银色灰尘 (Silver Ash)

Silver Ash was the first and only major visual kei band in Mainland China. A Beijing band formed in 2000, Silver Ash had been producing music actively under the Scream Records label until 2004. Supposedly, due to pressure from the Chinese government, the band members began leaving one after another. It was announced that the remaining members will be forming a new band called TOY with various musicians from other groups and would abandon the visual kei path.

However, Silver Ash still performed with the J-Rock band La'cryma Christi (just disbanded about a week ago) at the Star Live House in Beijing in August of 2006. There's a gap of information here between that announcement and the performance. I haven't figured out exactly what happened yet. I'm not sure why the 2005 album, "Wei Jin Ji" (未尽集) was still released under the name Silver Ash.

Edit: After finding the actual text of the official press release from 2004, now I know that Silver Ash was simply put on the backburner in favor of TOY. The press release specifically mentioned that TOY would be targeting the domestic mainstream market, while Silver Ash would be targeting the overseas market. Silver Ash hadn't really disbanded, just on a semi-hiatus. Their contract was also transferred to Scream Record's parent company, Jinwen Records. Of course, this was the "official" press release. In China, anything "official" means heavily sugarcoated. There are more details I need to uncover. Something still seems off. End of Edit

I'm still saddened by this whole problem with the Chinese government. Silver Ash could have become the X Japan of China. Alas, the band was getting strangled before it could have made a difference in the Chinese rock music scene. Almost everytime they get a chance to play overseas or join other major artists like Japan's T.M.Revolution, Pycho le Cemu, and Sons of All Pussys, the Chinese Homeland Security steps in and put a stop on the activities. Why did the Chinese government interfere? Why would it have such a problem with visual kei? Or is it actually due to the political content of Silver Ash's songs? I don't know and I'm terribly disappointed by the turn of events. I wish Silver Ash can just migrate to Japan and miraculously be able to sing in good Japanese.

But in the end, this post is a tribute to this pioneer Chinese band. As an initial introduction, I present to you Silver Ash's two music videos and my translation of the lyrics to these two songs. Please do not reproduce the translations (or any part of it) without getting explicit permission from me before hand (e-mail: nagetou [at] gmail.com).

Lunar Eclipse

This is a very poetic song. As a result, the lyrics are more difficult to translate due to the form and the usage of metaphors (and the ambiguity of pronouns and tense). I tried to preserve as much of the original Chinese meaning and form as possible in the translation, so as to not mangle the beautiful lyrics too much while maintaining coherency.

Title: Lunar Eclipse

The frozen moonlight, entangled in a dark room
Is dissolving in blue and seeps into the gray wall
The frozen moonlight, entangled in a mirror
Is dissolving in paleness and seeps into the gray wall

In the sunken depth of my eyes, glitters a nightmare from childhood
Trembling, I open both eyes, peering from the window at the...*
Moonlight that uncaringly burns my icy blood and frozen gaze***
In the dark, the iron window of ice, the mysterious melody is the imagination of happiness

The mangled shadow, careless scattered, is carved into my body
Seeping into my blood, the blue iciness freezes in my heart
The mangled shadow, careless scattered, is carved into my face
Seeping into my flesh, the blue iciness freezes in my heart

A beam of moonlight falls on my eyes, and pierces the shadow in the depth
Trembling, I close both eyes, dodging from inside the window the...**
Moonlight that uncaringly burns my icy blood and frozen gaze***
In the dark, the iron window of ice, the mysterious melody is the imagination of happiness

Moonlight that recklessly burns my icy blood and frozen gaze***
In the dark, the iron window of ice, the mysterious melody is the imagination of happiness

* A more conventional translation would be: "peering at the moonlight / outside the window" instead of "peering from the window at the... / moonlight". The reordering is to preserve the form of the original lyrics.
** Like above, conventional translation would be: "dodging the moonlight / outside the window" instead of "dodging from inside the window the... / moonlight". The reordering is to preserve the original form.
*** The original Chinese is 蓝色的血液, which is literally "blue blood". In the translation, I used the metaphorical meaning, "icy blood".


Liar

Well, this song is much much easier to translate. Half of it is in English and the other half in Chinese is straightforward enough. The video itself should also convey the political message clearly. Warning for the use of the "f" word.

Title: Liar

Liar, liar, liar!
You are such a liar, liar, liar!
You are a fucking liar, liar, liar!
You are such a liar, liar, liar!
You are a fucking liar!

I feel lied to as I wait
I wait in lies
Calmly swallowing the happy lies
I wait in happiness

Liar, liar, liar!
You are such a liar, liar, liar!
You are a fucking liar, liar, liar!
You are such a liar, liar, liar!
You are such a liar!

I feel lied to as I wait
I wait in lies
Calmly swallowing the happy lies
I wait in happiness

Liar!
Liar!
Liar!
Liar!
You are such a liar!


Silver Ash's discography can be found at Wikipedia.

As for where to buy all of their CDs, I wish I knew. Right now, it seems impossible for overseas fans to purchase their CDs because the popular international online music stores simply don't carry their works anymore or the CDs are out of print. However, your chances improve if you can read and communicate in Chinese. After searching on line, I found that eBay China sometimes has Silver Ash available. Yahoo! Auctions China (taobao.com) also seems to have an even bigger selection. However, the sellers on these auctions sites mostly only ship domestically. The good news is, Amazon China (joyo.com) does ship internationally, though it only has the most recent album (Wei Jin Ji).

The great thing about buying from Chinese artists CDs from Chinese sites is that everything is so damn cheap due to the exchange rate. At Amazon China, for example, Silver Ash's Wei Jin Ji album comes out to about $5, including shipping. I'm not kidding. So, grab a friend who can read Chinese and support the artists by buying their CDs. God knows, Silver Ash really really needs our support right now.

Cutie Nao

Nao's 09/28 diary entry (translation credit to Miyabi_Melody of Batsu J-Rock Forum):

I was at bookstore today and saw 2 mothers (who seem to be friends) reading Korean artists books. They were talking peacefully among themselves and I saw them picking up the magazine with alice nine. on cover!!! Just when I was thinking "OH?" at the moment, the 2 mothers said:...

"Ah, new Korean artists♪"

I ran out.

At this point, I broke down and laughed my head off. Ahh my dear Nao, what will the world do without your lovable innocence?

D-ilemma!

I'm in the market for D's "The name of the ROSE" album. But, but... the story is not so simple.

Not surprising for a visual kei band, D has released 3 versions of this album (kicks record label). The two limited editions came out in 2005. They've got 10 tracks, and a different PV on each. The situation is complicated by the fact that D's original bassist left and a new one joined. So in early 2006, a regular edition of "The name of the ROSE" was released. This time, the songs were re-recorded with the new bassist, and 3 new tracks were added.

So, the problem is obvious here. Which edition should I get? For choosing between the limited editions, it comes down to the PV's (the audio tracks are identical). The PV's even out in the end, because one has a great song but okay PV, the other has an okay song but great PV. Only 5,000 copies were released for each limited edition, and now are out of print. But if I look hard enough, I can still find one or two on auction for a pretty reasonable price. However, I can't ignore the fact that the regular edition contains 3 extra tracks. They're good tracks, too. And I want them.

God freaking dammit, should I get one of the limited editions or the regular edition?! I can't decide! And I really really can't afford to get all of them.

Life sucks.

"Mayatsuki no Hitsugi", the PV that came with the Type-A limited edition. Okay song, great PV.


"Sleeper", the PV that came with the Type-B limited edition. Great song, okay PV.

I Missed Dave Matthews Band Concert (By Choice)

Okay, call me foolish for missing Dave Matthews Band's hometown concert.

My house had a fundraising event in which residents could volunteer to be backstage curtain handlers on the two nights Dave Matthews Band was performing here. This was of course the perfect opportunity to be close to the band during the concert. The idea of watching the band from backstage and only being a few feet away from them is indeed quite attractive. Had I remotely been in my right mind, I'd have jumped at the chance.

However, I wasn't anywhere near being in the right mind. The concert nights happened to be on the same week in which I averaged 3 hours of sleep every night due to having to work on massive projects. By the time the concerts came around, I was so burned out and felt so dead that I couldn't have cared if lightning struck and killed my pet dog (figuratively speaking). All I wanted to do was to sleep for 3 days straight.

So, while my housemates were out having fun helping out at Dave Matthews Band concert, I was sleeping.

Pooh.

News: Kagrra, / うたかた (Utakata) [2006.11.22]

The new Kagrra, single release news just came in my e-mail inbox. Here's my translation:

Artist: Kagrra,
Release: Utakata
Date: 2006.11.22

Type-A (limited edition)
2 tracks + PV
Catalog Number: COZA-231,232
Price: 1,890 yen (tax in)

Type-B (limited edition)
2 tracks + PV
Catalog Number: COZA-233,234
Price: 1,890 yen (tax in)

Type-C (normal edition)
3 tracks
Catalog Number: COCA-1591
Price: 1,260 yen (tax in)

Thank god I don't collect singles. Otherwise, I'd have another heart attack over PS Company's devious scheme of 3 release editions.

New Intermediary Service - Mukunoki JP

While browsing Livejournal, I discovered a new intermediary service that just started in August July, called Mukunoki JP (LJ community here). It's similar to SMJ in that it will buy from Japanese web shops and Yahoo Auctions for you, then ship the items to you while charging you a middleman fee. As of right now, the intermediary fee for this service is 20% of total cost. In addition to web shops and auctions, it can also join fan clubs on your behalf and forward fan club merchandises to you. Mukunoki charges a flat 10,000 yen per year fee that includes shipping but excludes the fan club due. The payment methods it accepts are PayPal, credit card, and international money order.

I have NOT used this service yet, but here's the conclusion I've reached based on the information provided by Mukunoki's website and LJ community.

Advantages:

1. Currency exchange rate / Mukunoki uses the standard currency exchange rate and doesn't do that "subtract 4" conversion that SMJ does.
2. Intermediary fee / The 20% intermediary charge can actually be cheaper than SMJ depending on the price of the item, since Mukunoki uses a percentage charge while SMJ uses a flat charge.
3. Shipment route / Mukunoki's shipment route is more direct. The item is sent from the original seller to Mukunoki, then Mukunoki sends the item to you. While with SMJ, the original seller sends the item to SMJ's Japan storage, then the item is sent to SMJ's US storage, then is finally shipped to you. You can request SMJ to not send the item to its US storage, but for North American buyers, this is useless. Of course, you have to pay for all of the shipping fees.
4. Service variety / Like I said, Mukunoki acts as a middleman for Japanese web shops, auctions, and fan clubs. SMJ is Yahoo Auctions only.
5. No deposit required / Mukunoki currently doesn't require a deposit like SMJ.
   

Limitations:

1. Payment options / Mukunoki accepts PayPal, credit card, and international money order. But if you use credit card or bank fund, you'll be charged an additional 3%.
2. Membership application / You must become a member in order to use Mukunoki's serivces. The membership is free, however, it may take a few days to process. So if you have an urgent auction item that ends in 3 days and you're not a member, there may not be enough time.
3. No fan club concert ticket through fan club service / If you use the fan club service, Mukunoki doesn't buy the fan club concert tickets for you.
4. Item quantity limitation / You can only buy at most 3 items through Mukunoki at a time.
5. No bidding on auctions ending soon / Mukunoki won't bid for you if the auction ends within 24 hours.
6. No real time bidding / Once Mukunoki receives your bidding request, it gives you a price estimate. Once you agree to the estimate, it'll begin bidding for you. This entire process is handled by a person, it's not automated or real time like SMJ. So, there might be a longer delay in placing your bid, which explains the previous point (no bidding on auctions ending soon).
   

I think this is pretty much all information I've uncovered about the service. I have no idea how reliabe Mukunoki is since they're so new. I recommend checking out their website and LJ community yourself to get a better perspective.

PV Review: アリス九號. (alice nine.) / NUMBER SIX.

Supposedly, the NUMBER SIX. PV continues the story told in 春夏秋冬 (Shunkashuutou). The alice nine. members are all high school buddies and they have a startup band. They run into conflicts, have shove fights, get broody, then make up and have group hugs. Awww... we're all friends again!

Does this sound like a cheesy high school drama to you?

Because it sure does to me. I lose count how many times I have facepalmed because the PV is literally dripping with syrupy sap. Guys, even though you have a youthful image, most of you are in the mid-twenties. Dear god, if you must pretend to be high school band kids, you should at least tone down the mushiness. Not to mention, this kind of plot is pretty damn trite. We see it in dramas all the time; must you also inflict it upon us in your PV, too?

Had I been say... 12 years old, I'd have found this love-dovey-ness cute and endearing. alice nine. group hug, yay! But sadly, I'm not. So this PV gets a...

Rating: Tolerable

Update:

I heard rumors that Tora was the one who directed wrote the storyline for this PV. If this is true... well, I apologize to him for not liking his work. It really isn't to my taste. I'm only talking about the PV, not the music here. I know for a fact that he composed the song. However, I still haven't formed an opinion about the song yet. I'll have to digest it some more.

A Declaration of Love

I have a new favorite song that I shall play on repeat for the entire next week (and the week after that, then another week after that, then...).

Words fail me when it comes to describing Gazette's sheer brilliance at transcending genres. Which of the band members composed this song? Who decided to add the R&B element? Whoever it is, I'd like to offer Gazette my soul. And my firstborn child. And oh, would you like me to be your personal servant for the next 10 years? Anything else I can give you so that you can keep on producing fantastic works like this?

You guys are a gem, a treasure to be kept close to our hearts. I'm so, so glad that I had the fortune to discover you in the first place. Your dedication and sincerity have won me over completely.

Tears welled in my eyes as I saw you guys collapse onto the ground after lives because you had wore yourselves out so thoroughly that you had no strength left. You had given your all to your fans and had nearly driven yourselves to expiration. My heart went out to you when you were so moved at Budokan that you cried on the stage. All of you, men, rock stars, cried. I loved you even more when at a tour location, the venue was so tiny and claustrophobia-inducing that the entire band had no room to move on the stage and was pressed right against the crowd, but you still played. When power went out in the middle of the performance, you kept on going....

You did all this for the fans. You love us. And we fell in love with you.

My beloved Gazette, I wish you all the best. Keep true to yourselves and know that you have our support and love, forever.

News: ルルティア (RURUTIA) / Chorion [2006.11.08]

This November, RURUTIA will entrance us once more with a new album, Chorion.

Artist: ルルティア (RURUTIA)
Release: Chorion (album)
Label: PHOERIX RECORDS
Date: 2006.11.08 (now available for pre-order)
Catalog Number: PHOX-100004
Price: 3,000 yen

1. ABINTRA
2. 玲々テノヒラ
3. 星に花、灰色の雨 (Album ver)
4. 水景色　星模様
5. 願いの届く日
6. スピネル
7. Time Traveler
8. パレード
9. 微笑みのマリア
10. マグノリアの情景
11. ABINTRA (Inst)
12. 水景色　星模様 (Inst)
13. 願いの届く日 (Inst)
14. スピネル (Inst)
15. 微笑みのマリア (Inst)

Unrelated:

SID's album, play, is now available for pre-order on YesAsia.com (and no, that's not an affiliate link). I asked their customer service 2 days ago requesting for it. Today they've already e-mailed me back and told me it's now on their site. Awesomeness.

I pre-ordered the type A limited edition, with CD and photobook. I originally wanted type B (CD and DVD), but after thinking long and hard about it, I decided on type A instead. My logic is, a DVD's digital content can be easily replicated, but there's really no way to perfectly reproduce a photobook. Thus, type A with the photobook is more special. It enhances my nice feeling of exclusivity. =P

Oddly, type A is $1 cheaper than type B. I'm guessing it's because type A weighs less, so when YesAsia takes into account the "free" shipping, this weight difference is adjusted.

Wanted: Limited Edition Albums

Why the heck doesn't eBay have more SID music available? I know it's a long shot to get the Renai limited edition album, but why can't SOMEBODY carry it?! Okay, so this was a 2004 release, and yes, only 10,000 were issued. But... I still wish someone somewhere sells it online. Bloody hell.

I know that Gail of Himitsu is also collecting SID music. I wonder if she has had any luck getting Renai limited edition. A 2-year-old release with only 10,000 copies floating around. The odds are stacked against us.

Speaking of out of print items, I'm also trying to get my hands on Kagrra,'s san limited editon album. There's only one place I know of that still sells it. However, the total price for it eventually comes down to $44. And needless to say, I'm totally not happy about this. I'm currently waging an internal battle with myself over whether I should spend so much on just an album. On one hand, there are only a few copies left on the market. On the other hand, $44 is a lot, way too much in my opinion, even if it's "divine music" (Kagrra, = 神楽 = divine music).

Paying only 1/2 price for a regular edition/reissue versus overpaying for a limited edition/first press, it's too hard to decide (oh, why do I have to be such a hardcore fangirl?). Had I not cared about the limited edition issue, I'd just get the albums for $5-$20 on eBay. Of course, there's also the risk of unknowingly getting pirated copies. Let's think about it, how in the world is it possible to sell a legitimate Japanese import disc for only $5? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. This may also explain why there aren't brand new limited albums on eBay. The bonus materials make it harder to duplicate the discs and raise the cost. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Oh, such torment.

Music Review: Ken / Speed

1. Speed [watch]
2. Empty Rooms
3. The Shadow Of Your Smile
4. Speed(karaoke)

CDJapan (w. DVD / CD) / HMV (w. DVD / CD) / YesAsia (w. DVD / CD)

1. Speed / I cannot get over how jarring Ken's singing is in this track. No matter how many times I listen to the song, I just can't adjust to his voice. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but he sounds off key in many places. As a result, the melody is so unfortunately damaged that I honestly cannot like the song. It's a shame.

2. Empty Rooms / I believe most (if not all) of this song is sung in English, though I can't really understand the lyrics due to Ken's pronunciation. Whenever he sang "empty rooms", I thought he had said "Aunty Ruth" instead. O_o But other than the heavily accented English, this is a great mellow song. It's melodious, soothing and reminds me of smooth jazz music (I love smooth jazz), but is synthetic. This time, I have nothing to complain about Ken's singing. His voice is appropriately fitting. ♥

3. The Shadow Of Your Smile / 4. Speed(karaoke) / Track 3 is a short instrumental piece and features a trancy, New Age-like guitar sound. It is strangely hypnotizing. Track 4 is the karaoke version of Speed. I like it a lot better than the vocal version. I'm sorry Ken, you really sounded awful in that song.

Other than that strangely off key song, Speed, this is a quite nice single. Ken isn't as good as the other L'Arc~en~Ciel individual projects such as HYDE or Creature Creature (yet). But there's definitely great potential.

Rating: Good

Dying for Creature Creature

Arrggh, my copy of Creature Creature's Light & Lust album won't arrive for another week or so. But, I'm losing sleep over it, no kidding. Ever since hearing their 3 singles from June, I felt like life is meaningless without possessing more of their releases. To my delight, their first album was out a few days ago, but the waiting is killing me! Why won't you arrive sooner, Light & Lust?

For those of you who don't know, Creature Creature is formed by tetsu (bassist of L'Arc~en~Ciel), Morrie (former vocalist of DEAD END, the band that influenced SUGIZO of LUNA SEA, Sakurai Atsushi of BUCK-TICK, Yuana of Kagerou, etc. and I believe tetsu himself is a fan), and Minoru (guitarist, formerly of Die in Cries and The Mad Capsule Markets). We have no idea who the drummer is, because his name is never mentioned and his photo never appears anywhere (nor does he get much exposure in PVs, no close-ups)! Creature Creature has to be my favorite Laruku individual project of all time; I like it even better than HYDE's solo work.

The first Creature Creature work I came in contact with was the Kaze no Tou PV. God, that moment was pure magic. I was enspelled, infatuated, and utterly enraptured (redundant use of words, I know). I actually felt my heart pounding. The delight of discovering another favorite band was overpowering. Man, I'm getting worked up just writing this.

But, a picture is worth a thousand words, or rather in this case, a video is worth even more than a picture. So I present to you all, Kaze no Tou by Creature Creature!

It's so beautiful that I want to weep.