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.

Here are 5 more great official Youtube channels started by labels, from the major to the independent. Check ‘em out and get watching, worry-of-deletion free. These featured channels aren’t packed with as many PVs as those in the last go around, but some of the videos are more than cool enough to hold ‘em up.

Here we go:

Number of videos: 60
Artists included: Calendars, The Movie Archives, totos
Number of subscribers: 52

Number of videos: 28
Artists included: Sakanaction (サカナクション), Dew, LAZYgunsBRISKY
Number of subscribers: 450

Number of videos: 20
Artists included: Ken Yokoyama, COMEBACK MY DAUGHTERS, F.I.B
Number of subscribers: 467

Number of videos: 14
Artists included: MONGOL800, BLEACH, Skymates (スカイメイツ)
Number of subscribers: 83

Number of videos: 5
Artists included: POP DISASTER, SOMETHING RIOT, VIBEDRED
Number of subscribers: 5

If you know some of these artists, go forth and rock out. If you don’t, browse away and hopefully you’ll find something cool. We got powerpop (THISTIME), alt rock & pop (Victor), punk rock (Pizza of Death), punk & pop from Okinawa (HIGHWAVE), and powerpop & emo (Caffeine Bomb).

One LEGO enthusiast, Flickr user Chrispockster has built a wonderful scene straight out of olde time Japan. The scene is packed full of cool detail, great building techniques, and some really sweet minifigs. I especially love the Torii Gate and the Shinto priest.

via The Brothers Brick

The solution? Corporations and independent labels have began embracing Youtube and uploading their artists’ music videos themselves. It’s a win-win for fans and the record companies! So, here’s a quick list we compiled of 8 Japanese record companies with official channels on Youtube. Some are big, some small and some artists are superstars while others are up-and-coming indie musicians. There’s something for everyone.

Here’s some channels worth checking out:

Number of videos: 315
Artists included: Kimaguren (キマグレン), Aoyama Thelma (青山テルマ), GReeeeN
Number of subscribers: 5,541

Number of videos: 70
Artists included: Sukimaswitch (スキマスイッチ), Suga Shikao (スガ シカオ), Yamazaki Masayoshi (山崎まさよし)
Number of subscribers: 724

Number of videos: 53
Artists included: DOUBLE, Kizuna (キズナ), So’ Fly
Number of subscribers: 1,275

Number of videos: 40
Artists included: SATOMI, Yaida Hitomi (矢井田瞳)
Number of subscribers: 665

Number of videos: 26
Artists included: MUCC, Girugamesh, SID
Number of subscribers: 641

Number of videos: 19
Artists included: 10-FEET, AJISAI, JtoS
Number of subscribers: 82

Number of videos: 17
Artists included: ravex, DJ OZMA
Number of subscribers: 630

Number of videos: 14
Artists included: Sano Motoharu (佐野元春)
Number of subscribers: 514

So go out, watch, and be happy with no worries of impeding deletion. One caveat though: some of PVs are not embeddable. Also, many artists have their own channels so if you find those, check ‘em out.

Know or have any other favorite official channels? Let us know!

This kid’s music is stunning. The songs he plays in his videos are long and complex and his fingerstyle of play on some pieces make things even more amazing. No need to say much more…just watch:

“More than Words”:

Pirates of the Caribbean Theme:

“California Dreaming”:

Check out Sungha Jung’s YouTube page. There’s over 125 clips of him rocking out. His videos on MySpace

There are a lot of other prodigies out there worth mentioning. This kid’s style is just one of the coolest.

via Guitar Flame, “Sungha Jung, no larger than his guitar”

It goes with out saying that the lyrics on these sites are in Japanese. So, if your Japanese reading skills are rusty or lacking, plugging the lyrics into a kanji-to-hiragana or romaji translator can help greatly. If you can’t read all the words in the lyrics, try figure things out by comparing what you hear in the song with the kanji on the page. It could be a long but rewarding task. You’ll figure somethig out. Good luck and happy singing along!!

Know any other great Japanese music lyrics resources? Please share!

At the top of this column, you have the most powerful and influential forces: big-name actors, musicians, athletes, agents, and studio executives for example.  Below them is the backup that keeps them going:  the screenwriters, the newbie musicians, and the sound technicians on a low budget. These people keep the top of the column afloat.

We have absolutely everything in the entertainment industry within this huge pillar. Although incredibly massive, this pillar is dwarfed by the ever growing pillar of technology. Technology is rapidly changing, and the entertainment world is not keeping up.

Entertainment forces continually stall technologies that disrupt their current arrangements, but technology has a tendency to prevail anyway. For example, take Youtube or MySpace.  They both came flying out of the gates, fueled by content from major players in the entertainment field. The rights holders in the industry tried to stop them for infringing copyrights. However, even though they lost a good amount of content, these technology engines had enough steam not just to carry on, but to thrive.

Whether or not the entertainment industry is doing impressive things at the moment, it is ready for change. Whoever can bridge the gap between rapidly advancing technology and the entertainment world is going to find that there are a plethora of opportunities.

Many different types of engines are waiting to be built. If you can find where these pillars merge -attack! Plenty of wealth is waiting, but you’ve got to solve the problems to claim it.

A drama screencap. Some guy’s humorous caption read: “This is what love is like in Korea.”

Some StarCraft impressions on GAG-Concert:

There’s not much else to say, other than…now I really want to go back to Korea!! :) If you check out the YouTube clip’s related videos, there are some other hilarious StarCraft impressions.

Sparkplugged Ignite! Get the news you need, get the videos you want, and don’t waste any time doing it. That’s the idea that we wanted to make happen right before we came up with Sparkplugged Ignite! Super-quick and Super-fun!

“In the Year 2000″ by Syd Mead

Ever left a comment to another commenter, and had absolutely no idea if they ever checked the post’s comment stream again? Well we’ve got a better way to connect with your fellow Sparkpluggers. It’s fairly a simple little area for discussion, and I think you’ll like it too.

While we’re on the topic of making this easier, better, stronger, and faster, check this out. An entire set of our favorite musician profiles are in one easy to find place. The info source for some supercool music .  While right now, it is only a large collection of artists, one day it might just become a very large collection of artists.

We do have a couple of other changes on the homepage as well.  Mostly little cosmetic changes in the way the page displays with a little bit of server optimization as well.  (If any of you at home are playing internet buzzword bingo, check for optimization).  Thanks to the one known as J!mi, we’ve got a new banner in the works as well.

Contests, Prizes, Giveaways, LOOT!

Sparkplugged is going to have a contest a little later.  Joining the community will give you a free entry into it.  So you can get that taken care of now!  We’ve yet to determine what sort of prizes will be going to be dishing out.  But we’d love for you to tell us what you would prefer.

Although it may look a little like this at the moment…
Step 1 – Join the Sparkplugged Community
Step 2 – …
Step 3 – PROFIT!

The contest is going to be great!  So get ready!  This is Sparkplugged!

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