Music in my veins

Sometimes you check your inbox a thousand times a day expecting email from that one special person. Sometimes you just can't help but wonder why he or she doesn't send you an email soon even though you are expecting it like crazy. When time passes by so slow that you can't stand the feeling of waiting, just waiting to hear anything, even just a simple hello, from that special one person. Reading an email, or a chat message, from the last exchange of words between you and him soooo many times that you could remember it from memory. All just because he wouldn't send a new message! Waiting... Waiting... Wait even more... But nothing comes!

Merry christmas! In japan,at least as far as I know,Xmas is associated with couples more than other things. it's a good time to have a boyfriend or girlfriend around. There are lots of dating places to go on Xmas for couples. I have even heard of people finding a date just because they hate spending this holiday alone when everyone walking on the streets were in couples. So i thought it would be appropriate for me to introduce this little sweet Christmas song that talks about lovers instead of mistletoe or egg nogs hehe. This song is by Tommy heavenly6. She is a little 90s (especially her band The Brilliant Green ) but is still very good now. The singer tomoko is very talented and she does two other projects in distinctly different styles. I sometimes doubt that she has multiple personalities,but in a good way of course. Good that she is still producing new songs today.

I never get tired listening to the pillows!! They are just so amazing. They are a japanese rock band, kind of old-schooled but still cool as ever. I love their laid back style. There is a pillows song to play for the mood you're in at the time. I missed seeing them at Shimokitazawa last time I was in Tokyo. hopefully I can see them sometime playing live!! The pillows- funny bunny (one of my favorites)

The song yumekui by Otuka Ai was in my head all day today. This song has very profound lyrics. A little dream monster will help you achieve your dream. My favorite part is that "When the dream has come true/the dream monster eats up the dream" and you can start on the next dream. Something like that. So cute. I wonder if there is a dream monster in all of us. Does he die when we become adults? It is quite true, as the song says, that as we grow old we no longer dream like we used to. Why does that have to be so? Well, it doesn't have to be so! says the dream monster. Let's listen to this song and reawaken our little monster inside :) Let's watch it with French subtitles lol.

This song was stuck on my head all day today. It's from my favorite band SHAKALABBITS!! I heard that because the singer Uki likes rabbits, that's why her band name (the last half of it) means rabbit. how cute. They did a concert version of this song, which is in their live album. It starts with an acoustic version of the second chorus. I love that part so much. The guitar, the vocal... everything melded together perfectly. like chocolate. One of my all time favorites. Since they are a big influence for me, I will be introducing some of their other songs as well later. Look out for more shakaaaa labbits! shakalabbits-head scissors

Ugh my internet was down. Actually it's still down right now. But one always finds his or her way to an internet connected computer in the world today. how crazy. Tokyo Jihen is a really cool band. They do all kinds of styles of music. It's good and its not good. I can't say I like all their songs, but I will give them props for trying out so many new things. Actually I just like Shiina Ringo, the vocalist from the band. She also goes solo and makes good music too. Her voice is really catchy and wild. Out of all the singers that I know, I think her voice is closest to "reality" and the reality that is being sung in the songs. Her voice is just so Shinjuku nichoume-(red light district in Tokyo, or used to be) and so full of emotions. It just slashes you to the core of your bones. While that might sound a little gory, but... just take a listen.

This is definitely THE song of this winter. It is called "Hello Again, mukashi kara aru basho" by the singer JUJU. She has such a nice voice and this song is just the right match for her! The song is a cover of the song with the same title by My Little Lover. When I first heard this song, I thought the JUJU version was by far better than the original. Because if you read the lyrics, the song is actually talking about lost love, which means sad song. So the original would seem too happy and pop-ish to be able to convey the meaning. And JUJU's ballad/straight versions are a lot more mellow and in the right mood for me. However, upon listening to the original by my little lover after a while, something different came out of it. There is more to it than just happy upbeat pop! It can sound kind of deep. The emotion of "he shed some tears then/but I could not see it." (from the lyrics)--is conveyed in its own way in the original song. I can appreciate the old and ne...

This song, watashi wa anata ga ii no desu, by Abe Mao, is one of my very favorites. This is one example of what simple guitar can be enough for a good song. Don't need much else. And the vocal, she, maybe barely 20 years old, can write such good songs despite her young age! Sometimes I wish my mom could have bought me a guitar for my like 6th birthday or something. Then I will be super good by now :) She is singing about some crush she has and that she wants to always see his smile and have him by her side. I couldn't help it but go awww... teenagers can be so cute sometimes~

This is one interesting band. Why did they have to disband before I discovered them? The vocalist's voice is sooooo kawaii! And they are really good. I wish I could have seen them live when I was in Japan last year... Their songs are all in English, but in very Japanized English. I believe it sounds like Japanese to non-Japanese people even. But who cares? whatever language they choose to sing in, it sounds nice and meaningful :) In the middle of a conversation, when I said "the band berry roll..." to my American friends, one friend was like, "what? like belly roll?? hahah" me:"...." Berry Roll- Climber (This song is in Japanese yay :)

Pass the JLPT level 1 test tomorrow!! Pray- Tommy Heavenly6 She writes the most intriguing lyrics!

I love sunny days. They are my favorite weather. I think I was born on a sunny spring day, and I am happy for that. Anyway, the song Sunny Day Sunday was sang by the Japanese band Sentimental Bus. I wish they are still around but they have already disbanded a long time ago. So this is actually an old song. It was a commercial song for a soft drink in Japan. I think that's how most people knew this song from. Such a catchy song and it brings you sunny day moods whenever you listen to it! Let's listen to it and imagine the 39-degree Celsius Japan summer! not a bad thing to do in this cold winter day....

It was supposed to be an anniversary but it didn't. a person can get very tired physically, but no matter how tired he or she is, there are things that could not be forgotten. What does music do for me? it helps heal me but it also can penetrate my weakest part and cut me and make me writhe in pain if the right song is played at the right time. or at the wrong time. We would have listened to this song with nostalgia if today had been our anniversary.

Uplift spice? Just recently found this band. The vocalist's voice really catches my attention. It makes me feel very alive. A little bit like Shiina Ringo maybe. I find that there is something in Japanese rock that other genres of rock don't have. Is that what you call the kawaii factor?? I don't know, but I like it very much.

Literal translation: A little song about love. Chiisana koi no uta is a hit song from mongol 800, a Japanese rock band from Okinawa. It was an immensely popular song. It was not only the theme song for the drama Proposal Daisakusen, but was also covered by Japanese idol Aragaki Yui, who sang this song with like 3000 middle school students. The music video for that version was pretty nice too. But I like the original by Mongol 800 more. The way that the vocalist almost couldn't reach the highest notes somehow makes it sound cute. Although I have seen the drama too, I did not like it and would rather not associate this song with the drama. This catchy little song about love is good enough by itself. Who doesn't love to hear songs about love?

Feel like Im exploding with musical ideas.. just wish i can express them in songs. how interesting that would sound to other people... Feel like I have a thousand things I want to say, but not in words. Maybe some eighth notes can do the job better. I wonder what will happen if all I eat and drink is music and what goes out of my mouth as well. What I spit to the ground and what I breath into the air.... oh if they can all be expressed in musical terms how splendid they will appear in a sheet of music. Imagine a day when all the words are replaced by music... and we can all talk music. how simple and fun life will be.

This song called Where have all the flowers gone was done by Lara, singer from a Taiwanese group Nan Quan Ma Ma. She also has another new single out called "I didn't". Interestingly, both songs can be played together and a new sound is created. Her voice is very soft and pure. I really liked her other song "rainy day" as well. As a 22 year old singer she is doing a pretty good job producing her songs. The song reminds me of angels talking to each other in somewhere full of roses and sunlight. I am so going to sing this at my next karaoke visit.

It starts with "Nobody knows who I really am"... maybe they just don't give a damn. I like the lyrics to this song. I think it would speak to many people. The song flows smoothly like water, like the ocean waves washing up the shore. It never fails to refresh me whenever I take a listen. The singer, Rie Fu, her voice is wonderfully soothing too. I think she owns one of those "healing" type of voices. With simple piano accompaniment, it is a song nicely done. Life is like a boat-Rie Fu

I wonder why sometimes songs in another language sounds so intriguing to me. Even though I don't know what the song is talking about, the words and texture of the language make the song interesting by itself. Sometimes the melody is catchy enough for one to just enjoy the ring of the language to the ear instead of having to understand the language. In a way it can be stimulating too because our brain will be inspired and excited by the new input of sounds of an unknown language. I am just rambling about languages because I just heard a song on a friend's webpage, which I think is Thai language... but I am not sure. It was definitely a cute song though. The sounds of the words in itself seemed like music to me♪ Maybe I should have majored in linguistics in college.

Recently I am really into this band called Tsubakiya Shijyuusou. They are a Japanese rock band formed in Sendai in 2000. Their sound is different from the other jrocks band in that they infused the "wa" spirit, or the Japanese element, into their rock songs. Especially when a lot of other jrock bands are singing in English lyrics that sometimes don't make sense, this sound is pure jrock to me. The main vocal writes the songs and I really like the lyrics that he writes. They are original and not cheesy at all. Especially this song, Koi Wazurai, I fell in love with it the first time I hear it. Something about it just attracts me and makes me want to listen to it over and over again. This song I find very addictive. Still have to explore more of their songs, but I am glad that I found them. They will keep me out of musical boredom for a while.