Kanjani8 will be holing their first overseas concert “Kanjani8’s Eightertainment GR8EST in Taipei” at Taipei Arena on  September 22 and 23 and is expected to mobilize 30,000 people in 2 days. The group will be embarking on a Dome Tour starting July as 6 members and without Shibutani Subaru, who announced his withdrawal from the group and Johnnys last month.

Club jazz quintet SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS recently announced that they will be releasing a new album titled “DAPPER” next month on May 9th.  Their first new record since 2016’s “BLACK TRACK”, and the departure of saxophonist Motoharu, “DAPPER” will include 14 songs from the newly revitalized ensemble.

While primarily an instrumental group, each SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS record features a number of collaborations with various vocalists from across the Japanese scene.  For this record, they have enlisted the aid of RADWIMPS’ Yojiro Noda, in the form of their already released collaboration track “Yume Makase”, Daichi Miura, Awich, Nao Kawamura, Yahyel’s Shun Ikegai, Kodama’s Kiala, and EGO-WRAPPIN’.

Read on below to find not only the cover and complete track list for “DAPPER”, but also a radio rip of its lead track – the group’s collaboration with Daichi Miura, “comrade”.

Just last week we reported that jazz/hip-hop influenced trio cero would be releasing a new album titled “POLY LIFE MULTI SOUL” on May 16th.  Now the group has chosen to publish the music video for the release’s second track, “Sakana no Hone Tori no Hane” to their label’s Youtube channel.

Directed by labelmates VIDEOTAPEMUSIC, this PV finds cero and their support band performing the song while a pair of male and female couples dance between them.  These visuals are then randomly overlain with thermographic imagery in an attempt to further enhance the mysterious and oppressive atmosphere of the track.

You’ll find the full music video for “Sakana no Hone Tori no Hane” right after the cut.

Alternative rockers THE NOVEMBERS have announced that they will be releasing a new EP next month on May 16th.  Titled “TODAY”, the release is meant to be a direct follow-up to the group’s compilation album “Before Today”, which was released late last year.

According to the band, “TODAY” will simultaneously honor the past and look towards the future, and as such will include both two new songs and a pair of covers.  One of the latter two tracks will be a special cover of L’arc~en~Ciel’s song “CRADLE”, which is beloved by all of the group’s members.

You’ll find the cover and track list for “TODAY”, as well as the full audio for lead track “Minna Isoide Iru” right after the cut.

It has been announced that singer Crystal Kay will be releasing her 12th studio album titled For You.

This will be her first studio album release in almost 3 years, the last was her 2015 album Shine.

For You‘s tracklist still hasn’t been finalized yet, but the limited edition will come with a DVD featuring her full concert held at “Club Citta”. Full music videos for the songs Sakura and Lovin’ You will also be included.

The description for the album on Kay’s official website is also already teasing her 20th anniversary, can you believe it’s already been 20 years? On July 1st, 1999 she made her debut with the single Eternal Memories.

Below check out the album covers for For You, and a long preview of Shiawasette, one of the new tracks included on the album.

Nogizaka46 seems to be catching up to their rival group! Their latest single Synchroncity has sold over 1 million copies in just 3 days.

While this is the girls’ 4th million selling single in a row, this is the very first time they have been able to achieve this during their first week of sales.

Synchronicity sold well over 860,000 copies on it’s first day of release, and they almost achieved 1 million a day earlier when it sold an additional 102,000 copies. Day 3 sales of 46,000 was what they needed to break that million mark.

Girl group CHERRSEE is gearing up for the release of their very first mini-album titled Melody.

CHERRSEE is described a dance vocal group, whose songs all contain catchy addicting melodies and synchronized dances.

They were created by the popular Korean producer Brave Brothers, who made a name for himself creating hit songs for some of the top K-pop acts over the years including T-ARA, Big Bang, 4minute, Sistar, and AOA. 

On April 25, Wednesday, news broke that TOKIO member Yamaguchi Tatsuya was being investigated for “forced indecency” with a 16 year old girl by the police.

A press conference was held on the 26th and Yamaguchi appeared wearing a dark suit and black tie, lowered his head for 30 seconds and apologized. “I will spend my days taking a hard look at myself and praying that the victim, her family and her friend can someday be at peace and return to their lives before this took place,” said Yamaguchi. Accompanied by the lawyer, he explained the incident. He said he was contacted by police in late March and reported it to Johnny & Associates in early April. It was also announced that Yamaguchi will be indefinitely suspended from activities.