[HearJapan.com] Two new D’espairsRay tracks “brilliant” and “Cocoon” to be released on May 14th
May 12, 2008 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
That’s right, On May 14th at MIDNIGHT Japanese Standard Time, a quick download from HearJapan.com and the two new D’espairs Ray tracks “brilliant” and “cocoon” will be YOURS in a matter of seconds. No importing fees, weeks of waiting, nor scouring the internet for sub-par uploads! For only about 4 dollars you can show your support for the band and be the first of yours friends to enjoy the brand new single! Preorder now at a 10% discount, exclusively on HearJapan.com!…always high quality, always DRM free… HearJapan IS J-music Mp3.
More than a year of silence by Japan’s D’espairsRay has made the anticipation for their new release deafening. This is truly an exciting day not only for us at HearJapan but for D’espairsRay fans all over the world. We are proud to announce that the new D’espairsRay single “Brilliant” will be released worldwide exclusively through HearJapan!
The title track’s name, “Brilliant”, truly says it all. It is both heavy yet delicate, in-your-face yet intriguing layered, and catchy to boot! “Cocoon”, the aptly named companion track to “Brilliant”, is a decidedly darker song, showcasing lead singer Hizumi’s beautiful voice in a mix of English and Japanese lyrics.
Included as a special bonus to those who purchase the complete single is an approved translation of Hizumi’s magnificent and poetic lyrics–make Hizumi proud and understand his every nuanced word! Ordering the album is simple and simply the most direct way to show support for one of our favorite bands. In fact, with every album sold, the band receives their proper royalties and the label is notified of the location of the purchaser to aid in future tour planning purposes!
[OFF-THE-HOOK] J!-ENT “Taste of Chaos” Interview and Photo Gallery feat. MUCC, D’espairsRay and the Underneath
May 6, 2008 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
Hi everyone!
Our interview with MUCC, D’espairsRay and the Underneath is up. The interview is by J!-ENT’s Wynne Ip and also included is J!-ENT photographer, Nergene Arquelada’s photo gallery from the “Taste of Chaos” concert in Long Beach. Awesome photos!
Tags: D'espairsRay, MUCC, TASTE OF CHAOS, the Underneath[DVD REVIEW] D’espairsRay - Spiral staircase #15 Final
BAND: D’espairsRay
DVD: Spiral staircase #15 Final - 20070513 Shibuya-AX Japan
LABEL: J SHOCK
CATALOG #: ADM-202036
DVD INFO: 4:3, DURATION: 118 minutes
- DAMNED
- ANGELDUST
- MIRROR
- IN VAIN
- SIXTY NINE
- PIG
- LOST SCENE
- CLOSER TO IDEAL
- TRICKSTER
- SCREEN
- SQUALL
- KOGOERU YORU NISAITA HANA
- REDDISH DIV.
- DESERT
- HOLLOW
- FUYUU SHITA RISOU
- KALEIDOSCOPE
ENCORE:
- BORN
- FORBIDDEN
- FASICM
- TATOEBA KIMI…GA…SHINDA…RA
With the release of albums featuring Japanese rock bands D’espairsRay and the Underneath from new Japanese music distribution company J SHOCK, the company also debuted their first DVD release with D’espairsRay “Spiral Staircase #15 Final - 20070513 Shibuya AX Japan”.
Having listened and enjoyed their album “Mirror”, I was definitely interested in seeing how D’espairsRay would perform in concert.
One thing I’m very adamant on in regards to a band is that if they sound as good as they do on an album, they better sound just as good live.
Nothing destroys it for me than to hear a beautiful or hard hitting song and then watch a lame performance, lack of passion and just overall just the epitome of “suck”.
Fortunately, I can give a positive thumbs up that D’espairsRay’s new DVD was a very good concert and the overall energy of the band and the audience was captured very well, thanks to the many cameras utilized throughout the venue.
Shibuya-AX is not a super large venue but from concerts that I’ve seen in the past, if camera footage is placed well and depending on the bands performance and the audience reaction, things can come out quite effectively.
So, for the band’s stage presence, one thing that caught my attention was the spiral staircase wrapped around the background. Definitely a nice touch to use the stage effectively (since many other bands just typically use a curtain or secondary level stage to make things look good, especially at Shibuya-AX).
As mentioned prior, the use of cameras was effectively used. That is many of them. But before I go on, let me talk about quality. One thing that I noticed that many bands tend to go for more of a digital video type of recording for their concerts these days, for this concert, it looks as if the folks of Visual Trap went for film. So, the digital crispness that some may be used to from concerts of major labels is absent.
But don’t think that this works against the concert that they didn’t go visual because what the camera crew employed was a good number of cameras fixed around each band member with various angles, closeups. This includes cameras behind the audience, above the audience and so you don’t miss a beat.
When it comes to editing, I tend to be a bit fickle about how many seconds before transitioning to the next band member. I tend to prefer to like the camera staying on a fixed band member for four seconds or more but many times, on this concert, the camera stays for only a second. And on many pop acts, this would be a no-no, because it could be dizzying and just doesn’t work.
But for this concert, the transitioning worked because you actually are getting a good view of each band member and around the stadium as if you were truly there and for the multiple closeups from a variety of angles, you get even more visually.
As for the audio, the audio is in PCM Stereo, no digital 5.1 ch but it’s OK. As much as I like the audio to be digital 5.1, for an independent release, I think what was delivered on this DVD was more than I expected to receive compared to other Indie concerts on DVD.
As for special features, you can choose the encore songs and the cool part about this is although four tracks are listed on the DVD track listings, there are actually I believe six tracks and you get the nearly seven minute “Off Shot” which shows the crew building the stage, the band checking out the stage and everything leading up to the concert
The menu is simple with the play all, song selection and special features.
As for the DVD insert, it’s a vertical tri-fold featuring pictures of the group and the venues performed at for the band’s live tour. Other side features credits and track listing.
I actually found the concert to be very cool. I’m not exactly knowledgeable on the bands members or a lot of their music but a lot of the songs from their “Mirror” album, it was great to see them perform live.
The performances were very energetic, the band performed very well on stage, great stage presence, lighting and overall, the camera crew and editing crew did a great job in trying to capture the concert moment, especially for those who are not physically there.
The concert does not include the complete MC segments and not sure if they did much speaking during the live concert to begin with but all in all, taking for what this DVD features, I have to say that among the many Indie bands I have watched on DVD, production-wise, the quality and what the production crew was able to capture, was pretty impressive.
Very good camera footage and again, although not digitally recorded, the editing crew made up for that by making sure that you didn’t miss a beat.
So, for those who are fans of D’espairsRay and have been curious about this DVD, I’m telling you right now, you can’t go wrong.
With J Shock now bringing J-Rock fans distribution for some of their favorite bands to the United States audience, please support them by purchasing the DVD.
“Spiral Staircase #15″ is energetic, hard hitting and visually entertaining. Check it out!
[OFF-THE-HOOK][CONTEST] D’espairsRay/the Underneath - Deadline April 30, 2008
April 1, 2008 by KNDY · Comments Off
The winner of the D’espairsRay and the Underneath contest are:
Daniel Flores, Mission, Texas - Winner of the Underneath CD
Melanie Kim, Virginia Beach, Virginia - Winner of the signed D’espairsRay poster and the Underneath poster
Stuart Gimley, Norridge, Illinois - Winner of the D’espairsRay and the Underneath posters
Thank you everyone for participating! Keep checking in for more J!-ENT upcoming contests.
Tags: D'espairsRay, J SHOCK, the Underneath[WORLD GROOVE] Currently listening to D’espairsRay - “Mirror”
March 13, 2008 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
BAND: D’espairsRay
ALBUM: Mirror
LABEL: J-SHOCK
CATALOG #: ADM-101025
DURATION: 56:35
RELEASED IN THE USA ON MARCH 18, 2008 (Originally released in Japan on April 11, 2007)
- DAMNED
- TRICKSTeR
- MIRROR
- SIXty NINe
- Kogoeru Yoru ni Saita Hana
- SCREEN
- Lost Scene
- Hollow
- Closer to ideal
- Angeldust
- Squall
- Kaleidoscope
D’espairs Ray has become a fan favorite for J-rockers with live performances in Japan, North America and Europe and continuing to attract listeners to their music.
And thanks to Adrenaline Music Group (which distributes JSHOCK DD LLC music), D’espairsRay fans will now be able to get access to the music.
“Their music engages and pushes the cultural envelope and we are thrilled to bring their music to the U.S. market,” Bob Divney, General Manager of Adrenaline Music Group said.
D’espairsRay made their US debut with the release of their album “MIRROR” and their DVD “Spiral staircase #15 Final” (both released simultaneously on March 18, 2008).
But the history of D’espairsRay goes back to the year 1999 when the group first formed. The band consisting of HIZUMI (vocals), Karyu (guitar), ZERO (bass guitar) and TSUKASA (drums) have released a total of two albums, three EP’s and ten CD singles.
Although a lot of our writers are big fans of D’espairsRay, I haven’t listened to a lot of the band’s previous works and I must say that I was very pleased with this overall album.
I actually enjoyed every track on this album and it’s been on repeat on my CD player for many hours. “Mirror” really features a good blend of heavy hitting tracks with bulging chord progressions and serene guitar lines by Karyu, mind numbing bass playing by ZERO and awesome dynamic percussions by TSUKASA.
It’s one thing to say that I like the music for tracks such as “Closer to ideal”, “TRICKSTeR” and “Angeldust” but in truth, each track has something that I found enjoyable. The music is really well done on this album.
I also found HIZUMI’s vocals to be charismatic and agile and songs such as “SIXty NINe”, “Lost Scene”, “Hollow” and “Squall” showcase his infectious vocals.
Vocals and music work well in unison and again, all tracks are just well done, highly enjoyable and very rare to find an album where I didn’t find a single track that sucked.
The CD-insert/booklet features photos of each member of the group and production credits.
Unlike many the people on the J!-ENT staff who have seen D’espairsRay perform live and love their music, many of them asked me to review this album because of my unfamiliarity with them and I would have no bias towards their music or the overall genre.
So, basing my judgment on “Mirror” alone, I commend Adrenaline Music Group for choosing to release “Mirror” and also bringing D’espairsRay to the US for distribution.
It’s very rare for me to pick up an album and keep on listening to it for over a dozen times (especially with so many albums and CD singles that we have on our plate for review), but I can truly say that “Mirror” is one of those albums that I found habit form with each listen, refreshingly irresistible and overall, a well-produced album.
So, I guess you can say that my eyes are now wide open for D’espairsRay’s music and I join my fellow staff in acknowledging and respecting the awesome music from D’espairsRay.
“Mirror” is highly recommended and also with the announcement that the band will be appearing in the North American Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour, not only can you check out their album and DVD (available now) but also watch them live at a RTOC tour near you.
Tags: D'espairsRay, Mirror
