beni

I still love most of the ones in the 'bad' sections but supporting and upping both Jun Togawa and Shinsei Kamattechan as well for such good WTF-inducing vocals! Love them so much, I was already prepared to bring them up until I read through the thread ehe.
 
As for contributing, I do have a 'bad' one. As soon as I saw the thread, I thought, 'I actually have one I can safely say even I can only listen to for a bit and then must take one hell of a long ass break from it.' xD
Tokami's Agato, newest vocalist. He sounds just.. so bad... And not only to me either, he seems quite popular to the fans for being pretty bad as a singer haha. And yet, we still love it. xD

OMG Lycaon....4 Feb. Need to sell some shit so I can buy it. I can't believe it's so close!!!!!!!

Slow clap for @Zeus. This man does an unspeakable amount of work for MH that most will never even realize.
 

Artist: Jupiter Album: THE HISTORY OF GENESIS Score: The Birth of Venus. The Death of Creativity.
Visual Kei is a world of its own; a patchwork scene that mixes and matches various established genres and reinterprets them under its own musical and aesthetic niches. The peculiarities found within the scene - which can range from vocal style, visuals, songwriting, marketing ploys, to general band ethics - are usually recognizable, but also fleeting at best. When you add in the fact that any given Visual Kei band can have an entirely different set of musical influences, this renders comparison to the "source" of those influences a fruitless task outside of music historicism. Visual Kei is best appreciated from within, with some kind of inside narrative. Something that explains how Visual Kei operates or the rationale behind a band's artistic choices. However, sometimes you'll come across a band that defies a narrative - for better or worse. Jupiter is one such band.
On their sophomore effort "THE HISTORY OF GENESIS", it's painfully apparent that they fall in between the cracks of being a successful metal band with Visual Kei aesthetics and a Visual Kei band that has effectively appropriated metal into their repertoire. Instead, they sound like a lukewarm imitation of both - neither delivering from a metal standpoint, nor fully embracing the artistic nooks of Visual Kei. Some of the most "thrashing" moments of the album, like opener "The Birth of Venus", single track "LAST MOMENT" and "ARCADIA", are marred by hackneyed power-metal songwriting and technical, yet emotionless instrumentation that fails to engage. It's as if guitarists HIZAKI and TERU are literally riffing in one ear and out the other. Even the harder hitting songs like "Darkness" and "絶望ラビリンス" lack punch and wouldn't warrant headbanging, much less a simple head nod.
But beyond the lackluster songwriting and sterile musicianship, THE HISTORY OF GENESIS suffers from a host of other issues, one of which is ZIN - Jupiter's vocalist. As a metal vocalist --power-metal in particular-- ZIN doesn't cut it. He lacks the soaring, dynamic range and the theatrical bravado necessary to be compelling. His harsher vocal attempts, as heard in tracks "SACRED ALTAR" and "Darkness", are weak and struggle to be heard amidst all of the drab riffage. Even by Visual Kei standards, ZIN's vocals are thoroughly uncharacteristic. There are no tortured quirks or endearing imperfections to add charm to his performance. So while ZIN isn't a remarkably good vocalist or an offensively bad one, he still occupies an awkward musical territory - one that simultaneously falls short of the expectations of metal and the appeal of Visual Kei.
The final nail in this album's coffin was hammered in by its wearisome length and seemingly asinine arrangement. Of course, metal albums are usually protracted affairs, but with 14 tracks and a duration 10 minutes shy of your average feature-film, there just isn't enough quality material here to justify sitting through it. Omitting a few tracks or trimming some of the fat would have done some good. Running at nearly 8 minutes, title track "The History of Genesis" is a progressive behemoth that feels like more of a chore than an immersive epic. Even with the track being placed near the end (it's the last track on the limited edition), it just feels like a tired recap of the entire album, as opposed to an actual climax. Instrumental guitar ballad "Church Candle", as dull as it is, would have served more effectively as an intro or an outro. Instead it's slapped right in the middle of the album and adds no sense of progression or logical flow. "Shining" is another unfortunate curveball in which Jupiter delves into an oshare kei-esque pop-punk number. Normally, a band's attempt to diversify their sound would be laudable, but in the the context of the album it comes off as half-baked filler.
Though for all of its weaknesses, THE HISTORY OF GENESIS isn't without some merit. One of the band's strongest showings was, ironically, the only song composed by ZIN - "Red Carnation". This track revels in everything Jupiter tried but failed to accomplish with the rest of the album. All of the symphonic and neo-classical elements are kicked into high gear, and ZIN even duets with a female vocalist, giving their music a much needed spark. "THE MOON", however, is the album's most standout track. It's a groovy, mid-tempo ballad where HIZAKI and TERU put the power chords and the chugging on hold to embrace smoother guitar tones. There's even an unexpected, but extremely welcome jazz breakdown. Unlike "Shining", this is an instance in which Jupiter tried something new without deviating from the tone of album or abandoning their core sound.
It's obvious that Jupiter has all of the tools to impress; they're just misusing them 80% of the time. If HIZAKI loosened his compositional stranglehold and allowed more new ideas to flow in and if ZIN were a bit more convincing, then Jupiter could become a force to be reckoned with. But as THE HISTORY OF GENESIS has shown, Jupiter is stuck in an uninspired artistic limbo devoid of a narrative. Whether your musical inclinations lie with metal or Visual Kei, this album is sure to leave you entirely apathetic.

http://www. mediafire. com/download/y32eb41uxmzmaao/Slow.mp3 try this (erase spaces)

Ya'll aren't ready for my playlist xD
 
look forward to it

BRING IT ON SAKU. I'm excited for every play~.

*stares at clock all day*
 
edit: made a typo had to fix it... >>;

Some more theme suggestions:
Non-singles (album songs that never got a single release)
60's/70's
<3:00 in length
Solo artists
Artist ABC's (first to plug plays an artist starting with letter A, next up is B, etc. until we get to Z and repeat the process)
Song ABC's (ditto but with song titles)
Songs with a woman's name in its title
Songs with a geographical location in its title (cities, countries, rivers, deserts...)
 
And I want to give my support to the 80's, 90's, Non-Japanese and Covers themes too!

iTunes. Before I first found out about any such thing as downloading from the net, I'd be on the iTunes browsing 24/7. In the same way I'll get attached to the first listen of a song/album of a musician more so then any other later heard work, I'm like this with finding musicians. My favourites I had first found on iTunes have never changed from my top spot over the couple of years I've been listening to this area of music. Managed to keep this story short for once lol. xD

As some of you may know, My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND is basically my super band because of SKULL and Tenten. 
My favorite member is Daisuke, and I've been following him and the rest of SKULL since 2004. Because this is my favorite band right now, I decided to do a drawing of each member, my first being Daisuke~
 

woooooooooo~ poop.

I listen since I wrote that review all time to this single. Its so good. I never thought Kazuha would give this kind of flow to this band. (since I didn't like him in Sound Bee and Blood at all) But he totally gave Tokami a good vibe again.
 
Hopefully more people will check Tokami out! They truly turned into something really good!~
Starwave or not... sometimes its not that bad if a band is under our dear Kiwamu (^_-)/
 
 
Now I'm even thinking to buy the LIVE DVD too. I'm not sure yet. But I still have time to think about it ^^

Thank you for the review and link to hearing it. I hadn't given these guys a listen in ages, but I keep them in mind because of those brilliantly awful vocals from Agato. x'D I'm interested now having read you said it's an improvement and wow, you weren't lying. It's a lot more bareable then past songs and flows surprisingly well in all 3 tracks. I must have been listening to their worst tracks! They're all pretty awesome in this release! 

Another Starwave Records Release.
 
I follow Tokami since they joined Starwave Records, but I felt in love with them at 2012/07/13 after seeing them live.
 
This is their first release with guitarist and composer Kazuha and because of him they have improved their music even more.
 
CD tracklist
01. Addicted Lover
02. Sayonara no Hate ni Ame ha furite
03. Luminescence
 
For me it aren't songs to headbang on but more to dance very wild. However the first song also let me think a bit of dieS album "VICTIM".
All 3 songs are wild and fast. Heavy rock feeling but totally no headbang feeling for myself (which will be different for many I guess )
All 3 songs have a similar way of melody they really fit each other to play this single over and over again. \Agato's voice has truly improved if you compare it with their last mini-album.
It also let me think a bit of "CELL"  mix of dieS and CELL.
 
I don't really know what to write more about this single. I really like this single. I will buy this single on a CD soon enough. because its worth the money.
 

If it was maybe a bit more Heavy I would have given it 5 stars
 
 
Well check it out HERE

Seiko Oomori and her "backup unit"* (band, in this case) "The Pink Tokarev" will have a self-cover album called "Tokarev" out @4/3/2015
 
Promo pic:

Tracklist:
 
01 hayatochiri
02 ワンダフルワールドエンド
03 少女３号
04 みかんのうた
05 ミッドナイト清純異性交遊
06 料理長の音楽は豚肉の焼ける音だった
07 新宿
08 Over the party
09 苺フラッペは溶けていた
10 最終公演
11 歌謡曲
12 これで終わりにしたい
 
Source: Seiko's OHP
 
*think of Ringo Sheena's "Tokyo Jihen" or Jun Togawa's "Yapoos" for instance
 
+ Seiko hinted something about revealing the idea behind their "sudden visual (kei) looks" in the near future (Pretsy's note: visual kei parodies? Oh my...)

Oh holy garlic. That makes my comment sound sick! xD
 
On another depressing note after that backshot (x'D); losing passwords to anything is the most distressing thing ever. Thank you, well remembering and good keeping of things self, wayta go~ -.-''

METAL FOR ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING~
Seriously though, it can vary quite often, and for different reasons. I usually always listen to a type of music depending what mood I'm in or how I'm feeling because, if I'm not, it becomes quite tricky for me to bare with it if it doesn't correspond to how I'm thinking at that moment. So, homework wise, if it's something like maths, I prefer some ambient/classical music. Just gets me more relaxed and focused. Dare I say it, even some math genre listening makes me focus on the task at hand, aha. Or no noise at all if I can help it (I'm a music-holic, I'll need music for every chore if I can). If it's something more creative needing, like photography or art, then I'll listen to some high vocals or hyper stuff like J-pop or Oshare-kei.
Thumbs up for thread revival Pho!

don't care about TeddyLoid but this amv is fucking awesome and deserves its own thread. 

Via Facebook and YouTube, 吉澤嘉代子 (Kayoko Yoshizawa) has announced her first full album, entitled 箒星図鑑 (houkiboshi zukan). Throughout 2013 and 2014, she put out three mini-albums.
 

2015.3.4
CRCP-40399　￥2,778
 
1. ストッキング
2. 逃飛行少女
3. 未成年の主張 (from first mini-album, 魔女図鑑)
4. ブルーベリーシガレット
5. なかよしグルーヴ
6. キルキルキルミ
7. 美少女 (from second mini-album, 変身少女)
8. チョベリグ (from second mini-album, 変身少女)
9. ケケケ (from third mini-album, 幻倶楽部)
10. シーラカンス通り (from third mini-album, 幻倶楽部)
11. 泣き虫ジュゴン (from first mini-album, 魔女図鑑)
12. 雪
13. 23歳




===============================================================================

I marked the songs I recognized on the tracklist and indicated which release they came from. I'm thinking at least the ones from the first mini will be rerecorded, since that was during her indie period.

Finally got a spark of motivation in me to try my best in work after being shown this motivational video in assembly at college today.

I don't say this often but, thank you for encouraging us lazy students to try, school. I did well up, okay? I admit it. You did well, Senseis. I am happy.

This thread topic is too good not to revive, so since Cat gave me permission, I'm going to bring it back from the dead.
 
For me, music is an absolute must when it comes to studying or just getting shit done in general, but it largely depends on what type of music I'm listening to. Specifically, predominantly instrumental music that features notable rhythmical interplay, with calming (or just not 'in your face') sentiments tends to work really well for me. Examples of artists that have a lot of music like this include toe, how to count one to ten, and haisuinonasa. There's something about different instrumental sections combining in such a precise way to create something that's holistically greater than the sum of its parts that puts me in the perfect mood for being productive myself. 
 
The other type of music that I find can be rather helpful has already been mentioned by Sai and Cat, namely IDM. For example, artists like Solar Fields and Ametsub tend to be extremely effective. Once again I find that the most important thing is that the music has to be calming, but not in that sort of 'putting you to sleep' sort of way; rather, I need it to be calming enough that I don't get particularly stressed nor overly distracted, but 'active' enough that it keeps my brain subconsciously processing things.

Just wanted to make an easy to follow list of the themes we've done and the themes that still need consideration.
If I got anything wrong please let me know, I haven't been to every plug session so maybe I could have missed something. ^^;;
 
Completed themes: Winter/Christmas Male & Female Vocalists  Female Vocalists   Upcoming themes: Soundtrack music   Themes still under consideration: 80s music 90s music Visual Kei only International/Non-Japanese only Kpop only Covers Female Vocalist p.2 Comedy

alternative, indie hip-hopper daoko will release her 3rd album "Dimension" on 2015.02.04!

01. ニルバーナ (feat. Jinmenusagi Pro. DJ6月)
02. 8階 (Pro. DubbyMaple)
03. サイケデリック / OKOK (Pro. Paranel / EeMu)
04. ミルクティ (feat. Paranel Pro. EeMu)
05. オートリロード (Pro. Paranel)
06. fly (Pro. Terumasa Seto)
07. 7日間創造 (Pro. DJ6月)
08. エンドレス (Pro. EeMu)
09. そつぎょう (Pro. ESME)
10. Dimension (feat. 雨風食堂, GOMESS Pro. Paranel

Just a heads up for anybody that isn't aware, the date for the OST-themed plug that we discussed earlier in this thread was eventually set for this upcoming Thursday, so today's session will be (I presume) themeless.