I like old school H!P.
The girls were never trained to fit a certain image. They're real and genuine.

H!P is also extremely repetative these days:

-Did you think GAM was the first girl on girl action in H!P?
-Atsuko Inaba and Miwa Kominato kisses each other in this video.

-Did you think it was confusing knowing which romanization system to use for biyuuden / v-u-den / viyuden?
-Is it taiyo & ciscomoon, Sun & Ciscomoon, Taiyou to ciscomoon,
Taiyo to ciscomoon, taiyou and ciscomoon etc
Nah, let's just go with T&C Bomber xD

-Did you think Cute were the first one to go on a single spree?
-Taiyou to Ciscomoon went on a release spree releasing one single a month for five months.

Kominato's baby is also in the video for tsuki to taiyou. Probably the only thing H!P hasn't re-used xD

Smileage is kinda the exception. There seems to be put some effort into the pv's (all though extremely plain) and the cd covers.

A nice interview with Michiyo (in Japanese):
http://mora.jp/special/michiyo/

Anyone up for translating it?

Top 10 albums

Ten albums by Japanese artists I find really good (random order)!
I really wanted to include Tommy february6's first album ("Tommy february6") and Ayumi Hamasaki's "A Song for XX", and now I kinda did xD

Morning Musume - First Time
Ayumi Hamasaki - Nothing from nothing
Tommy february6 - Tommy airline
U-ka Saegusa in DB - U-ka Saegisa in DB 1st
Yuki maeda - Zenkyokushu -Kenchana-
Yuko Nakazawa - Dai Isshou
Namie Amuro - Sweet 19 blues
Morning Musume - Second morning
Utada Hikaru - Exodus
Ayumi Hamasaki - Loveppears

Ok, Rin's really on a fast pace now

Rin mentioned on her site today that there will be two more digital releases.
They'll be available on June 24th and are entitled DESPERADO (I think this is one of her indies single, previously only available at her lives and events) and LOOP.

Edit:
Indeed, they were released on the 24th, and are available for listening at her site.
You can also purchase them at monstar.fm!

Covers

4th and 5th single by inR

Just as promised the 4th and 5th single by Rin has now been released:


JEANNE D'ARC


ANDROID

They are available for listening at her site,
and if you like them, they can be purchasedd at itunes.

They are both up-tempo and rockish sounding.
The cover for android is nicely done!

New single by Rin

Looks like Rin has released her third digital single, available at itunes.


It is called "LOVE", and unlike her other upbeat jpop/rock songs this is an acoustic ballad. It doesn't sound like any of her other stuff. At first I thought I was listening to Rika Ishii!

Her fourth and fifth digital single is also on it's way. It is going to be released on June 14th. First through monstar.fm (a radio site?), then it will be available for listening and purchase.
Their titles are "JEANNE D'ARC" and "ANDROID".

Previews will also probably be listed on her site.

Yuki Maeda

Looks like Yuki Maeda has been doing a lot of tv performances, covering old famous enka songs. "Kaette koi yo" ("come back home") is a favorite of mine!:


kaette koi yo

wasurenai wa

wakare no yokan

Roppongi Lullaby