Everything Λucifer / Aucifer / Lucifer / リュシフェル

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

After 3 years of silence (other than doing some small gigs), Yuki and his band Rayflower will be releasing their second mini-album titled Narcissus on 2014.02.19. The album will include 6 songs, with the one of them called “Libra”. It will cost 2,000 yen (around $20 US). Stay tuned for updates.

And I can tell that they are quite happy with the announcement too. Watch them announce the album with beaming faces here.

Λucifer have finished their second show of 2012 and have thus entered their “frozen” status yet again. Before I say anything, let me get the bad news out of the way: Makoto has apparently stated on Twitter that the concert this time around will not be released on DVD and, indeed, video cameras were not present at the venue yesterday according to fan reports.

But, on to more positive things. Here are the songs they played last night at the Shibuya O-EAST:

1. LEGEND
2. Datenshi BLUE
3. PLASMAGIC
4. Sekai de Ichiban Kirei na Mono
5. C no Binetsu
6. Silent Melody
7. DUMMY
8. JUNK CITY

Kaikan Phrase screening + talk show (with Mayu Shinjo!)

9. ELEMENTS
10. Jealousy
11. CARNATION CRIME
12. TOKYO Illusion
13. TSUBASA
14. Kono Te no Naka ni
15. Shooting　Star
16. Egovision
17. Poker Face
18. LUCY
19. Midnight Crow
20. Time Machine wa Iranai

Encore ①
21. CASTAWAYS
22. See You

Encore ②
23. Datenshi BLUE

The setlist to this three-hour show was largely similar to yesterday’s, although with a couple of changes: they replaced LOVE & PAIN and Regret with Kono Te no Naka ni and Shooting Star, respectively. Also in attendance was Kaikan Phrase creator Mayu Shinjo who took part in the mid-set “talk show”. Fans were also served some nostalgia through the screening of PV’s of select songs as they were playing them on stage (C no Binetsu, JUNK CITY, TOKYO Illusion, LUCY, Datenshi BLUE). The show ended with Λucifer’s (and the audience’s) usual jump with linked hands.

The general consensus among fans seems to be that it was a fantastic show and — seeing as how well they were received — it can’t be long until Λucifer un-freezes (melts?!) again.

Here’s some picspam. The first one is special as it features Santa, Yukinojo Mori, Makoto, Mayu Shinjo and Shinya from DIR EN GREY.

Some twitter comments from fans:

@yun221: I’m glad I got to know everyone in Λucifer! Thank you for creating such lovely songs. (>_<) Λucifer is the most loved and the most important band of my entire life. I’ll be looking forward to the next reunion!

@kayo224: Λucifer’s show was realllly fun. (*´∀｀*) Though I thought I wouldn’t remember anything but Datenshi BLUE (laughs), it all came back to me～. Good work on the show. Getting to hear again all the songs I liked in my junior high school days, it was a really happy two days for me. ♪ I have faith that there’s going to be a next time, so I’ll look forward to it!

@hisuiiro: Good work! Today’s show was the best. I was really happy to see the two guitarists playing twin guitar leads after such a long time. As I thought, I realized my love for Λucifer anew. vv

@jda0519totoro: Ah, I love Λucifer too much. I wonder what it is with them… I thought that maybe my feelings would’ve cooled down already, but like I thought, I still love them. I just love those five. That’s what I was thinking as I was watching their show. They will forever remain an important and loved band of mine. I’m glad I got to know Λucifer.

And finally, the post-show thoughts from the band:

Towa: Λucifer’s show is over! Thank you very much! It was fun! See you again!?

Yuki: The two days of Λucifer live have ended safely. ヾ(^▽^)ノ To everyone who came, thank you! Today we even got Shinjo-sensei to come as well, so it was more “Kaikan Phrase” than ever! See you later, Λucifer. (*^_^*)

Santa: Our shows yesterday and the day before… to those of you who came or watched us on the net! To those of you who unfortunately couldn’t make it! Thank you very much!

Atsuro: I’m home～☆ I have to get up early for rehearsal tomorrow so I couldn’t attend the afterparty. (>_<) I wanted to drink with everyone… Nevertheless, it was a very happy two days. I won’t forget everyone’s smiles. Thank you!!! I’m so happy I decided to work as a newspaper boy in junior high school in order buy a guitar… and I’m so happy I met Λucifer. ☆

Makoto: The last day for Λucifer is over! Thank you for all the many wonderful memories. (^-^)/ We’ll still, still, still be back. ♪ Λucifer is the best. ♪ Thank you for the many letters and presents this time, too! ♥ Last night, Yukinojo Mori-san complimented me by saying I’d become a proper adult. ♪ He also complimented my singing. ♪ I’ll do my best. ♪ These two days passed by so suddenly, I feel a little sad. （ ; ; ） Λucifer’s reunion shows this time around, too, seemed well-received. ♪ But it was so fun, I even dreamt of it later! Us in Λucifer, we swear to reunite again as we set onto our differing journeys. After we’ve each respectively grown as artists, we’ll definitely be back again, so when the time comes, we’ll be asking for your support. (^_−)−☆ Off to new adventures… Λ

Until next time…

Λucifer has finished their first show since Bangkok on 2010/09/25! Here’s some bits and pieces of information from the first of their two-night reunion. First things first: here is the long-awaited setlist from Shibuya, February 28th of 2012!

1. LEGEND
2. Datenshi BLUE
3. PLASMAGIC
4. Sekai de Ichiban Kirei na Mono
5. C no Binetsu
6. Silent Melody
7. DUMMY
8. JUNK CITY

Kaikan Phrase screening + talk show

9. ELEMENTS
10. Jealousy
11. CARNATION CRIME
12. TOKYO Illusion
13. TSUBASA
14. LOVE & PAIN
15. Regret
16. Egovision
17. Poker Face
18. LUCY
19. Midnight Crow
20. Time Machine wa Iranai

Encore 1
21. Orange
22. See You

Encore 2
23. Datenshi BLUE

Before the show, Λucifer received a bunch of flowers.

From Mayu Shinjo, creator of Kaikan Phrase.

From Yukinojo Mori, who wrote lyrics to the majority of Λucifer’s songs.

From Acid Black Cherry.

From Hiroshi Tamaki, badass actor and friend of Makoto.

Some thoughts from the band:

Makoto: Before I knew it, today’s the last day for Λucifer! With the power I received from you all yesterday, I’ll give it all I’ve got today!! We’re hoping for your support!!!

Towa: Just like that, the first day of Λucifer’s live is over in the blink of an eye! Thanks to everyone who came! Thanks so much for all the presents, too! I’ll see you tomorrow!

Atsuro: Thanks for today, everyone! We had a really special time. ☆ I got in such high spirits, I forgot all about us having another show tomorrow. Λucifer will go on to become an even better band! Today was a really good day. ☆ Music is really wonderful! I have to work harder… With that, good night～☆  Oh, and Yukinojo Mori came to see us today as well. I was happy when he praised us after our performance. ☆ Also, the lyricist Aki Hata came to see us, too～!! Realizing that he was watching me not as the Daichan-me but the ATSURO-me made me really embarrassed. (>_<) As I’m thinking we have a show tomorrow, too, I’m having a hard time falling asleep…

Yuki: The first day ofΛucifer’s live is over. ヾ(^▽^)ノ With the nostalgic footage and all, it was fun! Thank you very much. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as well!

Santa: After doing my stretches and taking a bath, I’m just toasting here by myself. (laughs) Going “ah man, I really went for it today～” while taking off my clothes off my sweaty body… I noticed I’d come back wearing someone else’s T-shirt. (strained laugh) Who’s is this black T-shirt? (laughs) And as I was going “oh shit, it’s the earthquake alert～” and getting mentally prepared for it…… I realized I was wearing nothing but underwear. I’m glad the earthquake never came. (laughs)

Some fan reactions:

@sallieday: It was realllly fun～!! I’m so glad I went!! It was all songs I love and the MC’s were so funny, I just laughed and laughed. ♪ Thank you for an enjoyable time. ☆ Good work. ＼(*^-^*)／

@a1y2a1n8o: The show was really fun. ♪ I was really moved that I got to meet everyone from Λucifer again. ♪ Thank you very much! I bought all the goods, too. ♪ I can’t attend tomorrow because of work, so I’ll be looking forward to your next show. ♪

@mihox1127: Good work! It was so fun. I want you to do another reunion soon. (:_;) I got more friends at the last show, too, and it’s all thanks to Λucifer. (:_;)

@chiezou_63: Good work on the first day. I would’ve never thought I’d get to see you from front row, so I was happy. I’ll be acting riotous at the back tomorrow. (≧∇≦*) Λucifer ♥

@gorochan23: Good work on the first day! This was my first time seeing the five of you together, so I was already crying aloud during the first song. I’ll be attending on the second day, too!

@amaihachimi2: Today’s show was really, really fun. (*´ー｀*) Thank you very much for the happy time!! I’ll be taking the night bus back to Nara now, but I’ll be soaking in the reverberations of the show all the way back home. (*^^*)

Finally, some pics from before the show:

One more show to go!

Makoto and Atsuro went down to the studio for the vocal recordings of Aucifer’s new song today. Here are their translated tweets from in-studio.

• Makoto: We’re recording vocals for Λucifer’s new song today.
• M: Preparations done. I’m heading out now!
• M: I’ll go and have something to eat before recording starts ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
• M: Tekkadonburi injection.
• M: I left a little bit ahead of time so I’m just slowly walking towards the studio through my hometown of Shibuya ＼(^-^)／
• M: I’ve arrived at the studio!
• Atsuro: The weather’s too nice☆ I’ll be at the studio before long～!
• A: The studio’s so spacious considering we’re just here to record vocals!

• M: By the way, it’s the same studio we used back in the days with Λucifer (^_−)−☆
• A: Getting excited by the spaciousness of the studio ♪
  • M: Time to sing!

• A: Two-shot! We’re so deep into our discussion, we can’t seem to get started with recording. (lol)
  • M: ＼(^o^)／
    • Yuki: Do your best～(*^_^*) Sorry I couldn’t come～(*_*)
      • M: (^_−)−☆

• A: We’ve started～☆

• A: Making good progress ☆

• A: Makoto’s Gackt-impression kind of resembles him…
• M: Doing good!
• M: Getting started on chorus vocals soon…
• A: Checking～☆

• M: The main vocals are done! Now for the chorus (^_−)−☆
• A: Started recording the chorus vocals!

• A: I’m in charge of vocal direction while we’re recording. This willingness on Makoto’s part sure makes him seem like a completely different person from before…
• M: The vocal recordings are done *･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)’･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
• M: All parts for Λucifer’s songs are now done! Only the TD check left (^_−)−☆
  • Fan: Good work～. Your vocals are getting better, too, right! That’s great (^3^)/
    • M: Atsuro praised my vocals! I was happy with them myself, too.
• M: (To Yuki:) We’re done with the vocals!
• A: We’re done～! That was fast ＼(^o^)／ Good work～!
  • M: (^_−)−☆
• M: Just listened to Λucifer’s new song with loud volume and it’s great! Look forward to it (^_−)−☆
• A: Good job to engineer Kataoka as well! Looking forward to the TD ☆
  • Makoto: We’re done!

• A: With Λucifer, it’s gotta be ramen, so we’re celebrating by having just that with Makoto!
  • M: Was delicious!

• A: I’m home～! We recorded some good vocals today (^ ^) Definitely do look forward to the first new song from Λucifer in 9 years, please. I have to get up early tomorrow for other work, so good night everyone～☆
• M: To be honest, I came close to tears during the final check at today’s recording. (lol) I was able to resist though… I was really happy ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
• M: I want to share this memory with everyone soon… please wait just a little more, yeah? (^_−)−☆
• Fan: Datenshi BLUE or the new song, which is better?
  • M: It’s a tie.

Λucifer have now begun the recording work for their new song. Also, the title of their new song revealed…?! Here’s some translated studio reports from twitter and blogs, collected here in (approximately) the order they were posted.

Makoto:

• Today’s our long-awaited day of recording!
• Λucifer are recording their new song for that project today!! About to begin recording NOW (^O^)

• The members, busy playing.

• Cool!

• Atsuro-sensei of Λucifer.

• First self-shot in a while.

• I have a feeling it’s going to be a well-liked song…

• Towa (^O^)

• Santa (^O^)

• Atsuro (^O^)

• YUKI (^O^)

• (To Mayu Shinjo:) I think it’s going to be a good one～! (^O^)
  • Mayu: Ooooohh!!! I’m looking forward to it so much～～～!!
    • Please do. (^O^)
• We’re just about to do the first take of Λucifer’s new song. Here’s to hoping it’ll be a good one (^_-)-☆ You guys wanna give it a go after a while? Datenshi～?!
• Polishing it up some more.

• Recording as Λucifer is a strange feeling… it’s like we got on a time machine or something…

• Yuki: Λucifer’s recording today! The song’s going to be included on the “Kaikan Phrase” DVD! (sic) It’s been way too long since the 5 of us recorded together. (^o^) I’m lost for words (*^_^*) It’s fun!
  • Mayu: Thanks so much for everything! Mom’s in tears here! (ノ◇≦。)

• Santa: We’re in studio with Λucifer, recording a new song that’s to be included on the first press limited edition “Kaikan Phrase” CD going on sale 10/26!

Makoto:

• Our work continues…

• We’re steadily nearing the end… Time for lunch in a minute…
• Having katsudon with all of Λucifer.

• Look delicious?

Towa’s blog entry:

Recording!

We’re recording Λucifer’s new song today!

This time around, we’re just recording one song for Mayu Shinjo’s first press limited edition “Kaikan Phrase” CD, going on sale 10/26. Everyone’s gathered here just to do that. It’s been a long time, but we’re proceeding nicely.

For more details,
URL http://mayutan.com/kaikan/ (or if English is your thing, here)

Later～

• Makoto: Λucifer has returned to recording after lunch!

• Atsuro: The recordings for Λucifer are going great～☆ We’re going with a song written by me this time!

  

  • Mayu: Ooh! I can’t wait to hear it!! (≧∇≦)
    • Santa: You’re not coming over today?
    • Makoto: You’re not coming?
      • Mayu: I’m still at work! (つД｀)
        • Santa: Just come and work here (lol)
          • Mayu: Working while listening to Λucifer’s songs, that’s way too luxurious!!
            • Santa: (lol) Actually, stop tweeting while you work! (lol)
              • Makoto: That goes for us, too (lol)
                • Mayu: Huh? Are you waiting for your turn, or?
                  • Makoto: I’m just busy getting excited! Okay, yeah, I’m waiting. (lol)
              • Mayu: ￣ｍ￣ Fufu. Me, I’m a fast typer so it’s fine… I am doing my work properly!!
                • Santa: Well that’s good to hear (￣∀￣) (lol) Fight!

Makoto:

• Towa, keeping record.

• So it’s been 9 years since Λucifer last recorded, huh…
• YUKI’s doing his best with his guitar solo!

• The title of Λucifer’s new song: “Uni” (Sea urchin) (lol)
  • Santa: Absolutely 1000% not (;_;) (lol)
• The title of Λucifer’s new song: “Datenshi CRIME no Binetsu“
• The title of Λucifer’s new song: “Midnight Illusion no Hoka ni Nani ga Dekirun darou?“
• Next up, Atsuro’s doing his best!

• Towa, Santa and YUKI are all done with their parts. Atsuro’s recording acoustic guitar next. Me? I’m just in charge of demo vocals and twitter today. (lol)
• Good evening! This is Makoto of Λucifer (for a short while) (^_-)-☆

• Yuki: Finished recording my guitar solo without incident. (*^_^*) Ah man～ I went and played a pretty cool one again. (lol) With this, my parts are all done. (^-^)v
  • Makoto: Good work (^O^)

• Makoto: The Λucifer song is 90 percent done! Once we’ve laid down the acoustic guitar parts, it’s 99% done. Finally, once I’ve recorded my vocals, it’s 120% done!!

• Atsuro: Today’s Makocchan! Going to record the acoustic guitar parts now～☆

Makoto:

• Atsuro’s acoustic guitar recordings have started!
• It seems Towa’s gonna start up twitter as well… (lol) Oh, this is off-topic, but we were talking about suntans just now and Towa showed me his ass to demonstrate how white it is.
• We’ll be done with the instrumental parts shortly! Thanks for the tweets of encouragement (o^-‘)b

• Atsuro: I’m done. We’re now waiting for the rough mix. Here’s a precious picture of Yuki-chan playing my acoustic☆

  

  • Yuki: Thanks for letting me try it out! It has a good sound! Now I want one for myself (^-^)v

Makoto:

• Λucifer instrumental parts now done!
• And that’s it for today! On my way home now (^O^) Tomorrow it’s photography time for Λucifer!!

ABC’s second single “Black Cherry” has won a poll for the song with “lyrics that are too sexy.”

From tokyohive (see link for the full top 10):

Mobile site JOYSOUND recently conducted a poll asking its users what song they thought contained lyrics that are too sexy.

Coming in first place is Acid Black Cherry’s “Black Cherry“, thanks to its  provocative lyrics expressing a woman’s desires. Voters commented, “When I heard sexy, this was the only song I could think of. Or rather… it’s completely erotic!” and “From a woman’s point of view, I can really sympathize with the lyrics. It’s a very painful song.”

If you take a look at the lyrics, it’s not all that difficult to see just why it won first place. Here’s a selection of an English translation, courtesy of JpopAsia:

Don’t stop, kiss me! I can’t be apart from you…
Don’t stop, kiss me! But, I can’t forgive you…
Ah~ Come inside me!
Black Cherry… make love to me, give yourself to me
Leave your seed inside of me!
It’s all right if you don’t love me… since I don’t love you
Make me wretched like this!
Black Cherry, give it to me…
Black Cherry, give me more…

Yasu sure didn’t bother much with metaphors in that one!

Acid Black Cherry are going to release a new single on September 21st. The single is called “Pistol”, and will include a B-side called “Ai wo Kataru Yori Kuchizuke wo Kawasou”, a cover from WANDS’ 1993 hit song, and the limited edition will come with a DVD containing the PV of the title track and a special 15 minutes off-shot. More info including the single’s cover to be unveiled soon.

The band will also perform a free live show on July 23rd as a part of their ABC Dream CUP 2011 tour. Only 40,000 people will be allowed to attend the show, while others can watch it live from USTREAM and GyaO!. The show starts at 16:00 local time, check your world clock for time in your area.