beni

Happy happy birthday to @freesia, @Pikachu and @OmegaChaos! : DD Hope you`re having a great day, you guys!

so i was basically strongly urged to join these forums. so i did. and now i was strongly urged to post. so now i am.
this is my "hi i exist" post. i just really like symphonic vk bands okay.  
I've made this account about a month ago but I'm just now posting. 
 
Ah I'm from the US and I really like cats and bulldogs. 
For the most part I  really like Versailles, Jupiter,  Matenrou Opera , and a few other VK bands...
Honestly I really just like Queen, David Bowie, and Def Leppard, you know, 80s shit, but okay, I'm here.

Hello! Welcome, welcome, welcome~ Lovely to have you! If you happen to have any questions, do PM us members with a blue/red name! See you around, and have fun~

Hi everyone
 
My name is Komorebi, I am from Chile and after snooping around for a few days I decided to join this wonderful forum
 
I've been listening to VK/(J)Rock for about 5 years (yeah, not that long) and this year I started getting more into the newer bands, so there is A TON of music I do not know (this includes many older or "classic" bands from the 90's). That being said, I am open to any reccomendation. I'm more into melodic and clean vocals than growling but I give every band a shot to prove their worth and talent. I dislike judging a band based solely on their looks so I avoid youtube.
 
I hope I can get along with everyone here and maybe even make some good friend.
 
Have a great day/afternoon/evening~

Love you guys, thanks a bunch! You're all the darlings. ;-; 

ALSO @plastic_rainbow, YOU'RE OLDER THAN ME!? I swear I think the majority of everyone here is younger than me or my age. Only a few I think are around 23/24, lmao. X'D You're all young spiritually, I swear. 

And a happy birthday to @DeadlyClaris and @Nidafor today!

Love you guys, thanks a bunch! You're all the darlings. ;-; 

ALSO @plastic_rainbow, YOU'RE OLDER THAN ME!? I swear I think the majority of everyone here is younger than me or my age. Only a few I think are around 23/24, lmao. X'D You're all young spiritually, I swear. 

And a happy birthday to @DeadlyClaris and @Nidafor today!

Love you guys, thanks a bunch! You're all the darlings. ;-; 

ALSO @plastic_rainbow, YOU'RE OLDER THAN ME!? I swear I think the majority of everyone here is younger than me or my age. Only a few I think are around 23/24, lmao. X'D You're all young spiritually, I swear. 

And a happy birthday to @DeadlyClaris and @Nidafor today!

happy birthday @beni!!! ^0^/
didn't know you were younger than me~

Happy birthday, @beni! Hope it's a great one. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @benidarling  

Tracklist:
1. White Breath
2. Divers
3. Through The Deep
4. Heat
5. Anchorless Ship
6. Night Time (Petite Noir Remix)   
 | Brief rain on our parade or a sinking ship?

The fin. is one of the few Japanese indie bands that have managed to gain oh-so-coveted international attention. This is not only due to their accessible lyrics (god knows ‘the West’ has an aversion to music that isn’t in English), but also their more Western-oriented musical style (I’ve seen comparisons to Phoenix). They're completely unlike anything from J-indie favorites such as 凛として時雨 (Ling Tosite Sigure) or Cinema Staff. Check my 2015 EOTY list and you’ll find The fin.’s gorgeous first album Days With Uncertainty, proudly featured. Unfortunately, I don’t foresee their latest EP having that privilege on this year’s list. So what went wrong on Through The Deep? Let’s dive in.
 
The EP opens up in strong form with “White Breath” picking up right where Days With Uncertainty left off. The song sports gorgeous bubbling synths and a dreamy, falsetto chorus. Sadly, the band doesn’t capitalize on this momentum and begins their descent on the following track. “Divers” has some funky flair, but overall, the song is repetitive and a bit of a snoozer. “Through The Deep,” ironically the EP’s title single, is where the band truly flounders. Despite a gorgeous video—though we already knew they had a great visual aesthetic with their "Night Time" PV—the song is disappointing. For some reason, Yuto curiously sings one note for 90% of the track. The delivery of this vocal monotony does nothing to highlight the beautiful music; instead, it just makes his Engrish sound clunky and robotic. “Heat” provides a soothing palate cleanser, but clocking in at just over a minute, it hardly leaves an impression, quickly evaporating into nothingness. “Anchorless Ship,” which first leaked last year on the band’s Soundcloud, is a commendable attempt to get the EP afloat again. Compared to the lush synthwork of “White Breath” and “Heat,” this track is distinguished by its sparse chirps. It has a slow buildup like “Divers,” but it is ultimately a welcome ‘new’ direction for the band and the most successful on this particular release, despite the cheap fade out.

It has been stormy seas so far, so how does The fin. finish off the EP? With a goddamn remix. Rarely has a remix gotten me excited and “Night Time (Petite Noir Remix)” does absolutely nothing to change my mind. In fact, this is one of the most egregious remixes I’ve heard, simply due to the injustice it inflicts upon one of the band’s flagship tracks. The vocals are reprogrammed in some strange off-beat way and the buoyant guitar riffs are replaced and flattened into repetitive wubbly bass notes. It’s a total throwaway track – the rancid icing on an already underwhelming cake. Though I seem to be in the minority (the EP has been pretty well-received in various English-language press outlets), Through The Deep sadly does not showcase the talent I heard in The fin.'s previous work. With a strong first EP (Glowing Red On The Shore) and debut album, they have occupied the unique liminal space between indie scenes in Japan and abroad. As the make their way through the deep (a.k.a. touring greater Asia and the UK), I hope they’ll gain inspiration and eventually put out another release that is on par with their first two. The fin. are better than this, plain and simple!
 
 
Support the band:
Amazon
HMV
CDJapan

Kenshi Yonezu - Amefuri Fujin
more like song of the WEEK...save me @beni
https://soundcloud.com/emily-ikeda/1mibmnocyb2f
 

This is exactly how it went for me too, I owe my introduction and appreciation of Post-Punk music to them and Lillies and Remains. And I agree SECRET POSTCARD is one of their best works.
 
As for the main post, that's a very convincing and well-written introduction to the band. It would definitely make me check them out if I had no idea who they were.
 
Not sure about the order, but my personal top 10 would look something like this:
1. Sleepwalker
2. Wire Tensioning Method
3. Witch
4. KMKZ
5. CRACK
6. Scent
7. Shooting Star
8. MANIAC (Michael Sembello cover)
9. B U G
10. LOVE
 

I didn't see this anywhere on the forum and thought maybe someone here would be interested. Solo artist S!N (sin) will release his major debut single "Salvation" under UNIVERSAL MUSIC on June 29, 2016.
 
 
 

Limited edition A: CD+DVD
 

Limited edition B: CD+Making book
 
 
Regular edition: CD
 
Tracklist
CD
01. Salvation
02. Mes
03. Aimai na bidan [曖昧な美談]
 
Tracks 4 through 6 included only in edition A and B 

04. Salvation [Instrumental]
05. Mes [Instrumental]
06. Aimai na bidan [曖昧な美談] [Instrumental]
 
DVD
01. Salvation MV
 
Purchase at CDJapan

A dub session where I can dub surprisingly good tracks sourced from god-awful VNs OAO?!?!?!
Count me in, lol. 

Okay so now that E3 is over and done. I would like to take the time to highlight some of the games that might not have gotten as much attention as some others, basically my top 10 overlooked games of E3! These are just different games that got me excited this year, but might not have gotten as much exposure as the bigger titles.
 
Kingdom Come: Deliverance

This is a little game from a small team called Warhorse Studios in the Czech Republic, comprised of veteran game designers in the industry and founded by Mafia Creator Dan Vávra. Okay so this is basically a medieval simulator being created with a focus on realism and historically correct events and mechanics. Quite honestly one of the most surprising games to come out of E3 for me, in the sense that I can't believe I haven't heard of it til last week. The whole Idea for this game is so compelling and right up my alley, they've definitely got my attention.
 
Let It Die

Finally it's that time again, when we can finally get a look at the latest game from Goichi Suda AKA Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. Once again Suda has presented us with something that is wholly unique and just what we'd expect from him in Let It Die and it's gore-y goodness and weird art and character design, of course with a side of vagueness when it comes o the story and plot I'm a big Suda 51 fan and I didn't even really know what he was working on recently, so I was quite surprised when I saw him showcasing this game at E3 and even more surprised to hear that this is a collaboration project with Gungho Online and a free to play game as well! Sounds like this could have the makings of something awesome, I'm most interested in hearing more about the online features, but we won;t have to wait to long for this info since the game is also coming out this year!
 
Aragami

This next game is something that has me really excited and I can't wait to play it. Aragami is a stealth/action adventure game that is best described as a supernatural Tenchu. It is being developed by Spanish game developer Lince Works and takes inspirations from Dishonored (super natural powers & stealth), Tenchu (stealth & punishing difficulty), and Metal Gear Solid (enemy A.I.). This here was enough to get me on board but then I saw the beautiful art style and aesthetic and instantly became enthralled. Game play is choice, meaning you can choose to go stealth or head on, it's up to you . The game incorporates Shadow (you) vs. Light (enemies) which I think is pretty cool.
 
Vampyr

Now this one is quite interesting and I have some pretty high hopes for this game after what I saw last week. Vampyr is a semi open world third person action RPG that takes place in 1918 London right after WW1 and the setting is based on the 1918 London Spanish flu pandemic. You play as Jonathan E. Reid, a doctor who has recently became a vampire and is struggling between his human conscience and medical upbringing to save people and his newly acquired vampire instincts and urges that compel him to kill innocent people. From what I've seen there are some pretty cool vampiric powers that can be acquired for use in battle and out of battle which leads me to believe that this game will have some pretty cool moral options for where you can take the story. Also it was stated that there will be a sort of detective aspect where you'll have to gather info on certain people throughout the game to decide whether you spare them or eat them. Overall this game looks really promising in my opinion.
 
Gravity Rush 2

How could I not talk about this game? I mean come on xD This sequel to the 2012 vita launch game and beloved cult classic among fans. This time around the game is being released on the PS4 and oh boy the advantages of the added horsepower is ridiculous. This game is for reals one of the best looking games I've seen on the system art wise and it's like night and day between this and the remaster version of the first game. You return as Kat from the first game and this is supposed to be a direct continuation for the end of the first game and also that not a lot of time has passed between the two. One thing I'm most excited is the gravity powers, while being very awesome in the first game there were times when it was a bit clunky and awkward, but from what I've seen so far it looks like they've been totally polished and work flawlessly.  The new setting also excites me and has me interested to explore this colorful open world especially with the awesome world traversal mechanic this series is known for. Also the new powers look sick, I don't really know to much about what's going on in the story because I had to stop myself from spoiling in some of the longer showcases.
 
 
I'll post the second half of this in a day or two when I get some more time in the meantime I hope I've been able to introduce some new games that might have flew over your head last week.

soundtrack dub this Sunday, yes, yes???

Teach us your ways, Gackt-senpai. 

Teach us your ways, Gackt-senpai. 

Teach us your ways, Gackt-senpai. 

With this you can not lose 
 

 

Teach us your ways, Gackt-senpai. 

Very true about the Starks not stooping to his level! I guess it goes to show that even after all they've been through, their characters are still in tact.
 
Also relevant
 

I've always sucked at keeping up with new anime seasons, but I love Berserk so much that I'm gonna have to attempt to! 
 
From the looks of it, they seem to be jumping straight into the middle of the story, yet they're still a good ways off from the part that actually gives meaning to the title. I wonder how they're gonna cater to newcomers who know nothing about the series, never saw the original anime, or never read the manga? There's SOO much emotional gravity, character development, and background in general that I feel is important to really grasp Berserk in all of its beauty. I'm not sure how they'll handle it, but I hope they don't cram everything into half-ass flashbacks.
 
@Original Saku - I've always preferred hand-drawn/2D animation. Call me old-school, but it's what I fell in love with watching animation in the early 90's. Regardless, Berserk is so great that I can look past the animation. I might even grow to like it!
 
@beni - date on July 1st, yeah, yeah? ; )