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[MUSIC] Crystal Lake with a European tour

4/4/2018

The Japanese band Crystal Lake will land in seven European cities in total this summer. Who exactly are Crystal Lake, what type of music do they create and why is it worth it to book a ticket for their show? I'll try to give them a rather brief but still proper review, if you, however, are already familiar with the guys and want the tour dates straight away - just one scroll down keeps you from them!

The band was formed in 2002 and right from the start Crystal Lake state that their main influence was the hardcore style, popular during the '90s. Their songs can be described as metalcore (early years), hardcore, progressive metal and nu metal. The typical heavy vocals and growling are absolutely here but you may have to bear in mind - recently they include more clean vocals as well. The style varies from truly aggressive mosh pit-worthy songs to soft and somehow calming songs (as much as that's possible for a hardcore song, maybe I am just weird). An example of that is two of the songs I included throughout this article - Apollo and Black and Blue. I absolutely adore how even in different types of songs and emotions, Crystal Lake still has a distinct sound which is never lost.

Apollo is their last single. It was released at the end of last year. The art on the right gives us a hind to something alien, the music video is a neon hallucination. And the song, you ask, what about the song! Often I baffle people around me when I say that a song with growls and heavy riffs calms me down. Apollo is one of those songs. The vocals aren't irritatingly aggressive but compliment the instruments delightfully. The guitar and drums are unforgivingly perfect for a mosh pit but at the same time an absolutely lovely melody comes in and blends it all. During this 5-minute song, we can find also some discrete rapping, some clean vocals, and nostalgic DJ mixing sounds.

This universe was not big enough for us
Open the sky

- Apollo

The tour dates and cities around Europe are as follows:

June 28–30, 2018 - JERA ON AIR 2018 - Ysselsteyn, The Netherlands Tickets
June 30–July 1, 2018 - Dissonance Festival - Milan,Italy Tickets
July 5–7, 2018 - ROCK DEN SEE 2018 - Sankt Andrä, Austria Tickets
July 5, 2018 - UK TECH-FEST 2018 - Newark, UK Tickets
July 6, 2018 - JAPAN EXPO 2018 - Paris, France Tickets
July 13, 2018 - RESURRECTION FEST 2018 - Viveiro, Galicia, Spain Tickets
July 14, 2018 - Fajtfest 2018 - Velké Meziříčí, Czech Republic Tickets

Official site of Crystal Lake
Official Facebook page of Crystal Lake

Статията може да намерите и на български - тук.

Author: Lilia Bozhinova

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[MUSIC] NANO with a solo debut - Forever You and I

2/4/2018

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At the end of February, Kim Jaeho from the unfortunately now disbanded group History made his solo debut with the song Forever You and I under the pseudonym NANO. The song has a pop beat mixed with retro electronic elements. Jaeho's voice glides smoothly over the melody and reminds us why he was one of the vocalists of the band. Unpretentious, but very fresh and cheerful, the song highlights the romantic side of Jaeho and his beautiful voice. In the lyrics, he tells of the little things that make him fall in love with his girl over and over again. The music video is minimalistic, but manages to perfectly combine bright colors, small symbolic details and Jaheo`s romantic smile.

If while History existed you missed the fact that Jaeho is a strong vocalist with a wide vocal spectrum, it's not too late to catch up. Most of History`s songs are fast paced, while his strength is in the slower and more sensual vocals. You can clearly hear them in songs like Blue Moon, Easy and Liar. His rapping is also not to be understimated - his parts in their last song Queen and their Japanese comeback Lost are an example of his excellent skills.

With the release of the song Jaeho also revealed the meaning behing his pseudonym NANO. It comes from the sentence 나는 노래 하는 사람 입니다 or "I am a person who sings". He took 나 ("NA" - meaning I) and 노 ("NO" - the first syllable of the word 노래, meaning song).

From NANO`s Instagram profile

If all this information came out of the blue for you because you didn`t know what Jaeho was doing after the disbandment of History, I will fill the gaps for you. Some months before History disbanded Jaeho deleted all of his previous Instagram posts and after a long absence from the social medias, he returned with a new name - nnano92. Until then, his account in Instagram was named jaehogram (similar to the ones of two other members of the group - Kuyngil and Sihyoung, respectively ilstagram and sihyoungram). Then it was not clear whether it was a new artistic nickname or just a new name for his account that would no longer associate him with the band.

Although not very active, he occasionally treated us with short covers, such as those of the song Two Melodies by Zion.T and Friends by Justin Bieber. He continues to uplaod such covers so if you do not follow him at Instagram, quickly correct yourself @nnano92.

zion.t - 뻔한 멜로디 cover #ziont #자이언티 #뻔한멜로디 #cover #nano

Публикация, споделена от NANO (@nnano92) на Ное 9, 2017 в 4:24 PST

싱글 작업중□ Justin Bieber & BloodPop - Friends (Cover) #justinbieber #bloodpop #friends #cover #nano

Публикация, споделена от NANO (@nnano92) на Окт 19, 2017 в 11:02 PDT

In the middle of 2017 Jaeho released his first mixtape in Soundcloud. With a total of three songs, [!] shows Jaeho as a producer with a wide range of influences. The first song from the mixtape Bubbly Girl is made in collaboration with the korean-american singer Yaeji, popular with her distinctive combination of country music and hip-hop. The song is an energetic pop song, and while you listen to it you will unconsciously start to shake your head in tact. The second song so so so is in the genres of jazz and blues, which we hear for the first time from Jaeho. Undoubtedly, however, he feels perfectly comfortable in these genres and even raps confidently along. The third song Don`t go is a successful mix of RnB and Soul and also has a very rich sound. Its weak part is in the fact that at some places his voice is modified for a stronger effect, but to me it is unnecessary and does only harm to the song.

PS. These are actually not Jaeho's first independent projects... Even before the disbandment of History and before choosing the name NANO, he was involved in the first digital single of the singer 달(D.A.L) under the pseudonym Bignose. Various sources claim that the rest of History's members gave him this nickname because his nose was very large and plump after sleep. I would have been pleased even if he kept this nickname, but as he NANO seems much more aware of herself and the direction he wants to follow in his career.

♥

Българският вариант на статията можете да откриете тук.
Author: Emilia Kircheva

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[MUSIC] Arlequin with a new single

2/4/2018

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Arlequin (アルルカン) are serving us a quite delightful spring portion of visual kei with their single exist which hit the shelves on the 21st of March. The title track under the same name is a bold combination of everything we might call visual kei now, in this day and year. It starts off with some electronic elements and we kinda mentally prepare for a song that is not-so-metal. Quickly, we are proven wrong by a heavy guitar riff that makes me quite happy. The vocals are on point and with great joy, I can say that the trend of too much falsetto among visual kei singers might be dying out. Right when I thought the song might be getting predictable, we stumble upon some heavy vocals which are a bit out of place. We never hear them again, they are just kinda... there. That might be the only minus of the song.

The title song is accompanied by a PV (which you can find at the bottom of the review). It does not have a huge budget or a super elaborate plot. Shots of the musicians, dominantly dark atmosphere in tune with the sound of the song, as well as tasteful splatters of blood (teased by the new images of the group too). Overall, compliments the song and the mood well but isn't anything that can keep me glued to the monitor.

The single comes in several versions with small differences but overall you could find these titles on the backs of the CDs:

1.exist
2.Antidote.
3.NEGA ABILITY
4.exist -instrumental-

Take a quick look at the visuals they pull for the new single. I may be delusional but I find that Arlequin has settled down a bit - both musically and visually. We see a more mature and polished group. Of course, the very iconic symbols of the genre can be found - the haircuts, the almost industrial style but everything without excess. Black and red are dominant, to match the main color nuances of the music video.

Arlequin are on the visual kei stage since 2013 and they have behind them 2 full-lenght albums and 13 singles. More about the boys from Arlequin you can find down in the following links:

Official website of the group
Youtube channel of GOEMON Records
Official Twitter

Българският вариант на статията - тук.

Author: Lilia Bozhinova

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[CINEMA] "The Night I Swam" during Sofia Film Fest 2018

2/4/2018

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The Night I Swam (La Nuit où j'ai nagé) - 2017

Directors - Kohei Igarashi, Damien Manivel
Written by - Kohei Igarashi, Damien Manivel
Staring - Chisato Kogawa, Keiki Kogawa, Takara Kogawa, Takashi Kogawa
Genre - drama
IMDB rating - 6,3

Snow, snow, and even more snow. Everything around is coated with a thick white cloak. A father leaves every night for his work down at the fish market. A child - almost awake and almost asleep - swims through the snowy streets. He has a destination and a mission.

"The Night I Swam" is not a film for everybody. The French touch can be felt right at the start of the movie - filled with fine details, specific camera work and still life type of scenes. The little boy is in the center of the plot with his walk around the snow-filled Japanese city. A frame is present at the beginning and at the end of the movie - a staircase, snowfall can be seen through the window, and a hurried cigarette. We seem to have an ending to the story but actually, the cycle continues beyond. The wheel continues to spin no matter what the little boy does, however the story changes - the father always goes to work before the boy awakes. Always missing each other, always leaving "love letters" for each other - one with drawings, the other with a silent gesture. Despite the deeply heartbreaking cycle, "The Night I Swam" makes us relax and follow the flow without worrying where we might end. Takes us on a journey with our little main character and experience the world through his eyes. It is a bonus that we do not need any language skills neither in Japanese, nor French. Only a heart is needed.

An absolute journey-movie, made by all laws of art cinema. Silent, natural, realistic, snow-white dream of a child. The film follows closely the travels of one kid through the endless snow in the northern town of Aomori. We don't go down the journey as we might expect, as other movies do. We go with no words. We need only steps.

This is a movie that we could spend hours analyzing and trying to figure out. Everyone can find something unique and many things to think about. At the same time, the movie can be enjoyed by absolutely shutting down the logic. By just going with the flow. For me, the first method is easier so it came naturally to ask myself many questions as for why the only musical piece that we can sporadically hear is "Spring" by Vivaldi and why only in specific scenes? Why was that camera static during the whole movie but moved just 2 or 3 times, was it at random? Was it by design that the little boy was constantly surrounded by water in different forms and shapes - his fish figurines and pictures, the drawing, the snow, the river, the fish market? Truth is - it doesn't matter what was on purpose.

It is very hard for adults to peek into the little man's mind and understand what is driving him to go to such extents. The little runaway carries an important drawing that he has to show to his father. The journey is dangerous and even risky at times but he never gives up. Many obstacles await him before he gets to his destination - the fish market. He is taken by surprise there - the market is already closed and everything around is completely empty. No people. Right at that moment, the fatigue takes its toll on the kid. He has to finally sleep. The Odyssey of the little man is shown through three silent parts - "The Drawing", "The Fish Market" and "The Long Sleep".

For Cineuropa Damien Manivel says: "Before shooting the film, we talked a lot about what kind of feelings we would like to evoke. And then we started figuring out how to achieve that effect. But sometimes, or even most of the time, it was Takara himself who would come up with some new ideas, completely changing what we previously had in mind. And we loved it!"

If you are looking for action and dynamics, better look elsewhere! If you decide tho that you need a bit of silence and calmness, you can safely trust "The Night I Swam"!

"The Night I Swam" during Sofia Film Fest

Статията на български език - тук.

Author: Lilia Bozhinova and Maria Simeonova
Translated by Lilia Bozhinova

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[MUSIC] Crystal Lake with a European tour

[MUSIC] NANO with a solo debut - Forever You and I

[MUSIC] Arlequin with a new single

[CINEMA] "The Night I Swam" during Sofia Film Fest 2018

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