Friday, December 10, 2010

Weekend Blastoff Song List updates

From 267 to 273.....

I'm at 290 now so 20 or so lists/episodes to update lol.

#267 (may 7,2010)
Hitomi Kuroishi - Road to the light
BoA - ID Peace B
Nobody Knows+ - El Mirador
Kinya - Blaze
Maaya Sakamoto - Loop
Akino - Sousei no Aqaurion
Ami Suzuki - Eventful
Shuntaro Okino - Cloud Age Symphony
Hikaru Utada - Passion
Yuna Ito - Trust you
Exile - Song for you
Stellvia OST - Elegant Wings

#268 (may 14,2010)
Chage and Aska - On Your Mark
Masahiko Aramachi - Through the Night
BoA - Quincy
Two Mix - Just Communication
Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts - Tank!
Olivia - A Little Pain
Ken Hirai - Life is... Another Story
The Gospellers - Yakusoku no Kisetsu
Mikuni Shimokawa - Moichido Kimi ni Aitai
Mai Kuraki - Never Gonna Give You Up
Hikaru Utada - Beautiful World
Ayumi Hamasaki - Vogue

#269(may 28,2010)
Flow - Days
Yuki Kajiura - In the land of twilight, under the moon
Nino feat. Round Table - Let me be with you (New step mix)
Ayaka Hirahara - Jupiter
Ayumi Hamasaki - Dearest
Maaya Samakoto - Tomodachi
Nobody Knows + - El Mirador
Sheryl Nome Starring May'n - Northern Cross
Back-On - Chain
Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts - Tank!
Move - Come Together

#270(June 4,2010)
Yuki Kajiura - Valley of Mist
Akino - Sousei no Aquarion
Yuki Kajiura - Sit Beside Me
Gackt - Metamorphoze
Yuki Kajiura - B.T.
Soul'd Out - To All Tha Dreamers
Ayumi Hamasaki - Trauma
Da Pump - All my Love to you
Hikaru Utada - Beautiful World
Rina Aiuchi - Navy Blue
Kelun - Chu-Bura
Orange Range - O2
Mai Yamane - The Real Folk Blues

#271(June 11,2010)
ZZ - Samurai Crew
Uverworld - Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi
Megumi Hayashibara - Omokage
Hikaru Utada - Automatic
Boa - Duvet
Ken Hirai - Love or Lust
Stellvia OST - Usual Days
Gackt - Redemption
Angela - Asu e no Brilliant Road
Myuji - eX dream
The Gospellers - Frenzy
Da Pump - Rain of Pain
Zone - Secret Base - kimi ga kureta mono-

#272(June 18,2010)
Hitomi Kuroishi - A Morning in Norkia
Hitomi Kuroishi - Working on the Cloud
Hitomi Kuroishi - To the race
Miyavi - Subarashikikana, Kono Sekai -What A Wonderful World-
Back-ON - New World
Luna Sea - Gravity
Gackt - Vanilla
Tenchi Muyo OST - Ryo-Ohki's Theme
Kotoko - Asu e no Namida
May'n & Megumi Nakajima - Lion
Minami Kuribayashi - Tsubasa wa pleasure line
Maaya Sakamoto - Pocket wo kara ni shite
Megumi Hayashibara - Give a Reason
Do As Infinity - Tooku Made

#273(June 25,2010)
Chaba - Parade
Lia - Tori no Uta
Little Viking - Future
Ayaka Hirahara - Jupiter
Mr. Children - Shirushi
Saeko Chiba - Sayonara Solitia
Chata - Dango Daikazoku
Mitsuko Okazaki - Hajimari wa kokokara
Maaya Sakamoto - Aoi Hitomi
Kotoko - Being
Hyde - New Days Dawn
Hitomi Kuroishi - Grand stream

Friday, November 26, 2010

Aural Vampire Interview

By Sean Cruz

Translator Yoshiko Kosugi

Photographer Bijua Napat

Note* Raveman does not want his voice heard, Exo-Chika will relay answers from Raveman.

Q: How and why did u choose your stage names Raveman and Exo-Chika, and how did the name Aural Vampire come about?

AV: Raveman is a really quiet person off stage but when he's on stage with Aural Vampire he acts like he's raving so that's where the name Raveman comes from.

My real name is Chika so Exo-Chika is an extension of my name. When Raveman was coming up with names for my character he sent me pages and pages of names by fax, and a lot of the names were based off of Japanese monsters or other very Japanese characteristics which didn't really fit my character. As for the band name Aural Vampire, I suggested the name, and it means two things. First off I'm the vampire character, and secondly the English spelling is Aural and since they do Aural performances they want the audience to feel the vampireness aurally so hense the name Aural Vampire.

Also, when Aural is written in Japanese its got a double meaning as well.

Q: What are your musical inspirations?

AV:When Raveman makes music he gets inspiration from the background noises, cars, construction...


Q: So he gets his inspiration from everywhere?

AV: So when Raveman actually makes the music he'll actually record the sound of the construction etc.. and sample that sound in the music then use that as a base, it provides the framework for the music then we can start adding things afterwards during the composition.

Q: What are some of your highlights from your performances in North America?

AV: We've never done this kind of tour in North America before, performing 7 days in a row... but its not really the performance aspect that worries us cause we've done it so often before but for example during our live performance we do have a planned setlist but we do change one of the songs depending on what the crowd is like, or if there's any requests... for example there was one instance where there was a request for a particular song, we decided to choose that song that particular day instead of the one they had planned beforehand which we found interesting.

Also, we're streaming our performances live via Ustream, so all of our performances during our tour are being streamed live via Ustream, and if you miss one there's also archives of our performances, and on our days off we also post videos of ourselves doing random things on our off days. We were also thinking of what we could do during the 30 days of our tour and we decided to play a trade up game (a la the red paperclip), we started the tour by trading away an Aural Vampire towel for something that someone in the audience has on them... and now we've traded up to a digital camera.

Ultimatly our goal is to find a wife for our manager Yome-san! Just kidding (Laughter)

Q: How do the fans and the concert settings differ between North America and Japan?

AV: The setting itself isn't very different, we usually have videos and things in the background and if we can't or are unable to use videos in the background then we have other options but so far we've been able to use videos etc... the only difference is that in Japan we would have extra background dancers and special guests but here its just the two of us doing the performance.

Q: Are there any specific things you look forward to seeing or doing when you visit a specific city?

AV: On this particular tour we've been very busy, so by the time our concert ends its usually after 10pm and all the food places are closed so we've been living off of microwaveable food for most of the tour, but we did have a day off that we were able to go on tours and stuff, the thing we look forward to every time we visit a new place is to see what we can experience that will “wow”us, for example if a place has really awesome oysters or something like that.

Q: Next couple questions are for Raveman, whats the inspiration behind the making of and wearing of your masks?

AV: When we first went on stage before we became Aural Vampire there was actually 3 of us and at that time Raveman didn't actually wear a mask. We were watching a video of the performance afterwards and we saw that Raveman didn't really stand out, it was more like he was part of the background, so I suggested to Raveman “why don't you wear something like a mask?” and he said “ok, sure.” At the time Raveman was a fan of pro-wrestling so he was already into a bit of the mask culture...

Q: How many masks does Raveman own?

AV: Raveman doesn't actually know how many he owns, he has a special mask for eating, a mask he wears when he's not performing thats of a softer material, there's the mask he's wearing right now which is made of a harder material, and every halloween he makes a new mask, and then he also makes new masks at random times. The mask that he's wearing currently, now that we're into DVD's and no longer using VHS tapes, is meant to represent the negative feelings that the VHS tapes would be carrying toward the DVD's.

Q: Exo-Chika, are your fangs real?

AV: Yes they are in a sense, they are glued on so tightly that they won't come off, they're on 24/7 so essentially they are real. I actually had a dentist make it for me so its fully functional.

Q: How long have you had them for?

AV: Eeeeeeh!!!! I can't remember, I've had them for a long long time.

Q: Are there any particular foods that are difficult to eat?

AV: Apples! I can't really bite into them, I have to cut them into pieces, I like to shape it so it looks like a bunny when I eat them, also when I make sausages I like to cut them so they look like a little octopus.

Q: Final question, what are your future goals personally and as a group?

AV: For Raveman his personal goal is to get people to wear more masks, to spread the mask wearing culture. (photog pulls out his mask with the Aural Vampire symbol on it).

AV: Ahhh! Wow! It's even got the symbol on it! And the kiss mark! (laughs)

Q: How did you come up with the symbol?

AV: Basically one day after a performance we thought that we should have a symbol, something iconic.. afterwards at a restaurant I just started drawing for ideas.. the motif - , in the middle is a cross, the sides are supposed to represent the side of the coffin, the A and the V represent Aural Vampire but in the beginning it looked more like bat wings, one flapping down representing A and one flapping upwards representing V.

Q: Following up from the question beforehand, what are your future goals personally and as a group?

AV: Well, if Raveman wants to promote the mask-wearing culture then I'd like to promote the Vampire culture, I think recently people are getting into it more because of twilight and such things, and I want to promote the Vampire culture aurally, so therefor the name Aural Vampire.

Thank You for your time

AV: Thank You! Enjoy the show!

Aural Vampire finish off their North American tour this weekend, you can catch them in the following areas:

26 Nov 2010 16:00
Harpo's Concert Theatre Detroit MI, Michigan
27 Nov 2010 19:00
Expo Five Louisville, Kentucky
28 Nov 2010 18:00
Peabody's Cleveland, Ohio

You can also view an archive of their North American tour on Ustream athttp://www.ustream.tv/channel/auralvampire

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Aural Vampire Concert Review

By Sean Cruz

On a very cold Seattle night under the full moon, Aural Vampire was the first of four acts to play at a small but packed Studio Seven in Seattle. To loud, thumping music, Raveman came onto the stage sporting blue jeans, a red leather jacket and one of his famous masks, black with a red slash and with blue digital writing above the eyes scrolling across. Moments later, to thunderous applause, Exo-Chika came onto the stage wearing a black goth-loli dress, and a tiara on top of her beautiful blond flowing locks. The stage setup itself was small and simplistic, Raveman with his Dj equipment on one side, a projector in the middle and Exo-Chika staying primarily to the middle-left of the stage.

Aural vampire got the crowd going with their bouncy electro-rock vibe and eclectic actions from the always masked Raveman, they proceeded with an opening beats from Raveman before heading into their first 2 songs Shonan Zoku –cannibal coast- and Darkwave Surfer without missing a beat. Exo-Chika, looking no worse for wear after being on tour for most of the month, exuded the very Japanese "ero-kawaii" quality which came to a head during a short break between songs.

During their tour Aural Vampire have been playing a "trade up" game (a la the red paperclip) and on their last stop traded up to a digital camera. This time around after playfully exclaiming "we would like to trade up!" (and after a more detailed explanation from a member of the audience) A very nice looking hooded leather jacket was given to Aural Vampire in exchange for the digital camera.

Into their 4th song they went.... not quite as Raveman was carefully searching the pockets of the group’s new acquisition while Exo-Chika looked at him and asked "next song please". Raveman eventually got the message and the next song was a Japanese cover/remix of the popular Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation (other wise know as that sports song), which got a surprised but very positive reception. Following that with one of their more popular songs Freeeeze!! As the night went on Exo-chika became more playful on stage, making finger puppets during Murealism, then proceeding to pop balloons with a toy handgun that Raveman was playing with then displaying her talents with the tambourine as their set drew to a close with Kumonoito.



As the first of 4 acts of the evening Aural Vampire was not the main attraction for most that evening but for the dedicated souls that braved the cold (and the snow for those driving from Canada) watching them perform (and having them go first) was the best part of the evening....
...or the 2nd best part. As the next set got ready to perform Aural Vampire came by to their merchandise booth to take pictures and sign autographs, where a small contingent - that gradually grew as the next act was playing - came to buy merch, talk, take pictures and show their support to Aural Vampire.

I only have one complaint. Their set was too short.

Set list:
①OPENING
②Shonan Zoku –cannibal coast-
③Darkwave Surfer
----------
④※secret (zombie nation - kernkraft400 cover)
⑤Freeeeze!!
⑥Murealism
⑦Kumonoito



More Pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=576437&id=522485611&l=fdb577180d

For those of you unable to make it to Aural Vampire's remaining concerts they are streaming them via Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/auralvampire

Also check them out at the following
www.auralvampire.com
www.myspace.com/auralvampire

Thursday, November 11, 2010

6 months later

So.... haven't updated this in 6 months..... will get to updating it this weekend.

Updates will include song list for episodes 267+

Interview with Aural Vampire a couple weeks away.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Weekend Blastoff #266

Songs this episode:

See-Saw - Obsession
BoA - Every Heart
Do As Infinity - Tooku Made
HAL - The Starry Sky
Ai Otsuka - Smily
Youhna - Houki Boshi
Back-On - New World
REIRA starring Yuna Ito - Endless Story
The Gospellers - Kokuhaku
Orange Range - Hana
Maaya Sakamoto - Hikari no naka e
NEWS - Sayaendo
Soul'd Out - To All Tha Dreamers

And Finally... updated... now to post the rest of the sakuracon pictures...

Weekend Blastoff #265

Songs this episode:

Da Pump - All My Love To You
Hitomi Takahashi - Bokutachi no Yukue
MELL - Red Fraction (G.M.S Remix)
Orange Range - Asterisk
Flow - Days
Hikaru Utada - First Love
Mai Kuraki - Perfect Crime
Koda Kumi - Real Emotion
Hitomi Shimatani - Angelus
HAL - The Starry Sky (D-Z Air Raid Mix)
Yoko Kanno - Information High

Weekend Blastoff #264

Songs this episode:

Mikuni Shimokawa - Tomorrow
FictionJunction YUUKA - Akatsuki no Kuruma
Nino feat. ROUNDTABLE - Let me be with you (new step mix)
ZZ - A to Z (One Piece Edition)
Aya Hirano etc. - Hare Hare Yukai
HAL - The Starry Sky (D-Z Air Raid Mix)
High and Mighty Color - Ichirin no Hana
High and Mighty Color - Pride
Naoki Sato - Kumikyoku (ten no ryuu) (inst.)
NobodyKnows+ - El Mirador
Hikaru Utada - Travelling

Weekend Blastoff #263

Songs this episode:

Kotoko - Love a Riddle
Hitomi Shimatani - Mermaid
Rina Aiuchi - Faith
BoA - Every Heart
Mikuni Shimokawa - Moichido Kimi ni Aitai
Yuki Kajiura - Kiss (inst.)
Akeboshi - Yellow Moon
Da Pump - Steppin and Shakin
HAL - The Starry Sky
Siam Shade - 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou (1/3 Pure Heart Emotion)
Yukari Konno - Tokimeki no Doukasen (Fusion of Excitement)
Mai Yamane - The Real Folk Blues

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Samurai Champloo Composer Jun 'Nujabes' Seba Passes Away

This happened at the end of February but many people are only getting this news now, but Jun "Nujabes" Seba passed away on Feb 26th after being hit by a car in Tokyo.
"Nujabes" was best know for the work he did on the Samurai Champloo OST.

R.I.P Jun "Nujabes" Seba.

Time to watch Samurai Champloo I suppose...

Weekend Blastoff #262

On this week's show:

Hyde - Shallow Sleep
Two-Mix - Just Communication
Back-On - Blow
Kelun - Chu-bura
Shuntaro Okino - Cloud Age Symphony
Ayumi Hamasaki - M
Megumi Hayashibara - Alchemy of Love
High and Mighty Color - Pride
DJ Ozma - Age! Age! Every Knight
Ken Hirai - Miracles
Koda Kumi - 1000 no Kotoba(1000 words)
Nujabes feat. Shing02 - Battlecry

Weekend Blastoff #261

On this weeks show:

Kotoko - Asu e no Namida
Orange Range - Asterisk
Flow - Days
Do As Infinity - Fukai Mori
Koda Kumi - Moon Crying
Hitomi Kuroishi - Silvana (inst.)
ZZ - Samurai Crew
L'arc en Ciel - Ready Steady Go
Mai Yamane - Blue
Maaya Sakamoto - Yubiwa
Akino Arai - Voices
Globe - What's the Justice

Friday, March 5, 2010

erm.....

so, no show this week, you'll get a re-run.

I kinda woke up too late to do a show >.< /lame

will have one next week though.

Weekend Blastoff #260

Songs this week

Kelun - Chu-Bura
Hikaru Utada - Travelling
Globe - Stop in the name of love
The Gospellers - Yakusoku no Kisetsu
Ayaka Hirahara - Jupiter
Kotoko - Blaze
BoA - Rock With You
Hitomi Shimatani - Angelus
m-flo loves EMYLI & Diggy-Mo - Dopamine
Rythem - Mangekiyo kira kira
Minami Kuribayashi - Tsubasa wa pleasure line

Japan beat Bahrain 2-0 in an Asian cup qualifiying match this week, and video games live returns to Vancouver in May!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Weekend Blastoff 259

So this weeks show played on Sunday as well! The Gremlins in the system like me this week :P

Songs this week:

Rina Aiuchi - Precious Pain
Mika Nakashima - Crescent Moon
Masahiko Aramachi - Through the Night
Boa - Duvet
Mikuni Shimokawa - Karanai Hana
Mai Yamane - The Real Folk Blues
Koda Kumi - Cutie Honey
HAL - The Starry Sky
BoA - Listen to my Heart
Ayumi Hamasaki - Depend on You
Gackt - Redemption
Luna Sea - Gravity
Youhna - Houki Boshi

Also, let Japan-A-Radio know if you want us at Sakuracon! Drop us a line, drop them a line as well!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Weekend Blastoff #258

Olympics underway in Vancouver!

China wins East Asian Football Championship!

songs this week:

Hikaru Utada - Stay Gold
L'arc en Ciel - Daybreak's bell
Shuntaro Okino - Cloud Age Symphony
Mell - Red Fraction (G.M.S. Remix)
ZZ - Samurai Crew
Back-ON - Chain
Myuji - ex Dream
MAX - Barairo no Hibi
Yuki Kimura - Love & Joy
m.o.v.e - Come Together

Weekend Blastoff #257

So I should update this eh?

Koda Kumi - Real Emotion
Gackt - Redemption
The Brilliant Green - Ash Like Snow
Dream - Stay ~Now I'm Here~
Hikaru Utada - Hikari
Bana - Shell
Myuji - Ex Dream
Soul'd Out - To All Tha Dreamers
Ami Suzuki - Eventful
Steve Conte - Stray
Ken Hirai - Life is... Another Story

No Macross Frontier songs this week! You know what they say too much of a good thing....

Friday, January 22, 2010

Weekend Blastoff #256 - Utada Edition

This week we start off the show with the following

Mai Kuraki - Reach For the Sky
Exile - Fly Away
T.M. Revolution - Invoke
BoA - Valenti
Mika Nakashima - Glamourus Sky
Maaya Sakamoto - Gift

2nd half
Ken Hirai - Rakuen

And then we talk Utada with my friend B., otherwise known as Utada's Secret Seattle Stalker. Utada's concert was last night and I'll just say she's 100 times more beautiful in person and the concert itself was an absolutly amazing, once in a life time experience.

We end off the show with
Hikaru Utada - First Love

Weekend Blastoff #255

Songs this week

Ken Hirai - Aika
The Gospellers - Dawn ~ Yoake ~
Gackt - Redemption
Maaya Sakamoto - Triangular
Hikaru Utada - Can you keep a secret?
Yoko Kanno - Eyes (inst.)

2nd half

Kotoko - Ano hi no kimi e
Megumi Hayashibara - Cruel Angel's Thesis
Boa - Duvet
Angela - Pain
Do As Infinity - Oasis
Hyde - Season's Call

Friday, January 8, 2010

Failure to Communicate

So I don't do a show for 2 weeks and my mic decides not to work. For those of you wondering, I have been using a Samson C01U USB Studio Condenser Mic.. it served me well for 2 years. My backups are random gaming headseats..... while its good enough for vent... not good enough to record a show for.

Time for an unplanned expense... great way to start 2010.

Oh yeah, Merry X mas and Happy New Year.... couple weeks late there >.<