"Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa" single info

[CD only]

[CD+DVD]

Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa (輝く空の静寂には)

Kalafina's 8th single [Kuroshitsuji II insert song]

SECL-901~4

2010.09.15 OUT

01. Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa (輝く空の静寂には) [4:12]

02. adore [5:13]

03. Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa (instrumental) [4:12]

Hmm... I didn't really like the song when fellow Kalafina fan Yuki-chan posted a preview of the song. It was like a sapphire meets Haru wa Koganei no Yume no Naka. =__=' But after hearing the preview from the PV (which happens to be a preview as well), I've come to like it - a little. It's like sapphire meets red moon. XD *stoned to death* And while I appreciate the titular track since it sounded like a B-side song, adore is very much likeable! Though it kinda resembled fantasia. I'll still be looking forward to this single.

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mood: a bit sleepy and hungry~
rhythm: "Kyrie" - Kalafina

Kalafina - Red Moon album review

Remember this long review? I don't suppose I could write something like that since this isn't the first time I'm reviewing a Kalafina album and I don't think I'd making some intro or refreshers that much. But I would like to note that it has been awhile since the last time I reviewed their release.

So should I start? Then go right ahead.

1. red moon
2. 光の旋律 (Hikari no Senritsu)
3. テトテトメトメ (TE TO TE TO ME TO ME)
4. fantasia
5. 春は黄金の夢の中 (Haru wa Koganei no Yume no Naka)
6. Kyrie
7. 闇の唄 (Yami no Uta)
8. 星の謡 (Hoshi no Utai)
9. storia
10. intermezzo
11. progressive
12. Lacrimosa
13. I have a dream

Look who's back from the slums of Beverly Hills?

Well, it's just me, FRED ITACHI who's back from the blogging world. Though I can't say I'm totally back for good but after an unintentional and long hiatus, I think my blogging spirit is getting back to me should I say?

Okay, so I didn't post for like 5 months but do you think I abandoned my fandoms? I don't think so. =p

Probably, I'm going to review ELISA's Rouge Adolescence, Mami Kawada's LINKAGE and Kalafina's Red Moon in the next few days so I hope my followers (if any) and friends got to read this one. Since I haven't been posting, expect that my style of expression would be a bit different or like it's lacking something. But I'm pretty sure I'm going to work on it. XD And so coming up for review next time:





[P.S.: Sorry if my layout is not something I really made. I'm just not in the mood to make a layout for myself. =p but I still made the new banner.]

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感情: happy
音楽: "Te to Te to Me to Me" - Kalafina

progressive single details, blossomdays (short ver.) now available

Ok, so I'm late with the news because I assume you know the reason, right?

And so ε～Epsilon～ full ver. leaked as well. =S And I was a bit late for that. Did not even know where it came from. Anyway, this one is NOT a total high quality rip. Someone just posted this at aibublog. I don't think the one who uploaded won't mind if I use his/her link. I was just a pissed off with the Engrish. 6:06 is so love for me. x3 but totally not impressed with the long version. Only the first 4 mins. were impressive. Or maybe the mp3 was not that high quality that's why I didn't like it. :P

And btw, I ripped the blossomdays short version from the demo in the lupinus website. Not totally liking the song although it's eurobeat. Kinda sounded like the techno-trance-euro group m.o.v.e's work if you ask me -- it's too generic and nothing astounding.

But THE MOST EXCITING NEWS FOR ME IS THIS...


progressive [CD+DVD]


progressive [CD-only]

progressive
Kalafina's 6th single
SECL-814~6
2009.10.28 OUT

Yes I may be too late with the covers but take a look at this!

01. progressive (5:41)
02. うつくしさ Utsukushisa (4:50)
03. progressive -instrumental- (5:41)

Info courtesy of JBook. :D

ヽ(´▽`)/ ヽ(´▽`)/ ヽ(´▽`)/

What's exciting? Because progressive will be a long song!!!! XD storia was great but it's too short for me. :P The coupling song is moderately long as well! I'm kinda longing for a new Kalafina single and it will be full-packed! Though haven't heard any preview of progressive. x__X But I know it will be great because Yuki Kajiura IS EPICALLY GREAT!! 8D And it's a good thing the terrible cover was the CD-only version, gotta love the CD+DVD!!! ♪┏(・o･)┛♪┗ ( ･o･) ┓♪┏ ( ) ┛♪┗ (･o･ ) ┓♪┏(･o･)┛♪

And by the way you can access the Kalafina website through http://www.kalafina.jp/ and not the Sony Music website anymore!! It's kinda long for me to memorize!!! (((( ；ﾟДﾟ))) Too many slashes... At least I memorized all the Geneon Website of the I've Girls. :P *gets shot*

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感情: just woke up and hungry. :P
音楽: "Tougenkyou" - HALCALI

Kalafina's progressive single cover exposed!

Now, the Kalafina's long-awaited 6th single progressive has now revealed its single cover! It's a good thing someone from last.fm uploaded it and of course, as a paparazzi, I snagged this! xP *totally bricked*

The trio is now back! *o* Although not the best cover that they've really had. I like Lacrimosa's single covers more. But it's not that bad to try out other concepts nee? Well knowing Yuki Kajiura, who is more of an experimental person, would've agreed with it. xD

But they still maintained the beautiful dresses. 8D that I really like. :D



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感情: hungry to the highest level
音楽: "storia" - Kalafina

[2009.03.04] Kalafina - seventh heaven album review

Wow, I had all the time to make a review today! And I was already planning to make a review on this album after a week of its release but I was kinda busy w/ school life back then. And it is never too late to make a review, isn't it? :D

Seventh Heaven is the debut album of the J-pop group, Kalafina -- an all girl-group project by the famous musician, Yuki Kajiura -- and thus, makes her the over-all producer, composer, arranger, lyricist of this album. If you already have a background of what Kajiura's work has been way back (like her tandem w/ J-pop singer Chiaki Ishikawa to form the group and performed several songs for the famous anime series Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, and her BGM works for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, .hack//series w/ the exemption of .hack//Roots since ALI PROJECT did the music scores for its OST of the said anime series), then probably you'll said to yourself, "Wow! It has been a while nee? This 44-y/o talented composer has done a lot since 1992!"

Exactly. This album has nothing but very much innovation of what Kajiura has done for almost 2 decades. And making this group, is very much of an advantage since Kalafina is composed of singers she had worked before (except for Hikaru and Maya) plus their voice are so fluid and it goes smoothly into your ears. And before I proceed to the review proper, for those who are not familiar w/ Kalafina, just like what I've said, it is composed of singers whom Kajiura worked before for making OST's for making anime. At the release of their 1st single oblivious, the group has only composed of:

Wakana Ootaki -- or much known as FictionJunction WAKANA
Keiko Kubota -- FictionJunction KEIKO

Their persona was, at first, hidden until the release of their 2nd single sprinter/ARIA, They were revealed and Kajiura has already recruited two more singers (by helding an Audition together w/ Sony Music way back May 2008) Hikaru and Maya, although the latter was just a "seasonal singer" and only appeared on their 2nd single.

And the final members of Kalafina are: Wakana (left in the pic above), Keiko (center) and Hikaru (right). Sorry for the long intro but the review proper will be after.

------

Just like what I've said, Seventh Heaven, is the debut album of Kalafina, which was released on March 4, 2009 together with their fourth single, Lacrimosa -- in turn was used as the 2nd ending theme for the anime series Kuroshitsuji. The album peaked at #8 in the Oricon weekly charts and charted for 12 weeks, selling a good 34,668 copies. The single contains 6 new songs including the 7th ending theme to the OVA series Kara no Kyoukai, which is the titular track, seventh heaven. And their 1st-3rd single, including all the other songs containing in those singles are also included! So if you wanted to try out this group, you better start off w/ this album. Try out the album here.

Tracklisting:

1. overture
2. oblivious (1st single - Kara no Kyoukai 1st ED)
3. love come down
4. Natsu no Ringo
5. fairytale (3rd single - Kara no Kyoukai 6th ED)
6. ARIA (2nd single - Kara no Kyoukai 4th ED)
7. Mata Kaze ga Tsuyoku Natta
8. Kizuato (contained in 1st single - Kara no Kyoukai 3rd ED)
9. serenato
10. Ongaku
11. Ashita no Keshiki
12. sprinter (2nd single - Kara no Kyoukai 5th ED)
13. Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Yuku (contained in 1st single - Kara no Kyoukai 2nd ED)
14. seventh heaven (Kara no Kyoukai 7th ED)

When I saw the album cover for the first time, it was so... black and elegant with those bright colors combined. I'd never thought those combination were really something appealing to the naked eye. Plus their outfit are very classy. But if you look into its content, it's very much broad really. Know why? Because the album itself explores many genres, as Kajiura herself is a music enthusiast. But of course, their main genre ethereal wave, is very much prominent with dark aura touches as well.

The album is also influential on the techno, rock, ballad side w/ ethereal wave combined in them. Starting off w/ an overture which serves as an intro to the album -- it lingers very much on the mid-dark sounding synthesizers which is some sort of a reminiscence of the sounds in their mini-album Re/oblivious, plus some faint voice provided by none other Wakana.

After that put-up-the-ethereal-mood intro, booms an ethereal techno track which is most probably the star of the album oblivious, since the said song/single is considered the Kalafina's most selling and successful single. Starts off w/ an eerie-sounding chant (in w/c of course, Kajiura provided), after a while Wakana's voice fills up the into the spotlight together w/ light electric guitar riffs and techno elements making it a danceable track. Wakana and Keiko's voice makes up a great combination especially on this song.

Right after the filling track comes another techno-filled song love come down, after lingering in the dark paradise of oblivious, which makes it a very refreshing track. I certainly recommend this track because of its light-sounding greatness. Plus, the violin and electric guitar (in some parts of the songs) are pure win. With the presence of the new singer Hikaru together w/ the veterans, Wakana and Keiko, it strongly fills up the techno-dance hunger.

What comes after the lively tracks are among the cheesy songs of the album entitled Natsu no Ringo follows up the memorable ethereal ballad fairytale and the dark-ambient midtempo ballad ARIA. I can't really say much about the first ballad track because I don't listen much to it as like the other ones -- I mean it's good but it's gotta be one of the most non-listened tracks because it doesn't sound strong. And like any album, this one's not perfect and it has this flaw.

While fairytale is very serene-sounding and flashes some sad memories, it is still worth listening because Keiko's voice is very attractive here although she has a really deep voice. Can you imagine that thee most prettiest girl of Kalafina having this deep voice?! But it surely is different and makes her unique in such a way, you'll really remember her. While ARIA is one of the interesting ballad among them, it brushes up on the dark side of the story because of the synths Kajiura used on arranging this song. Another factor is that the veterans Wakana and Keiko fills up the chanting process while new singer Hikaru provides the main vocal this time.

And after a pre-emptive ballad hunger, comes a noisy track Mata Kaze ga Tsuyoku Natta. I don't know why but I just realized that woman composers and arrangers a bit fond of making the electric guitar messy-sounding rather than the guys. :P But even though that's the case, the hard-rock attempt was quite successful because it still maintains the dark ethereal feel. The song itself sound "united" and a bit mysterious because of the strings of cello.

After a rock performance, comes downbeat songs again and one of the lovable ballads Kizuato and serenato. What I really like about these ballads are not because they're emotional and whatsoever but because you'll know that it's a "vocal talent" once you heard it. Especially Kizuato which I really felt the sorrowfulness of Wakana's voice when singing the track.

Then the last dark-techno song of the album comes with Ongaku which is kinda unexpected. I was kinda expecting it'll be some sorts of a capella song since it's Ongaku which means "Music". It's not just lively but it's very "speedy" meaning it's a bit faster than the first two techno tracks. And what I love about this song is that Keiko is the main vocal here!! o,o She seldomly gets the main vocal because of her deep voice but I'm glad they gave her a chance to do one, at least here in the album.

Ashita no Keshiki is one of their better ballads as well. Although it kinda portray a sad scenery of tomorrow but it's also a heartfelt piece. sprinter is another rock track from Kalafina and is also considered one of the star tracks of the album because they all sound united with the song because the rock goodness goes with their awesome voices. It's kinda dramatic in a way, but it's much more of a "gratitude" feel song.

And here we go to the last two tracks of the album which ranges from slow to midtempo ballad. And I have to admit that it took me A LOT of listening for me to appreciate these songs because I just realized it's a standard Yuki Kajiura trademark already. It's like no ballad equals boring. XD But really Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Yuku is also real vocal talent -- because even if the sounds are a bit faint, yet Wakana and Keiko's voice are the real highlights of the song. Same with seventh heaven -- although the difference is that Hikaru is with them plus the 1:43 part onwards of the song is indeed its strongest part because after a mediocre intro, Hikaru lightens up the 1:43 part while Wakana does the highest part of the song which sounds very lovely.

Overall, 5/5 -- although I did not really give this rating on first try but after a couple of tries, I've began to love the album. And even with flaws, it does deserve to have a high rating like this. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and another masterpiece crafted by Yuki Kajiura.

Kalafina addiction - ON-GOING! XD

感情: uberly spazzing over Kalafina!
音楽: "oblivious" - Kalafina


Sorry for the long absence. As you can see, I'm quite over busy lately with job application and my new blog layout (which will be finished very soon!) and with other graphical projects. XD But setting those aside, I'm moderately fine tonight because I'M UBERLY EXCITED W/ STORIA!! Not the single but the Oricon daily debut and guess what? It debuts at #10!! :DD Well if you ask me, they quite deserve the position because storia is a very different single from their previous ones. It has a tribal, provincial-aura plus the heavenly voice of our dearest Wakana, Keiko (my crush!! =D) and Hikaru. But composer Yuki Kajiura made a second attempt to neo-classical flavor with the coupling song lirica. And I just love how Kajiura-san put her effort on making these songs. They're quite lovable! XDD

And when I was just lurking in YouTube, looking for the storia PV, I stumbled upon a live version of oblivious, my Kalafina favorite song. *spazz* My eyes widen when the video started and was even more excited because I saw Hikaru!! Yes! Ever imagined why she's supposed to be not there? Because at the time of Kalafina's debut with the said song, it was only Wakana and Keiko and then I will see Hikaru in this live video?! Now, that's exciting!

I was shocked when I heard that she was the first to sing plus her falsetto effects for the intro choral part was pretty heavenly!! I'm lovin' it!! =D Wakana and Keiko's voices are just like in the original song! Wonderful. XDD They're even greater live than some other J-pop artists that I know!

Take a lookie here. xD



If you want to try the group for the first time (or even not? xD) and ask me for a recommendation on which song to try out first, it's got to be oblivious. xD It's so trancey, ethereal and heavenly all at the same time especially the intro. Want to try the song? Click here.

And here's the PV for storia. I love their outfit here!! xD HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! xD

More J-pop news on the go!

感情: refreshed *just finished my bath*
音楽: "Wonder Wind" - ELISA





First of all, Kaorin's mini-album has now a title. Although I'm a bit late for this new but it is entitled SPYGLASS. YES WITH THE USUAL CAPS! 8DD It will be a 7-track mini-album which will contain her first two singles Shining stars bless and Chasse.

Then let's go to Eiko's upcoming single Super scription of data. The coupling song and their song lengths has now been revealed! xD c/o Jbook.



Super scription of data
5th single.06/24/2009 OUT
FCCM-0267

01. Super scription of data [4:35]
(Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei OP Theme)
Lyrics: Eiko Shimamiya
Composition/Arrangement: Kazuya Takase
02. electric universe [5:49]
Lyrics: Eiko Shimamiya
Composition/Arrangement: SORMA No.1
03. Super scription of data -instrumental-
04. electric universe -instrumental-

My impression? I think the coupling song would be able to save our dearest poor-sounding-chorus single. xD electric universe sounds like it's going to be a trance-y and powerful one! So don't you fail me SORMA! Give more power just like you did with OXISOLS! XDD *bricked*

Then here comes the upcoming Kalafina 5th single. :D



Kalafina
5th single "storia"
07/01/2009 OUT


storia [w/ DVD edition]
SECL 786~7


storia [Regular Edition]
SECL-788

01. storia [3:36]
[Theme song for NHK drama's Rekishi Hiwa Historia]
02. lilica [5:17]
03. storia -instrumental- [3:36]

Preview for storia

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Side comment: I'm loving storia!! It's so classy compared to their neoclassical song Lacrimosa but I love both song. :D

Oh and it just came to me that ALI PROJECT will also do the OP2 for previous tie-up Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ and they will release another album!!! Here are the details. XD

[Untitled]
Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ 2nd OP Theme
Regular Edition only
LASM-4020
07/22/2009 OUT

Poison
Regular Edition only
TKCU-77133
08/26/2009 OUT

Wow *whew*! Now that's an update. :D I hope I'll get more update on my favorite J-pop singers/groups next time. xD

Kalafina fanlisting NOW OPEN!

感情: happy! Although my music is really not. But who cares?! XD
音楽: "Lacrimosa" - Kalafina




YAY~~ My Kalafina fanlisting has already opened yesterday!! ^_^ Yes, it's TFL-approved but I just submitted the final form so maybe the link (from TFL in their approved lists) will be activated in the next 2-3 weeks. But it's already operation for fans! =D

And I'll be working on the Jyukai fanlisting later so that I'll be able to finish it before Tuesday. XD

Oh btw, here's the link for my newly-opened fanlisting:

http://ashcrimson.tsuioku.net/kalafina/

Join if you're a fan! XD Sorry if the layout is very simple but at least it's functioning well. xP

And I just pasted an embeddable player in the navi because I want the world to hear the epic Lacrimosa. XD Nyahaha! But if you're not interested, you can just click the pause button because it's in auto-start mode. xP

New layout and more sentiments

感情: a little bored
音楽: "La Fiesta" - Hitomi Shimatani




Yes, despite the boring day, I'm trying to amuse myself and is already in front of the PC for 8 friggin' hours. D: And don't be surprised if I'm even a little hungry~~ XD

And so I made myself a new blog layout with its usual simplicity -- well that's because I don't want too decorative and too much "brushy" pics so I kept it simple and clean. *sings Utada's Simple and Clean then gets bricked*

And now I'm presenting the fifth scenario which is My Fairytale and it features Kalafina, one of my favorite all-girl group singers! I made use of their picture in their single fairytale which is the 6th ending theme for the OVA Kara no Kyoukai. I did not used the Seventh Heaven album cover because I already used that in their fanlisting. XP

Speaking of fanlisting, I still haven't upped it because I can't log into my FTP. I wonder if the server move is already finished or whatsoever. And that's actually the reason why I haven't upped the Kalafina fanlisting. And I've been e-mailing Mizuiro-chan but she's not replying -- probably busy with school work.

And I still haven't finished the layout for Jyukai fanlisting and summer classes will already start next week. I should finish it quick so that I can upload it w/ no worries even if I'm doing my thesis this summer. And admittedly, that's the reason why I made a new blog layout because I know I won't be having time to create one when summer classes is going on because I have to concentrate on my thesis so that I could finish up tertiary education this May. I want to benkyo (Japanese term for "work") already. xP

OoOoh~ my eyes are hurting and my stomach's churning. x0 So till then, I'll be posting after a few days. xD

P.S.: Eiko Shimamiya's single Chikai did not leaked. D: I want the long version already! *grumbles*