on the globe

Monthly Media: May

2007-05-19T22:27:00.000Z

Yet another monthly media, this time in the newly formed month of Maypril! Due to global warming, a longer "spring month" was needed, and with April traditionally late winter, it was decided that April would be merged into May!

Happy belated April's Fools, did anyone fall for it? Didn't really think anyone would... Wow, for the first time I missed a media, huh? Well, it's been two years now since MM started (ok technically that was in April -05, but we're not mentioning that one), which means I also missed to mention the two-year anniversary for this blog! Yay!

Ok, business: this month brings us (or rather, you) a clip of Keiko on the show "Tunnels no mina-san no o-kage desu", hosted by the comedy duo Tunnels (you might recognize one of them as Ishibashi Takaaki if you watch Utaban), eating some food and talking, and in the end doing a little promo for the "Love again" tour. Only Filefront link this time since I'm busy packing (going to Stockholm on a study trip).

Download via Filefront.

Monthly Media: March

2007-03-25T23:02:00.000Z

A new month brings a new monthly media, and... Wait, what was that? It's already the third Sunday of the month?!?

Sorry for the ridiculously long delay, but this month has been really crazy, deadlines every week, etc. The next couple of weeks have quite a bit fewer lessons, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up some of the things I had planned (like the vocal project and the wiki)...

As for this month's media, I have a performance of "Departures" from Countdown TV, from sometime in 1996, enjoy!

Download via Sendspace or Filefront.

Monthly Media: February

2007-02-04T22:03:00.000Z

Looking through the monthly media archives, I realised that there was not one single performance of Can't stop fallin in love! An injustice that had to be corrected.

As such, here is a performance of that very song from December 27, 1996 on Music Station Super Live.

Download from Sendspace or Filefront.

A couple of small things while I'm at it. If you're on Myspace, have a look at TK's page, you can listen to some of his latest creations there (including a couple of TKCOM tracks). A couple of others who also have a Myspace page are the guys in the globe/Jpop cover band World! Have a look & listen and check out if they have any live shows near you!

Monthly Media: January

2007-01-15T00:10:00.000Z

Alright then! Late, but here's the media for this month: a live performace of Faces Places on Music Station, '97.

The aspect ratio is a bit weird, so if you have a player where you can adjust it, set it to 4:3.

Download via Sendspace or Filefront.

Oh, one more thing. When I logged into Filefront I got a message about some files queued for deletion, and they're only seven days in queue before they're automatically deleted, so if you find any broken links, mail me about it.

Monthly media delayed

2007-01-10T23:20:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of monthly media so far; due to an important exam it's been delayed until next Sunday.

TKCOM on Myspace

2007-01-03T15:28:00.000Z

Strange as it may seem, it would appear as if TK has a Myspace page! There are four songs to listen to there: "Music Makes Me Wonder", a remix of it, "Going Out Thing" from the Gaball project and "Far Eastern Wind" from the Piano Wind album. The homepage is stated as TKCOM.tv, where a couple of more songs can be heard.

Update:
I extracted the URLs for the audio files at TKCOM.tv for those who want them.
1. GO CRAZY featuring Krayzie Bone (Record Plant Edit) (45sec EDIT)
2. UH-OH featuring PHIFE (Manhattan Edit) (45sec EDIT)
3. SUKIYAKI featuring Nipsey & KCO (TV Edit) (45sec EDIT)
4. MUSIC MAKES ME WONDER (ITMS Edit) (45sec EDIT)
5. Music Makes Me Wonder (TK CLUB MIX)

More by DJ TK

2006-12-22T14:42:00.000Z

Not long after the new track on mf247 comes another track by DJ TK, this time from another direction; the new track called "Music Makes Me Wonder" is released as the theme for the last chapter of the online manga Synesthesia, and can be downloaded from the Shinzou podcast via iTunes if you've set your iTunes music store to the Japanese one. It's credited DJTK featuring TKCOM, vocals by Keiko. (T-KCO-M...)

There's also a video clip you can download with TK's comment.

I've also uploaded the files to Sendspace in case you have problems getting them from iTunes; get the audio track here, and the video clip here. Both are in MPEG-4 format, so make sure you have a player that can play that format (VLC works).

DJ TK: Angelina mF Prepromix

2006-12-10T20:11:00.000Z

Turns out that 2chan wasn't completely wrong, as two new tracks did come from DJ TK, but the titles proved to be a bit off...

The new tracks are in fact one new track and and instrumental version of it. Get "Angelina mF Prepromix" here and the instrumental here.

Monthly Media: December

2006-12-04T14:25:00.000Z

For this months media I thought I'd put up something TK-related, with his birthday being recently. And it's a real blast from the past: April 1992, in fact, when he did the two Think of Earth lives. What I have is a so-so quality audio file from one of those (but I don't know which one).

Download via Sendspace or Filefront.

And I also have something else for you, something you might know about if you read the forum now and then: the vocal-rip from Departures, ripped from the single with Utagoe Rip, in FLAC-format. Couple it with the MIDI (*wink & nudge*) you can make your own remix of it if you'd want to.

Download via Sendspace or Filefront.

Happy Birthday TK!

2006-11-28T18:05:00.000Z

Missed this yesterday... November 27th was the 48th birthday of globe's founder and main composer Tetsuya Komuro. Happy Birthday!

And according to a post on 2chan, DJ TK will be releasing two new songs on mf247 in December:

Winter Dance (mF247 remix)
nR：06.12.01
House/Techno/Electronica

snow
nR：06.12.08
Pops/Vocal

As usual, things said on 2chan should be taken with a big grain of salt, but it's certainly been a while since the latest DJ TK tune...

"Auris band" live clip

2006-11-14T00:47:00.000Z

A bit late reporting it, but the live clip of the Auris (Super) Band is now up at the Toyota Auris site. There's also a clip of a talk/press conference with the members of the band presumably preceding the live.

Here's the direct link for the live clip and here for the talk.

Monthly Media: November

2006-11-06T00:41:00.000Z

Yet another month passes by... The quality of this month's media isn't that good, to be honest. It'a a performance of Departures from the Music Station Super Live on December 29, 1995, quite an early clip.

As I said, the quality isn't the best, but it's still quite interesting.

Download via Sendspace or Filefront.

Keiko in new CM song

2006-10-28T19:10:00.000Z

As seen on the official globe site and the Global Relation BBS, Keiko is participating in a new commercial-song for the Toyota Auris car in the newly formed, one-off band The Auris (Super) Band. The song itself is a cover of "My way", probably most famously sung by Frank Sinatra.

You can see a video clip from the recording if you go to the Toyota Auris-site and press the "Super (Auris) Band"-button. It seems like there will also be a movie from a live performance of it later. (If you want to download the "making of"-video, here's the direct link I dug up.)

A post on the Global Relation BBS also leads to a Barks story about it, which contains a further link to an image gallery from a live performance they did in a Tower Records store.

New by DJ TK

2006-10-03T11:09:00.000Z

There's a new song on mf247 by DJ TK, called I want you back (mf247 remix). It's a remix of the old TK solo song with the same name, this time with vocals by Keiko!

Monthly Media: October

2006-10-03T10:36:00.000Z

Seems like posting the Monthly Media late has become a bit of a bad habit... Anyway, this month brings a performance of "wanna be A dreammaker" and "Sweet Heart" on Music Station. I'm not sure about the date, since I don't know what dating-system was used for the file-name, but I'm guessing it was in the autumn, when the singles were released, which would make it October 2, 1998. (Damn, one day late ;)

Download via Sendspace or Filefront.

Keiko comments clips

2006-09-14T15:01:00.000Z

I took the time to save the clips from the recent Mu-mo interview, rar'd and uploaded in case anyone wants to keep them. Get them at Sendspace.

Another item that some might find interesting is a blog post by Marc mentioning that his assistant Yutaro has moved to greener pastures, so to speak. I don't think that anyone who saw the GVD will forget the uniqueness of Yutaro!

TK & TRF once again

2006-09-07T12:28:00.000Z

Here's something some of you might be interested in knowing: according to the web-shop Sumiya Mediamax, the new TRF-single planned for release November 8 will be composed by Tetsuya Komuro! It goes on to say that it's planned to be a dance-number in the vein of "EZ DO DANCE" and "survival dAnce".

Monthly Media: September

2006-09-04T20:48:00.000Z

Late again, I know...

This month is a bit smaller file due to some problems with Filefront: a performance of "Love again", though I don't know the date or what show it's from. It's also cut a bit short since the show seemed to be ending... File is in Windows Media format.

Another problem that has arisen is Yousendit, which insists on requiring registration for pretty much any file these days... So I'm giving Sendspace a try.

Download from Sendspace or Filefront.

Another interview

2006-09-03T10:42:00.000Z

There's an interview with globe up at Mu-mo, talking about "new deal". It's not clear if they're all answering the questions, but there's at least Keiko there. There's also a mention of a video comment due up September 8, so check back then.

Another thing I want to mention is that the TKFans bbs has been back for a while now. Give it a visit if you can read Chinese (or if you're comfortable copy-pasting everything to Google translation)!

The monthly media will be a bit late since Filefront is doing maintenance on the uploading service.

"New Deal" CM

2006-08-24T14:39:00.000Z

The little Flash-box on the official globe site that has said "coming soon" ever since the latest overhaul has finally been filled with something: the New Deal CM!

Just visit and it will play automatically (if it doesn't appear at first, try reloading the page as it might be that it's just loading from your cache). Here's also the direct link if you want to download it.

Happy birthday Keiko!

2006-08-18T23:13:00.000Z

Almost let this one slip by me... Today, August 18th, is the birthday of globe's Keiko!

Happy Birthday!

Another thing that I've been meaning to mention is the on the globe wiki database (beta). I've filled it out a bit with lyrics and stuff, but it's still far what I'd like it to be. Anyway, check it out.

New Release: New Deal

2006-08-10T00:09:00.000Z

Today, while also being the "birthday" of globe with the anniversary of their first single Feel Like Dance, is also the release-day of their new mini-album New Deal!

The mini-album contains four new tracks and a band version of the song Soldier which was also included in the maniac album released earlier this year.

"New Deal" samples and new DJ TK track

2006-08-08T21:50:00.000Z

Along with an overhaul of the official globe site, audio samples from New Deal are also now online!
01. new deal
02. Please Please Please
03. Hey Say Hey Yeah!!
04. ALL HOPE
05. Soldier (LA Session Version)

And there's also a new track by DJ TK, called Arashiyama!

Monthly Media: August

2006-08-06T21:07:00.000Z

A bit late today, but better late than never, eh?

For this months media we have another performance of Feel Like Dance, as we're nearing yet another anniversary of the release of globe's first single. The performance is from the show Hey! Hey! Hey! Though I don't know the exact date of it, I would guess it's around the release of the single.

Download from Yousendit or Filefront.

TK "New Deal" Oricon interview

2006-08-02T16:51:00.000Z

There's a short interview with TK about globe's upcoming mini-album New Deal at Oricon. As usual, it's all in Japanese (I'll have a look at it later and see if I can make an attempt at a translation), but there's also a video comment by TK that you can see if you press the "play"-button (requires Windows Media Player).

Here's the direct link to the stream if you're having problems with the embedded video.

Tracklist for "New Deal"

2006-07-31T10:36:00.000Z

The official globe page has been updated with the final tracklist for New Deal, and it looks as follows:
01. new deal
02. Please Please Please
03. Hey Say Hey Yeah!!
04. ALL HOPE
05. Soldier (LA Session Version)

YesAsia has also added it to their product list, so you can also pre-order it from there.

Bigger "New Deal" cover

2006-07-25T21:09:00.000Z

HMV Japan has updated their product info page with the cover image, and predictably, they also have a bigger 400x400 version of it.

"New Deal" cover

2006-07-14T15:22:00.000Z

An update to the official globe site reveals the cover for the upcoming mini-album New Deal!

The mini-album is planned to be released August 9, almost exactly one year after their album globe2, and, as it happens, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of globe's first single Feel like dance. The mini-album is also planned to have five songs in total, including a band version of "Soldier".

If you want to pre-order it already, you can do so via CDJapan.

TK's "Gachicolla" project

2006-07-08T11:43:00.000Z

You might have seen the news post about the "Gachicolla" project at the official globe site and wondered what it was about. It's short for "Gachinko collaboration" (though I don't know what "Gachinko" is), and consists of TK and a group of entertainers from the Yoshimoto Kogyo.

They released both a CD and a DVD just a couple of days ago, the CD (YRCN-11083) being a CD+DVD package with the songs they made and the coupling the titled as a "promotion DVD"; the separate DVD release (YRBY-50042) is described as telling the story of how the project came to be, I'm guessing similarly to the GVD.

There are also a couple of news-stories about the Gachicolla project, here one at Yahoo Japan and another at Daily Sports online.

Goo news also has a clip from an in-store event they did recently. (Direct links to the streams: Realplayer 56k, Realplayer 1M, Windows Media 56k, Windows Media 1M.)

Monthly Media: July

2006-07-03T19:29:00.000Z

A bit late, but here's the media for this month: a performance of FACE from Music Station. I don't have the exact date, but it's probably sometime in 1997.

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

Yoshiki at Otakon & Marc new book

2006-07-02T21:54:00.000Z

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the lack/lateness of updates recently... I've been unusually busy, and the sweltering heat takes its toll on the motivation to do, well, anything. Now that that's over with...

Wickywoo pointed out on the forum that Yoshiki will be a musical guest at Otakon this year! Though Yoshiki hasn't had much to do with globe lately it will probably be interesting nonetheless.

The other news item, though that's not directly globe-related either, is that Marc is coming out with a new book about what it's like to raise a child as a "half" (half-foreigner, half-Japanese).

The monthly media is a bit late, but hopefully I'll get it up later tonight.

The new Marc TV

2006-06-19T22:08:00.000Z

If you go and visit Marc's blog you will see that the first episode of the new Marc TV is now up. It seems to be just a test for now, but video might still be a bit more interesting since you can get at least an idea about what's going on even if you don't know Japanese.

If you want to download the Flash-video, here's a direct link.

"New Deal" postponed..?

2006-06-11T22:15:00.000Z

Though I hate to be the bringer of bad news, it seems as if globe's upcoming mini-album New Deal has been postponed. Accoring to a posting on the Global Relation BBS, TK himself had made a post on his fanclub forum stating that the release had been pushed forward to August. (Though the post seems to have been removed from the Global Relation BBS since copy-pasting fanclub stuff is frowned upon there.)

This in addition to it being removed from listings on HMV and CDJapan...

Cyborg 009 (music by TK) on Finland's channel 4

2006-06-08T12:43:00.000Z

If you live in Finland, you might want to check out channel 4 (Nelonen) on Thursdays at 15.15, as they currently air episodes of the Cyborg 009 anime, with music by TK, and the ending theme being Genesis of Next.

It's dubbed to English, which always sounds a bit silly to me, but hopefully it will give me an indication of what else is on the soundtrack CDs, perhaps helping me decide whether they're worth a purchase.

Monthly Media: June

2006-06-04T11:00:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, there's been strangely little news to report lately, even though the new mini-album is due to be released this month.

But at least we've got the monthly media! This month it's a performance from 1998 (don't know the exact date) on the show Music Station. Two songs are performed, Wanderin' Destiny and a shortened version of Love Again.

I also took the time to update the MM archive, which had been missing a couple of entries for a while.

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

TKFans.com temporarily down

2006-05-22T20:43:00.000Z

Perhaps I'm in the minority in visiting some of the non-English forums... In any case, I hadn't been able to connect to the TKFans.com forums for a while now, so I checked the front page and saw a notice that it's temporarily down (the forum software was unstable, if I've read the Google translation right).

I'll report when I see it back up, but you can check back on TKFans.com occasionally if you want, that's probably the first place it'll be mentioned when it's back.

Mini-album tentative title "New Deal"

2006-05-15T10:08:00.000Z

Marc writes on his blog that he recieved a mail from TK where he mentioned, among other things, the tentative title for the upcoming mini-album: New Deal.

Here are also some more pictures from the recording:

Monthly Media: May

2006-05-07T12:05:00.000Z

Here's the media for this month, something that I got ahold of just recently: the talk with globe from Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ 50th episode special, from December 27, 1995.

This is just cut out from the Jpopsuki torrent; there were clips from some other TK appearances there too, so if you're a TK fan, you might want to get the whole thing.

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

globe first podcast

2006-05-03T15:29:00.000Z

globe have made their first podcast, available through the Japanese iTunes music store. It's free to download, but you'll need to have the Japanese store selected first. Changing it is pretty trivial, just press the "choose store"-button and go from there.When you have everything set up you can click this iTMS-link to go straight to the globe podcast-section, where you can subscribe to it so it automatically downloads new episodes as they become available.

For those who still have problems with it, I also put the file up on Rapidshare.

Haven't listened to it myself yet, so I don't know what it's about...

Marc blog: pics from recording

2006-05-02T23:07:00.000Z

Marc posted some pics from the Los Angeles recordings on his blog.

He seems to be updating his blog pretty often, so check it out often if you're interested in what he's noodling with.

(Pictures temporarily at Photobucket since Blogger is slow to respond at these hours.)

New Marc "corner" & Rumor: globe new CD+DVD?

2006-04-27T18:21:00.000Z

Two things today.

According to the official site, a new section with Marc will go up tomorrow with diary, Q&A and movie clips. Sounds a bit like what he had going at his own site... but hopefully this will focus a bit more on globe.

I saw a post on 2chan the other day that claimed that there's an Avex CD+DVD promo coming up June 28, where globe would have a release tentatively titled globe decade collection (AVCG-70069/B). Same day as the new mini-album is scheduled to be released. Of course, you should probably take anything from 2chan with a pinch of salt, but depending on what they put on their it could be interesting (or not, if it's just another "best of"-CD).

globe new mini-album?

2006-04-24T12:22:00.000Z

Via Global Relation comes news that HMV Japan now has an info page up for a new globe album (AVCG-70068), which would be released June 28... With the price being only ~1500 yen it would seem to be more like a mini-album than full album. As always with stuff that hasn't yet appeared on the official site, nothing can yet be said to be definite, but it's something to keep an eye on.

TowerRecords Japan also has an info page up, though that is similarly sparse on info.

Update: HMV has put up a product description for the new globe mini-album, seems like it will include Soldier and 4 new songs.

Other TK ventures

2006-04-21T17:31:00.000Z

Not much globe-news to report at the moment, but hopefully we should hear something soon about whether globe will perform at this years A-Nation.

But TK being TK, he's been busy with a couple of other things. He's made a song for Noriko 'Bubble' Aota called Jesus, the new opening theme for the anime Keroro Gunso, and a song called Challenge for the Oita National Athletic Meet (I may very well have gotten the translation of that wrong...).

And in case you're interested in the DJ TK stuff, there's a new tune up called Someday 2006.

"maniac" overseas version

2006-04-12T13:52:00.000Z

For those who have been waiting, YesAsia now has the cheaper overseas version in stock.

KCOxSLY collaboration shirt

2006-04-10T21:35:00.000Z

The Keiko/Sly collaboration mentioned earlier has now also produced a "Departures"-shirt.
Pretty nice, but the price tag of 7800 yen is a bit hefty (not to mention that it's only available in ladies size and sold at the Avex Shopping Arena).

Here are some more pics:

Schoolgirl Keiko

2006-04-06T16:39:00.000Z

I found this pretty nice image of Keiko from her shooldays on 2chan and thought I'd share it...

She was born August 18 -72, and the date on the picture shows January 30 -90, so that would put her at 17 on the photo.

Monthly Media: April

2006-04-02T00:27:00.000Z

This month's media is another performance of wanna Be A Dreammaker, this time it's a bit more recent performance from the "Arizona no mahou" show about a year ago. (It's the same version they did on the Decade tour, I think...)

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

Oricon Style interview

2006-03-31T13:16:00.000Z

There's an interview up at the Oricon Style website (with an accompanying video message that seems to be almost the same as previous ones); first page is the video message, click the "Special interview, Next page"-link for the interview.

Another OngakuDB article

2006-03-29T20:56:00.000Z

There's another article about globe at OngakuDB, but to be honest I'm not sure what it's about... a lot of names are mentioned (among which Henry Ford and Robert Moog), but the context... It seems as if they're "hints toward the real intention" of maniac? Yeah... I'm gonna have to have a closer look at that tomorrow.

There's also a video message from Keiko there, but it seems to be almost identical to the RealGuide video message.

Keiko RealGuide Japan video message

2006-03-27T20:30:00.000Z

There's a short video message with album CM up on the Japan RealGuide music section. From my limited Japanese-abilities it seems like it's just regular album PR.

Here's a link to the stream in case it moved from the list.

I also saved the stream using mplayer's streamdump and uploaded it to Yousendit and Rapidshare, in case someone wants it downloaded.

Site news: "on the globe" 1 year today!

2006-03-27T14:46:00.000Z

Today is a bit celebratory for me since it's on the globe's 1-year anniversary!

Wow, hard to believe a whole year has gone by already... I remember having thought about starting a more frequently updated globe fansite some time already, as most fansites seems to have stopped updating around the time when globe started playing their trance-style music. The problem was pretty much two-fold, 1) I didn't have enough spare cash for hosting and the free hosting as I remembered it was in the style of pop-up-filled Geocities, and 2) I didn't know enough HTML to make a site myself.

I had heard a bit about this blogging thing, and then the thought occured that I might be able to use it for the purpose of reporting the latest news and interesting pieces I found. Having started learning a bit Japanese and seeing how there was almost no other sources of globe-news, I figured there was a nice niche to be filled there. After that I checked out the different blogging-services, seeing which one seemed most suitable (in the end, I don't think that mattered that much, it was mostly down to coincidence which one I chose) and set it up.

As for name and URL... Some of those who have been around for a while might remember a similarly named website. Gone for some time now, "on the globe" was the name of the official globe site, and from what I have read it seemed to be the first stop for globe news, including news in English. So as a homage to a better site now gone, I chose the name and URL based on that.

It's been a really good year, I think. Two new albums released in the timeframe, and the release of both the GVD Special Box and the globe Decade -access best seasons- DVDs. Though it would have been good if I'd started it sooner; the updates from the globe Decade special site would have been perfect for reporting on, later on they even had a couple of pics from some of the final lives of the Decade tour.

Hope you all have had as much reading as I've had reporting all the news over the year!

And starting the second year of on the globe, I'd like to mention another interview with globe at OngakuDB. As usual in Japanese, but if it's not too difficult I'll see if I can translate it.

"maniac" overseas version

2006-03-25T23:11:00.000Z

Seems like those waiting for the overseas version of maniac won't have to wait that long; according to the album info at the Avex Taiwan site it's set for release March 31.

I'd also like to remind the Keiko-fans that part 2 of of the Keiko-Sly video now up (has been since 23rd). Just scroll down on the page and you'll see links to the stream. (Or click one of these direct links: 56k, 500k.)

New release: maniac (& Oricon daily ranking)

2006-03-23T17:10:00.000Z

Today, globe's new album maniac was released! A double-disc album with one disc consisting of new songs and the second of previously unreleased material and some songs previously released as solo recordings.

Pre-orders should have been shipped out already, but in case you haven't ordered it yet, here are links to product info pages at CDJapan, YesAsia, Play-Asia and HMV Japan.

In case you're interested, the album entered the Oricon daily album chart in seventh place.

Edit: This isn't really news, so I'm just tagging it on here: I put up a forum thread asking where you ordered/got the maniac-album, feel free to post there! (And if you haven't checked out the forum yet, this is a good time to do so.)

Loose ends

2006-03-21T13:32:00.000Z

Just a couple of things I missed earlier...

1) The PV clip that was embedded in the Flash on the official globe site has been switched to an album CM;
and
2) if you want to download the Kirei CM that Soldier was used in, here's a direct link to the Flash file.

Samples for all "maniac" songs available

2006-03-20T11:40:00.000Z

There are now samples available for all of the songs on maniac on the official globe site!

Disc 1
01. Soldier (Windows Media, Realmedia)
02. Please don't give up (Windows Media, Realmedia)
03. Why Why tell me Why (Windows Media, Realmedia)
04. from the beginning (Windows Media, Realmedia)
05. Appreciate (Windows Media, Realmedia)
06. orbit (Windows Media, Realmedia)
07. Tokyoという理由 (Tokyo toiu riyuu) (Windows Media, Realmedia)
08. Shine on you (Windows Media, Realmedia)
09. SIMPLOVE (Windows Media, Realmedia)
10. About Me (Windows Media, Realmedia)

Disc 2
01. Judgement (Band Version) / globe (Windows Media, Realmedia)
02. LOST (Band Version) / globe (Windows Media, Realmedia)
03. to solid snake / TETSUYA KOMURO (Windows Media, Realmedia)
04. maunalua bay / TETSUYA KOMURO (Windows Media, Realmedia)
05. cosmic dream (Short Edit) / 245 (Windows Media, Realmedia)
06. 1000Lights (French Version) / 245 (Windows Media, Realmedia)
07. Reason (LA Updated Mix) / keiko (Windows Media, Realmedia)
08. HUMANRACE / keiko (Windows Media, Realmedia)
09. 海との友情 (Umi to no Yuujou)/ keiko (Windows Media, Realmedia)
10. be true / Cyber X feat.keiko (Windows Media, Realmedia)

If there's anyone still uncertain of whether they're going to get the album, this might help you decide.

globe interview and KEIKOxSLY part 2

2006-03-17T15:46:00.000Z

There's a short interview/Q&A with globe here, it's in Japanese, but if it doesn't include too many difficult words/grammar I might try translating it later.

Part 2 of the Keiko/Sly collaboration article is also available. No video from it yet, it says it will be up March 23.

"Kirei" CM featuring Soldier

2006-03-16T23:14:00.000Z

You can check out the CM that globe's Soldier is featured in on the web; go to http://www.kao.co.jp/8x4/kirei/ and when it's loaded, press the "TV-CM" button on the bar at the top.

New samples on official globe site

2006-03-15T15:20:00.000Z

Thanks to navitatl for the heads-up on this!

There are now also samples up for Shine on you (WMA, RealAudio) and Reason (LA Updated Mix) (WMA, RealAudio) on the official globe site.

globe - then and now (TK Dance Camp & A-Nation)

2006-03-14T00:20:00.000Z

I watched globe's first performance from the TK Dance Camp again recently, and I think it's interesting how many parallells you can draw between globe at TK Dance Camp and globe at A-Nation '05: both appearing alongside other artists, both around the time of the releases of globe and globe2 respectively... both times performing Feel Like Dance with fireworks/pyrotechnics, both times wearing white(-ish) clothing.

1995:
2005:
1995:
2005:

Final tracklist for "maniac"

2006-03-08T09:54:00.000Z

A quick update before I leave for school... From the official globe site:
Disc 1
01. Soldier
02. Please don't give up
03. Why Why tell me Why
04. from the beginning
05. Appreciate
06. orbit
07. Tokyoという理由 (Tokyo toiu riyuu)
08. Shine on you
09. SIMPLOVE
10. About Me

Disc 2
01. Judgement (Band Version) / globe
02. LOST (Band Version) / globe
03. to solid snake / TETSUYA KOMURO
04. maunalua bay / TETSUYA KOMURO
05. cosmic dream (Short Edit) / 245
06. 1000Lights (French Version) / 245
07. Reason (LA Updated Mix) / keiko
08. HUMANRACE / keiko
09. 海との友情 (Umi to no Yuujou)/ keiko
10. be true / Cyber X feat.keiko

"Soldier" sample

2006-03-07T16:41:00.000Z

Thanks to a posting on 2chan, here's a 30 second sample of "Soldier". I wasn't 100% sure before, but that made it clear that the PV clip on the official globe site is also "Soldier".

I uploaded the 30 second sample to Yousendit in case you want to download it.

Of course this raises some questions about the audio file circulated earlier that was known as "Soldier -P902i version-"... Can anyone hear any similarity between the two?

Monthly Media: March

2006-03-05T01:02:00.000Z

For this month's media, I've got globe's performance of wanna Be A Dreammaker from the 49th Kouhaku Utagassen, the NHK-organized New Year's music show.

This file is taken from one of the torrents with Kouhaku performances at the Jpopsuki tracker, by the way, so if you've downloaded that you already have this performance.

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

Bigger album cover

2006-03-01T15:27:00.000Z

From HMV's product info page comes a bit larger version of the album cover.

Album cover, info & Happy Birthday to Marc

2006-02-27T11:11:00.000Z

The official globe site has been updated to show the new album cover and a bit more info on the new album.

According to the official site, the new album would have new original material on the first disc, and on the second disc are "band versions" of (some of) the songs from globe2 and some tracks that the members released separately and previously unpublished songs. It also says that it's planned to be 10 songs on each CD, so that would be 20 songs, all in all.

I would also like to wish a Happy Birthday to Marc Panther, who is 36 today!

New album title: "maniac"?

2006-02-24T19:35:00.000Z

Via 2chan comes word that a number of online retailers have the new globe album titled as "maniac", including the Shinseido shopping site, 7andY and Jbook. With yesterday being exactly one month until the release, we should be seeing an official announcement soon.

Keiko collaborating on handbag design

2006-02-24T19:34:00.000Z

It seems as if Keiko is collaborating with (fashion company?) Sly on making a new handbag, or "shoulderbag" as it's called in the article.

Not something I'd usually report on, but there's a nice video from the meeting at the bottom of the page!

TK compilation story at Sanspo.com

2006-02-19T12:19:00.000Z

There's a short bit about the upcoming TK compilations at Sanspo.com. All in Japanese, though there's a small pic of TK.

Maybe I'll even try translating it later, depending on how difficult the text is.

Update: Here's the translation, thogh I must remind you that I'm not that proficient in Japanese yet, I know the very basics, but for the most part I used WWWJDIC.

Million hits on million hits! Tetsuya Komuro to release 2 x double-disc compilation CD

The producer who ruled the 1990, Tetsuya Komuro (pictured) is to release two separate double-disc compilations on February 22. The CDs are published respectively by Sony and Avex.

As a songwriter [ed. note: writing for others, presumably] he got his break with the song "My Revolution" for Misato Watanabe, released 20 years ago. With total CD sales of 107,000,000, 52 songs have been chosen from Komuro's many famous tunes.

On the Sony release "The Greatest Hits - Tetsuya Komuro works S" is included, among others, Tomomi Kahara's "I'm proud" and "Wow war tonight" by the duet he did with Downtown's Masashi Hamada. With the Avex release ""The Greatest Hits - Tetsuya Komuro works a" including, among others, the 1997 record award winning song "Can You Celebrate" by Namie Amuro, "Itoshisa to setsunasa to kokoro tsuyosa to" by Ryoko Shinohara, it's truly hits upon hits.

TK special site "Greatest Hits"-info

2006-02-16T21:10:00.000Z

There some info about the upcoming Greatest Hits-collections at the TK special site. Album covers, tracklists (with a few samples available) and also images from the singles and albums that the songs are taken from (here's links to those pages for the Avex and Sony releases)

New album confirmed & new song preview!

2006-02-13T22:32:00.000Z

The new album has now also been confirmed on the official globe site, date March 23. Still no word on title or tracklist...

Update: Missed this the first time around due to the browser displaying a cached version of the main page Flash-intro (had to reload a couple of times to get it to display), but there's also a video clip of a new song!

Forum poll: DJ TK = TK?

2006-02-11T21:24:00.000Z

Due to the doubtful opinions voiced in response to the posting about DJ TK, I've set up a poll in the forum.

What do people think? Is DJ TK really the TK we're familiar with?

New album delayed, single postponed

2006-02-11T15:15:00.000Z

CDJapan has changed the release date for the new, as of yet untitled, album, from March 15 to March 23. At least it isn't the month-long change that happened with globe2...

Furthermore, the "Soldier"-single has been listen as postponed...

DJ TK

2006-02-05T16:02:00.000Z

I'm a bit late in this since I assumed you had to pay for it, but looking closer it seems as if the tracks by DJ TK at this mf247 page are free downloads, in non-DRM'ed MP3 format. Cool!

More specifically, you might be interested in the track called If you like it or not, which seems to have vocals by Keiko (though it's credited to DJ TK featuring REC BOX).

Monthly Media: February

2006-02-05T11:57:00.000Z

Time for another monthly media. Another performance of Departures, this time from TK & Keiko's wedding. This is a pretty nice performance, with even TK getting a bit emotional in the talk preceding it.

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

TK Instrumental Works cover

2006-02-01T20:24:00.000Z

Tower Records have the cover for the TK Instrumental Works album due to be released February 22.

For those thinking of getting it (like me), here's links to it at CDJapan, YesAsia and Play-Asia.

Hopefully we'll also get more info about the Soldier single and the new album soon...

Two small things

2006-01-24T23:41:00.000Z

First is I've added the Komuro.tk TK & TRF fansite to the link-list (even though it's in Japanese).

Second, some might be interested in hearing that it seems like Keiko will be performing a cover/collaboration with TRF on their new album, singing "EZ Do Dance".

One more thing... I don't want anyone to read to much into this, but I saw a post on 2chan (yeah, not the most reliable source, I know) about some sort of globe tribute... Perhaps that's what will be on the second disc?

New TK best of collections tracklists

2006-01-19T18:51:00.000Z

Some of you might be interested in the tracklists for the "The Greatest Hits" and "TK Instrumental Works Selection" albums that are to be released February 22. The cover for "The Greatest Hits" has also been revealed on the official globe site.

Update: I was a bit mistaken earlier... I thought that it was just one double-disc album released in co-operation by Avex and Sony, but it appears as if there are two double-disc albums as Avex has put up the tracklist for their release. The lower-case 'a' after the title would then stand for 'Avex' and the 's' after the title on the Sony info page is for 'Sony'. I wondered a bit where 'Get Wild' was... You can't have a collection including TM Network without "wild tough"!

The Greatest Hits -a-
Disc 1
1. GOING GOING HOME - H Jungle with t
2. survival dAnce ~no no cry more~ - TRF
3. Feel Like dance - globe
4. GET WILD - TM NETWORK
5. BE TOGETHER - Suzuki Ami
6. Don't wanna cry - Amuro Namie
7. I BELIEVE - Kahara Tomomi
8. FACES PLACES - globe
9. BELIEVE - Watanabe Misato
10. a song is born - Hamasaki Ayumi & KEIKO
11. the meaning of peace - Koda Kumi & BoA
12. lovin'it - Amuro Namie & VERBAL
13. YOU ARE THE ON - TK PRESENTS

Disc 2
1. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? - Amuro Namie
2. by myself - hitomi
3. Sotsugyou - Watanabe Misato
4. DEPARTURES - globe
5. alone in my room - Suzuki Ami
6. Itoshisa to setsunasa to kokoro tsuyosa to - Shinohara Ryoko
7. DIVE INTO YOUR BODY - TM NETWORK
8. NO TITLIST* - Miyazawa Rie
9. JINGI- Aishite moraimasu - Nakayama Miho
10. Good Morning-Call - Koizuki Kyoko
11. happy wake up! - Mizuki Arisa
12. BOY MEETS GIRL - TRF
13. Missing You - BACKSTREET BOYS

*I don't know if this is correct, but that's what it said...

The Greatest Hits -S-
Disc 1:
1. LOVE TRAIN - TMN
2. Nagai yoru dakara - TRF
3. Can't Stop Fallin' in love - globe
4. Kanashii ne - Watanabe Misato
5. TOO SHY SHY BOY! - Mizuki Arisa
6. OVER ＆ OVER - TRUE KiSS DESTiNATiON
7. CANDY GIRL - hitomi
8. Body Feels EXIT - Amuro Namie
9. Dream Rush - Miyazawa Rie
10. RUNNING TO HORIZON - Komuro Tetsuya
11. LOVE IS ALL MUSIC (original mix) - Kahara Tomomi
12. Aibu - Nakamori Akina
13. SEVEN DAYS WAR - TMN

Disc 2:
1. I'm proud (Radio Edit) - Kahara Tomomi
2. My Revolution - Watanabe Misato
3. FACE - globe
4. Self Control - TM NETWORK
5. CRAZY GONNA CRAZY - TRF
6. WOW WAR TONIGHT - H Jungle With t
7. love the island - Suzuki Ami
8. Lady Generation (Original Mix) - Shinohara Ryoko
9. RHYTHM RED BEAT BLACK (VERSION 300000000000) - Denki Groove
10. Kimono Beat - Matsuda Seiko
11. 50/50 - Nakayama Miko
12. Night of The Knife - TMN
13. SWEET 19 BLUES - Amuro Namie

TK Instrumental Works Selection:
1. Mademoiselle Mozart theme - Mademoiselle Mozart soundtrack
2. Honoo - Ten to chi to soundtrack
3. WINNERS - Seven Days War soundtrack
4. South Beach Walk - TK solo album Hit Factory
5. Pure - Hatachi no yakusoku soundtrack
6. genesis of next (orchestra version) - globe
7. D's theme - Vampire Hunter D soundtrack
8. T meditation - w/ Mr. Maric
9. Cyborg 009 love theme - Cyborg 009 soundtrack
10. Uchuu - Ten to chi to soundtrack
11. Love 〜Sonata for Piano No.11 K.331〜Love - Mademoiselle Mozart soundtrack
12. WINTER DANCE - TK solo album Digitalian is eating breakfast
13. Yuki's Song - Hatachi no yakusoku soundtrack

Personally I'm really interested in the instrumental album. There are a lot of songs there that I haven't heard yet...

TK signed keytar

2006-01-18T22:11:00.000Z

Not directly globe-related, but there was a link to a really cool Yahoo auction at the Global Relation BBS, namely a signed portable keyboard used by TK when he played with TM Network!

Update: Found the CD where I had saved the original images from the auction info, so since the auction itself is closed and gone I thought I'd up them too for everyone to see.

Man, that would be cool to have!

Webradio: "TK Streaming"

2006-01-17T22:03:00.000Z

Thought you might be interested in this little thing I found: a shoutcast server playing only TK music. There's a cap of 20 listeners, but you should be able to listen pretty easily if you live in a timezone that's is different enough from Japan. Get your MP3-player and load up this url: http://tkstreaming.mydns.jp:8000/.

CDJapan with new single/album descriptions

2006-01-16T16:46:00.000Z

I was checking out CDJapan just now, and noticed something confusing. First, they have updated the description for Soldier to read "[n]ew wintery single from globe kicks off her eleventh year in the music industry. This time around it's a ballad". A ballad? That doesn't really sound like the audio clip ciculated earlier...
Update: I checked out the single info at Tower Records and found that it's Soldier c/w a ballad song. Sorry for the confusion, everyone.

Second, I noticed that they've removed the new album from the listing, which piqued my interest. Invesigating further at Tower Records, I noticed that they have two different new albums listed, one AVCG-70063 (the one removed from CDJapan listing), and one a new AVCG-70066... Putting the product code into the CDJapan url got me to the new product info page, where it's specified it will be a double-disc release!
Update: TW have now also removed AVCG-70063 from their listings.

If the new album is a double-disc release, what could be on the second disc?

globe on Youtube

2006-01-15T13:38:00.000Z

Not really news, but there's a clip of globe performing Can't Stop Fallin' in Love at the '96 Kouhaku at Youtube. You don't come across many of the older globe performances that often, so check it out.

New album & single at CDJapan

2006-01-12T15:07:00.000Z

CDJapan now also have info pages up for the album and "Soldier" single. If you've already decided to pre-order them, CDJapan is a good place to buy from. They also have the limited low-price edition of Best Live 1995-2002 if you want to really get wild (heh).

globe Best Live 95-02 low-price

2006-01-11T17:09:00.000Z

Seems like March will also see a limited time low-price release of the double-disc globe the best live 1995-2002 according to Tower Records, 3,500¥ (30 USD, 25€). Neat if you want R2 discs, otherwise you're just as well off getting the overseas version.

HMV: New album - live album?

2006-01-10T11:34:00.000Z

HMV has put up a small info tid-bit, and it implies that the new album would be a live album with songs from globe2.

Hmm... Certainly cools off my expectations a bit, but hopefully they will be different enough from the album versions that it will warrant a purchase. (Though I still would've wanted a full original album...)

Anyway, Tower Records have also product pages up for the single and the album.

HMV album & single product pages

2006-01-09T23:50:00.000Z

HMV Japan have now product info pages up for the "Soldier" single and the upcoming album, though as of yet there is no real "information" there.

Breaking news: New album in March?!

2006-01-07T01:11:00.000Z

Hot off the presses! Ok, not quite, but hot from Global Relation BBS!

According to webstore Symiya Mediamax, a new single, "Soldier" (AVCG-71038) is scheduled for March 1, with an album (AVCG-70063) March 15!

Perhaps a bit close to each other, but I'm glad there's a date set for it. (Though I guess there's a small risk that, like globe2, it will be delayed. Not saying it will, but you should never say never.)

Monthly Media: January

2005-12-31T19:16:00.000Z

A bit early, but since it's New Years eve and all... For those not doing anything this evening, here's the ending from the GVD ep. 9 showing a bit from the Christmas live and TK's and Keiko's New Years party.

Compressed with Xvid & MP3.

Happy New Year!

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T10:44:00.000Z

I want to wish a Merry Christmas for all globe-fans around the, uh, globe... He.

That's about it apart from news at Komuro.Net about some sort of collaboration between TK and some people from the Yoshimoto talent agency... No idea really what it's about, if it's music or something else.

globe Winter Tracks

2005-12-22T12:19:00.000Z

An iTunes exclusive collection has popped up in the form of globe Winter Tracks. If you have iTunes installed, you can set the store to the Japanese one and press this link to check it out yourself and also listen to previews of the songs.

Edit: No new tracks on this album, thanks to navitatl for the correction.

Here's the tracklist:
01. DEPARTURES (ARRIVAL Version)
02. Can't Stop Fallin' in Love
03. can't stop PIANO SOLO
04. Wanderin' Destiny
05. Sa Yo Na Ra
06. like a snowy kiss
07. winter comes around again (TK Mix)
08. DON'T LOOK BACK
09. on the way to YOU
10. Many Classic Moments
11. Lights brought the future
12. INSPIRED FROM RED&BLUE
13. DREAMS OF CHRISTMAS feat.VERBAL [KEIKO]
14. CHRISTMAS CHORUS [KEIKO]
15. Reason [KEIKO]

A little globe on top of 90's collection

2005-12-20T21:39:00.000Z

Just a little tidbit I found on the BiGlobe Stream page, more precisely in the Avex Club TV section, where they have a feature on a 5-disc "best of the 90's" CD collection, and as you would expect, globe appears a bit in the clip.

If you have problems navigating, here's a direct link to the stream (Windows Media).

New adress for TKFans forum

2005-12-18T20:18:00.000Z

I wondered a bit where the Chinese TKFans forum had gone to, but it had just changed adress... Here's the new location.

Perhaps not that many from here that visit it since it's in Chinese, but sometimes some interesting stuff pops up there.

Relation DVD extras

2005-12-13T17:44:00.000Z

I made quite a chance discovery recently while looking around the Relation DVD with a ripping program. I found a small chapter that was way too short to include any significant video... I copied it to the harddrive and found that it was concept art and plans for the live performance!

Perhaps this is well-known already, but I didn't see any direct way of accessing it on the DVD (though there was one suspicious option, but that didn't seem to do anything), and I thought it was cool enough to share.

Here are first some storyboards:

Some wardrobe illustrations:

Scenes and scripts:

And some stage plans:

There was also some text describing the concept for the performace and the text from the short narrations that the three did. The text is pretty difficult to read (besides being in Japanese), but I'm trying to work out what it says. I've got two exams left before Christmas vacation and then I can really get to work on them!

Update: I've uploaded the original VOB file for those who are interested. The pictures might be slightly clearer than the pictures above since they haven't been re-compressed to JPEG...
Get it via Yousendit or Rapidshare.

New TK compilation album

2005-12-13T14:21:00.000Z

Via Global Relation BBS comes word of a new TK compilation album, to include songs written by him for various artists/groups, including globe, TM Network, TRF, Namie Amuro, Hitomi, Watanabe Misato and Shinohara Ryoko.

According to the info available, it's to be released February 22 next year.

Monthly Media: December

2005-12-04T16:16:00.000Z

Time for another monthly media! And for the last month of this year (December already, time flies!) we have a live performance of globe's "Departures" from TK Gateway live from December 31 1996. I've always seen "Departures" as a winter-like tune, so this should suit the season.

Download via Yousendit or Filefront.

Short A-Nation clip on Channel-a

2005-11-29T15:39:00.000Z

There's a short clip of globe's performance of "Feel Like Dance" on ep. 138 of Channel-a on the Avex Taiwan site. Though if you've already seen the A-Nation performace then there's nothing new here.

There's been some trouble with the video, if the link on the site doesn't work, try this direct link to the stream (Windows Media). It could be just a fluke that I could watch it, if you have problems, let me know and I'll upload the saved file to Yousendit.

Happy Birthday TK!

2005-11-27T13:20:00.000Z

Today is the birthday of all our favourite keyboardist and songmaker, Tetsuya Komuro!

Happy birthday TK!

"Soldier", longer version

2005-11-26T19:17:00.000Z

Thanks to TKeiko of the TKFans.com forum, I've gotten ahold of a longer version of the "Soldier" tune!

Get it from Yousendit or the original Rapidshare location where I got it from.

I know that globe's trance stuff isn't so popular with some of the fans, but I really like this tune!

globe in Kouhaku voting

2005-11-24T17:41:00.000Z

Some time ago there was a message on the official globe site about the favourite songs for Kouhaku, the end-of-the-year song spectacle by NHK. The results are out and globe made it onto the list with "Departures". (In the "red" section for some reason...)

Who wouldn't want to have globe performing there..?

In other news, it seems like Marc is participating in a commercial or something in the latest Marc TV. Perhaps the CM for the P902i?

"Soldier" confirmed

2005-11-18T11:31:00.000Z

A notice on the official site confirms most of what we already knew; "Soldier" is the new globe song bundled with the P902i cell-phone. Still no word on the single release, though...

globe book pictures

2005-11-13T20:52:00.000Z

I've been meaning to put up some pics from the globe book, but it took a while since I don't have a digital camera myself and had to wait until I could borrow my sisters.

I skipped the pages that were all text (since it was in Japanese anyway). Some images turned out worse than others, when the lighting was off and stuff. Sorry, not very experienced with cameras...

The fingers belong to my brother who helped me by holding it, so I wouldn't have to bend it open and risk damaging it. You can actually see him peeking out on the right on image 12.

Is this "Soldier"?

2005-11-11T20:56:00.000Z

I originally posted this in the forum since it's not confirmed yet, but since that's pretty low-traffic and I wanted more opinion on this thing...

I found this on the Japanese BBS 2chan (original post). It's a MP3 clip of a song, named "Soldier"...

Yousendit link.

It does sound a bit like it could be a Komuro-tune, but what do you think? The real thing or just a fake?