During Summer Sonic 2011, X Japan announced their Asia Tour dates.

October 28th – Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium in Seoul, Korea
October 30th – Shanghai Grand Stage in Shanghai, China
November 2nd – Beijing Workers’ Stadium in Beijing, China
November 4th – Asia World-Expo in Hong Kong, China
November 6th – TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei, Taiwan
November 8th – Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand

The tickets are selling faster than hot cakes! Don't think! Just reserve a ticket now, and think later! XD

Hindi Ako Iiyak
by Flippers

Kapeng aking tinitimpla
Lagi ngayong lumalamig
Di ko malaman kung kulang sa tamis
Tasang walang kibo sa 'ki'y nakatitig
Ako't siya'y naghihintay
Masagi ng iyong bibig

Buhok na mahaba, iniingat-ingatan mo
Noong isang linggo'y pinaputulan mo ito
Marahil ay pagod lamang ang aking isipan
At di ko napansin at hindi tinutulan

Chorus
Huwag kang mag-alala, di ako iiyak
Di magdaramdam kahit na ga-patak
Pag-ibig na minsan na nating dinanas
Sa tulad kong putik, tama na at sapat

Pintong dati-rati'y bukas sa aking pagdating
Ngayo'y nakasara at panangga sa hangin
Kung ako ay dumalaw at ito ay katukin
Kahit mahina pa, sana ay 'yong sagutin

Kay linis ng silid, walang nakakalat
Medyas at sigarilyo'y walang naghahanap
Sanggol na nasanay, nasanay sa ama
Ngayo'y natutulog kahit nag-iisa

Hindi Ako Iiyak

Scarlet Love Song
Performed by X JAPAN
Written and composed by Yoshiki
Original Soundtrack of Buddha (Animated Movie)

Romanji

Will you fly me away ?
Mata aeru to shinjite
Towani kanaderu...
Scarlet Love Song

Ah itsuka wa kazeni natte fly away
Anata no moto ni iku kara
Toki wa nagare eien ga iroase temo
Anata eno omoi kiseki no yōni kagayaite

Will you fly me away ?
Mata aeru to shinjite
Towani kanaderu...
Scarlet Love Song

Will you fly me away ?
Imawa hitomi o tojite
Kokoro ni utsuru...

Tsubasa ni aoi bara chiribamete
Hito wa dare demo habataku toki ga kuru
Sonotoki made
Hai ni narumade
I'll be falling

Mata afuredasu namida sae I believe
Karehateta hana ni inochi o ataeru
Toki wa nagare eien ga iroase temo
Ai no shizuku wa kiseki no yōni kagayaite

Will you fly me away ?
Mata aeru to shinjite
Towani kanaderu...
Scarlet Love Song

Will you fly me away ?
Imawa hitomi o tojite
Kokoro ni utsuru...

Scarlet Love Song

English Translation:

Will you fly me away ?
Believing we will meet each other again
I'll sing forever...
Scarlet Love Song

Ah someday we'll become a wind and fly away
I'll go where you are
Even if time passes and forever fades away
My feelings for you will shine like a glittering stone

Will you fly me away ?
Believing we will meet each other again
I'll sing forever...
Scarlet Love Song

Will you fly me away ?
Closing my eyes now
Deep in my heart, I'll see...

Scattering blue roses on the wing
The time will come for everyone to take off (depart)
'Til that time
'Til my body turns into ashes
I'll be falling

I believe even the tears welled up again in my eyes
Will give life to a dead flower
Even if time passes and forever fades away
Drops of love will shine like a glittering stone

Will you fly me away ?
Believing we will meet each other again
I'll sing forever...
Scarlet Love Song

Will you fly me away ?
Closing my eyes now
Deep in my heart, I'll listen to...

Scarlet Love Song

Para Kang

Performed by 1:43
Lyrics and Music  by Jojo Panaligan
Arranged by Jonathan Ong of SonicStudio
Vocal Arrangement and Backup by Myrhus Apacible

Para kang bombilya sa buhay ko
Saboy ng liwanag sa magulo
Halo-halo special sa tag-araw
Hot salabat laban sa ginaw, at di ba...

Para kang paro-paro na mailap
Na dumapo nung di na hinahanap
Jackpot sa lotto kapag singko
Ang tanging laman ng wallet ko, di ba...

Chorus
Para kang panaginip na natupad
Eroplanong papel na limilipad
Magic wand at kissing spell
Falling star sa wishing well, at diba...
PAra kang regalo t'wing Pasko
Swimming sa may beach kung Mayo
Lahat nagkatotoo
pagdating mo
At para kang...

Para kang milagro na kay ganda
Buhod ng ulan sa Sahara
Simoy ng hangin o kay bango
Lakad sa ulap ulit ako, at di ba...

Para kang anghel na kumakanta
Boses mo sa aki;y biyaya
Silip ng buwan at mga bituwin
Ang dating mo para sa akin, at di ba...

* Repeat Chorus

Di na kailangan ng kung anu-ano
At di na ako umasa
Sa iba (sa iba)
Ikaw na (ikaw na)
At di ba

* Repeat Chorus

Para Kang is a song by 1:43 (pronounced as "one-forty three"), a four-male boy group in the Philippines who's like a Filipino version of the Taiwanese F4 (JVKV), less Meteor Garden and the whole acting thing. Though they're becoming more and more popular to the teenage appeal because of the whole K-pop fever, I still think that they give more of the F4 feel than the K-pop ones. Anyway, this song is included in a 5 song album called Time For Love.

To start off with, let's have a little introduction and recap of things.

1:43, pronounced, like the time, "one-forty three," is a 4-male boy group in the Philippines who's managed by Chris Cahilig Talent Services. The four young boys of the group are Yuki Sakamoto, Kim Nicolas, Goldmon Aquino and Anjo Resurrection. They recently released their first album called Time For Love under MCA Music, Inc.

So, last Saturday at ToyCon 2011, I met the entire 1:43 group (less Kim Nicolas who was not present that day) and acquired an autographed album from them, and for my bragging rights that I really have to add, with a "♥ Euri" written by Yuki below his signature too.

They were really nice, and were all really tall (poor me that's so freaking small, despite the 4 inches platform boots I'm wearing T_T). And oh! I got myself a picture with the manager too! :3

I've listened to the entire album during my free time, the following days. And I thought of blogging about my mixed emotions about it.

I do not know how the teenagers of these days came to love Justin Bieber, and I start to wander whatever happened to "real" music, when I started hearing this song from Rebecca Black. Thankfully though, Lady Gaga was a bomb, and that you'll still feel that there's still hope for music with Bruno Mars and the others. But you know, back when I was in grade school, Nirvana, Incubus, X Japan, Luna Sea, Eraserheads, Rivermaya, etc. these were the "in" thing. So now, it's the era of K-pop and here we have popping out different K-pop groups. And since it's the "in" thing now, boy groups such as XLR8 (I hope I got that right) and 1:43 appears.

Going to my album review, Time For Love, is a mini-album. It's only composed of 5 songs, all original, and these 5 songs' minus one, for the rest of the tracks. I admit that I kind of chuckled a bit about the minus one thing, because the last time I bought an album with minus one included in it, was back in the days of cassette tapes.

I can't really understand Korean, so I'm not sure about the K-pop song lyrics goes, but I'll have you know that the song lyrics of this album is a bit too corny for my taste. I'm also not fond of the Tag-lish style of song lyrics because it adds more to the corny feel in it. Perhaps if I'm a normal high school student, I would bite it, but I suppose older generations has different tastes.

On to the bright side, however, I like the melody a lot. They're the type of songs you'll hum all throughout the day skipping, typical of a boy band song. And even if the song lyrics are too corny, you'll end up singing it, regardless. One good example was Andrew (Siopao Master) who kept singing Para Kang over and over again, even though he laughs at how corny the lyrics was.

And lastly, about the vocals, they really need to work on this. They don't sound bad, but they don't sound that great either. It's more like a so-so kind. I've seen videos of them performing live, and they sound the same as they do on CD, sometimes, a little off. I kind of understand them though, it's really not easy to sing in front of many people. I used to sing on stage too, back in high school, being forced to join singing contests and such. They may not be as perfect as how Boyz II Men sings acapella, but at least they probably can do better than what they can do today, with a little more practice, a little coaching or voice lesson somewhere, and confidence to stand in front of a crowd of people singing.

--

Thanks to Jepoy and Andrew for the pictures!

Before the review, I'll have you know that I can't read nor understand Japanese (besides a few words like Konichiwa, Arigato, and such). Therefore, I most probably wont say anything about the construction of the lyrics and such. I'll be doing this review based only on what I think about their music only by the hearing level of it — melody, voice, and how it blends, etc.

AYAKO - Tanabata

First and foremost, AYAKO is very pretty! She's someone who'll really catch your eye and make your head turn around when you see her pass by on the streets. And in her single cover, she's really pretty too, wearing a summer kimono! ♥

I'm listening to a song called たばなた (Tanabata). I think this one is a single. You can get yourself a copy or listen to the sample song here.

Here's the lyrics to the song, you might find it useful. Though I will skip talking about the lyrics, as I had stated above.

Tanabata

Lyrics: Ayako
Composer: Eidi Kakuno

Yozora no shita akari no nai michi no saki
Yasashiku fuku tanzaku no kaze
Sora wo miage futari kiri de boshi wo sagasu
Yukkuri to nagareru jikan

Tsutaeru koto dekinai
Anata wo omou kimochi

Hoshi ha hitotsu mo naku
Tada yami ni tsutsumarete
Ippo demo ii
Chikadzukitai sou omotta toki

Tatta hitotsu hotaruga hikatta
Kiesou dakedo tashikana hikari
Sou ni mukai te wo nobashite miru to
Todokisou… demo todokanai…
Nandaka kono kimochi mitai…

Yukkuri Yukkuri to nobotteku
Hotaru no hikari ni tsutsumarete

Kokoro no naka de onegai suru
zutto zutto zutto isshyo ni itai to

Review:

On the melody and composition side of it, I really love how this song started off with it's soft intro. Although the song gives a tender feeling all throughout, the intro is always something that hits it, for me. It's not too long (how I hate long intros) and not too short either. The song as an over all gives you a feeling of anticipation, peace and of a little sweetness. Something like the feeling of a love starting off and slowly changes to a sweet love story experience kind of thing. I can't really say, but I think it's a song of someone in love with someone (or something). And considering that the title is Tanabata, it's definitely a love song!

In the case of the singer, AYAKO has a pretty nice voice. Her voice range is pretty high, too, I think. I'm not sure about how high her voice range can reach, and I might be wrong though, but I think she uses falsetto over the course of the entire chorus of the song. It might  just be my personal preference, but I'm not fond of the usage of too much falsetto on a song. In this song's case, it makes the song sound a bit monotonous after the first chorus. I do believe that this song would sound better if she just uses her natural singing voice on it, rather than falsetto and add a bit more power into it.

And lastly, as an overall, I noticed that the background music is louder than the singer's voice which makes it hard to listen to the song, in which same case that it also makes the repetitive melody very noticeable.

Edit: Regarding the last statement above, I realized that this is only of my copy of the song. The version uploaded in Amazon Japan has the singer's voice louder than the background.

Other than those tiny detail, I like the song in an overall view. I'll give this song a 6/10 score.

I'll probably have my brother listen to this, too. He would probably love it. He likes Japanese love songs. And he's the hopeless romantic type of guy who watches Twilight (I'm serious!) and other cheesy movies. Though I like love songs too, I more into the tragic love songs type. Like my all time favorite Saigo no Iiwake by Tokunaga Hideaki and Suga Shikao's Yuudachi.

Bands from these series:

• AYAKO
• YUIKO
• LAD
• Daisuke
• ふたぼしりょうこ (Futaboshi Ryouko)
• ゆぅ☆ (Yu)
• Chrono Supreme
• EIdi Kakuno

June 28, 20100 - London, England
July 1, 2011 - Paris, France
July 4, 2011 - Berlin, Germany

He also, announced that they'll be a part of the Summer Sonic lineup happening on August 13, 2011 at Osaka Japan!

There'll be an exhibit after as well as donations from other popular artists such as Marilyn Manson, Stan Lee, Shanei Grimes, Chelsea Handler, the United States through more members of the HFPA Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Jemuzufuranko, etc.

Details of Yoshiki's Piano are as follows:

Tamotsu Tokoro - YOSHIKI Piano Crystal
KAWAI CR-40

88 keys (7 1 / 4 octaves) / 3 pedals (with sostenuto)
White Keys Fainaibori  (antibacterial)
Black Keys - Faineboni (antibacterial)
Use clear acrylic resin w/ chairs only
Height - 100cm / frontage 150cm / depth 185cm / 425kg weight

(Image credit: here.)

March 13, Tokyo – X JAPAN’s Yoshiki is going to auction off his priceless crystal piano that he brings all over the world whenever he has concerts, is to be auction off to help Japanese people who were affected by the 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan on March 11.

Yoshiki was in his recoding studio in Japan when the earthquake happened. Feeling it and seeing news reports of his countrymen devastated him and he thought that he must do something for them.

Yoshiki is also collection donations through his American foundations, Yoshiki Foundation America.