Amoz

@CAT5 I've been playing Suchmos on dub/plug for a long time now.
Also shame melacholic-sharaku releases aren't on any easy to buy sites.

Can't wait for this:
 

Our shipping manager just sent out individual orders as of tomorrow (they were closed today).  The German post and customs have been terribly slow because of the holidays, and didn't even contact us until a week after it had arrived. 
You should have your stuff within a week!

Izumi Macra (seems like she's changing toward Makura for the romaji) finally released MV from her upcoming album. The track name is 枕 (Makura = pillow), which is kinda self titled
The whole album is produced by nagaco btw.

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

...
You're forgiven.
 
I've been recommended this by @CAT5 too! Clearly I should jump on this! I wasn't expecting it to sound this perfect, omg. I promise I won't exterminate daoko now.

I actually quite like that new DAOKO song.
 
Anyhow, so @benidoesn't get too upset about that , here's something she'll like:
 

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

It's nice for once to read one of these kind of threads and not be part of the so called "nazi"-staff.
 
Being staff on any fan forum really isn't rewarding at times. Handle a trouble maker and you are a nazi, leave it be and you are playing favorites. Really just a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
 
But that's mostly because normal users only see the visible stuff. When in actuality a lot of things happen that aren't visible. Staff gives warnings by PM, then technical warning if that doesn't work. After that possibly short suspension and so on. And while this all happens staff talks together to think of possible solutions. But then you are of course a nazi, because you did your "job" and I use quotation marks because you don't get paid.
 
Luckily though every once in a while someone actually thanks you for your work and you feel like continuing doing that work for the good of the community.

Tracklist:
1 サプリミナル・ダイエット
2 骨抜きに恋して
3 腰掛けラップ
4 PH4
5 GODcustomer
6 等身大グレー
7 ベルサッサ
8 自撮ール
 
| Slowly losing charisma, but still a fun release.

 
Pop gets the short end of the stick in "serious musical discussions". A lot of pop is swept under the rug as formulaic music for simple-minded people, so it's challenging for a pop musician to innovate while essentially staying the same artist. It boils down to mixing together a bit of something old, a bit of something new, and the musical equivalent of Chemical X. These are the ingredients which form The Hit Single, a coveted substance sought by many, found by few, and difficult to produce at scale. Over the last few years Charisma.com has taken the approach of slowly but steadily expanding their musical palette in order to produce many Hit Singles. The beats of last year's OLest were much more dynamic than the offerings found on their debut EP for example; they pushed their sound to a place they hadn't taken it before while still keeping the pop hooks and hard hitting commentary that got them fans. Their newest release 愛泥C is set to bring everything together and take it up another level, but inconsistency holds it back.
 
I would describe the issue as death by one thousand tiny cuts. Elements don't come together as they should. I am no stranger to famous Japanese producers assisting the dynamic duo, but it feels like the different producers never agreed on the core sound of the album. It will bounce from pop to dance music to hip hop very fast, and sometimes they go off on weird tangents or include cringe-worthy sections (most specifically "GODCustomer"), which requires the flow of the album be immaculate to make up for the constant change in mood. It's not. There's the lead single "サプリミナル・ダイエット" which is classic Charisma to a fault, the deliciously smooth "PF4", and the infectious "ベルサッサ" which catches my ear and please me greatly. Then there are the tracks which sound pleasant but leave no effect at all on me, such as the end track  "自撮ール". Then there are the more abstract trap influenced bangers such as "腰掛けラップ", where Itsuka shows some difficulty in flowing with the beat. It's unfortunate that the most abstract beats are the most beastly but also complemented with trap influences and a very lazy chorus where the beat drops and they echo a phrase for eight bars. It's supposed to sound hard but doesn't. Charisma.com feel much more comfortable in electro pop / hip-hop territory and it shows. Charisma seem to have an easier time making snazzy hits when they stick to pop territory and I'd much prefer if they kept the trap influences to a minimum.
 
Bigger isn't always better, and when some tracks bang hard and others fall flat, the whole experience feels like empty calories. More than ever it feels like they're forcing themselves to be catchy, hip, and "lolsorandom". I adore where the duo takes their brand of pop music, but not at the expense of consistency. They need to stop trying so hard. Throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the listener is a surefire way to lose their attention. Scale some of the stranger elements of the beats back a tiny bit, get all your producers in a room to talk about the experience as a whole, and keep the hard hitting social commentary mixed with humorous lyrical themes the band is known for. There needs to be the right amount of direction to offset the spastic insanity that is Charisma.com.
Purchase from CDJapan!
 

As a note to those of us outside US: DST(daylight savings time) in the US starts next night. So the streams of 13th, 19th and 20th will start an hour earlier for us.
 
Gotta love the useless artifact that is DST Oh well, (most of) Europe follows along on the last Sunday of March.

^ It was actually released November 30th. Tho that was only from their site and lives. The release last week was web release of it.
And Vertigo hasn't been on a release yet, so there might be new EP or album soon.

I wouldn't enjoy Wedcamp as much without KOM_I's vocals.
Other than that I should check miyauchi yuri at some point.

I've had this track on repeat a lot lately:

KOJOE is best when he's just spitting and not attempting to sing.

In conjunction with @Ito's post, I'd also like to point out that while the staff/ORZ has a few users who specialize solely in VK, most of the staff takes an open-minded approach to J-rock and Japanese music as a whole. Meaning that most of us make an attempt to stay abreast of several scenes (including VK), and we don't necessarily make it a habit to distinguish between VK and non-VK. We even take Jpop and many other areas of J-music into account as well. VK represents just a tiny pocket of Japanese music as a whole, so proportionately speaking, it would only be natural for VK not to dominate the list. Even the term "indie" is hugely ambiguous - Japan doesn't have a singular "indie" scene and the term could refer to any number of genres or scenes from your typical, straightforward rock stuff, to psych-rock, noise-rock, emo, post-hardcore, post-punk, math and post-rock, folk, punk, and all types of hybrid bands that A&R's couldn't slap a label on.

^ What I've meant is that at this age and decade people should really give up on overstating their hatred (yeah, not dislike - hatred) for trends that will most likely pop up and stay with us for a little bit longer. Feel free to be indifferent or show your dislike, but hatred (your statements make it seem so)?
 
Also: Mucc example is vocoded. Same goes for that Teen Hearts MV ("electronic" effect (vocoder) vs. notes adjusted to the closest, correct pitch (autotune)).
 
P.s. autotune =/= vocoder (just because it USES a phase vocoder doesn't make it a "vocoder")

Not quite. Yes, anyone who is a YT partner has to make their content availible for Youtube Red. That does NOT mean that this very content will no longer be availible for free. You can still watch the free ad-supported version of that content if you don't want to subscribe. It's essentially like Spotify: you can listen to it for free, but with ads, or you can get a subscription to get rid of the ads and have some additional features like an offline modus. 
 
There WILL be some additional content, specifically produced for Youtube Red that will only be availible via subscription, but that is ultimately in the discretion of the content creators.
 
At the moment it doesn't seem that anything that is currently availible for free will be made pay-only with the new system.

UPDATE: ROOM CAN BE FOUND HERE
UPDATE #2: The usual Sunday session will now be held all day, 24 hours: an open, full session day!
 
In light of the loss of Plug.dj, people have been talking about alternatives, and many came up with this suggestion. It is very similar to Plug.dj, and perhaps it will grow out to be a fine replacement. 
 
While still a tad wonky and perhaps 'unfinished', the website essentially works in the same way; you create an account, and you can join multiple music-rooms with the intention of streaming music from Youtube or Soundcloud. You can create playlists just the same, and since yesterday (2015.09.28) you have the possibility to create an account that is not linked to your Facebook or Twitter account, and exists solely on Dubtrack. I've done this and my username on there is Lestat. From the looks of it, this means that immediately after the demise of Plug.dj, the creators and developers of Dubtrack have decided to focus on forming a solid community that can replace its predecessors, and mean to seize this opportunity with swift and smooth transitions. 
 
I went ahead and created a new room simply called 'Monochrome Heaven', (««« url!) as we are used to. You can join this room, but there is no moderation apart from its creator (me), yet, as I haven't assigned anyone to these roles yet. If the room continues to grow in size and members, moderators can be assigned, but wouldn't it be nice if we could run this operation without too much of a hassle? Music is meant to open up people's eyes, and in terms of discussion, it should be handled with care and ease — and most of all; it should not be taken too seriously. Of course everyone is anxious to share their opinion, but please be considerate of other members and how heavily your words might influence their view on certain artists or groups. Don't make attempts on changing someone's music taste, this is something they have to discover for themselves. Everyone wishes to enjoy their own chosen musicians, songs, full albums, or whatsoever. It's their choice! No one's taste is fact, no band or artist can be considered anything but what someone's opinion says about them, and this is all personal. So please, share your joy, excitement, sadness, and disappointment, but be aware of your words.
 
Now that that's out of the way, I highly recommend that we give this a chance. The design is something that isn't too difficult to get used to as it's not extreme or over-the-top, and while we have no dancing avatars (yet?), we can choose our own icon to display next to our names, and personalize our experience this way. Now, to set a few rules in this room like before, mostly copied from @CAT5's list of rules in our previous thread:
 
Remove yourself from the DJ-queue when you are AFK, or try not to be absent for too long (bathroom breaks are fine). Do not play songs over 7 minutes without asking for permission first. Do not repeat the same songs in one session. (You can play the same band, though!) Do not down-vote songs, please use the upward arrow, or click the 'love'-button to grab songs and add them to your playlist! We are a forum based around Japanese music, so try to adjust your playlists to this. Other music is fine, but remember our passion. Be gentle with each other. While discussions are fine, don't overdo it. Have fun, embrace the music, and deepen the bonds with your friends. Sundays are sometimes theme-days! Suggest your theme in this thread, and it will be taken in consideration. Here is a guide on how to use Dubtrack's current system. At the moment, the developers are working hard on design changes, bug-fixes, extra features, and a more easily accessible frame on how to operate the playlists and queues.

For what seemed like a thousand years, the land suffered a mighty drought of visual kei.  These were dark times indeed, and the voices that cried out were met with nothing to sate their hunger.
But then, a brave duo emerged from this darkness!  Armed with an obsession to make VK more available (and for the Japanese ladyboys), these two souls embarked upon a heroic struggle.  All was hopeful and bright, but the forces of silence strike when least expected.  Eons passed, and it looked as if all hope was lost.
Suddenly a new glimmer appeared in the distance!  Is this the answer prayed for by the masses?
 
 
--------------
 
 
After a brief hiatus, RarezHut returns better than ever!  Gone are the delays between item and shipping quotes, no more to the wait to get your high-quality VHS/cassette rips, and bid farewell to that money rotting in your bank accounts!
 
We have set up a new system that allows for near-instant quotes (items and shipping combined) 
We are so confident in this new system that we will give you 20% off your entire order if your Grand Total quote has not been sent out within 3 days of the last day of streaming.   (Provided that you have given us your email address and shipping info)
 
BEGINS AUGUST 8TH AT 10AM MST/12PM EST/4PM GMT AMD WE WILL GO FOR 6-7 HOURS.
The frenzy continues the next day (Sunday) at the same times, and then the next weekend (August 15-16) using the same schedule.
 
During the stream, we'll allow people in the chat to buy items as they appear if they like. Valerie (Valicious) will be in the chat and assisting with marking down sales. There will be a starting price displayed on the stream for each item and if multiple people want the item then it'll go auction-style and they can bid up until someone caves and loses out on the rarez.
 
Facebook event (invite your friends!) https://www.facebook.com/events/854822127887889/

So this happened.

 
We are gearing up for another stream in hopefully two weeks.  Like we said before, we are ripping/encoding/editing everything beforehand so packages will be sent out right away.
If your shipping quote is not sent out within 3 days of the last day of streaming, you will receive a 20% discount on your order.
 
We're that serious about our commitment to getting you your order quickly.  
 

The Seiko Oomori worship here is a bit too real - right down to her extreme homeliness