Meji, who provided us with the initial review of the new songs from the single – message for kidz and fifty/50, has setup a Myspace profile where you can listen to all the songs. The url is below:

http://www.myspace.com/backonsandsoftime (UPDATE 20/06/2008: Sadly this account is now off-line. With thanks to EJ for the news. You can still listen via the Radio on the Music page!)

So if you haven’t heard the new songs yet, head over to one or both places and listen in! For more opinions of the new single, you can read the reviews posted by Aoi and Sesshy on the BOO forums. At least one of the reviews, and other random ‘Back-on‘ keywords can all be found on the dedicated Back-on dictionary created by ichi!

Let us know what you think of Back-on‘s latest musical experiment! :)

p/s: I received my copy of the new CD in the post a few days ago! :) Do I think it was worth the wait? Definitely!

This time, a day dreaming… and Kodou were the top favourites of our voters, and as usual, we have also put up two extra downloads for just one week only, including the much-requested Hikari Sasuhou (Survive ver.) as well as the runner up from the previous polls, forward.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the latest polls, and if possible, it would be great if you could vote again in the next one, where:

• Butterfly (Butterfly single)
• DRIVE (New World album)
• Believer (Chain single)
• Grab (Survive compliation album)
• Gaku-Ten (Baby Rock album)
• RAIN (New World album)

are all up for selection. It might be a bit more difficult to choose this time! :)

More updates will be forthcoming throughout the site, as well as more content from various contributors! And before I forget, we have updated the affiliate link with Sound EX from their Myspace to their official new website! The people behind the website are Nao and Sesshy, and I would encourage everyone to pay a visit, particularly as the graphics used for the site design really are fantastic! I’ve included a screenshot of the new site design below as a taster, but look out for the flash movie on the splash page – it’s worth the wait – and this is coming from someone who doesn’t usually take a second glance at splash pages.

Out of the 488 votes that we received since the previous poll/series, 38% and 36% voted for Hikari Sasuhou and New World respectively! I applaud these choices, simply because they both top my ‘favourite Back-on songs’ list! :D

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Butterfly and flower on September 19th 2007 (please mark this date in your diary if you haven’t already done so ^^) we are also featuring Hikari Sasuhou (Survive ver.) and also EYES for download as well! However, they will only be available for one week only, so please do try and pick them up within the time frame.

In case you weren’t already aware of it, the Radio section of the Music page is now featuring one of Back-on‘s out-of-print albums: Hero. The album torrent came courtesy of Crackerjack, so we would like to thank her for making it available for everyone else to listen!

So on to the last part of the Download section, the new poll is now up and running with 6 songs to vote for this time (because of the forthcoming singles release) where each song is taken from almost all of the Back-on singles and mini-albums! Please do take a few seconds to vote when you have a spare moment. :)

Moving on to the updates to the Lyrics section, we mentioned previously that the lyrics are now organised alphabetically. funbari, who has been kindly helping out by typing up the missing lyrics (her contribution includes forward and ~feel~ so far!:)) mentioned that it could be improved further, so a further small change has been made in an attempt to make navigation clearer: by adding a prefix ‘Translation’ to any translated lyrics, similar to the current ‘Lyrics’ nomenclature.

Please do let us know if you have any suggestions as to how we can improve your navigation experience! :) Even small changes can make a significant difference.

Finally, thank you to everyone for your patience and support. ^^ Please look forward to more news updates! Feel free to subscribe to news updates and have the latest news delivered directly to your email inbox as well.

p/s: Don’t forget to check out the new Wallpaper section too, featuring work by MJtheOne!

In Part 1, we’re featuring photos taken by KHT and Hyperreality Mer (latter 2) , who have both very kindly given us permission to post them here on BOO news and our gallery! Thank you! You can see all of their work below as thumbnails, where each photo is linked to its original size in the gallery. And as Teeda might say – check them out! :)

I would strongly encourage EVERYONE to view them in their original sizes, because these thumbnails seriously don’t justify the quality of the photos! If you do need a little persuading, take a closer look at Hyperreality Mer‘s photo of Shu below!

Finally, you may also have seen that this is only Part 1 of the photo extravaganza, so please stay tuned for further updates!

The amazing thing is that these were all done in a matter of days, as you’ll be able to tell by reading this Guitar Tabs forum thread started by jakeraptor1991 (feel free to join in the discussion by the way!) and you can find them all on Ultimate-Guitar.com!

As usual, you can view the screenshot above to get ‘taster’ of what to expect! :D A big thanks must go to Avalonstar12 for sharing her work with everyone!

p/s: You can also view some of her fanart in the Gallery section!

I thought I’d write abit more about these songs, since it’s hard to explain everything on the Music page itself! You may have read a previous post about recent updates to Back-on‘s Discography, and details about a CD compilation – Survive – were added, in which Back-on contributes 3 songs:

1. NUTS TRIBE
2. ヒカリサスホウ (Hikari Sasuhou)
3. GRAB

The CD compilation was released on June 8th 2005 with songs from Back-on, Airstrike and , and some fans will already know that both Nuts Tribe and ヒカリサスホウ (Hikari Sasuhou) are songs available from Baby Rock and New World.

Since Nuts Tribe has already been included in another album, I’ve decided not to write more about the song. However, the ヒカリサスホウ (Hikari Sasuhou) in Survive is very different from the version found in New World. The lyrics differ slightly, as well as the arrangement of the music, and is not unlike Hikari Sasuhou (FK Metal ver.), a new variation by Back-on for the OP of the anime, Murder Princess.

So for the sake of convenience, this version will be referred to in the future as Hikari Sasuhou (Survive CD ver.) or something like that, at least on this site!

How about Grab? I personally love the music from the verse(s) more than the chorus, and it seems to be a firm favourite by listeners, judging by the reponses so far. Oddly, this song hasn’t yet been included in any of Back-on‘s own releases so far, but it has been featured on another compilation – BASTA LA FESTA – sun face side - – which was released on October 25th 2005.

First thoughts on both songs?

Hikari Sasuhou (Survive CD ver.) is probably the closest (at the moment) to a full version of Hikari Sasuhou (FK Metal. ver.), which is one of my most favourite Back-on tracks, so it’s impossible (for me) to dislike! However, it’s quite clear that Back-on‘s music has improved since 2005 as the Survive CD ver. has quite a raw sound – ie. less polished. The introduction is a little long (58 seconds?), the singing is rather less polished than it’s recent counterpart and there are fewer ‘special’ effects. Nevertheless, it’s a damned good song which also provides an insight into Back-on‘s earlier work.

I also love Grab – it has an upbeat-intro and the underlying melody is fantastic. Alot of emphasis is made on the guitar work and the rap-part of the song, which really carries the entire song, even if the chorus doesn’t quite make the same benchmark in my humble opinion. So overall, the song is very strong in the sense that it’s just makes for great listening, and I hope that Back-on will consider re-recording it to include in their own album at some point.

If you haven’t already listened to the two songs, they are available for streaming from the Radio on the Music page. It would be interesting to find out what other people thought about these two songs in particular, and whilst I still maintain that we should all support Back-on by buying their CDs, one could probably make an exception for compilation tracks, so we at Back-on Online will be providing download links at some point for the songs!

The tracklisting includes:

1. BLAZE LINE
2. a day dreaming…
3. EYES

where the first two songs are the OP AND ED (respectively) of the anime, Eyeshield 21. With reference to the interview featured in the most recent issue of pam! magazine, although the two songs are very different musical styles, they both convey the same message of:

honest “feelings of gratitude (appreciation) that are usually forgotten”

The collective thoughts of Back-on at the time were about acknowledging the people who have helped them to get where they are now, including family and friends as well as the band management team from Japan. In addition, they have also extended their thanks to the people from Houston, Texas during their trip to America for Anime Matsuri.

This is evident in their latest PVs for the single, especially in a day dreaming…, where the ending credits in particular for the ‘extended’ version features a running list of thanks as well as specially recorded video messages!

In BLAZE LINE, we get to see more footage from Anime Matsuri, where the main part of the video is the live performance of the song itself! For a bit of a previously unknown trivia, both PVs have been directed by Kats ☆ Mori, who also directed the promotional videos for Gaku-Ten, Flydom and New World.

So where can you buy this single? I can easily recommend the online shops below (each link will take you to the info page for the single) particularly Play-asia and Yesasia as they offer more competitive shipping rates for international buyers:

• Play-asia.com
• Yesasia.com
• HMV.co.jp
• Amazon.co.jp

If you have the fortune to be living in Japan, according to Back-on‘s official blog, the CDs were delivered to the stores yesterday to prepare for today’s release. The author (one of Back-on‘s management team) actually paid a visit to the Tsutaya and Hmv store near Shibuya Station, and listened to Back-on‘s music on the sample music kiosks (an example is provided below).

Alas, I still have to wait for mine to be delivered from Play-asia.com and can hardly wait! :) I will definitely take some photos so please check back for further updates! Hope you are as excited about the release as I am!

However, this time, to celebrate the forthcoming release of Back-on‘s latest single: BLAZE LINE/a day dreaming…, instead of just featuring 2 songs for download, for the next 5 days – until June 6th 2007 (the official release date for BL/ADD) – all 4 songs that were featured in the previous vote (where 169 people participated for their most-wanted download) will be available!

These are:

1. Believer (Chain)
   
2. Rain (New World)
3. Gaku-Ten (Baby Rock)
4. Nuts Tribe (Baby Rock)

After that, just the top two winners will remain as usual (as bolded)
You can reach the Music page by visiting: http://www.backon-online.com/multimedia/music/

Again, the aim of the downloads section is to provide a ‘one-stop’ place for fans and potential fans to listen to Back-on’s work – ‘try before you buy‘. You can support Back-on even more by buying their albums and attend their concerts. There is more information about where you can purchase the cds avilable on the Music page.

Finally… there hasn’t been any change to the Radio section of Music for the moment… but check back in two weeks! :) Don’t forget to vote in the new Poll in the meantime!

1. Gaku-Ten
2. Blow
3. Flydom
4. Forward
5. ~feel~
6. Nuts Tribe
7. Lucky?
8. So Many Tears

As with every update to the Music page, there is also a change in the featured download. A big thanks to those who voted for in the poll! 124 people participated in the vote and New World was the overwhelming favourite (81) to be featured this time. I’ve also decided to include the runner up Flydom (22) as the extra featured download so hope you all like it! There is a new poll up for the next update so please take a little time to vote. :D

If you’re interested in finding out about download statistics from last month:

• Hikari Sasuhou was downloaded 494 times.
• Chain was downloaded 210 times.

As so many people voted for New World, I am fairly confident that the download numbers will exceed this. If you would like to tell someone where they can find these songs, please link directly to the Music page at http://www.backon-online.com/multimedia/music/. I’ve found that a few direct-file-linkers have popped up and will definitely be changing the file location on a frequent basis as it is a form of leeching.

Hope you enjoy listening to Baby Rock! Remember, if you like the album, support Back-on by buying the CD! Play-asia are doing an excellent deal for Back-on albums at the moment, and I would recommend purchasing from them. :)

You can find out more about Back-on‘s schedule at Anime Matsuri from this post, and a variety of sources have confirmed that they will be definitely attending Dance till Dawn so hope lots of people will be there to support them as well. Remember this is Back-on‘s first international performance, so extra enthusiasm is a must! If that’s not quite enough incentive, I can certainly try and telepathically send my waves of enthusiasm across the pond from England!

For those who are able to attend the event – congratulations! Back-on fans (including myself) unable to attend would really appreciate it if those who are there could share their stories with us! Multimedia, such as pictures and videos would definitely be an added bonus :) Please feel free to post on the forums, or even contact me directly, as we would all love to hear more!
In other related news, [MC] mentioned on the Anime Matsuri Forums that:

a little birdie told me that they’re filming their next music video here in H*TOWN!!!!

This is exciting news and could explain the 10 day mini-gap between Back-on‘s stay in America and their next Tokyo gig (aside from the time-off; adjusting to time difference; and editing of the trip-to-America video to be presented by Icchan at the gig) If you’re living in Houston, perhaps this is a good opportunity to do a bit of Back-on spotting!

And finally, regarding site updates… we will (finally) be updating the Music page sometime within the week to feature Baby Rock, as well as typing up lyrics such as Gaku-Ten! We are also working on the translation of Back-on’s KERA interview, so watch this space. ^^

p/s: I leave you with another picture of Teeda and his new hair style, taken with his cousin at the latter’s birthday, straight from his very own blog.