January 27th is a big day for Japanese pop and rock, as well as for fans. The street date sees 11 different artists releasing new music onto the market. And that’s just the albums I know about, there could be more! Great veterans like L’Arc~en~Ciel and GLAY return with new singles. Meanwhile, upbeat rockers newcomers SuG, and abingdon boys school are just a few of the major players putting their albums out this Wednesday. Click “More” to see what other artist are part of this week’s J-Rock/J-Pop releases.

New single titled “Bless” from legendary rockers L’Arc~en~Ciel will hit the streets this week. The song happens to be the theme for the NHK Vancouver 2010 Olympics. The single will also include material from the band’s “side project” PUNK-EN-CIEL as well as an orchestral version of the title track. A DVD (Region 2) is also included with the limited edition, featuring the “Bless” promotional music video, which you can watch below.

Alternative rock sophomores, abingdon boys school, return for their second full album release titled “Abingdon Road.” The album will contain all 5 previously released singles and 6 new tracks, one of which is “Sweetest Coma Again,” an unofficially released piece every abs fans is already familiar with. A DVD is also included, containing footage from their appearance at Inazuma Rock Fest last September. I’m surprised the DVD doesn’t include material from their extensive European tour as well. On the other hand, they did include the European footage in their latest video for “From Dusk Til Dawn” which you can watch here:


Dong Bang Shin Ki (Tohoshinki), the international pop stars who have obscured national borders, bring a new single called “Break Out!” to the table. Fans will love this intense tune, coupled with the dark video, that’s sure to be a club hit. It looks like I’ll be learning the dance moves to this, in accordance with my “J-Rock New Years Resolutions for 2010″ to master the next big pop hit. Good thing I like the song - a lot! Preview it here:

Bouncy pop-rock newcomers SuG will be releasing their major debut titled “gr8 story” through the Pony Canyon label. This rising “positive rock” group has reached the majors faster than most indies bands can dream of, bringing their cutesy brand of O’Share kei to the scene. The limited edition package includes a DVD with the “gr8 story” video. That’s a good thing, otherwise we’ll all be stuck with this disappointingly low-quality version of the terrifically upbeat title track which can be previewed here:

In the age of media over-stimulation, you can almost expect every single to be coupled with some sort of visual content. Along with all of these new singles and albums being packaged with DVDs, we’re also getting a few full-length DVDs of live performances from the likes of GLAY and Cute.

So what’s coming out this week? Here’s your shopping list:

• L’Arc~en~Ciel - “Bless” (Single)
• abingdon boys school - “Abingdon Road” (w/ DVD)
• Dong Bang Shin Ki (Tohoshinki) - “Break Out!” (Single)
• SuG - gr8 story (w/ DVD, Limited Edition)
• ayabie - Irodori (Regular Edition)
• GLAY - GLAY 15th Anniversary Special Live 2009 The Great Vacation in Nissan Stadium [Limited Edition] (DVD)
• Aya Kamiki - Individual Emotion (Limited Edition)
• Kiryu - Meikyo Shisui (w/ DVD, Limited Release)
• Megamasso - Memories (w/ DVD [MV + Making-of], Limited Edition)
• AAA - Heart and Soul (w/ DVD)
• Cute - Cute Concert Tour 2009 Natsu Aki - Cutie JUMP! - (DVD)

It’s not uncommon to have three or four artists put out new music in the same week, but it seems everyone wants to get in on the last release date of the first month in the new year. It doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m sure it’s perfectly normal to some industry professional out there somewhere. Or maybe it’s just pure coincidence that this many products are hitting the market at the same time. Whatever the case, the majority of these are very important for the scene and the individual artists. Fans of J-rock and J-pop will definitely have a lot to look forward to this week!