Posts Tagged Scandal

New Scandal video: BEAUTeen

27 August 2009 at 11:11 am · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

Scandal has put out another video,”BEAUTeen!!”:

It’s apparently (well, quite obviously) a product promo for Pocari Sweat, presumably a refreshing beverage of some sort.  I like this video better than the “Shōjo S” video, as it seems to back off a bit on the “sexy schoolgirls!” schtick and move back towards a more innocent/fun look (at least I reached middle age without that particular creepy hang-up).

As for the song, it’s pretty standard Scandal, not as catchy as their best stuff but pretty good.  According to Metanorn the single is out on October 14th.

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New Scandal single out in Japan today

18 June 2009 at 12:47 am · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

The new single by all-girl Japanese rock band Scandal is out today.  The song is called “Shōjo S” and is an opening theme for the anime Bleach. There are several versions being released, a “normal” 3-track version and two “special edition” versions with different covers and track listings:

Normal Edition

Scandal

Scandal

  1. 少女Ｓ [Shōjo S] (3′11)
  2. ナツネイロ [Natsuneiro] (4′33)
  3. ＦＵＴＵＲＥ (3′36)

Special Edition A

  1. 少女Ｓ (3′11)
  2. ナツネイロ (4′33)
  3. ＳＯ　ＥＡＳＹ (3′23)
  4. 少女Ｓ（Ｉｎｓｔｒｕｍｅｎｔａｌ） (3′11)

Special Edition B

  1. 少女Ｓ (3′11)
  2. ナツネイロ (4′33)
  3. ＦＵＴＵＲＥ (3′36)
  4. 少女Ｓ（Ｉｎｓｔｒｕｍｅｎｔａｌ） (3′11)

To be honest, I don’t like this nearly as much as their last single, the fantastic “Sakura Goodbye”.  There’s a lot to like here — the sinewy guitar intro, the vocal interplay on the chorus, the subdued backing “oohs” on the second verse — but the pieces somehow don’t quite click together for me (though something about the chorus makes me suspect that there’s potential in there for a kick-ass dance remix).

Anyway, judge for yourself, here’s the video:

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New Scandal: Sakura Goodbye

8 March 2009 at 1:14 pm · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

Scandal’s second single, “Sakura Goodbye”, came out in Japan last week.  This is the video:

I was a little disappointed in their first single, “Doll”, feeling that it was a notch down from their debut mini-album.  But “Sakura Goodbye” is perfect, really catchy and energetic.  And yeah, like I said before, b-side “Tokyo” is really different, very new wavey — jerky start-stop playing, robotic chanting — but while I doubt it’ll ever be my favorite track by the band, it’s good to hear them expanding their sound a bit and trying something different.

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Scandal’s next single – Sakura Goodbye

17 February 2009 at 10:56 pm · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

ScandalI just noticed from the band’s MySpace page that “SAKURAグッバイ” (Sakura Goodbye), the second single by all-girl Japanese rock band Scandal, is coming out on March 4th.  It comes in two editions, the “deluxe” first edition (pictured below, on the left), which comes with a DVD or something, and the “regular” edition (below right).

Both editions have three songs, “Sakura Goodbye”, “Tokyo”, and an instrumental version of “Sakura Goodbye” (to meet all your karaoke needs). You can hear brief samples of both tracks here — “Sakura Goodbye” is typical Scandal, lots of chunky guitar and youthful energy, but “Tokyo” has a sort of robotic New Wave sound to it, rather unlike anything the band’s tried before (in their entire, um, six song catalog).

As an aside, I was bummed to see that Scandal isn’t in the line-up for the Japan Nite tour this year, as they were the highlight of last year’s show.

Sakura Goodbye by Scandal

Sakura Goodbye by Scandal

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Scandal’s “Doll”

8 November 2008 at 10:32 pm · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

Doll by Scandal

I finally got my hands on a copy of Scandal’s new “Doll” single.  To be honest, it’s a bit disappointing — “Doll” and b-side “S.L. Magic” just aren’t as memorable as the tracks off their earlier EP, Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal.  It’s not that the songs are bad, mind you.  Most of the elements that made their debut EP so great are here — the big riffs, the energetic playing, the close harmony vocals.  But the hooks aren’t quite as strong, and so the songs don’t stick in memory much after listening.

“Doll” is a pounding, mid-tempo rocker.  Heavier than anything on the EP, the riffs are chunky and the verses suitably sassy, but the chorus, despite kicking in at double-speed, just doesn’t insert itself into your brain the way it should.   “S.L. Magic” suffers from a similar problem — despite a brisk punky tempo, some crunchy guitar chords, and a chorus that’s fun to sing along to, it just isn’t very memorable.

That said, I still like this band a lot, and am looking forward to hearing more from them.

UPDATE:  I forgot to mention, both songs are now streaming on Scandal’s MySpace page.

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New Scandal single “Doll” out tomorrow

21 October 2008 at 3:34 pm · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

Doll by Scandal

Doll by Scandal

I mentioned here about Japanese girl rock band Scandal.  Their debut single “Doll” comes out in Japan tomorrow (the 22nd).  I haven’t had a chance to hear it yet, but I’m really hoping to get a chance – I really like their debut EP, Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal, four really fun pop punk tracks with crunchy guitars and big, catchy choruses (actually, “Kagerou” is a bit weaker than the others, but not bad).

In addition to the title track, the single features two B-sides, “S.L. Magic” and an instrumental (karaoke) version of the A-side.

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Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal

27 August 2008 at 3:49 am · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

Back in March, I hit the Japan Nite 2008 at the Independent, an annual SxSW-affiliated tour of Japanese indie bands. One of the highlights was an all-girl Ramones-y band from Osaka called Scandal. They played in school girl outfits, but don’t let that fool you – they really rocked, with good melodies and harmonies and jump-around energy.

Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal

This month, following a trio of teaser one-song singles, they’ve finally put out a four-track EP called “Yah! Yah! Yah! Hello Scandal”, collecting those three earlier songs, plus one more. It’s a nice collection, well-constructed and catchy, if a bit less flat-out rocking than I remember their live set. It’s available on iTunes Japan, and supposedly in the US as well, though I haven’t been able to confirm that. I’m going to try to pick up a copy when I go to Tokyo in October.

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