echo

hi!! i know it's almost march, but in the spirit of "tradition" here are my end-of-year lists, which i've almost forgotten to do if it weren't for some friends who have been asking  
 
as the title of this post implies, here are the releases i enjoyed most from 2017 without staking any claim for them being the "best." in fact it's likely that you'll either love most of them or hate all of them as i have scant patience for artificially padding my lists in some vague interest of showcasing "variety."
 
there are 3 lists in total: top 10 albums & mini albums, top 10 singles, top 10 limited releases (i.e. distros, live-limited, digital releases, etc.) i apologize for not having time to write comments for individual releases as i used to, but i'll be delighted to know your thoughts if you have any (either specific or general) so feel free to leave a comment below <333
 
 
Top 10 Albums & Mini Albums
 
In this list I omitted best albums or compilations of sorts. I figured this is the only way to avoid a situation where the list is dominated by a bunch of disbanding bands pitting their entire discographies against one another (glamhaze, BLESSCODE, Astaria, BLaive, etc.) which is frankly quite ridiculous. This also means, sadly, that Purple Stone's album is out, even if i fucking love it ;_;
 
overall this is the weakest list among the three. there were a lot of releases in the bracket that ranges from 'enjoyable' to 'very good' but there wasn't one that really blew the rest out of the water. and yes, i potentially hear shouts of 'is this even vk??' but i'm not about to wade into that debate lol. btw shin is sexy, yup
 
 
 
Top 10 Singles
 
as always this is where all the competition lies. GARAK'S, Acephale, DEVIZE, Dangan no LIMIT, IGGY, LAVANS, CLOWD, Jack+MW all put out releases that didn't make the list but had songs that i'd be happy to loop on end for a couple of weeks.
 
 
 
Top 10 Limited Releases
 
aka "the great depression." honestly, making this list every year is always an emotionally draining experience. this year is without doubt the worst: of the 10 bands here, only 1.5 survives today (anfiel, and sheepsleep in their new lineup without kairu). everyone else is gone T____T still, i continue to do it because a lot of bands here are particularly close to my heart and i think of this as a way of paying tribute to how huge a part these bands/bandmen have played in my life. #1 here is also #1 of the year for me.
 
 
 
thank you for reading/listening!!  
 
 

I love anfiel !!!!! 

I'm so excited to hear the rest of their music!!! Ryo is the first one to come back in an actual band since Tra T_________T My friend is def going to their shidou live! I might not be able to go, but I really hope I can!
And I hope Hiroki and Omi form new bands soon too! <3 I really miss Tra, but I'm glad at least Ryo has joined a new band!
In any case, I really like the sound of this song!! <3 can't wait to hear more!!!

I'm so excited to hear the rest of their music!!! Ryo is the first one to come back in an actual band since Tra T_________T My friend is def going to their shidou live! I might not be able to go, but I really hope I can!
And I hope Hiroki and Omi form new bands soon too! <3 I really miss Tra, but I'm glad at least Ryo has joined a new band!
In any case, I really like the sound of this song!! <3 can't wait to hear more!!!

omg, i really really like it

Initially, I was like "wow this sounds really good! I love the vocals! It kinda sounds familiar though...." then I scrolled down and saw the first comment and died.

Singer is ex TRA TRA TRA (リョウ-Ryou)

Their first live will be on 2018.04.08 at 高田馬場AREA. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
Members :
Vo.行来
Gt.Takuya
Ba.Ryuichi
Dr.satoshi (ex-DIV)
 
 
Twitter : https://twitter.com/Laplus_official
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/laplus.official/
Website : http://laplus-official.com/

bleached my hair some time ago
 

I started off 2018 by buying a tiger (his name is johnny) 
 

They first performed their new song ガラス越しの君へ last month at a live I was at, and I still can't get over how emotional Ohayuuki got when he was singing it T_T I'm glad they were able to at least record it and put it in their last album <333 Gonna listen to it and die 123712938 times haha 
 

I went to Lux's last one-man last week, and I'm so glad I did <3
I also went to their instore! I wrote a bit about it for whoever's interested!
 
Instore
 
the live
 
I didn't follow them as long or as closely as some other bands, but I fucking love them <3 I'm super glad Mio joined too like, they were fun the first time I saw them, but I like had a fever that day so I couldn't get as into it since I was feeling pretty terrible. But despite how I felt I really enjoyed them so I knew I'd def love them when I was healthy. The only thing that bothered me was that they didn't have a drummer. Like when a band doesn't have an actual drummer or bassist, it feels weird to me, unless they have a long-term support or something. So it felt a bit off to me. But the second time I saw them was after Mio joined and like everything clicked into place and fit so perfectly!! And then disbandment T_T It was really fucking sad cos like I had JUST fallen super in love with them and then they announced their disbandment and there were only a few lives left and even fewer I could go to since they're an Osaka band T_T I'm glad I was able to go to Osaka to see their last live though <3 it was definitely fucking worth everything.
 
Thank you, @hiroki, for sharing this band with me <3
 

I went to Lux's last one-man last week, and I'm so glad I did <3
I also went to their instore! I wrote a bit about it for whoever's interested!
 
Instore
 
the live
 
I didn't follow them as long or as closely as some other bands, but I fucking love them <3 I'm super glad Mio joined too like, they were fun the first time I saw them, but I like had a fever that day so I couldn't get as into it since I was feeling pretty terrible. But despite how I felt I really enjoyed them so I knew I'd def love them when I was healthy. The only thing that bothered me was that they didn't have a drummer. Like when a band doesn't have an actual drummer or bassist, it feels weird to me, unless they have a long-term support or something. So it felt a bit off to me. But the second time I saw them was after Mio joined and like everything clicked into place and fit so perfectly!! And then disbandment T_T It was really fucking sad cos like I had JUST fallen super in love with them and then they announced their disbandment and there were only a few lives left and even fewer I could go to since they're an Osaka band T_T I'm glad I was able to go to Osaka to see their last live though <3 it was definitely fucking worth everything.
 
Thank you, @hiroki, for sharing this band with me <3
 

I went to Lux's last one-man last week, and I'm so glad I did <3
I also went to their instore! I wrote a bit about it for whoever's interested!
 
Instore
 
the live
 
I didn't follow them as long or as closely as some other bands, but I fucking love them <3 I'm super glad Mio joined too like, they were fun the first time I saw them, but I like had a fever that day so I couldn't get as into it since I was feeling pretty terrible. But despite how I felt I really enjoyed them so I knew I'd def love them when I was healthy. The only thing that bothered me was that they didn't have a drummer. Like when a band doesn't have an actual drummer or bassist, it feels weird to me, unless they have a long-term support or something. So it felt a bit off to me. But the second time I saw them was after Mio joined and like everything clicked into place and fit so perfectly!! And then disbandment T_T It was really fucking sad cos like I had JUST fallen super in love with them and then they announced their disbandment and there were only a few lives left and even fewer I could go to since they're an Osaka band T_T I'm glad I was able to go to Osaka to see their last live though <3 it was definitely fucking worth everything.
 
Thank you, @hiroki, for sharing this band with me <3
 

that's true that it's realistic, but it being realistic doesn't take the shock or distraught away from fans nor does being realistic exempt you from being a dick. So saying it with the tone of "obviously it will happen, you should've expected this. Get over it" is really shitty for fans who were supporting them and really didn't see this coming (like I said, this one in particular seemed really sudden and out of nowhere). It's especially shitty to be told something like that if you are emotionally invested in the band and are hurting from this announcement.
So yeah, maybe you weren't intending to be a dick, but you certainly came off as one.
 
And yeah, we all know that VK is unstable, but you can't really assume that all bands decide to disband cos they suddenly lost motivation. There are many factors that as fans, we can never and will never know. Plus, Lux hasn't posted any information about it other than their last live details so there are even more unknowns than usual.

I went to Lux's last one-man last week, and I'm so glad I did <3
I also went to their instore! I wrote a bit about it for whoever's interested!
 
Instore
 
the live
 
I didn't follow them as long or as closely as some other bands, but I fucking love them <3 I'm super glad Mio joined too like, they were fun the first time I saw them, but I like had a fever that day so I couldn't get as into it since I was feeling pretty terrible. But despite how I felt I really enjoyed them so I knew I'd def love them when I was healthy. The only thing that bothered me was that they didn't have a drummer. Like when a band doesn't have an actual drummer or bassist, it feels weird to me, unless they have a long-term support or something. So it felt a bit off to me. But the second time I saw them was after Mio joined and like everything clicked into place and fit so perfectly!! And then disbandment T_T It was really fucking sad cos like I had JUST fallen super in love with them and then they announced their disbandment and there were only a few lives left and even fewer I could go to since they're an Osaka band T_T I'm glad I was able to go to Osaka to see their last live though <3 it was definitely fucking worth everything.
 
Thank you, @hiroki, for sharing this band with me <3
 

omg reading @echo's live reports is literally one of the few things i come on MH for these days haha. i really wish i could capture the mood and live atmosphere as well as she does but i think it's impossible ._.
 
anyway, because lux is such a fucking important band to me i just want to add on to what she wrote, even if it feels like my words are so inadequate T_T
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

I went to Lux's last one-man last week, and I'm so glad I did <3
I also went to their instore! I wrote a bit about it for whoever's interested!
 
Instore
 
the live
 
I didn't follow them as long or as closely as some other bands, but I fucking love them <3 I'm super glad Mio joined too like, they were fun the first time I saw them, but I like had a fever that day so I couldn't get as into it since I was feeling pretty terrible. But despite how I felt I really enjoyed them so I knew I'd def love them when I was healthy. The only thing that bothered me was that they didn't have a drummer. Like when a band doesn't have an actual drummer or bassist, it feels weird to me, unless they have a long-term support or something. So it felt a bit off to me. But the second time I saw them was after Mio joined and like everything clicked into place and fit so perfectly!! And then disbandment T_T It was really fucking sad cos like I had JUST fallen super in love with them and then they announced their disbandment and there were only a few lives left and even fewer I could go to since they're an Osaka band T_T I'm glad I was able to go to Osaka to see their last live though <3 it was definitely fucking worth everything.
 
Thank you, @hiroki, for sharing this band with me <3
 

I like it! I mean it's hard to say anything based on like 5 seconds of preview haha, but it sounds like it'll be fun!
 
idk electro effects is kinda what they do though, isn't it? like I think they've been pretty consistent with that so if you don't like the sound of it idk why you're even commenting on vivarush lol

グラビティ(gravity) new single "ギラギラ卍系 (gira gira manji kei)" will be released on 2018.02.07.
 
New look:
 

 

On 2017.12.22 at 新宿SUNFACE, Ryousuke Onari will distribute a single called 『Engage Ring...』.
 
 

Vocalist is Jekyll (ex-ATRUS), kamite guitarist is Dai (ex-Oneness). Shimote guitarist is Karen (ex-ashley).
 
This feels really weird cos they seem like a totally diff band without Yoh, but I guess i'll follow cos i'm a huge fan of Jekyll. I'm fine with autotune but I'd rather hear Jekyll's real voice cos he has really nice vocals.