that style of sound in the near future.
The second track “ハレルヤ” (or “Hallelujah”) is ain inspirational rock track that the band is known for. Featuring string arrangements by Gen ittetsu and I like how the song transitions to this earthly chorus. Pretty cool track!
The third track is an all English track titled Philia, written by YUKA. The song actually features solid English lyrics and showcases YUKA’s talent for songwriting. In this song, YUKA writes about a friend she met in 1985 named Philia who told her to stand up to the crazy world and how that voice and those words stayed with her since.
The remaining two tracks are instrumental tracks for the first two songs.
As for the DVD, the DVD features a music video for “On the right” which features YUKA walking through an artistic world featuirng CG clips of flowers, birds, paper airplanes, animals, buildings and more that sprout around while she moves around from area to area. The video is directed by Keita Takayanagi.
The second track features clips from moumoon’s 2009 FULL MOON tour with clips of her singing songs such as “Do you remember?” and “good night”.
The third and fourth clips are two special animation clips that were shown during the FULL MOON tour.
As for the CD insert, the insert features the lyrics and production credits to the song and music video. A picture of YUKA and Kousuke Masaki and a mini flier for BEE TV.
Overall, another entertaining CD single release from moumoon. “On the right” definitely showcases the group with a different style of music that fans may or may not be comfortable with but personally, I see the track as a way of showing that the group can take on different style of music which isn’t all that bad. For fans of moumoon, definitely get the CD+DVD version, as the DVD does showcase clips from the 2009 FULL MOON LIVE TOUR.
BUY THIS CD SINGLE:
The avex bldg.
August 26, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
Right outside the front entrance of the avex bldg. Photo by J!-ENT’s Tagawa Hiroshi.
AMAZING NUTS! DVD BOX SET (A J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)
February 28, 2007 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
As the entertainment company Avex is known for the music industry, they have their sites set on various areas of entertainment such as film and definitely in the area of animation.
One of the most ambitious projects is “Amazing Nuts!”, featuring a joint collaboration between Avex Entertainment Inc. (who now has an anime division for anime distribution) and well-respected Japanese animation studio, STUDIO4°C.
From Avex, featured is music from rhythm zone artists m-flo (ala m-flo loves DOPING PANDA), RAM RIDER, Koda Kumi and Mink).
STUDIO4°C who has worked on critically acclaimed animated films such as “MEMORIES”, “Spriggan”, “Princess Arete” and “Mind Game” and most notably to “Matrix” fans for “The Animatrix”.
Even Japanese music fans may recognize their work from the music videos such as Glay’s “Survival” and Hamasaki Ayumi’s “Connected”.
And this is just to name a few as the studio has created works for television and video games as well.
But to know STUDIO4°C, you need to go back to the founders Morimoto Koji, Tanaka Eiko and Sato Yoshiharu.
Morimoto Koji is known for his work that are frenetic and bizarre and has set himself apart other animators with his unique approach to animation, thus he is considered one of Japan’s top animators.
Morimoto is known for working on Otomo Katsuhiro’s “AKIRA” and also animation directorial works for the “Franken Gear’s” segment on “Robot Carnival”, “MEMORIES” and many more.
His animated film works include animation such as “Tomorrow’s Joe”, “Golgo 13”, “The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do you Remember Love?”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and “Macross Plus” to name a few.
Musically, Utada Hikaru fans will recognize his work on the music videos for “EXODUS” and “passion”.
The trio have produced a wide variety of work since 1986 and nearly twenty years later, have shown no signs of slowing down.
So, here we are with “Amazing Nuts!”, a 37 minute anthology which contains around four distinctive shorts that last about 7-8 minutes long.
The big positive is the studio is being given the freedom to create something different and new without having it to be based on an original manga.
According to producer, Tanaka Eiko, their goal was to create shorts that could be a music video, a pilot to future anime projects and a standalone DVD release.
The first short is titled “Global Astro Liner” which is directed by Nakayama Daisuke (who also provides the character designs).
Nakayama’s previous works include “Blood: the Last Vampire” and “Ghost in the Shell” films. “Princess Mononoke” and “Shin Megami Tensei Devil Children” and “Maho Shoujo Tai Arusu” TV series.
The music featured is “She loves the Cream -Amazing Nuts! Ver.-” by m-flo loves DOPING PANDA. Combining the hip hop and R&B sound of m-flo and the frenetic rock and digital sounds of DOPING PANDA, the animation and the music balance each other well.
“Global Astroliner” has the feel of a futuristic police or headhunter team taking down underworld thugs in the future.
The film is definitely futuristic, urban, gritty, frenetic, of a metropolitan city rift with chaos and you are fed with many scenes of multiple teams of bad guys and scenes that looks like it comes from an actual series.
Obviously an anime short that shows that it can be a potential animated series if given the chance to.
The second anime short is titled “Glass Eyes” directed by Yamashita Takashi with character designs by
Morimoto Koji.
The music for this short is titled “Smile Again” by digital music artist RAM RIDER known for his experimentation with 8 bit sound and digital music.
“Glass Eyes” is Yamashita’s first animated project as a director. Hired because of his script and a story about a guy who has dreams or images of apocalypse.
And throughout these dark scenes in his mind is a woman who looks like she’s in a brink of death. Is he supposed to save her?
The animation is so beautiful as it shows love and destruction. This short was hands down, my favorite short of the whole anthology.
Different animation styles with interest dark imagery that was just too awesome that you just craved for more. A wonderful balance between CG and animation.
I felt that RAM RIDER’s music also showed an interesting balance with his music and the animation.
The third animation is titled “Tatoeba Kimi ga Sekaijyu no Teki ni Nattemo” (Even if you were to become the enemy to the rest of the world) aka “Kung-Fu Love” which is directed by Aoki Yasuhiro and also the person responsible for the character designs.
The music featured in this short is titled “Twinkle” by Koda Kumi.
Definitely a no brainer to include Japan’s top selling music artist of 2006 in this Avex project (which is the label Koda is from).
“Kung-Fu Love” features a fighter who takes on other opponents and also finds love.
Suffice to say that compared to the other two shorts which were gritty and dark, this short is actually very colorful. and different animation wise from the previous two.
Also, as the music found a good balance in the first two shorts, “Twinkle” is more of a pop song that tries to feature Koda Kumi’s bubbly personality with the main character. Even the main character sports the Koda Kumi eyes when shown close-up.
I actually enjoyed the animation style and use of lighting for “Kung-Fu Love”. Although simple drawn characters, the actual city that the characters live in are lush and is beautifully created.
Aoki who’s previous roles as key animator for the “Sailor Moon” films, “You’re Under Arrest” TV episodes and director for the Mahou Shojou Tai Arusu TV Series (again, just to name a few) utilizes the fighting action scenes very well.
Aoki used between 6,000-7,000 drawings for this 10 minute short which is five times the volume for a TV series.
Similar to the first short, “Kung-Fu Love” shows many scenes that could become a TV series or a film if ever given a chance.
The fourth and final short on the anthology is “Joe and Marilyn”.
This time a 3D animated film directed by 4°Fahrenheit with character designs by Ishida Takafumi.
The music featured in this short is “Here by my side” sung by Mink. Mink is an English and Japanese speaking artist that has made it to the top on the billboard Dance Charts in the US.
The story of “Joe and Marilyn” revolves around a love story between the two characters.
Marilyn is a performer and is shown singing in front of many people until trouble finds itself into a venue that Marilyn is performing at. Unfortunately, Joe somehow gets involved in the trouble and I don’t’ want to spoil the rest for you.
Some may look at the animation with the thick hair and think this is 3D from several years ago but it really isn’t.
Needless to say that Mink’s ballad works with the short very well but compared to the other three shorts, it does seem out of place. But then again, the nature of this anthology was to have something different.
As for the DVD release, there are several versions released.
The limited edition DVD box set of “Amazing Nuts!” (AVBA-35001, Y5800, pictured on page 1) is definitely the version I highly recommend on getting.
Included in the DVD box set are two DVD’s. One which includes the 37 minute anthology feature and a second DVD which includes a 40 minute that includes “The Story of Amazing Nuts!” with interviews with STUDIO4°C, those who were involved in directing or character animation of the shorts and also the interview with the music artists.
The biggest key in the DVD box set is the over 300+ pages of storyboard and interviews discussing the progression of the featured shorts.
For those who are art students who want to get into animation, these type of books are definitely desired and to see how much time and work was involved for just 7-10 minutes of animation will blow you away.
You won’t believe how detailed they were for each of these shorts when it came to storyboards. Everything was thoroughly planned.
The regular edition of “Amazing Nuts!” (AVBA-35003, Y2856) features the anthology with no special features.
And last, is the “Amazing Nuts!” CD+DVD (RZCD-45477, Y1895) which is the soundtrack which comes with the four audio tracks and the four music videos. Total time is 13 minutes for the DVD music videos.
Granted, you can possibly catch most of what you want to see in the CD+DVD version but the DVD box set offers so much more that I won’t hesitate but recommend the limited edition box set.
All in all, I look at this anthology as a collection of animated artwork. Showcasing a studio known for taking risks and doing things different, many fans of STUDIO4°C’s animation respect the work of those involved in this anthology and it doesn’t surprise me that people from all over the world have been importing this product.
Unfortunately it does not look like the anthology has been picked up by a US anime distributor, thus it could mean that you may need to import this and also need a region-free player.
A lot of work went into creating these shorts and it would be a shame if they weren’t furthered to a OAV or TV series.
All in all, for fans of STUDIO4°C, this is definitely worth owning for your collection.
A — DENNIS A. AMITH
For more information visit, http://www.avexmovie.jp/lineup/amazing-nuts/
