Frick and frack, you guys. I’ve largely been spared the personal worst of disbandments so far, but along comes the demise of one of my favorite Osaka groups. PiGU, one of the neatest of rock idols (regardless of the flavor they embraced at any moment), are being brought to an end by POP iD:
— PiGU Official (@pigu_official) April 22, 2018
I’ll just go ahead and let Chris explain it all: Continue reading
Underdog Corenament victors Minna no Kodomo-chan seem hell-bent on becoming more than just another cool project littering the Shibuya scene. Their first full-length album, World Without Walls (Kabe no nai sekai), is coming in May. There’s nothing to hold on to just yet, but oh man, the cover art alone is filling me with dreadticipation:
【NEWS】みんなのこどもちゃん、5月23日に1stフル・アルバム『壁のない世界』を発売。4月から新宿ANTIKNOCKで3カ月連続ワンマン開催も決定。 https://t.co/xV2uSC3kUp pic.twitter.com/SGRgZamjeA
— オトトイ (@ototoy_info) April 11, 2018
And those photos!
And speaking of things that people are all HEY YOU JERK YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH THIS about, I submit to you not a new maturation of idol rock, but a new realization of kawaiicore that’s presently* giving vigorous side-eye to all who’ve come before:
That’s PINKYCASE (Twitter), and it suddenly feels like much of the loudol world is turning to peppy pop punk numbers of which I wholly approve**. Here’s a ((very)) (new) live digest: Continue reading
Folks, bless you for buzzing about this yesterday:
Minna no Kodomo-chan, who have to be one of the most under-rated idol units in existence despite being pretty dang well-rated by folks who know them, had a one-man. With a band. And they clearly crushed it. Continue reading
I’m not going to pretend that what I’m about to show you is the heaviest, loudest, most brutal idol thing to ever happen, nor the most society-ripping punk rock, nor even a plus-creative power pop number. All I’m going to say is, when you have a chance to highlight pirate idols, you do it:
That’s how you MV, people
That’s Earphones (Twitter), if you’re interested. This is to promote their second album. That’s all I know about them, which is all that Pure Idol Heart told me about them, and it’s frankly all I need to know because when you put that MV on top of a track that reminds me why I always liked Armor Girls, you’re making great things happen.
Hey, who else remembers PIIIIIIIN? I sure do. Of course, right about the time that I started to get more into them, their end was imminent. So goes idol!
The uninitiated may be asking, who is this group with all of the I’s in the world in its name, and why is it italicized, and why are we remembering them? In reverse order:
That’s why
I can’t speak for the italicization, but just like how jerk-ass gym teachers will always remind you that there is no “I” in “team,” but in reverse, PIIIIIIIN included an I for every member of the group. So there were seven of them, natch. Continue reading
This happened a couple of weeks ago:
Which one of you people was Funning about semaphore idols recently? https://t.co/R2s7j8JtvJ
— Homicidol Maniac (@homicidols) January 7, 2018
Har har! There are little flags and idols and callbacks to things that have happened! That is a thoughtful and well-constructed joke! Shame that the same idols had to come along and ruin it. Continue reading
The big honkin’ 2018 begins in earnest!
Christmas either came super early or super late for ol’ Maniac, you guys. First, new Necroma; then, BBTS melting faces; now Minna no Kodomo-chan making available what they promised was going to come:
本日1/15よりミニアルバム
「起きたら死んでたい」を、ototoyにて全曲無料配信スタート！
1/26までの期間限定無料配信です。新曲「なくなるわたし」を含む全６曲を収録
・期間限定フリー配信用URLhttps://t.co/6obgyTcABw
無料配信期間 1/15から1/26
— みんなのこどもちゃん👁 👁 (@kodomocafeid) January 15, 2018
In our return to the world of idols who can and should earn a spot in your hearts, for reasons known only to you because frankly I don’t want to know what the hell is going on in other people’s heads all that much, we have a new track from Attain Music:
That riff!
Though they’ve been featured in these hallowed pages a few times over the past long time, poor Attain Music is probably still best known as the former home of one Peri Ubu of BiS. She even took photos with them once backstage, possibly at mistfes, and I’m not going to try to find it now so take it from the most trustworthy Maniac you’ve ever met!
Or, I mean, it would be cool if they could a) continue to rock and b) become a little bit of a big deal, you know? This is a doubly loud and sweet song. I’m not saying it’s great, but friggin’ Machinehead is killing it on metal radio right now with one of the laziest songs I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of songs.
Eventually, the full version of this sucker, which may or may not contain a full-on digital harpsichord break (DO IT), will become available, as will a full MV, and then we may judge. In the meantime, please hold Attain Music a little higher in your heart and praise that riff in the beginning of the song, and also the very earnest idols working hard to entertain you.
Attain Music新メンバー発表の瞬間！https://t.co/kJcQL9HIDJ
— Attain Music🐼公式🐼追加メンバー募集オーディション開催中 (@kawaiirockidol) January 8, 2018
One of them is new!
It seems like the time is right to come back around on the (incredibly hard to follow!) series of PiGU releases from the past month, as I am nothing if not devoted to getting more people to listen to PiGU and their (usually excellent!) music, regardless of style variations (currently doing 80s revival!), and consider getting out to Osaka when they’re visiting Japan to see what the POPiD cafe is all about.
I was just going to throw these two you-can-get-these-EPs-from-iTunes announcements into the Weekender, but let’s have a quick look in instead:
PiGU「More Injections – EP」 https://t.co/OOPnggPL0I
— PiGU Official (@pigu_official) January 3, 2018
Actually, let’s talk about whether anybody who finds themselves riding a pastel-colored unicorn bareback through space needs more injections … Continue reading
