PassCode Answers the Question You’ve All Been Asking: What Would Bring Me The Horizon Sound Like If Covered by Idols?

Well of all the things that I definitely didn’t expect to run into yesterday, but did anyway, I think you can chalk up “PassCode covering a big-ass deal Western band and releasing a very Western-friendly MV to go along with it” as not only the winner, but also the closest I came to actually snorting coffee all over my keyboard since Covid-san chased me back to Maniac Mansion for work. Good job, PassCode! And also: Good job, PassCode! Your cover of “MANTRA” is right the hell on!

Original, for reference

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Get Your Prog On, Says xoxo EXTREME

Pretty sure that I’ve used a version of this title before, so sue me

Man, the first part of this week was absolutely exhausting. Did you know that we set a record, not just for Homicidols Dot Com, but I’m going to go ahead and claim for any Western J-music-oriented bloggy site, period? Yep: In about 12 hours, we issued 10 unique posts, and legitimately only a handful of that was planned April Fools stuff; the rest was because of either awesome pranks that needed to be called out, or just plain awesome stuff that needed to be shared. And we still didn’t get all of it! It was most of the stuff for Tuesday too! Wild as hell. I feel like I’m still digging out.

After all of that, you need a re-charge, and what better serendipity than to connect with something I got a little excited about recently, which is here rendered in all of xoxo EXTREME’s unique live goodness:

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Ashley and Bekah Say “HELLO”!

Ya’ll know Bekah and Ashley, right? They’ve been doing charming dance cover tributes to some of our favorite idols and sharing them on Bekah’s YouTube channel, and they’re pretty darn fantastic at it. Pure heart and lots of energy, with a heaping dose of pure fandom love for what they do. They even received well-deserved praise with one of their Billie Idle covers!

Anyway, I kinda-sorta knew this video was gonna happen, cause Ashley and myself are both unabashedly devoted Avandoned fans, and  a while back I dropped a not very subtle hint that I’d love to see them do this song. (Actually, I think I said “PLEASE DO THIS SONG!”) It turned out Ashley was already intending to do it anyway, cause she’s cool like that, so this video is something I’ve been looking forward to for quite a bit. So without further ado, here’s Ashley and Bekah saying “Hello”!!!

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We Review Things: The tipToe./Dots Split Single is a Concoction of Fizzy Goodness


DIY rock bands figured out a long time ago that the “split-single” is a great way for fledgling artists to achieve the milestone of getting a record out there. Two bands chip in their money, and each gets one side of a 45 rpm vinyl record, ready to share with the masses. And for music lovers, it’s a pretty nifty deal as well, cause for a low price point,

you could take a chance on hearing two new bands you might happen to dig. It’s a great punk-rock tradition that plenty of bands still carry on today. 

And now here come two darlings on the indie-idol set, tipToe. (That’s how you stylize the type.) and ········· (You know, Dots.) with a split/collaboration single entitled “Tokyo Sentimental”. The two groups have been friendly buds for a while now since they shared a bill in which the tipToe. girls surprised the audience by coming out on stage wearing the Dots’ patented visors and vintage dresses and paying a little tribute to the ethereal idols. It was a fun little moment that brought tipToe. to my attention for the first time, and thanks very much for that! 

So how’s the single? “Tokyo Sentimental” is only four songs and it’s quick listen, and the two groups make the most of the brevity.  Continue reading

Idol Covers I’d Love to Hear, Ranked

A few days ago, everybody’s favorite Babymetal Wales tour organizer tweeted:

What an interesting thing! I have no disagreement with any of that. It did get me thinking, though, because every time I consider what I’d want my entirely hypothetical idol project to do, it includes a lot of covers to both show respect for the group’s influences and to put a new, unique spin on some classics (and definitely not in any way to pad out albums or have quick-turnaround releases, you jerks!).

Also, it’s been longer than I’d anticipated since the last Ranked post, so I thought this might make for some fun over the weekend, too. As usual, this is just a ranking, not the all-time ranking, merely a collection of songs that would make for cool idol covers that are ranked relatively to one another. Continue reading

There Shall Be No Further Mockery of Death Vocals in Ladybaby

So, Ladybaby, as you recall, began life with the Beard himself adding growls and screams and the like to what was usually otherwise a jangly mess of sounds from a drunken night in Akihabara. Sometimes a delight! Following his departure, though, the mechanical add-on harsh vocals seemed like some kind of rude joke; they got the point across, but with none of the pizzazz unless you’re very easily impressed.

When the group underwent its complete re-tool following the falling-out etc. between Rie and Rei*, one could be forgiven for thinking that the old way of doing things was going to be politely left aside. The piped-in death growls were kind of ha-ha cheesy at first, only to become just-plain cheesy in short order, to the point of ridiculousness, so songs that just skipped that whole bit and instead tried to actually be good songs, they were way more enjoyable; I mean, I know that people loved the hell out of “Pelo”, but I’m still overly partial to “LADY BABY BLUE”, which is as far a departure from “Nippon Manju” as you’ll find this side of a Negicco ballad.

And then they decided to let in this girl: Continue reading

The Continuing Adventures of Bekah and Ashley

This Here at Homicidols.com, we believe that one of the best ways to make more fans of idols is to lift up and celebrate those fans who are really doing it right. Take, for example, Bekah and Ashley, whose self-produced dance covers of essential idol videos prove just how fun this whole business is.

They released this cover of BiS’s “SOCiALiSM” —

— which was a nice reminder to catch up with their work. They’ve been busy! Continue reading

I Bet I Can Get You to Watch This REGiNA KiSS Video

You know what, you guys? I’m not going to chide you for never looking at REGiNA KiSS when they (for they are very prolific) release new video, nor will I chide you for not listening to them when they release new music. It seems like nobody does! And that’s actually pretty criminal, if you ask me.

This is Kanna. She’s one of the three members of REGiNA KiSS. She’s a full-suite kind of idol, doing music here and also a lot of modeling. And, fittingly, she’s a pretty good singer:

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Hey Sure, Let’s Celebrate NEVE SLIDE DOWN’s Birthday with Them

Did you guys know that PassCode’s sisters in NEVE SLIDE DOWN had their debut a year ago yesterday? I sure as hell didn’t, because their first videos didn’t drop until September IIRC, but I’m also not mad about it, what with that whole sure-let’s-look-at-NEVE-SLIDE-DOWN thing.

Anyway, the news, and the trailer doodad:

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Oh Cool, Kimi to Boku Shared a New Track

Goodness gracious, I had to really scrape the ol’ site history for a minute to figure out where things are with You and Me, Sometimes Melancholic (Twitter), who I got legitimately excited about once upon a time and then just sort of faded into the background (it’s kind of a thing with this company (see: Tsuki to Taiyou), I guess). They’re in that fine tradition of horror/fantasy/kind-of-VK/metal idols that I enjoy but don’t get the same kind of love as the -core-ier side of the coin.

Anyway, Kimi to Boku had themselves a little bit of a soft reboot at the end of last year, and I’m guessing that this track (which is a cover, so not “new” per se) is part of that process: Continue reading