Kimura Kaela "Mamireru" Exclusive Interview Translation

Source: Oricon

Bad to “be covered” by important things

--In the liner notes for your new single “Mamireru,” you specifically request listeners to read the title with an accent on the “ma.”

Kaela: I want them to pronounce it like “parareru” [“parallel”]. The world of the internet, the world of my emotions, the world of emotions for others... There are a lot of parallel worlds, and the image here is of all those feelings people don’t share or try to get rid of, collected into a “Mamireru World.” That might be a little hard to understand because it’s just a feeling I tried to attach to the song, but that’s more or less the idea. (laugh)

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MEG "La Japonaise" Exclusive Interview Translation

Source: Natalie

The reason for my hiatus

--You stopped your activities in Japan in 2010 and moved your base of operations to France. So my first question is, what did you learn from your experiences there?

M: I released a best-of album [in Japan] in September of 2010, and then I stopped my activities after my birthday live in October, but I still had releases. Nakata [Yasutaka] is very quick at creating music, but it felt like we had the lyrics written and the music recorded for the album in three weeks.

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Orange Range "NEO POP STANDARD" Exclusive Interview Translation

Source: Natalie

We always felt a little like going against the flow

--In July of 2010, ORANGE RANGE started their own independent label, “Super Echo Label.” This is the first time you’ve spoken with us, so I’d like to ask how it felt to separate from your old label and start your own.

N: We were of course thinking a lot about whether we’d be able to convey the novelty of our situation when it came time to put out information and music. I mean, before that, when we were at our previous label, if we made music they didn’t like it wouldn’t be released, and we wouldn’t be able to play it in anticipation of a release date. But now that we have our own label we can release anything we want to do. That’s obviously a huge difference. If we think to ourselves “We want to put out some music today,” we can just up and announce it. We can play new music at our lives right away, and then release it later. When we make music, we want people to hear it immediately. Our listeners can can be in lockstep with our feelings from day to day. It’s invigorating.

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GK PV Play: Lighter Than Air Edition

Many music videos are released every month in Japan to promote the latest single or album coming out. Though we often talk about the music videos that accompany the music we review, some PVs slip through the cracks. This week we task our lovely writer with the difficult job of reviewing some of the recent vids to make their way all the way from Japan to our computer screens in the US.

AKB48 - Manatsu no Sounds Good
Shinee - Sherlock
AAA - Still Love You
moumoon - Wild Child
Itano Tomomi - 10Nen Go no Kimi He

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Perfume "Spring of Life" Exclusive Interview Translation

Source: Excite

--Just as you'd expect from the title, "Spring of Life" perfectly represents the season of spring.

A-chan: Perfect! When I hear it I can't help but move and sing along.

Kashiyuka: It's totally refreshing.

Nocchi: I think it's a very passionate song.

--It's your first single of 2012. Did you ever speak with Nakata Yasutaka about what kind of feeling you wanted from the song?

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