Atomic Future News!

And now, we bring you ALL THE NEWS about Buck-Tick's forthcoming single, New World, and their forthcoming 20th studio album, Atom Miraiha No. 9! The jacket art and track list for the album have been released, and they're intriguing, to say the least.

Here's the jacket art:

[Limited Edition]

[Regular Edition]

...why is the picture bigger on the regular edition cover than the limited edition cover? Don't ask, folks. Don't ask. But more to the point, as one Blog-Tick reader has already pointed out, this cover demonstrates excellent use of an airplane stock photo. Here's the original photo!

Wow, much stock. Very photo! And now let's take bets on whether this cover was designed by Sakaguchi Ken or Akita Kazvnori...because the web site did not bother to tell us, because they assume (probably correctly) that most fangirls are more interested in judging the band members by their appearances than in judging albums by their covers.

But wait, there's more! Here's the tracklist, and it's a doozy!

01. cum uh sol nu -Furasuko no Besshu-
[lyrics + music - Imai Hisashi]

02. PINOA ICCHIO -Odoru Atomu-
[lyrics + music - Imai Hisashi]

03. DEVIL'S WINGS
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

04. El Dorado
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Hoshino Hidehiko]

05. Bi NEO Universe
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

06. BOY septem peccata mortalia
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

07. Jukai
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Hoshino Hidehiko]

08. THE SEASIDE STORY
[lyrics + music - Imai Hisashi]

09. FUTURE SONG - Mirai ga Odoru- 
[lyrics - Imai Hisashi & Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

10. Manjusaka
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Hoshino Hidehiko]

11. Cuba Libre
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

12. Ai no Souretsu
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

13. New World -beginning-
[lyrics - Sakurai Atsushi / music - Imai Hisashi]

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In general, I prefer not to speculate on the meanings of the song titles before listening to the lyrics, but since I know y'all are busting out of your knickers, here are a few notes:

"Furasuko no Besshu" would appear to mean "A different kind of flask." Not that this really answers any questions, so let's wait for the whole song, shall we. "Cum uh sol nu" is no language known to the internet, which makes me feel certain it's a Buck-Tickistani proverb, although it might just be re-romanized garbled katakana.

"Odoru Atomu" means "dancing atom" - there are all kinds of connotations from the fact that it's "atomu" in katakana rather than the Japanese word "genshi," but I'm going to save that kind of thing for the notes. As for Pinoa Icchio, I'm tending to think it's Imai making up some fake Italian, but we'll see.

"Bi" means "beauty" or "aesthetic." It's a central concept of Japanese art and design. More on this in the translation notes.

"Septem Peccata Mortalia" - if you know this one without having to look it up, I'm guessing you're either a graduate of goth school, or you still remember your high school Latin, or you like to listen to and/or sing Medieval church music (or perhaps you are just well educated.) This, my friends, is a major holdover from The Mortal: the seven deadly sins!

"Jukai" literally means "sea of trees," but the most famous "Jukai" in Japan is the infamous Aokigahara Jukai, otherwise known as the Suicide Forest. More on this in the translation notes but in the meantime, take a drink in honor of none so goth mortality and songs by Hoshino Hidehiko.

"Mirai ga Odoru" means "The Future Dances." This is clearly a reference back to "Odoru Atomu" earlier on the album.

"Manjusaka" is another name for the higanbana, otherwise known as the cluster amaryllis or hurricane lily. I already wrote a sizable note on this one for Sakurai's solo song "Tensei," so go check it out if you're interested.

A Cuba Libre is a cocktail similar to a rum & coke. Methinks Imai's been drinking too much at his sister-in-law's bar.

"Ai no Souretsu" means "The Funeral Procession of Love." But if this isn't a direct reference to Auto-Mod's classic song "Toki no Souretsu," ("The Funeral Procession of Time") I'll eat my goth top hat whole. Back in the 80's, Auto-Mod's frontman Genet also sponsored a series of live events called Toki no Souretsu showcasing the hottest indie goth bands of the time. Later, a Toki no Souretsu compilation album was released...and then in the early 2000's, Genet resurrected the event, featuring 80's indie goth bands who'd reunited after years of silence (and some of them reunited specifically for this event). Basically, this is a phrase with some longstanding cred in the history of Japanese goth, and if Sakurai doesn't know that...come on, of course he knows.

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But meanwhile, while we speculate as to the contents of the album, Victor is all hot to sell us on the contents of the single. And yes, I know. "New World" sounds like Sakurai musing some very poetic, sad, existentialist things over an oddly spastic, incongruous soundtrack of hyper-fast Eurobeat, EDM, a mashup of the guitar riff from "Solaris" and the melody line from "Bran-New Lover," and maybe a teeny tiny bit of psytrance, if we're being generous. But...it's a single, kids. And it's being released from Victor. Its purpose in life is to try and convince the popular kids that Buck-Tick is in fact boring enough to be worth listening to. Which may be a futile mission, but let's be charitable and let Victor do their thing.

However...if you want to get angry about the fact that all the songs on DIQ bonus DVD are songs owned by Victor, and that they're inflicting yet another video of "Aku no Hana" on us just so they can make a few more yen in royalties, rather than showing us what we actually want to see (which was "Cyborg Dolly" and "Kyouki no Deadheat," amirite kids?)...then by all means, get angry. Maybe if there are enough of us we can gang up and chuck "Aku no Hana" out of Buck-Tickistan forever! It's certainly overstayed its welcome.

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Anyhow, last but certainly not least, the details of special editions and goodies for the single and album have now been announced!

The single New World will come with the following goodies, if you buy it at one of the following chain record stores:

Tower Records - an original clear file folder
HMV - an original fridge magnet
Tsutaya - a sticker
Victor Online Shop - a giant-ass poster

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The album Atom Miraiha No. 9 limited edition will include the following extras:

- A "special package" (heh heh heh)

- 48 pages of photobook in which the band members will be Photoshopped as smooth and shiny as K-pop idols

- A DVD or BluRay of the music video for "New World"

- A chance to enter a lottery to win some kind of special prize (I hope it's the jacket Mr. Sakurai wore in the New World PV!)

- A coupon for a high-resolution download of the songs...but who the fuck needs this if you already bought the album?

And if you purchase the album at one of the following chain record shops, you'll get one of the following special awesome free goodies:

Tower Records - a big giant badge (4.4 centimeters, yo!)
HMV - an original fridge magnet (deja vu!)
Tsutaya - a sticker (deja vu all over again!)
Victor Online Shop - a giant-ass poster (even more deja vu!)

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If you would like to reserve either the single or the album from Cayce, please contact us at themadaristocrat at gmail. We're getting ours from Tower!

Also, Buck-Tick will be appearing in the following magazines:

Rolling Stone Japan (interview with Sakurai and Imai)
Ongaku to Hito (cover feature on Sakurai and Imai)
PHY (cover feature of the whole band)

It would seem that the gossip rags are going to town on the fact that Sakurai and Imai have reunited their marriage. Anyhoo, if you'd like to purchase any of these magazines through Cayce, just shoot us an email!