HoRookies recently released their 2nd album “Focus” at the beginning of the month and held a release party for it on YouTube. They announced that it’s now available on YouTube as an archive so if you missed the livestream or just want to watch it again, here’s your chance! By the way, if you haven’t added “Focus” to your library, it’s definitely worth a listen.
Taiwanese band noovy’s single “Before We Die” (Japanese version) will feature singer-songwriter Anly! The Mandopop version (without Anly) was released on August 31 and the Japanese version (with Anly) will be released on September 10.
Following the release of their fun summer song “Root Beer”, HoRookies have announced the release of their second album “Focus”. The album has a total of 7 tracks and is available on all music streaming services.
WAL (What at lazz) made a big announcement for the month of August with an upcoming new CD single “Sumaho wa Shimatte Dance Night” (8/29 release) and the MV release on 8/18. They will also start posting to their YouTube channel every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!
Rock band What at lazz recently performed a special live at Legend Sports Heroes Okinawa and Nema Ui loved it!
The 4-member band (ワトラズ) formed in April 2018 in Okinawa and features female-vocalist Kyon, Yoshinii on guitar, Masshii on bass, and Takkun on drums. Okinawa has a rich history of rock bands and fairly recent bands with female singers are seven oops, FLiP, and Stereopony. To date, What a lazz has only released singles and I’m happy to say that all are available on Apple Music! Here’s a link to their latest single Slashing Symphony. The song (Start Dash) Ui mentioned in her tweet is unreleased and looks to be included in their upcoming album.
Follow What a lazz on Twitter and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
Suzuhana Yuko, the vocalist of the Japanese folk rock band Wagakki Band, recently shared on her YouTube channel that she’s a fan of the sanshin and Okinawan folk music. She performs Asadoya Yunta and talks a bit about how she came upon the instrument and her love of Okinawa. In the video’s description, she writes in English (probably for her worldwide audience) of how the sanshin is not the same as the shamisen that’s used in her band’s music. Maybe we’ll one day see an original Okinawan folk pop/rock song on a future album of Wagakki Band like The Boom’s Shima Uta and Heiwa no Ryuka from the Southern All Stars.
OZ (オズ) is an upcoming 4-piece rock band from Okinawa with a female lead vocalist. It’s a bit difficult to find their stuff on the Web since there’s another artist from Japan with the same name (go figure?) so here are links to their websites: Official Website, Record Label Website (Nayutawave Records, Universal Music Japan), and their MySpace page.
There are two special wallpapers celebrating the June 9th release of Stereopony’s second album, “Over the Border,” from their record label Sony Music. Download them soon as they are available for a limited time.
One great thing to come out of Fuzzy Control‘s joining DCT records (DREAMS COME TRUE‘s indie record label) is the collaborative songs between the two bands and the latest is called “Sono Saki e,” featured in the 4th season of the J-drama “Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji.” Very catchy song and SATOKO rocks the drums!
Connection to Okinawa: Fuzzy Control’s vocalist/guitarist, JUON, was born in Okinawa.
“A.A.Aiyaiya,A.A!” is the band’s first single under the DCT records label and it—as well as its music video—are currently available on iTunes (link opens iTunes).
To commemorate the release of Stereopony’s latest song, “Smilife,” Sony Records has released a wallpaper featuring the single’s cover art. Download it here.
