Good morning! It’s a holiday weekend here in the USA, the kind of three-day affair that you genuinely get jazzed about. I’m not even referring to the usual independence whoozat; I’m just talking about an extended chance to kick it and see to the kinds of positive personal matters that always have to take a back seat. Enjoy it, friends.
Idol summer is firmly underway (if you hadn’t noticed). There’s an absolute embarrassment of cool things to watch and listen to, and some really big-hitting releases still pending on the calendar. Even with the lurking pandemic issues and goodness knows no shortage of other awfulness to draw one’s deserved attention, it’s been a pretty solid damn year in idol. I’ve been enjoying it, at least. Also enjoying the early stages of a big project that Team is putting together.
And I enjoyed making this Weekender! It’s full of good stuff!
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From the Yanakoto Sotto Mute anniversary live:
Can you imagine a world tour by XOXO EXTREME:
Thank you for the cheki session hosted by Idol Underworld!
We were very happy that many people bought the cheki, and happy to talk to you!
We want to go see you when the corona is over! pic.twitter.com/O4n72kaj0n
— キスエク公式 (@xoxo_extreme) June 28, 2021
I wasn’t sure that anybody would get around to the new one from TOKYO Tefutefu, so here:
Ha ha Babymetal money printing machine go brrrr:
10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN Encore Global Stream⚡️
Sat, July 24 – 12pm LA / 3pm NY / 8pm UK / 9pm EU
10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN live album out October 1
Get 🎟 and exclusive merch, 2CD & 2LP pre-order bundles at https://t.co/yWtp3gc6Re
For more info, check out
👉https://t.co/SomMnbVaXP pic.twitter.com/cSN7YZt7Qt— BABYMETAL (@BABYMETAL_JAPAN) June 28, 2021
Oh man, Ringwanderung is so damn good:
If you like your idols on the trad side, Worl’s End is releasing an album this week:
It’s curtains for Full Power Girls R:
全力少女Rより大切なお知らせです。 pic.twitter.com/DJUSHh2jPs
— 全力少女R(公式) info (@zenryokuR) July 1, 2021
More new stuff coming from Erisu:
▲new release, new material, new event, new recipes and old friendships…
Coming soon! pic.twitter.com/ynNKgLWrmw— Erisu_Official (@ErisuOfficial) July 2, 2021
A little early for Halloween, but it’s all good:
SICK IDOLS pic.twitter.com/XYEGN6dnC8
— めろん畑a go go (@MELONBATAKEAGO2) June 30, 2021
Idol in Focus
This week’s Idol in Focus is Candy GO!GO! and for a different reason than usual. Their new single is out next week …
… and listening to it got me thinking how interesting it is that this extremely long-tenured unit (well into their 11th year!) has found a relative degree of success by never quite being any one thing. They rocked just enough early on to stand out while punk and metal started to take over the chika scene, and then embraced a harder sound for a while to better bridge the gap, and now are all the way back to being Lite Rock Idol or however you’d want to call it. Still interesting in its own way, different from what they were doing even fairly recently, but astutely finding a niche in a bigger scene.
And with that, I also got to thinking how few true Rock Idol units ever existed. HKFC spent a few good years being the boss thereof, and Q’ulle started off that way before going a bit poppier in their last couple of years. And that’s kind of it! Everything else has been some genre spin or more of a pop-rock thing than something you’d play adjacent to a playlist filled with the Foos and late Van Halen and stuff. And damn do I miss it!
Anybody else a little terrified that somehow these four weirdos managed to get across the border to record themselves dancing in the desert?
New DEARDEVIL track!
And, uh, literally speaking of the devil, here’s Satanic Punish:
I was just thinking the other day that it’s been too long since we heard from Sugarpills:
Enjoy REBEL REBEL:
No idea who this No Plan group is but they’re in my queue all of a sudden:
Nice clip of our favorite shut-in idols at work:
墟枯 鈴 生誕ノ儀
御来場感謝 pic.twitter.com/APvgKNprhb
— 緋鬼籠帝國 (@hkcm_official) July 2, 2021
This is what happens when you feed idols after midnight:
佳凪の性癖詰め込み創作キャラコスプレ pic.twitter.com/0jvvFK6l31
— 佳凪きの〈Kolokol〉 (@kn_klkl) July 1, 2021
Have a great weekend!