November 30, 2020
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URBANGARDE has released their first animated music video “BAERUNA”, directed by popular digital animator Danjou Oozora.
May 29, 2020
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Japanese rock band URBANGARDE will stream the premiere of their 2015 USA debut concert at 8:00pm JST on May 30 via their YouTube channel.
April 13, 2020
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URBANGARDE announces “Polkadot Autobiography – URBANGARDE Chronicle”
Japanese rock band URBANGARDE will release their first-ever authorized biography on April 27.
December 31, 2019
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URBANGARDE’s new music video “Kotoba Uri” (“Word Seller”) touches base on 80s technopop to bring in the new year, with a VHS-style reflection on past moments as they prepare for their 2020 tour and new album TOKYOPOP, released January 1, 2020 and now streaming worldwide.
November 29, 2019
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URBANGARDE will release a deluxe edition of their next album, TOKYOPOP, scheduled for release on January 1, 2020.
The concept album includes new songs, self-covers, and remixes of past hits in a techno-pop style. The deluxe limited edition will contain a poster and 100-page hardcover art and photo book “Tokyo Bakuhatsu” (“Tokyo Explosion”) with photos by Ivana Micic, depicting the band members in a theme of “Wild Tokyo” designed by URBANGARDE band leader Temma Matsunaga.
August 21, 2019
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URBANGARDE has announced the final line-up for UTSU Fes (Depression Festival) 2019, the band’s alternative subculture music festival held yearly at Tsutaya O-East in Shibuya.
The 12-artist roster includes hosts URBANGARDE and mainstays Maison book girl, R-Shitei, and Kenji Ohtsuki, along with alternative idols Chiaki Mayumura, JyuJyu (whose recent music video “Hi jitsuzai sei shoujo” was composed by URBANGARDE leader Temma Matsunaga), and Atarashii Gakkou No Leaders, who danced their way through URBANGARDE’s controversial Heisei-era-sendoff “Shoujo Gannen.”
Morality is created by the people who watch, not by the person who is having the experience.
Full interview (English):
http://resonance-mms.com/2019/08/yoko-hamasaki-interview-jrock247-2019/
Polish:
https://www.jame-world.com/pl/article/151033-wywiad-z-yoko-hamasaki.html
Finnish:
https://www.jame-world.com/fi/article/151018-haastattelu-yoko-hamasakin-kanssa.html
Russian:
https://www.jame-world.com/ru/article/151029-intervyu-s-yoko-hamasaki.html
I think everyone is strongly attracted to things that are forbidden… and those are moments you can’t always control.
Full interview:
http://jrock247.com/2019/08/yoko-hamasaki-interview-2019/
July 5, 2019
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URBANGARDE lead vocalist Yoko Hamasaki has released a remastered version of her first album Film noir (2010), now titled Film noir ultime. The album contains 3 new tracks, including the new song “FORGIVE ME”, which returns Hamasaki to the smooth synth-pop style of her 2016 album Blue Forest.
June 26, 2019
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Japanese rock band URBANGARDE has announced their inaugural tour of the Reiwa era, the band’s first major outing since the departure of their founding guitarist Zeze Shin in March of this year.
“11 years after our debut, URBANGARDE has entered a new adventure following the withdrawal of our guitarist,” said band leader Temma Matsunaga. “We’ve continued to perform as a live band with added support and new elements like programming to create a ‘Techno Pop Set’.”
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January 10, 2019
URBANGARDE has announced that guitarist Zeze Shin will leave the band following their March 16, 2019, one-man concert at Daikanyama UNIT in Tokyo. Shin’s departure is due to his increased family responsibilities, and his decision was announced with the full support of the other band members.
Shin is a founding member of the group, which celebrated its 10th Anniversary with the “KEKKON SHIKI” event at Nakano Sun Plaza on April 8, 2018. The concert video is included in the limited edition release of URBANGARDE’s second compilation album Ai to Gensou no URBANGARDE (“URBANGARDE of Love and Fantasy”), released last November.
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November 26, 2018
Japanese trauma techno pop band URBANGARDE has released the music video for “Shoujo Gannen” (“Girls Year One”), the lead track from their new album Ai to Gensou no URBANGARDE (“URBANGARDE of Love and Fantasy”), released on November 21.
With the Heisei Era coming to a close on April 30, 2019, URBANGARDE proclaims the next era of Japanese history will be defined as the “Shoujo Era”. For the “Shoujo Gannen” music video, the band brings in 4-member dance performance unit Atarashii Gakkou no Leaders as special guests who break free of the classroom and take over the streets in front of the National Diet Building.
November 1, 2018
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Japanese trauma techno pop band URBANGARDE has revealed the jacket art from their next album, Ai to Gensou no URBANGARDE (“URBANGARDE of Love and Fantasy”). The regular edition is illustrated by Japanese subculture artist Suehiro Maruo, and the limited edition features a quietly eerie pose of vocalist Yoko Hamasaki couched on silver balloons cradling her own head.
September 18, 2018
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Japanese trauma techno pop band URBANGARDE presented the 5th annual UTSU FES (Depression Festival) on September 8, 2018 at Tsutaya O-East.
The eight-hour, all-day music festival featured performances by URBANGARDE and an exciting list of guest stars from a wide variety of alternative genres, including SPANK HAPPY, PASSPO☆, Eren-chan, R-Shitei, Maison book girl, Kenji Ohtsuki, Kinoco Hotel, Shiina Pikarin, Ohkengarde (Kenji Ohtsuki + URBANGARDE), and Den’ei to Shounen CQ.
Second Compilation Album Continues 10th Anniversary Celebration
Full-length Concert DVD from Nakano Sun Plaza “Kekkon Shiki” Event
UTSU FES 2018 Concert features guests PASSPO☆, Eren-chan, R-Shitei, Maison book girl, Kinoco Hotel, Shiina Pikarin
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September 7, 2018
Japanese trauma techno pop band URBANGARDE has announced the release date of the their next album, Ai to Gensou no URBANGARDE (“URBANGARDE of Love and Fantasy”). Due for release on November 21, 2018, the first-press limited edition of the album will also contain the DVD of URBANGARDE’s 10th anniversary concert “KEKKON SHIKI” recorded live at Nakano Sun Plaza on April 8th.
Ai to Gensou no URBANGARDE continues the band’s celebration of their 10th anniversary, coming just a few months after their April album release, Shoujo Fiction. The new album will feature a collection of the band’s favorite songs from their previous albums, plus rare, unreleased tracks and two new songs.
Many of URBANGARDE’s songs talk about the city (“Tokyo Kid”, “Shinjuku Mon Amour”,”Tokai no Alice”). Is city life the source of Japan’s mental sickness?
Hamasaki: I’m not from a “tokai” (“big city”) like Tokyo, so I’ve had a longing for this kind of life more or less since childhood. Even with the longing, there were times of disappointment when I actually moved to Tokyo. I think it was like Paris syndrome. However, whether it’s a big city or not, I feel that emotional, mental problems are hidden everywhere.
Matsunaga: Cities are like machines that mirror humanity’s mental structure, I think. They are opposite from nature, artificial and extremely unnatural. When the human mind is the main topic, it feels natural for cities to be chosen as the setting. Isn’t the relationship between cities and mental disorders like the relationship between the chicken and the egg?
Link:
http://jrock247.com/2018/07/urbangarde-interview-2018/
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May 1, 2018
Japanese rock group URBANGARDE celebrated their 10th Anniversary with a spectacle-filled concert titled “KEKKON SHIKI” at Nakano Sun Plaza on April 8, 2018.
Vocalist Yoko Hamasaki surprised the sold-out audience by entering the stage to an EDM arrangement of Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” in a custom bridal outfit adorned with URBANGARDE’s signature red polka dots. As the band took their places on stage, frontman Temma Matsunaga dramatically asked the question, “Do you swear to walk with your band forever?”
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April 4, 2018
URBANGARDE’s 10th anniversary album Shoujo Fiction (“Girl Fiction”) was released worldwide on April 4, featuring the new song “Atashi Fiction” and popular hits such as “Akumade Akuma” and “Femme Fata Fantasy“.
URBANGARDE’s special 10th anniversary “Kekkon Shiki” concert event at Nakano Sun Plaza on April 8th is sold out, and a special fashion exhibition “Girl’s Scrinium” celebrating vocalist Yoko Hamasaki’s wide variety of stage and video costumes will run April 6 – 30 in Tokyo.
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March 2, 2018
URBANGARDE has released their new music video “Atashi Fiction”, the lead track from their upcoming 10th anniversary album Shoujo Fiction (“Girl Fiction”) scheduled for release on April 4, 2018. Revisiting URBANGARDE’s trademark red-and-white polka-dot imagery, the band reflects on their past and present in a dramatic shower of music CDs.
URBANGARDE – “Atashi Fiction”
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January 31, 2018
URBANGARDE will release their 10th anniversary album Shoujo Fiction (“Girl Fiction”) on April 4, 2018.
Since the 2008 release of Shoujo wa Nido Shinu (“Girls Only Live Twice”), which introduced vocalist Yoko Hamasaki as a bloody, sword-wielding schoolgirl in “Don’t Take Off Your Sailor Fuku“, URBANGARDE has built a dedicated international following for their outrageous visuals and challenging lyrical themes.
Yoko Hamasaki: “In URBANGARDE, my point of view comes from a character, it’s fiction. But in ‘Blue Forest’, I wrote about myself. Yoko Hamasaki is a real woman, and I wanted to bring out a woman’s complexity in the lyrics and performance. This album is the real Yoko.”
Link:
http://jrock247.com/2017/10/yoko-hamasaki-interview-2017/
URBANGARDE’s All-Day Music Festival Features A9, BRATS, Nana Kitade, Kaya, and many more
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August 24, 2017
Japanese rock band URBANGARDE has announced the full lineup of their all-day Utsu Fes 2017, to be held September 10 at Tsutaya O-East in Shibuya.
URBANGARDE will headline the annual event with guests A9 (Alice Nine), Kenji Ohtsuki, Kinoco Hotel, Mio Yamazaki, Akito Matsumoto (Vacuum Hollow), Nana Kitade, and BRATS, among others.
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July 16, 2017
URBANGARDE frontman Temma Matsunaga dives headfirst into temptation in his newly-released music video “Blood, Semen, Death”, with seductive young actress Ami Tomite (Anti-Porno, Joshiko) pulling the strings.
June 19, 2017
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URBANGARDE frontman and chief provocateur Temma Matsunaga has released the music video for “Love Harassment” from his upcoming self-titled solo album, due for release July 26.
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April 2, 2017
Urbangarde will release their first live album Urbangarde 2016 Xmas Special Hall Live Tenshi De Akuma (“Angel and Devil”) on April 12, 2017. The regular CD version will contain the complete concert audio and a live performance DVD, while a limited-press lower-price version will showcase selected concert tracks.
(more…)
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December 31, 2016 – Japanese alternative rock band URBANGARDE played equal hosts to the angels and demons in their audience at their special one-man holiday live show on December 17.
In the 2-hour long performance, singer Yoko Hamasaski donned a sexy red outfit with devil horns, toted a menacing machine gun in white robes, and danced along next to fellow vocalist Temma Matsunaga’s animated coffin as the band played their recent singles including “Akumade Akuma“, “Femme Fata Fantasy“, and “Tokai no Alice“.
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December 17, 2016 — The devil always wins in URBANGARDE’s view of a sick society, and the “trauma techno-pop” Japanese band gives fans a ringside seat to the battle of desire vs. purity in their new music video for the upcoming single “Akumade Akuma”.
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November 27, 2016 — Japanese trauma techno rock group URBANGARDE has revealed the details of their new single, “Akumade Akuma”, the band’s first non-album music release in over four years.
The concept of your new solo album, Blue Forest, revolves around the themes of ‘blue’ and ‘love.’ What kind of message do you want to deliver to listeners through these themes? How is your message important?
Yoko Hamasaki: ‘Blue’ is a mysterious, wonderful word. It can express a depressed feeling, and it’s also used to express ‘immaturity’, meaning not being able to grow up enough. And I simply imagined rain, the deep sea, and pieces of glass. ‘Forest’ is actually not a forest in nature. I got the idea from high-rise buildings, the streetscapes of cities, and the nightscape, and I tried to blend visual images and electro sounds.
When it comes to ‘love’, I especially focused on sexual love. If you were to set the goal of love as marriage, you could be united with only one person, so other love relationships would eventually reach sad, agonizing farewells. Thinking like this, most relationships have bad endings, and I wanted to express the ‘dark’ and ‘shade’ of love rather than the excitement.
Link:
http://www.jame-world.com/us/articles-122529-interview-with-hamasaki-yoko.html
“Releasing her first solo project in six years, Hamasaki Yoko’s Blue Forest, a collection of seven songs, enchants with whimsical chimes and ethereal vocals that will entertain listeners whilst showing off a different, new sound compared with her work as a vocalist in URBANGARDE.”
JaME:
http://www.jame-world.com/us/articles-122236-hamasaki-yoko-blue-forest.html
“Following her outstanding work in last year’s URBANGARDE album, Showa 90, fans of her work will feel a familiar strength in Hamasaki’s delivery, but, free of delivering URBANGARDE’s message-heavy themes, Hamasaki gets to portray more warmth, feminiity, and true emotion in Blue Forest.”
JRock247:
http://jrock247.com/2016/07/yoko-hamasaki-blue-forest-review