Pretsy

DECADANCE Because of Tzk's bong mask period.

Is it only me or does Tzk have a bong mask in some scenes? If that's so, then prepare yourselves for the worst pun ever... ... Tzk be "Mejiblazing" it.

Would go with Para:noir's track this time (yes, I might have liked them earlier but in terms of listening nowadays this is the only track I listen to off their repertoire): Not my type of band but geez, the song itself is perfect equivalent to my nightlife (would go for soundtrack pretty much)

You know what? That reminds me of SiM and bands alike (especially with that SUDDEN reggae/ska part) - it's fine, okay, but I can't really hear "decent" amount of Merry-ness in here. And dear god, the chorus is boring...

I have to post one of my "fresh" electro discoveries here too: Dimitri from Paris (yes yes, I like House/Downtempo-ish stuff, then what?) For odd but understandable reasons he is considered to represent "the western side" of Shibuya kei -style (what's that? VK-related stuff? No, google it), and that is noticeable in his porn music-ish/70's French club-ish sampled tunes with laid-down vibes. Even though he is in my list of "artists who shouldn't really have done songs for anime x etc.", I still adore his sense of what is "relaxing music" a la French way Audio therapy

Definitely starting my recs with some good ol' Cornelius http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuzNvbHY6yA It has a bit of that indie-ish flavor but at the same time it's very reminiscent to earlier Shibuya Kei scene - a la Pizzicato Five etc. Denki Groove (obvious choice from J-electro/techno listeners tbqh) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifMoX18bzbQ Bleepitybloopitybloop. Also, Fantastic Plastic Machine and their lovely bossa nova x French pop x techno dabble off earlier days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mn3uJzh1FY Won't post my obvious favorites though here (which might be "way too mainstream" like say, everything Nakata-related, denpa artists like Saori@destiny etc.)

I can't stand the second part of Gazette's DIVISION anymore. Guess I got so easily annoyed with it Agreeing with Jig on Luna Sea's part, and GO too.

Why Krasnodar though? I mean, I do get if you are gonna play at Vladivostok but Krasnodar, really? (basically in the middle of nowhere) Other than that, the tour title screams out booing as well.

So it's basically the same as Europe sets then

I haven't seen this thread for once, weird So, this is Kiyoharu's "2nd" (consider Kuroyume to be the 1st and his solo to be the 3rd) project He doesn't need any further introductions (well, almost everyone in MH has heard of him in one way or another) but SADS is where he lumps all his glam rock-ish/punky/metal stuff, briefly put. About my part I'd say that I haven't listened to them for awhile but BABYLON and THE ROSE GOD GAVE ME are still my jam even to this day, although other common listener favorites SAD BLOOD ROCK'N' ROLL and THE 7 DEADLY SINS are fine too. Won't have much to say about them for now though. Except that Kiyoharu is such a troll for forgetting SADS' tribute album completely - it's the end of autumn already, where is it?

So...setlist off Dallas show pls? Just curious about their US set - was it sort of a progfest or did they go with their staple live songs there?

It's more of "plz pay more attention to these Harajuku's superfashion icons, and praise Takeru #swag"-type of promotion (which reminds me, beginning made me cringe a bit with "#UWAKIMONO" text - I mean really, hashtagging?) I can really see his GD influences too (no shit, one of the biggest K-pop stans in vk scene) - especially some scenes are very reminiscent to "CROOKED" MV. Other than that, I am completely opposite about Bonsai's statement and say: I prefer SuG to this - Takeru is not really himself in this song tbqh.

http://direngreytranslation.tumblr.com/post/48925473994/shinyas-interview-in-ongaku-to-hito-may-2013 I suppose he meant this year's OnH interview - where Shinya sounded really, say, unmotivated.

What just came to my mind (in fact, you might describe this as "an ode to self-criticism"): Many music listeners base most of their critiques on "BAND/SONG X sounds like BAND/SONG Y - THAT'S WHY THEY ARE BAD!!!11!" - which is just plain dumb. Oh yes, consider me a sinner in this case too - I have been way enthusiastic about "my essentials sounding like new essentials" and so on, BUT IN THE END: It's execution (and consistency) what matters. For instance, I could say that Gazette's Hyena is totally superior to Luna Sea's G. (the former takes a lot of traits off the latter, and thus it has caused some havoc among ripoff enthusiasts) due to the fact that latter is not really that able to maintain listeners' interest for long (especially during chorus). Perhaps the execution wasn't that interesting? Eat your heart out, Luna Sea stans - the band itself is brilliant, I agree, but it doesn't mean that younger, influenced generation couldn't be better. Also, Dir's Gauze album - no matter the fact that the whole album itself might be an "old school vk cover parade" (I can go on and on with "ripoffs" but who cares?), these "open covers" are much more "oomph-inducing" than their original, probably a bit lousier counterparts - because their execution and consistency was considered carefully and done well. Let's cream the top with Sadie too - no matter how many years, releases and singles have passed by - there's always some enthusiastic Dir elitist bunch calling to arms for them "sounding very DEG-ish" (at parts - yes, ONLY AT PARTS.). Well guess what, NO SHIT - they were heavily influenced by Dir, so of course their music might induce some odd "Dir nostalgia". The only problematic matter is that how messy and not carefully executed their releases were lately. From considered "build" in COLD BLOOD to sloppiness of BLACK DIAMONDS and MADRIGAL DE MARIA? The heck, Mao and co. - thus, they are faulty only on that matter. And in examples below, there isn't really any "note-to-note" action - so no reasons for suing the shit out of them! I really hope that whole "ripoff ripoff ripoff!!!"-fad is just a phase, just like it was for me. I carefully rethought my actions on how I should see music from now on, and this kind of view freed me from "musical limits", which I am really happy about.

In case no one knows, Shinya's currently doing session stuff with Yasu x Hyde crew* (ironically enough AFTER the whole DEAD END tribute thing), and this time - it's halloween-themed (no shit!) http://24.media.tumblr.com/b6a70048a18d5924cd214040f2aa5993/tumblr_mvjms4Gpyk1qjfdjdo1_500.jpg http://24.media.tumblr.com/67ba8d635162adcb1a3e9c4665b89b33/tumblr_mvbog3X1OZ1r0t3x7o1_500.jpg Kinda interesting to see him go full drag again (not like I am the one to talk about looks - I mean hey, Kaoru is the one who's opposed to whole visual thing the most) *the last show was done in Hiro x Ju-Ken x Yasu x Leda x Shinya -lineup

for the sake of staying on-topic: Covers look okay

What are your "best of/must watch" picks for live DVDs? Anything goes, as long as it's J-music related (DUH). GO.

I suppose you haven't caught up on La'cryma Christi yet, Sai? In terms of that, if you like MOTHER-era Luna Sea - but with more poppy/exotic (a la Caribbean-ish? idk) vibes. You should try out their debut full-length, Sculpture of Time PM'ing you soon.

Very forgettable. Maybe it's kinda negative from my part but there won't be another "Lost World" (my bet)

http://azifxxx.tumblr.com/post/64669039035/tour2013-ghoul-10-18-19-shinkiba-studio-coast-live Shinkiba Studio Coast "picture report" Definitely wanting some footage off Mazy gigs What's with them playing HADES alot lately? Is it really that fitting for their current style?

MiA's guitarwork in Decadance's verse part (or at least that's what I assume, in terms of preview) reminds me alot of Chisato's guitarwork from Penicillin's late 90s-albums. Kinda cool.

Digi, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9uS_5rCyAs Here you go, after you've listened to this cover, you can accept any other SADS cover attempt - even by Takeru. (note: yes, it's the same Kra off PSC) EDIT: Actually - SADS cover sample sounds pretty decent, 'Undermine' sounds like it's gonna be vocaloid x oshare-rollercoaster for real (dubstep breakdown tho...), Ai no Myouri sounds like any "ok" 0.8byou song, 96 is kinda sweet-ish, Rise and Fall reminds me of Blaqk Audio for some reason. A.K.A. Definitely gonna be better than any of SuG's "last" attempts

Won't work with Kyo's current vocals (is he even able to do his "old vk vox" anymore? Nope) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI7CqCxktvM (early 2009 I guess, this is what you'd get if they decided to play Zan's proto-version)

Did you miss out on "Under-World" and earlier Merry albums tho? They've had punk flavor in many songs for awhile so I still don't get your saying. But yes, ZERO isn't certainly anything spectacular - more of "Yakou" level tbqh. In terms of hospitalization, as Tokage said - Gara got himself operated twice/thrice and see, they are still on the move (despite the not-so-long hiatus)! Reasons for D'espa's disbandment could be considered as "lazy excuses" and are totally irrelevant to everything above my comment. /tbh you should have dropped Merry out of your league right after your "first touch" if you "hated" punk so much.

Would be forever jelly if they played such songs as "children (2000 ver.)" (yes, if they played Byou Shin's original version, why can't they do this too?) or "MASK" there