Soil and Pimp session

Soil & "Pimp" Sessions (stylised as SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS) is a Japanese club jazz sextet who formed in Tokyo, Japan in 2001.[1] They are known for their energetic live performances, having coined the term "death jazz" to describe their music.


Members

President a.k.a Shacho (久嶋識史), born January 18 1978 in Takefu, Fukui Prefecture - agitator
Tabu Zombie (椨智紹), born April 13 1977 in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture - trumpet
Motoharu (深田元晴), born June 29 1973 in Nayoro, Hokkaido) - saxophone
Josei (佐藤丈青), born October 30 1975 in the Saeki-ku Ward of Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture - piano, keyboards
Akita Goldman (秋田紀彰), born July 8 1977 in Hachiōji, Tokyo - double bass
Midorin (緑川直人), born January 30 1978 in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture - drums


History

The band was born out of Tokyo's club scene, when Shacho and Tabu Zombie started including live jam sessions in DJ sets. Gradually the other members were invited, the band's line-up was finalised and the DJ sets dropped.
The band's adrenalin-fuelled live sets started to create a buzz on the Tokyo live scene, and in 2003 they became the first unsigned band to perform at Japan's Fuji Rock Festival. They were well received there and in the following months record companies were scrambling to offer contracts. JVC Victor won the battle, and summer 2004 saw the release of the mini-album Pimpin'.
The album was a critical and, for a jazz release, commercial success, and this together with constant touring paved the way for the release of their first full album, Pimp Master in early 2005. The album captures the sheer power of their live performances as well as highlighting their individual musical talents. Two tracks in particular, "Waltz For Goddess" and their cover of "A Wheel Within a Wheel", caught the attention of DJs abroad, and they began to receive heavy air-play on Gilles Peterson's Worldwide radio program on BBC Radio 1 in the U.K.
Summer 2005 was a busy time for the band, with the release of their second mini-album, Summer Goddess, and their first live dates outside Japan. Gilles Peterson invited them to play at Cargo in London, and Jazzanova invited them to play in Berlin.
They spent the rest of the year touring in Japan and Europe, and they were also featured in the live broadcast of the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards in 2005, where they were awarded the John Peel Play More Jazz Award.
A second full album, Pimp of the Year, was released in spring 2006, showcasing innovations that showed a development of their sound, as well as one or two tracks that marked a new departure.
2006 also saw the official release of Pimp Master in Europe on Compost Records and the UK on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings label. They continued touring constantly throughout the year, taking in Britain, Italy, France,Serbia, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia and Croatia, as well as an appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
March 2007 saw the release of their third full album, Pimpoint, on the Victor Entertainment label, which features thirteen tracks.
Soil & "Pimp" Sessions' song "Paraiso" is the opening theme for the anime Michiko to Hatchin.
"Agitator" Shacho announced during their performance at the Relentless Garage in London that their latest album 6 was due for release on 26 April 2010 in the United Kingdom. No other release locations were confirmed by him at the time.
In 8 December 2010, Soil and "Pimp" Sessions released their album, "SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS Presents STONED PIRATES RADIO", containing 20 tracks. All of the tracks (aside from the occasional skit tracks) are covers, arranged in various ways using their style. From reggae to calypso to their aggressive jazz sound, you can hear tracks like "Walkie-Talkie Man," "Beat It," & "Imagine."
Around September 2011, they have announced that a new album will be released shortly, and that released was, "MAGNETIC SOIL", containing all new material of 15 tracks (except track 2 is their rendition of the Brecker Brothers' piece "Some Skunk Funk"), including a new version of the track "Summer Goddess."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_%26_%22Pimp%22_Sessions
http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/soilpimp/eng/profile/index.html

IS (Infinite Stratos)

IS (IS〈インフィニット・ストラトス〉 IS
is a Japanese light novel series by Izuru Yumizuru with illustrations provided by Okiura. As of April 2011, 7 volumes have been published by Media Factory under their MF Bunko J label. A manga adaptation by Kenji Akahoshi started serialization in the seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive on May 27, 2010. An anime adaptation aired in Japan from January 6 to March 31, 2011, and an OVA was released on December 7, 2011. The anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, and are planning to release the series in April 2012.


Plot

In the near future, a Japanese scientist engineers a powered exoskeleton called "Infinite Stratos" (IS). Possessing technology and combat capabilities far more advanced than any other weapon system, the IS threatens to destabilize the world. Faced with such an overpowering weapon, the nations of the world enact the "Alaska Treaty", which states that IS will never be used for military combat and that existing IS technology must be equally distributed to all nations, to prevent any one nation from dominating the others. The introduction of the IS does, however, have a major effect on society. As IS can only be operated by women, there is a shift in the power balance between men and women, where women now dominate society over men.
Ten years after IS was initially introduced, the world has entered a new age of peace. The peace is shattered, however, by an unexpected discovery. A 15 year-old Japanese boy, Ichika Orimura, is discovered to be capable of operating an IS. Realizing the potential, Ichika is forced by the Japanese government to attend the prestigious Infinite Stratos Academy, an international academy where IS pilots from all over the world are trained. Thus his busy high school life surrounded by nothing but girls who can use IS begins.

credit :
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/infinitestratos00000001.jpg/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IS_(Infinite_Stratos)