Month: May 2019

Punching Down Is So Satisfying in the Friday Fun

/ Kerrie

Last week, we saw some terrible idol names! And I also realised that this was another Fun we recycled without realising! Wow, I’ve lost all remaining shreds of originality!

Say, it’s been a while since I annoyed the hell out of everyone with yet another Friday Fun dedicated to Watanabe harassment, isn’t it? Well, everyone say, thank you Watanabe!

So, Twitter, why is he crying? BiSloss? Foreign fans? Totally not just getting emotional at his friend’s wedding nosiree we have no tolerance for sensible answers in this column!

So, have at it. Guess why our Junnosuke boy is crying with the hashtag of, well, #WhyJSKisCrying. What, I already said I’ve lost all shred of originality at this point.

I Tried to Tell You People about buGG

/ Homicidol Maniac

A quick post before I get dragged back into the day-to-day, and yeah I’m a little bit late on it shut up you should see my Soundcloud stream right now. But! So buGG, who I only just praised and held up as a thing worth getting into, uncorked another song the other day and were so kind as to share it with us:

Here’s the obligatory live clip of the same:

I’m yet to dislike a single thing from this company. It’s like they paint in Things That Please Maniac.

Happiness This Morning Is a New WILL-O’ Single

/ Homicidol Maniac

I hate this recent feeling out of touch business. Even when I’m relatively on top of things, I’m behind or a half-step off or kind of distracted and/or forgetful. It’s dumb! I include in this just the regular maintenance activities of keeping up with idol favorites and not needing all of the various technical mechanisms available to meet a minimum threshold of awareness and support, at which I am currently a miserable failure. Alas.

I bring this up because I, without checking, felt completely blindsided when WILL-O’, who have the best in-name punctuation of all idols ever, announced details for a new single (their first, which, how) out … like in a week. And then there’s a trailer, for which I definitely recommend looking at the description, which lays out the multitude of versions available for this single, and also you are now warned that this “single” trailer runs well over 2:00 without dedicating more than a few seconds to any one track:

That’s no single, that’s a space station!

(Some of) the art (probably): Continue reading →

Retweet Idols, Win Demo

/ Homicidol Maniac

I hope that I’m actually providing something of a service with this post, gang, and not just HTMLing something that’s already been done to death — judging by the original reactions, I’d say it’s somewhere in between — but if you missed it yesterday, amazing digital idolcore project of my dreams DAIDAIDAI has a demo for a new song, “PIRANHA”, available via download if you retweet the following:

There may have been some issues with the automation on this, but mostly ironed out now

Okay, go do it. Then report on your thoughts! Continue reading →

SOLEIL Unveils “This Year’s Model”!

/ supremenothing

SOLEIL continues working in the classic yé-yé tradition of prolifically releasing fresh material at a near non-stop pace. Over the course of last year, she recorded two albums along with a series of singles, and now in 2019, she’s got a new single just out that will be followed by her third album in July!

The new single is “Mellotron Girl”, released as a 7″ record on the Vivid Sound label, in association with Victor Records. Before it was even released, there was a bit of a mad rush to secure a copy, with unscrupulous resellers already trying to finagle outrageous prices for a record that didn’t even exist yet, but thankfully it looks like the label and distributors stepped up to the demand and it became realistic to still pre-order one without breaking the bank. 

SOLEIL’s label uploaded a “short version MV” of the new song, and it fulfills what must be a requirement in the idol business, that all artists must eventually film an undead-themed music video! (Those poor “mummies” look kinda worn-out in the running shots!)

It’s a terrific tune rooted in that timeless French 60’s pop sound! The b-side is also another cool retro throwback, but for this song we get a cover: “High School Lullaby”, an 80’s synth-pop hit originally recorded by Imo-Kin Trio, and written by the legendary Haruomi Hosono! This version exchanges the city-pop vibes with some groovy surf-guitar set to a ska beat and totally pulls it off…

And as the for the upcoming album, “Lollipop Sixteen” will be out of July 17th, so be sure to look out for that! (I really love the reference to Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model” in the design theme.)  It’s already listed for pre-order in a few places, and it stands to reason that streaming options will be available as well.

If you’ve listened to SOLEIL’s previous albums, (Which I’ve discussed here..) you’ll probably have a pretty strong notion of what to expect. And while I don’t think it’ll be much of departure sound-wise, I have no doubt the new album will be packed with short and sweet sugary goodness that’ll make for perfect summer listening!

NILKLY Is as Close of a Spiritual Successor to BRGH/TTTS as We’re Going to Get

/ Homicidol Maniac

In a final ICYMI from the long weekend, I call your attention to the latest progeny of Aqbi Rec boss Tanaka in the aftermath of the demise of flagship project (and chika royalty) THERE THERE THERES, who in turn were by the end basically just Bellring Girls Heart Redux with a membership twist anyway, but also kept the look and music of the original as well as core personnel. Hell, even the Cleveland Browns had a cleaner break!

But in the aftermath of the TTTS breakup, Aqbi announced various spin-offs for the former members, just as had been the case following BRGH, and happened to mention that Mei was staying with the company, and that she’d have her own project to lead. Said project is NILKLY (Twitter), NIL by MEI apparently, and they had their debut live the other day, which was extensively covered by the very hardcore wota who remain dedicated to the Aqbi family the way that I’m dedicated to gardening and auto repair.

This was the scene:

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This tipToe. Song Rocks

/ Homicidol Maniac

And speaking of things that I noted in passing and then set aside so that I could focus on much more holiday weekend-appropriate things, you guys simply must check out the latest MV from former Dots consipirators / Homicidols Dot Com 2018 award winners tipToe., who with a name like that and an image even more like (points at them) somehow manage to be one of the most regularly impressive rock-oriented groups in idol. It’s amazing what a touch of art, a touch of class and a good budget can do!

Anyway, the MV:

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They May Want to Keep Doing This

/ Homicidol Maniac

Forgive the brevity, friends, as I peel myself off of the remnants of the holiday weekend and glance with eminent side-eye at anything approaching an obligation, but I flagged this in passing yesterday specifically because I thought that you needed it as much as I needed (to follow up on) it. So what is it? Oh, no big deal, just a solo/duo spot by Kolokol members Akiho and Konomi in honor of their birthday live tomorrow:

That’s not really what I’d expect from Kolokol, which is fitting because it’s not from Kolokol and is instead a distinct thing that just so happens to be associated with Kolokol, who hey by the way also should do more things because everything they do is good, even things like this that aren’t actually Kolokol! But for real, it’s a cool song, neat moves, and the girls sound good. I’m jealous; the last time that I was invited to do a song for my birthday, I had two too many soju bombs and forgot what I was doing in the middle of “Silent Lucidity.”

Your Homicidols Weekender #132

/ Homicidol Maniac

We made it! To what? To the gol-durned summer, ya jamokes! Oh man, I cannot express how good this makes me feel. For those outside of the United States: This weekend, which includes the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, is the semi-canonical start of summer; I happened to goose it a little bit extra for myself by taking time away from work yesterday, too. And oh was it glorious — with a warm breeze blowing and a DJ poorly mixing hip-hop and reggae, I had passable local beers with friends and ate way too much Mexican food. Over the next couple of days, I’ll be beautifying Maniac Mansion, hitting a beach, slow-cooking meat and unwinding as much as a person can. NOTHING CAN STOP ME.

This Weekender, which is a fine one, is incidentally a perfect one for a weekend like this. Even if you’re on the other side of the planet and are in fact preparing for winter, this liminal spot on the calendar is perfect for getting into the groove that’ll power idol forward over the next few months, through TIF and beyond.

So let’s commence. Prepare yourself for the kinds of little joys that come only a few times per year, when the confluence of life cycles is just right. Go play the Fun, then delve into this idol stuff, and for the love of all things holy don’t do anything that you don’t need to.

Some of Us Have to Work, You Jerk!

Yep, NEO JAPONISM is officially on hiatus now:

Not getting into the reasons why, which are predictable and sometimes stupid

At least they left us with a final live video of the classic lineup:

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Will You Go Goo-Goo Ga-Ga For Baby♡♡Holic?

/ Kerrie / 1 Comment

Well, this is certainly a thing that’s happening.

Continue reading →