Pre-orders probably up closer to the date.
I wish she'd recognize she has fans worldwide now. The vinyl isn't just for fans in Japan.
Few problems with this statement:
1. She does recognise her worldwide fans! Her official webstore ships worldwide and accepts international payment via PayPal. http://ichikoaoba.theshop.jp/ Plus she frequently posts updates in English for the benefit of international fans.
2. The majority of Japanese artists/stores don't ship worldwide. It's just the state of the industry. However, quite a few stores that stock her music such as Amazon Japan and HMV Japan do indeed ship worldwide.
3. If you're talking about the lack of international distribution (i.e. stores outside of Japan that stock her vinyl), that's a whole different story and it requires a lot of work on both her part as well as international distributors who might not be interested in stocking her products anyway (especially now that she's on her own independent label and doesn't have the infrastructure she used to when she was on Speedstar/VAP). It's like that thing where people are always complaining "why isn't this Japanese artist available on streaming platforms outside of Japan?", the answer being that it would be a lot of work for their label to get the licensing arrangements in order to make that happen, and the label has other priorities / isn't sure how profitable it would be to do so anyway.
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Album Rating: 3.9
yeah tbh, as far as Japanese artists with cult international fandoms go, Ichiko goes p far out of her way to tour and otherwise cater to overseas audiences. not quite the same ballpark as someone like Haru Nemuri or Melt-Banana, but she also has a much stronger domestic platform to maintain than those folks
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Dude this a 4 wtf...
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she also has a much stronger domestic platform to maintain than those folks
This is true of most Japanese artists imo. It's something that much of the Western audience doesn't understand, I think, cuz people are always asking "why don't these Japanese artists tour internationally?". A lot of Japanese artists have really strong followings at home and it's usually far more beneficial for them to focus their efforts on that domestic audience than trying to cater to audiences in other countries where Japanese music is barely known and the chance of them breaking there is much smaller. Think about it: if you're guaranteed to make a lot more money and attract way more fans by just playing shows and selling records/merch locally, you're probably going to take that path over putting in tons of hard work and much higher expenditure to a) book international shows and play to what will likely be much smaller audiences than you'd get back home and b) organise international distribution when the potential profit on that is unknown or negligible. Remember also that Japan has the second biggest music market in the world, and that's propelled in large part by the continued interest of Japanese consumers in purchasing physical media, so a big Japanese audience will definitely translate to more profit (via physical sales) than an equally big Western audience (who mostly just stream).
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Album Rating: 4.5
@dimsim, yeah I was referring more to #3, distribution. I should have been more clear about that. I agree with the other points you all made regarding overseas touring, and communication to international fans.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Surprisingly I haven't found this in local music stores out here in Japan... I'll continue my search though, as I'm sure I'll find it soon enough. I was, however, able to find 3 Sheena Ringo albums so far, as well as a few X Japan albums! :]
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I'd be surprised if you couldn't find it at one of the big chain stores like Tower or HMV. When I was there I had to ask one of the clerks for help cuz I couldn't quite figure out how the store was organised and where to locate certain artists.
Should definitely be able to find some of her other releases at least, especially since her first four albums just came out on vinyl.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Yeah, as I said, I'll keep checking around. Japanese music stores definitely have their artists arranged much differently than in the US... I'm still trying to find Lily Chou-Chou's album Breathe as well. I will say that I haven't had any trouble finding anything Ghibli related, but I feel like that should go without saying, lol
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sexy album please marry bhabhi very sex
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Album Rating: 3.9
reported
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Album Rating: 4.5
I’m floaaattiiiiiinnng
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reddit AMA was pretty good http://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/ma82yv/ama_ichiko_aoba/
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Sweet ❤
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Album Rating: 4.5
So which one of you asked that Sputnik question? Haha
I'm assuming someone was typing the answers for her for that AMA. I messaged her directly on IG before, and she replied back to my English with Japanese. That Windswept Adan vinyl is going to become like Mahoroboshiya - guaranteed. Make sure anyone that wants one preorders it!
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Album Rating: 4.0
oh shit is the preorder live?!
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nope
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Album Rating: 4.0
is there any word on when maybe?
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I hate how many thousands of dollars I had to spend on headphones in order to hear this album in all its splendor. I sensed from the first spin there's a muffled veil to this that only electrostatic headphones can pierce through. Now that I'm there, it was well worth it... absolutely divine.
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how many points you estimate this album loses by using normal headphones @vaselineOOO?
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Let's start with my dynamic headphones. I'd say the sound quality/music enjoyment on my main headphones, Focal Elex, is at 70% of its real potential. On my Sennheiser HD560s and HD6XX everything is good sound quality-wise but extremely crammed and a bit muddy and lost, probably 40% of the album's potential (that's why I recommend everyone to stop wasting their time with this company - including myself lol).
To my surprise, this sounds better on cheap planar magnetic headphones than dynamics. My Hifiman HE400i version 2020 really slices through the more complex sections of the album like a knife through butter here - a 70%, equal to the much pricier Focal Elex. While my Hifiman Sundara reaches a whopping 80% of the album's potential, which is crazy for the price, but then again they're widely considered the best headphone in the world when taking their price/performance ratio into consideration.
On my brand new Stax SRS-3100, which are my first electrostatic headphones, the sound quality and presentation finally catch up to the album - a 100%. The detail and soul in her voice and the instruments are really something else, it feels like being there in the studio, and more...
However, there is a way to fully experience this at a lower price by listening to it on hi-fi speakers. On my Fyne Audio F302 speakers this album sounds quite epic and so natural, and still awesome on my Wharfedale Diamond 220, which are like 150 usd.
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