Last month alternative rock quartet LAMP IN TERREN announced that they would be releasing a special EP titled “Maison Diary”, which would only be sold at their live shows. Now music videos for two of the included tracks – “Homura no Hate” and “Itsumo no Koto” – have been uploaded to the band’s YouTube channel.

The PV for “Homura no Hate” is cinematic in scale, expressing an existential conflict about the worth of existence through the actions of a mysterious young woman. By contrast, Itsumo no Koto’s video is a simple affair which attempts to capture the ‘gray everyday’ that most people experience with regularity.

You’ll find this pair of music videos, as well as the cover and complete track list for “Maison Diary” right after the jump.

Folk singer/songwriter Ichiko Aoba recently announced that she will be establishing her own record label: hermine. To celebrate the birth of the imprint, she has chosen to release a new digital single titled “amuletum bouquet” – her first sign of new material since October 2018’s “qp”.

The single’s two tracks are an exercise in contrast, with “bouquet” continuing in Aoba’s tradition of self-composed, narratively engaging folk. “amuletum (Mamori Uta)”, on the other hand, features both composition and a lavish arrangement from Taro Umebayashi, with harp, cello, and clarinet featuring prominently on the song.

You’ll find the audio for both of these tracks below.

Towards the end of 2019, we reported that psychedelic rock group Odotte Bakari no Kuni would be releasing a new album titled “Watashi wa Tsuki ni wa Ikanai Darou” on January 22nd. Though they’ve already uploaded a PV for the record’s opening track “Banana Fish“, they have now published a second PV for song “Aoi Pierce”.

The clip focuses on a simple performance of the track by frontman Koji Shimotsu, who plays the accompanying acoustic guitar part in a stark white room. As with the previous video, direction was handled by the creative team of Rintaro Ishige and Motonori Omori.

You’ll find the full PV for this rollicking mid-tempo track right after the jump.

Days after the announcement that AAA‘s leader, Urata Naoya, would be leaving the group, the remaining members have decided to go on hiatus on December 31. They came to this decision after discussing their group activities, solo activities, and personal lives since 2016. All of the members of AAA are now in their 30s, so their futures, professional and personal, were discussed as well.

The 12th CD Shop Awards 2020 has released its nominee list for 2019! Fifteen albums were picked that were released between January 1 and December 31, 2019. The albums were chosen by 495 CD shop staff from across Japan to highlight releases that caught their discerning ears.

In early March, the awards will be given out. Like last year, there will be two main awards. The first will be the “red” award, which goes a to “god-level” album that can be listened to again and again. The second will be the “blue” award, which goes to an album by a new artist that is highly recommended to customers.

A live-action film for the yaoi manga series “Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru” (The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window) has been announced. Created by Tomoko Yamashita, the series made it’s debut on the April, 2013 issue of BExBOY magazine. The series went on to become very successful, with over 1 million copies published.

Taking on the lead roles are popular actors Masaki Okada and Jun Shison. The plot follows Kosuke Mikado (Jun Shison), a shy bookstore clerk who has the unfortunate ability to see ghosts and spirits. Having this ability absolutely terrifies Kosuke, and he wishes he didn’t have this power.

Johnny’s group Arashi has had a long history with one of Japan’s top airlines, JAL. To bring in both the new year and decade, a new CM featuring the group will begin airing nationwide in Japan beginning on January 13th, 2020.

The CM will focus on a brand new passenger aircraft called “A350”. In the CM all five members of Arashi explore the empty aircraft, playing around with the new features and marveling at the beauty of the plane! JAL has already uploaded the 30 second CM version to their official Twitter account. Check it out below:

Back in November 2019, Rika Ishikawa announced to the world that she was pregnant with her second child. The former Morning Musume and v-u-den member was already well into her pregnancy during the announcement. She hasn’t been active on social media lately due to keep up with her busy family life.

Rika shared that she was scheduled to give birth by January, and it came right on time! She gave birth to a healthy baby boy, confirming the news on her official ameba blog.