2016 Homicidols Corenament Final Four Preview

New to the Corenament? Check out this archive of past rounds. Who would be your winner?

The U.S. Civil War pitted a nation against itself, brother against brother, father against son. I think it’s safe to say that the Corenament has been almost as difficult for fans of the hard side of idol.

Go ahead and give the Fond Farewell a read.

After several grueling rounds, we’ve eliminated the wheat from the chaff, or at least discovered who has the most and most ardent fans who can read English. Yes, after weeks of trials and travails, our bracket looks like this:

Babymetal, the #1 seed, has breezed through from the beginning, but the other odds-on favorites have been swept away. Now it’s a competition from the middle and bottom of the bracket, with BiSH, Deathrabbits and Kamen Joshi running on the thrill of an underdog’s victory toward a chance at the ultimate prize: A poorly made web sticker!  Continue reading

So Some of You Like Ska? Meet Hauptharmonie

I wanted to share this while I still had a minute: Hauptharmonie are cool and good and definitely going to be on the sister site, but here’s a song of theirs that’s perfectly acceptable for right here:

Japanese idols who dress like my grandmother screaming over blaring skacore with a Charlie Parker-like jazz break in a perfect song name that breaks the formula because they’d usually use German?

Yes and please.

I Review Things: Babymetal | “METAL RESISTANCE”

Disclaimer: I wasn’t going to write this review. I have a much more interesting concept for Babymetal and Metal Resistance that I’m working on with another writer, but the more I listened to this album, the more I felt that there were things that needed to be addressed; and, for what it’s worth, That Other Thing will be a lot better for me having done this first. So.

On to the review!
Continue reading

Pikarin, the Creepy Princess of A-pop

I never give Shiina, the person behind Pikarin, enough credit or attention. You might not like A-pop or A-style pop, and that’s okay*, but if you like the creepy, crawly, literally-tread-upon-your-fans side of idol, you should be following her.

It’s like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s dark sister gone berzerk. So much twisted fun. On a personal note, because I never find the time to delve into her mad little world, if you can inform us all of what’s good in the world of Pikarin, please share away in the comments.

*Just kidding. Not liking A-pop is a bad opinion that makes you a bad person.

We Need More Tsubasa Fly around Here

An internal search shows that I have posted about Tsubasa Fly all of once, and that’s a damn shame, because they’ve got some of the solidest material going:


Via

Sorry for what’s going to be a very non-exciting day; got a little family thing and a work thing and OH just a very kind if somewhat ill-timed gift from abroad that’s going to be kind of a big deal around here. Busy morning.

Kamen Joshi’s Blowing up Today

The Mask Girls, Kamen Joshi, are not only 2016 Homicidols Corenament Final Four participants; they’re becoming a bigger deal all the time. Topping the charts is one way to do that, but so is getting how this whole idol thing can work for you, being visually compelling and musically addictive. Reader Tara44DD has been loading up Kamen Joshi’s profile comments, so let’s share with everybody and see if they aren’t prevalent in even more places right now.

Most notable is this Reuters slideshow: Continue reading

New Parallel Japan Heralds Something

I ultimately have a lot more to say about Parallel Japan very soon, but this is a pretty cool song:

With lyrics!

So they’re under the same management as Guso Drop, 2&, PoroPoro Baroque, etc. now? Or always? If you know, say.

New Under Beasty Feels Like a Throwback

This was announced a little while ago, and then was pretty much all over their Twitter for last several weeks, and I still completely forgot that to pay attention. Thanks to Phillter for pointing it out:

“UB TRY” is right in that collection of “if I say ‘idols and metal,’ what do you think that sounds like?” Old-school riffs, clean vocals, nice hook in the chorus without being over-the-pop (am I only the person who finds that portmanteau funny?). Nice song. Given all of the nuttiness that we get to explore and share on here, it’s nice to have something simple and straightforward to enjoy sometimes.

Change in the Air for Lyric Holic

I spied this the other day over at Idol 2.0: Rin (Lynne Francoise) has left Lyric Holic.

From her graduation:


Continue reading

Listen to This Ridiculous New Song from petit pas

Petit pas! just keeps releasing new material. How could you be mad about it? Like, how could your emotions possibly feel as complexly enraged as this song?

At this point, the release of their album is going to be a letdown. “Oh, man. Been there, done that.”

Other past petit pas! releases, some of which is new, kind of.