From November 4 – 5, this year’s edition of Rostelecom Cup took place in Moscow, Russia. This was the third event in the International Skating Union’s 2016 – 2017 Grand Prix Series. Shoma Uno took second place in the men’s portion, making him the only Japanese skater out of the four present to medal at this event.

Shoma Uno placed second with a total score of 285.07, 7.91 points behind the first place finisher, Spaniard Javier Fernandez. This score is currently Shoma’s personal best combined score. Shoma’s short program received a score of 98.59, putting him in first place, 7.04 points ahead of Javier. This score is now Shoma’s personal best short program score. He opened his program with his quad flip (a jump that only he has landed in competition), but lost some points for putting his hand down on the landing. “My performance today wasn’t exactly perfect, there are things to work on for me, but overall I think it was a good performance,” Shoma said afterwards. Shoma’s free skate was the second highest scored of the night with 186.48 points, 14.95 points behind Javier. Shoma started with the quad flip and tried for two more quads, but fell on the third attempt. He also did only one combination of jumps — a triple-single-triple that earned a bonus for coming very late, at the four-minute mark. At the end of Rostelecom Cup, it was announced that Shoma would be in the Grand Prix Final next month, making him the first singles skater of the season to be named to that competition. At a press conference, Shoma later said, “Luckily I have some time before the Grand Prix Final now and I’d like to work on the quad loop. Hopefully I’ll be able to add it to my program in the near future.” Yuzuru Hanyu became the first and only man so far to land the quad loop in international competition when he debuted it earlier this season. He’s had some problems executing it consistently though.

On November 30, Tomita Lab will release his new album, “SUPERFINE.” The list of collaborators on this album includes KOM_I and Kenmochi Hidefumi of Suiyoubi no Campanella, YONCE of Suchmos, Kido Akiko and Wakabayashi Tomo of CICADA, and many more.

The album comes in a limited edition and regular edition. The limited comes in a CD+DVD+Book format and is limited to 5000 copies. The DVD that comes with this edition includes footage from the recording of “SUPERFINE”, while the book features a diary that Tomita Lab kept will making the album. The regular edition is in a CD only format.

Tomita Lab has released a trailer for the album which features some songs that have already been previewed along with a few that haven’t. The new songs that are being previewed feature vocals by Maaya Sakamoto, Takagi Shohei of cero, Fujiwara Sakura, and AKIO, who regularly features on Sugar’s Campaign’s songs. Check out the trailer below, along with the more information on the album!

This week’s guests were flumpool, TRUSTRICK, SUPER★DRAGON

flumpool – FREE YOUR MIND

TRUSTRICK – I wish you were here.

SUPER★DRAGON – Pendulum Beat!

Early last month we reported that veteran singer/songwriter Keisuke Kuwata would be releasing a new single titled “Kimi e no Tegami” on November 23rd.  In the ensuing weeks he has revealed not only the complete track list for this new release, but also published the music video for the lead song to his official Youtube channel.

The video sees the singer performing in a variety of different locations, from the streets of a city during the winter months to a Japanese-style study.  This PV is a direct collaboration between Kuwata and television station WOWOW, with “Kimi e no Tegami” serving as the channel’s 25th anniversary CM track.  Of note, this is both the song’s second tie-in, as it is also serving as the theme song for film “Kin Medal Otoko”, and the second track that Kuwata has provided for WOWOW’s 25th anniversary project following “Yoshiko-san” back in June.

You’ll find the full MV for “Kimi e no Tegami”, as well as the single’s cover, track list, and a look at its Limited Edition right after the jump.

Yesterday, the official Warner Music Japan Youtube channel uploaded a music video for “Musical Chairs”, a song from electronic supergroup METAFIVE‘s upcoming mini-release, “METAHALF”. The track—definitely not a venture outside familiar ground—found the group operating on its lower gear: soft vocals from YMO’s Yukihiro Takahashi drives the verse before vocalist Leo Imai jumps for the short chorus. Nevertheless, it’s a nice tune to bop and sing along to; lyrics for the song is overlayed on top of satellite images in the video to help you with that.

METAHALF drops on 9 November. (HMV, Billboard Japan)

Ex-(Original)-BiS member Rinahamu and Nicamoq‘s delightful, self produced, “yume-kawaii” idol unit BPM15Q are set to release their very first album at the end of November, called “BPM15Q all songs“. The album gathers all previously released tracks (via limited edition CD-Rs, CDs and digital only) and adds a brand new song for a total of 9 altogether. This marks the smoking, pizza eating unit’s first wide release and surely is exciting news for followers of the group. Find the track-list and some MVs below!

We’re back with this week’s edition of Oricon Flashback. This is where we look back on what topped Oricon this week 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. Think of it as a way to reminisce and learn about the past of Japanese music.

This week’s guest were Saito Makoto, KenKen, and SATOKO.

Saito Makoto x KenKen x SATOKO x Kanjani8 – Zukkoke Otokomichi