This is an Ode to one of My Favorite Groups Pizzicato Five .

Despite the numerous Japanese bands that have gained a devoted fanbase outside of Japan, one band seems to remain unknown to people's ears: Pizzicato Five. Considering that Pizzicato Five is one of the few Japanese bands to be known within the American music scene, I would assume that they would have a huge fanbase already in Japan. But nearly no one in my family, nor my Japanese circle of friends has heard their music, and the J-Rock lists produced literal blank faces at the band's name. Well, it's about time someone did some introducing! Pizzicato Five is unlike any other Japanese group. A duo of singer Nomiya Maki and producer/musician Konishi Yasuharu, their music and style was aptly labeled by the New York Times, "pop culture thrown against a wall." They combine everything from disco, to bossa nova, to hip hop, to lounge, to drum-n-bass, to pop, to...to... to everything you thought was cheesy and campy. Throw all of this music in, toss in some random Japanese/English/French (They actually speak good English!) and hit the blender on puree. That is about as close as one can get to giving a broad description of the style. Like some of the visual bands, Pizzicato Five relies on an incredible amount of style and imagery to accompany their music. They're visions are a combination of magazine chic, a Tokyo business/fashion atmosphere in keeping with the most stylish of our modern times. At Irving Plaza, their show consisted of at least five different costume changes, with a large screen behind them showing video footage, while you were mesmerized by the stage show performed by Nomiya and Konishi up front. No other J-Rock band equals Pizzi5's level of innovation and craftiness. Recording at least one album annually for fourteen+ years, their work becomes fresher, stranger and more creative with each new release. Also, due to the fact that they have both an American label (Matador) and a Japanese one (Nippon Columbia), different versions of their songs often appear on the two versions of the albums. Thus, the version of "Baby Love Child" appearing on This Year's Girl was then redone in English for the special American debut, Made in USA (a collection of their best songs remade from past Japanese albums). A band that has outlasted many of the current Japanese trends, and a survivor for over a decade, Pizzicato Five is truly something special. I hope that by adding this page to my J-Rock site, some fans will be enticed to investigate some of their music. It's well worth it.

Aint That a sick talent ??

Best Car Ads I've seen so far ...



Click Play...

****

***

***

Steve Chow has improved ever since he really did make good money from Shaolin Soccer
With his own brand of kung fu humor,
your buck is worth the watch and laugh.
and mannn... i think the mute ice cream girl on the film is pretty..
She doesnt even need to speak a word..Hahahahhaha
It was screened last Dec 23 in China,Malaysia and Singapore
and 24 in Taiwan.
still to be shown in Japan,Indonesia and Korea
It is scheduled to be shown tommorow in the Philippines..
go watch this guys..










video is being teleported from a japanese site .. sorry for the asx quality

**

**

**

**

When i was in 6th grade when american teenage movies where a hit.. One of the soundtracks of the film Pretty in Pink was a song called Left of the Center. which was eventually a hit only maybe to me .. I followed thru the next Suzanne Vega song available . i had to buy the soundtrack tape just to have a copy of the song. And so i had became and been always been a fan of Suzanne. The strange and cold sounding singer she had always been.

Suzanne's voice helped model MP3 compression algorithm. Suzanne didn't invent the Internet. She has, however, put it to good use for longer than most musicians. Undertow, her online message board, has been up and running in one form or another since 1994, when building a community over the Net was still a foreign concept to most entertainers. Suzanne still checks her message board daily, so post wisely. And dont be surprised if you see my posts there.

Suzanne was the first artist to have a song in MP3 format? Karlheinz Brandenburg helped invent MP3 at the Frauenhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, and he used Suzanne's song "Tom's Diner" to model the MP3 compression algorithm. "Tom's Diner" was a good fit because of its softness and simplicity, which made it easy to hear imperfections in the compression format during playback.

How many of you had a computer back in 1976? Better yet, how many of you had a computer in your kitchen in 1976? Suzanne is raising her hand right now. Keep in mind that personal computers were far from the ubiquitous machines they are now, so owning one -- not to mention having one in your kitchen -- was hard-core.
Then again, Suzanne's mother is a systems analyst, which may explain why the family's kitchen featured a computer and why Suzanne's tech tendencies are so strong.
Suzanne now uses a Mac exclusively, and she is admittedly neurotic about creating databases for all her personal belongings. She has built them for her clothes, her furniture, you name it.

Suzanne`s Message board : Undertow




Click to play another Plasma version