MUSIC Trying to put the magic back into music…Making lasting songs that will be listened to forever…In an age when music is consumed as just another commercial product, Japanese rock band Quruli make a specific point of pursuing their ideals. Ideals they say are unchanged from the time they started out. [YOMIURI]

MUSIC The Cure, Groove Armada and Jarvis Cocker are among the Western acts lining up to play the opening night of the Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba, Niigata Prefecture. [BBC]

MUSIC Japan’s karaoke crooners are choosing to go it alone in unprecedented numbers, according to Shukan Post [MSN MAINICHI]

MUSIC Singer Yumi Matsutoya has been awarded a Russian order of merit for her contribution to Japanese-Russian friendship through her entertainment show “Shangrila,” which features Russian circus performers and synchronized swimmers. [MSN MAINICHI]

MUSIC The music festival “ap bank fes’07″, held at the destination resort Tsumagoi in Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, cancelled on Friday the first day of the festival because of Typhoon No. 4, which is predicted to pass Shizuoka on that day.

MUSIC Half-Japanese, half-American rock band Monkey Majik was first in history to top the USEN corporation’s request chart, with their hit song Sora wa maru de. (2)

GAMES Everyone who is anyone in the game music industry gathered at Tokyo’s Studio Coast on Saturday for the Extra – Hyper Game Music Event 2007. Hordes of fans poured into the venue as the gates opened, eager to enjoy the performances of some of their favorite composers. (1)

MUSIC Japanese rock band The Brilliant Green is set to begin performing again for the first time in five years with the single “Stand by me,” which will be used as the opening song in the drama Tantei Gakuen Q (Detective School Q), it has been learned. [MSN MAINICHI]

MUSIC Popular rock band Road of Major are to break up. The quartet announced the decision Tuesday, saying they don’t plan to hold a farewell concert. The upcoming DVD “Golden Road Films” (on sale July 18) will be their final release. [JAPAN ZONE]

MUSIC The four-man Osaka-native rockband Ulfuls’ song “Ryoho for you” has been chosen as theme song for this summer’s Koshien high school baseball tournament, it was learned Monday.

MUSIC Sting’s 1987 hit song “An Englishman in New York” has been covered by Himeji-native Masao Taneura, given Japanese lyrics and turned into a tale of the woes and challenges of being a Kansai native living in Tokyo.

MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.Singer/actress Yumiko Araki announced June 2 that she will once more take up her singing career, which she left behind her 27 years ago when she married singer Masayuki Yuhara.

MUSIC A release party for singer/actress Aya Ueto’s new single “Namida no Niji” (Rainbow of Tears) was held at TV Asahi’s Roppongi office in Tokyo. “Namida no niji” is the lead song for the Japanese drama “Hotelier”, in which Aya Ueto also plays the leading role.