6th Station ~Other Bands for H!P Fans~

[Amped]

UNISON SQUARE GARDEN uploaded the full music video of their feel good / stress reliever song "Sugar Song to Bitter Step" for a limited time

[Moh]

RURUTIA released a new digital single. It's her first release in 5 years! It sounds a bit like her older stuff, which I'm definitely okay with.

ONEPIXCEL also released a new digital single, Sha La La La. It's the ending theme for an anime called "Motto! Hajime ni Fumajime Kaiketsu Zorori"

[Amped]

Japanese singer and songwriter Hirose Kohmi plays a crazy piano cover of Renai Revolution 21 on her youtube channel today. She praises Tsunku for this song.


Earlier this year, Morning Musume. '20 were backdancers for Hirose Kohmi's performance on NHK Utacon
viewtopic.php?p=250094#p250094

[Moh]

Little Glee Monster also doing remote performances:

[TotallyUncool]

[Moh]

Former AKB member, Watanabe Mayu, has announced her retirement from the entertainment industry due to health reasons.

Watanabe Mayu, actress and former member of the popular all-girl idol group AKB48, has retired from the entertainment industry due to health reasons.

Her agency announced her retirement online on Monday.

It said Watanabe suffered health concerns for the past several years and asked to retire from show business.

The agency says it terminated her contract according to her wishes on Sunday.

The 26-year-old was affectionately known by the name "Mayuyu" among her fans. She was ranked No.1 in the group's annual popularity vote in 2014.

She left the group in 2017 and began pursuing a career in acting.

Her agency released a comment thanking her fans for their support for Watanabe over the years.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200601_22/

[Shoujo Q]

I hope she’s okay and will get whatever help she needs to get well again. She’s one of the few members of AKB48 I liked and followed, ever since she was featured together with Airi on the cover of UTB. I’ll miss her.

[Zunu]

Couple of karaoke vers.

Buono! / Hatsukoi Cider


Masayuki Suzuki / DADDY! DADDY! DO! feat. Airi Suzuki

[Celedam]

From a couple months ago…

No, Yoko Kanno is not involved, as far as I can tell. She seems to be semi-retired and is now taking only special commissions.

Or maybe she got bored during the lockdown and decided to put the band back together…

Spoiler: show

Yes, this is the real SEATBELTS, and yes, that is Kanno's shadow dancing. The channel has much more…

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbIYnuPqsJEpanHEJyBYIEQ

…including new versions of "The Real Folk Blues" and "Don't bother none" sung by Mai Yamane.

For anyone who doesn't understand what this is or why it's significant: the legendary composer Yoko Kanno formed her own, full-sized jazz band in order to produce the legendary soundtrack for the legendary anime series Cowboy Bebop (1997–1998). This is them, reunited after something like 16 years…

https://nerdist.com/article/cowboy-bebop-real-folk-blues-tribute-covid19-charity/
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2020-04-22/yoko-kanno-session-starducks-project-takes-on-cowboy-bebop-op-from-home/.158834

If they're working together again, it increases the possibility that they'll release all-new music, such as for Netflix's recently announced live-action Cowboy Bebop.

This makes me happy. It's one of the few cases where I can legitimately say "I own all of their albums."

[Shoujo Q]

^ This is neat. I was on Apple Music last week doing a round of, what can I find via the Suggested Artist tab. It’s fun because I’m constantly finding new stuff. Works best with the Japanese artists because sometimes you’ll hit gold and then other times I hit dirt and an empty page.

Anyway, Yoko Kanno has some stuff on her page, it’s not much but they did release that Tank! Live version as a digital single. It made me nostalgic for my younger days. I’m not gonna lie, wasn’t a big Cowboy Bebop fan nor am I a big Jazz fan, but I did love Yoko’s work. It was fresh and exciting.