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If like me, you’re tired of carrying your grand piano around everywhere, then why don’t you pick up one of these canned pianos? Just pull out the little rolled up keyboard and away you go. You can’t play chords though, or sharps or flats. Happy little melodies all the time. The can comes with eight pre-programmed ditties and costs £4.40/$8.90. Oh, and it has a duck on the front. Quack.
Kanye West shows it’s possible to ruin two pieces of greatness in 4 minutes and 27 seconds. Actually, he pretty much does it in 10 seconds. His new single, Stronger, not only samples Daft Punk, but has a video that’s basically a mini live action version of the anime classic, Akira.
Check out Montoya Hearald’s scene by scene comparison.
Via Anime UK News
Following the success of Sega Toys’ Grand Pianist, the company has decided to create a limited edition run of the mini piano. Featuring the world’s most famous mouthless cat, Hello Kitty, the fully functioning piano will go on sale in October for 68,250 yen (£276/$554).
Ok, I know this will only be of interest to some of you, but it does feature one of the greatest bands ever to exist - Yellow Magic Orchestra. They appear in the new Kirin lager ad performing Rydeen:
If you haven’t heard YMO before, please check them out. See if you can track down a tune of theirs called Plastic Bamboo while you’re at it!
The incredible Polysics have signed to MySpace Records in the US. MySpace Records is, according to Wikipedia, “a record label started in 2005 to sign artists who appear on the social networking site MySpace. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of MySpace and parent News Corporation.”
The label intends to release the Polysics best of album “Polysics or Die!!!!” later this year. TOISU!!!!
Cornelius is back to tour his slightly disappointing 5th album, Sensuous. He’ll be stopping at:
Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom (April 23)
Seattle, WA El Corazon (24)
San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 (26)
Indio, CA Coachella (28)
Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theater (30)
Boulder, CO Fox Theater (May 3)
Chicago, IL Park West (7)
Baltimore, MD Sonar (9)
New York, NY Webster Hall (10)
Philadelphia, PA Theater of Living Arts (11)
European dates to follow!
Source: NME
Another item to add to the “I wish they actually sold these” pile - the Famicom guitar. It’s not actually a console with some strings stuck onto it, but is in fact completely made of wood. Oh, and it’s called the Family Comguitar, which isn’t particularly catchy if you ask me. Although, I can’t actually think of anything better. Oh well. Take a look at the steps it took to create so you don’t even think about trying it yourself.
Via Kotaku
Working a little bit like a music box, Otokibako, is a little electronic music player that works by feeding it a “melody data sheet” while turning a wooden handle. The sheets cover 3 octaves, and are read by the box using light sensors that tell it what note to play. It comes with 8 tones and 15 melodies, but the beauty of it is that you can create your own melody data sheets by using the special Otokibako software. Compose and print your very own mini symphonies for only 3,500 yen (£15/£29).
If you take 9 musicians and stick them up a 20-foot ladder, what do you have? Yup, The Six String Sonics. This oddball lineup consists of 5 guitarists, 2 bassists, 1 drummer, and 1 computer tinkerer.
Take a look at a clip of a live performance from the Liquid Room in Ebisu.
Created in 1980, the Namennayo Cats (Nameneko), took Japan by storm. 2 years, 500 promotional items and 100 billion yen in revenue later, it was all over. Don’t worry though; the dressed-up cats are back to celebrate their 25th anniversary (not the same cats I assume), with a whole bunch of new nonsense to sell (see Strap-Ya for an example). Read more about them on the amazing official Nameneko site. Here’s a video of them back in their heyday.
Pics from The Pelorian Cat Project.
Cornelius will finally release his latest album, Sensuous, in some parts of Europe. Warner Music will release the album in Sweden, Norway, France and Ireland, while Korova Records will handle the UK release. I can’t imagine sales being particularly good though. I assumed that because he took so long, anyone who wanted it would have already downloaded/imported it. Silly chimpanzee.
Takara-Tomy has given the leader of the Autobots an extra transforming ability - a dock for your iPod. The Convoy iPod Docking Bay is a “fully functional iPod Docking Bay with Speakers”. It’s not out until June, but the good news is that the Big Bad Toy Store is now taking pre-orders at price of $144.99 (£75.90).
Marubeni Infotech Japan has just this week introduced the Micro Memo, which is basically a little microphone for the iPod Nano. The mic is on the end of a movable arm that is attached via the dock connector on the Nano. Recording is in stereo, and files can be saved as both high (44.1kHz/1,411kbps) and low (22.05kHz/352kbps) quality WAV files. Although this can use up a lot of space, you can record up to 51 hours of audio on the low setting on a 8GB Nano. The Micro Mini also has a built in speaker, and is available for 8,480 yen ($70/£35).
Via SGKnox.com
Next month sees the release of the Rockridge vacuum tube iPod amplifier and speaker system. Rockridge Sound Japan, developed “vacuum tube speakers that play an Apple iPod with tube-driven amplifiers”. The glorified dock boasts 3 vacuum tubes attached to the sides of each amplifier, with the intent maximize sound quality as much as possible. All for £296/$580! Eep!
I’d really like Palama Holdings‘ site for their new Pokeoto MP3 player if it wasn’t for the annoying voice that decides to say something pointless as you browse around. Palama Holdings is a company based in Shibuya. They’re usually known for their fashion and cosmetic items but recently branched out into the world of digital audio. The Pokeoto player comes in 8 colours and 2 sizes; 256MB and 512MB for 1,995 yen and 3,980 yen respectively. If it’s cool enough for the kids in Shibuya then it’s probably too cool for me.
