...the reverse side of beauty..//..Mantified

Luna Sea hype is about to dawn upon us. Now how about reading some opinions from one of them, SUGIZO?

I'm so glad I can watch them in Hong Kong later this year! The political dispute between Japan and China is making certain things unnerving. *sigh*

Other than that? I've been punching eyelets. They're kind of like these annoying spiders that won't go away, but you have to deal with them else you might get bitten by one. And your outfit could be ruined if you're not careful enough. Bah.

If you're not already on Twitter, SUGIZO's already ahead of you! He has also set up his Official Facebook Page. It's really exciting to see all these JRockers on Twitter, which include the likes of Miyavi, Aoi and Ruki of the GazettE. Squee!

And of course, I'm now officially on Twitter too! I made it a while ago, but as opening up a web page on my lappy just to read tweets isn't really my style, I haven't used it much...that's until I got myself a swanky new iTouch 4! So yes, if you're interested in following, my Twitter is TaintedMantis. I've also linked this blog to Twitter, so updates will come to you straight away!

Welcome to my daily randomness!

The more I play SUGIZO's compositions as chill out music, the more mesmerized I become to his audio charm. I'm really glad that I've been able to get his COSMOSCAPE album, not only is it full of (good quality) electronica, there are also bits and pieces of wonderfully composed alternative sounds, ranging from jazz moods to romantic classical based pieces.

I was really disappointed when CDJAPAN emailed me back to say that SUGIZO's copies of C:LEAR are now sold out (even from the source). But hey, there will always be more of him in X JAPAN and Luna Sea! (I'm more for the latter, but ah well...)

Yes, I know I've totally been raving Mr. SGZ in previous entries. I just cannot get enough of his musical talents. I truly would love to spread his wonderful works of art. Would definitely go to see a solo live of his if I've got the chance (despite the fact that I'll be seeing him with Luna Sea in December, but it's more of a rock than a dance thing).

Here's to hoping that we'll be seeing some solo album releases some time in between Luna Sea and X Japan projects!

I admit, SUGIZO's latest single Missing Link isn't exactly new news, but given he's made a massive update about his work in his MySpace blog, I feel (somewhat) compelled to make a sort of commentary here. Hahaha.

Missing Link is actually composed to aid Mick Karn for his cancer treatment. I normally wouldn't pay that much for just 1 song (without CDs/booklets and all that environmentally unfriendly packaging), but because I support the cancer cause, I've donated 10 quid to buying the single. It starts off with quite an airy feel, but when the trademark SUGIZO style dance music started after around 1:30 minutes, it just got better. And of course, his violin playing mixed with dance music does give the piece a new age style breath into the piece. It flows smoothly, without hearing weird noises that some people would put in to make it sound "cool". I think it must be the violin...it's the violin I say! It's one more (good) techno song to add to my collection! Personally, I'm not really a fan of techno because it's really horrible electronica music most of the time - but SUGIZO knows how to make it sound the way it should: makes you want to pump up the dance floor.

To get your own copy and to help Mick Karn financially (even if it's just 99p), please visit Mick Karn's page.

And of course, there is that Lollapalooza live with X Japan. Not exactly new news either, since it's quite widely publicized, but hell, he sure is busy with all that going on! Not to mention he's got Luna Sea's REBOOT event, whatever that is, as well as that fan club acoustic live show. And I wonder what Asian country he's going to jet off to...

Just hope he keeps safe throughout!

Messiah is still my favourite dance song though. =)

He's finally finished this project! And gave a super lengthy commentary too!

MySpace Blog

After reading all that, I simply cannot wait to listen to this. I'm certain it's totally made of WIN and EPIC. I cannot blame him; he got me totally mesmerized in Synchronicity the moment I listened to it. Recently, it seems he's more focused on making musical poetry of all sorts - I probably prefer this compared to his earlier solo works where he sings more. Although his voice isn't as godly as Ryuichi's, he's very well suited to the airy more electronic new age sounds. Maybe it's the voice quality?

Hopefully, a proper Luna Sea announcement will come soon after, but of course, that will depend on the other members too.

Finally, you can also read his thoughts on the current political situation in Japan. He is, after all, a modern philosopher too.

Okay, time to stop procrastinating. =P For now, Fatima to keep you company.

Finally! The title of the GazettE's new single's announced! It's called Shiver and will be the anime KuroshitujiII's opening song. I've never heard of the anime before, maybe because it's new? But we'll see if it'll actually interest me. I've already placed my orders...so I'm SO going to get my first press when the entire package from CDJapan's going to be delivered to my door after Film Bug II is released (saves me on separate shipping costs and my mail signer's time for having stuff delivered in one go).

Can't wait! *along with a couple of magazines I bought on the site*

Some more news. Luna Sea announced REBOOT in their MySpace page along with the following video. We're not sure what it means, but hopefully we'll be seeing something substantial soon!



I've also been following Luna Sea's SUGIZO a lot lately too. He makes really beautiful music and is possibly one of the most talented musicians and composers I've encountered. You know how most musicians have a tendency to stick to one genre of music and hardly ever do any crossing over? Being classically trained with the violin, his ability to play various guitars and the bass, the way he dabbles in different styles is simply amazing. I'd love to speak more about him, but for now, I leave you with Synchronicity from his 2001 film Soundtrack (he also did all the music for the film).

Only the last 10 seconds kind of grossed me out though. Hahaha.



I should get a new layout some time. I hate it when the YouTube embeds spill over to the other side.