Review: Crush!2 -90's best hit cover songs-

Various Artists - Crush!2 -90's best hit cover songs- (2011, Japan) Rating: 3/5
Favorite Tracks: Mizerable, Yurameki, Shiroi yami, Rocket Dive

Looks like they decided to make a sequel to this classic 90's compilation. Did they comply with my wishes from the first review? No, but it's okay, there's always a third album, right? This time around I didn't go back to compare the original with the covers that I wasn't familiar with, so please forgive me for that.

Ayabie's Aoi opens the album up with a familiar Gackt classic by the name of "Mizerable". I wasn't sure how well Aoi would do with this song, since I kinda have an attachment to it, but he did a pretty good job with it. The music arrangement accommodated with his voice and he pulled it off without sounding amateurish. Next is Annie's Black cover of SOPHIA's "Gokigen tori ~crawler is crazy~". I'm actually familiar with the band doing the cover's music, but SOPHIA...not so much. For all I know, the song is pretty upbeat and it sounds alright. Nothing extravagant, but good enough for Annie's Black, a band I hardly listen to but enjoy. ADAPTER's cover of CASCADE's "FLOWERS OF ROMANCE" is the next track and it's very electronic based. I'm not sure if this is ADAPTER's original sound or how CASCADE's original sounds like this. It's alright, but I don't like the distorted vocals in it. I was surprised to see another Dir en grey cover included in this second compilation. I was even more surprised that R-shitei (R-15) was covering "Yurameki". Honestly, this was a good choice for the band as MAMO's vocals are very similar to Kyo's vocals during his GAUZE era. They didn't change too much with the music like Merry did in the previous album, which is a little saddening, but nonetheless, this was a very good cover of an old Dir en grey song that I love. I believe I mentioned I'm never very familiar with LUNA SEA songs, but I do enjoy the band. So, it was interesting seeing amber gris covering "SHINE", since I'm somewhat familiar with what both bands sound like and they're a little different. The vocals and music sound pretty much on point and the band preserved the essence of LUNA SEA without losing a little taste of their sound in the cover. -OZ- is next with Rouage's "Shiroi yami". It definitely sounds like a 90's visual kei song and nothing like an rough -OZ- sound, which is interesting to hear that they're capable of such control. I commend them on that. Two bands I'm not familiar with at all, but it's GUILD's cover of SIAM SHADE's "Gureisharu LOVE". It's pretty light-hearted and fun with some great guitar work and strong basslines. I was surprised and pleased that Chemical Pictures had a part in this album, unfortunately I have never heard of THE YELLOW MONKEY's "JAM". Despite that, the music was simplistic and beautiful and TenTen's voice was quite lovely with his own little flair. I could never get into ZUCK, but this is their cover of Kawamura Ryuuichi's "BEAT". It's a slower song than the previous track, but the vocals don't sound too awful which is always a plus. Not a BUCK-TICK fan, but I enjoy a couple songs by them. This time around is 9GOATS BLACK OUT covering "SPEED", which I think suits them in some odd way. Maybe it's the vocals or something, but it's nice to hear them do something more upbeat than their original mellow sound that could either be beautiful or boring. Never could get into T.M. Revolution, but I think I like a couple of his songs. Anyway, vNEU covered the fun upbeat "HOT LIMIT". It's very electronic based and simplified which I didn't really like that much, especially compared to the original and HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR's cover of it. I love Pierrot, but I don't particularly like Hanashounen Baddies, but I was willing to listen their cover of "Kumo no ito". They managed not to butcher the song too much either. The vocals were on point, attempting that Kirito flair, and the musical arrangement stayed the same. Next up is HERO's cover of GLAY's "Yuuwaku". Not a fan of either. The vocals are a little annoying and whiny in this upbeat tune, so I'll just move along to the next track. Now for another couple bands I'm not familiar with which is Blu-BiLLioN covering La'cryma Christi's "Mirai Kuro". The music is pretty, but the vocals are just as bad as HERO's which makes it unbearable to listen to in some places. Megamasso's hide cover of "Rocket Dive" was my first taste of this album and I saw the complaints that some hide fans had, but honestly, I thought this was a good fit for them. Inzargi did well with the vocals and the music is still energetic and captured the energy hide had when he performed it. Moran closes out this compilation with one of my favorite Malice Mizer songs, "Illuminati". I like the musical direction they went with this song which was more of a rock sound than their Victorianesque signature that Malice Mizer is known for. I thought it was a very good cover, even though I was a little skeptical how this would turn out. I'm glad I was reminded not to worry about Moran, because they produce good work.

Overall, I thought this was another good compilation and I'm crossing my fingers for another. Maybe just a full on cover album that isn't just 90s visual kei. It would be interesting to hear Loki doing a deadman cover or ALDIOUS performing a SHOW-YA song.

Top 5 Recommended Music Videos

"Bad City" by Lolita23q
Have I mentioned how proud I am of this band's growth over the years? They are just getting more and more impressive and I hope I get to see them soon. This is a simple little PV, but it highlights each aspect of the band in the most positive light. Even more so, you can tell these guys have a great chemistry between each other. When was the last time you saw a jrock band having this much fun in a PV?




"Warrior" by B.A.P
You probably didn't know, but before this group's debut I had some small issues with them. Being an all blonde group was the least of my worries since most of the time I don't bother trying to learn names. It was my feelings toward Bang Yong Guk being part of a group and not a solo artist, but seeing the results of their little alien union, I'm not too against it anymore. They have an interesting chemistry between them off the stage and I think this is a great punch to the kpop industry. I think this is more hip-hop than Big Bang claimed to be in the beginning. I believe Bang will be a great leader and perhaps Zelo should leave the speed rapping to Outsider if he can't pull it off live.




"DIRTY" by Miryo
This was on my list of things I was looking forward to and when I saw the teasers, I was spazzing out all of the place. When the video was released I was a little confused, but not completely disappointed. I enjoyed the dark humor concept and the sound was definitely unexpected. Of course, I didn't know what sound would've came from the badass Miryo. I got a chance to skim her solo works and I can't wait to listen to them fully when I get a chance. Please enjoy the playful, dark jokes of this video. It's really good!




"Nanrina" by Block B
From "Freeze!" to "Tell Them", this is a great step for the boys from the block. The song is ridiculously catchy to the point I'm humming it in the morning while I brush my teeth. Yes, I want to go crazy with you guys so much! I believe their competition is the newcomers B.A.P. I think they're definitely neck and neck here, so I hope they keep growing in this direction and that Zico occasionally does an ego check on himself so the group can prosper.




"Wuchi Die Ying" by S.P.Y
Sassy, cute, and sexy are hard things to pull off, but having great vocal talent and impressive choreography is even harder to come by with those other elements. I went back to watch one of their other videos and this was definitely an improvement. I love the direction they're going and this song is pretty catchy. The video is also pretty intriguing from the switch between the girls dancing and their interaction with their male counterpart. Good eye candy there~

Rant: Gamers vs. Hollywood

After debating whether to review Tekken and caving into the idea, I figured I should rant about video games being turned into movies. Now I must admit that not all video game movies are terrible, but majority of them have yet to satisfy gamers when they are brought to the big screen. In this post, I will discuss a few video game movies I have seen and my opinions about them.

As a child gamer, I remember seeing Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Bros. on TV. From skimming opinions on YouTube, they range from terrible to entertained. Now I haven't seen either of these movies in years, but I can clearly remembered being entertained by both movies. I've seen Super Mario Bros. several times on the Disney Channel, I believe, and I remember how ridiculous the movie was. Looking back on it now in my mind and through these opinion videos about it, I honestly don't think the makers of the movie were taking it seriously in the first place and because of me having that mindset reflecting back on it, I still enjoy this movie and would re-watch it in a heartbeat along with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As for the Mortal Kombat movies, I really don't remember how those went other than the sequel had more characters in it. But I don't think I had many complaints about it either.

Moving forward to some more recent video game adaptations with the Resident Evil series. Now I must admit I'm not familiar with the game at all. I've never played a single game from the series...by choice. It just doesn't interest me, so I guess this shall be a bit one sided. I'm sure there might be some inaccuracies in the series, but as a movie lover I thought the movies were pretty enjoyable with my minimal knowledge. Although, I think I could've lived without Resident Evil: Afterlife. I'm happy I didn't see that in pointless 3D. Even more pointless is their decision to make another movie and possibly reviving some deceased characters. I kinda expected this to happen, but all the ideas I've heard about this new addition doesn't sound good at all. If I see it, I'll just wait until it comes out on DVD and I can check it out at the library.

Silent Hill, on the other hand, I am more familiar with. I love the story between the first and third game, since the movie based itself on those two. My best friend and I were excited when we heard the news that they would be making a movie. We even planned on cosplaying in the theater when it came out. It took a couple years or so, but I was able to see it in the theater twice as well as purchase the DVD upon release. In the beginning, I really loved it, but upon re-watching at home, I realized how many flaws were present. I commend them on doing a way better job with sticking to the story than Tekken, but they also share a similar problem of mixing games together when it wasn't necessary. Sure, Pyramid Head is a badass character, but he's pretty much irrelevant to the present characters and he's in Silent Hill 2. With all the cramming, I'm curious how the sequel will pan out. But yet again, it's another movie I would love to remake for the better of the die hard SH fans out there. I wonder if non-fans were confused by the storyline.

Skirting away from the horror genre to another title I was exciting about seeing is Tomb Raider. In short, this is the first series I obsessed over. I thought Lara Croft was the baddest chick ever and I still do to this day. I still get excited seeing amazing cosplays of her, so clearly I still love the series and I'm so excited about the makeover for PS3. Anyway, when it was announced that Angelina Jolie was playing the role of Lara, I was pleased with their choice and I was ready to see this epic adventure on the big screen. Since I haven't seen this movie in quite some time (like years), I remember being content, but also frustrated with some the actions portrayed by Ms. Croft. I think it declined even more in the sequel. I vaguely remember there being some backstory errors and the fact she had a love interest bothered me. No, this is no homoerotic attraction toward a 3D character; this is a "why do attractive heroes always have to have a love interest in movies!?". Can't they be badass and independent and just laugh off those who fond over them. I guess James Bond is the closest to that.

After ripping apart live action adaptations in my Tekken review and be somewhat unhappy with Silent Hill, one might think that perhaps being animated might be better. Well, from what I've seen from others' comments it might not work out that well. I am not a Final Fantasy fan at all, but I've seen Advent Children a billion times...mostly because some of my friends are die-hard FF fanatics. Even though I never want to see this movie for at least another five years, I thought it was pretty decent, but it seems like another animated FF movie wasn't as good. Let me remind you that there is a laughable Tekken movie that is animated. Lastly, I've seen Galarians: Rion a few times on MTV2 enough to go out and buy the sequel for PlayStation 2 and the DVD. I thought it was a very intriguing movie and seemed to resemble the game pretty close, but I honestly haven't gotten that far in the game.

So, what's my complaint on creating movies based off video games? For one, I think the project's group should consider what gamers think while they're piecing together the movie first, then worry about the movie goers that are unfamiliar with the story. If you cater to the gamers first, then it'll send a positive message for other movie goers to go see it. Obviously, accuracy is important, but, using Tekken as a reference, you don't have to go into extreme detail with costumes sometimes. Sometimes you have to alter things a little, but the important thing is to keep character traits and backstories on the same page at least. Like the Mortal Kombat re-envisioned trailer I keep praising, they seemingly keep the character traits of the characters, but set them in a totally new environment that makes it intriguing.

Hopefully, one day, there will be more successful transitions from video games to movie theater (and vice versa). Until then, I hope Hollywood deeply considers putting gamers first when they try their hands at recreating popular series, because it would definitely increase sales.

Review: Tekken

Starring: Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, & Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Directed by: Dwight H. Little
Language: English
Rating: R
Running Time: 92 minutes

I swore time and time again when this movie was released that I would never ever watch it. It was during my winter break that I decided to watch this movie on G4's segment called "Movies That Don't Suck", which confused me greatly from all the comments I heard. Since there was nothing else on, I caved in and watched it.



In the year 2039, the world has been altered to corporations controlling certain countries. The most evil and powerful corporation is Tekken ran by Heihachi Mishima and his son Kazuya Mishima. But that's not the focus of this story. Oh, no~ We follow a young man by the name of Jin Kazama who delivers contraband in the slums of Anvil. When he finds his mother Jun killed by the Tekken Corporation, he declares vengeance and joins Tekken's King of Iron Fist Tournament, after obtaining a Tekken ID to enter.

As you can see, I was not quite enthused with this project. I wasn't excited about it in pre-production either. When I heard rumors of a live action movie coming out, I had mixed feelings about it. Depending who was in charge of the project, it could be really good or really bad. Then when I saw the possible trailer for it, after seeing a glorious Mortal Kombat concept, I was in denial that this movie existed. I was honestly hoping and praying that this project would be scrapped. Unfortunately, this movie exists. So, I will review it with two different mindsets: one as a Tekken fan and the other as a movie fan.



I won't go into my history with the game, so I'll keep this brief. I'm very attached to this game to the point that I remember the storyline almost to a T and I even cosplayed one of the characters! Anyway, like most movies that are based off franchises there were tons of inaccuracies. Let me list some of these inaccuracies and, fyi, this might be a bit of a spoiler for those unfamiliar with the franchise. First of all, there's no such thing as Tekken City or a Tekken Corporation. The major corporation of the game is Tekken Force (or Zaibatsu). Also, Heihachi and Kazuya never worked together. They hate each other and that's what makes the story interesting. Jin isn't a contraband runner and he's not in love with Christie Monteiro either. Nor is he dating this random Kara chick that doesn't even exist in the game. Heihachi and Kazuya are not responsible for Jun's death either. Her death is still unclear, but the game vaguely said that Ogre was responsible for her death and that's what fuels Jin to enter the tournament in the first place. Also, Kazuya is no every day pimp that they portray him to be. Nina and Anna do not work for him either. They actually dislike each other as well. The JACKS in the movie are suited guards, but in the game series they are robots. To end this long list of inaccuracies, Heihachi doesn't know that Kazuya and Jin are related in the movie!

Aside from the bajillion inaccuracies, there were just too many characters crammed into one movie. They should've stuck with one game or storyline and went from there instead of pulling random characters from different games that have no purpose other than to create fight scenes.



Alright, pushing aside my gamer mindset, this movie was still bad. The acting wasn't believable and there was just too much going on. If I didn't know these characters were in different games, I still would've thought there was no purpose for having all these people in there aside for the fights. I couldn't attach myself to any of the characters whether it be positive or negative, they just seemed weak and cartoonish.

You're probably wondering if there were any positives to this movie. Well, they didn't completely white wash the cast, which would be difficult to do since the game is very multicultural. Even with that tidbit, they didn't really match the whole multicultural thing either. The costumes were accurate, but seeing them in a live action movie and not a convention or something made the actors look ridiculous. The fight scenes were shot pretty well, despite them being mostly pointless, but whatever.

I guess it's obvious I really disliked this movie no matter what. Doesn't help that I watched Tekken: Blood Vengeance either. Sad to say, but I'd rather re-watch Tekken: The Motion Picture; at least that was entertaining and close to the video game. I really feel sorry for all those people who wasted money seeing this and for the game developer who chooses to ignore its existence. I don't blame him at all. While watching this abomination of a movie, I took some mental notes on what not to do when I have a decent budget to remake it. With that, I highly recommend you to avoid this movie...it's just bad.

Rating: 1.5/5

Review: After.Life

Starring: Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, Justin Long
Directed by: Agnieszka Wójtowicz-Vosloo
Language: English
Rating: R
Running Time: 104 minutes

I heard about this movie a few years ago on G4's Attack of the Show on a movie review segment. If I remember correctly, it didn't get a good review, but it still sounded interesting. During winter break, I was able to pick this up at the library and bring it back to the dorm to watch on the weekend.



Anna Taylor is an unhappy middle school teacher. She has a selfish mother and her complex (and sometimes indifferent, cold) feelings toward her boyfriend Paul make their relationship rocky. One day, after school, Anna attends a funeral for her former decease music teacher. The atmosphere is quite solemn, but something strikes Anna during the viewing that she quickly shakes off. Later, she meets Paul at a restaurant and he has a surprise for her. The dinner starts off promising until Paul's ambiguous talk upsets Anna. Paul tries to calm her down as she storms off to her car and drives away from him quickly. Clearly distraught from the misunderstand, Anna cries and the weather resembles her furious tears. She reaches for her cellphone to make a call and suddenly, she wakes in the morgue to a familiar face. It's the mortician Eliot that she saw at the funeral earlier. Confused by her surroundings, she asks Eliot where she is and what she is doing there. Eliot calmly answers that she is dead and he is there to help her cross over.

Judging by the title, viewers can easily guess that this movie is about what happens after you die. We follow Anna's struggle throughout the movie with her acceptance that she has passed on. On the other side, Paul is also struggling accepting this fact as well. Although, that sounds a bit boring put in those words, but there's plenty of twists and turns in this film. Anna comes to a couple realizations that she still loves Paul and she wants to fix things with her life. The dead also assure her that she is not ready to cross over either.



Christina Ricci did a decent job portraying Anna. Although her character was a bit frustrating between the cold feelings toward Paul and her fights with Eliot, I still wanted her to have her happy ending and fight harder. Justin Long was also pretty decent on his portrayal of Anna's boyfriend Paul. His emotions and actions were believable and I felt sorry for him a lot of the time. Eliot, played by Liam Neeson, had a nice subtle dark shadow about his character that made me curious through the whole movie. Beatrice, Anna's mother, could've had a bigger part to show the impact on Anna's character. Sure, she showed up in the important parts, but she didn't stand out too much like Paul and Eliot.

So, the story was enjoyable for the most part, but predictable at times. There were some nice shots in there as well that I got to admire, but the beauty quickly disappeared when the camera shifted. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but it was nice having those moments. There was also one scene dealing with Anna and Paul in a bathroom that I could've lived without. It seemed like it was trying too hard to reach in the horror area of the story. I don't know if it was just me having this problem, but I thought the audio levels were a bit frustrating in certain areas. I also felt they could've elaborated a little more on Jack, one of Anna's students. Not too much that it overshadows the main story, but enough for viewers to get attached to him emotionally.

In the end, the director had all the greatest intentions for this movie and I commend her for thinking up this intriguing concept, but I wish it wasn't so predictable. I will also give her points for all the subtle hints along the way as well. The movie wasn't terrible nor a waste of time, so I won't discourage anyone from seeing it.

Rating: 2.5/5


If there's something you want me to review, check out this post on how you can submit requests.

How To Fix the Entertainment Industry

I hope you, my precious cult followers, read the previous post concerning the entertainment downfall, because this is my solution to fix the industry's problems.



I was searching hard for a couple days to re-find this video from JUMPOFF and I'm so glad I can use it for this post. So, please, take the time to check it out, because I think what Serius Jones had to say can be said for the industry as a whole and not just rap and hip-hop music.

What Serius said throughout the video is pretty much my mentality on purchasing CDs since they became the big thing over cassettes and downloading was a mere toddler. I didn't have a job, I was just a kid. Occasionally, I would get an allowance or simply saved all my birthday and Christmas money to buy what I wanted. As I grew older, my guidelines for what music to buy steadily had a more concrete criteria that hasn't changed much now.

1. The artist/group has to be reliable as in I trust that what they make is going to be amazing because their previous works have been great.
2. If said artist/group is reliable that means I feel connected to them in some way.
3. If there's a strong connection and their promotion efforts through music videos and live performances (back in the day when MTV and BET were good music sources) are mostly positive, then I would buy their album.
or 4. If I have sampled their work online and I like at least half or more than half of the tracks, then I would buy their album.

Watching that video proved to me that people still have standards when it comes to music and this can be applied to movies as well. If the movie doesn't have a positive impact on me, especially a strong one, then I'm not going to bother buying a hard copy.

I say, if you want to decrease piracy, then I believe the industry should go back and resume making more quality material that is worth buying. Like Serius said, he's not going to waste his money on an album that only has 2-3 passable tracks that you can hear anytime in a club or on the radio. I'm on the same boat. If I'm not enjoying more than half of the promotional tracks or whatever, then I'll just get the tracks I do like and not bother with the full album. This logic works very well for me as a jrock fan too as they're even more of investment than American CDs, meaning the price is more. At the moment, I'm an unemployed, college student that has student loans to look forward to in the future, so that $40 or whatever better go to the most epic album ever~

People might think that's a cheap way of thinking, but seriously...would you spend your hard earned money on Lady Gaga's Born This Way? What about anything Soulja Boy or his crew has produced? Would you spend money on him? In my eyes, they're both two extremes in the industry. Lately, I feel Lady Gaga has been trying too hard and Soulja Boy and the gang don't try at all. All their fame and fortune has been coming from endorsement deals and publicity lately. Think about Adele's success this past year. I'm not a big fan of hers, but I can admit that she is quality music and that is why she had positive sells for her album. Why do you think Japan has a strong CD market?

As for movies, an industry I'm going to try to get into in the future, I can honestly say that my theater visits have decreased over time. It has nothing to do with the ridiculous ticket prices either. Honestly, I can say that I've been quite lucky in that area. Before I moved to university, tickets where I lived were about $4.50 matinee and $2 extra after 6. If you drive an extra 15 minutes or so, it's $1.75 less. Quite a deal, right? But I know other places are way more, like when I visit my family out of state it's like $7. So, my reason for my declining interest to attend movies in the theater are the movies itself. Everything is a remake of something old or overseas, is a carbon copy of the generic movies that are already out, or terrible horror movies. Even more annoying are those pointless 3D movies that are only created to make extra money.

In the year 2012, there's probably one, maybe two, movies I'm really looking forward to seeing in theaters and that's it. Everything else will be ignored or I'll rent it when it comes out on DVD; another reason I reach out to overseas for my movie needs. Now not every movie has been crap, there have been a few gems out there, but they're few and far between.

Sure, technology is evolving and it's part of the reason that the industry is failing, but perhaps the industry should look at itself as well instead of placing all the blame on the fans. We deserve quality as consumers and we want to be entertained to the fullest so we can support the work we see or hear. From all my years of living, I've remembered that music and movies are a work of art and should be viewed and treated as such. When the makers hurriedly make these works just to make a quick buck, then we'll just as quickly dismiss and forget it. But when they take the time and effort, then everyone wins.

V-log: Monthly Maintenance Mehaps

V-log: Planet EXO & SM Entertainment

Reader's Question: Hard Copies vs. Digital Downloads

With all these "exciting" interwebz war and ACTA entering the ring, my drive from my previous posts concerning PS Company and jrock merchandising keeps me on the path to cover another reader's question: "Are digital releases taking the place of buying real CDs?"

Ever since the birth of Napster, downloading has been a window to obtain songs without a price. Now in the year 2012, downloading, whether legal or illegal, has increased and thus the music industry has continued to suffer for it. Some companies and artists follow the changing times and go along with the trend of downloads, which saves them a little money from making too many hard copies. So, does that mean that CDs are becoming obsolete to digital downloads? Honestly, I think there's still people like myself that still exist and would rather have a hard copy in their hands.

You're probably thinking, after reading handfuls of music posts, that Miko is so old school. Maybe she needs to get with the times and start supporting the rise of digital downloads. Well, four iPods later and I still love my CDs. I like flipping through the pages, showing my friends these musicians I enjoy, and checking out the lyrics and such. Is that so wrong? Computers crash, relatives delete your stuff, and various other things could happen at any moment, but a CD is usually your back-up if such things happen, right? Unless you're super old school and you own a floppy disc.

May I ask you a question? What's the last CD you purchased? And, if you can, why did you purchase it as oppose to downloading it? For me, the last CD I bought was Daichi Miura's D.M.. It's an amazing album and after hearing it once through, I immediately bought it. I wanted to support because he's a great artist and he's a bit underappreciated. As for non-Asian musicians, I believe my last CD purchase was The Birthday Massacre's Pins and Needles. I know it's an old album, but when I first saw them live I didn't have enough money to buy both their album and Aural Vampire's...plus the venue's ATM was broken.

So, what was the point of that? Well, I just wanted to remind you that musicians still make hard copies. If they truly believed that CDs would be extinct, then they wouldn't put the money to produce them; releases would go straight to digital download. I also must point out that they still sell vinyls too! Anyway, forgive me for bringing up Asian music, but Japan and South Korea put a lot of effort into their packages. Therefore reinforces my point that CDs aren't going any where for a while at least. I know South Korea is a little more successful with their digital downloadables, but they have yet to ditch the CD market. Perhaps this is one reason fans don't pay for downloads for Asian music. The packaging and perks are worth having something tangible. Unfortunately, the U.S. is struggling to figure out what do with the marketing: transition to downloads or stick with hard copies or perhaps figure out a way to balance both mediums.

Artists and labels want to get paid and I totally understand that. Teaming up with legitimate businesses like Amazon and iTunes is a good start for those who want to download, but I've noticed that prices on iTunes have increased for certain tracks. Even with these options, American artists and labels are still struggling and I think that's partially why all these silly bills have come to the table.

I think LinzerDinzer summed up the situation best in her latest video rant.



Now the question is, how can we fix the U.S. music market or the entertainment industry as a whole? Stay tune for the follow up post!


If there's something you want me to answer, check out this post on how you can submit questions.

Top 5 Recommended Music Videos

"Dear My Suite..." by Aoi & Ryouhei incl. Ayabie Megamasso
Ever since the reunion and release of Monochrome, I've been on board with this amazing duo of cuteness and talent. My friend showed me their latest PV and I must say, I like this way more than "Monochrome". This makes me extra pumped for their first album release. The melody is very Aoi-solo work, but it has that Ryouhei edge that he has added to the beginning of Ayabie and Megamasso's songs. The PV is a little dark and doesn't have much "wow" to it, but the song more than makes up for it.




"L'oiseau Bleu" by Moran
I was about to add Megamasso's latest PV to this list, but the previous PV above led me to Moran's latest. OMG! I love it so much. I saw there were a few complaints in the comment section of YouTube about all these "blue bird" songs (namely D and SCREW's recent versions of "L'oiseau Bleu"). It would be unfair to compare them all to each other because they all have different sounds and tempos. If I did, I honestly would choose this one. It's fun, upbeat, and refreshing from their last PV featuring their new member, ex-Sugar guitarist, Sizna. Aside from the song being ridiculously awesome and catchy, the PV is visually stunning. It shows lots of beauty and loads of fun energy from the members.





"Lay Down" by Koda Kumi
Ever since the leak, Kumi fans have been crazy with these slew of PV overload. I don't blame them, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on with this album. So, I'm wondering, did the director or whoever get the inspiration for this video from Colette Carr? I'm not mad, I think it's interesting that Kumi picked up this image and direction for one of her songs. I'm glad she's taking some risks with her music and style as usual. Anyway, this is a cool club banger and it has loads of sexy attitude in it, even though her English isn't perfect.




"Romance" by Satsuki
Same friend that showed me the first PV, showed me this one. It's nice to see Satsuki solo without Kisaki in the background. It's not a negative comment, I promise. Anyway, I think this is better than his last PV. Good energy and visuals, plus Satsuki is the cutest angel bear ever especially with glasses! Ahem~ The song is your typical Satsuki solo sound, but there's definitely some growth since the time I saw him live in 2009. I'm so proud of him. I hope his next CD release is more memorable as well.




"LOVE&HATE" by Clazzi feat. Lee Seung Yeol & MYK
I actually had a hard time narrowing it down to these five, which means I can use my leftovers for the next set of recs. So, Clazzi's album was on my list of things I was looking forward to and this video makes me more anxious to listen to it. It has a familiar "western" sound that mixes Clazzi's music skills, club, and rap all together into one catchy, unique tune that could be enjoyed worldwide. The video is darker than his collaboration with 2AM's Seulong, but it's still visually stunning beyond belief for something from South Korea.