Boo Stewart – http://utau-inu.com/

Kathy Chee – http://purplepenguinllc.com/

Sarah Dworken – http://twitter.com/Sarah_at_pSKY

Victoria goldenberg – http://rosetegamimedia.com/

Dave – http://jrock247.tumblr.com/

Lee Miller – http://www.aristocratphotography.com/

Jen Wang – http://hibarisensei.wordpress.com/

Famous for her “Death Voice,” melodic vocals, and high-fashion lolita style, singer Maiko and her band-mates made their USA debut at Sakura-Con 2010 as the opening act for HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR. Since then, DAZZLE VISION has toured in Japan with American rock band Evanescence, released two more albums, and Maiko’s voice has been added to Japanese voice databank UTAU software as the character “Maiko Hakaine”.

DAZZLE VISION will perform a live concert, fan Q&A, and autograph sessions during the four-day event, April 4-7, 2013, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Event and registration information can be found at http://www.tekkoshocon.com.

DAZZLE VISION appears at Tekkoshocon by arrangement with RESONANCE Media and HUMAN NOISE Records.

DAZZLE VISION
Official website: http://dazzlevision.net
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DAZZLE_VISION
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dazzlevision2010
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/dazzle-vision/id414432480

OK, maybe An Cafe wasn’t there during the September 9 show I saw to make any big political, social, or otherwise deep statements about the wrongs in the world. They were there, however, to dust off those old Harajuku Dance Rock shoes for a show that was all about that legendary, ancient, but not forgotten custom of NYAPPY.

What is NYAPPY? Frankly, I’m still a little unsure on the concept, but from a layman’s prospective, it’s exactly what one would see at an An Cafe show. To open the show, the band marched around the Yoyogi National Gymnasium Second Building, a circular venue that normally hosts basketball games and probably gladiator fights. Their costumes resembled pastel versions of 1930′s hobo clowns, complete with oversized pants, jackets, and knick-knacks. Dinky circus music played in the background as fans reached out for a piece of the An Cafe action. One male fan earnestly shook vocalist Miku’shand. It was truly a touching moment scored with an almost-cover of “Baby Elephant Walk.”

The first song, “Maple Gunman,” went off with a set of fireworks. And with the explosion came a sea of perfectly choreographed hands and arms making overly complicated motions to the music. How the fans remember all these dance moves is beyond me, but their devotion to precision was admirable. And that wasn’t the only impressive thing coming out of the audience. After “Kawayu’s Rock” screeched to a halt, every single mouth hole and vocal box in the venue screamed, “NYAPPY!” at exactly the same time and length. This was followed by a crisp, if not slightly eerie, four-second silence. I think everyone reached a greater understanding of the universe.

The music had more or less remained unchanged since I saw their “final” live a few years ago. The title track off their new mini album, amazing blue, is light and fun, if not a little too fast to truly dance to. “Natsu no Owari,” a new track featuring a bit of acoustic guitar, brought out thousands of shimmering,blue star glow sticks. Along with the song’s twinkling synthesizer, the stars bounced hypnotically, lulling any sitting listeners into a pleasant, calming doze.

As the band played “Smile Ichiban Ii Onna,” a little girl and her mother were standing in the back near where I was sitting. The girl sang each lyric with all her might, pointing her star wand as high up into the air as she could without having to let go of it. This was what the show was about. An Cafe might not be the deepest and most profound band (nor do they pretend to be), but if you are not tempted for one moment to yell, “NYAPPY!” and wave around a blue star wand, then you’re not listening to this band in the right way. The sound, the costumes, the atmosphere, and the choreography tell the audience that it’s OK to forget about whatever’s weighing you down. Just Harajuku dance.

The Akabane Vulgars On Strong Bypass 2012 U.S. Tour, “Return of the King Zero,” will take the band to 20 cities and formally kicks off on Saturday, August 25th with a performance at the 2012 J-Pop Summit Festival in San Francisco, following a warm-up gig the day before in Guala, CA at the Bones Roadhouse.

AUG 24, 2012 Gualala, CA – Bones Roadhouse

AUG 25, 2012 San Francisco, CA – J-POP Summit Festival

AUG 26, 2012 San Francisco, CA – Red Devil Lounge

AUG 27, 2012 Sacramento, CA – Blue Lamp

AUG 29, 2012 Los Osos, CA – Sweet Springs Saloon

AUG 30, 2012 Santa Barbara, CA – Whiskey Richards

AUG 31, 2012 Los Angeles, CA – The Redwood

SEP 02, 2012 San Diego, CA – The Ruby Room

SEP 04, 2012 Las Vegas, NV – The Beauty Bar

SEP 05, 2012 Reno, NV – Jub Jub’s Thirst Parlor

SEP 08, 2012 Portland, OR – Slabtown

SEP 15, 2012 Seattle, WA – Slim’s Last Chance

SEP 18, 2012 Denver, CO – Lion’s Lair

SEP 19, 2012 Lincoln, NE – Zoo Bar

SEP 22, 2012 St. Paul, MN – Wild Times

SEP 23, 2012 Chicago, IL – (Private Party)

SEP 24, 2012 Chicago, IL – Double Door

SEP 27, 2012 Detroit, MI – Corktown Tavern

SEP 29, 2012 New York, NY – Lit Lounge

OCT 01, 2012 Brooklyn, NY – Trash Bar

The Akabane Vulgars On Strong Bypass formed in 2005 and is composed of sisters Yumi Uchizono on guitar and vocals and Miki Uchizono on bass, along with drummer Kei Sofue. The band formed while the members were still in high school but the trio has gone on to enjoy a wide following in Japan with a unique brand of bluesy-rock vocals and soulful lyrics. The Akabane Vulgars is heavily influenced by Green Day, Joan Jett, The Beatles, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Japanese groups such as Blankey Jet City and Thee Michelle Gun Elephant.

The Akabane Vulgars On Strong Bypass have released a self-produced CD, “The Rumps Smolder at the Gloom” as well as a 3-song EP, “We Need The Riot, Our Riot, Your Riot.” The band is preparing to record and release their full length debut on a U.S.-based record label later this year.

“We’re super excited to come back to America for this tour,” says singer Yumi Uchizono. “Each of us in the band has grown up steeped in American music and rock and roll, and it’s going to be so much fun to play for new audiences in these cities. We look forward to making as many new fans as we can!”

Mikako Joho website – http://mikakojoho.com/

Aya Hirano website – http://www.ayahirano.jp/

VIXX website – http://www.realvixx.com/

To see more VIXX photos and read about their first North American appearance, go to KOME - http://www.kome-world.com/us/articles-13942-vixx-at-otakon.html

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The Remix is fully Produced and Performed by Mio Soul.

Listen & download it here:

Soundcloud

Manafest Vision Media

Mininova

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Originally recorded by Carole King in 1971, James Taylor’s version hit number 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 that same year, and won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Often included in Swinging Popsicle’s live sets, vocalist Mineko Fujishima chose the song to thank the band’s fans for ”their friendship of 15 years.”

Bassist and band leader Hironobu Hirata echoed the sentiment. “I feel that friends are one of the most important things in life. Respect and friendship have kept Swinging Popsicle together for 15 years, and there’s no way we could continue without the support of our fans. So we want to cement our friendship with our fans through this song.”

The release of “You’ve Got a Friend” is the band’s first digital release in 4 years, following 2008′s single “At Christmastime” and 2007′s album “Go on.”

Band members have kept busy in recent years with solo projects, including Hirata’s work with Japanese R&B singer Kusuo and producing Super Sonico’s Love & II+ Peace Plus, which debuted in the Oricon Top 50 in June 2012.

Baltimore, MD (July 19, 2012) – Otakon, once again as a trailblazer in the industry, is proud to present K-Pop group VIXX as Friday night’s musical guest and main act. This will be the first time world wide that a K-Pop band will perform at a convention. Six-member K-Pop boy band VIXX is the final product of Mnet‘s K-Pop reality show Mydol, wherein the top six finalists on the show were grouped together to form the band. The six finalists and the band name (which stands for “Value in Excelsis”) were all selected by audience vote, so you could say that this is a band of the fans, for the fans and by the fans. Debuting under Jellyfish Entertainment (home to reality singing contest winner Seo In-guk) the group aims to become “of great heroic value to the industry,” and with this idea in mind, they recently released their debut song, “Super Hero.” Otakon 2012 invites everyone to experience this groundbreaking introduction of live K-Pop on the convention scene!

Mnet is the nation’s No.1 English language TV network focusing on Asian Pop Culture. From anime, K-Pop, K-Drama to fashion, food and gadgets, Mnet brings you all things Asian cool 24/7. For local listings and more information, visit www.mnetamerica.com.

Otakon 2012 will be held July 27 – 29 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

San Francisco, CA, July 12, 2012 – NEW PEOPLE, a dynamic entertainment destination bringing the latest examples of Japanese popular culture to North American shores, invites the Bay Area to get its dance groove on at this year’s 2012 J-POP Summit Festival as the company continues to expand the event’s roster of live programming.

Celebrating the Festival’s theme of “Cyberpop Overload,” a just-announced full slate of video game-inspired artists and DJs will feature mesmerizing and danceable sets from Random Encounters, The Glowing Stars, SpaceKraft, DJ Amaya and Vex Mode. More performers and artists will be announced next week!

The annual J-POP Summit Festival, now in its fourth year and presented in association with the Japantown Merchants Association, will be held across San Francisco’s Japantown district on Saturday, August 25th and Sunday, August 26th.

The event is FREE to attend (although some individual attractions charge a modest entrance fee). The live musical performances will take place on the main stage of Japantown’s spacious Peace Plaza, located across the street from the NEW PEOPLE venue which is at 1746 Post St. Additional information about the J-Pop Summit Festival is available at J-Pop.com. Dates and performance schedule is subject to change.

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS – Saturday, August 25th

Random Encounters is the wily otaku team responsible for producing comedic musical numbers based on popular video games. Their show-tune-inspired shorts have developed a massive online following and have caught the attention of game developers at Nintendo, Namco and Electronic Arts. The group’s first music video, inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog, won them a trip to Tokyo and the interest of Sega of America, who has become a recurring ally in their quest to celebrate gaming as musically – and humorously – as possible! More information on Random Encounters is available at: http://www.facebook.com/GameMusicals
There are many chiptune artists, but not a lot of chiptune bands. The Glowing Stars, which consists of guitarist/vocalist Lizzie Cuevas, drummer Game Boy, and synth programmer Matt Payne, combine the clicky waveforms and perfect arpeggios of 8-bit processors with the fury of live drums and distorted guitars. Influenced as much by Frank Zappa and Freddie Mercury as Mega Man and Metroid, the band’s wistfully emotional lyrics are more boy-meets-girl than Game-Boy-meets-boss. With customized game hardware sharing the stage with 100-watt half-stacks, The Glowing Stars are half Weezer, half Wario and utterly unique. More information is available at: http://www.facebook.com/theglowingstarsTHE GLOWING STARS – Saturday, August 25th

SPACEKRAFT – Saturday, August 25th

SpacEKrafT is a performance group that re-creates a futuristic interactive travel environment complete with flight attendants, ground crew, video projections, sound chairs, interactive music equipment, personality feedback station and interactive art. The crew of SpacEKrafT also interacts and instructs the persons inside the exhibit. More information on SpaceKraft is available at: www.myspacekraft.com

DJ AMAYA – Sunday, August 26th

DJ Amaya has been DJing and producing his own original tracks and remixes since 2002. He is known best for his underground remixes of the Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki and pop idol group AKB48 as well as a variety of Vocaloid music. DJ Amaya’s podcast “Hitsuzen Radio” features the best in Japanese remixes, and dance music from around the world. More information on DJ Amaya is available at: www.djamaya.com

VEX MODE – Sunday, August 26th

Vex Mode is a DJ and musical artist who started producing video game music in 2005 under the name David Nereus. Vex Mode will join the 2012 J-POP Summit with the pulsing beats of Japanese Rave music (J-Core) remixes to kick off the festival! More information on Vex Mode is available at: http://www.facebook.com/vexmode

“Japan has long been a global Mecca for electronic entertainment and innovation and we’re very excited to welcome an array of musicians, DJs, and artists that are inspired by Japanese pop culture in some way or another,” says Seiji Horibuchi, the President/CEO of NEW PEOPLE, Inc. and Co-Chairman of the J-POP Summit Festival Committee. “This year we will present one of our most robust music line-ups yet, with a variety of rock, pop and electronic artists all set to perform. We invite music fans of all stripes to enjoy a ‘Cyberpop Overload” and savor a truly dynamic weekend that will be the 2012 J-POP Summit Festival.”

A variety of other pop-inspired attractions including fashion shows, theatrical film premieres, live art performances, celebrity appearances, and mini-concerts by some of Japan’s hottest bands are planned for the 2012 J-POP Summit both inside the NEW PEOPLE complex, and outdoors at the adjacent Peace Plaza. Innovative artists from Japan will join a variety of product merchants and food vendors from the Bay Area to offer an array of pop-inspired products and delicacies for sale in open air displays on both sides of Post Street, the main Japantown thoroughfare.

Born in Aichi Prefecture, Aya Hirano began acting as a child in Japan, and as an adult had her big break in the The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for which she provided many songs, including “God Knows.” She went on to perform the ending theme for other anime, such as Hyakko, and “Motteke! Sailor Fuku” for Lucky Star. As an actress, Ms. Hirano has had featured roles in shows such as Haruhi, Death Note, and Lucky Star, and has become a prominent figure in the anime world. A versatile performer, she can play an entire spectrum of roles ranging from a young child to a sexy woman, and even a boy. Other popular roles include Lumière from Kiddy Grade, Lucy in Fairy Tale, and Mamori in Eyeshield 21. Whether it’s in the field of music, narration, stage, or TV drama, Aya Hirano will continue to do great works in the future.

Otakon 2012 will be held July 27 – 29 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.