If I never see your face again, I don't mind
'Cause we've gone much further than I thought we'd get tonight
39 minutes ago
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
If I Never See Your Face Again
This is one cool sexy clip! The part where she caressed his guitar sure caught my attention ^^.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Rooney - Calling the world
Good music. Been listening to it alot lately.
A little trivia... Robert Schwartzman from Rooney was in the Princess Diaries! Check out the video link I added here.
Just for convenience... Living in Japan? Buy here.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
The evolution of the iTunes ad
After watching Apple's iTunes ad featuring Coldplay, I thought... "woah, we've come a long way haven't we." Most people probably won't notice I guess, since the ads evolve over time. It's like you never notice your partner getting fat because you're always together. Not that she is, this is just an example ^^. How many iTunes ads do you remember?
Here's the Wikipedia article that lists all the ads to date.
I pulled some of the ads from youtube, so that we can see how it evolved over time. They should be in chronological order, with the latest right at the bottom. The current Coldplay ad has a purplish feel to it. Similar to the OSX Leopard boxes. Wonder if it's intentional... Anyway, don't you think the ads did change quite a bit? Any favorites? The ads were quite useful to me. Found good tunes through them ^^.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Viva La Vida! The new album from Coldplay is out! I'm hooked to the song Viva La Vida... been listening it continuously for the past hour now ><. Do you play a new favorite song over and over again? Couldn't find the mtv, but check out their live performance. Love this song.... gotta stop playing it so I can try the other songs in the album!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
French music
We have a new exchange student at our lab. He'll be staying with us for a little over 2 months. He's Italian, but was brought up in France and is from MIT. Lot of information in that sentence there ^^. Anyway, as a gift for helping him settle down in Japan, he gave me this CD. I don't understand french, but I do like some of the songs. Apparently the lyrics are quite political. At least that was what he told me ^^. Ever heard french songs?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
キセキ Rookies
I've been watching this drama lately. Only if I happen to be at home on Saturday evening though ^^. But I do read the manga. It's quite interesting. GTO, Gokusen style. About teachers. This one in particular evolves around a high school baseball team. Somehow, all the delinquents belong to the baseball team. The plot follows the teacher as he rehabilitates the students by getting them to play baseball (in a nutshell). The theme song is quite popular now. At the very least, I like it ^^! It's called キセキ (kiseki) by GReeeeN. Nope I did not misspell it. There are 4 eeee-s in there. Read the manga here. It's quite interesting. Below is a fan video I found on youtube. You can hear the song and it shows some clips from the drama. I think the manga is more interesting though. hehe.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Cool guitar performance from Dire Straits
Found this cool live performance of Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. After listening to this, I went to get their best-of album. I was a little disappointed though. I wanted this exact song but the album's version included vocals. I want an electric guitar! Any of you play?
Friday, May 23, 2008
Prisoner of Love (PV)
I wrote a previous post on Utada Hikaru and how I'm a big fan of hers. Guess what, her new single "Prisoner of Love" is available on iTunes! Not that I'm going to get it because I've already got the album. But I was wondering when they would release her PVs on iTunes. As of now, there are 3 on iTunes, all from her new album. Heart Station, Flavor of Life and Prisoner of Love. You have to check out the Prisoner of Love video. It's so cool that I ended up clicking "buy me" straight after watching the preview! If you want the physical form, you can get the single. It comes with a CD+DVD. The PV is probably stored in the dvd. Get it from iTunes or Amazon Japan. Just a question though. What's your stand on getting music? I tend to buy it if it's on iTunes. Just because it's convenient, I support Apple's cause and last but not least, I support the artists. Don't ask me what I do if it's not on iTunes ^^. If it's not there, I have to really like the cd to buy it.
Update! Found the PV on youtube
Friday, May 16, 2008
宇多田ヒカル (Utada Hikaru)
A friend asked me to introduce some good Japanese music. Let's begin with my favorite singer ^^. I'm a big fan of Utada Hikaru. I like her music, her lyrics, her looks ^^, her voice and simply just the aura around her. She's a pretty popular singer in Japan and if you don't know her, well... now's a good time ^^. You could impress your friends by singing her songs at a karaoke session... her songs are difficult to sing though, 頑張ってね。Just to name a few of her albums I have in my collection.
First Love. Her first album was a big hit in Japan way back in '99 if I remember my history. This was when I my ears and eyes first met her ^^. Many hit singles from this album there was; Automatic, Movin' on without you, First Love, Time will tell etc. It was, and still is, a great album. Propelled her all to way to the top!
Distance is, imo, an excellent album! If you were to ask me which is my favorite album, this one wins hands down. It contains my favorite single Wait & See. Other songs I really like in this ablum; Can You Keep A Secret?, Distance, Addicted To You (great song), For You, Kettobase (prefer the unplugged version though), Parody, Time Limit.
Deep River. On my favorite album list, this one ranks right below Distance. Just because the single I like the most is not in here ^^. Songs I like; 幸せになろう, Deep River, Final Distance, traveling (this is among her best), Sakura Drops, 光 (also one of my personal favorites). 光 (hikari) has an english version called "simple and clean". I like the lyrics and this song has been used in the game Kingdom Hearts (if you've heard of it). 
Exodus... This is a difficult album. Her first big release in the US. Don't think it did very well. I'm no expert, but I think she was experimenting with some new sounds. Some individual songs were good, but I haven't listened to any of those recently. I'm sorry, but this album didn't resonate within me although some singles did make it to the top of dance charts in the US and UK.
ULTRA BLUE. Also another experiment with sound in my opinion. The only songs I kinda liked were 誰かの願いが叶うころ、日曜の朝 and Keep Tryin'. Oh yeah! I almost forgot, COLORS is in this album too. COLORS is good. The others didn't make it to my frequent playlist. This album was a big hit nevertheless.
HEART STATION. Her latest album as of this post. I think her experimentation paid off. The sounds and tunes in this album are pretty cool. Many good songs in here. Fight The Blues, Heart Station, Beautiful World, Flavor Of Life, Stay Gold, Kiss & Cry, Prisoner Of Love (big hit now), ぼくはくま、虹色バス。Prisoner Of Love is the current opening theme of the drama ラストフレンズ (last friends). Good tunes, good lyrics, great song. I bought this album from the iTunes music store ^^.
I only have 2 concert dvds. The Bohemian Summer Tour and Utada Hikaru Unplugged. Wish I was there at those lives though. It looked pretty fantastic from the dvds. Unplugged versions of her songs were also good. If you're looking for a recording of a live performance, I highly recommend the unplugged dvd.
I've just listed some (if not all) of her albums and some of here live DVDs. She has also released dvd collections of her MTVs (called PV in Japan). If you're a big fan of some of her MTVs, you can buy and watch it over and over again instead of like waiting forever for it to appear in MTV today. If you're reading this from Japan, want some Utada Hikaru stuff but feel lazy to get to your nearest music store, you can always try searching 宇多田ヒカル on Amazon Japan. They have tons of other goodies than the few I've covered here. Check her out at wikipedia.
From elsewhere in the world, can't find it at your nearest music store (impossible I think), search for Utada Hikaru on Amazon
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Naruto Shippuuden filler
Ok. I guess my previous post about the current Naruto Shippuuden filler might have been just a tad bit naive. I guess since the characters from the current filler is in the opening theme, it will go on a little bit longer than I anticipated. Good luck catching up to the manga! All's not lost though. It seems that certain characters who appeared only once or twice in the manga, get more attention in the filler. More attention = more character development.
Anyway, the new opening is kinda growing on me. It's by an upcoming trio called 生き物語り (ikimonogatari). I think they are pretty new. Can't find their homepage... Here's the opening theme. The song's name is "bluebird". Enjoy!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
mink II ~endless love~
Don't know if you remember my previous mink post. One of the things we like to do in Japan is to go watch singers sing, especially famous (or getting there) singers such as mink. I added a "getting there" because I was with some friends this morning and they didn't know who mink was. They were in the older age bracket, so that's probably why ^^. The weather was bad. It was raining. She had a mini live concert on a covered stage and everyone else had an umbrella. Given the melancholic songs she sang, I guess it was a pretty iconic afternoon. You can check out her out at wikipedia and just for convenience's sake, a list of her albums at Amazon, Japan. Just wiki-ed her myself. Didn't realize that she was that young. Met her in person when we got her autograph. Yeap. You get to meet her, have maybe a 40 second chat while she signs her CDs, which of course you have to buy, and shake her hand.
I don't remember when I last bought an actual CD. Like a physical CD. I think it was early last year. Club music isn't mainstream. And if it ain't mainstream, you don't have much of a choice. No itunes downloads ^^.
An autographed CD is a different thing altogether. That, you can't get from ITMS too.
Here's the music video of her new single. Enjoy.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Madonna - Hard Candy
My new album to listen for the weekend! "4 minutes" (ft. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland) is pretty cool. "Give it 2 me" has some pretty catchy beats too. So far, those are the only 2 I've listened to. But being Madonna, the rest shouldn't be disappointing ^^. Looking forward to some good music this weekend!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Mink - mini live concert
I haven't really followed up on her music since ... hmm... 2-3 years ago. I only have the album you see on the left. But I do enjoy her music. If you do too, Mink is having a mini live concert and signing session in Lazona, Kawasaki on May 10th. Starts from 1400. Be there or don't see mink ^^.
暴れん坊将軍 (Abarenbō Shōgun)
暴れん坊将軍 season 5 is on テレビ朝日 (Asahi TV) every morning 1030~1125. I think it's channel 10 (not sure though). So far, I only remember that NHK is on channel 1 ^^. For other programs, I always just surf channels until I catch a glimpse of the program I want. Can't do this anymore when I start recording. Here's a thought. Why don't they just print symbols on remote controls; NHK for 1 and 2, 朝 for 10. Something like that. I always hear people talking about TV-this, that channel, but not the numbers. It might work well in Japan! Anyone manufacturing TVs here? Please bring this up at the next product meeting ^^.
Anyway, back to this post. I like this program. It's one of those 時代劇（じだいげき, jidaigeki）programs (Stories/drama from the Edo period). You know, one of those "good triumphs over evil" programs. The lead is played by Ken Mastudaira (not me!). And he has been in that role for a staggering 25 years! You might remember him from the "infamous" Matsuken Samba song. Pay respect. A big hit it was! Check the video if you don't know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, back to this post. I like this program. It's one of those 時代劇（じだいげき, jidaigeki）programs (Stories/drama from the Edo period). You know, one of those "good triumphs over evil" programs. The lead is played by Ken Mastudaira (not me!). And he has been in that role for a staggering 25 years! You might remember him from the "infamous" Matsuken Samba song. Pay respect. A big hit it was! Check the video if you don't know what I'm talking about.
hmm... sidetracked again... It feels a little strange watching him shake those hips. I have this image of him. A tough fighting no-nonsense katana-wielding samurai warrior. In the music video (called a PV, promotional video in Japan), he gives up his katana for a mic! A little disappointing, but entertaining no less ^^. Matsuken Sambaaaa... Ole!
Back to business! The show is about the then current Shogun and his adventures. Disguised, he wanders around the capital mingling with the common folk. Invincible in battle and always ready to help those in need. And if you know るろうに剣心（Rurouni Kenshin), you'll probably enjoy this because he too uses the back of his sword when he fights (see any similarity there?).
If you like samurai stories, you're bound to like this one. It's a classic.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Leona Lewis - Spirit
Currently on my playlist. This album rocks! The beats in "Bleeding Love" are just plain additive. Boom boom bam boom boom. So far I've been just listening to "Bleeding Love", but "Better In Time" is also starting to grow on me. You like?