Gackt is one of the most known name among those who are into the Japanese Music culture. It’s not that they’re fans, it’s just he has so much talent, does so many things and has shaped the music industry in certain ways that only Gackt could do. He has performed in English, French, Korean, Cantonese, and Mandarin on top of his native language Japanese. He was once in a band (Malice Mizer) with a member named “Kami” who had died due to subarachnoid hemorrhage (simply his brain bled, killing him) however, he was on tour at the time and found out a week later. He wrote two songs in memory of Kami “Emu ~for my dear~” and “U+K” He has released countless albums and singles in various bands and solo. He’s a vocalist mainly, but he plays other instruments as well. Of all of my favorite songs, “Orenji no Taiyou” by Gackt featuring Hyde from Gackt’s Creasant Album was definitely a powerful one. They had appeared in the movie Moonchild together, and while some people didn’t like it. I thought it was pretty good considering it was mostly famous people-not necessarily actors. It was a little disjointed, but it was a sweet plot and I loved the ending and opening, which this song was featuring at the opening of the movie and the ending, but the song is powerful and the scenes they play it in is just amazing. After you watch the movie it just sticks with you and you remember parts of what happened, and what otherwise might just be a good song, then becomes a song with meaning.

Mana is the creator of Elegant Gothic Lolita, people try to mimic the look, but the fact is it’s more of a brand name, so if it’s not from the Elegant Gothic Lolita brand, it might be in the style, but technically it’s not Elegant Gothic Lolita, not that I or the majority seem to really care, but I just wanted to point that out. No one actually knows what year he was really born in, I find that hilarious. He pretty much picks up whatever he wants and drops it when he feels like it. Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t a bad person, he’s a great person, which is exactly why he can do that. For the most part he doesn’t talk, he whispers in a band members ear and they talk for him. He claims that his voice is music and therefore he shouldn’t destroy it be continuously talking. Some bands he’s worked on are Girl’e, Matenrou, Malice Mizer, he found his own indie music label Midi:Nette then Mana founded his solo project Moi dix Mois, he created his own fashion lines “Moi-memê-Moitié which features Elegant Gothic Lolita and Elegant Gothic Aristocrat. He’s worked with Schwarz Stein. Currently he’s working with Kanon Wakeshima, who’s ending for Vampire Knight ’still doll’ is not only quite haunting, but so beautifully done. She is a cellist and a vocalist.

X-Japan was originally called “X” but they reached international popularity and ended up renaming themselves “X-Japan” in 1992 in order to make sure people didn’t get confused with the American punk band also called “X”  they disbanded in 1997. Though one song really stuck with me, even though it was way before my time, I had bumped into one of their songs and I just loved it. It’s called “Forever Love” and the song seems like forever, but it’s rather quite pretty. I was introduced to it via a fan made music video featuring “X” a series from CLAMP, but it also had Trigun and a couple other series in it, but I just loved the song. I felt it was placed with the animation so nicely. It’s funny how I react different ways to music depending on how I’m introduced to it. The song is 8 minutes and 41 seconds. The song was reissued in 1997, 1998, and 2001. The group disbanded after Hide’s death, which will be explained by wiki

Hideto Matsumoto died on May 2, 1998. After a night out drinking, he was found hanged with a towel tied to a doorknob in his Tokyo apartment. Three fans died in copycat suicides, of the 50,000 people who attended his funeral in Tsukiji Hongan-ji, nearly 60 were hospitalized and about 200 received medical treatment in first aid tents. While authorities deemed Matsumoto’s death a suicide, several of Hide’s friends and colleagues stated that they believed it to be an accident, among them X Japan co-founder Yoshiki Hayashi and former X Japan bassist Taiji Sawada. This notion is supported by the fact that no suicide note was left and Sawada theorizes in his autobiography, that at the night of his death, Hide may have been practicing a technique to relieve upper back and neck pains which guitarists can suffer from continuous use of a shoulder strap. The technique involved was practiced by the X Japan members during their touring days and required the use of a towel and a door knob or handle. According to Sawada, Matsumoto may have fallen asleep in his intoxicated state, becoming caught and strangling himself (wiki)

Morning Musume is an all girl group under the Hello! Project name. It’s quite strict and by strict, I mean ridiculous. The girls could get fired if they’re caught with another boy, and I’m just talking about holding hands down the street, or being seen with one. It originally started with Tsunku who created the idea for an all girl group. Originally they had come from a contest and there was only one winner, Michiyo Heike, who went on to be a solo artist, despite her being the originally winner of the contest, she didn’t do well at all. Meanwhile Morning Musume is still going along, having gotten less strong in the past few years due to the declining fad of Idols. The five girls who didn’t win had to sell a certain amount of copies of their single in so many days. They completed the challenge in a shorter amount of time than expected and Tsunku picked them up. All 5 members, Natsumi Abe, Ishiguro Aya, Iida Kaori, Fukuda Asuka, and Nakazawa Yuko. Through the years they’ve shifted members, none of the originally members are in the group. The only two still under the Hello! Project name were Natsumi Abe, Iida Kaori, and Nakazawa Yuko, however, as of March 31, 2009 the following members are going to be graduating, which is another word H!P pretty much uses for being fired, I only included previous Morning Musume members for the sake of trying to stay on topic.Nakazawa Yuuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Tsuji Nozomi, Konno Asami, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki. That’s 11 people. Morning Musume currently has 9 members: Koharu Kusumi, Reina Tanaka, Eri Kamei, Ai Takahashi, JunJun, LinLin, Sayumi Michishige, Aika Mitsui, and Risa Niigaki. Their latest single is Naichau Kamo (I might cry)

Utada Hikaru, I adore her, she’s so incredibly talented and I have no idea just where to begin. She did the openings for Kingdom Hearts if you’ve played that “Simple & Clean” and  “Sanctuary ” the Japanese versions being “Hikari” and “Passion” they’re both really great songs. Not too long ago she tried to make it in the American market with her album “Exodus” but the fact was she got pretty much no promotion and the CNN news people compared her to Britney Spears? Really? Is that really supposed to be a comparison? Only in popularity, Britney has just a slutty image and Utada has such a clean image. It’s like comparing Mother Teresa to a homicidal prostitute, you just. don’t. do it! and I’m not calling Utada the perfect person and I’m certainly not calling Britney a homicidal prostitute, don’t get me wrong. Though if you rally listen to the music and realize what they’re saying and then look at their music videos and how they express themselves through wardrobe choices, you’ll see it’s like comparing night and day and that Utada never had to rely on such risque actions in order to keep a crowd, she’s talented on so many levels. It’s just so ridiculous to hear these terribly inaccurate things about her, she’s so nice. She’s coming out with another album in the US soon, why? Because she’s so talented and famous to the rest of the world she can try again. She’s bilingual (English & Japanese) she has virtually no accent when she speaks in English and her Japanese in flawless. She has such a strong, powerful, amazing voice. She started in 1993 and in Japan alone she has sold more than 36 million singles & albums, think about that, just think about that, in one country, that’s how many singles she’s sold. 36,000,000 the numbers… it’s impossible to really grasp it, and she’s not just known in Japan, she’s incredibly famous all across Asia. “First Love” “Automatic” “Movin’ On Without You” “ASAP” “Sakura Drops” and “Can You Keep A Secret?” are just a few of my favorites from her. I highly recommend her, and if you look on YouTube I’m sure you’ll find it, she does a rendition of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day.

Ice Creamusume, this is a very recent event. They’re going to basically be, and I do mean on a very basic level, be Taiwan’s version of Morning Musume. They’ve already released a mini album, they sing in Japanese and Mandarin, since Mandarin is their native language. I can’t say their contest to find them was practical, some didn’t even have to sing during the whole process! How ridiculous, if you’re going to be a singer at least sing! But I must say I’m really happy with the people they’ve chosen, simply on appearances at the moment, but it seems like the one they call Guu-chan is incredibly adorable and seems to have a bit of a flirty attitude, but she can really dance. Here were the tracks on their first mini album released Jan. 9th of this year
01. 戀愛登場 (Love Debut)
02. 早安咖啡 (Morning Coffee)
03. 在沒有雨水滋潤的星球上是無法付出愛的吧? (In The Absence Of Rain Moisten The Planet Is Unable To Pay The Love, Right?)
04. 戀愛革命21 (Love Revolution 21)
05. Go Girl～戀愛勝利～ (Go Girl~Love Victory~)
06. Debut！～戀愛的轉角會有好運降臨～(日文版) [Debut! ~The Corner Of Love Will Bring The Best Luck~ (Japanese Version)]
07. 早安咖啡(日文版) [Morning Coffee (Japanese Version)]

They redid Morning Musume’s Morning Coffee, Renai Revolution 21, and Go Girl! Koi no victory in mandarin and the rest were the original Japanese songs from Momusu. They do have their own song, the “In the Absence Of” song (I have no idea if that’s the real translation, I know some of the characters, I should figure it out some day) and the “Love Debut” song. From what I’ve heard, I must say I like the voices a alot. I’m impressed, especially for a Hello! Project group, I hope they keep and do more songs, I’m excited to see what they’ll bring to the table.

Tsuchiya Anna played the character Ichiko in Shimotsuma Monogatari (AKA Kamikaze Girls) I loved that movie, and I thought it was awesome. It’s where I first heard of Tommy Heavenly6 with their ending theme. Though I one day looked in the extras section and realized that Anna Tsuchiya had a music video, this was all news to me. I had no idea that she was a singer, but I must say it was one hell of a song. I loved it, after that I searched for more of her songs and was never disappointed, her music has this strange aura surrounding it that I can’t really explain. It’s really cool though, such as “Kuroi Namida” “frozen rose” “Imitation Night” and “Crazy World” which features AI

Tommy Heavenly6, she also goes under the name of Tommy February6, but that’s quite a different sound than Heavenly6, there’s alot of synth and what no in Feb6. She says her two names help to separate her personality. While Feb6 is more of a “I look like a good girl, but I’m really bad” while Heavenly6 is more of a “I look like a mean person, but I’m really not” not that I could really tell the difference, I’ve only listened to Heavenly6, it just sounds so much better to me. It has a darker sound to it, and they’re just good songs in general. She sings the song “Hey My Friend” for the popular movie “Kamikaze Girls” also known as “Shimotsuma Monogatari’ by those who recognize the Japanese title better than the American title. She tends to have ‘melancholy versions’ of her music, just off hand I know she has “+gothic pink+” and “Lost my Pieces” with their original versions along with their “melancholic guitar versions” which are just more relaxed, but at the same time a little darker, they’re still really good versions, just different. She also has a song called “Melancholy Power + +” I’m not really sure if she knows what the word means, likes or word or isn’t sure what else to use, but it appears she enjoys using it regardless of the real reason-if any. Her real name is Tomoko Kawase, Tommy comes from her nickname and February would be from her birthday. Her song “Pray” was used on and opening theme for Gintama (an anime series) “Papermoon” was used as the second opening for Soul Eater (an anime series) She has a song dedicated to PIkachu it’s called “L・O・V・E・L・Y ～夢見るLOVELY BOY～” It was also featuring on the ending of the 7th pokémon movie Destiny Deoxys. at the J-Wave 2000+2 music festival, she and the other Brilliant Green members dressed up in Hogwarts Uniforms due to her being a fan of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

OLIVIA Lufkin is one of the coolest musicians I’ve ever heard. I just love the ay she experiments with sounds and vocals and her timing is just so amazing. This is what being is music is all about- or rather, should be all about. She takes her music to the next level and doesn’t think “Is this going to be popular?” she thinks “How can I test the boundaries” not that there appear to be with her. It’s so amazing how someone could stay for as long as her while doing so much experimental music, because one would think it wouldn’t sell, right? Wrong. At least, with OLIVIA. She’s bilingual. she has released 3 albums, one of them being inspired by TRAPNEST the band from the Manga NANA, she has released six mini albums, “Trinka Trinka” being the most recent piece of work (and a mini album) she has released ten singles. She used to be in the group D&D which was a really pop sound, but then continued onto her own as a solo after 2 years of D&D going under the name OLIVIA. D&D continued after Olivia left but with the name “Aya & Chika from D&D”. she’s currently on the Avex Trax label under their “cutting edge” sub-label and writes most of her singles. I highly suggest ‘a little pain’ I do believe it was inspired by Nana and I recommend “Space Halo”. Not to mention “Trinka Trinka” is a really fun song.

Caroline, this her Olivia Lufkin’s sister. I found her on Amazon.com I searched Lufkin and this is what came up. I bought her CD Murmurs, and it’s actually really good, my favorite song being “I’ll Leave My Heart Behind” it’s a very pretty, calm, relaxing kind of song. She clearly has the same genes that Olivia did when it comes to being a musician. After she graduated she moved to Tokyo where she began working on a Japanese Album, however she didn’t like what they were trying to do to her music and quit. “they kept on telling me to change things and I didn’t want to change them… They were trying to make the music super-pop, and I couldn’t quite deal with it.” She was impressed with the label “Temporary Residence Limited” and sent them a demo and was signed on. she has a Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/caroline) This is how they describe her: “With an incredible gift for writing gripping songs from the most minimal elements – not to mention a voice that could make angels weep – Caroline’s music seizes the rare opportunity to hypnotize everything and everyone around it. And really, who in this world doesn’t want to succumb to a music-induced weightlessness every once in a while?” I think they summarized her quite efficiently.