Since it’s Music Month here at Nippon-Ichigo, I’ll make some more music-oriented posts. Like this news that burst onto the internet a couple days ago: Quaff, the band which I posted about earlier this year, is basically getting made-over!

Makito, the band’s guitarist and leader, announced via Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook that all the current members of Quaff (except him) would be leaving as of October 1st. Ukisemi also posted his own announcement. An excerpt from Makito’s:

ON OCTOBER 1, 5 MEMBERS WITHDRAW FROM QUAFF: HAL, TAKUMA, SHINGO, SEIYA & UKISEMI.
WE DO NOT HAVE PERSONAL PROBLEMS, AND THERE ARE NO MUSICAL DIFFERENCES.
THEY HAVE CHOSEN A NEW LIFE AND SEEK TO HOLD A HAPPY FUTURE.
AS FOR THE TIME I SPENT WITH THEM, IT IS VERY VALUABLE. AND IT IS A BIG PART OF MY LIFE.
THEY LOVE MUSIC, THEY LOVE QUAFF, AND THEY LOVE THE FANS.

So, fortunately, nothing bad happened, no irreconcilable differences or anything of the sort; it’s just a new direction for the lives of all involved. That at least puts the fans’ minds at ease; while we don’t know all the specifics of this change, we do know that it’s probably the best decision for all of them. I support the old and soon-coming new members of Quaff!

Speaking of the new members: from what I can tell, the new members’ names are Renji, Iori, Neu, and Mio. They’ll be performing live with the old members of Quaff in a show certain to rock the pants off of anyone who sees, on the 1st of October! Sounds like a passing of rites. An awesome passing of rites. I really hope it’s streamed, like the recent Access concert I watched (in the wee hours of the morning, heh). I really, really hope.

I look forward to new work produced by this group. The soul and spirit lives on! I can heartily recommend their existing albums.

Like this one, which I bought immediately after MTAC this year.

One of the ticks on my litmus test for good music is “is great to listen to in the car.” I’ve listened to this album in my car nonstop all summer.

Whatever Quaff’s future holds, I hope to see them again at MTAC next year!

Hello, and welcome! Nippon-Ichigo is this year’s host for September’s Japan Blog Matsuri theme!

A big thanks to last month’s host, Through Eyes from Afar, and their great theme “Japanese Nature/Culture“!

Aaand September’s theme is…

“Japanese Music!”

That’s right! I can’t believe this hasn’t been done yet. I’m a big fan, as are many others all over the world. Whether you’d like to talk about artists currently in the Japanese media, different aspects of Japanese musical style, your favorite Japanese songs, Japanese instruments of ancient times, or whatever else have you, it all fits into September’s theme! Just make sure your post follows the Japan Blog Matsuri guidelines for submission.

Rules and Guidelines

• Include at least one picture. People need visuals!
• Write enough substance. Not too many pictures, y’all.
• And, of course, follow all the rest of these guidlines!

Ways You Can Submit

You should send me the url/link to your entry by doing these things:

• Email me through the contact form on this site! (Preferred)
• Email me directly, if that somehow fails: self (.) revolution at gmail (.) com
• Leave a comment in this post with the link to your blog post!
• Submit it through the Blog Carnival Widget!

Deadline: September 24th

Let’s get to it, and have fun with it! Feel free to contact me about questions, too. Yaaay!

In February, Jun Seba passed away — accidentally, in a car accident (caused by an earthquake?). Most people didn’t know until about a month later. People like you and me knew him as Nujabes, and perhaps started listening to his music more after seeing Samurai Champloo for the first time. For everyone, it was amazingly sad; you’re never prepared to hear about someone with influence in your life, someone still so young, just up and leaving this world, and you’re never sure what to do afterward. You don’t think of such people as invincible, but you do think things like “someday I may meet them, even briefly.”

With his record label, Hydeout Productions, he collaborated with people from all over, music that could touch souls from all the way across the sea. He produced music like no one else had. His enlightening hip hop beats helped me get through a rough patch in my life… not all music can do that.

It’s people like him I look up to — real innovators, with real passion, inspiring all who hear his music. People like that are of real value to the world…

…which is why it comes as a shock to most of the world, especially the creative world, that now, just Wednesday, Satoshi Kon has also died. Prevalent in the famous director’s work was a real unconventional approach to heady topics in animation, much different than anime and movies in general.

His last words, posthumously publicized, have been unofficially translated. I cried…I felt emotional for a good part of the day. No one knew about the nature of his condition until nigh the very end; understandable, as he had his reasons… I especially respect someone who admits his own flaws, who obviously has reverence for other people, with maturity in coming to terms with things. I want to cry again…

This has lit a fire under me to finally see more of his works. I’ve been intending to see the rest of Paranoia Agent for ages… Kon’s work is intriguing in a way that snags me, questioning the perspectives of characters, of viewers, of people, probing the mental, the subconscious, the emotional. I watched Paprika with friends the other day, and I can recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for doing what you did, Kon and Seba. We’re all glad you did what you loved and enjoyed it. Your influence will be seen in the world for ages to come.

You should know, I’m on a real Mario kick right now. With the recent release of Super Mario Galaxy 2, not to mention E3 with all the other great returning classic platform heroes, I just want to play video games all day. But such desires of the id are played down and subdued, only to be lived out in my fantasies while I watch video game related media at work.

(Nah, I’m working, honestly… with a little peep here and there.)

So anyway, I got a real kick out of this.

Teppei Okada has the right idea. If I could even remotely play violin, this is exactly what I’d do, too.

While I’m at it, here are a few more Mario videos I’m liking the hell out of. SPOILERS: Mario dies at the end of all these videos. (Why are we all so cruel to him? But I enjoyed long-jumping him into walls in 64, if only to hear that goofy “d’oh, oooof…”)

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Heard of Quaff? I hadn’t, until it was announced they were coming to MTAC.

Quaff or Die!

Quaff: a Japanese visual kei band. Officially described thus: “Quaff is a band like none other. They bring elements of traditional Japanese music and culture into their heavy hitting music and live performances. Quaff rocks out with dual vocalists emphasizing their Japanese roots. Everything from the vocal melodies, to the rapping, to the drum beats, to the music screams of Japanese which takes their rock sound to a completely unique level. Even in a country saturated with musicians, Quaff is the only one to create a fusion of synergy between the traditional Japanese aura and modern music.”

MTAC: Middle Tennessee Anime Convention, the only con I’ve ever gone to (saving its new sister-con GMX on my birthday last October), for seven years now. No matter your level of anime involvement, it’s a great and fun environment of geekery. It’s almost like home; the congoers are nice (and clean!), and staff are good at what they do.

Anyway, Quaff came to MTAC this month, becoming the first band to attend the con straight out of Japan. In short, they were wonderful. At first I hadn’t expected much; I didn’t have time to check out the band’s videos very thoroughly before the con, and at a quick glance they look like most other visual kei rock bands out there. Well, I was pretty wrong.

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