Compilation of Overdue Posts (Because Eneeli Procrastinates)

THIS BLOG IS NOT DEAD.

Alright. Due to too many incomplete drafts piling up I hate emb-ing photos, this list is there just so it'll be easier to refer to previous events which I took my own sweet time over are finally finished.

Note: It'll not be done in chronological order since they're all in varying stages of (in)completion.

**Note: THE CANCELLATIONS ARE CLICKABLE! THEY ARE LINKS! CLICKY-CLICK!

1] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - D'J Party *DONE 03/04!*
2] NOMAD Preview
3] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - Hidama *DONE 06/04!*
4] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - WoW! Band Finals
5] NOMAD Fringe Festival
6] Superheroes Songs @ Esplanade Flipside *DONE 04/04!*
7] Miyuki Red White Animation Song Battle
8] S'pore Toy & Comic Convention *DONE 06/05*
9] NOMAD @ AMKSS
10] Cosfest @ D'Marquee
11] End of O' Levels
12] Prom Night!
13] TPRAWKS 2008
14] Bitch Rant of DOOM
15] First Job Ever
16] Farewell Assembly
17] Anime Festival Asia 2008
18] Project Breakout 2: A Japanesque Christmas
19] SOYA 2009
20] Ongaku Avenue 2009
21] Haute D'Horreur Camp *(PARTIALLY DONE)
22] Licensed to Play event
23] S'pore Streetfest 2009 - D'J Party
24] JCC Camp
25] SPP Camp

The Autumn Matsuri 2008 - Music Matsuri

On the 30th of August 2008, I went for the Music Matsuri @ Vivocity. It was even more awesome than the Matsuri-The Butterfly Effect- waaay back in March. Let's recap anyway.

Back in March, I was first exposed to local J-rock bands such as Hellven & ethe'Real. The former of which entered Anugerah Band & the latter who is currently in Channel U's Superband competition and going strong. GO 异世界!!! MORE INFO HERE!!!

The wet weather was a doubled-edged sword for the event. On one hand, it kept people from leaving the shopping mall to go to the sheltered Amphitheatre where the stage is. But then it also prevented those who seeked shelter at said Amphitheatre from leaving. So those not inclined to knowing new things are exposed to these bands while it rained, thus giving them (The Bands & The Audience) greater exposure.
From the Sheltered Amphitheatre
Looking At The Audience Within
Needless to say, the Amphitheatre was full up. But thanks to the Singaporeans' aversion to sitting at the front when facing the unknown, I managed to get a good seat.

There were 3 bands and a solo singer in total. First up...
Cloud Sef
...Pretty Boy Guitarist.
That was the first thing I noticed of Cloud Sef. There is hope for Singapore after all...We DO have pretty boys in our midst. Anyway, their vocalist actually introduced said guitarist like this:
"And this is our guitarist Melvin, WHO IS A GUY." Lolz.

Cloud Sef - Shunkashuutou (Alice Nine Cover)

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Then they started off with an Alice Nine cover, Shunkashuutou. Their vocalist was GOOOOOOD. But it didn't really make a good first impression when he kept referring to lyrics for the first song. At least, he sorta apologised later when he frankly admitted that they weren't quite prepared. Which is questionable since he didn't need any lyric help with the subsequent songs


That unwanted first impression was later cleared up by their AWESOME rendition of Haruka Kanata (by Asian Kung Fu Generation). Personally, I think Haruka Kanata is one of the harder songs to cover. There are parts where you have to singshout but not too much of "singing" and "shouting". Not to mention the high energy level must be shown in the singshouting. Although there is one part at 2.41 when the vocalist suddenly ROARED and...Well...I went "WTF" coz it was utterly random. But the little "drag" he did at 2.06 was nice. That is, if nice can be used to describe J-rock.

Cloud Sef - Lost My Music (Aya Hirano Cover)

For this they invited a female vocalist on stage. She started off a little low, then went into "Kawaii Voice" mode. Which was a tad bit much for me at times. But at least she hadn't shrieked or something like that. Note that the female vocalist is attired in matching outfits with the keyboardist. Who looks like he's cosplaying Raito from Death Note. If he's doing Raito...Then she's Misa?! O_O"

Cloud Sef - GO!! (FLOW cover)

Like Haruka Kanata, this is kinda hard to pull off too, since it also requires the singer(s) to be a giant leaping ball of PURE ENERGY active throughout the whole song. Cloud Sef seem a little "sianz" initially (after FOUR STRAIGHT SONGS IN A ROW, WHO WOULDN'T BE?) but quickly picked up the pace and sure enough, they packed some "oomph" into it. You can see the whole band is singing along and enjoying themselves there. =)

From what I heard, Cloud Sef is only a few months old. But they are quite good despite their age. The vocalist chose a rather interesting mike though. It's like the ancient ones from the 1960s.

The very name of Cloud Sef also intrigued me when I heard it coz it reminded me of Final Fantasy's Cloud Strife & Sephiroth which led to a half-thought that there was a Yaoi fan within Cloud Sef's line-up (Y'know, like Cloud X Sephiroth). But that was banished when I realised all but one of the band members was male. Though there is still a slight possibility about a Yaoi fan there....

Either way, Cloud Sef is good. I'm definately gonna watch out for them again.

MERFURY
When the MC introduced them, I kept hearing McFlurry at first.
Which was rather disturbing imagery since we're talking about a J-ROCK band here. But anyway that was ,thankfully , cleared up once the first song started. They covered mostly Dir en Grey songs with a little Gazette on the side.

Yep. Definately J-rock.
MERFURY - Yurameki (Dir en Grey Cover)

Frankly I haven't the faintest idea what song this is. Thanks to some kind Youtube souls who identified the song for me. Anyway, from here you can tell the vocalist had this richly deep voice (I prefer his voice to the original Dir en Grey vocalist's). It's pretty good, even though my cam doesn't exactly show that.

MERFURY - Yokan (Dir en Grey cover)

The next song, Yokan, was pretty good too. There were some Yokan MV cosplayers present, so the vocalist happily pointed them out and asked them to get down from the audience seats and dance! Lolz. Too bad they didn't do so.

MERFURY - Raison D'etre (Dir en Grey Cover)

He tried to invite the Yokan cosplayers to dance again XD. Anyway, he missed out on phrases here and there. Is it just me? Or does the way he keeps holding his chest hints at illness?

MERFURY - The Final (Dir en Grey cover)

I don't know what's with the low-slung guitar-playing stance the guitarists exhibited here. Perhaps it looked cooler with flashing lights and at special camera angles, but it doesn't quite work out here.
I pity & applaud the vocalist for roaring so often to keep to the feel of the song. He manages to sing rather richly while breaking into a roar for every other song. Here, he roared at 1.25 & at 3.05. It's good for the song, bad for his throat.

The vocalist kept with the audience interaction, advertising the band members'ages and marital status at one point

and inviting the Dir en Grey Yokan MV cosplayers to come down to dance when MERFURY covered Yokan.

MERFURY - filth in the beauty (Gazette ガゼットCover)

That...high-pitched howl that started off the song was...Startling. I certainly didn't expect him to be able to reach that pitch & I'm pretty sure the actual song wasn't supposed to sound like that. I hope not, at least. ~_~
But the vocalist did release a disclaimer/warning before the song. Something along the lines of being new to covering Gazette's music & to forgive him if any mistake was made.

MERFURY - Bottom of The Death Valley (Dir en Grey Cover)

I think it's a Gazette cover, but anyway, he exhibits his velvety-rich voice here again. I really like how he went soft at first before the music started. But there are signs that he ain't in the best of health. Like when he couldn't exactly hit the high notes in the choras.
As for the song itself...Well...If you hear it in mangled English, it'll be;
"My Sister, wah say rude Sister"...-_-"""...Yeah. Lame. But really alike though.

MERFURY - Cassis (Gazette)

The vocalist managed to put across his message about wanting to cover this over-covered song because he wants to perfect it without sounding pretentious. But unfortunately during this last song, he suddenly stopped his continued movements and leaned against the music stand. But the rest of the song went off with few bumps here and there. However, he very well near collapsed after the song and had to be helped off the stage.

Kudos to him for perservering to the very end of the song. Poor thing though. I wonder if he's fine now.

Ana Natasha
She is a local singer signed onto the Path Records label. Well, although she was clad in Visual Kei attire, she didn't sing any J-rock songs. Which was kinda a pity. I heard her debut album'll be out either late this year or next year. But I guess she CAN SING (Unlike those ACBC(Act Cute Buay Cute) C-Pop songstresses out there). Her purple hair really matches her outfit btw.

Ana Natasha - Take A Bow (Rihanna Cover)

Initially, I was rather apprehensive about her singing ability since her eyes kept darting everywhere but at the audience (hinting inexperience). So I sorta listened for a while before I started recording. But most of the song is still there anyway. So you judge for yourself.

Ana Natasha - Part of Your World (Little Mermaid)

This is a spunky rendition of "Part of Your World". Something that really suits the modern girl instead of the wistful Oh-Pity-Me original singing style.


Hellven
Hellven first captivated me back in March @ the Summer Matsuri. They had a pretty elfboy vocalist (Locke) then. He had a voice which could be deepish & high-pitched all at once. Now after Anugerah Band, they're back with a new vocalist (Toshi), who had this awesome rockstar voice!

Hellven mostly did original instrumental music which is something like a mesh of Clssical & J-rock music in a Gothic manner. That's the best I can describe it anyway.
They did 7 songs this time (excluding the awesome soundcheck. Yeah, The Awesome Soundcheck).

Hellven - AWESOME SOUNDCHECK!!!

Whether or not their piece was completely impromptu, I don't know. But if it is part of an actual song, do enlighten me on this.
I really liked the short Huang Fei Hong theme Romey (Guitarist) did around 3.24. And their new vocalist Toshi had the perfect rock star voice. He sounds like the vocalist of X Japan actually, with the high-pitched shriek and all. When most guys shriek, it's either gay or downright awful. But Toshi does it with flair. It kinda make one feel like he's in a rock concert or something.


Hellven - New Beginning (Original)

Hellven opened with this energetic instrumental piece. "Energetic" as in, ATTITUDE-LADEN ROCK, not hyperactive bubblegum POP.

Hellven - Memento Mori (Kamelot cover)

Listen to the mournful starting. It's really good.

Hellven - Stay Away (L'Arc en Ciel cover)

Tis a tad too fast-paced for my taste (This cover, I mean), but it's ok anyway.

Hellven - Fallen Angel (Original)

Oh the Angst! Oh the AGONY! And the MELODRAMA in this piece. I kinda like it though. XD

Hellven - Carnival of Dreams (Original)

It's a change from their angsty dramatic pieces. This one brings to mine an old gypsy carnival with the usual freakshow and everything.

Hellven - Endless Rain (X-Japan Cover)

A famous melancholic song from the legendary J-rock pioneers, X Japan. Hellven covered it well, but I somehow have an inkling that the vocalist is not really portraying the right depth of emotion. Like he should have been more emotional? Or something?

Hellven - Sweet Child of Mine (Guns 'N' Roses cover)

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough space on my cam to record the whole song. It was frankly, one of the BESTEST covers of "Sweet Child of Mine" I've heard so far. The part I did recorded though, showed Romey the Lead Guitarist clowning around for his friends watching from the audience stands. Lolz.

Hellven - Heaven Vs Hell (Original)

The Hellven boys really got some stamina. This song is a whopping 8 minutes long. Fortunately for them though, it was their last song of the night.

Perhaps it was becaused I arrived late. I saw a number of lolitas but lesser VK cosplayers. The most prominent were these trio of Yokan MV cosplayers.

Maybe it was the recent stress and so on that made me lose my nerve that day. I couldn't quite bring myself to approach them for a picture. Partly coz I didn't want to lose my pretty good seat near the front. But mostly because the VK cosplayers, various J-rock dressers & lolitas kept congregating in groups. It didn't help that they had this intimidating aura around which made me, an outsider, wanna shrink into myself. Yeah. Sounds biased, I know. Not all would be unapproachable, some might even be friendly (I've the fortune of meeting these kinds before ^^). I just didn't want to risk taking an ego-battering when they abruptly reject my request.
Just because they'll oblige little kids & professional-looking photographers for pictures doesn't mean they'll oblige an awkward teen with a clumsy-looking digicam. Well, that was how I felt that day.


J-rock dressers & lolitas dress up because they want to. It's not like cosplay when photos are practically an intergrated aspect of the whole thing. Anyway, besides the missed photography opportunities, the event was great. I'll definately go for the next Matsuri (Winter Matsuri in Dec).

S'pore StreetFest 2008 - D'J Party 2008

(This is my scrappy Streetfest booklet which got trodden on by accident, hence the shoeprint at the corner)

I arrived there late (as usual) and so, missed out on quite a number of bands.
And then I was running around taking photos and ended up missing a couple more bands. But thus far, these are the ones I've paid attention to.

It wasn't such a good idea to hold a cosplay/music event in such a small area of Suntec City (Where the CONVENTION HALLS could be used instead). To make things worse, the D'J Party clashed with some Canon promotion event. Which resulted in a lose-lose situation for both D'J Party peeps and Canon. The latter gets pissed off by the photography of cosplayers (takes up space) and the rest of us are peeved by them stopping random people to hawk their wares (takes up space). As you can see, this is the crowd AFTER the cosplay competition.
Despite a large no. of people leaving after the cosplay competition, the place was still considerably crowded.


Quis
Quis is relatively new on the scene (3 months old!). Did you know the vocalist was a former child actor? He played the character "Luo Tou" in the 1990s' mandarin drama "Tou Fu Street". In addition to that, he was a finalist in the first generation of Campus Superstar. I was kinda surprised to see him performing in a J-rock band because of all the Mandarin-related work he did.

Anyway, the videos don't do the band justice (Youtube never does). They were certainly much, much better live.

ALONES [by Aqua Timez] (Bleach)


The first cover of ALONES I've heard. These guys are pretty updated loh. At that time, ALONES was the latest Bleach opening theme.

Driver's High [by L'Arc~en~Ciel] (GTO)



Skyler

The vocalist had this uber-strong voice which is easily identified too. However, they seem to have a knack for choosing songs by artists with uniquely different voices (hard to emulate). It's great that they are challenging themselves to cover this kind of songs but they don't always work out though.

Jam [by YUI]


I like Skyler's cover of this. The vocalist's voice doesn't take your attention away from the music (which is actually pleasantly laid-back in a way) but manages to stand out anyhow. =)
YUI has this high-pitched, whiny-ish voice which sets her apart from other J-Pop songstresses, but it tends to grate on my nerves sometimes (That's just me though).

Marunouchi Sadistic [by Tokyo Jihen]


Ooh, I like the flute (Is that a flute?) solo at 2.43. And also the scat thingy she does before that. While it's a little faster than normal, I think it turned quite nicely.
Shiina Ringo (original vocalist) has one of those love-em-or-hate-em voices (with the occasional screeching and all). Just to note.


God Knows...[by Aya Hirano] (Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)


I think this is a pretty decent cover (I've seen worse ones out there). Though it's kinda clear that the vocalist is quite tense. I'm not used to hearing this song being sung in a lower pitch(?). Aya Hirano has the typical Anime girl voice (a.k.a. High-pitched, squeaky-ish & annoying after prolonged exposure) and she did this song with much aplomb. So "God Knows..." is arguably a difficult song to cover. Kudos to Skyler for trying though.

Weekend [by X Japan]


This very performance led me to discover one of my all-time fave J-Rock songs. I'm partial to this cover since I saw it before the original. But once I got to know about X Japan's one, this cover version was quickly forgotten even though it is the only FEMALE cover version I've seen so far. Because once again, Skyler chose a song which is so closely tied to its original artists that anything else would pale in comparision.

X Japan is practically legendary and their vocalist Toshi had one of the more unique voices in the history of J-Rock. Attempting their songs is a whole new class of "difficult" regardless of whether you're keeping to the original style as much as possible or trying to imbue it with your own style.

Still, I like this cover enough. It's definately one of the better ones.



Crossover! - Tao Ren (Shaman King) + Sakura & Syaoran (Card Captor Sakura)


Although there were many Gothic characters around that day, this lady here caught my attention. She really stood out with her wild white tresses (complete with mask) and slender profile. For some reason she reminded me of Death from the Sandman comics. It's not the physical appearences, but the...mysterious charm they both possess.


Now this is one classy Gothic Lolita. Or should I even classify her as a lolita? She seems so much more mature than the others. The masquerade-like mask added a really nice touch to her poise.


Suzumiya Haruhi (Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) CHIO!


Lavi (D. Gray Man)


Near (Death Note)

This young cosplayer was unfortunate enough to be the target of a teenage stalker. >_< I'm not kidding here..>_<...Fortunately, said teenage stalker didn't put him off cosplay permanently.


Reborn (Katekyo Hitman Reborn). This guy was with the KHR jumpsuit team. He's perched on Adult!Lambo's head (as seen by the turf of hair there).

Watching the team have fun makes me want to cosplay myself.
I took this short vid while they were posing


This duo from Bleach was spontaneous enough to pose for a crack picture. In an AU (Alternate Universe) situation where Yamada Hanatarou could stop Ichigo's Bankai with one finger (Like Aizen XD).

Some kind people put these lovely dolfies on display. I particularly liked the one with pink hair. He It had this detailed tattoo of the kanji word for love.


The Competitors


Crossover! - Katekyo Hitman Reborn jumpsuit team + Ryuk [Death Note]

Ryuk was the highlight of the cosplayers. With that massive wingspan forcing everyone to clear the way and platform boots to augument his height....Wow.

Everyone was swarming around him, trying to get a shot in. Needless to say, he won the cosplay competition.


The Organizers' Band [XCCJJJ]
At the end of the event, the organizers sprung a little surprise on us by forming a band of themselves and some guests from other bands. They were more professional than the others in the sense that you don't really detect any nervousness from them. Not to mention their music was a lot heavier.

Dogfight [by M.O.V.E]


Dramatic opening ;-)

I was totally confused with the next two performances. The MC said it was the same song but apparently one was done by 8-Ball feat. M.O.V.E while the other is M.O.V.E version. Which is what, I'm not sure.


Speedmaster [by M.O.V.E feat. 8-ball]


Speedmaster [by M.O.V.E] ??

This is the faster version. Speedmaster sped up.


There were many other cosplayers and gothic/punk/VK dressers. I shan't put up all the photos though. Photobucket is killing me. Btw, the pics were all taken by me =)

As for complaints...Hmm.

There was this band which SPOKE & SUNG in mandarin despite the event being all about J-Culture (Maybe they were at the wrong event...?). I don't know which was it but I was kinda put out by that. This is freakin' Singapore man. Speak Singlish English.

The sound system was whacked. Some instruments drowned out others and woe betide those who lingered near the speakers. The volume would suddenly increase and from time to time, a high-pitched squeal-screech could be heard whenever tuning or whatever took place.

The location really sucked (as mentioned before). Just crossing the stage area alone involved a hell lotta elbowing and shimmying between sweaty (Yes, even with air-con!) bodies. While I did my fair share of elbowing, it was thoroughly unpleasant. To the point that some of us left the comforts of the air-con for the sweltering outdoors.
With the &*@#$% smokers. >_<

At some point, more than half the cosplayers started to hang around outside, which effectively made it no less different from the indoors. There was photography everywhere, meaning you had to watch where you step lest you invoke the rage of the photog mob for blocking them. And some cosplayers decided to just plonk down near the entrance for their break (I don't blame them. T-shirt & pants were already enough to cook me, much less their costumes). Which then sparked off an Angry!Security Guard who started blasting people with a loudspeaker. ARRGH.

But I really look forward to the next Streetfest though. The bands were good, the cosplayers plenty. Hopefully, the location for the D'J Party would be larger. Read: CONVENTION HALL or YOUTH SCAPE PARK

On the sides, I got to visit Otaku House for the first time ever. The size of the store was disappointing =(