Genki Rockets

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Genki Rockets
元気ロケッツ


Img_capt = Genki Rockets performing via hologram at the Tokyo Live Earth concert on 7 July 2007
Landscape = yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|Japan Japan
Genre = J-Pop, Electronic
Years_active = 2006-Present
Label = Q Entertainment, avex trax (2007-present)
URL = [http://genkirockets.com Official Site]
Current_members = Producers:
Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Kenji TamaiLead Singers for "Lumi":
Rachel Rhodes
Nami Miyaharanihongo|Genki Rockets|元気ロケッツ is a hybrid band made up of unnamed musical artists. The face of the group is a fictional character named Lumi, an 18-year old girl who was born in space on September 11, 2037 and has never been to Earth. Lumi's voice is synthesized by taking samples from several different female singers. [cite web|title = Lumines II's title song unveiled|url = http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=146873]

Biography

Most of the people behind Genki Rockets remain a mystery, but two known producers behind the band are Tetsuya Mizuguchi of Q Entertainment and musician Kenji Tamai of Agehasprings Corporation, who has produced other musicians and groups such as YUKI, Yuna Ito, Base Ball Bear, and TRF.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi co-produced and wrote the lyrics for the first song, "Heavenly Star", and directed the music video, which debuted in the video game "Lumines II" and was later used often in the exclusive Wii game No More Heroes. An AAC version of the song began selling on the iTunes Store in December 2006cite web|title = Genki Rockets Invade iTunes|url = http://music.ign.com/articles/751/751129p1.html] and was eventually accompanied by several different remixes of the song from various artists such as metalmouse, Headwaters, TECHRIDERS, and DJ Sodeyama (the "Count Down", "Glorious", "Love", "Space Walk", "Sunrise", "Aurora", "Floating", and "LnM Projekt" remixes). The original song, seven remixes, and the second song, "Breeze", saw release as a maxi single on July 4, 2007. The single peaked at #24 on the Oricon charts and stayed on the charts for 15 weeks.cite web|title = "Heavenly Star/Breeze" on the Oricon Weekly Charts|url = http://ranking.oricon.co.jp/free_contents/search/detail.asp?itemcd=714780&samecd=1] In September 2007, "Breeze" received its own standalone single and video and was later remixed into several incarnations. In October 2007 a "Heavenly Star" Trance Remix single was released on 12" vinyl by Avex Trax's sublabel Rhythm Republic featuring remixes by Overhead Champion, Delaction and DJ Ten. [ [http://www.cisco-records.co.jp/html/item/004/016/item399739.html Cisco Records Profile (japanese)] ]

Starting off a period of new activity for 2008, the group released two new songs. The medium-tempo song "Smile" was released for download on March 23, 2008, and the rock-influenced song "Star Line" became downloadable on May 14, 2008. A music video for "Star Line" was also released. "Smile" was used as a commercial song for the [http://www.menard.co.jp/salon/ Menard Facial Salon] and "Star Line" was used as promotion for the annual 4-day sale held by [http://www.parco.co.jp/ PARCO] . It was later announced that the two songs, along with three remixes, would be featured on Genki Rockets' second maxi single through avex trax, which was released on June 11, 2008. The single was followed a month later on July 2, 2008 by the group's debut album, "Genki Rockets I Heavenly Star". [ [http://www.avexnet.or.jp/genki/info/ Genki Rockets Information Page on Avex (Japanese)] ]

Uniqueness

Genki Rockets is unique in that the band's music videos are almost entirely computer-generated, including the band's one and only lead fictional character, Lumi. The visual art style for the music videos are created by Japan's "Glamoove, Inc", and was inspired by Norwegian band, a-ha's "Take on Me" music video. [cite web|title = Genki Rockets's music videos inspired by A-ha's "Take on Me" music video|url = http://genkirockets.spaces.live.com/] [cite web|title = Live Earth Artist: Genki Rockets|url = http://liveearth.msn.com/artists/genkirockets] They are also unique in that their concerts are performed solely using a hologram-like effect (they are often incorrectly reported as using holograms, but this is technically untrue, as they use a technology known as Musion Eyeliner) [cite web|title = Telstra's 3D hologram| url=http://www.itwire.com/content/view/18503/1154/] for live performances, such as their performance at Live Earth. [cite web|title = Genki Rockets Headlines Live Earth|url = http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160852]

It was recently revealed in the credits section of Genki Rocket's latest full Album, 元気ロケッツ I - Heavenly Star -, that Rachel Rhodes and Nami Miyahara are the lead singers for the fictional character Lumi and in their latest album, a group of backup singers are also present. This is not entirely certain, since the producers have not stated whether or not these are the actual lead singers, or just people covering up for other voices combined, such as stated at the beginning of the article. [cite web|title = Genki Rockets credits section of the album: "元気ロケッツI Heavenly Star"|url = http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/2567/booklet13gv0.jpg] Rachel Rhodes also seems to be the cover model in the Heavenly Star, Breeze, and Star Line videos, as well as being featured in the album art pages of the Genki Rockets I - Heavenly Star album. [cite web|title = Rachel Rhodes "foursprings homepage"|url = http://www.foursp.jp/rachel/index.html] This is also uncertain, since there is no proof of the cover model's name on the CD case or booklet, so we are left to assume that she is only a motion outline, or 3D model for "Lumi".

Charity

The "Heavenly Star" pack was available for purchase for Lumines Live! on the Xbox Live Marketplace from June 27, 2007 to July 17, 2007. A remix of the song was available in the "SOS Campaign Charity Pack". A portion of the proceeds were donated to Live Earth. [cite web|title = Genki Rockets Combats Global Warming with Downloadable Content|url = http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/news/2007/0626-lumineslivecharitypack.htm]

Recognition

"Heavenly Star" was nominated for the "Best Song" category at the 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards.Genki Rockets was also awarded with the Best New Artist(Electronic)Award in 2007 by iTunes. [cite web|title = Genki Rockets wins Best New Artist Award by itunes|url = http://www.avexnet.or.jp/genki/images/main.jpg]

Appearances in other cultures

Heavenly Star can be heard as a background song for a number of cutscenes and shop sections in the Wii game "No More Heroes". It is the opening theme of the fictional anime "Pure White Giant Glastonbury" that exists in the "No More Heroes" universe. The music video can also be viewed on Travis' television in the Japanese and European versions of the game.

A Cantonese version of Heavenly Star was recently introduced in Hong Kong pop singer Jill Vidal's new Album "Jillympics", released on August 8th, 2008. It is the first track of the album, titled "Youth we can hear" in Chinese.

Discography

Albums

* Genki Rockets I -Heavenly Star- (July 2, 2008)

ingles

* Heavenly Star / Breeze (July 4, 2007)
* Star Line / Smile (June 11, 2008)

Vinyl

* Star Surfer EP (July 16, 2008)

References

External links

* [http://genkirockets.com/ Genki Rockets' official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/genkirockets Genki Rockets' official MySpace]