Today psychedelic rock band Odotte Bakari no Kuni released their ninth studio album “Watashi wa Tsuki ni wa Ikanai Darou“. To support this release, the band have uploaded a live performance of the record’s fourth track “Salinger” to YouTube.

This rendition of the dreamy ballad was recorded at the Festive Season live event back in December. Additionally, all three of the songs unveiled prior to the album’s release – “Banana Fish”, “Aoi Pierce”, and “Salinger” – have now been made available on streaming services.

You’ll find both the live and studio version of “Salinger” right after the jump.

Cellist Seigen Tokuzawa and pianist Masaki Hayashi have announced that they will be releasing a collaborative album titled “Drift” on March 4th. A collaboration over nine years in the making, “Drift” aims to create a cinematic soundscape built around the soft harmony and dynamic liveliness of the performers’ paired instruments.

“Drift” will run 11 tracks long, including nine original songs and pair of covers from popular music acts Squarepusher and The Velvet Underground. The audio for the Squarepusher cover – “Iambic 9 Poetry” – has been uploaded to the YouTube channel of the duo’s record label.

You’ll find this clip, along with the cover and track list for “Drift” below.

Famed anime theme singer LiSA has made a very special announcement on her official Instagram account. She has married popular voice actor Tatsuhisa Suzuki!

In the post LiSA briefly talked about her relationship with Tatsuhisa. She described him as a person who is very supportive of her, even when she’s feeling lost or frustrated. LiSA promised to keep giving it her all for fans, and is excited to create new material and continue to perform concerts.

Johnny’s latest groups SixTONES and Snow Man made their major debut with the single “Imitation Rain / D.D.” The groups made their debuts together, billed as “SixTONES vs Snow Man”. This is the first time for two different Johnny’s groups to make their debut on the same day, and on the same single. This is also the first double a-side debut single for a Johnny’s group.

The experiment seems to have paid off, Oricon has reported that “Imitation Rain / D.D.” has sold 772k in just one day!

On January 22, Ame no Parade will release their fourth album, “BORDERLESS.” This is the band’s first album since the departure of bassist Korenaga Ryosuke last year. The remaining members of the band act as co-producers on this album, working alongside their other co-producer, Tsutaya Koichi of agehasprings.

Frontman Fukunaga Kohei explains the album’s title as a reflection of the world today, where mainstream and underground, Japanese music and Western music, are mixed, without borders. With “BORDERLESS”, Ame no Parade has expanded their point of view, resulting in the band taking their sound in new directions.

“BORDERLESS” comes in two editions, limited and regular. The limited edition comes in a book format and includes a bonus live CD.

In tandem with the album’s release, Ame no Parade has released the music video for the album’s title track. Check it out below, along with more information on the album!

Last year, Mika Nakashima made her theater debut in the muscial “Innocent musicale.” Mika will release the musical’s theme song “Innocent Rouge” on January 22.

She’ll release the single under the name “Marie starring MIKA NAKASHIMA“. This is the first time Mika has used the name “starring MIKA NAKASHIMA” since “THE END”, the 2006 album by NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA.

“Innocent Rouge” was written by Sakamoto Shinichi, the manga artist that created “Innocent”, the manga on which Mika’s musical is based. MIYAVI was in charge of the song’s composition and arrangement. Shinichi also created the single’s cover art.

Check out more information on the single below, along with its lyric video!

On January 29, E-girls will release their new single, “Bessekai.” The song is one of optimism, reflecting how the members will draw on their experiences as E-girls as they move forward after the group disbands later this year.

A music video depicting the changing seasons of the year has been released to accompany “Bessekai.” E-girls say that people feel anxious when the seasons change, but they they most look forward to the new season as a new opportunity, just how the members are looking forward to their lives after the group. Check out the video below!

A few weeks ago on the 70th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, a hologram of Misora Hibari performed a new song created using her voice and AI, in honor of the 30th anniversary of her death. Reactions to this use of technology were mixed, but Yamashita Tatsuro has one word for it: “blashpemy.”

Tatsuro expressed his thoughts on the matter on January 19, on his TOKYO FM show, “Yamashita Tatsuro no Sunday Songbook.” He opened the show with “Inochi no Uta”, the new single by his wife, Mariya Takeuchi. He expressed thanks for the single hitting #1 on Oricon, due to Kohaku, which Mariya debuted on a few weeks ago with the song. He then moved onto the topic of “AI Misora Hibari.”