Leaderboard

never played guilty gear or blazblue but this live album is so fucking good.

Sadie Pink Galaxy (XA-VAT, SPEECIES, JUBILEE) and Közi (XA-VAT, ZIZ, VAMQUET etc.) have been hinting at working together on something in the past few months, and now Sadie broke the news on Twitter. They will release a single titled 今夜はロマンシングー (Kon'ya wa RomancinGoo) under the project name SADIY&KÖZIY. The record will contain 3 new songs plus their karaoke versions, and it will be released both as a CD and as a cassette sometime later in June (I think?). The style looks very '80s pop, so I'm curious what this will sound like.

The people who were calling that the next fad to replace the Metalcore trend in VK would be KPOP and soundcloud music were right. Guess that makes 8P-SB true pioneers, lol. I know I am ranting and whining a lot about it that it's insufferable, but still… I am very bothered by the direction VK has taken in the last ten years. I know rock music has lost it's mainstream popularity and kids these days aren't rebelling by listening to edgy guitar based music, but by jamming to Billie Eilish and Lil Peep and whoever they are. But I feel VK's identitiy is so strongly tied to rock, even the stuff that was quite electronic (like Schwarz Stein) reflected it through its songwriting and -structure. That kinda changed with the advent of first western Metalcore copycats (which imo deprived VK of its unique blend of sound of post-punk and Heavy Metal) and then the introduction of annoying dance and electronic beats and shitty "synths". Now we reached the point where stuff like is so far removed from what VK was. Can't say if it's good or bad, it's evolving after all and that can't be stopped… but I am worried that VK, which is already meaningless and super niche in japan, will just completely dissolve and assimilate into this big pot of "hip" pop and microgenre stuff. Not sure if I make sense, it's a bit tricky to express what irks me.

YESSS give the people what they want (and what they want is sweet sweet grainy in-livehouse camera recordings).

Too drunk to remember...

As usual Japanese bands have no concept of the idea of "rare videos". Bring out the fuzzy VHS recording of their first live performance.

For real, Kai is so good, but he's put out so little in his career, who knows why, but more Vamquet is needed. DÄLLE are on the back burner while HATE HONEY are restarting activities and it looks like XA-VAT and ZIZ aren't coming out with anything since the new ZIZ is already finished. Come on Közi, while there's still time!

This sounds like a song used for a commercial for an online university.

wow what the fuck is this. I wasn't expecting much, but I listened to the SoundCloud song a few times and quite enjoyed it even tho it wasnt what id anticipate...but this sounds like when you go to an all inclusive package resort hotel on the red sea and the hotel chain has a special generic summer song with their resort name in it that they play by the beach volleyball.

I agree. Perhaps they tried to court everyone, but in the end failed to get them. Perhaps they withdrew behind Mana's artistic direction, and thus all MM less Gackt were dropped off Columbia; I can't imagine him, even Kozi or Yuuki playing pop, putting up 00s 64 bits softvi rockers aesthetics, surrounded by group of dancers, etc. They are artists, I think that's clear. Kozi, like Mana, even at the cost of losing their mainstream status (a thing that history has reserved to less than 10 bands in Japanese music history, even Dir or the Gazette never had the attention MM received from the media in the late 90s), decided to move on and run after a consistent artistic project within their own worldview. On the other hand, Gackt brought iconic moments to VK and J-rock (Mizerable, Vanilla, Redemption) but generally speaking he did the stuff that would attract masses.

人間失格-第一の手記- (Human Disqualification-First Note-) これは僕等の新しい物語の序章である。 (This is the beginning of our new story.)

It's okay, Közi did too.

I'm realliy looking forward to this one! Man I totally forgot about Vamquet damn

Yeee make oyaji-kei great again ♡

Haven't posted here in a while. Since February, I got all this stuff: https://imgur.com/a/OQmOcCj That is: sukekiyo - 接触 (Cassette) sukekiyo - ANIMA (CD + Blu-ray) DIR EN GREY - 激しさと、この胸の中で絡み付いた灼熱の闇 (CD + DVD) DIR EN GREY - ARCHE AT NIPPON BUDOKAN (2Blu-ray + CD) - gonna return this one though, the seller marked it as DVD, not Blu-ray .__. DIR EN GREY - DECADE 2003-2007 Dir en grey - 列島激震行脚 Final 2003 5 Ugly Kingdom ‎(DVD) Outline In Color - Jury of Wolves (CD) and a bunch of magazines if any of the bands interest you, let me know and I'll scan their pages

Gt.Mel has left the band on 2020/05/21.

vo.びxび is looking for new components (Gt.Ba.Dr.). More details in the tweet:

Ba.エレン(Eren) has left the band on 2020/06/04.

Mugen Minus started in 2006 and was a 4 piece electro folk band started by vocalist Jinpei Endo after his previous band Cock Roach ended in 2005. Cock roach was a musically dark and heavy whereas mugen minus was quite the opposite in terms of sound. It was acoustic and folky. I consider both bands to be two different sides of the same coin. Eventually mugen minus added Cock Roach's bassist Honda Chuya in 2007 to become a 5 piece. mugen minus released their first album '死んだはずの僕の旅行' or 'The journey in which I should have died' in 2006, from which shissha ressha was the opening track. The band released a single in 2007 with new member Honda on bass and then released another album 'Perfect World' in 2008. Unfortunately in 2010, percussionist 前川和磨 was arrested for internet fraud, the things I vaguely remember was that it might have been related to a pornography website, and in typical Japanese fashion, he left or was fired from the band, and the whole band paused activities. In 2008, shortly after mugen minus released 'Perfect World', Jinpei and Honda released a work under the name '博士と蟋蟀', hakase to korogi or 'The Doctor and the Cricket' which thematically was closer to Cock roach's harder and darker sound. Eventually mugen minus reformed in 2014 or 2015 but never recorded anything again and only played a few shows before Jinpei and Honda started officially reviving their high school band Cock Roach in 2017. More info here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaEPaEUJYJf_F-QP00b3qDQ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/COCK_ROACH https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/無限マイナス (I just realized I should make an artist thread for these bands as there's virtually nothing about them in English except through this connection from munimuni)

Holy shit! I remember stumbling upon that Mugen Minus band completely randomly ages ago and not knowing who they were. Nice to suddenly find them here of all places

No problem~ Here's a translation for munimuni's He that I'm pretty sure I did. It's timestamped September 18, 2008....so it's been kicking around on my computer for a while and I probably haven't looked at it since then so I can't guarantee the quality but I would guess it's 90% there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ムニムニ ヒー ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The moonlight illuminates the sorrowful curtains. We dance around. Until we return to sand... On that day, I heard a Cry for the moonlight... It's you, just you, I want to know. The season's breeze sways the memories, the scents and the shadows We sing out loud, to the small star above us. On that day, we exchanged a few words. And even now I still can't forgive what you said. All of the future emotions pile up and begin to overflow. The moonlight, the smiling face, the laughter. All in that dark decadence. On that day, I heard a prayer. (he, he, he is xxx...) We were making love. (he, he, he is xxx...) I actually detest it a little. (he, he, he is xxx...) The sound of a broken music box (he, he, he is xxx...) imprisons your profile and fingertips... All of the painful emotions pile up and begin to overflow. It'll be forgiven in this nightmare's darkness. Words and memories burst open. On that day, I saw the tears flow. (he, he, he is xxx...) We were making love. (he, he, he is xxx...) I actually detest it a little. (he, he, he is xxx...) The sound of the broken music box (he, he, he is xxx...) imprisons that encounter to which I say goodbye... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm actually a huge fan of the original shissha ressha by mugen minus and I heard that version before munimuni released their cover. muni's cover was great too but the original is so epic to me that I consider it one of my top 5 favorite Japanese songs. While my Japanese comprehension is probably basic at best, I find the lyrics to be quite poetic. The whole train and death imagery really works well with the minimal folk electro sound mugen had. I liked it so much that I asked a former Japanese coworker to correct my translation which was quite rough back when I did it and he essentially translated it from scratch. I'm not sure if I ever shared this with anyone before: =================================================================================================== 黒蛾を散りばめた夜空 The black moth is framed in the night sky 喪服の行列が街を歩く A procession dressed in black walking the streets それぞれの色の風船持って Each and every one of them holding a different colored balloon 透明な僕をすり抜けた (they) slipped through me being transparent 手放した風船は空高く They release their balloons high into the sky それにつられ僕も宙に浮いた And I followed them (balloons) infectiously into the sky 誰もいない月の駅に着くと And I landed on an empty station on the moon 発車のべルー度だけ響いた the boarding bell lets out its sound just once 走り出した夜の空きれいで the view of night sky from the running train looks so beautiful 君を忘れくないよ I don't want to forget about you. 走り出した夜の空きれいで the view of night sky from the running train looks so beautiful 君を忘れくないよ I don't want to forget about you. いつ空けたか忘れたジャムパンの様に Just like a Jampan that I don't remember when I opened it, (bread with Jam -a popular sweet in Japan and it usually sells being packed with plastic bag.) 透明で乾いた冷気を吐き出して exhaling transparent, dry cold air, いつ空けたか忘れたジャムパンの様に Just like a Jampan that I don't remember when I opened it, 誰にも気付かれないまま旅立つよ I'm going to embark on this journey without anyone noticing! 走り出した夜の空きれいで the view of night sky from the running train looks so beautiful 君を忘れくないよ I don't want to have to forget about you! 走り出した汽車の窓きれいで The window (or view from the window) of the running train looks so beautiful, 君を殺したくないよ I don't want to kill you. もう僕はこのまま 死んでしまうのだろうな。 I guess I'm supposed to pass on as I am 流るる蛾の川を渡り Ferrying across the flowing swarm of a moth river 空より高い空を目指し High above the sky, aiming towards the Heavens =================================================================================================== Translator Notes: I think the tricky part was いつ開けたか忘れたジャムパンのように 透明で乾いた冷気を吐き出した I think what the writer is trying to say is Jampan was left a while ago and people don't care about it and nobody knows when it was opened. And this guy feels like that Jampan which is forgotten by people.. I guess. But then this line contradicts earlier part of the lyrics Just extra info on Jampan, maybe this is just me and could be very subjective but.. if a guy talks about jampan, then jampan often would reminds people of junior and high school era. Teenage boys would buy jampan at a small store in school as a snack. I dont know too many guys eating Jampan after they become adult. (well actually then they become older than 50 or 60, I can see them eating Jampan.) So, what i am trying to say is that "Jampan" could have a (nostalgic) nuance of school days. It is something teenagers used to eat before they get adult. But I am not sure if this nuance is intended in this lyrics, though.. =================================================================================================== And for anyone who hasn't heard the original: And extra bonus random information. Another band 'キアロスタミ' covered this song and released it a few months before mugen minus ever did. I've never listened to it as that band was very tiny and fell out of existence by the late 00s and the CDs are impossible to fine (I've been searching loosely for 15 years almost!) but it has to say something when 2 bands cover a song barely after it's been around.

Gokimi Babie 🥰

MAMIRETA NEW SINGLE 死因:解散 ...

I just recovered some of my old music and this post made for the perfect excuse to dig this album out of the vault. Its been so long that its gonna be like hearing it for the first time again. I'm only two songs in and its a banger, but I'm getting all of the nostalgic feeeeeelllssss. Edit: Move On Darkness stands out from the previous songs in a good way and the ending vocals gave me tingles. B.C. is just one of those songs that is very easy to listen to without being boring. The guitar solo breaks it up nicely, so for that I love it. I'll listen to Eve just for the piano intro. Freesia is definitely the perfect way to end to the album. Overall, I'm team Move On Darkness as my favorite. I just viiibbbe with it. The album is very cohesive and like others have said it has that story telling quality that sets apart an album from being just music, to an entire experience.

bad

This is Junon And This is Ryoga

Gackt said in his 2018 platinum photobook that the other members were already in a weired relationship when he just joined the band, it's on the verge of disbanding so it's clearly not his fault to break up all the things. And it was him who was trying to negotiating and putting things up together. Although he felt weired but it was just a job so he withstood it. So it's all other members' fault. Among all things Gackt said, I think there are at least some truth in it: He said all MM members are very unsociable and laid-back person. He wondered who was going to take the role to communicate with outside after he left. And when he was in the band he had to urge everyone to do their job. However now we know Gackt is a very strict overman about his job, maybe they didnt know it back in 20 years and would blame him for it

Thanks! Yeah there's no going back I think there must be something in the water........

Glad to see I'm not the only one who was suddenly raised from the dead after random nostalgic angura stuff😳

it's not embedding, but here's their artist page on spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ipTXCYZqGOtgjUAeDu3NA?si=-yg7dvioRQ6sFzvxiB8Uww