 Kakumei Shojo is an ambient artist who, according to their Bandcamp page, was extremely active starting 2016. Their first album of 2017 is Revolutionary Girl Exposition, and my first thought is that it's gorgeous. This is my first time hearing Kakumei Shojo, and to be quite honest I don't know anything about this artist aside from what little information exists on their Bandcamp, Facebook, and Twitter.
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 Aoki Yutaka's debut solo album didn't draw me in at first; I had never heard his name before, and nobody I knew was talking about this project. It was the Virgin Babylon Bandcamp page which initially caught my eye with that album art you see above, that sinister goat's head which just screams black metal. Knowing Virgin Babylon from some of the previous albums they put out, I had to give this thing a listen. I can definitely say I don't regret my decision.
 PLASTICZOOMS are a goth post-punk band who I hadn't heard of until very recently, but who have been around for the better part of a decade now. Their particular brand of alt rock is drenched in reverb and hearkens back to the 80s in the vein of Western bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as more modern bands like The Horrors. Their neo-noir cyberpunk aesthetic also makes for some of the most stylish music videos I've seen in years. With this new album, the band takes their bleak music to a new level with a synthwave-influenced sound and cleaner production.
2016 was a strong year for music. With the sheer amount of incredible albums released, it was hard to narrow it down to just ten. The rise of the alternative idol scene had a big influence here, and alt-idols ended up taking the majority of the slots here. I'm not even usually an idol fan! Below are my top ten albums of 2016, followed by some mini-albums, and finally some honorable mentions. Enjoy!
 Former ViViD vocalist, SHIN, held his first come-back performance in Tokyo at EX THEATER ROPPONGI on Christmas Eve. This first oneman show was a success, with tickets completely selling out. The venue was filled with fans who gathered together to take part in this special experience. With the conclusion of this performance, his goods will be made available, via mail order, to fans all over the world.
Following SHIN’s come-back show, he released a statement on his blog written in his own words which can be found below. Since most of his social media hadn’t been made public before the show, he hopes that he can convey his thoughts following the performance. Details on further activities of SHIN are still to be announced, but fans can definitely expect more news to come.  The queen is back, and louder than ever! For the 35th anniversary of Jun Togawa's career in December, she teamed up with alternative / gothic / visual kei band Vampillia for a collaboration album spanning all 35 of those years. This review is a bit late, and unfortunately I wasn't able to listen to the album before the end of 2016, but I feel pretty confident that it would have made my end of the year list if I had.
 It's the end of 2016 and we at A-to-J Connections decided to undertake a very ambitious endeavor. We decided to list our favorite picks of 2016! Following the variety present in the site itself, these picks don't cover just music, they also cover video games and other media. Also, since our coverage of music is varied as well, we split that category into Idol, Visual Kei, and General. Voting for these categories was all done internally, though we plan to open it up to our fans and readers in 2017. Many of these categories were argued over for days and even in putting this together some members of A-to-J were left unsatisfied with some of the choices even though they mostly represent a majority or consensus. Why tell you this? Just to let you know that this article was brought to you after much work and deliberation and features the uncredited work of several A-to-J members.
Like all lists of this type, opinion is everything and we do not claim to be the one true voice in telling you what was the best of 2016. This is simply our picks as best represented as they can be. If you agree or disagree with our picks then please let us know via comments and if some of our choices are ones that you haven't heard of, then we urge you to check them out. Also, for more end of the year goodness check out our individual picks for the best songs of 2016 which can be found HERE! Now, without further ado, let's jump into our list! |
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