Idolrock

Dan te Lion: The Hardest Working Unit in IdolRock

/ DAEMON

If, like me, you have spent the COVID crisis bingeing chika idol livestreams from Japan, then you have probably come to be familiar with Dan te Lion. When I started keeping The Calendar back in mid-July, they had just hosted Volume 35 of their Diffusion Φ Brightness Twitcast performance series featuring agency mates Chu Kiss RIP, KANARIA and recurring guests like ZOMBIE POWDER and (personal favorite) Lil na Valley. This past weekend, they broadcast Volume 61, which is a remarkable pace made all the more impressive by the fact that they typically perform two-to-three other shows each week on top of that.

Dan te Lion took a break from their relentless live schedule to drop a new MV on Tuesday that serves as the first single from their new album, [GO], which they then proceeded to drop on Wednesday.

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Yanakoto Sotto Mute Unveil a New Member

/ DAEMON

Yanakoto Sotto Mute released a minute long MV on Sunday to tease a new song and, more significantly, their new fourth member.

YSM do everything in style and their newest member fits the mold, stalking the streets in black until she shifts to signature Yanamute white as her hand grasps that fourth mic.

So, meet 「凛つかさ」:

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HOT TAKE: BEYOOOOONDS Goes One Step Beyond Idol-Metal!

/ supremenothing

BEYOOOOONDS (with five “O”s in their name”) continue to kill it with another blast of pop goodness! For me personally, this is a group that has single-handedly injected a massive fire back into HELLO! Project with their personalities, enthusiastic spirit, and just plain incredibly fun music. Their mega-workout themed update on a 400 year-old classical piece-turned gay-rights anthem-turned football stadium rocker was a humongous winner in it’s own right, and now they’ve unleashed “HOT!”, a full-on banger of a rock tune that’s a new epic for the masses.

Now if you’re somebody who’s gotten into idol through the whole Babymetal/rock idol/or this so-called “alt” thing, you might be thinking “Man, I don’t care about this H!P stuff.” and I’m here to tell you, this is the one to get on board with. No really, turn up your volume and hit that play button….

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TIF Idol Primer: Don’t Call It a Comeback, but monogatari

/ Homicidol Maniac

Among the many notable idols that you should be flocking to TIF to see this weekend are idols that you probably never heard of, probably never even thought to check out. But if you’re there for fun rock sounds and those crucial acts that smudge the line between “idols the way that people usually think of that” and “blood-spitting thrashcore chika darlings,” you’ll be pleased to know that there are options!

In this case, I, uh … well, the truth is, this group isn’t totally unknown around here. Just hold on a second (and let that terrible dad joke wash over your soul).

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