Miyako Flow

DJ Taka - Milestone

2008-09-22T03:39:22Z

Boom, Bam, God Damn! lol

DJ Taka
Milestone

Disc 1
01. Quickening
02. Tomorrow Perfume (Vocal Version feat. AiMEE)
03. Votum Stellarum (Forest #25 Remix)
04. Absolute 2007
05. V ~Conclusion~
06. Pandora (Vocal Version feat. Mochizuki Erika)
07. Thunder
08. Snow Storm (Original Mix)
09. AA
10. Inori
11. Blue Rain (feat. AiMEE)
12. Frozen Ray
13. One More Lovely ~After Hours~

Disc 2: Remixes
01. Spiral Galaxy (LED Spreading Particle Beam Mix)
02. The Safari (Ryu☆ Mix)
03. Don't Stop (Kors K Mix)
04. I'm In Love Again (DJ Yoshitaka Remix)
05. Rainbow Flyer (In the Dream Mix by Fujimori Sota)
06. Giudecca (Remo-con Size M Mix)
07. A (Shonen A Mix by Radio Shonen)
08. Moon (Sun Mix by Yamaoka Akira)
09. こっちを向いてよ (Kocchi o Muteiyo Midnight Jazzin' Mix by Tomosuke)
10. Memories (Still Remain Mix by Furukawa "Good-Cool" Tatsuya)
11. 嘆きの樹 (Nageki no Ki Arbre Triste A La Viennoise Mix by Kubota Osamu)
12. Gradiusic Cyber (Vic Viper Born Duv Mix by DJ Nagureo)
13. Tangerine Stream (The Catastrophe Mix by Naoki Underground)
14. Colors (InPhase Mix by TaQ)

Rating: 10/10

Download

Artist Info:
DJ Taka (real name: Ishikawa Takayuki) is a Techno DJ that is mostly widely known for his work with Konami and the Bemani series of games (which includes Dance Dance Revolution). He has gone by many names, including TAKA, DJ Amuro, Lion Musashi, DJ Setup, and Risk Junk. He has been doing his thing in the music business since 1997.

Album Info:
Milestone is DJ Taka's first major album release. Forgive me for being out of touch with the many types Techno, but I'd classify the album somewhere between Electronica, general Techno, and Trance. The album came out June 29th, 2007. Unlike many techno albums the songs don't run together and all run at normal times (3 to 5 mins on average).

My Thoughts:
I decided to go with something a little different this time. I'm not a huge fan of Techno, but I LOVE this album. I highly recommend this to everyone that's into any kind of dance music. The first disc is great song after great song after great song, and the second disc is full of nice remixes to DJ Taka classics. The complex beats of DJ Taka are enough to satisfy even my ADD lol. This is an album I love to put on and clean or play video games to, just because it's great music with limited vocals. There's a couple kind of goofy sounding tracks I wasn't too fond of, but as an experience, the sheer number of awesome tracks definitely makes this album deserve a 10 of 10. One thing I was slightly disappointed about was that the original version of Colors didn't make it on disc one. Nevertheless, this is a hot album and you'll love it if you're into dance joints. Enjoy!

Hope everybody likes that one. I got into DJ Taka from playing Dance Dance Revolution a long time ago actually. I used to freestyle dance. Wasn't big on the arcade scene just because of the random anime otaku hanging around the machines and the lack of anyone even trying to really dance, but I played a lot in my house with friends and as exercise. I stopped playing a couple years ago, but last year I found out about this album and had to check it out. I actually got recognized somewhat recently for my dance skills in DDR lol. There used to be an arcade in the mall I work in, and I used to go up on my breaks and get a couple songs in. Random dude recognized me and was like "Yo, you were that dude that was like...dancing!" lol like it's something weird to actually move to the music. It's lot better than stomping roaches. Anyways, on to music stuff!

Not a ton going on I guess, but still a couple things worth getting out. King T put an LL Brothers album on his site, Ongaku Paradise. Pretty good album. They are an R&B duo that works with Giant Swing and Michico a lot. If you're into dance R&B I'd check it out, it's pretty good. Speaking of R&B, Octopus Theatre put Color's latest album on Ongaku Street. I wasn't really feeling it, just because I don't like some of those guy's voices in the group. If you're into Color, I'm sure you'll like it though. Me and King T have been playing around on YouTube, so I got a couple videos for all you J-Urban enthusiasts to check out:

DJ Yas - Strange Voyage (feat. Coma-Chi)

Hot song from DJ Yas and Coma-Chi. One of Coma-Chi's best. Relatively recent from what T was telling me. Coma does a nice job singing the hook.

Coma-Chi - Name Tag / Tokyo Hikou Shojo

Some more hot stuff from Coma-Chi. The second song is produced by DJ Watarai!

Bron-K - 奇妙頂来相模富士 (DJ Isso Megamix)

That's a megamix of one of Bron-K 's albums. With the right production he sounds pretty tight. Check out the BL produced tracks and the slower, R&B stuff. He does slow stuff well. You might have heard Bron-K on Norikiyo's Outlet Blues. Bron is also from SD Junksta. If I can find this somewhere I'll put it up.

BTW: I re-upped KM-Markit's Mark-Out. I somehow missed it in my big re-upping extravaganza. Anyways here's the link:

KM-Markit - Mark Out

That's all I got for now. Enjoy the stuff and thanks for checking out the Miyako. Peace!

HGSP - High-Grade-Special

2008-09-18T04:00:00Z

Yo、あいぼ、チャンスは何度もねぞ！

HGSP
High-Grade-Special

01: Intro
02: PLATINUM# (feat. Dabo and 4WD)
03: PRIDE!! 〜アジアの星〜 (feat. Hi-D, Q, Minesin-Hold, Ry-Double, and 茂千代)
04: Get Down (feat. Sphere of Influence, L-Vokal, and A.O)
05: Do It! (feat. ia)
06: Shaker Shaker (feat. ahhco and Skipp)
07: Doo Wutchya Like (feat. Equal, Jazzy Blaze, and Baby Hi-Fi aka ヨノヨハ)
08: Lethal Weapon
09: Ｈ☆Ｇ☆Ｓ☆Ｐ (feat. Zeebra, YamadaMan, and KM-Markit)
10: Brain Buster (Skit)
11: 4 Ever (feat. Jamosa)
12: Better Days (feat. DJ Mitsu the Beats and Asiah)
13: Keep on Dreamin' (feat. Keyco)

Rating: 6/10

Download

Artist Info:
HGSP is DJ High Switch and DJ Green Peace, the production team of Gaki Ranger. The two have been with Gaki Ranger since 1998 and have been constistently release albums since then.

Album Info:
High-Grade-Special was released in December of 2007.

My Thoughts:
Decent album. For real, I'm not gonna hate on these guys, but the beats could be better. Don't expect DJ Watarai or Bach Logic quality production, but it's decent. I really felt like the last three tracks saved the album. HS and GP have a way with R&B tracks on this album. Better Days is nothing short of audio beauty -- do check that track if nothing else. Lots of pretty big names on the album strutting their stuff, so check out the tracks with your favorites there. L-Vokal's verse in Get Down is fire! I didn't even like the song until I heard his verse. lol. That's about it. Enjoy!

Well, not a ton of stuff has happened since my last post, so I'll keep it short and sweet. If you haven't checked Norikiyo's Outlet Blues on Ongaku Paradise, do it NOW! Right now! I had only heard of the guy a few times and I like every single track on the album. Part of it is due to BL's production on the album. You gotta check out the track All City Bombing. Only BL could pull off some random stuff like that and make it sound like anything lol. Oh yeah, I've been informed that the girl on the Japanese version of Timbaland's "The Way I Are" is Hiromi, who just happens to be on the Special Calling album as well. Also, Jpop n Kpop has the single for Jay'ed Superwoman on it. The B side is a sweet little song called "I Do" featuring 4WD. Very nice. Must hear for R&B enthusiasts. Oh, this is mad random, but has anybody watched any kind of Japanese pop concert before? You know how normally it's like nothing but random girls in the crowd? Well I watched Perfume concert a couple days ago and it was nothing but middle-aged dudes lol. It was hilarious. Kinda scary too. Anyways, thanks for visiting the Miyako, and peace!

Seeda - Heaven

2008-09-15T03:13:24Z

"さまざまなFlow、流れる今日。たまにはLaid Back、HighからLow.”

Seeda - Heaven

01: ヒダマリ (Hidamari)
02: 自由の詩 (Jiyuu no Shi feat. A-Thug)
03: Lost Heaven
04: Homeboy Dopeboy
05: Son Gotta See Tomorrow
06: 空 (Sora feat. Luna)
07: 紙とペンと音と自分 (Kami to Pen to Oto to Jibun)
08: 光 (Hikari)
09: I Try
10: Nyce Dream
11: Mary Mary
12: Outro
13: (Bonus Track) Monkey See Monkey Do

Rating: 6/10

Download

For Artist Info, Check My Upload of Seeda's Hana to Ame.

Album Info:
Heaven dropped January 1st of this year (2008), only a couple months after Seeda had released his first major album, Machikaze. Heaven's production is done half by Bach Logic and half by I-Dea. Here's how it's spread out: Tracks 1,2,5,7,9,and 13 were produced by BL, while tracks 3,4,6,8,10,11, and 12 were produced by I-Dea. Son Gotta See Tomorrow had a PV made for it.

My Thoughts:
Pails in comparison to his last two album releases in my opinion. I only really liked the Bach Logic produced tracks. Sora was the only I-Dea track I liked. I don't dislike I-Dea's production, as a matter of fact, I like his style a lot, but I just wasn't feeling his tracks on this album. I recommend Monkey See Monkey Do and Jiyuu no Shi if you're into Seeda's up-tempo stuff. Anyways, hope you enjoy Heaven!

Sorry it took me so long to get another post out. Been a little bit busy with working and everything, nothing out of the usual though. Just got back from seeing the movie "Burn After Reading." It's pretty funny stuff. Anyways, what's up in the music world?

Yoooo. You have to Ongaku Paradise and check out Norikiyo's Outlet Blues -- hot album. For real. Some of Bach Logic's best production work since Hana to Ame. I'm not gonna put a rating on the album just yet, because I haven't got to really check it out in depth. He's also got L-Vokal's Laughin' (his album before Free) and Special Calling, a compilation CD of R&B divas produced by Hi-D. Laughin' is a pretty decent album -- definitely worth a check. Special Calling is pretty hot too. I'm wondering if Hi-D didn't miss his calling -- maybe he should have been a producer. Wait, maybe that's why it's called "Special Calling!" lol Yeah probably not. Anyways, you're bound to like at least one of the R&B songstresses on the album, so check it out. Speaking of which, it's nice to see Asami, Chihiro, and Yamaguchi Lisa floating around again. Chihiro had a decent solo album out a while back, same with Asami's Dabo-produced album, Badonkadonk. Jpop n Kpop has the single for Jay'ed's Superwoman to download. You gotta check out the b side out. It's a track called "I Do" featuring 4WD. Hot stuff.

That's all I got for tonight. I might get another post in on Tuesday. Enjoy Heaven!

Sonomi - SONO

2008-09-10T03:27:31Z

せっかくだから、ステップアップして！

Sonomi
SONO

01: Hey!
02: ジェネレーション~夜明け前~ (Generation feat. Coma-Chi)
03: 誰かが誰かのために生きてる (Dareka ga Dareka no Tame ni Ikiteru)
04: サプライズ (Surprise)
05: Midnight
06. 記憶のカケラ (Kioku no Kakera)
07: 通 (Tsuu)
08: 名前を呼んで (Namae o Yonde)
09: I Miss You
10: Life Goes On
11: Everyday ☆エビデー☆

Rating 9/10

Download

Big thanks goes to King T for hooking me up with this. For Artist Info, check out my upload of Sonomi's Everyday.

Album Info
SONO is Sonomi's second album release, and her first in over three years. Everyday and Midnight had their own mini-albums and PVs, while I Miss You was also released as a single and PV. Kreva helped produce the whole album, with help from Kumai Goro, Bach Logic, and others.

My Thoughts:
Sonomi = Happy Ears. ^_-. Another great release from Sonomi. The album, in general, is a little bit slower than her previous two mini-albums, but I still highly enjoy and recommend it. Great production and vocals all over the album. I'm a little bit disappointed there isn't any rap verses from her on the album, but singing is definitely her bread and butter. Of course, with Kreva, Kumai Goro, and Bach Logic producing the tracks, you really can't go wrong with the beats. Yo, if nothing else, you HAVE to check out Generation. The beat and hook are crazy hot and Coma-Chi spits hot fire! Like Dylan! Not to be confused with that guy from the other island! lol (random chappelle show reference). The unreleased tracks from the album are a bit on the slow side, but with Sonomi you can basically guarantee a good hook. I hope everyone enjoys the album as much as I did!

I promise you all: Sonomi's SON album will be up here before Halloween! I will have it! Well, on to random music news.

So we know what Bach Logic has been doing instead of Doberman Inc albums. He's produced tracks on Sonomi, Exile, Simon, and L-Vokal's new albums. Speaking of which, you gotta check out L-Vokal's new album, Free. Hot to death! Lots of nice tracks up there. DJ Deckstream and Sonpub shows up on the production along with BL, so you know you can't hate on the beats. Check out the BL Remix of Step Up! It's like a whole new song, it's crazy. Right now I can't give over the track Move. Hot stuff. You can get the album off of JpopnKpop.

Let's see,what else has been going on? Ryohei's got his Best of album out. I didn't realize he had enough material to make a best of album, but whatever. Anyways, it's pretty hot. Lots of nice dance tracks. Ryohei's best tracks are his collabs on other ppl's albums, and they are all on his best of album, so if you're even kind of a Ryohei fan, check it out. I'm kinda mad "Moonsexy" didn't make it up there. Once again, that can be found on JpopnKpop.

King T posted up O-Town emcee group, Wolf Pack's album, Gold Experience. Not bad stuff, worth a check. He and I both agreed Gold Experience Requiem was the premier track on the album. Their style is very similar to Rhymester, and the one emcee sounds a lot like Utamaru, which is not a bad thing by any means.Osaka Zombie! Check out Ongaku Paradise on the links bar for that.

So I was floating around on YouTube last night and found some random stuff. Apparently when Timbaland released his Shock Value album in Japan he also released a Japanese version of The Way I Are with none other than Wise! Normally I'm all about Japanese stuff, but I kinda like the american version better (can't hate on Keri Hilson). Not sure who the girl is singing in the Japanese version, but I uploaded the mp3 so everybody could check it out:

Timbaland - The Way I Are (Japanese Version feat. Wise)

Speaking of Teriyaki Boy, bilingual dudes, can I just say that Verbal is slipping. What the hell is wrong with him? Have you seen his new video with half Kiwi (New Zealand), half Japanese singer Kat? WTF? Check JpopnKpop for the video, so you can see that Muppet Babies, Osh K'osh B'Gosh, patty-whack give a dog a bone bullshit. I refuse to go in any more detail.

Since my woman is pumping out albums now (Sonomi), I am extremely happy to say that my other woman, Yoshika, is back! I heard she was pregnant, but I know nothing else of it. Anyways, she certainly doesn't look like she was pregnant, because she's back doing her thing skinny as ever! JpopnKpop (Charisma uploads EVERYTHING) has her new video, Touch, on there. It's a pretty decent slow song. I'm planning to post up a pre-Timeless album of hers in the near future, so keep checking for that. I do have one thing to say about the video. Yoshika is not Tanimura Nana, and she needs to keep her clothes on. Just saying.

Dohzi-T has a new song with Aoyama Thelma. I haven't heard it yet but I know exactly what it's going to sound like, and that's why I haven't checked it out. lol. But I might get around to it. Anyways, I did a TON of re-upping in the last two weeks, and I am officially caught up on everything! Every single thing I uploaded (to my knowledge) on here now has an active zShare or Megaupload link. So if there was anything at all you liked in the old posts but didn't check out because the link was dead, do it now! Also, if you haven't checked out my archives, I'd recommend doing so -- you might find some stuff you like. Here's a list of all the new re-ups:

Foxxi MisQ - Gloss
Yoshika - Just Us (Single)
Deli - Still Burnin' (Best Of)
Zeebra - Oh Yeah (Single)
Palm Drive - Block Holiday
Mikris - MAD
Kreva and Various Artists - Ku Label Compilation Vol. 2
By Phar The Dopest - Haji ja nai (Single)
Sphere of Influence - The Influence
Yoshika - Timeless
Sonomi - Everyday
Doberman Inc - Time for Some Action (Best Of)
DJ Deckstream - Deckstream Soundtracks
BoA - Hip-Hop and R&B Compilation(Mp3 Compilation)
Hinouchi Emi - Goodie Memories (Single)

And that is that! All the links will be also posted on their original respective post. Hope everyone enjoys Sonomi and I'll be putting up some Seeda next post. Peace!

DJ Celory aka Mr. Beats - Beats Japan

2008-09-04T02:33:44Z

心の中で響いてる音楽って愛。。。愛、愛、愛

DJ Celory aka Mr. Beats
Beats Japan

01: Kick Off
02: This Is How We Do (feat. Dabo and Hi-D)
03: 愛だらけ (Ai Darake feat. Mummy-D, Hab I Scream, and Keyco)
04: Night Cruize (feat. Q)
05: お宝Girls (Otakara Girls feat. Hannya)
06: Smokin' Gunn (feat. Ry-Double)
07: Half Time
08: Play-N-Life (feat. Uzi, Yamadaman, and Dob-Roc)
09: Time is Money (feat. GK Maryan, D.O, and Deli)
10: Get It On (feat. Maguma MCs, 4WD, Earle2s Seal)
11: Bonds (feat. Maccho and Tokona-X)
12: 遠くへいこう (Tooku e Ikou feat. Twigy and EGG Man)
13: ラストライン (Last Line feat. Aktion, B-Yas, and Dob-Roc)
14: Time Up

Rating: 5/10

Download

For artist info check my upload of DJ Celory's Beats Legend II.

Album Info:
This is DJ Celory's first original album. It dropped some time in 2004. Bonds was the only single off the album from what I know. You might have heard some of these tracks from DJ Celory's Beats Legend II Mix CD I upped a while back. By the way, just in case you didn't know, Dob-Roc previously went by Akita Inu Dobu-Roku and Maccho is also known as Ozrosaurus.

My Thoughts:
Okay, so I absolutely love a couple tracks, like a couple more, but hate like half the album. So I gotta keep it real. To me, Last Line is the single track that overshadows the rest of the album. It's worth checking the album out if only for that one. The song has a great R&B hook by Dob-Roc with some awesome rhymes by Aktion. I could live without B-Yas, but whatever. Bonds is one of my favorite Tokona-X's songs. I was never a really big fan of his or anything, but definitely can't hate on Bonds. Dob-Roc really shines on this album. His other track, Play-N-Life, is pretty nice too. Also, the Dabo/Hi-D combo in This is How We Do is nice. Many of the other tracks have annoying hooks or wack emcees that screw it up in my opinion. Still, the album is thoroughly enjoyable. I will say that Beautiful Tomorrow was a huge improvement over this.

Been a couple days, and I apologize. Got caught doing other stuff. Work was crazy on Labor Day. One of the other supervisors at my store straight walked out and I had stay a little bit later. I'm glad I was making that time and a half, I deserved it. lol

Anyways, anybody checked out Foxxi MisQ's single for Say You Luv Me? There's a track with Simon called Take Control I was really hype about, but when I heard it I was kinda pissed. The beat is a straight rip-off of Salt and Pepper's Push It! Look, Heartsdales already did a version of that song, it's time for Japan to leave it alone! I started listening to it a little more and really got into it though. Simon spits hot fire! lol. If you can get "Push It" out of your head long enough to give it a chance, you'll probably like it. Still not very happy 'bout that though.

Jay'ed's single for Zutto Issho is floating around Jpop n Kpop and Ongaku Street. I highly recommend it. I liked every track. However, Zutto Issho is still my favorite from the single. I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen it on CDTV. Oh well.

I finally decided to check out TBNY on youtube and found their video for "Take My Soul." Hot video. Yankie is the most gangsta nerd I've ever seen lol. They've got some other videos up there and a ton of live performances with Epik High.

That's it for tonight I guess. I should get another in in the next couple days. I've got some new stuff re-upped but I'm feeling kinda lazy right now lol. I'll probably edit this post and get up tomorrow sometime. Thanks for checking out the Miyako, and 体にピース！

TBNY - Masquerade

2008-08-27T17:39:37Z

Annyong Haseyo! lol. My first korean upload that isn't Epik High!

TBNY
Masquerade

01: Intro
02: Masquerade (feat. DJ Friz)
03: 흰눈이 다시 (feat. 알리)
04: Without U (feat. 권기범)
05: 새 (feat. DJ Friz)
06: 3일 전
07: L.I.E. (feat. Epik High)
08: 차렷! (feat. Dynamic Duo and Tablo)
09: 경극 (feat. UnknownDJs)
10: 기도 (feat. 태완 a.k.a. C-Luv)
11: 양면성 (feat. YDG a.k.a. 양동근)
12: 왜 서 있어 (feat. 현준)
13: Natural
14: 투루먼쇼 (feat. Sean2slow and DJ Bamboo)
15: Take My Soul (feat. 여정)
16: T.B.N.Y. (Feat. 가오 and 언두)

Rating: 8/10

Download

Artist Info:
Yankie and Topbob make up the Seoul-based Hip-Hop group, TBNY. They debuted in 2002 with the Prosac EP and did lives and collabs until 2006, when they released this album. They're part of the Movement Posse with Epik High. If you've listened to any Epik High album, you've at least heard the killer flow of Yankie, and you've probably heard Topbob. Yankie is good friends with Tablo and Mithra, and they often do collabs together.

Album Info:
Masquerade dropped in 2006 and is their only major album. From what I've seen, there's videos for Take My Soul and 왜 서 있어. Topbob and Yankie had a hand in the production of every track on the album.

My Thoughts:
Better than I thought it would be. Good, pure Hip-Hop. Topbob is a pretty good emcee and Yankie is a damn monster! I don't even know what he's saying! lol. Yankie is my second favorite korean emcee, right after Tablo. Lots of really nice laid-back Hip-Hop juxtaposed to some high-energy stuff. I will say I was kind of disappointed in the Epik High and Tablo collab tracks. I like almost every track except those two! Besides Epik High, we've got some nice collabs with C-Luv, DJ Friz, UnknownDJs, and Dynamic Duo. If you're into Korean Hip-Hop at all, I would definitely check this one out!

I hope everyone enjoys Masquerade, I certainly did. Not much has been going on since my last post in the music world, so I'll leave it alone for now. I will say, though they are as far from Hip-Hop as possible, if you're into dance/pop, you can't do much better than Perfume. Nice new single out just recently. So I've been back into the re-upping! My quest to re-up everything continues!

Ai - Feat. Ai
Big-O and DJ Watarai - Straight to Next Door
Various Artists - Harlem Ver. 3.0
Hannya - Naibukokuhatsu
Hannya - Nekosogi
Teriyaki Boyz - Beef or Chicken
Kashi da Handsome - Dime Pieces
Foxxi MisQ - Luxury Ride Single

That's it! I should have some more for ya next time around. Let's see, I'll probably be posting some DJ Celory next time around. Thanks for the support from all my MFers! Peace!

Simon - Simon Says

2008-08-26T01:54:51Z

Gotta rep Tokyo!

Simon
Simon Says

01: Into (SIMON is Back)
02: Who Got the Next? (feat. Tomogen)
03: The Locus
04: Skit -Interview-
05: Knock Out
06: Simon Says
07: Super Fly (feat. Jay'ed)
08: Live On Stage
09: 23区 Game Pt.2 (feat. Smoke=$)
10: Gooday (feat. STY)
11: Running (feat. 4WD)
12: Jesus (feat. Hinomaru240)
13: ある日突然. (Aru Hi Totsuzen)
14: Dreams (feat. Anarchy)
15: Outro -Ikebukuro City-

Rating: 9/10

Download

Credit for the upload goes to Octopus Theatre. I just re-upped it in Mp3 format.

Artist Info:
Simon is a relatively new MC to the mainstream hip-hop scene. He's from Tokyo and has, before this album, made his career through collaborations and live performances. He's signed to Harlem Recordings and collaborated with just about every big name in Japanese Hip-Hop.

Album Info:
Simon Says is Simon's first major album release and dropped June 25th of 2008. Producers on the album range from Focis and Bach Logic to Jigg, 318, and Flammable of Gunsmith Production.

My Thoughts:
This is how Hip-Hop is done! Some nice production combined with Simon's crisp, killer flow makes this album something worth getting excited about. A nice mix of laid-back tracks (Aru Hi Totsuzen, Super Fly, Gooday) and high-energy rap (Knock Out, Simon Says, Who Got the Next) and little bit of in between (The Locus, Dreams) make this a well rounded album any hip-hop fan will enjoy. Plus, two things I was missing from the latest Doberman Inc album showed up on this -- Jay'ed and Bach Logic! Nice to hear STY adding some vocals into "Gooday" as well, sounds good. Speaking of that, I can't really complain about the collabs. 4WD isn't really favorite guy in the world (if they would just leave him out of the hook I'd be straight) but it's nice to see Tomogen and Anarchy up there. I'm thoroughly impressed by Simon's debut, and I was wondering what was taking him so long, but if it means we get this kind of quality, he can take as long as he wants. Even if you haven't heard of him, if you're into any Japanese Hip-Hop, I highly recommend this.

Okay, so I finally caught with all the music out I think. I'll just start where ever I guess. Ryohei's got a new song out called "So Fly." I expected it to be a little more R&Bish from the title, but it's still really poppy. I like Ryohei's voice, but I can never get into his solo stuff. Especially his singles. Kato Miliyah's new song, "Sayonara Baby" is pretty nice. It's a departure from her recent extreme pop/ballad stuff, it's a little more R&B. I like it. Hi-D's new song, "Specialist" is pretty tight. I dunno, he's starting to remind me of Ne-Yo now. Hopefully i can find the single of it somewhere. PV rips are annoying. I haven't liked a Tanimura Nana single since "Say Good-Bye," including the new one. She's hot, but they need to chill with how much attention they put on her breasts. For real, it's a good rack, but you can't make a singing career off it. My girl Aria (she's my girl now, ya see? lol) released her new mini-album, Pheromone just recently. I recommend it, it's hot! Some of the tracks are almost Namie-esque. I've fell out of love with Namie, so I'm replacing her with Aria. Namie's stuff is starting to sound the same to me, I dunno. Coma-Chi has her nice special guest appearance on Pheromone too. You gotta check that track out. Spot Light is real hot too. This is random as hell, but I think Bonnie Pink is really hot now -- I dunno. I still don't really like her music. lol. Next! Oh yeah! Twigy just released an album. Did I ever tell everyone how much I HATE Twigy. He's so damn sloppy! If you're into Twigy you'll probably like the album. I couldn't get past his nasty flow. Actually, I almost enjoyed the track with Ayuse Kozue. Don't be fooled looking at the track list. A lot of those collabs are actually just intermissions. Seeda and Bay4k's tracks are. Wack! GK Maryan is randomly up there, I haven't heard of that guy in a minute! Okay, so hate on me all you like, but I kinda like Shimatani Hitomi's new album. I used to listen to her a lot wayyy back in the day, before I got into Japanese Hip-Hop. Anyways, I like her voice and she's absolutely beautiful, so I usually check out her albums, and I can't complain too much. Prima Rosa was a little bit better I think. I checked out that Baby Vox Re.V. album, since I was a big fan of the original Vox. Wasn't feeling it. Hi-D, Asami, Anty the Kunoichi, and Yamaguchi Lisa have a song out together entitled Taiyou. It's pretty cool, nice to see them all together. Check the video out at JpopnKpop. Asami just kinda popped up out of nowhere! Kinda random. Yamaguchi Lisa actually looked kinda cute in the video, I remembered her being ugly lol. Hi-D and Anty are kind of sparcely sprinkled through the song, so don't check it just for them. Anty seems like she's really trying to get her name out. I had never actually saw what she looks like until Burnin' Love, and here she is again! That's about it I think.

Well, I've been re-upping stuff in my spare time. I've actually started my goal of re-upping every single thing I put up here. It's coming along pretty well. I'm starting from the beginning of my blog. Here's what I got:

Epik High - Remapping the Human Soul
51 -Goichi- - 51st Dimension: The Yang
Dabo - The Force
DJ Hazime - Ain't No Stoppin the DJ
May J - All My Girls
Aquarius - Oboreta Machi
Deli - 24

They'll all be linked on their respective posts as well -- blah blah. If you want anything re-upped, just hit me up! I'm pretty quick about it now lol. That's it for today. I've got a ton of stuff in queue to upload here, so I'm going to try and get more posts in this week. I've got vacation to burn at work, so I've actually got five days in a row off (Sunday until Thursday), so I should have another post up soon. Maybe tomorrow! I dunno. Anyways, as always, thanks for visiting Miyako Flow and I hope you all got peace in ya karada lol.

Sonomi - Midnight

2008-08-21T04:11:12Z

Check the Nikes!

Sonomi
Midnight

01. Midnight
02. Forever
03. キミノタメ　(Kimi no Tame)
04. It's Too Late (feat. Kreva)
05. You Can See? Pt. 2 (feat. Kreva and Chiharu)
06. 緑の時　(Midori no Toki)
07. 雨天 (Ameten Remix)
08. 雪あかり (Yuki Akari)

Rating: 9/10

Download

For artist info check my upload of Sonomi's Everyday Mini-album.

Album Info:
Midnight is Sonomi's second consecutive mini-album and was released on January 16 earlier this year. All the tracks on Midnight were written and produced by some combination of Sonomi, Kreva, and Kumai Goro. Midnight was released as PV to promote the release on the mini-album.

My Thoughts:
Another awesome mini-album from Sonomi. Once again she's got a great pop/r&b kind of thing going on over some great Kreva/Kumai beats. I will say the tiny bit of reggae on her previous release has been dropped for some slower ballad type songs. Though I liked Everyday a tiny bit better, I certainly can't complain about this one. I can't believe she hasn't blown up by now. Dr. K is all over her album, she's got a very contemporary pop sound, and a style all her own. Whatever -- the Japanese public is missing out. She did just release a new single "Miss You." Sounds pretty good from the clip I heard on her website. I'm definitely gonna have to hunt it down. Anyways, if you like Kreva, Hinouchi Emi, or even post-Lisa M-Flo stuff, I'd recommend Sonomi all day.

Sonomi's music makes me all warm and fuzzy inside lol. Anyways! Lots of great new singles floating around right now. Jay'ed is FINALLY is getting serious with the releases. "Zutto Issho..." is his new single, and it's a great slow r&b track. That guy could sing the phone book and I'd still listen to it though. For real, no homo -- I love Jay'ed's voice. Aria's got her new single out with Anty the Kunoichi, entitled "Burnin' Love." Very hot up-tempo hip-pop song. The video is pretty sweet too. Aria looks good. She's actually got a mini-album out with Burnin' Love on it,but I've yet to check it out (downloading it as we speak!) I tried to get into Wise's new single "Mirror" (feat. Salyu), but I just wasn't feeling it. I love Wise, but he's gotta kick the pace up a bit. Hi-D randomly has a new single out called Specialist, but I haven't gotten into that one yet either. Exile's new single is hot to death! Super Shine is a real smooth dance/r&b track. Definitely one of my favorite singles from them. Ya-Kyim has had Super Looper out for a minute now, but if you didn't check it out, I strongly suggest doing so, the song is extremely catchy, and not annoyingly so. Foxxi MisQ is back with their single "Say U Luv Me ~Mahou no Kotoba~. Decent song, but I couldn't really get into it. I was kind of disappointed, I loved their slower tracks on Gloss. Clench and Blista (from the Mic Banditz) have a single out with Foxxi MisQ as well, but I couldn't really get into that one either. Oh! If you can get you hands on L-Vokal's new PV "Step Up," I highly recommend it. It features Kreva, how bad could it be? You can find it on KpopnJpop.

Let's see...albums-wise, Buzzer Beats released their first album, called Just the Beginning. King T posted it up on his site. I recommend checking it out, every beat on the album is hot. Call me a hater, but I wasn't feeling most of the emcees on the album though. I'm straight with Seeda, Kohei, Nishinari, 晋平太, Geek, and Taro Soul, but I felt like the album was missing at least one track by the big guys. I'm talking Zeebra, Dabo, Kreva, or Verbal or somebody. It's cool to use lesser known emcees, but the ones I hadn't heard of or only knew vaguely I felt were kinda wack. I dunno. I can't hate on the album in general though. Good stuff. Namie and Exile both have their best of albums out (Exile has two!). If you've been following them as long as I have, you don't need to worry about "best of"s from them. Worth a check if you're unfamiliar with either though. Not sure if it's a new release, but Bromlatch from Ongaku Street posted up an album by a girl named Akane. I had never heard of her, so I decided to check it out. Very impressed. It's reggae enough to keep reggae fans happy and have a nice rhythm to it, but pop enough to not alienate those who aren't reggae purists (I'm certainly not). You'll have to back a couple pages though. Hannya has a new album out, but I've yet to check it out. I'm really excited about Simon's new album, but once again, haven't had time to sneak it in yet. I'll get to those before next post hopefully.

That's it for music news! So I'm sure everyone wants to hear about my trip to NY! If not, I'm gonna tell you anyways! lol. It was straight. I hit plenty of Japanese things. If anybody is hanging in Manhattan and needs to know where all the Japanese stuff is, I'll be glad to give up the spots. Anyways, I hit the Kinokuniya book shop (across from Bryant Park) first and bought the new BAPE catalog (it comes with a Milo keychain!). If you're looking to buy BAPE catalogs, Kinokuniya is the cheapest. Everywhere else it's $20 and up, but at Kinokuniya it's only $17. They've got a nice selection of CDs (expensive in true Japanese fashion though) and some really hard to find Japanese movies that are formatted especially for American DVD players. I almost bought a Miike Takashi movie collection they had, but I decided to save the money for the BAPE store (too bad I didn't buy anything there either!) Afterwards we hit the Book-Off, which is not far down the road from Kinokuniya. It's smaller and doesn't have the selection Kinokuniya does, but specializes in used media, so you can get it for a lot cheaper. I picked up M-Flo's Planet Shining for a measly $10 and Expo Expo for a down right cheap $5. Can't beat that. You really have to look hard for the hip-hop stuff, but it's there. Everything else I wanted to buy was $20 and up, and since I thought I was gonna spend big money later, I didn't buy anything else besides M-Flo. They've also got video games too, although the selection is extremely limited. Their movie section is nice too, but it's all region 2 only stuff. After that we hit the hotel and checked in. Hotel Carter right in Times Square. Not the cleanest place ever, but it's hard to beat $150 a night in Times Square. If you only need a place to sleep, I recommend it just for the price. I don't even remember what else we did the first day, other than get lost in China Town (ghetto ass place). Second day we hit Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum first. It was pretty sweet. It's like $30 to get in, but it's worth the price of admission if you've never been. Afterwards we took the trains down to Prince street. We hit the KidRobot, a japanese clothing line centered around little anime robot guys, first. The style is almost BAPE-esque, not quite as Hip-Hop though. Then we hit the BAPE store. If you're looking for it, it's kind of easy to miss. The BAPE sign doesn't stand out very well, so just know that Louis Vuitton and Y-3 is right around there, just on the opposite side of the street. The NY BAPE store is pretty wack compared to the Omotesando one. The selection isn't nearly as good. Still nice to check it out though. They didn't have my Black and Purple BAPEs I saw in Tokyo, so I decided not to get anything. Off to Mitsuwa! So we hit the Port Authority Bus Terminal to take the shuttle bus to the huge Japanese supermarket, Mitsuwa. It's all the way out in NJ, so it takes like 30 mins to get there on the shuttle bus. Really nice though. It's like a Japanese Super Walmart basically, complete with restaurants inside of the store (including an Italian Tomato! lol). If you're looking for a random Japanese food item then you'll either find it in Mitsuwa or never find it in the US period probably. I picked up a ton of Calpis Water (karada ni piisu!), some Melon Daifuku, Arare, and lots of other stuff. There's a little cafe inside Mitsuwa that is worth hitting if you're in for a snack or confectionary drink. The melon cream soda there is pretty awesome. Right next to Mitsuwa is another Japanese book store, a toy store, and some other random things I didn't go into (furniture and make-up I think). The toy store is pretty awesome, a picked up a couple random pokemon things for no apparent reason lol. The bookstore is a little overpriced, and if you speak Japanese to the store clerks they'll keep bugging you about joining some membership program, but has a very nice selection. I bought a really sweet book on Japanese onomatopoeia. It has the best magazine selection I've seen in the US too. When I was there in July I bought a Japanese tennis magazine, which I was pretty hyped about. Still haven't finished reading the damn thing though lol. Huge selection of manga too, if you're into that stuff. Oh yeah, in the midst of all that I ate lunch at the coolest restaurant ever -- Go Go Curry! lol. Good curry, good prices, and a gorilla as the mascot! I guess cause it's a Go-rilla, I dunno. Anyways, the owner named the restaurant after baseball player Matsui Hideki (his number is 55), and of course is a HUGE Yankies fan, so the store is full of baseball stuff. I didn't get time to hit the Teriyaki Boy restaurant like I wanted to, but I'll save that for next time. That was my trip basically!

Here's some random pics:

Go! Go! Curry! Now where's the chick from Kill Bill!?

My white ass in front of the BAPE store. Check the Shoe-Go-Round behind me!

"Damn right they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell!"

Here's my first stop on my next trip to Manhattan!

Oh yeah! I re-upped a couple things...

KM-Markit - Mark Out
M-Flo - Cosmicolor

Thanks everybody! There'll definitely be a post by Sunday, probably earlier though. Peace!

Doberman Inc - Zero

2008-08-18T02:23:19Z

Figured I'd start it back up with my favorite Japanese group of MCs...

Doberman Inc
Zero

01. Zero
02. Victory
03. D.I. Dance
04. In Proof Of...
05. In the Dark
06. Beautiful Wedding (feat. Jazzy Blaze)
07. Hold Up
08. Grand Finale
09. Do the Next Thing (feat. Simon)
10. ピロウトーク (feat. Dail from the 9 Far East)
11. Loco D.I.
12. Pink Diamond
13. Mirror Mirror Mirror
14. Now Loading...

Rating: 6/10

Download

For Artist Info check my other uploads from Doberman Inc.

Album Info:
Zero dropped in April earlier this year. Maybe it's because I was kind of out of the loop at the time, but I heard nothing about the release of the album until I stumbled upon it at YesAsia.com. The title track, Zero, has a PV out for it. This is Doberman Inc's first full album without Mab or Bach Logic. Mab left the group around the release of the Best of album last year, while I haven't heard any word as to why Bach Logic didn't do any production on this album. My guess is he's busy with other projects.

My Thoughts:
When I first got the CD I threw it my computer and, while checking out some of the tracks, I flipped through the booklet in search of individual track info. About the same time I started to realize something was missing in the usual DI album experience, I also realized that Bach Logic is nowhere to be found on this album. Granted, without BL, DI is still a set of damn good emcees, but it almost doesn't sound right without the high quality production. A good rhyme is worthless without a good beat, and vice-versa. I couldn't help but be a little disappointed by this album. Instead we got Jam Kane, Ryu-Ja, DJ Nao the Laiza, and Goodfella. Definitely sub-par for Doberman Inc. We still manage to get some good tracks out of the whole thing though. Zero is a good track with the whole "came up from nothing" kind of theme to it, while In Proof Of..., In the Dark, and Mirror Mirror Mirror are also solid tracks. It's nice to see another one of Japan's better emcess on the album in Simon, but I feel like Beautiful Wedding is the stand-out track of the album. It's certainly the first one I was really into. Still, I feel like the whole D. Inc. experience is missing. No Jay'ed? No other Osaka-repping emcees? No BL throwing in verses here and there? I think we got ripped off on this one. However, this album is still mildly enjoyable.

So! On to other stuff. I'm sure the main question on everyone's mind is, "Where the hell have you been!?" lol. I've been at my house. ^_^. To be honest, I needed a little bit of a break from everything. I was kind of busy with everything else going on, and then I got myself into more projects than I really had time for and just kind of gave up on the J-Urban community for a while. Luckily, I didn't miss much, because there's been a kind of lull in the time I was away. So, here I am, right back into the mix! I'll be keeping this up as much as possible, and I'm aiming for 3 new uploads a week or so. Anyways, while I was gone, I've been all over and grabbed a ton of good CDs, so I've got some just waiting to be upped here.

Speaking of being all over, I actually just got back from New York late last night. I wasn't there for any real reason, other than to just hang out. I finally got to hit the Bape store on Spring and Greene street. I actually intended to buy a pair of shoes this time around but I had my heart set on the purple and black pair I saw in the store off Omotesando, and they didn't have them at the NY store. The NY store in general is kind of wack. I dunno. So my next Bape hunting mission is LA! lol. I got to check out some other cool Japanese places in NY and NJ, including probably my new favorite restaurant lol. Anyways, I'll go into more detail a little bit later.

Since it's the grand return on the kashiramoji J, I figured I'd change the look up and add a couple new things to add some spice. You've probably already noticed the DJ-style theme going on now, and you may or may not have noticed the two new things in the side bar. First off, there's links to the four main Asian hip-hop download sites I get my music from (if you've read any of my posts before, you've seen me link to them), and secondly, there's a new little piece where I'll be putting up quick number reviews of newly released or upped albums. I couldn't get links to work in the custom side bar, so I just listed what site the album is upped on, and you can use the links section of the side bar to get there. I'll be adding more sites to the list as I go, and if you have a site that goes along with the theme, I will be more than happy to list it. I figured it'd be a cool way to give credit to those who have devoted their time to share with us, and to get a little sense of community going.

Since I have 72 messages waiting to be checked, it'll be a week or so until I get to all of them. I will say that I have read many of them today but have yet to reply. I re-upped a ton of stuff earlier today from requests and such. The wonderful thing about zShare is that anything I uploaded to it previously is still up and ready to be downloaded. Some of my mediafire and megaupload links are still up too. If you need anything re-upped, just ask and thou shalt receive. I might start re-uploading stuff that hasn't be requested for soon, just so all my links work. It depends on if I get time. Anyways, here's list of today's re-upps:

Epik High - Swan Songs
Epik High - Black Swan Songs Disc 2
Zeebra - Street Dreams Single
DJ Hasebe - Tail of Old Nick
51 -Goichi- - 51st Dimension: The Ying
DJ Mayumi - Berry Jam All Mixed Up
Ozrosaurus - Juice
I-Dea - Da Front and Back

That's probably the most I've ever uploaded in one day. Anyways, I'll be posting these links on their respective posts as well. I'll go more into all the goings on of the japanese urban music business while I was away in the following posts, as well as talking about my recent trip to the big apple, and of course uploading some audio pleasure along the way. Thanks to everyone who didn't give up on me despite my 8 month long break and to all my new MFers who have, until now, yet to experience the freshness of a new post here. I'll probably re-up some more stuff tomorrow, but I won't have an official post until tuesday or wednesday probably. As always, カラダにピース！

The Return

2008-08-15T01:25:18Z

8.17.08

DJ Oasis - Waterworld

2007-12-31T17:51:38Z

"Something, something, something, smack that cheese! Mother, Sister, Cousin, smack that cheese!"

DJ Oasis
WaterWorld

01: ウォーターワールド (Water World)
02: マイク持つDJ (Mic Motsu DJ)
03: バラマク (Baramaku feat. Dohzi-T)
04: だからどこでも (Dakara Dokodemo feat. K Dub Shine, 三善/善三, and Jun G)
05: 廃人超特急 (Haijin Choutokyuu feat. Uzi)
06: Continue?
07: 世界一おとなしい納税者 (Sekai Ichi Otonashii Nozeisha feat. Utamaru of Rhymester)
08: アトミックボム (Atomic Bomb feat. Dohzi-T and K Dub Shine)
09: ここにあるぜ (Koko ni Aru ze feat. JA Hiryuu)
10: まわり罠 (Mawari Wana feat. Boy-Ken and Shiba-Yankee)
11: マジうざくねぇ (Maji Uzaku Nee feat. Zeebra)
12: 『　』
13: 何の為 (Nan no Tame)
14: これ (Kore feat. K Dub Shine)
15: どんな価値 (Donna Kachi)
16: マイク持つDJ達 (Mic Motsu DJ Tachi feat. DJ Jin, DJ Kaori, and DJ Masterkey)

My Rating: 7/10

Download

No I didn't photo-edit that album cover, that's a pic of the real album cover lol. BTW, the tracks have the original Japanese names as their file names in the zip, so if anyone has problems unzipping it, please tell me.

Artist Info:
DJ Oasis made it big with Zeebra and K Dub Shine in King Gidora, and then later decided to pick up the mic himself and release solo works. His rap style is similar to K Dub Shine's.

Album Info:
Water World was released in 2005, and had Mic Motsu DJ and Sekai Ichi Otonashii Nozeisha released as singles.

My Thoughts:
DJ Oasis has a very distinct production style, and you're probably not going to love or hate the whole album. For most, it'll be half and half I think. Some of his beats can be kind of annoying (Dakara Dokodemo) while others are just undeniably hot (Maji Uzaku Nee). It's just Hit and Miss all over the album, luckily there are more hits than misses. That said, DJ Oasis is a pretty decent MC in his own right, and it really shines in his solo tracks. The great list of collab artists helps too. I guarantee you'll have Mic Motsu DJ stuck in your head for at least 10 minutes after listening to the song lol. I gotta say though, if I had to pick one track that was the best, it's gotta be Maji Uzaku Nee. If you're looking for a bad-ass hip-hop track to listen to, there isn't a better track than that one. Lots of other good tracks on the album though. Enjoy!

I apologize for the lack of posts through the month of December. Holidays are always crazy for me, but look for a ton of uploads in January! I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas or whatever you celebrate! I ended up getting a Wii and new mp3 player. Nice stuff ^_-.

There's not a lot going on music news-wise. So I'll just talk about random music stuff.

Well between gift cards and presents, I ended up with three new american CDs. I got Blake Lewis's Audio Daydream, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, and Kanye West's Graduation. Blake Lewis's CD is hot as hell. If you haven't heard of him, he finished second on the last season of American Idol, and won fans over with his beat-boxing, dancing, and mixing skills. Oh yeah, he can sing pretty well too lol. Anyways his CD is a hot mix of R&B, Dance, and Hip-Hop. Imagine Justin Timberlake, Jason Mraz, Michael Jackson, and Duran Duran all in one lol. It gets a 9.5 in my book.

I was pleasantly surprised by Lupe's album as well. One of the reasons I really like the album is that it is great hip-hop with no songs revolving around sex. Anyways, I think "Hip-Hop Saved My Life" is one of the best american songs I've heard in a while, just for it's style and message. Lupe has a flow that is matched by very few in my opinion, and the production on the album is great. I haven't fully enjoyed the album yet, but I'm teetering between an 8 and 9 for it. Great stuff. If you haven't checked him out, I highly recommend him. His flow is part Jay-Z, part Eminem, and all Lupe.

Kanye's album is good, but I expect more out of that guy. I mean, if you're going use song samples on damn near every track, then that album better be real damn hot. I like the album, and it's way better than Late Registration in my opinion (I actually liked some of the tracks that weren't released on Grad.) but if I'm comparing Hip-Hop to Hip-Hop, I gotta say Lupe's album is better. Kanye has a special way of garnering non-hip-hop fans to his style, but I feel like true fans of Hip-Hop might feel kind of ripped off with the blatant sampling and Kanye's so-so verses. That's just my opinion though.

Anyways, next post I'm planning to do the 2007 Miyako Awards. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll scream "WHAT!?" a couple times. And you'll probably download some stuff! I promise! Look for it in a couple days!

Finally, for the new year, I'm deeming everyone that frequents my site an MFer. MF standing for Miyako Flow, of course! lol. So thanks for checking the Miyako out, you MFers, and 体にピース！

Big-O - Control (The Spiritual Matters)

2007-12-22T19:29:25Z

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday...

Osumi aka Big-O
Control (The Spiritual Matters)

01: Intro
02: Got Me
03: Perfect World
04: Faith and Love (feat. Dejja)
05: Unsigned Hype (feat. Ignition Man, Scissorhands '5' Minutes, and DJ Ohkubo)
06: Sho-U-To-Tsu (feat. Cro-Ovi)
07: No Limit
08: You Are The Ultimate (feat. Tina)
09: Outro
10: Perfect World (Go Go King Recorders Mix)
11: No Limit (Tsutchie Remix)

My Rating: 7/10

Download

Sorry about the lame album cover, this album is really old school and I couldn't find a better picture.

For artist info, check my upload of Big-O and DJ Watarai's Straight to Next Door.

Album Info:
Back in the day! This is Big-O's first (and only before Straight to Next Door) album without the rest of Shakkazombie from way back in 1998! Lol I was 13 years old. Needless to say, I didn't get to check out the album when if first came out. I couldn't find much info about the producers on the album, but there's shout-outs to DOI and DJ Watarai all over the place. Anyways, this was released under Dev Large's album label, El Dorado, and had the track Perfect World released as an analog single.

My Thoughts:
Take it for what it is. Old School. It's real laid-back and has some shitty beats thrown around in some of the tracks, but for as old school as it is, half of the tracks still stand the test of time. My favorite tracks from the album were No Limit, You are the Ultimate, Perfect World, and Got Me. Like I said, some of the other songs have beats that are so cheesy they don't really stand up to the rest of the album, but the good ones are really great. I mean people don't make beats like the ones from Got Me, No Limit, and Perfect World anymore. It's a shame too. Make sure to to check out the hot Tina collab. The remixes at the end of album are pretty hot too. The speed is actually picked up in the remix of Perfect World and it sounds a lot more like new Hip-Hop. It's pretty nice to listen to the regular and the remix and pick out the differences. Anyways, Big-O never fails to deliver hot rhymes, so everyone should enjoy this album, especially if you're a fan of real, pure Hip-Hop.

Music News, what what?

It's been a minute, and I apologize. Between work, Christmas Shopping, and maintaining a social life, I've had just enough time to go to eat and sleep every once in a while lol. Matter of fact, I think I told somebody I was going to re-up something and never did. Lame. My bad guys. I'm getting to it!

Anyways! In "WTF? Already? But I'm Hyped!" news, Seeda has ANOTHER new album coming out! It's called Heaven and is coming out sometime next month (HMV has 2 dates: the 8th and the 30th). Anyways, I'm really looking forward to it because the album is 100% Bach Logic and I-Dea production! Possibly my top 2 fav producers. He's also got a Concrete Green Christmas Album coming out in two days! The guy is a monster. Anyways, if you haven't checked out Seeda's Concrete Green stuff, they are a line of mix CDs between DJ Isso and Seeda with a ton of other artists featured on it. I might end up picking that one up sometime after Christmas too. BL has a couple tracks on it too. Unfortunately, right now only YesAsia has White Christmas and only HMV has Heaven. Hopefully YesAsia will stop being retarded and pick up Heaven, I mean they have Machikaze! For some reason they have an album listen under Seeda called "Dekkai Asu" that is listed as coming out the 28th of Jan, so that is probably the working name for "heaven" and YesAsia just keep it updated.

Sonomi has also got a new album coming out in January! Actually it's a mini-album called Midnight and of course has two tracks featuring Kreva on it. If I don't end up buying, I'm sure my boy will and I'll rip it and post it up! Luckily, YesAsia is actually carrying it! I love ordering from YesAsia because they give you toys for buying Japanese stuff, and free shipping! It's ran by Chinese people though, so sometimes their info and track names are a little off. I think they need me to write the reviews and comments on the album. "Machikaze is hot as a bitch! Buy that shit now son!" lol. "Foxxi MisQ is sexy! That's all you need to know!"

Let's see what else? Exile's new album is out, Exile Love. I enjoyed some of the tracks. The slow ballad stuff just doesn't catch my ear with them, but I was definitely feeling Touch the Sky, What is Love?, and I Believe. Did I say that Touch the Sky is produced and features a rap verse by Bach Logic!? I'm pretty sure I did, but I'm gonna tell you again anyway! lol. My Nihon Watch article for this week was about Bach Logic, Exile, and Touch the Sky. I talked about how BL might become something like Japan's Timbaland (except better ^_-).

If you're floating around Jpopsuki, you might run into coverage of the AnyBand (Tablo, BoA, Junsu from THSK, and Bora) concert. Check it out! It's really hot. They start the show off doing a new track called Daydream or something (sounded hot) and then they split up and Bora does her thing for one song. I really liked her part, they had a DJ scratching while she was playing piano and it sounded pretty hot. Afterwards Epik High came out and did Fly, 평화의 날, and Fan. Hot stuff. Mithra was sporting a new short haircut that looked pretty tight. Tablo looked like a little girl, but I'll give him some slack since he's such a tight emcee. At the end of Fan they all started dancing and DJ Tukutz started poplocking! lol that's a cool dude. Mithra somehow still looked intimidating even when dancing, the guy is a beast lol. I skipped Tohoshinki's part and then BoA came out. Her part was pretty tight, she did some old stuff and they busted out My Name and Girls on Top. Then they all came back out and did TPL and Promise. Good concert. It looked funny watching BoA speaking korean, i'm so used to her speaking Japanese lol. I was hoping BoA was going to come out and sing the girl parts in Fly, but instead they just had the track playing the background. Too much to ask for I guess.

If you haven't heard, BoA is planning to take a break from the music business to pursue her education. She said she'll be going to a university in the US, which is probably best for her since most people won't recognize the korean mega star here. I have a feeling she'll be going to a really nice university (like not mine or anything in Virginia for that matter), but it's kinda cool to think that she'll be in the same country for a little while.

Anyways, it's about time for me to go to work, so I'll finish up other music news and stuff in another post, perhaps tomorrow. We'll see how busy I get on my day off. Anyways, if I don't get to post, I just want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. After Christmas, I'm probably going to devote the days after it to playing with all my present, but I'll try to get a post in here and there too! Thanks for visiting the Miyako!

Various Artists - Harlem Ver. 2.0

2007-12-09T20:27:26Z

今が未来！

Various Artists
Harlem Ver. 2.0

01: Introduction / DJ Nozom feat. ia
02: Shake Ya Head / DJ Koya feat. Hi-D
03: ここにTouch! / DOI feat. Dabo and Pushim
04: Off Da Radar / DJ Hazime feat. Sphere of Influence and L-Vokal
05: Showcase / DJ Watarai feat. Tsubaki
06: Jungle / Mighty Crown feat. Guan Chai and Maji Man
07: Fact & Truth / DJ Hasebe feat. Tina and 51 -Goichi-
08: Peace to the DJs / DJ Missie
09: Kakumei / DJ Revolution feat. GK Maryan, Yamadaman, Q, Uzi, and Dalah
10: Interlude / DJ Jr. feat. ia
11: All Star / Muro feat. Lunch Time Speax and Kashi da Handsome
12: Train da Real MCs / Ben the Ace feat. Hi-Timez
13: We Gonna Rock it / DJ Benkei feat. Zeebra and Nob (of Maguma MCs)
14: Get it Started / Ken "Baby" H feat. Ceyren (of ACE) and Equal (of MOSAD)
15: The Annex / Breakthrough (DJ Jin, DSK, and Masaya Fantasista)
16: Thru / A Kid Called Roots feat. Juju
17: Are You Ready? / DJ Kango feat. Big Leaf and Buddha Stretch
18: Dirty Go Round / Tokona-X feat. Asm.

My Rating: 6/10

Download

Album Info:
The Harlem line of albums are music inspired by and used in Club Harlem in Shibuya.

My Thoughts:
Yeah, so a 6 is the lowest rating I've gave in a while, but the Harlem albums are a great way for people to check out some of the lesser known producers and MCs while getting some good stuff by the tried and true Dabo, Zeebra, etc.. I can't tell you how many artists I've gotten in to listening to the many Harlem albums, but the most notable is probably Kashi da Handsome. His track on Ver 3.0 with DJ Hazime and Deli is too much (Ver. 3.0 was uploaded a while ago on here too). Anyways, I liked about half the album, but the real stand-outs to me were Shake Ya Head, Fact & Truth (the track that got me into Goichi back in the day!), Kakumei, and Get it Started. There's lots of other hot tracks though, like Thru (the random Juju collab is nice), Showcase, and Dirty Go Round. It's kind of funny, but on this album I wasn't really feeling the songs with the big stars. Zeebra, Dabo, and Sphere's tracks are all mediocre in my opinion. I really wanted to like that Sphere and L-Vokal track too, but I couldn't get into it. I'm kinda mad there's no BL on this album too, but oh well. Enjoy!

Well, I haven't had time to watch any of the music shows yet, but I will say that I covered most of the stuff that is going on in the "Japanese Music that somewhat pertains to Hip-Hop and R&B and whatever I listen to" community last post, but there's a couple things I can talk about I guess.

Well, back on the subject of cover albums, Shimatani Hitomi released her Otoko Uta (Man Songs) cover album where she sings a whole bunch of songs originally sung by men. If you're into Hitomi, you'll like it, if not, don't bother. She's got a nice voice, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it. Too slow. Kanashimini Sayonara was kinda nice, but I could do without the rest. I'm not really into covers unless you do it the Ryohei way -- change the instrumental and the rhythm of the song up so much that it's like a totally new one. Tribute albums are a little bit different story, but as far as single artists covers, that's how I feel. It's hard to beat an original.

BoA has a new song out with one of the guys from Doping Panda. Hot song. I haven't got to thoroughly enjoy it yet, but it's one of her best releases this year. I'm kinda disappointed she's neglecting her Korean stuff. It usually has more of an edge to it. Oh well.

Chemistry has a new song featuring some elephant, or at least that's what the video looks like lol. Anyways, their new song, Kagayaku Yoru, is okay. It's along the same lines as Sora no Kiseki, just a little slower. Catchy lyrics, but the instrumental is like a lame Monkey Magic album cut or something. It'll probably do pretty well with the pop fans though.

Exile's got a new song called Touch the Sky. Hot stuff. Bach Logic and STY worked with the R&B group again to produce and write the song (BL and STY also did 24 Karats). You might get dizzy watching the video, so don't eat right before watching it for the first time lol. I like the whole white to black outfit transition thing going on though. There's a rap verse in the song with BL spitting some hot stuff (ala Seeda's Futeishokusha). I'm pretty hyped about the song, partly because Exile has been doing pop and slow R&B stuff for a while now, with the exception of 24 Karats, and partly because it's BL! Songs called Touch the Sky are always hot anyway!

Well, King T said he'd post up Equal's new album, so I'll post a link over there when he does if you don't feel like checking yourself. Anyways, I gotta get ready for work, so enjoy Harlem and 体にピース！

Equal - The Rock City: MOSAD's Town

2007-12-06T19:57:37Z

"Fly girls want him so bad!! Now it's E~qual!!"

Equal (For MOSAD)
The Rock City

01: Can I Get Out?
02: Intro (Blazin' Hip-Hop Station feat. Jack Herer)
03: Live on Direct (feat. Jay'ed)
04: 10 Club Commandments (feat. Deli and Dabo)
05: Don't Worry About It
06: Money Clip (feat. Anarchy)
07:舌のGun "SHURE" 45 (Shita no Gun)
08: Skit (Call Me Back!)
09: Call Me Back! (feat. WATT, Sygnal, and Adya)
10: Go Away (feat. Anty the Kunoichi, Norsiam-X, and Ceyren)
11: No. 1 Host MC (feat. Keishi)
12: One Love (feat. Hannya and d'Nessa)
13: BのつづきのA.K.A. (B no Tsuzuki no AKA feat. AK-69 aka Kalassy Nikoff)
14: マタドール (Matador Remix)
15: The Rock City ~MOSAD's Town~ (feat. Akira of MOSAD)

My Rating: 7/10

Download

Artist Info:
Equal is a member of MOSAD, who debut in 2002 with their album The Great Sensation. Just months after Equal's solo debut album, the leader of MOSAD, Tokona-X, died in a shroud of mystery. Equal went on to release four more solo albums, including his latest album, King and Queen. You might know him from Dabo's "Shall We Rock?" video, released earlier in the year. Equal not only rhymes on his tracks, but he produces some too. He produced a little less than half of The Rock City.

Album Info:
The Rock City was released in September of 2005, less than a year after Tokona-X's death. Equal worked with many producers on the album, including Bach Logic and DJ Ryow.

My Thoughts:
Pretty good album with some nice collabs. Equal is one of the more consistent emcee in Japanese Hip-Hop. He has released at least one album every year since 2004 and rarely delivers bad flows in his song. He's one of those guys where you're probably never going to love his entire album, but you'll at least like most of it. I have much respect for his self-produced stuff too. Of course, my favorite track on the album just happens to be the only track produced by Bach Logic, Live on Direct. Jay'ed helps too. Anyways, two of my favorite songs from this are produced by Equal himself, 10 Club Commandments (can't go wrong with Dabo and Deli!) and Call me back! I wasn't feeling Go Away! when i first checked out the album back in the day, but that's a pretty tight song. Back then I was really into the No. 1 Host MC track though. That's still a hot one. lol B no tsuzuki no AKA might be hot without AK-69. I can't remember the last time I liked a song with him it lol. The beat is kinda hot though. Anyways, it's all and all a good quality album with lots of good tracks. If you're not too familiar with Equal, I'd recommend checking this out, you'll probably like him. His flow is very distinct, and might take some getting used to, but normally he goes really well with the beat.

Whoa! Tons of music news to go over in just a few days. Let's hope I don't forget anything!

In "I'm kinda disappointed" news, Tablo just released an album with Pe2ny (producer that works with Epik High a lot). Unfortunately, it's all instrumental, but it's still kinda cool. Nice stuff to listen to while you're concentrating on something I guess. All the instrumentals are pretty nice in a very chill way, and apparently the two envisioned their own movies to create each song to, making it a "Soundtrack to a Lost Movie" sort of thing. Good idea I guess, but sometimes I feel like artists get so caught up in artistic creativity that it becomes too abstract for most. I'd definitely put their album, "Eternal," in that category. Oh well. Let's hope some new Epik High comes out in the beginning of next year, although it seems like Tablo is pretty busy with his other musical endevours.

On to Japanese stuff! May J and Aria have both got new albums out, both of which are hot. They both surprised me. Aria's album, the Jukebox, is really great with some nice collabs (Seeda! Equal!) I can't get enough of that Equal track. The techno sound is hot. Seeda's track up there is pretty tight too, but it could be better. He's not in it enough. Some of the people she collabs with usually spell doom for a track in my opinion (El Latino particularly), but even the shitty people picked their game up for her album. I actually enjoyed Hokt's verses in Not Over. Anyways, I'm gonna go with an 8 (maybe 8.5?) on her album. I was a little disappointed that it lacked a great slow R&B song. Her debut album, ARIA, had plenty. Still a hot album though. May J's new album surprised me in a bad way. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't suck, but I was expecting the same quality as her "All My Girls" mini-album. Instead, only about half the album are new tracks, and many of the new tracks are a little poppy sounding for my tastes. I will say that I enjoyed the remixes on the album and some of the new tracks. By the way, if you haven't checked out May J's single for Do Tha' Do Tha', then do it! Bach Logic produces some remix hotness on there. He even throws in Anty the Kunoichi (I think it's her lol) on the remix. The other track on the single is pretty good too. Both Aria and May J's albums can be found at JpopnKpop.

There's a ton of cover albums about, because it's that time of the year. Yamamoto Ryohei (M-Flo collab fame) has released Cavaca 2, where he does pop/dance versions of many american songs. I will say he always chooses interesting songs lol. Check out his version of Linkin Park's Numb. I think I like it better than the original! lol. Satomi', whom I talked about last post, released her new cover mini-album thing. It's a cover of J-Pop this time, with songs from Yaida Hitomi, L'arc~en~ciel, and Hirai Ken. Her version of Darlin' Darlin' (by Yaida Hitomi) is better than the original in my opinion (the original is too f'n annoying and Meilin's was just as bad!) but still ain't awesome. Coma-Chi makes it a lot better, but the PV doesn't have Coma-Chi in it! WTF!? Anyways, the album is okay, nothing spectacular. Satomi, in my opinion, lacks the voice to really pull off good covers. There's a couple songs I felt like she was trying to hard to sing in the original artist's key, and not in her own. I'm planning to check out Shimatani Hitomi's cover album because I like her voice and she's hot, despite being as far from urban as musically possible lol. Oh well, if it's any good I'll tell you guys. All those cover albums can be grabbed at the infamous JpopSuki torrent site, while you can also get Satomi's cover album on JpopnKpop.

Ai's new album is out. It's not bad. I'm not a big fan of Ai's voice, so I'm a little biased. She's got a couple nice club tracks and a remix of Get Up with the Mario Bros. of Japanese Hip-Hop, Zeebra and Sphere! (Zeebra is the skinny tall one, Sphere is the short one with a funny face lol) Anyways, that track is especially hot. Also can be found at JpopnKpop.

Controlle has got a good quality version of Zeebra's Shinin' Like a Diamond PV if you're looking for that as well!

Oh yeah, a french guy on here hooked me up with the link to his SkyBlog. There's some pretty good stuff on there. Old school Shakkazombie and stuff. Anyways, check it out: http://satsuriku.skyrock.com/.

Okay, that's it for now. I'm going to watch this charity tennis match thing at my university later tonight. Pretty cool stuff. R&B singer Elliot Yamin is going to be there. I just recently picked up his christmas CD, but have yet to check it out. He has a great voice though. Anyways, thanks for visiting the Miyako, and enjoy The Rock City!

Kreva - Best of Mix CD No.1

2007-12-03T19:05:37Z

More instrumental goodness...

Kreva aka DJ 908
Best of Mix CD No. 1

Disc 1: Instrumental Mix CD
01: Intro
02: イッサイガッサイ (Issai Gassai)
03: My Life
04: Island Life
05: 希望の炎　（Kibou no Honnou)
06: You are the No. 1
07: Have a Nice Day (Remix)
08: All Day, All Night
09: Practice Session
10: The Show
11: 暗闇のナビゲイラ (Kurayami no Navigator)
12: 音色 (Neiro)
13: ひとりじゃないのよ Remix (Hitori ja nai no yo)
14: 涙止まれよ (Namida Tomare yo)
15: I was a Fool Beat
16: It's For You
17: Outro

Disc 2: Full Instrumentals
01: My Life
02: Island Life
03: 希望の炎 (Kibou no Honnou)
04: You are the No. 1
05: Have a Nice Day (Remix)
06: Practice Session
07: 暗闇のナビゲイラ (Kurayami no Navigator)
08: 涙止まれよ (Namida Tomare yo)
09: It's For You

My Rating: 8/10

Download

For Artist Info check my upload of Kreva's Shinjin Kreva wayy back in the day lol.

Album Info:
This is a Mix CD of Kreva's best instrumental works from before Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu. All the beats on the album were produced by Kreva.

My Thoughts:
When I first bought this in Tokyo, I didn't realize it was all instrumentals, but I wasn't disappointed when I found out though. This is a really hot CD to just put on and chill to, especially if you're concentrating on something like school work and you just want something to help the time go by or drown out other noise. Also, you can take any of these and spit or even sing to it if you'd like. You might not straight up take this and put it on your Mp3 Player or whatever, but there are many other ways to enjoy this album.

Ok so next post I'll go back to my normal album posting stuff. If Aria's new album isn't spammed all over every other download site I might put that up. If it is, well I'll just hook you guys up with links and upload something else. There's no reason to post up something that can be found in many other places most of the time.

Speaking of Aria, in "I'm hyped as hell" news, Aria's new album, The Jukebox, has a song featured Seeda!!! I can't imagine it being anything less than spectacular, but we'll see. You can find The Jukebox on JpopSuki if you are of the torrenting type lol, but if another site doesn't beat me to it, I'll upload it on Wed or Thurs. I'm still downloading it now, so I haven't checked it out yet. Aria's singles with Chozen Lee from Fireball, Hokt, and Big Ron are also on the album. It seems like this month is revenge of the urban female artists, I dunno.

On that topic, May J's new album is out I believe (or at least it is digitally). You can check it out at hmv.co.jp (she's on the main page last time I checked). I haven't listened to the clips yet, but I plan to pretty soon. Damn work always getting in the way!

Ok so, both the Nanas have new stuff out. Tanimura Nana has a nice new song called Say Goodbye. The song has a great urban feel to it, I highly recommend it! I wasn't even following her music until this single, because it's just THAT good. It helps that she's pretty hot in a girl-next-door kind of way too. The rapper in the song sounds like one of the guys from Uptown (K-Hip-Hop). Her performance on CDTV of the song was what got me into it. Good stuff. NaNa (notably from the album version of Zeebra's Slow Down) has got a new song out called Show Girl. Really hot beat. Hopefully she'll stick to that style. I'm been following her stuff since Slow Down, and Show Girl is the first song I've really liked from her besides the Zeebra collab. I don't know, the hook could be better, but I won't complain too much. Still worth listening to. Both Nana's videos can be found at Controlle's Site.

Speaking of the man with the kashiramoji Z, he has just released a video for Shinin Like a Diamond. I was hoping he'd do it because it's a hot song and my boy Sphere needs some TV time! lol. I would say May J needs it to, but she's on the verge of being everywhere now(and so she deserves!) Anyways, despite the video being part snicker comercial, part PV, it was pretty tight. The beginning is hilarious. It's nice to see Zeebra doing some comedy stuff every once in a while, since he's naturally so tall and intimidating lol. Normally I'm not in to May J for her looks (she's a lil too white for me, sorry), but she looked HOT in the video. Like, whoa. Sphere just happened to look like Sean Paul in some parts lol (ah gots deh riddim!) with his new hairstyle and outfit. And yes, May J is way taller than Sphere lol. Anyways, I couldn't find a downloadable (<-- not a word) version of the video yet, but Controlle has a link to view it: Shinin Like a Diamond Article. Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, Shinin was produced by none other than DJ Hasebe! Too bad Zeebra didn't say "DJ Hase-be-be" like he usually does lol.

Let's see...Rickie G, who has worked with the likes of Jay'ed and Ya-Kyim, has a solo song out called Love Soul. Put it plainly, it's a great song, no matter what you're into. It's definitely got a laid-back kind of island flair to it. It's hard to describe. Anyways, his voice fits the song perfectly and the hook is really great. It's one of those sit back and smell the flowers kind of songs, because 毎日がさいこう！I really like his voice, and I hope he continues to put out good stuff. Once again, the video can be found at Controlle's site.

Homemade Kazoku has a new collab with Flow, which is pretty random, but it turned out really well. I liked Flow's song earlier this year, Answer, so I was excited to see the two groups come together. Check it out if you're into the Kazoku or edgey alternative rock stuff. The video and the single of the song can be found at JpopnKpop.

Crystal Kay has a new mini-album out which I have yet to check out, and Ai's new upcoming album has a remix of Get Up featuring Sphere and Zeebra. I don't really like Ai's material, but I'm looking forward to that. Oh yeah! Satomi has a new song out, but for some blasphemous reason the PV is missing Coma-Chi's rap. I refuse to listen to the song without Coma-Chi, so I'm still hunting for the version with her in it.

Anyways, that's it for now. Hope you enjoy the Kreva album. 体にピース！

joshiro @ 2007-12-02T23:19:00

2007-12-03T05:01:03Z

Tons of random stuff today! Let's start with something to truly kick off the month of December. 'Tis the season!

Japanese Christmas Song Compilation '07

Bennie K - The Christmas
BoA - Candle Lights
BoA - Last Christmas (English)
BoA - Winter Love
Chemistry - Christmas Rose
Do As Infinity - We Are
Exile - I Believe
Full of Harmony - Christmas Smile Everyday
KinKi Kids - Cinderella Christmas
Kubota Toshinobu - Our Christmas
L'arc~en~Ciel - Hurry Xmas
Mihimaru GT - So Merry Christmas
Skoop on Somebody - Sounds of Snow
Skoop on Somebody - The Christmas Song
W-inds - Winter Story
The Brilliant Green - Angel Song

Download

Compilation Comments:
I threw this comp. together from a group of about 40 Christmas songs I had laying around my computer. A lot of this stuff is not the normal type of music you find up here, and some of these artists I don't normally follow, but once a year it's nice to get ya ears off all that hardcore and listen to some nice feel-good Christmas music, and what better way to celebrate than the Japanese way? So, since I can't upload Christmas Cake for you guys, I figured this would be just as good. The comp. has some great R&B style Christmas songs (I Believe, Our Christmas, Sounds of Snow) with a little pop/rock (We Are, Hurry Xmas, Angel Song) and some random dance/pop to keep everybody happy( This Christmas, So Merry Christmas, Winter Story). Unfortunately, the only Japanese Christmas Hip-Hop I could find was a random song by Yamadaman and Kick the Can Crew's Christmas Eve Rap, neither of which I'm too fond of. Enjoy! If anybody has some mp3s to add, that would be awesome!

Next!

Instrumentals Compilation I
(All the tracks below are instrumentals)

1TYM - One Way Track 15
Buddha Brand - Ningen Hatsudensho
DJ Yutaka - Revolution
DS455 - Very Special Weekend
Jamosa - Tegami
Kick the Can Crew - Sayonara Sayonara
Nitro Microphone Underground - Nitrich
Ozrosaurus - Clap Ya
Sphere of Influence - Diamond in the Rough
Sphere of Influence - It Was All a Dream
Wise - Good Music
Wise - Shine Like a Star
Zeebra - Not Your Boyfriend
Zeebra - Oh yeah
Zeebra - Street Dreams

Download

Compilation Comments:
Bear Rock asked for me to hook him up with some instrumentals, so here it is. I didn't have any DJ Watarai, but I just pieced a bunch of pretty good ones together. Big props go to Waso from JpopMusic forums, many of these were in a compilation he put together a while back. Most of these are pretty hot instrumentals to rhyme to, if you're so inclined to do so. I know I've even tried to spit a few bars on the instrumental to Street Dreams lol. Anyways, if you guys are looking for more, I could throw another one together in the near the future. Plus I'll be upping the Kreva instrumental non-stop mix album tomorrow.

Well, I was planning to post up Kreva's Instrumental Mix album tonight, but I'm pretty tired and I think I'm going to call it quits. I had to wait in line at 7:00 in the morning to get a Wii earlier, so my energy is waning fast. It was worth it though, I got one! I also got a good amount of Christmas shopping done for my mom, so things turned out pretty well. Expect that Kreva album tomorrow. In random news, I watched this Korean movie called City of Violence earlier and it was tight. I think I'm going to rename the movie Baby Vox, because it's Korean and hot as a bitch lol. Thank goodness it's not broke up like them! Imagine Kill Bill with guys and Tae Kwon Do. Anyways, Kreva's Nonstop Mix album tomorrow, and more info on the latest music junk. Thanks for visiting the Miyako!

Jay'ed - The Gift

2007-11-28T20:12:53Z

Finally the oyabun has come back to Miyako Flow! lol

Jay'ed
The Gift -Just Let Me Know-

01: Movin' On
02: Just Let Me Know (feat. Jazzy Blaze)
03: Pop Them Bottles (English Solo Version)
04: Sayonara
05: Fly Away (I-Dea Remix feat. Jamosa)
06: Shining Star (Hase-T Remix feat. Rickie-G)
07: Why
08: Lover Medley
09: Oh Na Na (Interlude)
10: If I... (feat. Norisiam-X)
11: We Got It All (feat. Doberman Inc)
12: Jam Session (feat. Doberman Inc)
13: Sadie (Live at Jirokichi '03 Orito Session)

My Rating: 8/10

Download

Note: The heathen that orignally ripped this thing spelled Doberman Inc on tracks 11 and 12 as "Dorberman Ink," and I was too lazy to fix it.

Artist Info:
Jay'ed is a soft spoken R&B from Osaka. Born in 1981 to multi-racial parents (from Polynesia, New Zealand, and Japanese origins), Jay'ed sings in both Japanese and English like no other. He has worked with many different artists, including I-Dea, Jamosa, Dabo, Twigy, Equal, and others, but he usually does collaborations with other people from Osaka, like Doberman Inc, Norisiam-X, and Bach Logic. He started his solo career in 2005 with singles for "Why" and "Pop Them Bottles."

Album Info:
The Gift is a compilation of Jay'ed's many collaboration with others and his own solo tracks. Many tracks on this album have been featured on other albums. The album, released in 2006, had two singles come off of it, "Why" and "Pop Them Bottles." Fly Away was also released, but not in correspondence to this album.

My Thoughts:
Jay'ed is my male Yoshika. His style of music is way different than Yoshika, but both of them have soft, beautiful voices that I can't get enough of. Jay'ed is one of the best voices in Japanese R&B, but lack of promotion and focus on his solo career has led to mediocre album sales. I love just about every song he's ever done, and it's sad he hasn't released a full solo album yet. If you enjoy great R&B, you'll love this album. Fly Away, If I..., We Got It All, and Jam Session were all released on other artist's albums, but having all four Jay'ed collabos on this album is great, because all four songs are great. Movin' On, Just Let Me Know, Sayonara, and Shining Star are also good tracks that are (to my knowledge) exclusive to The Gift. I even liked Oh Na Na, the interlude on the album. Nearly the whole album is wonderful, so even if you aren't really familiar with this guy, if you're into grown sexy R&B, I highly recommend this.

Man, it's been a minute. Sorry about the two week hiatus. Thanksgiving is a rough time for me. I end up working my ass off at work, and then come home just to put random furniture together and clean lol. It was kind of hard just keeping up with my articles of Nihon Watch. By the way, (shameless self promotion:) If you haven't checked out Nihon Watch, and you're into Japanese stuff (which you must be if you're here) then check it out! It's got lots of nice articles about everything you'd ever want to know about Japan, including Japanese urban culture, which is done by yours truly! Ok, now...on to music news!

Alright. I know I've talked about korean girl group Tenjochiki before, so I want to inform everyone that their new album, Graceful 4, is out! It's their debut album in Japan. If you're into Foxxi MisQ, I highly recommend Tenjochiki, because their music is very similar (they just aren't as hot -- I'm sorry). The album is so similar to Foxxi's Gloss, that you might experience deja vu lol. It even has a random ass Corn Head collab lol. Seamo just happen to make an appearance in the album too, as well as one of the members of the male Tenjochiki, Tohoshinki. The album isn't as good as Gloss in my opinion, but it's definitely worth checking out if you need something to subside your hunger for a new Foxxi release (like myself). Oh and yes, the whole album IS in Japanese, just in case you were wondering. You can download it at JpopnKpop, along with most of the other music news I'll be talking about pretty much lol. I'm literally using that site to do music news lol. Anyways -- 次！

Let's see, May J and Twenty 4-7 have new singles out. I've talked about May J's Do Tha' Do Tha' already, so I'll just say it's pretty hot. "Hard Rock Candy!" lol. I'm not really feeling twenty 4-7's new song, but I have yet to check out the single. Their single for Fly Out was nothing but hotness, so I have high hopes for the other tracks on the single. May J's new album is coming out early next month, and I'm pretty hyped about it. If it's anything like her My Girls minialbum, it will be 100% hotness. So far her singles, with the exception of Dear.., have been really hot to me. I might end up picking up that album after Xmas. I don't really want to spend the money until after then. I have faith that JpopnKpop will have the album up as soon as it comes out anyway lol. BoA, NaNa, Faith, and The Brilliant Green all have new songs out, but I haven't had time to fully check them out. I heard the BoA track is sexy though.

Remember when I talked about BoA and Tablo doing a commercial together for a phone company, and that I wished they would do a song together too? Well they did! The phone company AnyCall used their sheer financial power to put together AnyBand, consiting of BoA, Tablo, Xiah (random singer guy -- I dunno), and Bora (Jazz pianist). Well, I could live without the last two, but whatever. Anyways, they have a single called Talk, Play Love, which is so much an advertisement for AnyCall that it's kind of hard to truly appreciate, but the song is all and all pretty good. I heard Tablo wrote the song, which is makes me respect it a little bit more. Their single has another track that is mediocre at best, but that's probably because Tablo didn't write it! lol. Actually I don't know who wrote it really. There's even a video for the song, which combines both songs from their single. The video is nine minutes long and has a really random story and Tablo dressed up as a K-rocker (wtf?). Anyways, if you want to check it out, hit up SoundResque, a nice K-music LJ to download just about anything korean from, you just have to be a member of LJ and join their community (it takes a whole 3 seconds, stop being lazy!) Anyways, they've got the single and the video up there for your downloading pleasure.

What else? Uh Ryo the Skywalker (reggae dude) just came out with a new album, I downloaded it, but have yet to check it out. I'll put up what I think after I check it out. Minmi's got some love song collection out too, but I'll check that out later as well. Ai's new single is out and has a hot Sphere of Influence collab on it. Get it at JpopnKpop too!

Oh yeah! Big news! Ne-Yo just released a version of his song, Do You, with Utada Hikaru in it. She's coming back to us, back to R&B!!! lol. Anyways, the song was originally done with Mary J Blige. The song was released as a digital single, but I'm not exactly sure whether it was released in the US or Japan (the Japanese love them some Ne-Yo, there's no telling). I'll check on that. The cover for the single says "feat. Utada" which is was her moniker on her ill-reviewed American album (which I thought was total hotness). If you haven't checked out Exodus, Utada's american CD, i'd recommend doing so. You could probably buy it for 50 cents by now lol. Anyways, Timbaland produced a lot of the album, and it shows. There's a little too much asian stereotypical lyrics in it for me, but all in all the album is hot if you're into R&B/Pop.

Blah, I know I forgot a ton of stuff, but I'll call it quits for now. KingT has Uzi on his LJ, download it right not, or the UBG will jump you! lol. I haven't even had time to check it out yet -_-;. Anyways, enjoy Jay'ed and prepare yourself for my hand-chosen Japanese christmas compilation next time around. Thanks for visiting the Miyako!

Seeda - Machikaze

2007-11-13T19:55:07Z

"Gimme One Mic, I'm a One-Shot Killa!"

Seeda
Machikaze

01: Intro
02: Flip Dat
03: Mic Story (feat. Ill-Bosstino)
04: ガリガリ BOYZ (Gari Gari Boyz feat. Yotsukaido Nature)
05: 煙玉 (Kemuridama)
06: Love & Hate (feat. BES and Smif-n-Wessun)
07: Bad Tripy (feat. Bay4k and OKI)
08: Dick Rider
09: No Pain, No Gain (feat. D.O.)
10: Around My Way
11: Technic (feat. Kreva)
12; 迷いの森 (Mayoi no Mori feat. KNZ)
13: 山手通り (Yamate doori feat. Saboten)
14: We Be Smooth (feat. L-Vokal and Luna)
15: 街風 (Machikaze feat. Gangsta Taka, Sticky, Norikiyo, and 4WD)
16: Music
17: また不定職者 (Mata Futeishokusha feat. BES and Kan)

My Rating: 7/10

Download

For artist info, check out my upload of Seeda's Hana to Ame.

Album Info:
Machikaze is Seeda's first major debut album. This just came out 10/17 of this year. So far the only PV release is of Mic Story. Seeda worked with a ton of different producers on this one including Bach Logic, DJ Watarai, I-Dea, Starwax, Focis, and Kreva. All of the mp3s have the producer information on it (it shows when played in Windows Media Player).

My Thoughts:
I was extremely hyped for this album because Hana to Ame (Seeda's last album) is one of my favorite albums I own, but I wasn't really feeling this one like I was Hana to Ame. Part of it is that Bach Logic produced every track on Hana to Ame, and he produced less than half of this album. However, the ones he did produce, Flip Dat, Bad Tripy, Machikaze, and Mata Futeishokusha, are pretty hot. I like that Seeda worked with many different producers this time around, but for me, it just didn't turn out as good. I was surprised to see that DJ Watarai produced Mic Story (sounded like I-Dea to me). I-Dea produced Dick Rider and Music, two songs I weren't really feeling. Technic, produced and featuring Kreva, is crazy hot, especially in the beginning where he mixes in lines from Kreva's The Show and Seeda's Adrenalin where they both say "Ore wa ore." The song is hot, but it sounds so Kreva-ish (lol) that it almost doesn't sound like it should be on the album. I'm glad it is though! Both Seeda and Kreva spit fire on that track. Flip Dat is an undeniably hot track. Kemuridama has a kind of 51 -Goichi- feel to it to me, just because he spits on old school Japanese style beats a lot. Is it just me, or was the beat for No Pain, No Gain stolen from DJ Deckstream's Deckstream Soundtracks? Still hot though. We Be Smooth is a nice treat with the never disappointing L-Vokal and Luna. Mata Futeishokusha isn't as good as the original to me, but it's still worth listening to if you liked the original from Hana to Ame. In general, if you are looking for something to listen to between Zeebra and NMU's hot new releases, I would totally recommend checking this out. Seeda can rhyme with the best of em, and this album, in general, has some solid production.

Seems like Seeda calmed down with all the cussing in English this time around, I kind of miss it. "Standing on my own two, I'm a bad mother fucka." lol

Let's see, Music News. SoulJa's Spirits, probably the most over-hyped album ever, released last week. My Nihon Watch article was about it. So I decided to go on HMV and listen to clips of all the songs. Shitty! I'm sorry. I didn't even like Koko ni Iru yo. That dude sounds crappy on the mic no matter if he's singing or rapping. Anyways, I'm thinking about doing my Nihon Watch article on NMU's new album and their new Nikes if I can find some good info on it.

Speaking of NMU, KingT posted up their new album, Special Force. Check it out! If you liked their other albums you'll love the new one. I enjoyed it more than their older releases. Plus there's a new track produced and featuring the man, the myth, the legend: Kashi da Handsome! If you haven't checked out KingT's blog by now, you're missing out on some pretty good stuff. For some reason listening to Special Force made me want to bring back Dabo's old track, Lexus Gucci lol. "Hey Hey!"

If you haven't noticed, Machikaze is uploaded on zShare. Mediafire deleted my upload of Soul Tree yesterday. So it lasted 5 DAYS before they deleted it. Bastards. So I'm officially switching to zShare for now. If anybody has problems with zShare, please tell me. I'll be glad to upload it to a different server. That's about all the rambling I have for now. Enjoy Machikaze and 体にピース！

Various Artists - Soul Tree: A Tribute to Kubota Toshinobu

2007-11-08T02:28:58Z

Paying tribute to the man that pretty much started urban music in Japan...

Soul Tree
A Musical Tribute to Kubota Toshnobu

01: La La La Love Song / BoA with Soul'd Out
02: Dance If You Want It / Gospellers with Naniwa Express
03: Missing / Nakashima Mika
04: 流星のサドル (Ryuusei no Saddle) / Soulhead
05: Cymbals / Atsushi of Exile
06: Candy Rain / Sowelu
07: Cry on Your Smile / Skoop on Somebody
08: Indigo Waltz (Live Version) / MISIA
09: You Were Mine / Shiina Junpei with Dance Man
10: 永遠の翼 (Eien no Tsubasa) / Takamiya Maki
11: 夢 With You (Yume With You) / Koda Kumi
12: TA WA WA ヒットパレード (Hit Parade) / BOO, Keyco, Rhymester, and Butter Dog Market

Rating: 8/10

Download

Album Info:
Soul Tree is a tribute to R&B innovator and legend, Kubota Toshinobu. He's been topping the charts with his soulful voice and catchy lyrics since the mid 80s, and is still pumping out the hits. His latest single was MAGIC with Kreva.

My Thoughts:
It's great to hear some of Toshi's hits redone, remixed, and sung by other artists, especially because you can almost guarantee that if Toshi sung it, then it was a damn good song. I was especially hyped about some of the really old but awesome tracks, like Ryusei no Saddle and You Were Mine, because they are so old the sound quality isn't too good lol. The artists generally rep Toshi pretty well on this album, but there's a few I could have lived without. I'm personally kind of disappointed that Zeebra didn't show up on this album, since he's been very verbal about his respect for Toshi. I was especially impressed by Soulhead's rock version of Ryusei no Saddle, BoA's dance/pop version of La La La Love Song, Gospellers' version of Dance If You Want It, and Kumi's Yume with You. However I was extremely disappointed by Sowelu's Candy Rain. Candy Rain is my absolute favorite Toshi song, and is how I got into him. Sowelu's voice is kind of annoying and the arrangement is all wrong. They slowed the song down too much I think. It's still a decent song, but it's nowhere near as good as the original. There's a couple songs I feel like are a little too goofy sounding in parts to really take it seriously (Ta Wa Wa Hit Parade and You Were Mine). My other problem with You Were Mine is that Shiina Junpei can't really sing that well. Once again, the original is way better. It's hard to top Toshi's version of most of these songs, but still the album in general has some great R&B tracks, whether you are a fan of Toshi or not.

I gotta keep my ramblings short and sweet today, I have to go back in to work to help them roll out all the Holiday stuff. Anyways, I got listening to Toshi probably about four years ago after Candy Rain was the theme song for one of my all-time favorite dramas, Suiyobi no Jooji (Wednesday Love Affair). Good stuff.

I know I've talked about MitsuiSelphie's big project that I am a part of earlier, but I'm pretty sure I didn't elaborate too much. Anyways, it's called Nihon Watch and it's pretty much a magazine style website where everyday of the week a different person has a particular topic to post about. Yours truly is the Japanese Urban Culture correspondent and my designated day is Wednesday. That's today! So my first official article was today, so I decided to write about SoulJa's major debut album, Spirits, which just happens to also come out today. Check it out! The official launch for the website isn't until next week, so you are getting some cho-exclusive stuff right here! lol Check it out: Nihon Watch!

Anyways, that's all I got time for now. Remember to keep it real and all that good stuff lol. Thanks for checking out the Miyako. Peace!

Hinouchi Emi - Goodie Memories Single and BoA Compilation

2007-11-03T03:06:48Z

I've got two uploads for you guys today! First is a compilation of BoA's urban stuff that goes under the radar of casual fans.

BoA Hip-Hop/R&B Compilation

Addiction (Korean)
Bad Drive
Do You Love Me (Korean)
Girls on Top (Korean)
Hey Girl, Hey Boy (Seamo feat. BoA)
Holiday (Palm Drive feat. BoA and Zeebra)
La La La Love Song (feat. Soul'd Out)
Lady Galaxy
Midnight Parade
My Name (Korean)
Prayer
Revolution Code 1986-2006 (feat. Rah-D)
Some Day, One Day (feat. Verbal)

Download
(Re-upped 9/9/08)

Artist Info:
BoA is a korean singer that was born in 1986. She was raised to be a star and was taught to sing in both Korean and Japanese from a very early age. Nearly half of her life has been devoted to music even though she is still very young (she just turned 21). Even though Korean is her native language, she is also fluent in Japanese.

Compilation Info:
Like I said, these tracks get looked over quite often because most of them weren't released as PVs or singles. Hip-Hop is more popular in Korea than it is in Japan, so tracks like Girls on Top and My Name were actually released as singles there, but her Japanese singles are almost always candy pop or ballads. All of the songs are somewhat recent, I tried to leave out her older stuff, even though there was a ton that would have fit in with this compilation. Hey Girl, Hey Boy was just made into a PV to promote Seamo's new album, Round About. It's probably the most poppy song in the comp., but it's very catchy and Seamo's rhymes are actually pretty decent in it. Holiday is from Palm Drive - Block Holiday, which was just recently re-upped on here. La La La Love Song is a remake of Kubota Toshinobu's huge hit, and appeared on the Toshi tribute CD (I might up that in the future!) And finally, Some Day, One Day was performed on music shows to promote one of her albums a couple years ago, and came out shortly after M-Flo and BoA's song together, Love Bug. "What's love got to do? 三月にわかる！"

Next!

Hinouchi Emi
Goodie Memories

01: Goodie Memories
02: ESCAPE
03: Get Up!
04: Goodie Memories (Instrumental)

My Rating: 9/10

Download
(Re-upped 9/9/08)

Artist Info:
Hinouchi Emi is a singer/song-writer who was born in Osaka (O-Town stand up!) but spent much of her childhood in Taiwan. She worked as a vocalist for an indie band until she was discovered by Takahashi Taku (of M-Flo) and was signed to his album label, Tachytelic Records. She is best known for her collabs with M-Flo, Teriyaki Boyz, Mic Banditz, Heartsdales, and Epik High. She has also written songs for Heartsdales and sung back up in many of their songs. She has just recently started working with DJ Deckstream.

Single Info:
Goodie Memories is Emi's latest single, and is completely produced by DJ Deckstream (that's why it's hot!) It just came out 9/5/07. She has yet to release a single since Dramatiques in 2003, so look for one from her soon!

My Thoughts:
Deckstream is awesome with jazz/dance/pop tracks, and he shows how well his beats and her vocals go together in this single. I'm really hyped that Emi is producing great music now, because I feel like she has a lot of potential, but I just wasn't feeling most of Dramatiques. The only reason I didn't give this one a 10 is because they didn't include the instrumentals of ESCAPE and Get Up! lol. It's not a very good reason, but I don't like giving a 10 to a CD with four tracks. Anyways, if you haven't checked her new stuff out, do it now! Her music is similar to the pop/dance stuff of M-Flo.

Random junk: Anybody know Aso Kumiko (actress from Aka Kage, Makai Tensho, Kairo, etc.) ? Doesn't Emi look like her? She could totally be Emi's big sister. Anyways! On to music news!

I can't get enough of BoA and Seamo's collab, "Hey Boy, Hey Girl," even if the PV is pretty random. Seamo Soul re-fried beans feat. BoA? Huh!? The live performance on Music Station was better than the PV I think, just because BoA acts really cute live. I watched the whole episode of Music Station (I usually just stick to CDTV and Hey Hey Hey) and it was pretty decent. The one guy from Funky Monkey Babies had the coolest hat on ever! It was like a penguin straw hat thing... I dunno what it was, but it was awesome!

I checked out Hi-D and DJ Kaori's new stuff. Hi-D is definitely going for a little bit more pop sound with his new album, Fragrance (that could explain the lack of collabs). Normally pop stuff pisses me off, but it works pretty well from him. Fragrance almost has a Chemistry kinda vibe to it, which is pretty nice. I can't stand how he pronounces Mamacita in one of the songs though. It sounds like he's saying Mama Cheetah lol. I've been listening to the song A.O.Ge. Hot stuff. It's good to see Hi-D coming from a different direction, even though he really should have had a nice R&B collab with a girl (how about Aria!) in my opinion. DJ Kaori's J-Mix is actually better than I thought it would be. The tracks that I wasn't too sure about are actually pretty good. Definitely a different feel from most DJ mix albums. Hers has more dance and R&B than hip-hop really. It's kind of refreshing, but still can't touch the hotness that is DJ Celory's Beats Legend II. I was happy to see Utada Hikaru's For You up there, just because people kind of forget how awesome her R&B stuff used to be, especially since Ultra Violet came out. Good selection for most of the tracks. I never heard the track with Nana and Exile until listening to J-Mix, and I really need to find the mp3 of that.

I talked about ISSA's (formerly of Da Pump) new track, Chosen Soldier, in my last post. I grabbed the mp3 and proceeded in the listening and judging process. After much skepticism and deliberation, I have officially decided that the song is not only hot, but hot to death. lol. The PV from the clip I saw looks pretty cool too (Kamen Rider, wtf?) Let's hope ISSA sticks to this style and doesn't start whining ala Da Pump.

This song is actually kinda old (a few months at least), but I've been listening to Dohzi-T's Kanashimini Sayounara with Full of Harmony. Dohzi-T could be one of my least favorite rappers, but the song is undeniably hot, and Full of Harmony actually sing on key and really carry the song. I have a little respect for Dohzi-T now, though it will take more than that to redeem himself from being in Blawny-O's rip of the Pussycat Dolls' Don' Cha, "Don-chan."

Well, that's it for now I guess. I've only got like 30 hours of work next week, so expect a couple more posts than usual. I'm probably gonna be bored. Right now I'm thinking I'll put the Kubota Toshinobu tribute album up since it has a ton of great artists and songs on it next time around. King T is FINALLY back doing his uploading thing, so check his place out. Anyways, thanks for visiting Miyako Flow and 体にピース！

DJ Deckstream - Deckstream Soundtracks

2007-10-30T00:53:05Z

"Tell em what time it is like Seiko!"

DJ Deckstream
Deckstream Soundtracks

01: Intro (feat. DJ Premier)
02: Play On (feat. Pep Love of Heiroglyphics)
03: Can You Let Me Know? (feat. Lupe Fiasco, Verbal, and Sarah Green)
04: Inconvenient Truth (feat. Aloe Blac of Stones Throw)
05: Five Alarm (feat. Nikki Jean)
06: Life (feat. Juju Bee)
07: Keep in the Pocket (feat. Talib Kweli)
08: Touch of Mink (feat. Camp Lo)
09: Spread Love (feat. Zion I)
10: Something About Me (feat. Moka Only)
11: 1,2,3 Contact (feat. Surreal from Sound Providers)
12: Memory of Melodies (feat. Dred Scott and Adriana Evans)
13: Still Here (feat. Bahamadia)
14: Keep in the Pocket (Remix feat. Talib Kweli)

My Rating: 7/10

Download
(Re-upped 9/9/08)

Artist Info:
DJ Deckstream is a DJ/Producer that has been in the game for a while. His most famous release before this was his remix album "Sweet 90's Blues Mix." Back in the day he was in the Hyde-Out Productions label under the moniker Monorisick and worked with many artists, including Verbal (then L-Universe). Recently he has worked with artists under Verbal's Espionage label, including the Mic Banditz and Heartsdales, and just this year started working with Hinouchi Emi. He's also done a ton of remixes for M-Flo and many other artists. You can almost always hear Jazz influences in his works.

Album Info:
Deckstream Soundtracks just came out Oct. 3 of this year (2007). It features many American artists yet was released only in Japan (from what I know).

My Thoughts;
I love DJ Deckstream's remixes and production work, but I think I would have enjoyed this album more with Japanese artists (call me biased). Anyways, if you're a fan of Hip-Hop from anywhere you can get it, I think you'll love this album, because it is full of jazzy beats, good rhymes, and nice vocals. I'm only familiar with Lupe Fiasco and Talib Kweli (and Verbal of course) from this album, so I think that might have affected my rating for the album, but with that said, I still think this album is very good, especially "Can You Let Me Know?" If you're into American Hip-Hop just as much as you are into Asian Hip-Hop, then I highly recommend this album because it combines great Japanese production work with good American lyrical ability and vocals. If you don't know who Lupe Fiasco and Talib Kweli is and you almost solely listen to Japanese or Korean Hip-Hop, I wouldn't recommend this album because you might not find it to be your style. But you should download it anyway! It's free damn it!

So, I actually typed up half of this stuff last Tuesday but my internet connection went out as I posted it. I got so pissed off that a good 30 minutes of typing went down the drain I gave up and just decided to put the post off until later. I didn't realize it was going to be a week later, but oh well. Sorry for the delay!

Anyways! Here I was thinking that Hinouchi Emi's recent quality in music was because she did a collab with Epik High and had some musical epiphany or something lol. I know I've talked about it before, but her last couple singles have been pretty tight with a really nice dance/r&b style to it. So I finally found out what the difference is now. She's been working with DJ Deckstream! All of the songs on her singles of "O'kay" and "Goodie Memories" were produced by Deckstream, and that explains the random hotness. Next post I'll throw some Hinouchi Emi stuff up here so you guys can check it out if you haven't.

Okay! Music News! Koda Kumi has got a new song out with korean R&B/Pop boy band, Tohoshinki (aka DBSK). I was surprised to see the two in a song together, but both of em are at the top of their game right now, so why not make some money together? The song isn't anything special, but it's not bad. It sounds exactly like you'd think it would sound actually lol. Almost annoyingly catchy chorus, shitty rapping, boy band dance steps, lots of "Oooh!"s and "Yeahhhh!"s, etc.. I thought it was funny to see Koda Kumi dancing like a korean boy band member though. I was never a big fan of Tohoshinki or any of the other korean crossovers to Japan. Their Japanese kind of bothers me. I can put up with Tenjochiki because they're hot, but I couldn't even take Baby Vox singing in Japanese (and I used to love me some Baby Vox!) I can almost put up with Rain, he hides his accent pretty well, and BoA is fluent in Japanese so her accent very rarely comes out (though it does sometimes, check out La La La Love Song! lol) Bottom line is if you like Tohoshinki or Koda Kumi, you'll probably like the song.

I've been watching the Hey Hey Hey Fall 2 week special recently. It's pretty cool, there's some good performances by Seamo and some others, but Ito Yuna looks hot. She's also really really ditzy, but it kind of works for her lol. She made Downtown (the hosts) try french fries dipped in Ice Cream lol. It was pretty funny. Speaking of Seamo, his new album (I think it's called Round About) has a collab with the extreme hotness that is BoA lol. I watched them perform it on Music Station, and it was pretty tight. It's that pop/rap style that Seamo excels at with BoA singing the chorus. From the interview, it seems like they'll be coming out with a PV soon, so I'm looking forward to that.

Since I'm already on the subject of BoA, I've been listening to Zeebra's track from World of Music, "Everybody Needs Love," and I swear the "Loooove!" sound clip from that song sounds just like the chorus in BoA's track with Mondo Grosso, "Everything Needs Love." Anyways, hear it for yourself! Check it out:

BoA - Everything Needs Love (feat. Mondo Grosso)
Zeebra - Everybody Needs Love

Everybody Needs Love is a really awesome track. I love a rhyme that tells a story, and Zeebra does a great job in that one. I just happened to order Zeebra's World of Music, along with Seeda's Machikaze, last night, so I'll have those in a couple weeks. Zeebra's album can be found on JpopnKpop. They just put DJ Kaori's JMix album up there, so check it out. As soon as Seeda comes in I'll post it up.

Anyways, maingay requested the original version of Kreva's Hitori ja nai no yo, and even though I already posted the album with it on there, I'll post up the mp3 itself too.

Kreva - Hitori ja nai no yo (feat. Sonomi)

Oh yeah! In more music stuff, check out May J's new song, "Do Tha' Do Tha'." The lyrics could be the most cliche ever, but the song is still hot to death. I swear she does the thriller dance in it though lol. Halloween is close!

Anybody remember Okinawan Pop/Hip-Hop group Da Pump? Well, I'll be the first to say that they sucked, though I did listen to them briefly lol. Anyway, ISSA from Da Pump just released a song called "Chosen Soldier," and it's pretty hot if you can put up with ISSA's whiny voice. The beat is undeniably tight, so it's just the voice you gotta deal with.

Since it's been over a week, too much stuff has happened! lol. Well, lastly, Hi-D has a new album called "Fragrance." I haven't checked it out myself, but I will soon. I looked at the track list, and I'm pretty disappointed with the collabs. Cool MB and Butcher? That's it!? All albums should come with a Verbal collab or it's just not an album! lol j/k. Anyways, I'm going to just call this one a post before my internet connection decides to go. Next post (possibly tomorrow) I'll post up at least one of Hinouchi Emi's latest singles and a compilation of BoA's Dance and Hip-Hop stuff, since it's usually buried in her album between poppy dance and ballad singles. Thanks for visiting the Miyako! Peace!

Epik High - Black Swan Songs

2007-10-22T01:06:38Z

"All I see is hypocrisy and wanna-be Socrates!"

Epik High
Black Swan Songs

Disc 1: Swan Songs
01: Innisfree (Intro)
02: Yesterday (feat. 고영준)
03: Lesson 3 (MC)
04: Fly (feat. Amin. J for Soulciety)
05: Funkdamental (feat. UnknownDJs)
06: 그녀는 몰라 (Feat. MYK)
07: Ride (feat. L. Wan)
08: 이별, 만남... 그 중점에서 (feat. Alex Of Clazziquai)
09: The Epikurean (Intermission)
10: Paris (feat. Jisun of Loveholic)
11: Let It Rain (feat. 김종완 Of Nell)
12: 도시가 눈을 감지 않는 이유 (Feat. 이정, I.F.)
13: Follow The Flow (feat. MYK, D-Tox)
14: Swan Song (feat. TBNY)
15: Goodbye (Outro)
16: Elements (feat. DJ Wreckx and MYK)

Download
(Re-upped 8/17/08)

Disc 2: Remixes and Instrumentals
01: 사진첩
02: Paris (정재일's Black Swan Remix feat. 지선 Of Loveholic)
03: Lesson 3 (Street T's Street Cred Remix feat. MC Meta)
04: Swan Song (Pe2ny's Sweet Music Remix feat. TBNY)
05: Lesson One (Supreme T's Ghetto Child Remix)
06: Follow the Flow (Street T's Diamond Remix feat. Tiger JK of Drunken Tiger)
07: Lesson 2 (Instrumental)
08: Fly (Instrumental)
09: Hidden Track (30 Second Tablo Rhyme)

Download
(Re-Upped 8/17/08)

Overall Rating:
9/10

For Artist Info check out my upload of Epik High's latest album, Remapping the Human Soul.

Album Info:
Black Swan Songs is a release of Epik High's highly proclaimed third album, Swan Songs, that includes a second disc full of instrumental and remixes of Epik High tracks from all three of their albums. Epik High made it big with their releases from this album, Paris and Fly. There's a remix of Fly on Remapping the Human Soul (uploaded a while ago on here!) I decided to split it into two different downloads because the first disc is Swan Songs, unedited and just re-released, so if you already have Swan Songs you can skip on the first disc. However, the second disc of stuff only comes with Black Swan Songs.

My Thoughts:
Okay, so I pretty much stopped listening to Korean music a while ago just because listening to Japanese music helps out my studies a little, and since I'm not studying Korean (although I'd like to in the near future), Korean music does not. So I gave up on all the YG Family, Uptown, Drunken Tiger, Yoon Mi Rae, etc., but I couldn't give up on my Epik High. To put it plainly, these guys are the shit, and if you haven't checked em out already, then you should do it right now. Tablo is undeniably one of the best emcees in any language and Mithra (I'm sure I'd like him more if I understood Korean) is damn good too. All three of them do a little of the producing (mostly DJ Tukutz and Tablo though) and it is top notch as well. This album shows how extremely versatile they are with pop/dance style tracks like Fly and Paris right beside R&B stuff like Yesterday and 이별, 만남... 그 중점에서 (I have no idea what that says lol) and Hip-Hop tracks like Lesson 3 and Swan Song. The remix cd has a lot of great stuff too including a collab with Korean Hip-Hop innovator, Tiger JK. Epik High has a little bit for everybody, especially fans of asian Hip-Hop.

Now on to random news stuff. Zeebra's World of Music is out to download on multiple places, including Jpopsuki and JpopnKpop. It's definitely up to par with Zeebra's other album and is probably my favorite just because of the great singles and the range of style on the album. World of Music has a really hot reggae song by the name of Lyrical Gunman juxtaposed to hot the R&B hotness of Shinin' like a Diamond with the usual Hip-Hop greatness that Zeebra is so well known for all over the album. I really hope Shinin' like a Diamond is released as a PV/Single, because May J and Sphere are both great artists that could use the air time, and the song is hot to death!

Speaking of downloading stuff, I don't think I've said anything about JpopnKpop. It's a great blog with an ungodly amount of uploads (there's 55 for just this month!) with some short and sweet opinions of everything that is uploaded. It covers all genres and mostly has Japanese stuff, but does have the occasional Korean upload. It's a great site, especially for downloading big artist's material.

Anyways, looks like Double and DJ Kaori have a song out called "Miss DJ," that is decent but is kind of annoyingly mundane. I mean, they say their own names in chorus, come on! Whatever, little girls will probably like the song lol. I'm sorry, but every since Double got anorexic and released that shitty song with Verbal I've been pretty unimpressed with her material. Yes, she is one of the original Japanese R&B singers, and I respect her for that, but lately I've had trouble respecting her stuff. I'll probably be ordering Seeda's Machikaze this friday (Pay Day ^_-) and one other album. I haven't decided what album I'm going to get, right now I'm seriously thinking about Zeebra's World of Music because of how hot it is, and because I don't own any of Zeebra's full albums (i've got 3 singles though!)

A couple days ago my friend let me borrow the live action Initial D movie. I was never a big fan of the manga or the game, but I was impressed by the movie, it was pretty good! I was disappointed when I saw Jay Chou on the cover at first (wtf!? it's chinese!?) and it did take away from the movie a slight bit, but it is still worth watching. It's got a good cast and a great Hip-Hop soundtrack. I'm not sure who the rapper is, but I believe the last song is Edison Chen rapping with Jay Chou singing (they play Ryosuke and Takumi respectively) and it sounded like a really hot song. If you're not familiar with either of em, Jay Chou is a singer/actor that was in "Curse of the Golden Flower," a great historical Chinese movie with an awesome Shakespeare-style story (also has Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li in it) and Edison Chen is an actor/singer/rapper that just happened to be in M-Flo's "Love Me, Hate the Game" from Cosmicolor. Anne Suzuki (Moon Child, The Returner) is also in the movie and plays Jay Chou's love interest.

Oh yeah, if you haven't been following my blog from the beginning then you'll probably notice some of the older album have broken links. Well, I'm working on fixing them, but mostly by request. I listed every album that has a broken link on the post I did last night. I'll be re-upping Harlem Ver 3.0 and Palm Drive tonight since I already got a request for those. Just leave a comment anywhere if you want to request a re-up or a new upload. I've got DJ Deckstream's new album planned for my next post, and though I'm not sure how popular it's going to be, I got a request for it, so expect that by Tuesday. Anyways, thanks for visiting the Miyako and peace!

Downed Link Information

2007-10-21T04:18:48Z

Errr. Ok I'm pretty pissed about this. Apparently the ppl at MediaFire were having a good ol' time deleting a shit load of my files, because many of the links (one of which was just uploaded earlier this month!) have been deleted from the MediaFire servers. However, some of the older stuff is still there (like the Goichi and Epik High) so here's a list of all the links that currently do not work. I will edit this post as a reupload these. The list is in order of earliest uploaded.

Kreva - Shinjin Kreva (Upped 11/14)
Seeda - Hana to Ame (Upped 10/29)
DJ Hasebe - Tail of Old Nick
Heartsdales - The Legend (Upped 10/29)
Harlem Ver. 3.0 (Upped 10/21)
Teriyaki Boyz - Beef or Chicken
Foxxi MisQ - Gloss
DJ Mayumi - Berry Jam All Mixed Up
Yoshika - Just Us (Single)
Palm Drive - Block Holiday (Upped 10/21)
Doberman Inc - Stop, Look, and Listen (Upped 10/22)
Zeebra - Street Dreams (Single)
Kreva - Ai Jibunhaku (Upped 11/14)
Ozrosaurus - Juice
Ku Label Compilation 2
I-Dea - The Front and Back (Upped 1/16)
Sphere of Influence - Atlantis (Upped 10/22)

Many of these were just uploaded a couple months ago, so I'm pretty pissed off. I might start using MegaUpload, even though it takes longer to upload things on it and you have to wait 45 seconds to download something, just because they are less likely to delete my files that quickly. We'll see. It seems like MegaUpload has a time limit and then it is deleted while MediaFire factors downloads and time in whether they delete it or not. The bottom line is I will not be re-uploading all of these files, I will only be doing it by request. If you want one of these albumsm please leave me a comment (doesn't matter where) saying you'd like me to re-up it. You don't even have to leave your name (however a thanks would be nice)! I'll be glad to re-up any and all. I've already got a request to re-up Palm Drive and Harlem, so I'll get to those in the next couple days. Any that are re-upped will have links to the new file on both this entry and the entry it was originally uploaded on. Thanks for your help, and sorry for any inconveniences!

DJ Celory aka Mr. Beats - Beats Legend II

2007-10-18T00:52:38Z

Man, DJ Eggplant is way better.

DJ Celory aka Mr. Beats
Beats Legend II

01: Freestyle I / Zeebra, Hannya, Uzi, Q, Simon, and DJ Oasis
02: 理由 (Riyuu) / Hannya
03: Intro / Equal feat. Jack Herer and dNessa
04: そりゃぁないよ (Soryaa Nai yo) / K Dub Shine and DJ Oasis
05: Wannabees Cup 2002 / Dabo
06: 音楽遊び (Ongaku Asobi) / Cypress Ueno and Robert Yoshino feat. Shingo Nishinari
07: FUNK ING. / Muro feat. Gore-Tex
08: Adrenalin / Seeda
09: Let's Get It Started / Zeebra feat. Swizz Beatz
10: Still Neva Enuff / Aktion feat. Zeebra
11: ごうだつゲーム (Goudatsu Game) / Equal
12: 未来は暗くない (Mirai wa kurakunai) / Blast feat. Anarchy, Cypress Ueno, Coma-Chi, Simon, and Seeda
13: MVP / Uzi feat. Hab I Scream, Gama, and Rino Latina II
14: Over the Border / Kin da Sher Rock
15: Freestyle II / Hab I Scream, Cypress Ueno, and Shinpei Buto
16: The Three 16's / Zeebra feat. Twigy and DL
17: Open / Big-O and DJ Watarai
18: Street Dreams / Zeebra
19: This is How We Do / DJ Celory feat. Dabo and Hi-D
20: Hands Up -Type II- / Ya-Kyim feat. Tomogen (Doberman Inc)
21: バカヤROW (Bakaya ROW) / KM-Markit feat. Verbal
22: Pieces of Cake / Uzi feat. OJ Flow, KM-Markit, and Zeebra
23: Just Go / Jhett aka Yakko for Aquarius feat. Koda Kumi
24: KABUKI道 DX (KABUKi Michi DX) / Full of Harmony feat. Utamaru
25: Destination / May J
26: Mermaid / KM-Markit feat. Full of Harmony
27: Freestyle III / Coma-Chi, Taro Soul, Kin da Sher Rock, and Ken the 390
28: HIP / Ken the 390 feat. Mummy D and Tiara
29: Have a Nice Day / Kohei Japan
30: Soul Spits / Taro Soul
31: こっちきてみな～flow On～ (Kocchi Kite Mi Na)/ Dabo feat. Coma-Chi
32: イッサイガッサイ (Issai Gassai) / Kreva
33: ラストライン (Last Line) / DJ Celory feat. Aktion, B-Yas, and Dob-Roc
34: 心配すんな (Shinpai Sunna) / Hannya

My Rating: 10/10

Download

Artist Info:
DJ Celory started in Soul Scream with Hab I Scream and EGG Man, but worked with other artists on the side and finally started releasing solo works in 2004. His first major album, Beat Japan, was released in 2004 has Last Line and This is How We Do from this album on it. One of DJ Celory's best known production jobs is Zeebra's Street Dreams (which happens to be on this album too)!

Album Info:
Beats Legend II is a mix album by DJ Celory. All the tracks on this album are not produced by DJ Celory, although many are. Beat Legend II was just released in September of this year (2007).

My Thoughts:
Once again, I try not to use the perfect rating often, but this album is really great. Damn near every track is hot, and you can literally just stick it in your CD Player and party. Normally, mix cds kinda piss me off because hot tracks are mixed in with crappy ones, but this one isn't like that. Even the tracks and artists that I didn't know (Ken the 390, Kin da Sher Rock, Cypress Ueno, Robert Yoshino, etc.) are actually pretty tight, so I can't complain. Check out the original Freestyle tracks, hot stuff. This is a great album to get into lesser known emcees and hear some rare stuff from the big guys too. Enjoy.

On to music news. Zeebra and Seeda's new albums came out today. If you just can't wait (like me!) you can check them out at hmv.co.jp and actually listen to a sample of every track.

Seeda's Machikaze on HMV
Zeebra's World of Music on HMV

You can also buy them on HMV and have em sent to you, but I heard shipping is kind of crazy (you're probably better off with YesAsia). I tried to buy a couple tracks digitally, but apparently you can't download the tracks outside of Japan (wtf!?). Anyways, both albums seem really hot. Normally, Zeebra's albums are good, but this one seems great. All the singles from it are great, and there's a ton of great collabs for the album cuts. Check out Shinin' like a Diamond, Reason, and Lyrical Gunman!

Seeda's Album is Hip-Hop hotness too. It seems like Seeda worked with a lot of different producers this time, but Bach Logic is still one of em. Check out Around My Way, Flip Dat, and Technic (feat. Kreva)! Apparently there's a sequel to Hana to Ame's Futeishokusha as well, called Mata Futeishokusha. Sounds pretty hot. If you go to Seeda's Official Site, you can watch a small concert of Seeda's with Bay4k. He does a ton of songs from both Hana to Ame and Machikaze, so it's an easy way to check out some his new songs. Watch the crowd start screaming when he starts "Hana to Ame." Seeda just released a PV for Mic Story (feat. Ill Bosstino of Tha Blue Herb). You can download the PV from Controlle's site, but here's the PV rip if you just want the mp3.

Seeda - Mic Story (feat. Ill Bosstino)

I don't know who produced the song, but it definitely sounds like an I-Dea style track.

Speaking of Controlle's site, there's a big show covering a concert called Girls Park that happened in Tokyo and Osaka last month. It was pretty tight. Lots of great artists: Lisa, Ya-Kyim, Ayuse Kozue, Ayaka, Miss Monday, Metis, AI, Melody, Lecca, Bennie K, DJ Kaori, Bonnie Pink, and some others. The host was once again, the ever hot ia. There wasn't enough hip-hop in the thing for me really, but I will say that Ya-Kyim brought the house down when Coma-Chi came out and did "The Bridge" with em. Melody looked REALLY REALLY hot too. Skirts don't get much shorter than that! I'm not really a fan of her stuff without M-Flo, so I just muted it and watched her lol. DJ Kaori's lil session was pretty tight too. Anyways, it's definitely worth watching just for The Bridge and Melody/ia's hotness lol.

Oh yeah, in more music news, DJ Deckstream just released an album a couple weeks ago, I believe. It's pretty hot. You find the torrent on Jpopsuki, but I can upload it on here in the next week or so if I get a request. It's got lots of random american rappers on it (no big names except maybe Lupe Fiasco). There's a song on there with Lupe Fiasco and Verbal -- hot stuff. Wise has also got a song out with Metis, Jamil (American rapper?), Speech, and Turtles 4, which I guess is a producing group or company or something. I dunno. The cover of the single has the ninja turtles on there lol. The song is okay. It's upbeat and really positive in an almost phony way. Oh well, I'm sure many people will like it more than I do.

Well in J-Ro news (that would be me), MitsuiSelphie, the mastermind behind Ongaku Street, is starting a big website project. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but it's going to be a site with articles on the many subcultures of Japan, including different music genre, fashion, games, movies, and other stuff. I agreed to be the Hip-Hop correspondent, but there's still lots of spots to fill it seems. I'm excited to see where this goes, especially since I almost majored in journalism and this seems like an opportunity to use those skills.

Well, I think that's quite enough for now. Expect to see Epik High's Black Swan Songs up here in a couple days. 体にピース！

Doberman Inc - Best (Time for Some Action)

2007-10-12T22:52:50Z

lol I was afraid King T was gonna beat me to this one...

Doberman Inc
Best -Time for Some Action-

01: 24Karats -Type DI- (feat. Sowelu and Exile)
02: Brand New day
03: Hypnotic (feat. Jay'ed)
04: Fivestar Liners
05: ハートブレイク・レストラン (Heartbreak Restaurant)
06: Award Tour in a Box
07: Mega City Five
08: Put a Spell on You (feat. Minmi)
09: We Got it All Part II (feat. Asuka)
10: No Love/Wake Up! -MC 5 Version-
11: EVG Urban Forest
12: 花束とマイク~Contract Killer (Hanataba to Mic)
13: トライアンフ (Triumph)
14: O-Town Swinga
15: Die-Hard Maniac
16: The Chance of a Lifetime
17: Conversation Piece

Rating: 8/10

Download

For artist info, check my upload of D-Inc's Stop, Look, and Listen. In addition to that info, MAB left the group shortly before this album was released.

Album Info:
This is a compilation of Doberman Inc's best stuff through the years, with three new tracks -- 24Karats, Brand New Day, and Hypnotic. Once again, all tracks are produced at least partially by Bach Logic.

My Thoughts:
First off I want to say that the three new tracks are damn good, especially Hypnotic. I've been playing that song on repeat ever sing King T hooked me up with the mp3. Type DI is lil better than the released versions of 24Karats just because we get more DI and less of those other ppls (Exile who? lol). Some of the tracks up here aren't something I would put on a D-Inc best of album, but if everybody had the same opinion as me the world would be pretty boring. With that said, most of the songs up here are great, and if you haven't got into em yet (what is your problem anyway!?) then this would be a great place to start. 4 Great MCs+1 Awesome Producer+Some Nice Collabs=An album you should be downloading right now!

So my order from YesAsia came in last night, so I got this album, Kreva's Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu, and Epik High's Black Swan Songs release. All hot albums, so expect to see em up here soon. I'll also have DJ Celory's Beat Legend II up here soon too. I was actually going to upload that today until this one came in last night. I had to beat King T to uploading this one. What you got now, son? lol. Epik High's Black Swan Songs just happens to have Korean Hip-Hop king Tiger JK on it, along with some cool remixes of Swan Songs.

So, if you haven't already, check out Doberman Inc's official clothing line site:
http://www.domain-clothing.com/
It's also got a link to their normal site too. There's some pretty hot stuff up here, especially the -06 Outside- stuff. Check out P-Cho's rubber duckie shirt lol. Now that's gangster!

In music new, Wise's Taiyou no Kodomo is out. The torrent is floating around Jpopsuki and has got some pretty hot tracks up there, so check it out! No teriyaki boyz collab (probably a good thing but I want Verbal!), but we get one of those punks from Rip Slyme. Not bad for his first album I think, I just hope he goes for less pop and more hip-hop style tracks next time around (in other words, stop singing!)

Well, I got nothing else to say and plenty of other stuff to get done, so once and always, thank you, and enjoy!