UVERworld - Touch Off

 

 

One of the most interesting bands in Japan right now, and actually quite a veteran for that, I want to say Japan's MCR had they stayed together and hopped on modern trends - because there's always interesting elements in their songs, although they weren't electronic rock and this is. Maybe it's just because of that incredibly catchy NA NA NA refrain running through Touch Off. Also the 'Fire' bit makes me think of Fuego. Which is completely random really. But it's similarly upbeat at least!

 

Anyway I've been humming this ever since I started watching The Promised Neverland (and subsequently stanning it to anyone who'd listen) and it was well worth me breaking my informal pact to not send anime songs carelessly. Though I must admit 2018 was a bit of a weaker year on that front and 2019, in contrast, has gotten off to an incredibly strong start with this leading the pack. Hope y'all enjoy this BANGER opening the semi.

Marnik - Up & Down

 

 

Did you want a huge dance track with cool piano lines sung by little chicks? Well, you got one.

 

with many thanks to the numerous Terra Avium citizens who were eggnapped and forced to play the antagonists landed huge FLOCKS of starling roles in this video. Make sure you're up and flying high enough to vote for this, or we may have to arrange your downfowl.

Eiko Shimamiya - Naraku No Hana (Flower Of Hell)

 

 

So autoqualifier time? I got lucky again!

 

Actually, I wish to disavow any suspicion that I sent an anime OP just because I had an autoqualifier, because I did not send an anime OP just because I had an autoqualifier. I get really bogged down by the curse of choice sometimes, even moreso when the song might not face a semi. I was thinking metal, hard dance, goth rock, J-pop, everything I normally do and I couldn't focus, so I discarded everything and went with the song that had been the most in my head during confirmation week, which was Naraku No Hana. Rather randomly actually, I heard it for the first time in months about two weeks ago and remembered how good it was.

 

Naraku No Hana, or Flower Of Hell for its English translation and beautiful chorus lyric 'anata wa naraku no hana ja nai' (you are not a flower of hell), is the opening song to the second season of mid-00s horror cult classic anime Higurashi, that I got a little obsessed with last year. It's a slow but powerful midtempo with some great little sound effects and a lovely melody, I look forward to any support you give it in the final. Let's smash it!

I can't believe you've got away with the anime AQ swindle a second time!

 

(hey it's been a while since I posted in here, Séyetana have been having a very consistently good year for me so far, I really wish Marnik had managed to pull out the win, also justice for Japanese Breakfast etc.)

Excellent, I think I'm really recovering from the opening! I don't think I quite appreciated myself at the time what a crime Japanese Breakfast was being left out actually.

Miyavi - No Sleep Till Tokyo

 

 

The best current guitarist in Japan dropped this banger of an alt party tune the month I'm going to end up in Tokyo itself. Enjoy! ^_^

 

8kids - Dein Zuhause

 

 

so this is a genre-defying bit, if you enjoy message German and I hope you do, then you'll hopefully find this very compelling.

PinocchioP - I'm Glad You're Evil Too

 

 

SATANA rears its head again :o

 

in other news this is a really sweet and cute song (if you listen through Youtube take a look at the translated lyrics, it's about an outcast finding someone who's just like them) and the best vocaloid song I've ever found. It uses Miku so the voice probably sounds familiar, but as it's a vocaloid song, the quality lies with the producer. And PinocchioP seems to be genuinely talented, I've been listening to a lot of his songs lately.

 

Also try

,

and

(yes there could have been a 'ghost' song). TUNES.

GHOST DATA - T O M I E

 

 

one month after almost entering a spooky ghosty entry I actually have a spooky ghosty entry for you... no wait, just been listening to a lot of GHOST DATA, very interesting artist. Here's an instrumental he did. Is good. Maybe a little Purity Ring-esque.

 

also try Nuclear Winter, Wolf & Lamb and also some of his more known songs like Lily Love, Blatant Plagiarism and Celestial Bodies, the latter, which had slipped my mind, was once a consideration for neighbours Persephonia :o

Yui - Again

 

(the youtube video worldwide availability always seems to change so this might be blocked in the UK, I think the link I sent is fine for the UK though)

 

As the last contest of the decade I wanted to do something that related to the length of the decade, so I settled on a right tune that came out 10 years ago. One of my favourite J-pop songs that I've found through Chinese cartoons, Yui's Again was the lead-off to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - and the best out of 10 OPs/EDs from that show that are all stellar in their own right (side note: former Séyetan entrants Scandal actually have what might be their most famous song, 'Shunkan Sentimental' as one of those 10) - and yes I've been wondering when the right time is to send this for quite a while.

 

'Again' is a ferocious pop-rock song that I hope finds some fans here - it's always stunned me with how perfect and fast she sings. Side note: if I were to ever make a Youtube video talking about anime history (as you know, I might), I have to admit the main reason I'd do it is to lead up to the section on FMA:B before deploying that lovely instrumental that starts off 'Again'.

Tristania - Year Of The Rat

 

 

oh no, we're not letting my national thread die even though I did sort of let it die for three months of lockdown, let's start with my first entrant this year, which turned out to be the most important 2020 BJSC entry so far as my attempt to be clever and enter 'Year Of The Rat' during the real-life celebrations for the Chinese New Year of the Rat clearly cosmically doomed the rest of the year to be a ratty year, and I'm not talking about Pete Buttigieg's presidential run.

 

Tristania represent my symphonic metal side, it's a good song with some excellent instrumental lines, but I wasn't completely surprised it ended up being paid dust.

chelmico - Easy Breezy

 

 

Made up of two ladies named Rachel and Mamiko, chelmico is a Japanese pop-rap duo who gained attention earlier this year for being the musical brains behind this rather

opening to the artsy anime Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, a critically acclaimed anime about the creative process about making anime and a good show from earlier this year.

 

as it got to the final I count it as a success, Easy Breezy is addictive and funky to listen to and long may it remain a classic of mine.

clipping. - Blood Of The Fang

 

 

A succe$$!

 

Uh, I entered clipping. expecting nothing but I guess never underestimate the ability to stand out if one's track is just THAT good at what it does, and 'Blood Of The Fang' is an anthem of a experimental rap track. It was becoming pretty addictive even though I found it towards the tail end of last year and I'm really glad I entered it, as ever when your track gets a lot of mentions in the forums and/or a good reception on associated listenthroughs it becomes even more of a euphoric experience cheering it on.

 

love this track so much, which left the problem of 'how do I follow this up...'

Tami T - Single Right Now

 

 

I always like switching directions, and when I came upon Tami T, I found my direction, not totally divorced from Séyetan aesthetics what with the... high pitch, but sharing a compelling but simple message and a track with a great beat. 'Single Right Now' is a track on a loop, getting faster and faster until the actions it describes become a cycle of inevitability, and sounds great while doing so.

 

anyway hope you enjoy this partially messy, partially awesome sounding song.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/1/18/Princess_Luna_ID_S5E04.png

 

Avantasia - Moonglow (feat. Candice Night)

 

 

I have been listening to a LOT of Avantasia lately, prime vanity project of Tobias Sammet that often comes up with great operatic metal ('Farewell' in particularly is another classic). Eurovision stans might remember them from the excellent 'Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose' that was a candidate for the German entry a few years ago - and was definitely far better than whatever ended up being sent that year.

 

This is from their newest album, from last year, a duet between Tobias and Candice about... luna stuff.

 

(final Avantasia geekery moment that proves I'm the anti-Rollo, 'The Raven Child' from the same album is an 11-minute epic that was right there to enter for the long song bloc, but while it's excellent, I prefer to woo the BJSC public with songs that can be a gateway to the genres I like rather than hitting them with the deep cuts straight off - and 'Moonglow' is better, but I've wanted to make that argument for a little while now)

 

oh, I lied, final final bit of avantasia shilling, their cover of 'Lay All Your Love On Me' is challenging the original for my favourite version of that song

Minami - Ame Wo Matsu (Waiting For Rain)

 

 

Entry 90, and I've gone for a very impressive new singer that I've been following ever since last year when she did "

", the opening song for an anime I didn't watch. That song was impressive enough to catch my attention without that. It was a bit raw in places though.

 

"Waiting For Rain", the obvious sequel, is much more of a mature affair, tempering her voice with some rather lovely melodies. Basically GOOD POP.

 

and save your "typical anime" comments, first of all it's not typ...*pages-long rant redacted* and it's not associated with any anime but it does have that music video. damn. That's just HER STYLE.

'Crying for Rain' was one of my favorite songs last year (I didn't watch the anime either though lol), can't believe I missed this release!!

Spin-off winner: Fat Frumos - Chip Chip

 

 

also not to take away from the current BJSC and I don't normally update it for spinoffs but I realised that my national thread hasn't yet acknowledged actually getting a win over in the spinoff subforum! Which I probably should do.

 

It's something that, you know, after entering almost everything for near a decade and never winning anything in this forum, doesn't quite feel real so I haven't been exactly sure how to process it, particularly because I now have to drop any notion that I'm cursed because I'm not. But that's really great to have a song contest win under my belt in that part of the forum and with a great song too.

 

But anyway, Fat Frumos's Chip Chip is this really obscure (no really, I found it through searching Discogs for Ukrainian artists and then it has less than 1000 plays on Spotify) hardcore piece (with a fantastic chorus) by an Odessan producer whose only other interesting claim to fame I found is that he has worked with goreshit (of Jadakissnian 'the nature of dying') before - quite an unexpected crossover but I also loved that one, and he makes this lovely sort of 8-bit, hardcore, computerised electronic music which is just lovely - look up the track Black Metal Reggae on Spotify, it's not black metal or reggae but it's also great.

 

Spinoffs down ^_^ main contest next ^_^ vote for Ame Wo Matsu if it's in your semi and if it isn't wait until the final ^_^

Katie Dey - Darkness

 

 

(cw: photosensitivity)

 

Darkness leads off Katie Dey's new album 'mydata', which is, according to the artist herself, an album about being gay on the computer - so a very laudable goal. It's a good album, '

' is also fantastic. Very good artpop/indietronica.

Yuko Tomita - Auto Bān

 

 

Title confusion aside (see the semi-final thread), this is a lovely early 80s example of Japanese 'city pop'. Which was a genre in Japan in the 70s and 80s that puts a Japanese spin on American pop music that was getting imported during that time.

 

I think it's the oldest ever entry I've sent and yet that melody is timeless and sounds gorgeous, I hope you enjoy it ^_^

 

(also as per my sig, it's from 1983, which is also the same year that the story of Higurashi (source anime for 'Naraku No Hana' and a ton of my stanning) is set and Higurashi has its remake starting in three days but this is all just a happy coincidence let me stan that x)