the GazettE WORLD TOUR13 Documentary – Out Now on DVD Across Europe!

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Read all about it! For the first times, fans of Japan’s undisputed kings of visual kei, the GazettE, will be given all area access to the act’s long awaited world tour with the release of their debut English-language documentary on 21 April 2014 from London’s JPU Records. See the trailer here.

Crowds upwards of 20,000 packed out venues across Europe and Latin America in anticipation to see the GazettE return after six years of international silence. This 100-minute film captures that tour, from fans ambushing the band at airports, to behind-the-scenes footage both on and off the road, to live clips of the GazettE’s sold out performances in each of the nine cities of the tour, and offers an unparalleled glimpse of the members’ time off as they toured across the world in September 2013.

In the countries in North America, Latin America, Oceania, and Asia, this audio visual work will be available through iTunes store. The DVD will be region 0 and contains English language subtitles, a feature not included in the original Japanese release.

Order your copy from: JPU Records’ Online Shop (World wide shipping)
UK: Amazon.co.uk, Play.com, Plastichead, Hive.co.uk, Exertis MSE,
Czech Republic: Audio3,
Denmark: imusic, ivinyl, CDON,
Finland: Super Sounds, Record Shop X, CDON,
France: Amazon.fr,
Germany: Amazon.de, Nippon Shop, Neo Tokyo,
Hungary: Sounds of Japan,
Italy: Amazon.it,
Lithuania: imuzika,
Poland: Skelpy24, fan.pl,
Norway: CDON,
Russia: Record Shop X,
Sweden: Bengans, CDON,
Plus many more places!

the GazettE WORLD TOUR13 Documentary includes footage from:
06 September: Jose Cuervo Salon, Mexico City (MEXICO)
08 September: Teatro Caupolican, Santiago (CHILE)
11 September: Teatro Vorterix, Buenos Aires (ARGENTINA)
14 September: Espaco Victory, Sao Paulo (BRAZIL)
20 September: Le Trianon, Paris (FRANCE)
22 September: Le Phare, Toulouse (FRANCE)
25 September: FZW, Dortmund (GERMANY)
27 September: Tonhalle, Munich (GERMANY)
29 September: The Circus, Helsinki (FINLAND)

the GazettE Line-up:
RUKI – Vocals (Twitter account)
URUHA – Guitar
AOI – Guitar (Twitter account)
REITA – Bass
KAI – Drums

JPU Matt’s Top 5 Albums of 2013

Last week we caught up with JPU Records’ sparkly assistant Chriss for her top five albums of 2013, which includes its fair share of visual kei, glam rock and electro-pop cheese. Next up on the firing squad is JPU Matt: salesman extraordinaire. If you’ve ever visited the JPU Records shop at events, he’s probably the reason you’ve over spent and ended up going home with way more CDs than you set out to get. When not at the shop you’ll probably find him shouting at the Japan Underground DJ to play his favourite songs, or front-row of a random gig somewhere in the UK. Here are his top five albums of the year:

A Day To Remember – Common Courtesy
“A relatively late entrance into the running as the album only got a physical release on November 25th but an instant hit in my books. This album is crammed full of heavy hitting riffs and powerful acoustic tracks. Every song has a story to tell and the band tell it well.”
Outstanding tracks – Violence (Enough is Enough), End Of Me.
Buy from Amazon: Regular Edition, Digital Edition.

BOOM BOOM SATELLITES – EMBRACE
“Mixing rock and electro can some times go horribly wrong but BOOM BOOM SATELLITES have been doing it fantastically for years, and this new offering is no exception. What could be better than buying a new album and finding a cover of your favourite Beatles song? (not much in the musical world that’s for sure!) The band’s cover of ‘HELTER SKELTER‘ is one of the best versions I have ever heard. From the first beats of the opening track ‘ANOTHER PERFECT DAY‘ you know that you are in for more of what BBS do best, powerful tracks with smooth deep vocals. For me this is the best album to put on when I’m going on a long drive, pump up the volume and lets go!”
Outstanding Tracks – BROKEN MIRROR (<-official music video), FLUTTER.
Buy from Amazon: European Special Edition, Digital Edition, Japanese Limited Edition.
Buy direct from JPU Records (worldwide shipping).

Bring Me The Horizon – Sempiternal
“Bring Me The Horizon are one of those bands you either love or hate, upon hearing that a new album was coming out I wasn’t bothered at all. But on a suggestion from a friend I took a listen to the opening track ‘Can You Feel My Heart‘ and fell in love. Much like the band’s last album, this outing is more ‘lyrical’ with less flat out screaming and more singing. Catchy, easy to learn choruses mean that you will have each song stuck in your head for days, and will most likely be singing them at the top of your lungs every time they come on!”
Outstanding tracks – Sleepwalking (<-official music video), Hospital for Souls.
Buy from Amazon: Regular Edition, Vinyl Edition, Digital (Deluxe) Edition.

Ling tosite sigure – i’mperfect
“This album is definitely a grower at first I wasn’t too sure but after 2 or 3 listens i started to love it! If you have never had the pleasure of listening to Ling tosite sigure this album is a great place to start, it gives you a perfect example of what the band are all about and shows off there indie/ hardcore style. Straight off the bat you are thrown into the hectic world of TK and his band with opening track ‘Beautiful Circus‘, It’s unlike anything I had heard before! Raw guitar riffs and male/female fairly high pitched vocals make a great mix and invite you into a world of rock wonder!”
Outstanding Tracks – Metamorphose, Sitai miss me.
Buy from Amazon: Regular Edition, Digital Edition.
Buy direct from JPU Records (worldwide shipping).

ONE OK ROCK – Jinsei×Boku=
“This album is a perfect mix of head banging floor fillers and Lighter in the air ballads, every track leads you into the next right to the end. Seeing ONE OK ROCK live in October was one of the musical highlights of my year and has me counting down the days till they return to a UK venue.”
Outstanding Tracks – ONION!, Nothing Helps.
Buy from Amazon: Regular Edition. Buy from iTunes: Digital Edition.

Next time we’ll speak to JPU found Tom Smith on his essential albums of the year. Until then, and seeing as no tracks from A Day to Remember have been officially uploaded on YouTube, we’ll leave you with the rather excellent BROKEN MIRROR from BOOM BOOM SATELLITES instead. Enjoy. (The music starts from 39 seconds in if you’d rather not wait)

Sputniko! Amongst VOGUE JAPAN’s Women of the Year 2013

Not only is a musician amongst VOGUE JAPAN’s Women of the Year 2013, it’s our long-time buddy Sputniko! The electro-pop, robot-creating artist who created a female-cyborg sushi machine that hunted yakuza (year really, here’s a video), a menstruation machine so men could feel the pain and discomfort of menstrual cramps and intermittent bleeding (she even made a song about it: video), and a robo-crow that allowed her to make regular crows into her friends and minions. (video)

We did our very first Japan Underground DJ set with Sputniko! on a boat party on the Thames back in 2010, a lot has changed since then, especially for the young artist. Upon graduating university she went back to Japan and signed a major record AND art deal that’s had her touring the world with exhibitions and installations, as well as a regular on Japanese TV to talk about science, technology, art and the environment. She combined all of those things when she created the Nanohana Heels; a pair of shoes that plant seeds with every step. Check out the video.

Recently English updates from camp Sputniko are few and far between, but don’t let that stop you from keeping an eye on her YouTube Channel (her newest video, The Moonwalk Machine is on there too), Facebook page, and Twitter.

Well done Sputniko! The other winners were: Rila Fukushima (Actress), Chiharu (Model), Mami Sato(Athlete), Danmitsu (TV personality), Kayoko Okubo (TV personality), Hikari Mitsushima (Actress), Kiki Kirin(Actress), Kaoru Yachigusa(Actress)

DIR EN GREY Confirmed to Play Download Festival 2013

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Download Festival has confirmed that Japan’s notorious metal act DIR EN GREY will make a return to Donington Park in 2013. On 18 February, the event broke news that 49 new acts would join headliners Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein on 14-16 June. Amongst them is DIR EN GREY, set to play the Encore Stage on Friday 14 June.

Details on tickets can be found on the festival’s official page by clicking here.

DIR EN GREY recently announced their return from hiatus with the release of their new single RINKAKU, out now digitally from Ganshin Records.

Check out the PV for RINKAKU below:

the GazettE to Rock Russia’s KUBANA Festival: 1-7 August 2013

the GazettE confirmed today on their homepage that the world’s number one visual kei rock outfit will be causing chaos alongside Enter Shikari, System of a Down, Bullet For My Valentine and many more ace international rock acts at this year’s KUBANA Festival, taking place between 1-7 August.

KUBANA is one of Russia’s biggest music festival, gathering crowds upwards of 150,000. Last year saw the likes of The Offspring, KORN, Sum 41, Infected Mushroom and Japan’s own Miyavi hit the stage.

2013 looks to push the boundaries further still with System of a Down, Enter Shikari, Misfits, Bullet for My Valentine  Skindred and more already confirmed, along with Japan’s Tokyo Ska Orchestra.

the GazettE’s addition to the line-up makes it the first time the band has performed outside of Japan since their 2007 European tour, and their first time in Russia.

the GazettE’s groundbreaking sixth album DIVISION is the band’s biggest release to date, released across 62 countries. It’s out now across Europe via JPU Records. Find out where to purchase your copy by clicking here.