SAWA Lyricist For The Red Shoes

SAWA has written lyrics for folk music unit 赤い靴 (The Red Shoes).

The unit is comprised of instrumentalist Kamiya Junpei, vocalist/songwriter Higashikawa Akiko as well as various other guest artists. SAWA's writing is featured on the track "Where to?", and the album is out on the fourth of April.

Also just a little heads up: SAWA's been performing at a string of lives since late 2011 as DJ alter-ego DJ WASA. Most of the dates have not been up on her official website, but she's been giving little mentions of it on her blog and twitter.

Unofficial But Reaaally Nice Mix of Swimming Dancing

Just wanted to share:



The artist who remixed it, Submerse, describes his music as "garage, autonomic, hip-hop".

Hisashi Nawata

This is a slightly-off topic post about recent and frequent SAWA collaborator, Hisashi Nawata.


He's been working behind the scenes with artists a lot the past few of years, and seems to becoming more and more prominent.

Originally, he mostly collaborated with m-flo's VERBAL (some arranging on Visionair, BoA's BUMP! BUMP!, Sowelu's NEVER) and Taku (Sowelu's MATERIAL WORLD, Ami Suzuki's Reincarnation) producing for other artists, but he's been branching out and producing on his own.



Last year he worked on thumping, ethereal track for Shibasaki Kou called パラレルワールド・リーディング (Parallel World Reading) from her album CIRCLE CYCLE. This month, he produced her new single Strength, which SAWA recently gushed about on her twitter. He's also producing Shibasaki Kou's yet to be released single ANOTHER WORLD, out this summer.



Of course, he also created SAWA's あいにいくよ back in 2010, but now has also collaborated with her for a track for Nozomi which has yet to be released (as well as another song titled Diamond Days.)


He's been performing on keys for SAWA's live band off and on, and they've been in and out of the studio recently... I personally love his work, he gives everything this glossy, synthy feel, and hope he works with SAWA much more in the not too distant future.


The tracks named are really just the tip of all the artists he's worked with. For a total list, check out his site.

Check out his twitter as well.

NOZOMI COLLECTION

The song SAWA wrote recently for Sasaki Nozomi, カラフルワールド, is going to appear on Sasaki's new album NOZOMI COLLECTION, coming out in April. There will be a PV for the track on this release as well.

The two tracks with note native are out now, on physical release and iTunes.


Also, mentioned on her twitter by a fan and on her blog today, SAWA performed yet another new song live titled Good day sun shine.

Current list of new songs played live:
Good day sun shine
Bubble Wrap
Tomorrow
Tell A Lie
Mr. Brown
Happy Birthday
あおぞら
No Appointment Romeo
+ as well as a few covers

'Tis all for now~ Hope you're having a nice day today. If not, find a few minutes to take to yourself. Go outside, put on some headphones, regroup your thoughts, make yourself a nice lunch if you can. Adiós!

Two Cover Songs With note native

SAWA is featured on a cover album by house music producer and past collaborator (My Sunny Days), note native.

Click the link to listen to previews of the two songs (tracks 1 and 4) she participated in. The album is out on the 22nd of February.

Also:


Ha-chaaaaa! Thanks to conditionals for the heads up! :)

SAWA Songwriting For Sasaki Nozomi

SAWA has written the lyrics for model/talent Sasaki Nozomi's newest single カラフルワールド (Colorful World, how SAWAesque..) You can hear a snippet of it in this shampoo cm.



**Update** The track is produced by recent SAWA collaborator Nawata Hisashi.

Two More New Songs Live

SAWA finished her recent one-man live yesterday (on her birthday!) and she's put up the setlist on her new blog.

Two more new songs were debuted, Tomorrow, and Bubble Wrap.

She also did a recent blog on her demo working formula and a few pics of her "working" in the studio.



Will 2011 bring us any new SAWA before it departs? Who knows. I hope everyone enjoyed their halloween!

New SAWA Blog

No one's been showing myspace much love these days; it's like a deserted island.. SAWA included, so along with updating her mixi page, she's created a new blog on Excite! Has a nice new pic (that she also updated her twitter with.)

Tiny Little Update

Quiet in the SAWA camp..

SAWA has been doing live performances here and there, and she's played a new song yesterday called Tell A Lie. Along with one of the other songs mentioned before, あおぞら.

Also a few weeks ago she did her (sudden) final Sa-world Radio show.

Hopefully things will pick up soon, keep in touch!

New Songs Played at Latest Live

There are a few reports of SAWA's latest one man stating she performed three new songs titled:

ミスターブラウン (Mr. Brown)
ハッピーバースデー (Happy Birthday)
青空 (Aozora; Blue Sky)

Also in attendance were Aya Arvin homa (a frequent lyric collaborator on SAWA's albums), DJ AYUMi (recent producer, for Christmas Eve), Yukihiro Fukutomi (SAWA's Obi-Wan) and Emi Tawada.

From SAWA's Blog

There's also a string of new live dates for next month and another big one-man in November.

We'll keep ya posted.

Source

☆☆☆EDIT:
Setlist from SAWA's mixi, posted from Funky-san's blog

01. New thank you for visiting
02. JetCoaster
03. ManyColors
～　MC　～
04. Green
05. Stars
06. イチゴ畑でつかまえて
～　MC　～
07. Mysterious Zone
～　MC　～
08. Space Travel
09. Planet-T
10. Swimming Dancing
11. 春に (木下牧子 cover; choral arrangement)
～　MC ～
12. Mr. Brown (New Song!) ☆☆☆
13. Happy Birthday （New Song!) ☆☆☆
14. あいにいくよ　
～　MC ～
15. I'm a President
～ Encore ～
16. あおぞら(New Song!) ☆☆☆
17. I Can Fly

Mr. Brown is a swing style track and あおぞら (青空/Aozora/Blue Sky) is a mid-tempo ballad.

RAM RIDER's Stars

Fresh from the RIDER's twittah:



I'm so in love.

"Title that doesn't stir up insane excitement but let's everyone know that it seems like there might be some progress"

Hullo~

No big news, sorry.. However SAWA tweeted a pic of some interest today of Hisashi Nawata working on a track at her place.

Haha, notice the SAWA glass.

So... something in the works..

Nawata recently did some production on Shibasaki Kou's CIRCLE CYCLE album with one of hte best tracks on it, パラレルワールド・リーディング (Parallel World Reading) and Sowelu's album last year with the song NEVER feat. VERBAL. Of course he also produced SAWA's last mini-album title track, あいにいくよ, so expecting good things!

Give it a listen

They seem to be pretty good friends and he's joined her for many lives to play keyboard as well.. Wonder if they'll have it finished for the next big one-man-live?

....

Also.. there's a post of SAWA-fan interest at the wonderful STEREO_NiGHT LJ community.. you might wanna check it out. You have to join, though!

Also2.. SAWA's started her myspace blog back up, check it out for some pics she took of her recent trip to Paris!

That is all for now!

New Cover Song for Compilation

SAWA has completed a new track, a Seiko Matsuda cover いちご畑でつかまえて (Ichigobatake de tsukamaete/Catcher in the Strawberry Field) for a compilation coming out in May.



You can hear a preview here or a rip here :)

Source

Watch the Newest Sa-world Radio

To hear bits of the new song, No Appointment Romeo, check out SAWA's home page to see some of the live footage from her last one man live.

It's hard to hear some of the show due to the commentary, but the parts you can hear sound niiiice. SAWA and the new live band actually developed new arrangements for some of the songs, Stars especially sounds back to it's bouncy self.



Also SAWA's currently auctioning a set of mirror-ball themed rings to help raise money for the recent crisis in Japan. Check 'em out here.

No Appointment Romeo

Funky-san updated the setlist from the one-man a bit to match SAWA's latest blog, with the new song title. Go check out his blog for the full review. :) The new song No Appointment Romeo (Non-Appointment Romeo/ノンアポイントメントロミオ) apparently has a rock-ish sound?

01. Night Desert Original interlude
02. Night Desert
03. Discovery
04. Mysterious zone　

-MC-
05. I Can Fly
06. Samba de mar-NAKATSUKATAKESHI remix-
07. Chocolate zone～野生のSAWA～
08. Throw Him Away!

-MC-
09. 心の瞳
10. あいにいくよ

-MC-
11. No Appointment Romeo ☆☆☆
12. Jet Coaster

-MC-
13. Blue
14. ManyColors
15. DangerZone
16. Swimming Dancing
17. Super Looper

-MC-
18. Stars

Encore
19. Green
20. My Sunny Days

Also check out SAWA's same blog entry for some rather impressive watercolor paintings..



She should for sure start including more of her painting in some of her album jackets. The landscape one are especially beautiful (to me anyway!) ☆

New Song Played At One-Man

Seems SAWA's latest live was a success! Not only did she play a new cover song, but a new untitled song as well! Also she's announced a new one-man live in June; SAWAの惑星! (PLANETSAWA:D) (..Hopefully a new RELEASE PARTYY..)

1. NightDesert
2. Discovery
3. Mysterious Zone
4. I Can Fly
5. Samba de Mar -NAKATSUKATAKESHI remix-
6. Throw him away!
7. 心の瞳（Kyu Sakamoto cover）☆☆☆
8. あいにいくよ
9. ～New Song～
10. JetCoaster
11. ManyColors
12. Blue
13. Danger Zone ～逃げろ！危うし Sa-World！～
14. Swimming Dancing
15. SuperLooper
16. Stars
Encore
17. Green
18. My Sunny Days

Setlist from
Funky-san's blog
Check out his blog to read about the live, as well as other lives (he's attended a lot!) He's quite a nice guy. :)



Hopefully we'll have newwwwws soon! Shall keep updated ☆

☆☆☆ 心の瞳

No News No News No News

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone's been hanging in there and taking time to do the things they like!

No news in SAWAnderland... A few lives have been scheduled in March (should we be hopeful?) and the big second one-man live is in just a couple of weeks..

Time for a new mini-album, don't you think?


Anyway.. lots of other things going on in the world to keep us occupied, right? What's everyone been listening to? I'm currently waiting on HNC's newest EP, myself..


..and really just been busy with everyday life. :)

Oh, one thing, check out LinzerDinzerTV and vote for a review of SAWA's Swimming Dancing PV! It's actually winning right now and it might get her a bit more exposure through the weird world of youtube. Lindsay's quite funny and quite the J-pop/K-pop fan, so check 'er out!

In the meantime.. I think I'll give TIME&SPACE a spin today, it's been a while. ★

Happy Holidays + Sa-world Radio Updates

ハロー!

Hope everyone has been well.


Soooo.. If anyone hasn't checked out the last two Sa-world Radio episodes.... do so!



Lots of live stuff, although most with commentary... However a few remain untouched and some of the new band versions are quite good!



Also, you can hear bits of Mysterious Zone if you haven't heard it yet. The digital release was recently delayed but it's out now.

SAWA's announced a new one-man live coming up in February recently as well.

Yep, that's it for now!

Mysterious Zone

Ahhh so this Mysterious Zone song is getting a limited Chaku-uta release.

Source

SAWA
配信限定曲
Mysterious Zone
（Sound Produced by Jazzin'park）
FM岡山「牛嶋俊明ドリームファクトリー」エンディングテーマ
2010.11.17　着うた(R)　先行配信
2010.11.24　着うたフル(R)／PC配信

It's apparently been produced by Jazzin'park.. so maybe it is a full song?

Still.. this will be SAWA's first digital single since being signed to a major label. Both Manycolors and Stars had releases on iTunes prior to their mini-albums.

X-mas W/ DJ AYUMi

SAWA is featured on a new Francfranc compilation entitled Francfranc presents SNOW CRYSTAL!


The whole compilation is, of course, winter and Christmas themed.. The title of the track SAWA is featured on is Christmas Eve, and it's a cover done by AYUMi. There's also a full version (disc 1 is all mixed together) being included on a bonus CD!

EDIT: You can hear a snippet of it here, at 1:40-1:49.

SAWA was recently featured on a Francfranc presents... compilation (was Stars, no new song!)

francfranc preents GLAMOROUS HUNTER ... featured SAWA's Stars

yayyyyychristmassong ..... yaynotsomuchbustillsomethingiguess

Anywayyy, there's also (finally) new merch. There's a mirrorball SAWA coat-of-arms hairpin/badge type thing being sold during her lives!

The description is cute, saying it could be used to talk with UFOs...

Lastly, SAWA seems to be enjoying the interlude business! If you check the last post, it's been edited to include the details on the 'new song(notreally)' that was used for FM OKAYAMA's Dream Factory segment. She's also created a (very brief) jingle of her own for her サワガチャ(SAWAgacha) segment of sa-world RADIO!

ガチャポン (Gachapon) is basically a capsule toy, and during this segment of the show, SAWA has questions sent in by fans put into capsules. Then her and the guest take turns popping out questions and answering! Makes for interesting radio, I guess. (:P)


IN CONCLUSION, I'm thinking all the studio work and home demo'ing we've read about is proooobably more *theme* type things, more than anything else. She's been using exclusive versions of Opening Ceremony during different lives, depending on the venue.. so I kind of *doubt* she's working on any major new material at the moment.

However it really has been a busy year for her and she really does need a break! This is SAWA though.. and she usually has something up her sleeve so keep eyes and ears open! I'll try my best to keep ya updated.