Collaborations

So I've been asked by a few people about how to contact me to do collaborations or to do music together.

It's pretty simple, as I like making music with people. You can contact me at k66.raika@gmail.

I'm super slow at writing music, so I may or may not be available. If you have written music and need a vocalist, however, I'm pretty open, as I can record music pretty quickly.

However, the #1 fastest way to get be on my black list is to talk shit about Karl, or any of my other collaborators.
You think it would be obvious, but talking ill of my former or current work is really not the best way to get me to want to work with you.

Cold blooded organisms

Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to complain about all the things that go wrong in life.

Coffee Break

Time seems to pass so quickly when you're busy.

I spent most of the day uploading the Cor Leonis remix album up to bandcamp, sketching out ideas for the artwork for each song, thinking about what each song means to me.

Some people might think it's silly to invest so much time and effort in to something that is not very popular.

But whatever others opinions of it, this is something that I made. For better or for worse, this is the shape of my soul.

Adventures

I always tend to be less adventurous than people might think of me.

I'm a picky eater, but I always worry about trying out new places, since I don't know if they'll have things I can eat, and I hate putting others in a weird mood by ruining their food time adventures.

But I'm always grateful to have friends that are willing to drag me out to new places. And while not every adventure has a good ending, every adventure is worth embarking on when you're with people who care for you.

Picking up the pieces

Sometimes the bad things that happen to us overwhelm us.
It makes all the little terrible things seem like things that end us, things that drag you in slowly and melt you away until there is nothing left of us.
It taints everything you see, to where you think that everything you have done amounts to nothing, and no matter how much you struggle, it will always win.

But it won't.

As long as we breathe, we will live to fight another day.

Long time no see

So it's been a while, hey?

While real life has been catching up to us, we've had some things in the works.

And while these last few months have been hectic, sometimes you just have to look at things from a different set of glasses.

At rest

Sometimes it's important to sit and breathe out.

You just have to be careful that you don't get too comfortable and forget to breathe in.

Today we are rolling around the house.

I wonder why being lazy after finishing up a deadline feels so much better than just normally being lazy? ♪(´ε｀ )

I think as you become an adult you get less time to be completely lazy. Even on my day off as I'm typing about being lazy, I know there's a bunch of things I have to get done.  (＠￣Д￣＠；)

In the meantime I'm going to put my full power in to being lazy! ♪♪(o*゜∇゜)o～♪♪

Nerdy Girls

Last week, for the first time in off the internet, I ran in to someone who assumed that some girls only pretend to be interested in nerdy things.

Not only was I astounded that someone would expect me to agree that the nice girl who had just brought us our breakfast might be only pretending to be a nerd, but the assumption that they had a right to judge the worthiness of someone else in this niche little world of ours.

Why is it that some nerd men assume that being a nerd has such benefits to a girl that they would fake having nerdy hobbies?

I feel like it's little things like this that chip away at us.

Unpredictable delays

Today, on the way to Ongaku Overdrive, a refueling plane crashed in to my plane.
Luckily no one was injured, but it has me stuck at the airport for around 9 hours.

I feel like most people would be pretty upset about this. Granted, it's probably because most of the other passengers were, but since we were able to find another flight for me, I'm using it as a chance to look for interesting things at the airport that I normally would have time to do.

Let's see how stir crazy I get after 9 hours.

Drinkable Liquids

Ha ha, all of my posts as of late have been about food. I swear I don't spend all of my time eating.
.....probably. （＠´＿｀＠）

I generally consume a lot more liquids than I do solids. （´ω｀♡%）

I often have coffee, water, juice, and sometimes a light soup for breakfast. One of my hobbies is collecting cute mugs, but I definitely put them to use.

I'm not a coffee snob by any means, but I really do enjoy my coffee. I know I should probably switch to tea, but I'd miss my bitter daily brew too much! ≧(´▽｀)≦

Yogurt time

Lately the weather has been nice, so I've been getting frozen yogurt more often ✿♥‿♥✿

It's interesting to look back on the log of various yogurt cups that I've made. It's like seeing a snapshot of what I felt like at the time. 

Writing about it has made me want to go get some. It is pretty sunny outside today...  (๑・ω-)～♥”

I love Curry~

Today I had some mango curry  °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to new restaurants, but I'm glad that a few of my friends felt like trying out this new Indian place by my house.  ♪(´ε｀ )

I think I've become a lot more cautious as I've gotten older.
But I love having reminders like this to show me that being adventurous at times have great rewards. (●´ω｀●)ゞ

We just have to be prepared to be hurt in the process.

You may or may not have noticed.

But there are updates lurking around the site!

We're also in the midst of adding new merch to our Bandcamp, so keep an eye out!

In other news, who has noticed that our new album comes with original art for each song? 
We've had a few requests to turn them in to wallpapers, so we'll be doing a poll soon to see which ones I do first!

Let's Talk

I believe that the world is fundamentally a terrible place filled with terrible people.

I think that humans evolved to be the most terrible things in a terrible world. And we are slowly coming to grips with the fact that we, as a species, are no longer comfortable with being terrible monsters.

And while you might feel like horrible person who doesn't do nearly the amount of nice things that you could be doing, remember this.

Every time you do some thing nice, something at least partially selfless, you are fighting generations of breeding, years of personal baggage, and the deep down survival tactics that tell you that you must come out on top at all costs.

When you try to make someone else's existence a more wonderful thing, you have managed to conquer your demons, break through your barricades, and show what it is to be human.

People aren't good because we are made to be good.
Whatever goodness that is born of us is because we struggle against ourselves to carve out something beautiful in this terrible world.

MECHA RAI

I had a few friends comment about the song art covers I've been making, mostly about how very few of them were robots.

I've been biting my tongue about this, but it was because our Kickstarter Exclusive cover was actually a giant robot Rai. ლ(́◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ)

For those of you who've been paying attention to our fb posts, you'll notice that I've been posting song art for each of our new songs for Cor Leonis. 

People who know me know that many of my songs are little stories. 

Well just between you and me, they're all connected. (´ω｀★)

Cor Leonis

Our New album is out!

http://raikamishiro.bandcamp.com/album/cor-leonis

A lot of people have asked me what this album is about.

It's about space, in many senses of the word.

Space, the final frontier, that represents unknown adventures and discoveries that await us.

Space, as the distance between people and the feelings that fill the void between.

Space, as the wondrous thing look up at in the night sky, and connect random dots in to glorious constellations.

Space that gets a little bit smaller smaller when you see what's in my heart.

Preparing for the future

I've been worried this last month about when the album comes together.

What if I don't like it? What if I mess things up? What if it's not all of the things I hoped it'd be?

But when I looked at everything, all said and done, it was like everything clicked in to place.

And I thought, yes, this is the shape of my soul.

http://raikamishiro.bandcamp.com/album/cor-leonis

Guess What I'm doing today?

As I type this up, the last music files from Cor Leonis will be uploading to Bandcamp☆

Our release date is slated for 4/1, and if everything goes according to plan, we'll have pre-orders open up starting tomorrow.  ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

I'll do a longer post tomorrow with the exciting details of everything, but for now, I'm just going to bask in the glory of a job well done, for both me and Karl.  (´ω｀★)

See you tomorrow! (❁´◡`❁)*✲ﾟ*

Sometimes I forget

With this new album, I've definitely been writing more about people, and specifically people relationships.

The overall feedback has been great, and I'm really touched by all the support you guys have shown me.

I'd like to think that I'm a big, strong independent robot who doesn't need people to say nice things about it in order to feel good, but the truth is that on bad days, I hunt through kind words and nice messages to remind me that the world is filed with lovely people.

Sometimes I get messages from my kouhai that have so many beautiful words of encouragement that my heart feels like it's going to burst from all the words of hope and affection.

I would still make music even if I never put it out in the world, but there's something special about feeling like the emotions you put in to words and melody resonating with other people out in this big world.

Squares and Pi

Most of the time, I don't like dealing with merch. It's a pain to design, figuring everything out takes forever, and you never know if people will even like it. щ(ºДºщ)

The only real upsides to merch are picking out the brightly colored Rai-shirt people in the audience, or signing a poster with the knowledge that you'll be making someone's wall a bit more colorful. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

But sometimes you manage to make something that you're pretty pleased with, something you are a little excited to put on your own wall, no matter how narcissistic it makes you look. ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

Interview with the Forces of Evil

I recently did a podcast interview with Dara from Crime and the Forces of Evil to promote my concert at this year's Norwescon!  ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／

You can listen to it here, in your chosen form of mp3, youtube, or soundcloud （　´∀｀）

http://crimeandtheforcesofevil.com/podcast

Also for you Nerdcore fans, Klopfenpop and Death*Star are also featured on this episode, along with several other artists performing at Norwescon~

Bits where we discuss Musical Intestines and How Best to Run Away From Giant Robots Having Sex are not included... this time ｡◕‿◕｡

Dangerous News

Some times it's hard to tell if what waits ahead is adventure, or endless ordeals.

But no matter the trials and tribulations set your way, the only thing you get by not putting yourself at risk is to watch the world pass by you.

Not because you're being left behind, but because you never tried to move forward.

Cake Time!

I love getting cake with friends. ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

It doesn't always have to be cake, some times it's coffee or cupcakes or yogurt. I just love sitting down with someone who's company you enjoy, and enjoying a mutual treat.  (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

 

I particularly like cakes that aren't too sweet, as I'm a semi-sweet person.  ψ(｀∇´)ψ

One of the greatest things about being an adult....

.... is that you don't have to wait for other people to take you on adventures.

The other day I got a wild hankering to go to the aquarium. First I herped around the idea for a few days, checked out the Seattle Aquarium's website, and then thought about asking a few friends  if they would like to go or not.

And then it struck me.

I was an adult.
I could go to the aquarium any day I liked.
I didn't have to wait to see if anyone wanted to go on some far off date.

I could just go to the aquarium.

Start from the Beginning

It's always exciting to start something new.
It might take forever to get to it, but the feeling that you are set out for a new adventure probably excites me more than anything.

The feeling of an empty canvas, a new notebook, a music file waiting for you to color it with your colors.

What colors will you fill your palette with?

Glorious Yogurt

I think everyone has a different definition of what normal is.

Your standards for what you think is normal, and the way you judge people will probably be different than someone else's normality.

It doesn't mean that your three flavored yogurt with fruit and boba and cereal and nerds covered treat is any better than a cup of vanilla bean.

It's just that everyone has a different idea of normal.

Future Adventures

I'm currently spending my days getting ready for my booth at Sakuracon.

A lot of it is tedious, paperwork and figuring things out, a lot of it is only happening thanks to various friends being kind enough to help me out.

Some of it is extremely fun, thinking of outfits to put together, ridiculous things to have at the booth, discussing with people to what little trinkets and charms to make.

But all of it has me excited, as we get closer and closer to the due date, and thinking of the possibilities the future holds.

Doki Doki Feelings (cardiotrap mix)

Doki Doki Feelings (cardiotrap remix)

Have you heard the b-side to our new single yet? It's sure to give you palpitations in all of your musical heart muscles.

http://raikamishiro.bandcamp.com/track/doki-doki-feelings-cardiotrap-mix

Earth to Venus

Earth to Venus

The day of release is inching closer and closer!
In the meanwhile, enjoy our new single~

The first 100 downloads are free, so get it while you can!

Just enter 0 when checking out~

http://raikamishiro.bandcamp.com/album/earth-to-venus

Inner City

I think that everyone cultivates a city inside of them.

People with ambition and drive always work to make their cities beautiful. I try to fill mine with architecture filed with interesting things, sparkling buildings, bustling streets.
I would like to think that mine would be a glorious modern metropolis.

Yet some people would complain about my city. They would say that there's not humanity in something built of hulking metal. They would point at their own cities, claiming that theirs are better, filled with nature and compassion and things that make them a good person.

But anyone who bothers to point out how superior their own city is, are probably only hiding a barren wasteland.

Though the truth may vary

I don't know if it's because English is sometimes my second language, but sometimes I get very sentimental listening to bands when they talk about things in the roundabout way that I do.

The words we dance around, the emotions we try to convey can seem very foreign as we chase them around on the paper. 

A lantern in the dark

The precious things you discover in life, are like stars in the night sky.

There are countless numbers of stars, and all of them may seem far away. They glitter and twinkle, reminding you of old memories, precious friends, delicious encounters, and the beautiful things in the world.

Sometimes you may forget about them, as you deal with one crisis or another, a meteor shower or a solar eclipse.

But when the night sky is the darkest, and there seems to be no lights on earth, you can always look to the sky and be amazed at how bright it shines for you.

Heartwarming gifts

I love presents. I'm not sure if there's anyone who doesn't.

I really enjoy getting adorable things, treats, candies, things that aren't intended to last very long.

Just the thought that someone cares for you enough that they wanted to make your day a little bit more special is enough to continue fighting. ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

The easy way out

I once comforted a friend who had a deep friendship broken off by text message. At the time I thought that was the most cowardly way to end something.

But I think now that silently running from problems is probably the biggest disservice you can do to your self and others.

Because life is filled with things that are hard, and people who won't make everything easier for you.
And you can sit and fume and feel jealous of people who seem to be better off than you, but giving up before you do anything isn't going to solve anything.

And you can easily make excuses for why nothing seems to go your way, but in the end but I think it comes down to this.

Happy Breakfast

There are many things one needs to survive, food, shelter, a sense of safety.

In modern life, most of us clear these hurdles in ways that don't seem very perfect or ideal.

And while it's enough for us to physically survive, something inside still searches for the calories that our soul craves, that make our day sparkle with unscientific feelings.

I'm not very fond of beer...

But a lot of stylish or funny beer cans make me wish I did. ヾ(*´ー`)ノ

Hidden Side Streets

The side paths to adventure are sometimes in the most hum-drum of places, and it's easy to forget that even the most normal of streets are filled with brooding history.

This side street leads away and from Waseda University. The main street is filled with college students, heading towards the main gate.

The street itself is very muted. There are some trees, and some pedestrians. In the distance you can see a row of apartment buildings, planting their roots among the twisty streets.

But this street contains a house that has some surprising history.

This road leads to Edogawa Rampo's house.

Mocha ☆ Adventures

I recently went to Canadia, as Vancouver was having their 3rd Annual Hot Chocolate Festival. ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

I'm a really big fan of Shirokuma Cafe, so I was really interested in #15 – SHIROKUMA.

The set was a collaboration between Blenz + Cocolico. A mug of white hot chocolate and green tea came with three piece set of chocos. o((*^▽^*))o

The choco trio was a bar of White Chocolate with Caramelized Cocoa Nib Praline, a Milk Chocolate with Salted Toffee Hazelnut, and Dark Chocolate with Almond, Apricot & Violet.

The dark chocolate was probably my favorite, as I'm more fond of bitter-sweet things. Ψ(´▽｀)Ψ

I think the concept of the drink was adorable, as Shirokuma-san is a Canadian polar bear who runs an organic cafe in Japan. I happen to be a big fan of the series!
It was unfortunate that the drink was not especially delicious. It wasn't a bad drink, but I think the macha flavor was fairly weak, and it tasted more like sweet milk than anything.

I did have a lot of fun with my Canadian friends, and I'm looking forward to visiting again soon! ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

Bouncing Wavelengths

I'm so sorry for being slow with updates lately! But to make up for it I'll answer a bunch of questions this week☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

Q. Are you ok with fan covers, amv's or remixes? I'd like to do something but I don't want to offend.

A. It's no offence at all! If anything, I'm really flattered by any fan productions of my material!  I'm especially am fond of remixes and arrangements~  (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

The only thing I ask is that remixes of Karl and my work not be sold without asking us. ヾ(*´ー`)ノ

Otherwise I'm super excited to see what people come up with!

Kero★Kero

When things don't seem to go your way, and you wake up in the mornings feeling pretty terrible, it might be hard to remind yourself of the things you enjoy.

I think I'm lucky that I was born with a hunger to sing, to make music. I just can't imagine what I'd do with myself otherwise.

Oh, and also this frog donut is pretty deliciously cute. Ψ(´▽｀)Ψ

Full of Dreams

Everyone has an invisible stomach.

What satisfies it is different for everyone, but we will all shrivel up and die if it goes unfilled.

I like cute things. Sparkles and frills and animal parfaits and pink and white and brown lovely candy shaped raburii things make my hear go all doki doki. (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･

I like bright, brash colors and weird designs and bat shaped hair and a closet full of yellow clothes, stripes and hot pants with tights and ridiculous fur collar cardigans and dressing like a child's idea of what grown ups dress like.  Ψ(´▽｀)Ψ

I like pirates and adventures and badass beat downs and idoru battles and hunting down ancient Chinese warriors and showing them who is boss and uniting old-school Japan except apparently Hokkaido while cackling and riding around in my floating car.   (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

I love a lot of things.
And while I often feel like I'm told to grow the fuck up by the rest of the world who's stomach doesn't hunger for the same things as mine, I'm still going to go down that escalator and jump around in that Thousand Sunny bouncy house.

Well, I would have if the security guard hadn't told me that they're closing for the day.

Running Downhill

Life is never as clear cut as a song.
There's never an catchy chorus to hum along to, there are never any clear words.

Time seems to crawl by day by day, and yet it speeds past you like a sudden wind, or a melody that you can't quite remember.

And as you grow older, you learn to trust people less, you learn to hold your emotions much closer to your self, and you see the days gone by as being always brighter in your memories than they ever seemed before.

I don't know if I would do anything differently if I had the chance.

But a part of me will always be that kid running down that hill, blind to what the future will bring.

Giri Giri Choco

I am happier to get Giri choco than Honmei choco.

Honmei choco says, my love is yours right now, I have doki doki feelings for you and I hope you feel the same. ヽ(愛´∀｀愛)ノ

Giri choco says, hey, we bros, I suppose I'll give you choco. You might get someone's Honmei next year, but if you don't, I guess I'll give you Giri choco next year too. And the year after that. And the year after that.

So cheer up bro, you'll always have my Giri choco.

Ramen☆Ramen

世の中メッチャうれしい事よりはうまくいかん事がおおか。

でもそがんことば気にしとったらうまくいく事も楽しか事もいっちょん見えんようになるとよ。

今日はちと曇天やった、ばってん明日にでもなれば晴れるけん。それくらい思うとって今日はラーメンでも食えばよかね。

Did I mention? I like Udon better than Ramen.

Listless feelings.

When life seems to throw everything at you at once, you just have to take it step by step.

It's easy to say, but if you aren't careful, you might try to hold on to everything, and end up dropping things that you would have other wise been able to handle.

It's hard to keep in mind the things that are the most important to you, because happiness is a very worrisome thing.

Chasing after it is always more enjoyable than grasping it in your hands, and the flood of stresses that come with getting what you wanted.

Just be sure not to flinch when you have it in your hand.

A Glorious Breakfast.

Sometimes the best memories aren't only of victories and accomplishments.

Sometimes, it's as simple as adventurous meals shared with friends.

I happen to be very wary of new foods, but the delicious taste of victory with every new  adventure reminds me to not be so picky.

After all, if we were afraid of every thing new, we would never make friends or make wonderful discoveries. (❁´◡`❁)*✲ﾟ*

The shape of our love

Diver City is a pretty nerdy place to begin with. It's got the Gundam museum and cafe, maid cafes, and a giant 1/1 Gundam in it's back yard.

It also happens to be a very trendy shopping mall area, with this in front for the One Piece Z movie.

I think it speaks volumes that the hobbies we love that we used to have to hide away, are things that we don't have to hide any longer.

Final Distance

Not all goodbyes are forever.

Sometimes goodbye is just a gateway to another adventure, to more beginnings and to more social links.

But even if we're far apart, we still have our memories, the things we laughed at, all our silly little jokes.

So don't look back when you depart, as you're not leaving a comfortable past behind you, but stepping in to the brilliant future.

Nyaa!

ぬこぬこぬこぬこぬこぬこ！

I am not particularly fond of cat things, but look at this donut! How can you resist it's lovely gaze? （＿´ω｀）

Now the only question remaining is whether to eat it it from the head portion with much glee, or to nibble at it so it's cute face is last to meet it's fate. ψ(｀∇´)ψ