Love[asia]Music is a website by Jae and Jean and is all about the best music from – you guessed it – Asia!  I personally love the design and the logo (doesn’t it just make you happy?)  and have discovered many new songs that I like on their website.  It helps, of course, that they are also BACK-ON fans!

A special thanks must go to Sesshy who suggested that we contact each other in the first place.  :D

And before I forget, Jae mentioned that they are running a Vote for the Best of January 2011 (Japan and Korea) between Feb 1st and 10th (the list includes BACK-ON‘s TELL ME!) so please remember to pay them a visit and cast your vote – ideally for our favourite band!

With warm thanks again to MONSTERSNITE for the news, it is probably the first time the band’s live performance of any of their songs has been released as a DVD! We have seen a few standalone recordings (on Youtube) and even in the BLAZE LINE PV, but nothing like this, although some of us BOO Forum folk would love to have a dedicated DVD!

The DVD will have a Retail Price of ¥ 7,140 and a running time of approximately 240 minutes (4 hours?) . According to this post by Anoop Gantayat on AndriaSang.com :

This is a “set” in that it contains two DVDs, one each for the afternoon and evening versions of the June 14 show. Buyers can look forward to talk shows and skits, much of which differed depending on the showing. In addition, the set will include bonus promotional footage, specifics about which have yet to be shared.

I only wish that the release date wasn’t so far away, but at least we have got BACK-ON‘s European debut at Connchi in Germany to look forward to in September. And before I forget – if you haven’t already heard – we are organising a GIGANTIC FANBOOK PROJECT for the band by fans. All ideas and fans are welcome so please do come and participate if you can!

She has decided to pick out some of the more distinctive songs from YES!!! to write about, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading what she had to say – I’m sure it will be the same for you too!

About our volunteer reviewer

Nickname: Yo-Yo! (funbari) Location: Hong Kong, China Favourite BACK-ON song(s): CHAIN, HIKARI SASUHOU, sonomamade Other favourite artists: Avril Lavigne How did you find out about BACK-ON? Air Gear’s OP–CHAIN!! Mini Introduction: I love listening to music, playing guitar and reading manga (favourite manga: Shaman King & Air Gear). Due to my very low contribution on the forum as a member(~_~), I decided to write this review, and it’s a great experience! Website: Funbari Onsen

The Review:

For those who haven’t heard of any songs from BACK-ON, I think it’s not too difficult for them to fall in love with BACK-ON’s songs after listening to “YES!!!”.

In my view, BACK-ON is not at the extremities, even though their songs are mostly ROCK based, they’re neither a pure ROCK BAND, nor a POP BAND, nor even a Hip-Hop band, but something in between three of them.

This diversifies their songs’ types. And in this album, it’s quite obvious.

Here’s my review of some of the songs:

果てなき道へ[LA mix]
It’s a totally new song of BACK-ON. The lyrics are quite (or very!) ENCOURAGING, with a vivid beat, this is a lovely song I think. But it’s difficult for me to find a word to describe the intro though, I think it’s a little bit unmatched with the whole song, but a lively opening.

CHAIN [LA mix]
What’s the difference between the original CHAIN and the LA mixed CHAIN?
I think it is mainly the GUITAR, which has been re-volumed, and being emphasized especially in the intro and the bridge parts, which is made to sound really like the live version of CHAIN.

Besides, Kenji’s voice seemed to be masked a little bit by some special effects, which I think couldn’t bring out Kenji’s chorus part, and couldn’t deliver the feeling of “太陽をお呼び覚ます” as the original version did.

That’s why I like the original one better than this LA mix. But, this LA mix definitely has a stronger feeling of GUITAR.

color[LA mix] & Ashiato[LA mix]
These are songs of BAReeeeeeeeeeN in the single “Ashiato”, for those who don’t know BAReeeeeeeeeeN, it’s a Group(or BAND) with 10 members:

BACK-ON(5)+GReeeeN(4)+JIN(1).

I personally like the song, “color” more than “Ashiato” due to it’s very strong and fast drum beat, and together with its lyrics with a feeling of ‘going forward’, the 2 songs are both inspiriting.

For Ashiato, I love its ending, where GReeeeN and BACK-ON split the verse into two.

ヒカリサスホウ [NEW WORLD version]
This is one of my favourite songs! Compared with the other BACK-ON songs, this is one of the most “ROCK” songs, I think.

And I LOVE its intro, as it seems the sound is sliding into my left ear and into the right one!!

ヒカリサスホウhas 3 versions, here in YES!!! is the NEW WORLD version (same as that in the album “NEW WORLD”), another version is the very original version, which first appeared in the album “Survive”(which is an album of Airstrike / ピンクフラミンゴMG / BACK-ON). The other one, the FK metal version, appeared as the opening song of the anime OVA “Murder Princess”.

And I like this New world ver. most. For me, the oldest version has an intro that’s just a bit too long, and the FK metal ver. sadly, doesn’t have a longer version (yet…maybe?).

Finally, そのままで[NEW ver.]
The original version of this song is in the very first album(mini album) of BACK-ON, called “ADACHI TRIBE”. It is my favourite song from ADACHI TRIBE, as it was always very easy to relax while listening to the song.

The differences between this new ver. and the old one: first, it is the total reproduction of the instrumental track, which I think makes me more relaxed while listening to it~

And the second change is that they added the chorus part which doesn’t exist in the original version, I think this chorus makes the song more complete, and, perhaps more meaningful~

Seeing as the YES!!! EU Edition has recently been released in France, I hope this fan review and others will help people decide that the album is really worth buying. A huge thank you must go to funbari for kindly volunteering to write the review for us!

If you’re interested in reviewing one of BACK-ON‘s albums or singles, please get in touch! To rehash what we said last time, our aim is always to encourage as many people as possible to listen to BACK-ON‘s music, and by featuring different styles of reviews by fans, it will help promote their work to even more people. If you liked this review or any of the others,  please do let us know in the comments or on our Forums.

To give new readers a little background: several weeks ago, some Forum members kindly volunteered to share their thoughts about the album with us, and we featured our first fan review by Edward at the end of November, which has been read over 200 times since!

However, we did have more than one volunteer, and I am delighted to present our second ever fan review of YES!!! courtesy of Sesshy! She has picked several songs from the album to write about in her rather detailed review, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

About our volunteer reviewer

Nickname: Sesshy Location: California, USA Favourite BACK-ON song(s): NEW WORLD, Chain, Sono Mama De (NEW ver.) Other favourite artists: UVERworld How did you find out about BACK-ON? By my boyfriend Mini Introduction: I’m a graphic designer for many things, even for BACK-ON’s Official street team. I’m a HUGE J-music fan. I believe Japanese makes very unique music, which makes me want to listen to over and over. I has have a big inspiration with Art and Music. Website: Evanescent Studios

The Review:

:::Back-ON YES!!! Review:::

Hate Naiki Michi E [LA Mix]: I really love this song. Especially the beginning when it sounds all hard rock like. The Chorus where Kenji sings is really good. It shows Kenji is getting much better at singing like always. I also notice that Kenji sing some parts in English and I actually understood it. TEEDA’s rapping is also awesome (what’s new?). Around 2:43, He does like some strong rapping voice, which I like! This might be my most favorite song in Back-On’s album.

flower [LA]: I’m a bit annoyed and a bit into it. I love flower, but however I notice they only changed the tone and sound to it, adding more beat to the song. Where Kenji raps in the song around 1:29, I like the “electronic” voice. I also hear more of Icchan’s drumming. However, I still prefer the original song over this. Also, I think Kenji sounds so different in this song. Also, I’ve notice the girl singing is different. But again, prefer the original song.

NEW WORLD: I really thought they were going to remix this song. I wanted to a nice remix, but then again, the song is awesome as it is. NEW WORLD is my most favorite song out of BACK-ON. Kenji’s singing, TEEDA’s rapping, Shu’s guitar, MACCHAN (or ICCHAN), Gori’s bass is all great. Nothing should be change in this song. So pretty much glad this one wasn’t remixed!

Sands of Time: I will always love the electronic voice of Kenji’s in the beginning. When I first heard this song, I was pretty much shaken up at the beginning. What is also good about this song, when I have the bass louder, makes great sounds out of my earphones or stereos. Around 2:00, Teeda was amazing there; sounds all robotic. I guess you can say I like that kind of effects in music. Excellent song.

Butterfly: There could be some changes on this song, even though this one was not remixed like most are. I did love the beat, reminded me some kind of action scene that would be played as a background song. There might be a bit “too” much noise that it kind of hurts your ears a bit unless it’s lowered. I do know all the lyrics to this song since I play BACK-ON a lot. I really like when Kenji says: “You’re my butterfly.” Chorus is well put, but I believe they can did a bit more work to it. Beat is excellent.

BLAZE LINE: I believe this song was defiantly made for the anime Eyeshield 21, which was played as the opening theme song. I did honestly laugh at the part when Teeda said something…a bit over PG-13 rated, haha. The rhythm with the guitars are really well done. Where Teeda starts rapping including the bass playing was like for people to come along and cheer. It can really be played for a football game; that’s I see this song for. Not my favorite song, but I really like it. BOOM, BOOM clap, BACK-ON!

DRIVE: I think I prefer the DRIVE(Shutoko REMIX) since it’s more jumpy. The beat and rhythm is well done, but I think they could make more rock-ish type. To me, it’s calm, something that would be just a chill song, so probably wouldn’t be something to jump with. I didn’t really like how Kenji sang, I guess it kind of annoyed me.

a day dreaming: I believe this song is to be the most calmest song out of their discography. I wasn’t feeling much too this song. I guess it’s…too calm, I guess I can put it that way. I did like the guitar rhythm. Kenji did well singing the chorus, but Teeda could do better with his as well. I know he can sing.

Sono Mama De [NEW ver.]: Indeed I love the new version than the original song. Has more beat, more addings to it. If you compare the old one to the new one, it is such a big improvement and shows how much they HAVE indeed improved. The old version was like some random singing along they made, but this new one is much better to listen and sing along than being just: “random.” Part when they say: “La la laaa” was AWESOME. It gave me chills, but in a good way. Perfect way to end the song, leave you chills.

Hikari Sasuhou [NEW WORLD ver.]: I actually thought they were going to add that one version since it’s not in any official release, but guess not. I believe I prefer the survive version, since it’s more rock-ish, but that’s my taste. I did love how the guitar was played throughout the song. Kenji’s long pause singing was pretty good while Teeda goes out on his rapping. Good song, but the other version is much preferred to me.

Chain [LA mix]: This was a bit unexpected to me because it didn’t sound much like the, what I called, the best Chain live ever. I can tell the different drum beat, which was nice. You can also tell this has more beat and the guitar is more “quiet.” I guess you can call it the pop-side of Chain. Yeah, I see it more pop-ish. Do like that sound that goes: “pash. pash. pash-pash-pash, pash.”

FLYDOM: Pretty much an old, but good punkish song. I can say this song was their beginning and obivously can tell comparing to their newer songs. I can’t imagine a mix of this song, and maybe they have. Though, it’s a fun song, even though they have the “Engrish” parts in it. Fwedom,

color [LA mix]: I love this song, but I don’t really see any much difference like the original. I love the parts when you hear them all techno-y when they go: “I’m going down down down” (I think or “Don’t let me down down down” Haven’t read the lyrics). The guitar delay is really cool. I believe to love this song more than Ashiato.

Ashiato [LA mix]: Again, don’t see a lot of difference than the original song. Ashiato, is a amazing song that goes right between GReeeeN and BACK-ON. Has the mix of both, which is awesome. I hope to see more band combination such as this. The chorus is amazing. I love the part when Teeda spells: “BAReeeeeeeeeeN.” One of my favorite songs.

I would like to say a big thank you to Sesshy for her review and for taking the time to evaluate the album and write a review for us. As we have said before, our aim is to encourage as many people as possible to listen to BACK-ON‘s music, and again, we hope that featuring different styles of reviews is one of the right steps forward to promote their work to others! Please let us know what you think in the comments or on our Forums. :)

Back to the original topic of this post: as you maybe aware, BOO uses the excellent WordPress as our Content Management System (CMS) It’s fast, open source, and incredibly easy to use.

Kenji03′s new puppy?

In the past few months, WordPress have released 2 major versions of the system, each sporting new features (one or two not quite as welcome) and lots of optimised code. In the interests of stability (and bug problems) we haven’t upgraded at all, but as we are falling quite far behind in terms of functionality as a result, now seems like a good time to upgrade the entire site, especially after our successful upgrade of the BOO Forums just last week.

This will be a little more complicated though, as the site itself uses around 15 plugins to add extra features (such as the Polls) and this means that it will be done in phases:

1. Upgrade core database - this appears to a straight-forward process which involves upgrading the database to match 2.5/6. Tested locally so am 95% sure it will go right first time.
2. Upgrade/check plugins - a lot more time consuming given the number of plugins used on this site, and it is usually quite important to follow upgrade instructions. This means certain areas of the site may not function as normal.
3. Revamp Site Theme - this would normally qualify as quite a minor phase, but as we are jumping 2 WordPress versions, there is still a chance that bugs might popup.
4. Final check – although almost all the 3 phases above require feedback from yourselves (seriously, any comments or emails about things that aren’t working right will mean a lot to me) this phase will ensure that the entire site is operating as well as it can be post-upgrade.

Hope to hear back from everyone about your thoughts on the site revamp during the course of the upgrade, and right at the end too! :) The first phase will start this week, so if you notice the site going down or just a maintenance page on display, please check back again.

The song definitely has a very cheerful and summery feel, and I really love it when it comes on on my playlist, but message for kidz does feature a strange if funny ‘chicken’ rap (as coined by Sesshy) in the middle, which adds that extra bit of playfulness. I’m still in two minds about it though!

We have to thank Sowon for kindly providing the romanised lyrics on the BOO forums, and allowing us to post it on the site! The lyrics for the bridge part of message for kidz, like fifty/50, was not available with the single, and was completely transcribed by Sowon!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

JAPANESE (Romaji)

[Verse 1]
You better return to hajimaru
Ikeba tashikani You can remember your dream
Ima ni naccha tooge kake no seji
A-You gotta grab your ippai ni
Don’t use the atama no monosashi
gaki no koro HERO mezashi chanpara
Ima wa RAP de mezasu saki NO.1
Dekiru nante hoshou mo nai mama Around the world
Kanousei wa zero ja nai kara!

[Chorus]
Never forget our shining message yeah
When you lost on your way
Take you to the shining place
Everything’s gonna be all right
It’s the shining message yeah
When you lost on your way
Take you to the shining place
Everything’s gonna be all right
song for kidz!

[Verse 2]
Hajimari wa itsumo fuan to tonari awase
Shigarami no naka Vision dake hirogete
Sou yume no naka e …
Ekaku egaku eizou to Passion
Nani yori ippo fumidasu Action
Tobidashitara igai to Reaction wa rakushou
Sassou to mado ake nuke dasou

* Repeat [Chorus]

[Bridge]
Yo! Touch the sky te wo nobashite
We Gonna break the sound system!

Yo! Touch the sky te wo nobashite
We Gonna break the sound system!

Yo Touch the sky te wo nobashite
We Gonna break the sound system!

[Verse 3]
Mazasu basho e ikeru wa fu tashika da ga
Nanda ka ikeru you na ki ga shite kitan nara
Mazu wa Move On!
Me wo tojitta ii !
Ishi wo mae e
Itsuka yume mita ano sora no mukou
Chiisana karada ni ookina kagayaki…
Idaite So
Omoi dashite mi! kimi no Shining road

* Repeat [Chorus]

Sands of time, the title track of the single (umm… Sands of time) is also the ED of the Japanese drama ケータイ捜査官7 (Keitai Sousakan 7) and the band did a fantastic PV for the song that you can watch in full on Youtube courtesy of gangangan03, or if you want the subbed version of the PV, check out the release by #TV-Nihon, which was uploaded by Vanalovas.

And the long awaited lyrics are finally here! We have to thank rageguy for posting the romaji version on the Forums, and he kindly allowed us to post them here! The usual kanji, hiragana and karaoke versions are now also available (August 3rd 2008!)

We’re experimenting a little this time, and posting the lyrics (as per the original) without the usual dividing brackets. It would be great if you could let us know what you thought!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

JAPANESE (Kanji)

つないでた手を離したんだ I know…わかってる
無口なホームで…

I’m Mr. lover なんて強がる can you feel me?
未だに you’re my 心癒す diva
But I can’t say this word “逢いたいな”
I wanna 時を rewind right now

“逢いたいよ” って今すぐにでも 叫びたいのに
もうYou and I 言えない
意地をはっても つかめない あの頃は腕の中にいたのに
キミはもういない

Baby… come back to here for me
そう隣に… I wanna say it
You and I お互い 言えない 逢えない
あの時から素直になれない 魔法が解けない
I wanna use the sands of time… 君のそばにいたい

“愛してる” って叫んでみたけど 君の元には届かないよ
泣かないでくれよ ツラくなるから
胸の奥に想いを閉じ込めた
キミはもういない

Hey my girl 誰かの “モノ” になるなら
いっそ消えてほしいと願う 心の中
未だ思い出 flash back!
あの時 あの場所で出会わなければ…

“愛してる” って叫んでみたけど
君の元には届かないよ
泣かないでくれよ ツラくなるから
胸の奥に想いを閉じ込めた
“逢いたいよ” って今すぐにでも叫びたいのに
もうYou and I 言えない
意地をはっても つかめない
あの頃は腕の中に

fifty/50 is arguably the most experimental song that features in Back-on‘s latest single Sands of time, and in addition to the song being of a more electronic-rap genre where Teeda seems to be the only singer, the lyrics are actually surprisingly dark for the band.

Nevertheless, it’s still a great song, and if you haven’t heard it yet, please refer to this page to find out how to listen to the entire single online. The lyrics are, of course, provided below.

Unfortunately, as with message for kidz, Back-on didn’t actually include the lyrics for the ‘bridge’ of the song (where Teeda‘s voice goes all electronic) so this is a transcribe of what I could hear from the song. I haven’t yet been able to figure out what the missing ‘—-’ is, so if you do know, please let us know!

You can find the original kanji below, romaji on page 2 and the romanised version on page 3, with page 4 featuring the hybrid/karaoke mix of kanji and romanji.

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

JAPANESE (Kanji)

[Verse 1]
My brain separated どちらかを random に take it その時 my spirit was naked
まるで青天の霹靂 体一つ but I have two brains, that’s 超越的
Cuz I don’t wanna lose control so I handle it for myself so I’m gonna use my technique
螺旋状に響く衝撃…

[Chorus]
Where am I 目の前見えない my eyes are blind
I wanna kill myself in my mind
Get out of my mind
Where am I 目の前見えない my eyes are blind
I wanna break myself in my mind
Get out of my mind

[Verse 2]
手に取った 44 magnum I wanna shoot to my 爆弾 but I’m scared it’s like a 錯乱
また開こうとする my box of Pandora, I pained myself で抑制なんとか
I’m standing alone in the illusion 出来るかな? 頭ん中で fusion
悩めば悩むほどまさに 伸し掛かる gravity

* Repeat [Chorus]

[Bridge]
Stop thinking so much
I need —-
Killing me, it’s killing yourself
Some lies under the truth
Just go out
Let’s have some fun
Let’s have some fun

* Repeat [Chorus]

The band hardly needs any introduction, as they are one of the hottest and most famous bands to have come from Japan in recent years (Back-on aside of course!!! :p) and have composed OPs for a number of mainstream animes such as Bleach, D.Gray-man, Hataraki Man and also Blood+.

The fansite is run by Evelyn, Sie and Shinya and was launched in December 2006. Not only does it feature in-depth information on pretty much everything related to UVERworld, but the site also has an eye-watering array of multimedia content! Last but not least, it is frequently updated with news, and is also home to one of the most vibrant UVERworld fan communities online! ^^ You can find the link to UVERworld.org under Affiliates, so you can see for yourself how great it is! :)

You’re probably hopefully wondering what is happening with BOO itself, and I’m happy to be able to give you a quick list of the recent updates we’ve made to the site! :) These include:

• Discography – Added new details of Back-on‘s upcoming single Sands of Time.
• Schedule – I hadn’t installed the new version of the plugin (Gigpress) correctly but this has now been fixed and updated.
• Q&A – Newly updated with some brand new questions from Kia Moini.
• Site Staff – Added ichi‘s info (she’s one of our Forum Moderators!)
• Gallery – There are new photos there! We just don’t always highlight them.
• Music – We’re updating this at the moment with brand new downloads! Including an extremely rare mp3 of Back-on‘s early work to celebrate our first birthday: Fighting Style from one of their demo cds! ^^ Please check back later if you see this post before we finish!

Of course we still have to tell you about all the things that happene for our birthday celebrations, so those news updates will come too! :)

It’s official! :D We are now a proud one year old website baby who has started walking on its own two feet! As mentioned in our previous post about our birthday celebrations, we will be spending the next few days:

• showcasing a series of special fan submissions (Thank you everyone!)
• bringing you unique multimedia never seen on this site (or anywhere else?) before
• giving you a potted history about the site
• posting more sites updates
• launching a brand new layout on the Forums (and later on the whole site)!

And well, before I started drafting this entire series, I was full of ideas about what I was going to write, but writer’s block decided to rear its dreaded head, and now I’m feeling a little stuck (especially with the server downtime less than an hour ago which decided to eat up my first draft!) so I’ll pause here and say: watch this space please!

Don’t forget you can always subscribe to our email newsletter, that sends you an email everytime there is a new post on the site. And as this is the birthday of our very special Forums, feel free to mosey over there for even more up-to-date posts!

p/s: And we’ve already launched the brand new forum theme with it’s brand new header by Sesshy! Take a look on the right! :D