As part of HP's All That Matters Music Matters Live series, J-Rock bands flumpool and SID performed at Clarke Quay's Fountain Stage. Their performances came under a special segment called "J-Rock Matters", presented by the Japanese online publication BARKS.

It was a great show. Best of all, it was free.

I was considering doing a live report, but I noticed that the videos from the livestream of the concert were still up:




I think these convey the experience of the live better than any report of mine could. Any suggestions that I may just be too lazy to write a report will be huffily ignored. I'm not sure how long these videos will be up for, so if you haven't watched them yet, go get to it.

At around 11:30 of flumpool's performance, vocalist and guitarist Ryuta kisses the pick he was using and tosses it into the crowd, close to where I was standing. I normally don't bother going for these kind of things even when they come my way because I'm neither tall nor forceful enough to stand a chance. But this dude who hadn't even noticed what was going on got hit in the chest by the pick, and then coolly bent down to retrieve it. Lucky guy.

Fortunately for me, that dude happened to be the brother I'd dragged along to the show. He didn't really want it, so...


Couldn't have asked for a better souvenir.
So thank you, BARKS, for bringing flumpool and SID to Singapore. I hope you bring other Japanese artistes here as well! Also, hopefully, for free.

This post has been moved to the following URL: http://audiovisualstyle.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/album-review-kalafina-consolation/

So pretty. Waaaay bigger version of image at source.
Kalafina announced at their live concert earlier today that they will be releasing their fourth album, Consolation, on the 20th of March. EDIT: Kalafina's official blog has corroborated the information. UPDATE 25/1: The album will come in three versions (CDJapan pre-order links ahead): Limited Edition Type-A (with DVD), Limited Edition Type-B (with Blu-Ray) and Regular Edition. I can't actually read the Japanese text on the blog, but from what little I can decipher the songs to the beginning (Fate/Zero OP), Hikari Furu (Puella Magi Madoka Magica ~Eien no Monogatari~ ED), the title track for their single moonfesta and Yume no Daichi (their new song for NHK's show Rekishi Hiwa Historia) are mentioned. I think it's safe to conclude these songs will appear on the album.

Updated: Album covers (click each image for a bigger version)


Limited Edition Type-A


Limited Edition Type-B


Regular Edition
EDIT: According to CDJapan, the track list for the album will be as follows:

1. al fine
2. consolation
3. moonfesta~ムーンフェスタ~
4. Door
5. 未来 (Mirai)
6. 花束 (Hanataba)
7. signal
8. obbligato
9. 木苺の茂みに (Kiichigo no Shigemi ni)
10. 満天 (Manten)
11. to the beginning
12. ひかりふる (Hikari Furu)
13. 夢の大地 (Yume no Daichi)



Yay, an appropriate moment to re-use this gif!
Based on the Google's typically garbled translation of the source blog, what I'm getting is that the Limited Editions will include footage of their time at Germany's AniMagiC event, the PV for their song Yume no Daichi (yay, more PVs to make fun of recap) and "inclusion of special photo book Deluxe Edition specification". So...a photo book with the LEs? Oh, let's just wait until a competent translator can make sense of this.

I'll let the nice folks of canta-per-me.net furnish you with the few details that are currently available. If you'll excuse me, I'm about to get busy shrieking with delight and dancing with manic glee.

This post has been moved to the following URL: http://audiovisualstyle.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/pv-recapreview-kalafina-moonfesta/


Goat: "I

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from CD Japan telling me that they had shipped my order, and that it would be arriving in 3-6 days. Okay, I could wait that long. When I dragged myself home that same night after a long day of work, I found a package from CD Japan waiting for me on my desk. That's crazy efficient. Well, its contents certainly cheered me up. My copy of Kalafina's Hikari Furu (plus bonus jacket) had arrived, two days before the official release date:

The CD. Limited Edition Type-B

Bonus jacket

But that wasn't it. There was another, pleasant surprise.

So pritteh. And HomuMado is ♥

The one with Homura x Madoka is on the other side of the bonus jacket. The Madokami image on the back CD cover is actually a sticker, it peels off just above where the tracklist is. Did not expect these, were they announced? In any case, they're pretty sweet additions. Will review the stuff I was actually paying for (the music, I mean, and maybe the PV too) later. Excuse me while I go put Hikari Furu on an infinite loop,

Well, hello, it's been a while. I have my excuses (perfectly valid ones!) for being away, but I'm fairly sure that that's not what you came here to read.

And yeah, I promised a recap of Kalafina's moonfesta PV. It's been forever, but I'm not about to give up on it. Not just yet. But it'll probably take some more time before it's done.

In the meantime, let us all rejoice at the announcement of Kalafina's new single, Hikari Furu, which will be released on the 24th of October.


More Kalafina is always good news!

The title track for the single will be the theme song for the second Madoka Magica compilation film. The title of the movie, by the way, is Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: The Eternal Story, which is too long for me to attempt to fit gracefully into the previous sentence. Anyway, I'm very excited about all this, which should not surprise anyone who has been and is still reading this blog. I'm going to stop hazarding guesses as to many of you there are.

The single comes in four (whew) editions: Limited Edition Type-A (includes DVD of the title track's PV), Limited Edition Type-B (same PV, this time on Blu-ray), Regular Edition (no PV) and Anime Edition (includes "...bonus DVD with special animation").

It's available for pre-order on Play-Asia as well. The site has not deigned to tell us which edition is which just yet but a comparison of the catalogue numbers suggests that it's Type-A, Type-B, Regular Edition and Anime Edition. But you don't have to take my word for it, we can wait till they provide more info.

I'm not usually interested in Anime editions but that bonus "special animation" (of the Madoka movie, I presume) sounds intriguing...

In other not-so-new news:



The Rurouni Kenshin live action movie (you know, the one I talked about once or twice or more), which opened in Japan on 25 August, has made a ton of money. It is also, according to the one in-depth review I found that was in English, quite awesome. The movie also been licensed for distribution in over 60 countries. Which is very nice and all, but is Singapore one of them? I think it's likely but they haven't confirmed it why can't they just tell which countries are among those 60+ countries the suspense is killing me here.

Oh, speaking of movies...



Hosoda Mamoru's Wolf Children opened in Singapore this Thursday. Catch it at Bugis+'s Filmgarde if you haven't already. I did, and I greatly enjoyed it. There are several reasons as to why I recommend it but not the least among them is aaaaah widdle wolf kiddies so cute! Okay, seriously, the story is heartwarming and the animation, for the most part, is gorgeous. I'll see if I have time for a proper review.

(Written in bits and pieces over several weeks, with less proofreading than should have been necessary. I hope it's still passably coherent...)


Ah, Kalafina. I can't remember being as enamoured with any other musical act since I quit idolising boybands as a teenager. And I'd never gone to another country (even if it was just neighbouring Malaysia) just to watch an artiste perform live.

Kalafina were certainly worth the journey.

I'd planned to reach Kuala Lumpur on the afternoon of the 8th of June. It turned out to be an even better idea than I'd have thought because AFA later announced that an open-door press preview would be happening that day. And of course, making an appearance was...

Just got back from Kuala Lumpur earlier. Kalafina performed the night before.

Full report sometime soon. For now, I'm just going to declare that it was the awesomest thing ever.



(By the way, commenting without signing is now allowed, I didn't even realise I'd turned that off till some time ago -_-;;)

Oh, look, it seems that I am alive. My day job seems to have been dedicated to changing that lately. I've got a bit of a break now though.

If you're half as obsessed as I am about Kalafina you'll probably have heard that the ladies will be singing the second OP of Fate/Zero, titled to the beginning (links in the sidebar!). I'm waiting for Play-Asia to put it up for pre-order but I'm not sure they'll offer the postcard calendar bonus that CDJapan has. I WANT.

The DVD/Blu-ray that comes with limited editions will include the PV — words cannot express how much I am looking forward to making an irreverent recap of that.

Oh hey lookie sample!



It didn't really impress me at first; I thought it sounded too much like a FictionJunction song than a Kalafina song. But really, that's not a bad thing, is it? And they sound great anyway — I quite like how the main vocal switches more often during verses than usual. Again, not their usual style, and again, nothing wrong with that. It's a refreshing change from hearing just one of them singing lead for most of the song.

I'm going to be so broke in March...

Kalafina After Eden Blu-ray and DVD announced!!

DVD and Blu-Ray of Kalafina's After Eden Special Live at Tokyo Dome City Hall, to be released on March 21. CDJapan's got them up for pre-order already (DVD and Blu-Ray). Canta-per-me.net's got the set list here and ADORE IS ON IT. I MUST HAVE THIS NOW.

Also, Kalafina's live performances for Animax Musix Studio Live and the Animax Musix 2011 concert have hit YouTube.





...Not their best performances, but still watchable. I thought Oblivious in the studio live was quite good, actually. That Sorairo Days performance, though, was doomed upon its conception. The song really doesn't suit them, and they really don't suit it. I'd normally find the idea of Kalafina doing something different refreshing but this is just too jarring. Seriously? Who came up with that? What a waste of an opportunity. There's a hundred other, better songs I'd love to have seen Kalafina cover...

That studio live was pretty easy on the eyes. Nice roving shots, and lots of gorgeous close-ups of Hikaru's super-fierce expressions, Wakana looking...like Wakana (well, she looks good), and Keiko...well, Keiko.


Super-fierce


Wakana.


And Keiko...well, Keiko








And some bonus Wakana!dansu


(This blog has 10,000 hits how the heck did that happen??)

(EDIT: Re-read, realized I wrote this half-asleep, tried to improve...I don't think it's much better though. Haha.)

Eh heh heh I sure took a while didn't I? It's been so long that some of the details are lost to me, but I still couldn't not write this up.

There were five performers at the third day of AFA 11's I Love Anisong concert: Kanako Itou with Chyomaru Shikura, the seiyuu unit Milky Holmes (from a show I've never watched), angela, Kalafina and May'n. And as you can see from the post title, there were only two acts I was familiar enough with to care about and report on, so I apologize if you were hoping for reports on the rest. Popcultureonline.net has a pretty good report and lots of awesome photos.

But if you still want to read mine...Let's start with how I got starstruck at Kalafina's autograph session.

Just a quick one...

All photos taken from Kalafina's official blog

Keiko turned 26 on the 5th of December, while Wakana turns 27 on December 10. It seems they had a mini-celebration together. With cake.




I'm going purely by Google translate here, but I think Wakana's holding her birthday present in the first one, while Keiko's modelling her very pink gift. Adorable~

Happy Birthday Keiko and Wakana! May you have many, many wonderful years (hopefully filled with lots of singing) ahead of you.

It's been a while, hasn't it? Work's been keeping me so busy. Last weekend, I blew whatever free time I had into enjoying Anime Festival Asia 11.

And it was epic.

First up, I'd like to brag about my acquisitions:

I spent a good chunk of my modest merchandise budget on this cloth wall scroll from the Aniplex booth:


Totally worth it. So pretty. And yeah, I know, I should probably shift that stuff behind it away...


I also blew $35 on a Kalafina T-shirt:



And by far the best item I came away with:


See the name of the band on the poster? See the three autographs below that? Yes. OH YES


My updated wall of autographs:


Hopefully it'll keep growing.


I'm very, very happy little fangirl.

I'm thinking of doing up an entry on angela and Kalafina's live performances at AFA's I Love anisong concert. Wish me luck with that...

This post has been moved to the following URL: http://audiovisualstyle.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/pv-recapreview-kalafina-symphonia/

Okay, so about 150 of those hits are probably mine, it took me a while to realize I could stop tracking my own pageviews. But still. Woohoo! I didn't think my attention span would allow me to maintain this blog till it got to this point. I'd like to thank the spambots, who have always been diligent in their visiting, those of you who accidentally ended up here while googling for Kalafina or Madoka images, the really bored people who clicked on the links I may have shoved in your faces, and, most of all, the (three?) people who visited because they really felt there was something here worth a read-through. This little milestone would literally not have been possible without you.

Right, on to the less boring stuff. It's old news, but Kalafina's upcoming After Eden album now has its own official page. Right now it's got a short making-of clip for Symphonia's PV and some comments on the individual tracks in the album.

Kawaii girl Japan has also put up the third installment of Kalafina's After Eden video campaign.



They talk, among other things, about backstage pre-show habits. It's a more sedate session compared to the one in the last video but it's still nice to learn a bit more about my favourite songstresses.

Hopefully, by the time of my next entry (not the best measure of time...) my copy of After Eden will have arrived -- I'm looking forward to reviewing it as well as dissecting the PV for Symphonia

From canta-per-me.net

After Eden samples!

Okay, I see where they were going with that line about this album being less "fantastic" and more "humanly". And it's not a bad thing. Not at all. It's not a complete overhaul from Kalafina's previous work but there's certainly a noticeable shift in style.

Well, it's certainly not changing my pre-order status. Still very much looking forward to it. I'll save the full review for when the album's actually out.

KYAAAA~ That was a really cute one. It's sweet to see how close-knit they are. I love the kind of questions being asked; not the same old boring stuff, and they almost seemed designed to draw out entertaining responses. Not that the ladies need any help on that, really. When they're left to talk on their own like that it usually ends up looking less like an interview and more like their own little comedy show.

They even have a public service announcement:











This is how all Kalafina interviews should be conducted, IMO; no interviewers on emcees getting in the way. And it's nice to actually understand what they're saying for a change. Kawaii girl Japan, this one thanks you from the bottom of her fangirly heart.

via Canta-per-me.net

The Kalafina staff Twitter account posted an image of the Regular Edition cover of the group's upcoming book:



Kalafina Record


And it is pretty. I want it even more now...

I also got an artiste alert from CDJapan about another related product:


Kalafina 2012 Calendar


Image from Oh-news.net. Um, interesting poses from Hikaru and Keiko...

It's an expensive time to be a Kalafina fan...

Also, have you checked out the interview on ANN with Iwakami Atsuhiro? He's the producer for Madoka, and the guy most people forget is the fourth member or the Magica Quartet (somehow everyone assumes Kajiura is the fourth member...) It's spoilery, and therefore at least a little insightful. Definitely worth a read-through, at the very least.

In other Madoka news, look what just became available for pre-order:


Mami Figma!

It looks really good. I didn't expect anything else, yet it still manages to impress me. The figure's got a great range of alternate expressions. And look who comes along as an accessory:


I find this both amusing (are they pandering to the crack!shippers?) and slightly unnerving (given, you know, what actually happened between them...)

My favourite songstresses are September's special feature on Kawaii girl Japan (the same lovely people who brought us that Magia comment). Which is awesome, particularly because it means we'll be getting (subbed!!) videos of Kalafina interviews promoting their upcoming album After Eden every Monday of the month. This is the first of them:



Their description of After Eden as having a "very real and humanly" sound (as opposed to the "fantastic, surreal and otherwordly" sound they had for the past two albums) is...interesting. Considering that Magia and Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa are part of After Eden's tracklist I'm not expecting their new sound to be that much of a departure from their usual style. But they still have nine other songs to surprise us with...

I've also just realized that KgJ's store has a small but appealing selection of Kalafina merchandise...Oooh...

In an attempt to bring out my post count, I've resorted to pushing my music tastes onto you kind readers, who already have to put up with the usual stuff I throw at you. Because everyone likes being told what they should be listening to, right? Right? No? Hah! Try stop me!

But don't try too hard. Please.

This week's/month's/year's/whenever's edition of Audio Visual is themed: Lovely Lives

Chatmonchy ft. Aoi Yuu -- Bus Romance


Aoi Yuu is definitely a much better actress than she is a pianist. I'm not sure why she's jamming with Chatmonchy -- I'm thinking they were guests on the same show and the producers thought it'd be fun or something. In any case, it's still a great performance overall, and very different from the original song. A wonderful, mellow love song, and the acoustic arrangement lets Eriko's childlike yet compelling voice shine.



Onitsuka Chihiro -- Ii Hi Tabidachi Nishi e


One of my favourite songs from Onitsuka-san; I fervently rejoiced when this performance appeared in her live DVD Nine Dirts and Snow White Flickers (no, I don't know what that means, either). This song is actually a cover of a Japanese classic. Onitsuka re-wrote most of the lyrics. I remember checking the original song and deciding that I preferred Onitsuka's version. It's a moving song about being on a journey, and the lyrics and the music capture that feeling nicely. Although with Onitsuka's influence it sounds less fun and whimsical and more melancholic...Not that I'm complaining. Nope. Personally, I think Onitsuka's songs work better when they're at least borderline depressing...

The arrangement here is gorgeous; a piano, a string quartet, and Onitsuka's voice. I don't think she sounds as powerful as she used to (throat surgery and a bout of depression probably took its toll). But she still sounds wonderful.


Malice Mizer -- Bel Air ~ Kohaku Toki no naka de


A bit of classic Visual Kei. This is one of the songs that got me hooked on the genre (I still prefer old school VK to the more contemporary stuff). Malice Mizer also ruined Gackt for me; I used to like him until the thought that he sounded a lot better with the band behind him kept plaguing me...

If you're determined to hate Visual Kei, I doubt it'd move you to change your mind; this is Visual Kei at its...Visual Kei-est. But if you're already into it...What's not to love about this song? Gackt's amazing (and amazingly dramatic), the band's wonderful -- Mana and Kozi's harmonizing guitarwork is particularly awesome. Even live, there's not a single note missed -- I've heard band leader Mana would never accept anything less.

And of course, the costumes...Beats jeans and T-shirts.



Kalafina -- Red Moon


What? I couldn't resist.

This is one of their best songs, in my opinion It's an album-only track, and might not have received as much attention as it deserved. This is how I like Kalafina best; dark and powerful. It's a heavy gothic-y rock number (thimk Kajiura doing symphonic metal). The ladies sound amazing here. I am absolutely enamoured of the chorus; when the lead vocals switch from Hikaru to Wakana it smoothly segues from forbidding to melodic and mournful, with Keiko maintaining the harmony the whole time. It's...just wonderful.

That's all I've got for now, folks. The next edition of Audio Visual will be available...not too far in the future, I hope. Sorry, no one's making me keep a deadline or anything...