Welcome To Sa-World!

Well well well!

Full album it is! Welcome To Sa-World, out in July!

















So far the details are a bit vague, but it sounds like.. The five title-tracks from the mini-albums, 7 SAWA-produced tracks (including an intro, interlude and outro) and five other new tracks from past producers. (Woo-hoohoo, 17 tracks, really?)

Also .. finally A PV DVD! Right now there's no mention of the PV's for Stars and ManyColors.. but hopefully they'll be put on there..

Don't quote me on this as it's too soon! :P

We've actually heard a bit of the intro during her live Swimming Dancing release party on sa-world RADIO! I had no idea she had composed it herself, I thought maybe ☆taku might have made a one-off for the release party.. but it's really hard sounding stuff! If you missed it before here's a clip.

Right now she's gone on a mini-vacation to South Korea (as she did before COLORS, while she was composing the mini-album-that-never-surfaced), maybe for inspiration, or rest, who knows. Let's hope it does some good!

Preorder @ CDJAPAN/Neo wing
Regular Version
Limited Version w/ DVD

Full Album In Progress?

Well, SAWA's been hard at work in the studio.. Haha!

















「今フルアルバムを制作中です。そんな感じデースw」 !

^
A quote taken from Funky-san's blog (a fellow SAWA fan) after he'd been to a recent live featuring SAWA. During her MC he said she'd made quite the announcement.

Take it with a grain of salt, but seems like SAWA's in the midst of working on a full album.

Although I'm a fan of the mini-album medium, any news is good news to me! Let's just hope it's all brand new material.

Jack Knife

Is everyone enjoying 「あいにいくよ」?
























SAWA did a quick video for MUSIC BB, promoting the new mini-album:



Thank you Eight0008!

SAWA has stated in a couple interviews that this mini-album is a return to her roots. Besides, obviously, COLORS and the more pop sound.. SAWA's had experience in this area before.

As mentioned before, she briefly had a solo under the name 'Kouchi'. Before this however she was simply known as 'Sawa Kouchi', in a five-girl group called Jack Knife.

Here's a blurb about SAWA from their old website:

河内　沙和/Sawa Kouchi
1983年11月6日生(20歳)
血液型：AB型
身長：1.57m
靴のサイズ：24.5cm

確固たる自分の世界を持つ天才。つまり他人と同じ事が出来ない困った人。趣味で鍛えたパワフルな声量とキレのあるダンス、そして独特な言動は観る者を魅了。気付いたら彼女しか印象に残ってない事もあるので注意が必要。

Jack Knife did a few lives; judging by an article on one of their performances, mostly covers. They disbanded in 2004.











































It's cool to see how people have evolved over time, and in six years SAWA's steadily gotten better and gotten more recognition. She's really a motivated person, I think, to have released so much in so little time, and to have started so early on.

I'm glad she's gone the direction she has (and hasn't gone idol on us :P) I look forward to many more mini-albums to come!

For more info on Jack Knife, you can still see their old website, and there's a short article on one of their live shows. The group still keeps in contact, I think, they've recently reunited with a few other girls (all as friends) back in March. There's a blog post from one of the girls here.

Thanks to rewak for research and links. He's the best!!

It's out!

あいにいくよ is out! GO GET IT!






















She's doing a couple in-store performances, and a handful of live dates coming up, including a triple-release party for her album, Jazzin' Park, and Ryohei's Rat the Wolf album.

Wooo.

Here's the title track's lyrics from goo.

問いかけてよ
追いかけてよ
ずっと近くにいてよ

ざわめいてる
打ち寄せてる
心のさざ波が

瞬間warpして
teleportateして
君に会いに行けるかな?

会いたいから
ケイタイから
Hey, what are you doing now?

切り取って空に浮かべたいくらい
君の笑顔は溶け出した夕暮れみたい
何気ない言葉が力をくれるから
遠く離れててもそばにいてほしい

今君に伝えたくって
ただ君に伝えたくって
見つめあうと言えなかった
ありがとうと言いたくって

胸のベルが鳴り出して
君のこと　想いだして
気づいたら走り出して
今日が終わる前に
I'll come over...

なかなかなか
会えないけれど
ちゃんと元気でいるよ

「どこにいても笑ってて」と
君に言われたから

幽体離脱で　夜を抜けて
夢の中で逢えたら…
強く願いかけたら飛んでゆけんじゃないか?

今君に会いたくなって
ただ一緒に笑いたくって
言えなかった「ありがとう」を
届けに行くよ　今すぐ

今星屑をはらって
意地っ張りをとりはらって
止めるものは何もないよ
勇気さえあれば
I'll say thank you...

消えてしまいそうに弱いときも
大人になれなくて　涙しても
大丈夫　君がいる
だから　one and two, three steps to you.
今すぐ君のそばへ　あいにいくよ

今君に会いたくなって
ねぇ一緒にいてほしいって
素直に言えそうだから
伝えに行くよ　今すぐ

長い夜の海をこえて
喧騒さえもふりはらって
止めることは出来ないよ
明日がくる前に

今君に伝えたくって
ただ君に伝えたくって
見つめあうと言えなかった
ありがとうと言いたくって

胸のベルが鳴り出して
君のこと　想いだして
気づいたら走り出して
今日が終わる前に
I'll say thank you...

Also, SAWA has started a twitter account! Check it out if you're interested.

..........

In other news, BREMEN (Haoika, a third of the group, produced SAWA's NightDesert) is finally releasing new music! They've done a cover of Garbage's (Kami-sama, I love GarbagE) When I Grow Up!

It's only physically being released through their live shows, however you can order it from iTunes. :) It'll be released the 21st of April.






















1. When I grow up
2. Freeway
3. Superstar
4. Phantom of a dream

あいにいくよ PV .. HD!

Hope everyone's enjoying the new PV! SAWA never seems to bore with her videos.. Now we can enjoy it in HD, whee!!!

Makes one wonder if there'll be a DVD mini-album on the horizon.. She does such quality videos and there's no releases for them!

Also, if you're interested, check out HaroRangers FanSubs blog for a subtitled version of the Swimming Dancing PV! :D

あいにいくよ PV!

Ride On the JetCoaster

Samples of the new mini-album are up! If you've been following you've already heard bits of あいにいくよ and サイダー.. So how 'bout a listen for SuperLooper and JetCoaster!
























It sounds like a fun album this go 'round!

I wonder if she's working on something else as we get ready for April.. She's always busy, you know..

I hope this next one is serious business! :P

あいにいくよ Album Covers

Limited






















Normal






















Promo

Dreaming

A PV was made for SAWA's collaboration with Anan Ryoko, Dreaming!



Thank you rewak <3

Say Thank You!

Click and you might get a suuuurprise!

She looks good, right?

She's given her myspace a bit of a makeover with a new banner and a very pink background. Give it a look-see!

Thanks as always to rewak :)

I Miss SAWA

Hey all!

So at the moment, I'm quite musically bored... What are you guys listening to?

I've mostly been listening to JASMINE and Mizca lately.

JASMINE's got a new single coming up next month, right after releasing a single(just two days ago!) titled This Is Not A Game. She's releasing a 'thrillogy' of singles for the next three months: March's being This Is Not A Game, April's will be new single JEALOUS.

I love her themed album photos, with a color for each single.. and I hope she continues with this pattern. It's what pulled me in in the first place! Seems a bit shallow now that I think about it... but I actually liked the music too so it turned out good, I guess, haha.. I've always been kind of drawn in by packaging and stuff, so it just seems kinda natural.











Seems like a lot of my favorite artists are in a 'work-in-progress' stage, and it's made me a bit restless.

Mostly at the moment I (of course) really miss SAWA, and Asobi Seksu. It's been kind of a strange year or so and their music has partially helped me get through it.. I've gotten a bit dependant on them maybe.. hehe..

I'd be happy to hear what everyone else is listening to.. I'm welcome to any suggestions!

Hope everyone's had a lovely start of March. Hang in there everyone, spring is around the corner!!!!!

New Stuff In April, あいにいくよ

SAWA's, naturally, been hard at work!

She played a new track on her radio station today called サイダー (Saidaa; Cider).. Pretty cool sounding.. slightly old-disco, shibuya-kei.. Very different from Swimming Dancing.

Anyway, I googled the new track and found this on neowing + CDJapan

Fifth Mini-album, titled: あいにいくよ.

Seems like four new songs, サイダー, the title track あいにいくよ produced by Hisashi Nawata (who's worked with artists such as Ryohei, Crystal K, BoA, Halcali, and Rie fu), ジェットコースター (Jet Coaster) produced by Jazzin'Park, and then an older song, called SuperLooper produced by RAM RIDER!

She performed SuperLooper back during TIME&SPACE, during a few lives. I think it's a cover, but I've never actually heard her performance myself, so we'll see!

A bonus track is being offered as well, a Takeshi Nakatsuka (produced メトロポリタン美術館 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) from TIME&SPACE)remix of Samba de Mar, a track she did for a compilation called Seaside Town.

*EDIT* TOWER has posted a tracklist of the new mini-album:

あいにいくよ [Fifth Mini-Album]: TBA 7 April, 2010
1. あいにいくよ ...Produced by Nawata Hisashi
2. ジェットコースター ...Produced by Jazzin'park
3. サイダー ...Produced by Junya Ookubo Zyun (ANA)
4. SuperLooper ...Produced by RAM RIDER
5. Samba de Mar（Nakatsuka Takeshi Remix） ＜BONUS TRACK＞

She's also going to be on the album of a debut artist, Anan Ryoko, a pianist and composer. The song's titled Dreaming. There's an English + Japanese version being released on it.

That's all for now! More info as it comes.

Calling All Long-Time SAWA Fans

I was reading through SAWA's old blog posts (Don't judge me, I've been snowed in! :P) and she mentioned a few tracks being posted on her myspace before the release of COLORS or before she'd even met FreeTEMPO!

















SAWA's blog

The tracks she mentions are titled メリーゴーランド (Merry-Go-Round), talking, happiness, and 坂道 (Sakamichi; Slope). There maybe another track titled in the music, as well, a blogger mentioned that the five tracks were used as background music on her homepage.

There's also a couple of dead ends on last.fm. It seems as though talking and メリーゴーランド had a few listens on there, but naturally, there's no listeners to contact.

I don't have a mixi account, so I'm not really sure if there's any info there either.

If anyone has heard these tracks, or has happened to have ripped them from her website or player.. it'd really be appreciated to share them with the rest of the SAWA fans out there!

Thanks in advance for any info, and also to the blogger I spoke with this morning. :)

SAWARecording?

Happy Late New Year SAWA Fans!

First off, here's a live vid of SAWA at a RYUKYODISKO show a few weeks ago. She performed SPLASH★ and 夢のFUTURE.



Another short live vid as well from her TV performance! This vid has short clips from Stars and Swimming Dancing. Thanks very much to Eight0008 for posting both videos on le tube!



SAWA appears to be in the studio recording! She's posted pics on her blog in the studio with Jazzin' Park (who remixed Stars on Swimming Dancing) and also a mystery producer who called her up and asked if she'd be interested in making music.

Wonder when the news will hit that we'll get getting SAWA's fifth mini-album? :P The suspense, the suspence.

She's set to have her live release part in February, hopefully some vids will surface on the net.

So with the lack of SAWA music at the moment, I've been more into d-topia's girls lately.


Aira's been a bit quiet; DJ'ing around and releasing rare tracks through special merch bags.

Saori however, has been completely opposite! She's just released エスニック・プラネット・サバイバル, and her next single, Lonely Lonely Lonely, (HMV exclusive single) coming along in December, and a new full album soon to follow!

She's also done a PV for Birthday Everyday, which is being released through her Valentine's BAG. She's collaborated with galaxxxy (who've done the artwork sleeves for Ethnic + Lonely) for a t-shirt design as well, that comes with a download card of Lonely Lonely Lonely.

The previews for her new single Lonely Lonely Lonely are on youtube and her blog, check them out, they're definetely worth the effort!

Goldfrapp Are Back!

Popjustice has just revelead that they got a sneak peek of Goldfrapp's lastest, an album titlted Head First, out March 22. They describe the first single, Rocket, as a carefree disco tune about a "love-gone-awry number which appears to be about firing an unsuitable chap off into space". It also includes rocket sounds, which our SAWA is so very fond of.. :P

It's all so exciting..

















Goldfrapp is quite a unique band that have inspired many artists, including the J-pop world (Immi's クラクション is basically an Ooh La La 2! MEG's video for FREAK as well is FOR SURE inspired by it..) and if you've not listenened to them, DO IT! ...NOW! :D

Also today, Mizca has revealed info as well as samples of her debut electro single キラキラ☆, which is released this January. Cutesy covers, and the music sounds pretty good although heavily vocodered.. (Seems like everyone is tired of the vocoder!) It's actually quite trippy in sound though, as far as the b-sides Truly Lovely + United To The Sky! The a-side キラキラ☆ sounds very much like a Nakata-style track with Saori vocals. Keep an eye out for her, we'll find out soon enough if this is a serious attempt!

Updates an' Info

New episode of Sa-World Radio is up, check it out when you get a chance!

Second episode in a row to have Kentaro Takizawa as a guest.

A video from the last episode has surfaced (the one from her birthday), which is now posted up on PlanetSAWA's brand new youtube account, yay! Rewak has set that, and a new email account as well, for any news, videos, an' all that from you fellow fans.

YouTube Account
Google Mail Account

More from The Big Room.... SAWA was at the release party, performing and drinkin' it up with fellow members and fans. Here's a pic of her with Mika Sawabe.


















A live vid from that has surfaced as well (using that cringe-worthy Keep Love Together), and she shows up a few times.

SAWA's also been busy doing interviews apparentely. Her + Taku Takahashi will appear in an interview in the next issue of MARQUEE, as well as a couple other 'zines. She's also done some online interviews which you can check out here and here.

There's some sort of World Wide Tea Party-themed promo project she's planning on her mixi account, but I don't have one so I'm not really sure on the details (probably best I don't know anyway.. :P)

So there's some shtuff for you to check out as you enjoy her latest mini-album. :)

It's Out, Go Get It SAWAitians!

It's funny, there was so much negative feedback about Swimming Dancing in the beginning: it only had 2 songs, it shouldn't be called a mini-album, SAWA shout-sings.. Now that it's out however, it seems like everyone's really pleased!

Epic PV and artwork, remixes that aren't crap, and of course wonderful music.. I'm really glad that quite the little SAWA community has been created. Let's all hope for new music soon!

If you haven't got it yet, dooooo iiiit:

Swimming Dancing @ YESASIA
Swimming Dancing @ CDJapan
Swimming Dancing @ PlayAsia
Swimming Dancing @ Amazon.co.jp















..........................

In other electro-news, d-topia's Saori@destiny is finally releasing new music! She's releasing two limited (unfortunately!) singles in the new year, one exclusively through Tower Records and another through HMV (similar to Aira's Valentine Step and Darling Wondering Staring.)

The first release, out 20 Jan, is titled 『エスニック・プラネット・サバイバル』 (Ethnic Planet Survival) is being released through TOWER. Saori's lyrics are always awesome and with a title like that... sounds like it's gonna be good! :P













The second release, out on 17 Feb, is currently untitled and will be through HMV.

TOWER RECORDS・HMV 2ヶ月連続シングルリリース決定！ ネオ・サブカルチャー・ガールをコンセプトに 新たにバックキーボードを加え「cooljapan」を世界へ発信!!! 2010年1月20日（水）リリース タワーレコード限定シングル 『エスニック・プラネット・サバイバル』 DTJR-10012 LABEL：D-topia 2010年2月17日（水）リリース HMV限定シングル 『タイトル未定』 DTJR-10021 LABEL：D-topia

So, for me anyway, there's something to look forward to in between whatever SAWA's got up ahead for us. :P Aira's got something new up ahead as well, a song being used in an Ario CM titled HEAT MY LOVE. Whether it gets a single release, we'll find out soon I hope!

Have a happy Thanksgiving all US-SAWAitians! :D

Space, Aeronautics + Wonder Administration

Mmmmm.. HD!!! Special thanks to rewak. ;)

Kentaro Tracks

Previews from Kentaro Takizawa's new album are up on Youtube.

I got it wrong about SAWA's input. It seems that on the track Another Landscape, she's mostly just speaking (in English). She doesn't really sing, but there's some vocalizing stuff going on in the background, sounds nice enough.

The other track she was featured on wasn't the intro, but instead the last track Keep Love Together, under The BIG ROOM Family (which consists of Mika Arisaka, Ryohei, SAWA and Mika Sawabe.) From what I heard it sounds embarssingly bad. xP SAWA's part isn't heard however.

EDIT: She is on the intro as well, just speaking "Welcome To The Big Room" ovah and ovah. It's up on iTunes now, as well as a not-so-good remix of Another Landscape. The original Another Landscape, though, is kinda nice. :)

Ah well, everyone seems to love Swimming Dancing! :) I hope she continues with this pattern, Go SAWA!

Swimming Dancing PV

SAWA - Swimming Dancing PV
by rewak1




P.S. Happy belated Birthday SAWA!