Beware the woman in the yellow business suit.

Of all the people falling into and flying out of frame in the extremely awesome Avengers in Sci-Fi video for “Yang 2,” you better watch out for the lady in yellow. It’s a very computer generated video but works nicely with Avengers in Sci-Fi’s “boys and girls” shouting and curious spacey knob tweaking. There is no point in going into further detail. Just watch it and enjoy!

Disc 4 the Seasons is out 4.25.2012 and you can preorder from Yesasia.

Gimme an A over at Avengers in Sci-Fi’s official website.

Disc 4 The Seasons will have 11 spacey tracks including the trio’s latest singles, “Sonic Fireworks” and the Japanese iTunes-only “Yang 2″.

Fans who buy the First Press Edition of the album have a chance to win some pretty cool swag. 40 lucky fans will get a limited edition t-shirt and 1 really lucky fan will get a limited edition planet. Yes, a “planet”. avengers in sci-fi will give that lucky person sole ownership of a celestial body named “Fource” (not to be confused with Fourze), as authorized by the Springbrook Observatory in Australia. Like Name a Star? But better?

Prepare and check out a live performance digest from avengers in sci-fi’s MICROSONIC TOUR:

Get Disc 4 The Seasons when it comes out at CDJapan and beam-up to the band’s mothership site and probe for more info.

via JVC Music

Space is the final electric boogaloo for Avengers in Sci-Fi’s latest electronic jam “Sonic Fireworks.” Get up and dance and create some sparks.

Sonic Fireworks single is a great mix of electronica, rock and autotune? Trust me. It works. It’s out 12.14.2011. Light it up at Yesasia.

Pop and lock over to Avengers in Sci-Fi’s official website.

avengers in sci-fi and Achico join LITE on deck to jam to “Pirates and Parakeets”. The song is a laid-back groove led by guitars and a rolling snare that’s brought to life with hand claps and chanting. It builds before a dreamy interlude before crescendoing to the climax. It’s an enchanting post-rock party.

The collaboration is featured in LITE’s live DVD, Approaches, which is out December 7th. DE DE MOUSE also joins the band on stage to rock out with LITE and perform a cover of his song, “Baby’s Star Jam”.

“Pirates and Parakeets” is off of LITE’s third album, For All the Innocence, which came out last summer. LITE’s official site has more info.

Pick up Approaches at CDJapan. Get For All the Innocence on iTunes and CDJapan. All the privateers and parrots should check it out!

One of Japan’s premiere shoegaze bands avengers in sci-fi have returned to the planet Earth with their latest release “jupiter jupiter”. Continuing on with their mission of spreading effects-heavy yet approachable space rock to the masses, the band shows with the lead track of the new mini-album that traditionally distorted and musically-complex shoegaze can be light and catchy too. And from outer-space.

You can find more information from the band’s official website and MySpace.

Cover albums aren’t always known for being stellar or improving upon the orginal tracks, yet all nine artists on Disney Rocks! take the essence of classic Disney and morph it, to varying degrees, into something that’s remarkably fresh and fun. Okay, I’m starting to gush…I like Disney AND I’m a fan of the artists that participated in this release. Here’s a track-by-track:

avengers in sci-fi kicks things off in a fashion that’s surprisingly unmysterious when compared to some of their original stuff. The Mickey Mouse Club theme’s iconic spelled out lyrics are relatively discreet and avengers take the song in a new creative direction.

I was a bit worried about GOLLBETTY’s ska/pop/rock take on this beautiful ballad but then I actually heard the song. “A Whole New World” by GOLLBETTY is an awesome stand-out track that maintains the wonderful melody while kicking it up a couple dozen beats-per-minute and adding a whole lot of horns.

the chef cooks me shines in this song that’s rough at first before shifting into something more complete. A dancing guitar and all sorts of synth instruments are sprinkled throughout the track that really brings the chef cooks me’s “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” to life.

This is probably my personal favorite cover and that’s probably because I’m already a big fan of The Telephones. The playful, almost tongue-in-cheek nature of The Telephones and their music lends itself incredibly well to this remake and the falsetto segments are like gold.

I wasn’t familiar with Rufus before hearing “Kiss the Girl” but afterwards, I must hear more. His take on “Kiss the Girl” surges with a Beach Boys-esque, oldies rock vibe. The dynamic track starts slow but really gets going a quarter of the way through.

OTOGIBANASHI’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” made me realize how good Disney songs can sound in Japanese. It’s a pretty vanilla cover that’s true to the original sound and tempo of the song. The warm tone and purposefully unrefined vocals make for a very pleasant and mellow listen.

The →Pia-no-jaC← version of “Main Street Electrical Parade” could be a cover or just a demo in how awesome of musicians this piano/cajon duo really are. A delightful exhibition fit for the streets of Disney. It’s “instrumental awesomeness” indeed.

With instrumentation and a singing-in-unison chorus, “It’s a Small World” by riddim saunter is exceptionally faithful to the original song and very fun. Despite being draped in signature riddim saunter sound, it’s so unswerving that it needs to be played on the It’s a Small World Ride at Tokyo Disneyland!

The light and acoustic medley from the great Keiichi Sokabe himself is a outstanding bonus track. It’s a rough cut and the noticeably loud, ambient hiss make it an add-on track, production wise. Despite that, Keiichi Sokabe’s performance and simple touch is charming.

Listen to a sample of “A Whole New World” by GOLLBETTY
[audio:http://sparkplugged.net/wp-content/uploads/music/awholenewworld.mp3|titles=A Whole New World|artists=GOLLBETTY]

Listen to a sample of “Heigh-ho” by The Telephones
[audio:http://sparkplugged.net/wp-content/uploads/music/heighho.mp3|titles=Heigh-ho|artists=The Telephones]

Village Vanguard produced the outstanding compilation and you can check it out here: http://vgvd.jp/vv/goods/00000CD205/

If you’ve listened to Disney Rocks!, what’s your favorite cover?

Though traditionally designed to lay beneath the plastic window of a CD case on a shelf in the store, cover art is even more visible now. Whether it advertises the new release on an artist’s official website, catches the attention of someone surfing a digital download store online, or ‘puts a face to the name’ for press purposes on websites like SparkPlugged where we write about new releases all the time.

View cover details on KaiwaiWorks’ WORKS page

Additionally, graphic design in music goes well beyond cover art and CD jacket design. Graphics are essential when it comes to defining a band’s ‘image’. Elements of this include logos, websites, t-shirts, buttons, concert flyers, print advertisements, and more.

KaiwaiWorks is a company that does all of this and although the group’s most visible products are cover art, their portfolio spans a breadth of media. KaiwaiWorks was actually founded by members of the similarly named band, Kaiwai (かいわい).

KaiwaiWorks has created cover art for RX-RECORDS artists BIGMAMA, onsa, and L.A.SQUASH as well as bands like the chef cooks me, bulimia, trico, and many more. Chances are you’ll recognize some of these covers.

It appears as though KaiwaiWorks has worked especially close with the chef cooks me and onsa. In addition to designing an album cover for the chef cooks me, the company has designed the band’s logos and website. As for onsa, Kaiwai has designed a half a dozen or so pieces of cover art for them.

KaiwaiWorks has also been commissioned for work with winnie, reach up to the universe, fam, and some rock festivals. They’ve also created cover pieces for split EPs involving avengers in sci-fi and PaperBagLunchBox.

Although there is a wide range of styles within KaiwaiWorks’ body of work, many of their pieces have a signature style.

“They tend to lean towards more traditional methods like pens/inks, watercolor, handwritten text which gives a warm kind of familiar feeling. Because its not Michaelangelo we’re talkin here, it’s very simply rendered stuff but effective. If they do use photography, it goes through a sort of artistic filter to take off the edge of reality and make it surreal and dreamy in a way. Their work feels very contemporary and organic,” is how Jimi, our benevolent in-house artist characterizes KaiwaiWorks’ pieces.

KaiwaiWorks is the team of Masahiro Sakai, Shimo :) Ryo, “kaba” Reona, and azumi. Check out their site and browse their extensive portfolio.

Disney Rocks! is a new breed of Disney cover song compilation. The nine-track album features covers by avengers in sci-fi, GOLLBETTY, the chef cooks me, The Telephones, Rufus, OTOGIBANASHI, →Pia-no-jaC←, Riddim Saunter, and Keiichi Sokabe.

That roster is an instant win. Considering how many of those bands have been featured on SparkPlugged, it’s like some of our favorite artists took part in one of those teleportation experiments but it went awry when a box set of classic Disney DVDs got left in one of the machines — a musical version of The Fly.

For the record, here’s some past articles: avengers in sci-fi (link), GOLLBETTY (link), the chef cooks me (link), The Telephones (link, 2, 3), Riddim Saunter (link).

Disney Rocks! is produced by Village Vanguard and set to drop February 27th.

The tracklisting for Disney Rocks!:

01.Mickey Mouse March [Mickey Mouse Club] – avengers in sci-fi
02.Whole New World [Aladdin] – GOLLBETTY
03.Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo [Cinderella] – the chef cooks me
04.Heigh-Ho [Snow White] – The Telephones
05.Kiss the Girls [The Little Mermaid] – Rufus
06.When You Wish upon a Star (Japanese version) [Pinocchio] – OTOGIBANASHI
07.Main Street Electrical Parade [Disneyland R] – →Pia-no-jaC←
08.It’s a Small World [New York World Fair] / Riddim Saunter

“Special Track”
09.When You Wish upon a Star [Pinocchio] & It’s a Small World (Japanese version) [New York World Fair] – Keiichi Sokabe

via Natalie.mu

The latest single precedes the November 5th release of SCIENCE ROCK, the second album from the spacey rockers with a penchant for effects pedals and synthesizers.

The evolution-themed “Homosapiens Experience” begins, sounding like something from the “future” imagined in 60s sci-fi flicks. The metallic voice modulation quickly melts in with a chorus of vocals and a high-flying synth. The backing and building drum fill quickly transitions into a pulsating quarter-note pound as the “experience” launches.

Once the “Homosapiens Experience” winds up, it plateaus and doesn’t relent until the end. The entire song is sung in unison by vocalist/guitarist Taro Kohata (木幡太郎, コハタタロウ) and vocalist/bassist Yoshihiko Inami (稲見喜彦, イナミヨシヒコ). Drummer Masanori Hasegawa’s (長川正法, ハセガワマサノリ) keeps up the song’s frenetic beat until the end and even finds time to embellish with different fills and rhythm.

At just over 2:30 minutes, “Homosapiens Experience” is an odd composition sure to please rockers, futurists, and anyone in between.

The wonderful and wacky future-vibe should continue throughout avengers in sci-fi’s upcoming album SCIENCE ROCK. Another track on SCIENCE ROCK, “Beats For Jealous Pluto” is just as spacey as “Homosapiens Experience” yet considerably more erratic.The cosmic cacophony extends to the farthest reaches of the solar system.

The exhilarating “electric plus rock” played by avengers in sci-fi is without boundaries. The trio from Tokyo pledge to “continue to absorb, assimilate, evolve, and transmit the music flowing around the world”.

avengers in sci-fi formed in 2002. They released their debut, self-titled EP in ’04 and their first album, avenger strikes back, in ’06. The band performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2007.

Watch the PV for “Homosapiens Experience” by avengers in sci-fi:

Buy SCIENCE ROCK by avengers in sci-fi

Visit avengers in sci-fi’s offcial site