Showing posts with label Aquirax Uno. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aquirax Uno. Show all posts

15.3.14

Metaphysical Meteor

At long last, Buck-Tick have announced the release of their new single, "Keijijou Ryuusei" ("Metaphysical Meteor"), to be released on May 14th.  The track list is as follows:

1. Keijijou Ryuusei (music - Imai / lyrics - Sakurai)
2. Melancholia -ELECTRIA- (music - Imai / lyrics - Sakurai)
3. Victims of Love with Kokushoku Sumire (music - Imai / lyrics - Sakurai)

The single will be released in three versions - a regular version and two limited versions.  The limited version will come in a special package and contain a bonus video disc with clips from the Day in Question 2013 live in Kooriyama on December 23rd, and will be available as either a DVD or a Blu-Ray.  The track list for the bonus disc is as follows:

1. Steppers -Parade-
2. Hamushi no You ni
3. Rhapsody
4. Kiss Me Good-Bye
5. Taiyou ni Korosareta
6. Love Parade

In addition, Buck-Tick will be launching a FaceGramTweetSpace sharing campaign to promote the new single. If you FaceGram their thing and more than 200 people SpaceTweet it back, you get to listen to a sneak preview of the single.  Or something.  If you understand how InstaFace works, which I don't...though it was brought to my attention that apparently, the administrators of the Official Bestest Buck-Tick Fangirl FaceSpace Page refused to link to Blog-Tick because they don't like my sarcasm.  To which I can only say, my dear fangirls, you do know that Mr. Sakurai makes sarcastic jokes too, right?  It's not just me.  In fact, for all you know, Mr. Sakurai and I are getting drunk together right now, making sarcastic jokes about you. We're just not posting them on the internet because we don't know how GramBook works. Also, we're too busy laughing at cat gifs.

Of course, what those of you who read this blog for news are probably wondering is, what is a Kokushoku Sumire?  And all I can say to that is, look at the picture below and maybe you can tell me, because I have no idea. Though honestly, my biggest question is not "what," but "why?"


Actually, I have to confess that I do know who they are, and have even had the, um...pleasure...of seeing them perform live.  They were so, um...good...that I just about cried.

Anyhow, their band bio: Kokushoku Sumire (whose name means Pure Black Violets) are a self-proclaimed Lolita Band who got their start in 2004 and were picked up by producer Hoppy Kamiyama. Known for their trademark matching cosplay wigs, their music boasts squeaky violins and even squeakier vocals, drawing on classical and chanson influences to evoke the fantasy Rococo world that never was but of which all the lolitas dream while they weep gently into their teacakes at night - a world where all the wine has been turned into white sakura cherry chai tea, where all the bollocks have turned into biscuits, a world where little girls never have to grow up, but can sit daintily on white doilies and eat cakes all the livelong day, till they die pure and pristine and alone, fragile and virginal as the special snowflakes that fall oh so prettily on their chantilly-clad (but NEVER scantily clad) corpses.  A world where no more copies of Alice in Wonderland exist, so no pesky literati come along to point out that, judging by her misadventures and penchant for ingesting mind-altering substances, Lewis Carroll's Alice would surely have grown up to be a punk rocker and not a lolita.

Personal friends of Tim Burton and Uno Aquirax, Kokushoku Sumire have been involved in such wide-ranging activities as running a bar in Shinjuku's Goldengai district, composing music for Uno Aquirax's theatrical productions, and simply continuing to exist despite being utterly insufferable...though we suspect it was the second item that brought them into contact with Imai Hisashi, upon which meeting we have to assume that, taking a cue from Alice, they passed him a cute little brownie topped with a note reading "eat me," and Imai took that to mean this was a Special Brownie, and ate it, and was hoodwinked, because we just can't bring ourselves to imagine that he saw fit to invite them onto his record of his own free will while sane and sober (now I'm insane, but I must go when I go.)  And now we all have to suffer the consequences. The lolitas are preparing for world domination, and now that Buck-Tick have fallen, I think we're all doomed.

But before they come for us, let's fill our teapots with vodka and watch this wonderful videographic retelling of Alice in Wonderland by Siouxsie and the Banshees, just so we remember that the world was once a beautiful dark creepy place before it got smothered by pink sugar ribbons and frills.  You can pry the haterade from my cold, dead hands.



3.11.10

寿記 30.10.2010 go on the "Razzle Dazzle" Shibuya 10/27.28

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It was at the Shibuya Koukaidou...no wait, now it's C.C. Lemon Hall.

We played some shows there.

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It was a really great two days.

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Everyone seemed like they were having fun and that's great!

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And "what's-his-name" and "what's-her-face" and friends came to see the show, too, which made me really happy...

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Thank you very much.

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And as I was reading all the congratulatory emails from the fans, I also got one from a friend I haven't heard from in ages!

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So I invited my friend to the show on the 28th.

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(He? She?) showed up, along with (his? her?) daughter. [Japanese rarely uses gendered pronouns so it is impossible to tell if this friend of which Imai speaks is male or female.]

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Thanks!

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At the party after the show, I had a conversation with Mr. Uno, even though it was only a very brief one...and we took a commemorative photo of the five of us with Mr. Uno.

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Thank you so much.

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Yoko-chan was the same as always.

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IMAI 20:00


2.11.10

寿記 21.10.2010 stage

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Book by Terayama Shuuji, composition and visuals by Aquirax Uno.

"The Little Prince"

I went to see it.

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I talked with Mr. Uno a bit after the performance was over.

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And, on the spur of the moment, I asked him for his autograph.

Thank you very much, Mr. Uno.

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I had him sign on Razzle Dazzle.



...as for the performance...

...I really can't say enough about it, I could just keep on going...

If you got me started I'd never stop.

When I think back on it, there was just so much, too much, this and that...

So when I try to summarize all my thoughts about it...

...I just get dizzy, so I decided to stop.

...this is a pain!!

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You really can't imagine it until you go see it.

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I am absolutely certain it will have an influence on me...

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It was just wonderful

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I want all my friends to go and see it

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Thank you so much, and great work.

IMAI 16:00


13.8.10

寿記 05.08.10 Album

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Pretty soon, it's going to be time for us to decide the order of the tracks on the album.

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We've pretty much picked out the first and second tracks, but the third track? We're still thinking about it.


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We're got some catchy dance beats that make me smile

Disco beats that make me feel so nostalgic

Spacey and thrilling...mm maybe I should save this for later.

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The depths of serenity, and a whirlpool of rainbows...

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Just think of it as us using our genwaku (razzle), and our genwaku (dazzle).

[Same pronunciation, different kanji.]

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I mean, I'm really not talking very eloquently about this right now, but let me say I think it's going to be a pretty interesting, fun album.

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And, we decided the title.

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It's Razzle Dazzle!

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The album jacket is gonna be done by Aquirax Uno

That is to say, Uno Akira.

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And of you who don't know who he is, you should take advantage of this opportunity to familiarize yourself with his work.

He invites you into this amazing, wonderful world.

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I think you guys will enjoy the album.

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IMAI 22:00

2.8.10

Razzle Dazzle (and all that jazz?)

Buck-Tick's 18th studio album, "Razzle Dazzle," is scheduled for release on October 13th. The cover will be illustrated by Japanese-underground-art-legend Uno Akira, otherwise known as Aquirax Uno, whose delicate, dreamlike, art nouveau-esque drawings depict scenes of the lovely, the erotic, and the grotesque (and also no doubt adorn Mr. Imai's walls.) The album will contain "Dokudanjou Beauty" and "Kuchizuke," along with 13 other tracks. The first-press edition will feature the album in the no-one's-heard-of-it-yet Blu-Spec CD format (like Blu-Ray, but for audio.) Don't worry, Blu-Spec is compatible with regular CD players. Is it rippable and hence pirateable? I don't know yet, you tell me. The format debuted in 2008, is the property of Sony, and appears to be a largely Japanese phenomenon at the moment. In addition to the Blu-Spec format, the first-press edition will include the requisite special packaging and a DVD extra with the PV for "Dokudanjou Beauty," an interview, and some other goodies (maybe, probably.)

If the Blue-Spec CD format doesn't happen to be pirateable, please, you pecuniarily endowed fans, buy the regular edition as well...because if it weren't for pirated CDs, none of y'all would know Buck-Tick even existed.

As for the regular edition, it appears to be just the regular CD. In a case. With a booklet, that might (if you're lucky) feature a cheesy, over-exposed picture of Sakurai in frills and a top hat. But then again, going by the title of the album and the 1920's art style we're looking at for the cover here, I'm secretly hoping Buck-Tick is going to Chicago the living $#!+ out of the unwary fanbase. Please guys, pray with me for fishnets, sequins, bowler hats, and (of course) smoking revolvers galore.