According to the Sony official website, Mana Mary Sue Wakeshima Kanon will be teaming up with An Cafe twinkie Kanon to form the horror-rock duo kanon x kanon. Horror rock, because it's horrifying. And as befitting horror-rock, the duo's debut single, entitled "Calendula Requiem," will be used as the opening theme for the most popular horror anime on Japanese TV--yes, that's right, it's going to replace "Kuchizuke" as the opening theme for our own dear Shiki.
I guess they couldn't have Buck-Tick do the ending and the opening themes simultaneously, but all I can say is, come on, guys, seriously?
And do these campers look happy, I ask you?
Oh, and if you haven't watched Shiki yet, please don't let An Cafe boys and strawberry-licking lolitas stop you from watching it. Watch it I tell you! Alone in a dark room, preferably. It is a delicious creepfest and more than worth your time and nightmares.
is Shiki really that good? ... hmmm... maybe i will check it out than... of course if my internet will agree... btw... what is the name of the woman in Kuchizuke PV?
ReplyDeleteHer name is Vasilova Dilyara, though honestly, I really wish they would stop using models in their PVs unless they actually make sense (e.g. Alice), I find the recent videos to be pretty weak on concept. It's the fault of their new promotional manager, as are the glittery photoshoots and figurines, etc.
ReplyDeleteI won't be watching Shiki seeing as the first two eps didn't catch my interest enough to continue watching. But being a B-T fan, I can say that this is pretty...well..lame. Let the men do both themes at the same time. They are made for creating such music, you are walking on Their domain baby! Then again they seem to have filled Shiki with superstars in order to gain popularity (B-T doing OP, Gackt doing VA and now An Café...)rather than simply aiming to feed the cravings of horror fans. Horror doesn't pay enough apperantly.
ReplyDeleteHorror-rock? That's about as scary sounding as happy jack-o-lanterns with cute little zombies behind them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the promotional manager has a thing for white models?
aha... i dont like their new PVs either, Six/Nine quality PVs would be "enough" in my opinion... whats Your opinion? why dont they start an own label? ... Thank You for the info!
ReplyDeleteWell I can see an anime production company going you can't do both at the same time...wondering now if the Shiki cover of the single will be worth $$ down the road then....
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah why haven't they started their own label..they have the $$ to do it for sure.
Oh that's seriously crap, Sony. Thanks for letting us know. I love that pic, by the way. So great to see everyone off their guard LOL!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, I dont get it either. You know, BMG can only influence Buck-Tick's music in a negative way (like every other big record company).
ReplyDelete@AngelTears, BUCK-TICK are one of the few bands that were always demanding and always did what they want with their music and that hasn't changed. BMG can only affect their PVs or photoshoots(and honestly, who cares? this isn't what's important) and which song will be a single, which is perfectly fine for me. Not the music though. B-T don't take shit from record companies and I think they proved it.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, ehm, well take a look at the lyrics of Suzumebachi or a song like sacrifice and try to say that again. It's pretty obvious.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I got some discussion going :)
ReplyDeleteI think the label has been able to influence BT's work by making their singles glossy and public-friendly, but I'd be pretty surprised if that influence extended to their album material. Heaven and Galaxy were two smoothed-over pieces of work designed to sell, but Memento Mori was still dirty and irreverent as ever. It's much in the same line with the way the band plays much more interesting live shows when they aren't being filmed.
However given Buck-Tick's actually share of the market, making new efforts to sell them is sort of silly, in my opinion. Most of the money they make, they make from the devoted fanbase who has adored them for 20 years, follows them on every tour, and will buy their CDs no matter what. The recently-converted Japanese BT fans I've met seem to have found out about the band through their musical connections (e.g., they went to the Parade fest to see Kiyoharu and ended up hooked up on BT instead, etc.)
@AngelTears, why, what's wrong with Suzumebachi lyrics? Oo
ReplyDeleteTo me at least, it doesn't make sense to say BGM influences BT's music negatively now, because they've been with BGM for a good decade so you should have the same complaints(if any) back in 2000 as well. I don't see why complain specifically now and specifically about memento mori. If the label influenced their music, the 'change' would be present in all their albums since 2000.
@Cayce, I completely agree, although I still don't think that Heaven & Galaxy were made to sell - more like were chosen as the most public-friendly(imo of course).
to the one who wrote BT can do what they want with their songs: i red somewhere that Acchan had to change some of the lyrics in a song/songs because they werent too -nice- ... there is no freedom for major record bands
ReplyDeleteJapan has a censorship board that censors out specific words in music, most of them related to drugs. Sakurai was asked to removed specific words from his songs by the record label in order to avoid attention from the censorship board, he talks about one such incident here http://blog-tick.blogspot.com/2009/12/tenshi-no-zawameki-1.html.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, the name of BT's label is "BMG," short for Bertelsmann Music Group.
And when I talked about Heaven and Galaxy being glossy, I was talking about the whole package, and the advertising (anyone living outside Japan probably didn't have a chance to see it.) It was clearly designed to sell to a wider audience, they had videos playing on the side of buildings in downtown Shibuya, etc.
LOL at my BMG fail, I've ALWAYS typed it wrong! XD
ReplyDelete@Cayce, oh I see what you mean now :)
But really, the whole "being controlled by the company - no freedom" thing sounds ridiculous to my ears when it comes to B-T(no offense to anyone of course).
As a certain Japanese musician once explained to me very eloquently, really, there are two parts to being a professional musician. The part that's the art, and the part that's the job. The interviews, TV spots, promotional videos, etc--that's the job part. It's not so much about being controlled by the company as it is about earning your salary (the sad ways of the world.) I highly doubt that BMG exerts more creative control over BT's music than telling them "make the next single a ballad," or, "you can't use the word 'heroin'." I'm sure BT wouldn't put up with it. I also suspect they haven't started their own label because it would be too much work and they just don't feel like it.
ReplyDelete@Cayce, thank you so much for explaining! That's thereabout what I always thought^^
ReplyDelete''why, what's wrong with Suzumebachi lyrics? Oo''
ReplyDeleteJust take a single lesson in occult references and symbolism, and you would get it immediately. The clear ''Bee-theme'' is just a universal occult theme. In most songs with this theme, its actually hidden in the context, but in the song of Buck-tick its pretty obvious, with lines like: ''We are nothing but your slaves''.
''I don't see why complain specifically now and specifically about memento mori''
Come on, where do I say anything about Memento Mori? I did not said a word about it. To be honest, Its a album I really like.
And random occult references isnt something since 2000. It has been there before. If I remember correctly, there was page of a magazine ( I think) with a compilation of Buck-Tick pictures with random symbolism between the pictures.
The reason of symbolism is unclear (there are different theories), but the lyrics of Suzumebachi shows the relation between BT and BMG. You know, there is a certain tension between them.
Symbolism is just a form of bad influence by record companies. Besides that, they also influence the parts of the content of the singles. But thats an other story.
@Cayce
''It's not so much about being controlled by the company as it is about earning your salary '', Well most of the time, in the music industrie, you earn money by being controlled.
There are lots of famous artists who claim this, not only Lady Gaga, but also Japanese artists like Kanon (the one of An Cafe). Just read some interviews. Its a world wide known phenomenon.
@AngelTears, I Mentioned Memento mori because you talked about Suzumebachi and since MM is an album many people complain about, I assumed your feelings about it are the same. Sorry for over-assuming.
ReplyDeleteI never disagreed with the fact that major labels usually control and interfere with their artists' work. However, this happens, as you said, most of the time. IMO, B-T are one of the few cases that do NOT take shit from companies. That's all I'm saying.
And I'm sorry but I find the Suzumebachi-company connection laughable, no offense.
''Sorry for over-assuming.'' Lol no, its oke : D
ReplyDelete''And I'm sorry but I find the Suzumebachi-company connection laughable, no offense. ''
I can understand that, if you dont have a clue about symbolism and occult references. To sum up the bee-theme:
“Hive Mind : A type of collective consciousness where individuality is stifled; a state of conformity; also written hivemind”.
“A group of people who give the false impression of being a hivemind (1), eg. by mindlessly following orders.”
A Bee hive is just a symbole for a society full with people who only exist to follow the orders of the queen (like working bees). They work till they die, they serve with their life ''the'' bigger purpose (simply to maintain the big system).
''We do it just for you
We’re nothing but your slaves''
Where do you think Sakurai is talking about, if you read the sentence above? Its not just a common love story or something. Sakurai thought about this lyrics. This just the common way of showing the odd relationship between the big mighty record company (in a oligopoly form of market) and the artist.
It actually is a love song, a song that explanes the negative sides of love. The love for the company record.
You know, this is simply cliché symbolism, you find in alot of pop music. Bee theme is a theme that you find back in many songs (just another simple example: Imma be (Read: Im a bee - Ye, its that obvious) from Black Eyed peas).
You probably think: ''its just weird, makes no sense, too far fetched'', but when you take a look at pop music from a distance, read meanings of certain symbols, and think about what you read and see in music; it's only using logic.
''IMO, B-T are one of the few cases that do NOT take shit from companies''
Well, they try to fight back, but its actually very hard to win the battle against one of the biggest record companies in the world. You can see them struggle by al the clear symbolism in their lyrics. Granted, not every song got it, but there are certain songs (like Suzumebachi) that do got it (and they did not even try to hide it very well).
And sorry for my crappy English. Try to do my best, but its kinda hard for me as a foreigner.
No one should feel embarrassed about non-native English. I love that Blog-Tick has so many international readers!
ReplyDeleteSorry to rain on the parade, but "Suzumebachi" is about sex, Sakurai has said so onstage multiple times. The "we're nothing but your slaves" line is about how people are all slaves to sexual desire. The "stinger" is a phallic symbol ("stick it in me, baby.") Suzumebachi aren't actually bees, they're hornets, and exceedingly aggressive and warlike, as well as being poisonous enough to kill a person. I'm pretty sure Imai was using the poisonous wasp image to go along with the love and death theme of the album, how sex and death are so interrelated. Sakurai dealt with a similar theme in "Motel 13." Buck-Tick aren't practitioners of the occult, that stuff isn't very popular here.
About the influence of the record company on the lyrics: as Japan has a national censorship board, if B-T had their own label they wouldn't have more freedom in that sense...ultimately it's not the labels that decide which words the artists cannot use in their songs, it's the censorship board. Is it right?
ReplyDeleteAbout Suzumebachi, I agree with Cayce: the song is quite clearly about sex and suzumebachi is the Japanese word for the highly poisonous Asian giant hornet (this monster http://www.google.it/images?um=1&hl=it&biw=1024&bih=653&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BA%E3%83%A1%E3%83%90%E3%83%81&aq=f&aqi=g4g-m4g-r2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=), not the bee. Considering that this hornet can kill people with its stinger (obviously a phallic symbol, as Cayce says), it is perfectly coherent with the theme of the whole album, Love & Death.
''not the bee'',
ReplyDelete''Suzumebachi'', I always thought ''bachi'' meant ''Bee''. In fact, it is called a ''Sparrow BEE'' (or well, thats the translation). So even if it is not really a bee, it is enough to contain the same symbolic meaning. Besides, the translation counts 10 times the word 'Bee'. if thats not enough to transfer the reference.
And ye, its coherent with the theme of the whole abum; Love and Death. But that in itself is again, a common symbolic theme. Gaga offers the same clichés with Bad Romance.
Dont get me wrong, I am just interessted in these things. And I enjoy discussing with you :D. It seems I interpretate the song in a compleet different way.
For me, Suzumebachi outlines the concept of ''love'' in a dark way. Its not a discription of the way he loves his girlfriend (if he had one) ( or how a random man loves his wife) and how that somehow leads to death or anything (if that even makes any sense).
I just have the feeling that is about something else.
But i agree, it is about love, and sex, and death. But those words are in itself symbols.
Because could you explain why ''sex'' and ''death'' are directly linked to each other in life?
Oh, and where is my other comment? :P
OMG People, i cant believe that you are dissing that wakeshima kanon is doing the opening. I have to admit, that the other person from ancafé, im not too sure about because of the style of their music, but please stop dissing wakeshima kanon without having lisened to her music first. Its the ending for both vampire knight seasons out so far, and her image fits it almost perfectly. I think its a good idea and because Wakeshima kanon will have her song displayed on SHIKI first, i started watching it. (also because she recommended it on her blog). I think its a really good anime which will bennefit from this and this is the first negativeness i have seen as i have been scouring the internet for the cover.
ReplyDelete