angela

[Dagger]

angela is a two-person J-pop group (consisting of a female singer, Atsuko, and a male guitarist, Katsu) that has produced OPs, EDs and/or image songs for several anime series. Not so long ago, Geneon released the North American version of their debut CD, [url=http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/XAsqC6uyCgtW-rqAAt/browse/item/64386/4/0/0][u]Voice of the Sky[/u][/url] (originally Sora no Koe), which includes a card-sized pencil board and a booklet with both romaji & English-translated lyrics.

angela's second album, [url=http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/XAsqC6uyCgtW-rqAAt/browse/item/66565/4/0/0][u]I/O[/u][/url], will become available domestically on August 16. They also performed at Anime Expo 2005 (and I am, by the by, incredibly jealous of anyone who got to hear them live). Their most recent release is a Japanese CD single related to the upcoming Soukyuu no Fafner: Right of Left OVA. It includes the normal and vocal-less versions of two new songs, Dead Set and Hana no You ni.

I'm not particularly into Japanese music, or even music in general, but I love angela. Although it's pretty rare for me to like most of the tracks on an artist's CD--and even then, I rarely enjoy listening to it all the way through--I can't get enough of Voice of the Sky, and I'm really looking forward to I/O.

The first angela song I ever heard was Asu e no Brilliant Road (Brilliant Road to Tomorrow), the Stellvia OP. It's still one of my favorites. Others I particularly enjoy are the four pieces they recorded for Soukyuu no Fafner (the series, not the OVA): Shangri-La, Separation, Proof and Fly Me to the Sky. As far as I'm concerned, Shangri-La is their best song. But I'm also growing to like Over the Limits, the first track on Voice of the Sky, as well as nearly all of the other songs on the CD (including quite a few Stellvia-related ones). And Dead Set is excellent.

It would make my day if there were other angela fans here, although I'm not going to get my hopes up, haha.

~Dagger~

[Semjaza]

I'd be interested, but I can't seem to find anything. I hate when Japanese bands use such common words for their names... it's hard enough finding something on something as simple as 'angela' from this country, let alone another one.

[Lindus]

I found Asu e no Brilliant Road and Shangri-La via radio blog and found I enjoyed them. I really liked Brilliant Road. If I ever spot one of their cd's I'll make sure to give it a shot.

[Panda]

I got to see angela at Sakura-con this past April. They are really fan friendly. After their concert they set up a table, signed autographs and posed for pictures. They also sat with fans at the Guest of Honor dinner and chatted. I was one table away from them. It was really nice to see how fan friendly they were. Some Japanese artists are a bit stand-offish and wouldn't do that with the fans.