Ling tosite sigure’s Sensational New Album i’mperfect to be Released in the UK and Europe from 24 June

JPU Records is proud to announce that it will be releasing i’mperfect, the ground-breaking new album from Japanese sensation Ling tosite sigure (pronounced Rin Tosh-teh Shi-goo-reh).

The album made its debut in Japan’s Oricon album chart today, smashing into fourth position. The news that it will be coming to Europe – the group’s first release outside of Japan – has already made the news across Japan’s major music and entertainment press, including MTV Japan, Yahoo! and Natalie.

Hailing from Saitama, just north of Tokyo, the trio has managed to smash through the country’s notorious indie rock scene to become one of the most talked about new bands of the decade. Their ferocious yet beautiful arrangements feature sharp and technical guitar work; thick, distorted basslines; and aggressively progressive beats set against haunting, intertwined male-female vocals. It all contributes to i’mperfect being one of the most refreshing, unique and powerful albums of the year.

TRACKLIST:
1. Beautiful Circus (<-click for the music video)
2. abnormalize (<-click for the music video)
3. Metamorphose
4. Filmsick Mystery
5. Sitai miss me
6. make up syndrome (album mix)
7. MONSTER
8. KIMITOOKU (キミトオク)
9. Missing ling

Release Date: 24 June 2013
Formats: CD and MP3
Territory: the UK, Europe and Russia
Pre-order From: Amazon UK, Amazon DE, (more stores coming soon)

To celebrate the release Ling tosite sigure’s official Youtube channel has been opened up to international fans for the first time. Check it out by clicking here.We’ll leave you with the music video to their smash hit single abnormalize, which is also used as the opening theme to hot new anime series PSYCHO PASS.

Video Footage of FACT Wrecking Japan Underground on 1 March 2013

Mighty post-hardcore squad FACT celebrate their UK tour with a soldout headline show at Japan Underground on 1 March 2013! Stay tuned, the next Japan Underground will take place on Saturday 27th April at The Pipeline in London – see you there!

For now, check out the madness, as captured by Electric Bloom Webzine, of what went down at FACT’s show below:

HEADLINE: FACT

SUPPORT: AREA 11

Related Stories:
FACT Set to Obliterate UK Sold Out Headline Show: 1 March

the GazettE Celebrate J-MELO Awards Success With Exclusive Live Set

NHK World‘s J-MELO (“the only show bringing Japanese music to the world”) announced the winners of the 6th J-MELO Awards last Sunday, and amongst them was the GazettE, claiming once again the title of most requested artist on the program.

On the band’s international success, drummer KAI commented, “People all over the word have sent messages asking us to come and perform. We’d love to expand our horizons and play more live shows abroad. So keep supporting us!”

the GazettE – DIVISION

In celebration of the GazettE’s popularity, this Sunday night the band will feature on the 6th J-MELO Awards Live Special, performing five tracks exclusively;
1. DERANGEMENT
2. VORTEX
3. Kage Fumi
4. REQUIRED MALFUNCTION
5. Filth in the beauty

You can catch J-MELO’s special with the GazettE on Sunday 24 February 2013 from 11:30pm GMT. Find out how to watch the channel on your television at home by clicking here. Alternatively you can catch it live online by clicking here. In the UK you can also watch it on channel 507 with BSkyB, channel 209 with Freesat, or frequency 11137.41MHz with DTH.

Join JPU Records’ Facebook event page for the show to get a reminder just before it hits the air! You can also check when it will how in your timezone by clicking here, J-MELO will be at the very end of the listing.

DERANGEMENT, Kage Fumi and REQUIRED MALFUNCTION are taken from the GazettE’s latest album DIVISION, out now across Europe on CD and MP3 from JPU Records. Find out where to buy your copy, from anywhere in the world, by clicking here.

New Single From DIR EN GREY: RINKAKU, Released Today!

DIR EN GREY have been very quiet since the release of their album DUM SPIRO SPERO in 2011. And we’ve been missing them and their huge tours, fantastic live shows and top quality metal. Well they’re finally back in Europe with a new single, RINKAKU (Japan release: 19.12.2012). The new single contains three tracks; the lead track, RINKAKU, a re-recording of Kiri to Mayu (a track originally from their 1997 album MISSA) and a remix of RINKAKU by Akira Yamaoka.

With a discography spanning decades, and a penchance for changing their style in big ways, every new release from this band is a new experience, and it’s not always good. With this in mind, we curiously hit play and listened hard with bated breath.

We’re glad you’re back, DIR EN GREY, because this single is awesome.

The lead track, RINKAKU, is disarmingly calm at the opening, with an ethereal quality. Things quickly escalate, though; complex guitar, relentless bass and incredibly intricate drumming all feature alongside vocals which sound almost inhumane. Creepy and extreme, the vocal line of this track soars high into the upper reaches of your hearing. And weirdly, it sounds incredible. Known for experimenting with his style often, vocalist Kyo really brings this track into something special. His experiments haven’t always gone well in the past, but this track is just irresistible.

The second track is equally exciting. With all of that calm creepiness going on in the lead track, this single needed something to bring it back down into the deep and dirty depths again. Kiri to Mayu brings it down so hard, you won’t know what hit you. We can hardly remember the original of this track from 1997, but it certainly sounded only a little bit like this new, big, brutal, raging version. The vocals take an alarming dive into incomprehensible screaming, thrashing and tearing through the whole track. This is thrash metal at its best, and this must sound truly awesome live.

Finally, the Eternal Slumber Mix of RINKAKU returns restless calm. Probably the least attention grabbing of the three, this track was mixed by Akira Yamaoka, famed for his work on music from the Silent Hill game series. Many of the elements from the original track remain, but there is more creepiness and less thundery guitar. After the truly outstanding quality of the remixes from DUM SIRO SPERO, this doesn’t really compare. However, we’ll settle for the other two tracks making this single more than worth it.

It only took three songs and we’re already itching for much more, and maybe even another European tour…

Title: RINKAKU

01. RINKAKU (5:41)
02. Kiri to Mayu (3:53)
03. RINKAKU [Eternal Slumber Mix] (5:24)

European Release Date: 1 February 2013

Available From: iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Spotify.

the GazettE Dominate English Media Awards for 2012 by Winning Best Rock Act, Best Album, Best Music Video and More

Japan’s pioneering rock outfit the GazettE have proved to be an unstoppable force since unleashing their ground-breaking album DIVISION. Released from British independent label JPU Records in the UK and Europe, DIVISION and the GazettE have gone on to win a series of awards from English-language media, including best band, album and music video of 2012.

Over one-million votes were cast during Jpopasia.com’s 2012 music awards, asking Japanese music fans from across the world to select their favourite artists over 12 categories. the GazettE dominated the awards by winning six of the categories; ‘Favourite Band’, ‘Best Music Video’ (for album track ‘DERANGEMENT’), ‘Best Album’ (for DIVISION) and ‘Best Rock Act’, while the group’s charismatic guitar-shredder AOI won ‘Best Use of Social Media’, and band leader and drummer KAI was voted sexiest rocker in Japan. Other artists that were nominated included the mighty X Japan, Dir en grey and ONE OK ROCK.

Meanwhile the GazettE also claimed ‘Best Music Act 2012′ by the readers of NEO, the UK’s longest running Asian pop culture magazine, managing to surpass Korean pop-sensations PSY and Wembley Arena fillers BIGBANG, as well as Japanese guitar legend Tomoyasu Hotei (Kill Bill) and Japan’s electro metalcore outfit Crossfaith.

the GazettE’s vocalist RUKI comments;
“Thank you for your support as always. I’m happy that the GazettE won an award, but I’m even more happy to know that so many people are recognising and listening to the GazettE. Next time, let’s enjoy our music at a live show together. Thanks again.”

DIVISION is out now and available to purchase on CD and digitally from the following retailers found here, amongst others.