MERRY BAD END dropped their very first MV, “Diamond Ain’t Break Down”, over the weekend. It’s quite the introduction:
I love a good fusion, and this tune has it combining metal-core with euro-pop harmonies and 80’s era hip-hop (think Run DMC meets Ace of Base at Lamb of God’s house). The whole package works, but where they really win me over is with the clean harmonies. This trio sounds dreamy together.
If this is the beginning, I can’t for what comes next. Nice to meet you MERRY BAD END!!
“Say, have you heard of ‘Oshi’?”
This is the opening line of 2019 NHK dorama Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita (English Title: “My Favorite Member”), in which a 30-year-old office worker stumbles across a performance by underground idols and is slowly and inexorably pulled down the rabbit hole to chika idol wotadom. This entirely relatable synopsis was enough to garner the show a high priority on My Dramalist as soon as Papermaiden made me aware of its existence. And as much as I wanted to binge all eight 30-minute episodes as soon the fansubs were complete, I disciplined myself and slowly devoured the show over the course of a few days.
It was a rewarding effort. The dorama shines as an incredibly instructive, rewarding and, in the end, empathetic spotlight on the world of underground idol. In delivering this detailed insight, the show adopts a mostly naturalistic tone and doesn’t sugarcoat or romanticize the struggles of the idols or wota. Although the story unfolds through a melodramatic plot device, both the idols and their fans are portrayed as real, imperfect people trying to build a better versions of themselves.
If nothing else, the show answers the question I saw posed on Twitter the other day: “Is the ‘w’ in ‘wota’ silent?” Continue reading
Change sometimes happens with glacial slowness. Sometimes, it comes in waves. Burst Girl apparently prefers change at the pace of a meteor strike. If a die-hard Burst Girl fan was hit by a bus and spent the week in a coma, they would be forgiven for waking up this morning, seeing the new MV and asking, “Who are these purple-clad punks and why does the center’s smile look so familiar?”
Burst Girl’s revolutionary week started last Sunday when it was announced that they would be making their Western debut as part of Italian idol festival Monster of Dolls 2020 line-up.
Who are you? WE ARE BURST GIRL! @burst_girls is our second #InnerCircle guest! Get ready to have your lives rocked and your bones broken, the explosive girls are coming, they want you to come… and they absolutely won't take no for an answer! #MoD2020 #爆裂女子 pic.twitter.com/IakvWxKluy
— Monster Of Dolls (@monster_dolls) September 15, 2019
Then Monday saw the graduation of Zero-chan. Though I’ve been overusing the phrase this year, this graduation is an end of an era. Rei-chan was an iconic presence in chika idol and it is hard to remember a time when she wasn’t the BOSS, first of Guso Drop and then of Burst Girl.
Continue reading
Twitter has unwisely solicited the wrath of 14th Generation Toilet Hanako-San. This weekend, after having solved all other pressing matters plaguing the platform, Twitter suspended Hanako-san’s accounts. They now have only themselves to blame if employees suddenly go missing during visits to the fourth floor restroom at Twitter headquarters.
For a 444-year-old youkai like Hanako-san, saying, “I’m going to bathe in a sea of your blood” is simply her way of saying, “Hello.” Yet Twitter has apparently frozen her accounts for expressing her innocuous intent to kill us all.
凍結の原因はこの二つのツイートらしいです
ですがこれは私の持ちネタのようなものであり、脅迫したかったわけではありません、、
異議申し立てには「これは私の持ちネタです」と送りました pic.twitter.com/R8wTlOSH4k— 十四代目トイレの花子さん (@14Hanako_san) September 15, 2019
She has since opened a new account, so please subscribe to @14Hanako_san.
Broken By the Scream is one of the most unique, talented and loud acts in alternative idol and, over this past Labor Day weekend, Saboten Con played host to their U.S. debut in Phoenix, Arizona.
Although harsh vocals in chika idol have been normalized over the past few years, most groups still only use death voice elements to provide an occasional emotional emphasis or shock. Broken By the Scream, however, has flipped this norm, embracing harsh vocals for the lead part in the majority of their songs. Having a dedicated screamer (Io) and growler (Kagura) also lends a signature contrast to the vocal delivery, oftentimes in a call-and-response style reminiscent of a collaborative rap. In this harsh environment, it is the entry of the clean vocals of Yae and Ayame that oftentimes serve as a purifying and cathartic shock.
Towards the end of Saboten Con weekend, Team Homicidols was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to sit down and speak with the four talented idols whose singular voices combine to make Broken By the Scream the vocal powerhouse that it is.
Yae: This is a genre that you’ve probably never heard anywhere else in the world.
Five years and 1,293 shows later, Screaming 60s capped what has been perhaps the most relentless and legendary run in chika idol history with am exuberantly emotional live at Zepp Nagoya on September 2nd.
いくぞ！！！！！！ pic.twitter.com/YxvSFzLMQ5
— 絶叫する60度 (@zekkyo60) September 2, 2019
As the group enters a period of indefinite (and perhaps permanent) hiatus, the entire chronology of the Screaming 60s saga has been painstakingly documented in a commemorative booklet available for download.
絶叫する60度 Zepp Nagoya ワンマンライブを記念してライブ年表を作成しました！
今回冊子の配布は無くWeb限定公開になります。画像を保存いただくか、リンク先Dropboxより高画質データがダウンロード可能です。https://t.co/sEg62x0RKA pic.twitter.com/pmj2qI2PjD
— えっふー公式 《NEXT物語:1294》 (@effu0801) September 2, 2019
All parties involved have been cagey, carefully avoiding saying that Screaming 60s are finished and only reminding us that nobody knows the future. We do, however, know that Montero’s immediate future largely involves motherhood. Kai, for her part, didn’t even take a day off before announcing her new role as vocalist for a just-launched band, Tentai 3349. Continue reading
Broken By the Scream made their debut performance on U.S. shores this past Friday night at Saboten Con in Phoenix and it was spectacular. Ayame, Yae, Io and Kagura brought a ton of energy to the Arizona desert and left it all onstage. The vocals were appropriately brutal and angelic in turn, the choreography crisp and emotional. Fans had flown in from across the U.S. and up from Mexico to give BBTS a proper welcome to the West. Altogether, it was a fabulously brutal evening.
【アメリカ初公演無事終了!!】
The first performance in America was a great success! Everything was great!
Thank you America!! pic.twitter.com/xWiV0OPjUk— Broken By The Scream (@BBTS_koushiki) August 31, 2019
Minna no Kodomochan has lost a child. Following an understandably emotional encore at their tour final Thursday night, Honoka announced her retirement from the unit. This was the first time Honoka had been able to appear on stage for the current national tour after a neck injury in July. Honoka assured fans that her physical state was good and her rehab complete, but she would still have to give up being a child.
https://twitter.com/kodomochan_hono/status/1167084813230043137?s=20
Kodomochan management officially confirmed this morning that the group would be moving forward with Cinnamon. Continue reading
It’s backwards week here at Slodicimoh where lot’s of newbies (and Sari) made the front page while the A-listers are populating the weekender. Also, don’t forget that the Friday Fun is never limited to Fridays… you can join in at any time!
First up, the best news in for-freaking ever: Honoka will return to performing with Minna no Kodomochan at their tour final on 8/29.
8.29 LIQUIDROOM
ほのか出演します！ https://t.co/KFCtAaEbwr— みんなのこどもちゃん👁 👁 (@kodomocafeid) August 22, 2019
Congratulations to Fruitpochette for hitting their crowdfunding target!! Now we have a single, MV and nation-wide tour of Japan to look forward to.
『FRUITPOCHETTECD出して全国回るぞ』クラウドファンディング
なんと、なんと、なんと！！！！
あと10日も残して
目標の150万円達成致しました!!!
本当にありがとうございます😭😭皆さんのお気持ちに答えるべく頑張ります!!!これからもよろしくお願いします🙇♂️ pic.twitter.com/3QhvoCSPto
— FRUITPOCHETTE 公式 (@fruitpochette2) August 20, 2019
While the members of Team Homicidols would love to be irresponsibly uninformed music bloggers full time, we do have work and school and other things that resemble aspects of real life that unfairly consume the majority of our waking hours. This being the case, we do let a few significant things slip through the cracks of Homicidols coverage, especially during times like this week when Maniac isn’t around to keep us on task. Hence the weekender!!
Here are the other things we would have written about this week if we didn’t have to work for food:
Team Homicidols is collectively going to hell for not giving this Oyasumi Hologram MV a standalone feature.
Here’s a sentence I never thought I would write: Aina the End collaborated with SUGIZO for a Gundam theme song.
