Inori Minase Shows Fans Her Starlight with Upcoming New Single!

Popular vocalist Inori Minase announced that she will be releasing a brand new single, “Starlight Museum” on December 2. This will be the latest release done by Minase since “Kokoro Somari” back in February and will be her ninth single overall. Fans of the vocalist know that December 2nd holds a very special place in her heart as it is the date of her 25th birthday and also marks her fifth year in the industry. She hopes to make this day a truly memorable one. Both Minase and Hikaru Sakurazawa will be co-writing the lyrics with Sakurazawa handling the composition and promises to express all the feelings that she felt for the fans over the last five years. To hype up the release even more, a preview of the song was uploaded on Minase’s YouTube channel. In addition, the single will include two additional tracks, the new image song "Crystalize" from the smartphone game app "Arknights" and "思い出のカケラ" (“Moida no Kakera”). It will also will drop with a CD-only standard edition which the pre-order link is available below along with the preview for “Starlight Museum”.

Standard edition 

Inori Minase「Starlight Museum」

01. Starlight Museum

02. クリスタライズ

03. 思い出のカケラ

Koji Tamaki Drops A Chocolatey New Album

Singer and song-writer Koji Tamaki has announced he will be dropping a brand-new album titled Chocolate Cosmos which is set to drop on December 23rd. This will be Tamaki’s first album in almost six years and contains self-covers of songs he has written for other artists. Tamaki joined the Japanese Music Industry back in 1982 as the front-man for the band Anzen Chitai. 

Chocolate Cosmos is being released in two editions: a standard CD-only edition and a Vinyl edition. No further details have been announced but pre-orders are up and posted below.

Standard Edition

Vinyl Edition

Polkadot Stingray Brings their Luggage for Upcoming Album!

Four-member rock band Polkadot Stingray announced that they will be releasing a brand new album, 何者 (Nanimono) on December 16. Announced during their Polkadot Stingray Polfes48 #KyosoBakutan Online concert that happened earlier in October, this will be the latest album done by the band since Uchoten from last year and will their third album overall. The release will drop with thirteen tracks total with a bonus fourteenth track for the physical release, and will also included previously released digital singles “JET”, and “FREE”. The album will drop with two editions, a CD-only standard edition, and a CD + DVD Limited Edition. The DVD includes the entirety of the show PolFes 48 #Kyoso Bakutan Online Nanimono Edition that was filmed after the concert along with a behind the scenes look of the album making it a must-have for fans!

Be sure to check out their latest music video “FREE” along with the pre-order links for Nanimono below!

Standard edition

Limited edition

Polkadot Stingray「Nanimono」

CD

・トゲめくスピカ

・FREE

・SQUEEZE

・バケノカワ

・SHAKE! SHAKE!（雫カリウタ ver.）

・阿吽

・女神

・JET

・化身

・何者

Along With Others Totaling To 13 Tracks.

※Along With A Bonus 14th Track 

Limited Edition DVD

・10/15開催「ポルカドットスティングレイ ポルフェス48 #教祖爆誕 オンライン」何者エディション

・爆誕全力オフショット

Gakuto Kajiwara Takes A Walk In His Debut Single

Voice actor and singer Gakuto Kajiwara has dropped the music video for his very first release titled “A Walk” which is set to come out on November 25th. Kajiwara is best known for his roles as Asta in Black Clover and Shinra in Fire Force. “A Walk” is a high energy rock song featuring heavy guitar, while the music video mostly features Kajiwara singing in an empty room in front of a white sheet.

“A Walk” is being released in three editions total: a standard CD-only edition, a CD + DVD edition, and a limited edition that will also come with a bonus DVD. Pre-orders are not currently up at the time of posting but be sure to check out the music video below to get hyped for the upcoming release!

Music Corner Week 61: Kiro Akiyama

Kiro Akiyama is an artist who is currently signed to Epic Records Japan. He writes, composes, and arranges all of his own songs while also producing videos and illustrations. He became interested in music when he was in junior high thanks to the anime K-ON! where he was inspired to pick up and start playing bass. He would later go on to produce his first song while he was a freshman in high school. Akiyama started his music career in 2017, and in June the following year he released his first single titled “Yasagure Kaido” which played number two on the Spotify viral chart. Also in the same summer, Akiyama made an appearance at SUMMER SONIC 2018 which is an annual two to three day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba. In January of 2019, Akiyama released his first mini-album titled Hello my shoes, and in March in 2020 he released his first full-length album titled From Drop-out, which also served as his major debut. 

Kiro Akiyama is a powerhouse with solid vocals and good song composition. His music usually falls in the Rock genre but he has songs like “Goddamn” that has a more punk feel to them. Akiyama’s song “Monologue” is a good showcase of his talent and features a wide range of instruments and has really good composition. Also, the listener gets to hear a more emotional side of his vocals.

Akiyama is staying busy having just dropped his latest single “Searchlight” on his official YouTube page. His official website stays up to date on all of his upcoming work and Akiyama stays pretty active on his Twitter account. Please check out his song “Monologue” in the video below!