FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
URBANGARDE’s Yoko Hamasaki reveals Blue Forest jacket and music video
Music video shows sensual side of URBANGARDE frontwoman, shot by film director Eisuke Naito (LITCHI ☆ HIKARI CLUB, PUZZLE).
May 23, 2016 — URBANGARDE vocalist Yoko Hamasaki has revealed the jacket image of her new solo album Blue Forest, scheduled for release on June 15.
Bringing a new sound and performance style from her work in the internationally popular “trauma techno-pop” group (URBANGARDE has performed multiple times overseas in Europe and America), Hamasaki shows her mature, sensual side in the music video for “I LIke Chopin”, directed by Eisuke Naito (known for his films LITCHI ☆ HIKARI CLUB, PUZZLE).
VIDEO: Yoko Hamasaki – ‘I Like Chopin”
Hamasaki produced the intensely personal Blue Forest herself, and the album will be available in a series of special editions in Japan:
◆ TOWER RECORDS: Blue Forest Acoustic Ver. CD
◆ HMV: Blue Forest Instrumental Ver. CD
◆ VILLAGE VANGUARD: Blue Forest w/Music Video DVD
Hamasaki will promote the album’s release with a limited number of live performances in June, titled “Into the Forest～Dark Blue Door”:
June 18 Osaka – Club Vijon
June 19 Nagoya – X-HALL
June 30 Tokyo – Roppongi Super Deluxe
Yoko Hamasaki on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/hamasaki-yoko/id331871770
URBANGARDE on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/urbangarde/id263314261
URBANGARDE on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urbangarde
URBANGARDE PROFILE
Vocals: Yoko Hamasaki
Vocals: Temma Matsunaga
Guitar: Shin Zeze
Keyboard: Ohkubo Kei
URBANGARDE is a self-described “Trauma Techno Pop” band, mixing male and female vocals, outrageous performance-art visuals, and daring social commentary. After completing three independent albums, they released their major debut singles “Skirt Kakumei” and “Tokimeki ni Shisu” from Universal Music Japan in 2011, followed by their first major-label album release Mental Hells. URBANGARDE’s 2012 album Geiger Counter Culture achieved the number 10 position on the daily Oricon chart in Japan and made the top 25 on its weekly chart.
In 2012, URBANGARDE ranked in the top 5 J-Pop artists on the French TV program “Japan in Motion” (NOLIFE TV) and made their French live performance debut at Toulouse Game Show (TGS). URBANGARDE returned to France in 2013 for Japan Expo and released their greatest hits compilation Koi to Kakumei to URBANGARDE, featuring the song “Tokai no Alice.”
URBANGARDE’s Utsukushii Kuni was released in June 2014 by Tokuma Japan Communications, featuring artwork by renowned Japanese painter Aida Makoto. The same year URBANGARDE released music videos for “Sakura Memento” and “One-Piece Shinjuu”. In 2015, URBANGARDE released the single “Coin Locker babies” and made their USA debut at A-Kon in Dallas, TX.
URBANGARDE’s latest album, Showa 90, was released on December 9, 2015, featuring the anti-war song “Kuchibiru Democracy”.
