Laputa (band)

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Laputa
Origin Nagoya, Japan
Genre(s) Visual kei
Nagoya kei
Years active 1993 to 2004
Label(s) Toshiba-EMI, Nippon-Crown
Members
Aki (vocal), Kouichi (guitar), Junji (bass), Tomoi (drums)
Former members
Hiro (guitar), Hideno (guitar), Kusuba (bass)

Laputa was a visual rock band from Nagoya, Japan. The band chose its name from the flying island in Gulliver's Travels and tried to portray a similar unrealistic view of the world with their performance. Musically the essence of the band sound was extracted from the three pilliars of "Dark, Hard, and Melodious". Their sound is characterized by Kouichi's unique chord processions and aki's transparent high-pitched vocals. The band is considered to be under the sub-categories of black suit kei and nagoya kei. Even though not extremely commercially successful, they were influential on developing bands. Laputa's early sound was influenced by Kuroyume, since both aki and Tomoi were roadies for them.

Contents

[edit] Indies Period

Laputa was formed in July of 1993 by Aki and Tomoi, high school friends who were previously in the band AI SICK FACE together, and were also Roadies for Kuroyume. They met some success in 1995 in the visual indie scene with their first indie album Memai, and shot a music video for Vertigo. They released a mini-album (Kurumeku Haijin) in 1996, and also released a live video (Hakoniwa) featuring performances from the concert at SHIBUYA ON AIR WEST from the Paradoxical Reality TOUR IV.

[edit] Toshiba-EMI

With their increasing popularity in the visual indie scene, Laputa caught the attention of big record companies and signed to the major label Toshiba-EMI in August of 1996. Laputa released their first major single GARASU NO SHOUZOU in September of 1996, which peaked at #34 on the Oricon singles chart. In October Laputa's first major album KAGEROU was released. Laputa released 4 more albums and several videos in the following 4 years.

In 2000, Laputa released a collection of their B-sides (c/w songs) "Coupling Collection + xxxk [1996-1999 singles]". They also released a three-disc best-of album "3DISC BEST ~1995-1999 except Coupling Collection~", which featured 32 songs in all including Laputa's eight major singles and 24 other songs. After these releases, Laputa left Toshiba-EMI and signed to a smaller major label Nippon-Crown.

[edit] Nippon-Crown

While on Nippon Crown Laputa released 4 albums/mini-albums and 3 singles which made it on to the top 50 of the Oriocon charts. Glitter, a mini-album which was released in 2002, had a more electronic-oriented direction.

Laputa's lead songwriter Kouichi was reportedly in a hospital or clinic for much of 2002. Because of this, he wrote only two songs on the New Temptation album, and Laputa's tour for the album consisted of less than ten concert dates. Junji wrote more of the songs on 誘～New Temptation～惑 than any other member, and would remain Laputa's lead songwriter for the rest of their career. Tomoi also began to contribute more in writing songs and lyrics.

In May of 2004 Laputa announced through their fanclub that they were disbanding, citing a desire for each of them to evolve. They released a best-of CD+DVD of their material from their years on the Nippon-Crown label titled "BEST AL+CLIPS 2000~2004" on July 28th, 2004, toured from August to September, and played their last live on September 5th, 2004 at Shibuya Koukaido. A DVD of the last live titled "ALL BURST" was released on December 15th, 2004.

[edit] Moving Forward

  • Aki has formed a solo project. He has released 3 singles, an album, and also has a fan club.
  • Kouichi has a solo-project called Everlasting-K which has released two albums and a single.
  • Junji has formed a solo-project called HALATION.
  • Tomoi joined MILK FUDGE, and then played support for JILS .

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

Date Title Album Oricon Singles Chart
May 5, 1994 私が消える (Watashi ga Keiru) – –
Sep 9, 1996 ガラスの肖像 (Glass no Shouzou) 蜉～かげろう～蝣 (Kagerō) 34
May 28, 1997 eve～Last night for you～ – 33
Nov 12, 1997 Meet Again 麝～ジャコウ～香 (Jakō) 20
Feb 4, 1998 揺れながら… (Yurenagara...) 麝～ジャコウ～香 (Jakō) 25
Sep 23, 1998 Feelin' the sky 翔～カケラ～裸 (Kakera) 15
Jan 1, 1999 Breath 翔～カケラ～裸 (Kakera) 29
Mar 17, 1999 Chimes 翔～カケラ～裸 (Kakera) 25
May 19, 1999 Virgin Cry 翔～カケラ～裸 (Kakera) 23
Oct 25, 2000 Shape～in the shape of wing～ – 26
Feb 21, 2001 Silent on-looker 楽～ヘブン～園 (Heaven) 43
June 21, 2002 深海/Brand-new color (Shinkai/Brand new color) – 58

[edit] Albums

Date Album Label Oriocon Albums Chart
Feb 24, 1995 眩～めまい～暈 (Memai) – –
Feb 25, 1996 眩めく廃人 (Kurumeku Haizin) – –
Oct 23, 1996 蜉～かげろう～蝣 (Kagerō) Toshiba-EMI 24
Jun 25, 1997 絵～エマダラ～斑 (Emadara) Toshiba-EMI 24
Feb 4, 1998 麝～ジャコウ～香 (Jakō) Toshiba-EMI 10
Jun 9, 1999 翔～カケラ～裸 (Kakera) Toshiba-EMI 10
Feb 23, 2000 Laputa Coupling Collection+×××k Toshiba-EMI 43
Oct 25, 2000 Laputa 3DISC BEST～1995-1999 except Coupling Collection～ Toshiba-EMI 41
Mar 16, 2001 楽～ヘブン～園 (Heaven) Nippon-Crown 50
Mar 21,2002 glitter Nippon-Crown 66
Jul 24, 2002 誘～New Temptation～惑 Nippon-Crown 50
Apr 23, 2003 Sparks Monkey Nippon-Crown 75
Mar 17, 2004 Material Pleasures Nippon-Crown 89
Jul 28,2004 Best AL+CLIPS 2000～2004 Nippon-Crown –

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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