acchikocchi

In all likelihood, half of my flist will know everything here and half won't know any. XD Except Ayaka.


Chara

I never did post the second half of the May concert reports. I've got it half-finished around here somewhere, and a proliferation of notes on the back of a handbill, so if anyone wants to read it I'll post? But I think nyonyo covered the same night, anyway. :) The point of that is, never got to expand on my thoughts on Chara, who has stage presence like none else, good lord. I'm hugely fond of Chara in general and have a Special Attachment to certain songs, but I had no idea she was such an excellent performer. She owned that auditorium. XD Anyway, I think I've posted an mp3 or two before but never made a concerted attempt to, to proselytize. Uh, Chara is amazing the end. Seriously, I think you can appreciate her from an intellectual perspective even if you don't batten on emotionally; of course I'm guessing this because I appreciate basically all music I like on a squishy emotional level. Aha. Her music runs the gamut from pure pop to funk influences to - idk, ambient? to wibbly acoustic guitar, so there is SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE.

Biggest hits: "Yasashii Kimochi" and "Swallowtail Butterfly ~ai no uta~".

You may already know her from: the film Swallowtail Butterfly ("Bandage" fans take note, it was another Iwai-Kobayashi collaboration), all-girl rock band Mean Machine, Tokyo Babylon image songs, the ED theme of Kimi ni Todoke, that one episode of cartoon KAT-TUN. XD;;;

Note: Newcomers to her music will probably be taken aback by her voice; for some it's love at first listen and for some it's an acquired taste. *g* Give her a chance even if you're not immediately convinced, because she does good music.

Tsumibukaku aishite yo
Tsumibukaku aishite yo (a scenery like me version) <-- from her self-cover album, just what I mean about wibbly acoustic guitar.
Milk
Yasashii kimochi
Private Beach
Isshoni kurasou
Aishitai no
Violet Blue
70%--yuugure no uta
Swallowtail Butterfly ~ai no uta~

Tsuji Ayano

A girl with a ukelele, what more do you want. Plus she does excellent covers - two albums' worth - Spitz, Chara, you name it.* (Arashi fans may be interested in her cover of "Happiness". Bet you never knew an acoustic ukelele version of Arashi could sound so good. XD) I saw her at Zepp Tokyo in... summer 2007? and, I mean, that was it, it was her and her ukelele in a chair on the stage. She covered Spitz's "Sunshine", actually, and by the end you could have heard a pin drop.

...huh, and apparently she was on NPR a couple years ago. I had no idea.

Sakura no ki no shita de
Ougon no tsuki (Suga Shikao cover) <-- ♥_♥
Kaze ni naru
Cherry (Spitz cover)
Happiness (Arashi cover)
Tsuki ga naiteru

Ayaka

I think everyone and their cat has head "I Believe" at this point, but I wanted to bring her up because I was looking up information the other day and I didn't realize a. she was going on indefinite hiatus and b. she was diagnosed with Graves' disease. DDD: She has got one of the most naturally beautiful voices. ;_; She was another performer from the second night of Kame no Ongaeshi, and hearing her voice in person was really something.

She said in her intro to "Mikazuki" that when she originally heard the music she told the producer (Kameda) she wasn't sure if she could do it, and it's true that in the original recording from 2006 she does the high note fine but it's nothing special compared to the complete effortlessness and clarity with which she now hits it live. Post-production? What's that? She obviously doesn't need it. It's the same quality that got me hooked on the first few notes of "Te wo tsunagou" - "mimi wo sumaseba..."

Mikazuki
Te wo tsunagou
Konya mo hoshi ni dakarete... (live)
Okaeri <-- Zettai Kareshi theme for those keeping score at home

Cocco

Amefurashi
Kumoji no hate
Kemono michi
Mizukagami

UA

Soramimi bakari
Oyako bashabasha
Summer Melancholic
Mizuiro (live a cappella)
Kasa ga nai (Inoue Yosui cover)

Amano Tsukiko

Ningyou (Meg Mix)
Bodaiju

Yano Maki

Ookina tsubasa


*HA, like I'd get through a whole music post without mentioning Spitz.