Dropping The Vitamin, Embracing The DISCO

(NOTE: Click on the banner. It’ll take you to my new site. Some people seem to be having trouble noticing that, so I thought I’d just point it out.)

Yes, I’m afraid to say that this is a closing down post.

However, if the above didn’t alert you of the situation, this should: I now have a new blog, which will be where I will be moving the complere operation to. So this is goodbye to Vitamin Drop, and hello to What is DISCO?, a new music review (No longer just Japanese, but mainly focusing on Japanese either way) blog that is, ONCE AGAIN, named after something relating to Perfume. This time, the introductory video to their DISCO! DISCO! DISCO! performance.

I’ll be leaving this blog up as an archive of my older reviews. I will not be moving them to the new blog, and I will be starting fresh on the new blog, and possibly trying out a few new things as well. I have a run-down of how I’ll be going about things over there, so read that if you’re confused.

If you’re wondering WHY I changed blogs, it’s because I’ve been offered a hosting position on Unchained, and I’ve acquired my own URL. I think working without the restrictions WordPress gives you would mean that I’d be able to make something a bit more informative or… Whatever else. Plus, it gives me a chance to start over and make sure the majority of my posts are all in the same format and written with a consistent level of skill instead of having those back from when I was first writing reviews and then ending with the current reviews.

So please, all affiliates, update your links! Please post in the first post on that blog if you’ve changed links, as I’ll only be adding new links as people add mine. I’ll be working to get everyone I have on my current blogroll onto the new one, but I’ll be working on a few things for the next week or two, so I’ll start tracking down those who haven’t changed it at that stage.

Anyway, yes. I hope you enjoyed the ride~ Now it’s time to start all over again!

So, my review list is getting kind of empty…

Yep, as soon as I review Imogen Heap’s Speak For Yourself, absolutely everything will be up to date, and my list will be full of upcoming releases.

I have therefore decided to screw it all and feature a few more artists. However, this time, I thought I’d TAKE SOME REQUESTS for a few artists. I already have two that I will definitely be featuring…

SID
(A newly-signed major label Visual Kei group with a rather extensive indies discography. I’ll be starting from their latest era, Hikari.)

And…

Superfly
(A J-Pop artist heavily influenced by 70s rock, to the point where she could pretty much pass for a 70s artist if the listener were completely oblivious to her music. I’ll most likely be starting from her first era, Superfly, since her discography is so small.)

But apart from them, I should be accepting about… Oh, two to three more artists? It won’t be first come first serve, either: I’ll only be adding those who I listen to and like, so please provide links to one or two of their best tracks (in your opinion, of course), and a picture of them (optional, but I like to know the face of who I’m featuring), and we’ll see what happens. If NO ONE comments here or helps me decide, I’ll just go ahead and feature a few more artists of my own, but I’d rather it didn’t come to that.

Just a note: I won’t take any requests for non-Japanese artists. Imogen Heap is, at the moment, the only non-Special Review English artist that will be featured on Vitamin Drop, so don’t bother asking, please and thank you~

Screw Be The Voice, I’ve got two new features for you

So instead of Be The Voice, I decided I’d add two artists I liked and thought were a bit more consistent. And to avoid another NEXT LEVEL fiasco (although no one has more annoying singles than Ayu, so that’d be unlikely anyway), I’m going to use some special circumstances for them.

YES, yes, I have decided to finally go ahead and feature one Nami Tamaki. I feel like one of the few people that can even stand GIVE ME UP, and I absolutely adore her upcoming digi-single Negai Hoshi, so I thought “Why not give the girl a bit more recent love?”.

As for where I’ll be starting, I’ll be initially reviewing GIVE ME UP and moving onto Negai Hoshi this week, MAYBE. I’m kind of debating it since it’s a digi-single and all, but we shall see, I guess.

Also note that if I decide to go through with my “reviewing past albums” idea, Nami shall be part of it as well. I’ve heard good things about her past music (with the emphasis going to her Make Progress album), so it’d be a nice way to force myself to see what all of the fuss is about.

This feature is a bit more… Controversial.

But you know what?

I don’t care.

From now on, I shall be featuring Imogen Heap on my blog, hearby making her the first English artist to be completely and fully featured here at Vitamin Drop. I’ve been in love with this woman and her music for many, many years. Remember how I said BONNIE PINK was my favorite artist? Imogen Heap is my number one English artist. My absolute favorite, and she very nearly tops BONNIE herself. I still can’t decide myself.

Since she’s an English (Literally from England, lulz) artist, I’ve decided that I will NOT review her singles. Since there’s much less of a focus on singles and more of a focus on recut singles in English countries, I will only be reviewing Imogen Heap’s albums. As such, I will start with I Megaphone, move on to Details, despite it being a Frou Frou album (Imogen was in the band, so I’ll do it anyway), and then I shall move on to her latest album, Speak For Yourself, and finish off with her upcoming album, Ellipse. Look forward to it~

Also, check out my reviews for MEG’s BEAUTIFUL and BONNIE PINK’s ONE albums. They now have their scans added in, made by yours truly. If you want either set of scans, feel free to ask and I can give you the mediafire link to the rars. All usages of them must include a credit to me, though, lulz.

Slight Update

Okay, so, with the polls, the results came out radically different as to how I expected they would. With Ayu, the majority voted that I should jump straight into the NEXT LEVEL album, which was my preferred choice. So, that’s what I’ll be doing. Also, the majority said YAZIMA should be a PV-only review group, but I’m still considering removing them, especially since the vote count for that option for them was actually rather high.

Also, sorry for the slight lack of reviews. The right earbud from my headphones has stopped working, so I have to go return them (yay for still being in warranty~) and get a new pair. They were pretty damn expensive, and I only got them in January, so I may as well return them instead of throw them out. Either way, I’ll be getting a new pair tomorrow and reviewing both BEAUTIFUL and ONE, as well as finishing my special review.

Featuring again~ / Updates

Okay, so I have a few updates I want to give out on stuff that I’ve been planning on doing with Vitamin Drop, and I thought I’d feature a few groups/artists and such. Then I decided to settle on just featuring one.

Okay, it’s been a very long while since a certain someone (pengie) introduced me to Be The Voice. Actually, it wasn’t directly to me. I was just leeching off of the recommendation. Honestly, I have very little knowledge of this group, and I don’t think they’re overly popular to begin with, so please forgive me for the sparse intro here. I do know they have an album coming up soon, but I have to do some research before I actually go and feature.

Consider this a warning, not a feature. I’m not 100% sure that I’ll be featuring them, but it’s possible.

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In the terms of Special Reviews, people who have been to my About page will know that I already have two special reviews planned: One is a Róisín Murphy album, and it should be up tomorrow. I started the review today, but I’ll be finishing it off tomorrow. I’ll leave you with my favorite song from the album so that you know what you’re in for. Do note, however, that she isn’t exactly the best dancer. I advise you skip the video, but it’s your loss if you decide not to.

Next months, however, will be the new Sweetbox album, with a brand new vocalist, Nakata remix and everything. I’m not sure what to expect, but I can predict that the album isn’t going to be getting a very good review at this point. Both of these albums have been put onto the Upcoming Reviews page, and I’ll be adding my special reviews in advance from now on.

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Now, I have a few artist-specific updates for you folks! I don’t know how many of you are going to like me after this, or how many pitchforks will be sticking out of my torch-burnt corpse, but we’ll see:

Ayumi Hamasaki: I’m not removing her from my site, but honestly, I’m really not able to bring myself to review the singles. Mainly because I’m having a bitch of a time finding good quality downloads of them that have all of the necessary songs in it… That isn’t a torrent. So, I’m wondering: What would you all think if I skipped the singles and just jumped straight into NEXT LEVEL? I’ll put up a poll, so you can all vote without commenting and such. But one way or another, I WILL be reviewing NEXT LEVEL and all subsequent releases. I know I shouldn’t have featured her if this was going to be the case, but I just wanted to review NEXT LEVEL.

YAZIMA Beauty Salon: Honestly, these guys are a similar case. I can’t get myself to sit down and review Nihon no Mikata: I already reviewed the whole single in the PV review. Their second single experienced a similar fate, so I’ll make another poll here asking: Should I make YAZIMA my first PV-review only artist (until they release an album, anyway), or suck it up and review the singles? Or just remove them. I’m not too against that last part, but being the jovial fellow I can be, the PV reviews will probably still pop up.

MEG / BONNIE PINK: Okay, I’m REALLY sorry that I haven’t reviewed ONE yet. Being the BONNIE PINK rabid I am, I should have reviewed it long ago, but I’m waiting for my copy to come. The same goes for MEG’s BEAUTIFUL. They both just arrived at the customs gate according to this EMS tracking doo-hickey, so they should be here within the next few days, if not tomorrow morning. I’ll listen them over a few times and review them either on the same day or the day after, alrightie? Sorry for the delay here!

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And that’s it! Now let the complaints and such roll in~

OH EM GEE, GUESS WHAT DAY IT ISSS~

(I think it kind of fits the theme, so why not?)

OMG HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, VITAMIN DROP~

A.K.A. It was on this day a year ago that I started the blog and posted my first reviews.

So, I don’t think I have anything special planned for the blogs anniversary, but I thought now would be a good time to do an update on the amount of views I’ve gotten, and which posts got the most views, etc.

First of all… HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!

Second of all, thanks everyone for all the views~ <3 I know I’ve probably been a bit… Let’s just say, “untrustworthy” with some artists and review promises and all, but thanks for still reading~

No surprises there, Kanon Wakeshima’s debut got the top spot… There are a few too many new artist feature posts on there, but otherwise, not too bad.

And now, I shall list the top referrers without a screenshot, NOT including International Wota or the WordPress Dashboard.

#5: Radiant Dawn – 249
#4 Kurayami Monogatari – 395
#3 Shuffle and Repeat -499
#2 Stereo Love -586

Aaaaaand…

#1 Beyond the Sea -1,019

Thanks a lot for all the references, guys~ And thanks everyone else for reading!

New Feature~ (To Replace ravex) / Page Revival / Review Index

First off, the feature.

Honestly, none of us have any idea whether ravex is coming back for a new album. As such, I thought I might be able to get away with adding Aya Hirano, an old guilty pleasure of mine. I discovered her, very aptly, through her work as the seiyuu of Haruhi in the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Yeah, she’s a seiyuu, so she does fall prey to the usual pitfalls they face when they sing, but I’m still partial to her, damnit. However, her RIOT GIRL! era was confusing as hell when it came to singles for me, so I’ll be starting off with Namida NAMIDA Namida, the first single in her latest era, and following THAT up with her latest single, Set me free / Sing a Song!.

However, if ravex DOES keep producing, they’ll still be here. Consider Aya a precaution.

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NOW. Onto the page thing. I’ve decided that I missed my Upcoming Reviews page. It’s a bitch to update, and I may end up taking it down yet again, but I’d like to put it back up for at LEAST a while and see if it doesn’t annoy me this time. (Read: see if I remember to actually update it after I review this time.) So, I’ll be working on putting that up tonight! It shouldn’t take too long, I just have to double check what I still have to review.

Eri Nobuchika’s Nobuchikaeri and Mika Nakashima’s VOICE albums are still coming, in prose form, BUT: I’ve decided to take melody. out of retirement and force myself to review Lei Aloha, also in this format, for just a little bit more practice at it to see if I can get it down pat.

So, look forward to it all!

EDIT: Nevermind, the upcoming reviews page didn’t take long at all. It’s all updated, and in the order of which I will be reviewing them! Note that most of the ones near the bottom of the album section aren’t released yet, and neither is the last single.

Also, hover over them: I’ve finally bothered to add captions if you want to know who sings it/the name of the single and it isn’t shown on the cover. Sorry for being lazy last time I had the page. xD;;

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ALSO, One more addition.

I’ve seen review indexes all over the place. I can see why one would be handy, so I’ve decided to start making my own index page. I’ll be starting on it over the next few days, but once I do, I’m hoping it won’t take too long to do. I have a lot of free time, anyway, so it’ll be something for me to do. Look forward to that, as well, if there was ever really anything in it to look forward to.

Another Review Altercation

No, it’s not relating to artists. In case many of you didn’t catch it, I tried a non-Track-By-Track review about a month or two ago and it was… A failed attempt.

Well, I have two eras now up to the album stage: Eri Nobuchika’s Nobuchikaeri, and Mika Nakashima’s VOICE. So, I thought I’d try it out and see what happened. Both of these albums will be reviewed in a slightly more personal manner that will talk more about the album as a whole, what I think they were trying to go for with the album and how successful I think they were.

Or something like that. Keep an eye out, and don’t hate on me if they end up being sub-par, please. (I’ll be sure to keep that from happening though.

Features again~

So, I have a few more features I’d like to add today~ I’ll be adding two now, but there IS a third one that I’d prefer to announce through a PV review. You’ll see why tomorrow, when I write it, so keep your eyes peeled for that~ Anyway, for now…

So, I haven’t been an OLIVIA fan for long. Mainly since her Trinka Trinka mini-album came out, and I thought that was fantastic, in its own way.

However, after finally listening to Sailing free today, I HAD to feature her. Besides, the cover (pictured left) is just orgasmically beautiful (Apart from her face, which is kind of iffy, but kind of fits too). Almost as fantastic as the song itself. So, I’ll be doing a PV review of that later on (not tomorrow, that’s when the new feature’s coming up~), and I’ll be starting with either Sailing free or Trinka Trinka, I’m not exactly sure which… I’ll see what happens, so keep an eye open for her anyway.

Okay, so, Anna Tsuchiya is a bit overdue. I was GOING to feature her when NUDY SHOW! first came out. However, the number of singles turned me off. That’s one of my problems with what Nakashima has going on at the moment… Or did, with her last era.

Anyway, I only got to featuring her because hearing the preview for Bangalicious, which is going to appear on ravex’s album, reminded me that she was starting a new era soon. Maybe. Well, there was a possibility. And such, I decided to take the opportunity while it was still available so I wasn’t drowning in a half-finished era full of a huge amount of singles.

So, yes, I’ll be reviewing whatever she releases next. I’m not sure what it’ll be or when it comes out, but it’ll be here.

Okay, so I’m not a huge fan of I RAVE YOU, Believe in LOVE or Golden Luv (That’s all I’ve heard so far), but as I said… Well, come on, Bangalicious sounds too hot for words.

So, I’ll force my way through their singles, and eventually, I will review their debut album. Whether it’s called TRAX or avex TRAX, I couldn’t tell you, but it’ll be reviewed. Eventually.

Also, this group contains a bit of a hint to a semi-secret feature I’m planning on doing. It’s nothing huge or anything, I’d just rather feature them through another method. For the shock value, entirely.

As such, expect a PV review… Very soon. The artist/unit in that PV will be the last feature.

Also, a few changes…

• I will not be reviewing any of Mika Nakashima’s VOICE era. Well, no more of it. TAFE is riding me hard enough, so I have to spend most of my online time on assessments, and… Well, the singles. THERE’S TOO MANY!
• I will not be reviewing Fly Away or Lady-Rise by Maki Goto. Yet. There’s something flying around about those being b-sides on her next single, so consider those held off. If they aren’t on that single, fine, I’ll review them. If they are, I’ll be starting there.
• Emi Hinouchi and her time on this blog is being considered. I know, I said I wouldn’t do it anymore, but I’m a very predictable person. She may be another “wait until her next release” case.
• Sowelu, Soni and possibly Urata Naoya are facing a similar fate. With the time I have to actually get a review out, I can’t see them happening soon. Soni’s being considered for removal completely, but Sowelu will probably be started/continued after her latest best of album, depending on how her next single turns out. Urata, I’m not so sure about. We’ll see.
• Part 2 of the Digital Devil Saga OST review will be postponed a bit. The two week Easter break’s coming up soon, so, maybe I’ll have time for it in the middle of assessments.

Any other artists and reviews are business as usual for the blog. There you have it~

Hiatus Over?

Not quite.

There have been a few leaks today (THAT TOOK FOREVER TO COME), so I’ve decided to take a temporary halt on the hiatus to review them.

The catch being that I’ll be trying out the prose format, just for the hell of it. And, to test out a new style, because that was the whole point of the hiatus anyway. Expect a review of Angela Aki’s ANSWER album very, very, VERY soon.

I’ll also review Reincarnation for the hell of it, but then it’s back onto the hiatus mode.

The Future of Vitamin Drop / My H!P Adventure

Remember that post with a similar title all those months ago that I posted, and said it wasn’t a closing down post? Well, this time we aren’t all going to be that lucky.

No, this isn’t a closing down blog, by any means. It’s just a hiatus post. I love blogging, don’t get me wrong, but I’m starting to actually resent my blog, having to come in here and do hour-long reviews. I’m grateful for the almost 80k views my blog has gotten under the review scheme, but I just need to take a break for a while.

Although, it’s not really a break. I’ll be thinking through what I’m going to do with my blogging “career”, whether to stay with reviewing, change my style of reviewing, or to break off into a whole new style of blogging. Feedback isn’t going to help a lot this time, but either way, feel free to enjoy what’s here until I figure out what I’m going to do with this section of my life.

However, I’ve decided to expand on my blogging experiences beyond Vitamin Drop. While it may be under a hiatus, I do have another blog that I have just started: Rottara Rottara. And it’s exactly what it sounds like: A H!P-Focused blog. I’ve recently began listening to the omnibus that is the Hello! Project as a whole, and under the possibly joking suggestions of a few certain people, I have decided to create a new blog to document my foray into the idol world. It is a considerably more personal experience than Vitamin Drop is, but if you’re all interested, I’d love it if you could go check it out and maybe drop a line about what you think and such.

MORE Excuses

Okay, so, obviously, I’ve been slack. Really slack. I haven’t updated my blog in ages, and I have no real excuses for it. The best I can come up with is spending more time with my friends, turning 18 and the fact that I’ve now caught a pesky eyelid infection. Seriously, no joke, I have.

Anyway, I’ve given up on getting a life, so I’m back~ I’ll be reviewing Kumi’s “stay with me” single today, so stay tuned for that~

Tomorrow, I’ll sit down and review “TRICK”, just because I don’t want to do it on the same day as the single. I’ll also be reviewing Aira’s singles if they leak today or tomorrow, since I don’t want to do them today. (My eye’s still killing me, but it should be good enough to do a few more reviews tomorrow).

Then, day after, I’ll power through Emi Hinouchi’s “ME…” singles. Then, the day after I’m going into the city, so I won’t be doing anything until late, at which time I will at LEAST do some of Mika’s “VOICE” singles. If I leave them til the day after, I’ll finish the singles then review “ME…” And the day after, I’ll review “VOICE”, reviewing Aira’s singles and possible MEG’s “FREAK” PV if they release during these periods. If not, I dunno, but either way, the blog should be back to a regularly updated period by then.

So, yes, if I still have any of my fanbase left, stay tuned for that!

P.S., I won’t be doing a fourth Best & Worst post. I’m saving that for the first anniversary of the blog~

Excuses

Okay, so, I decided to use the last few days of 2008 to take a break from blogging. Despite how rarely I seem to lately. So I just have a few things to report:

I’ll be putting special reviews on hold for a while. I have a few ideas on things I can do with the blog instead, so forget that Beyonce review. I’ll be doing Imogen Heap’s album in January still.

My 2008 rankings will be coming in the first few days of 2009. I’ll most likely leave it to one for singles and one for albums, but I have another one or two ideas for it that I’m also working on.

…I guess that’s it. Sorry if I don’t post for a few days, I’m trying to be really careful with my internet. Seriously.

Guess What Day It Is~?

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY~

Hope you all have/had a sekushii fierce day~

(You know how time zones are)

About the Special Review

Just to clarify what I’ll be doing after that poll and all…

I decided to send one big “FXU YOU” to all the voters, and instead of doing what they voted for, I’ll be doing Beyonce Knowles’ “I Am… Sasha Fierce” album due to personal interest.

But, of course, I’m not cold hearted. That wasn’t even an “FXU YOU”. I’ll just be doing one of the three next month instead of this month.

And that album will be Imogen Heap’s “Speak For Yourself” album. So, all votes on that poll will now be ignored.