Welcome

Welcome to Hyoukai! Hyoukai (Japanese for frozen oceans) is an mp3 rotation created and maintained by Stephy, hosted by her good friend Yumi, which focuses on good music and weekly obsessions. Hyoukai is not genre-specific, however I tend to stick closely to Asian music--Japanese, Korean, Chinese--with the occasional twist of anything from English to Vietnamese or French to Hindi! Updates occur every week (sometimes two) and are currently on Tuesdays. Enjoy the music and please don't forget to check out the rules!

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Rules

1. Delete these songs after 24 hours. Everything here is intended for sampling purposes only.
2. Any files that you download are your responsibility. You download at your own risk and I am not responsible for computer deaths or comas.
3. Please do not hotlink my files. Redirect your friends to this mp3 rotation instead!
4. Support the artists! If you like the music, buy it. Yesasia or iTunes both have great selections!
5. Comments are very much appreciated!
6. IP addresses are logged on the shoutbox and the comments form, so don't abuse it.

Link In

Here are some buttons to link back. Pick any one you want, just please upload them to your own server. Thanks! :D

Affiliates

I love my affiliates! Wanna be one? Email me.
Please email me for affiliation only! Thank you!

Recently Listened

Layout

Name: Let Me Hear Your Voice
Version: 5
Features: Big Bang in their "Koe wo Kikasete" PV
Fonts: Lane Narrow, Velvet
Image Credits: Me; I screencapped them myself.
Brush Credits: Spiritsighs
Programs: Photoshop Elements 6, PSP7, Notepad
Lyrics: Big Bang - Koe wo Kikasete (English translation)
Comments: I know I said this last time, but this is definitely my favorite version of Hyoukai! Not only does it feature the awesome amazing BIG BANG, but I put a lot of hard work and time into this layout and I really love the end result. <3 I used screencaps that I took myself of Big Bang's "Koe wo Kikasete" PV and I combined them with a lot of handmade effects, like the swirl running through the middle. I actually used some brushes this time, mostly textures and clocks and flowers. I decided to use Lane Narrow again for the main font in the layout, because I just like how H Y O U K A I looks in that font. I consider it to be sort of the ~signature font~ or whatever you want to call it. xD All in all, I love this layout and I love these guys. <3 After converting to PHP, this website should look fine in all browsers. Please keep in mind that it was designed mainly for Opera and Firefox, so it will look best in those browsers. :)

Closing

Hyoukai is a proud member of the Yasashii-Ame.net network. Hyoukai exists for the sampling of music and is in no way intended to be an alternative to purchasing music. No infringement is intended and all music is copyright to the original artists.

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Part of: MP3 Rotations @ Last.fm

News

2/2/10 - Updated with a new rotation! Also, just a quick note! My affiliate, Monolithic, (formerly Life In Mono) has moved! She has a beautiful new layout and a great new rotation up, so please go pay Diana a visit at Monolithic!

Rotation #42 - February 2nd, 2010

Lisa Yamaguchi - ROYAL ROSE feat. AK-69
Genre: R&B / Clubbish :D!
Language: Japanese / English
Comments: OH MY GOSH. This was a total "love at first listen" song for me! <3 This song reminds me a little of "Love goes like..." by Koda Kumi, probably because of the synth sounds in the background and the "Everybody get your hands up to the sky~" line that reminds me of LGL's chorus. I really like AK-69's rapping in this song. It sounds really smoooooooth and he fits in really well with Lisa's pretty vocals. I'm getting a bit of a club feel from this song, but it's more of the R&B club genre. GREAT song!
Download

Kelly Chen - Zai Jian Bei Ji Xue (featuring Stephen Fung)
Genre: Cpop / Ballad
Language: Mandarin
Comments: This is one of my favorite C-ballads. :D I had another version of this song for such a long time, but (while the other version is still nice) I prefer this version, because it has a little more power to it and I LOVE the way that Kelly sings it! She has a gorgeous voice. This is a rather pretty song and Stephen and Kelly compliment each other really well. I like that they sing together in the chorus, it sounds sweet. Parts of this song remind me of Melodies of Life by Emiko Shiratori, haha. It just has that gentle, soothing vibe to it.
Download

Sa Ding Ding - Ha Ha Li Li
Genre: Traditional / Electronic / Creepy and awesomeeee
Language: Chinese
Comments: Everything about this song is just so interesting and amazing to me! It is from Sa Ding Ding's new album, Harmony, and it is just this epic song packed full of creepy wailing, tribal-sounding drums, lyrics like "sha la la la la" and (to top it all off) a GREAT beat. This song is just so mystical and eerie, like something you'd listen to during Halloween. This is just such a cool song. The video is also one of my new favorite videos!! <3
Download

Koda Kumi - Step In To My World
Genre:Jpop / Hip Hop / CLUB~
Language: Japanese / English
Comments: YES!! This is the first track from Kuu's new album (which is pretty darn good, IMO!) and as soon as the music kicked in, I knew I was going to love this song. The infectious beats and synths laced all throughout this song are pretty crazy and I just can't stop tapping the beat out on my keyboard. It's actually kind of hard to type like this. xD I love the chorus of this song so freaking much, though. All of the "Hey!"s in the background hype me up so much! If you like Koda's hot club songs, you won't want to miss this. :D
Download

Cat Tien - Ooh La La
Genre: Pop
Language: Vietnamese
Comments: Just by looking at the cover of Cat's "Ooh La La" album, you get an idea what the title track is going to sound like. It's very Egyptian-influenced with a bit of a 90s pop/dance feel and I became addicted to it very quickly! Probably because of the Egyptian influences in this song combined with the the little English bits thrown in here and there--"Come closer~"--it gives off a bit of a mysterious vibe. This is one of my favorite Vietnamese songs. ^^
Download

Faye Wong - Hua Shi Liao (Withered Flower)
Genre: Acoustic / Ballad
Language: Cantonese
Comments: I wanted to rotate another song from Faye this week because I've been in the mood for her music a lot lately. Hua Shi Liao is such a beautiful song and it just puts me in this really peaceful, calm mood when I listen to it. The song itself sounds very calm and mellow with acoustic guitars being the prominent instruemnts. Faye seems to just whisper the lyrics in her gorgeous voice and it really helps to set the mood. It's a very, very nice song that I'm sure any fan of Faye or any fan of ballads will love.
Download

Semi-Permanent Songs

Big Bang - Koe wo Kikasete (Let Me Hear Your Voice)
Genre: Jpop / R&B / Ballad
Language: Japanese / English
Comments: When I first heard this song, I just absolutely fell in love with it because it is just gorgeous. The music is really pretty and it almost feels wintery in some parts while still maintaining an R&B edge. Their vocals are the star here, though. They all just sound so good here. I love how the song flows so smoothly, even when transitioning from singing to rapping, which happens near the end with a rap between T.O.P and G-Dragon. I honestly can't even explain to you how much I love this song.. you just have to download it and see for yourself why I love it so much! I highly recommend this!
Download

Permanent Songs

Shiny Toy Guns - Frozen Oceans
Genre: Rock / Female-fronted
Language: English
Comments: This is the song that I named my mp3 rotation after. I thought it would be nice to have a Japanese name, so Yumi found me the Japanese translation for frozen oceans, which is hyoukai and I used that! This song is absolutely gorgeous. It's sort of slow and mystical and it just sounds like a song that would be about frozen oceans. For some reason, it also reminds me of Final Fantasy VII, so every time I hear this, I think of the part where you have to drive the submarine around underwater. I don't know why. xD
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